West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-03-26
STUPID GENIUSES.
The Unaccounteble Freaks They
Have Committed.

1 Nlr Isaac Newton con Instructed "A hon, ,e
FOR his cats For the convenience Of
the cat. he cut a large hole for en-
trance, for the equal convenience of ,b.
kitten hc cut smaller one. and il was
not until hi> attention was called To il
that he realized the fact. which one
would suppose might bc self-cvident to
the iecblest understanding, that the
large hole would have served for both
The author Of the "Principia,' one OF
the grandest works of the human in
tellect. failed 10 perceive that kitten
could 90 through hole made for a
| cat.
Richard Brinslcy sheridan hired a
suburban villa. and two davs later re-
cclved a visit from friend. who was
told to climb the fence i'm order to enter
the house. But why not open the
gate the friend inquired. Because
] can I unite the string" "Whv don't
you cut it them Sheridan looked ri
| him in amazcmcnt. drew hi, knife. cu,
the rope. walked through the gate, and
| turning around kicked it off the hinges.
| III Nou love me; please kick mc i'm
the same fashion, he remarked 20 his
| friend The most brilliant wit of his
| time, the dramntiSt who could unravcl
| the most intricate complications i'm
stage situations. had climbed fence
for two days for lack of the stroke of a
| penhnifc.
a few Years ago one of onr famous
men was found dead mdcr circ,im
stances which gave rise TO suspicion of
| suicide. One of his acquaintances re-
| marked: " He was certainly crazy.
One evening | called upon him and
| found him trying TO write letter.
| i could hardly see my way across
the room He complained that his
| eyeslSht must bc failing. as it
was hard for him to follow the lines
| upon the paper In surprise | turned
up the gas. His look of aStonishmcnt
aS ne glanced at the light, at me, at the
letter, at the light again. was some
| thing impossible to describe. OF course
ne was crazy. Ii he hadn't been he
would have turned up the gas him
| self
50 easily do we reach our conclu-
sionS; so easily do We take things for
granted. Yet Sir Isaac Newton was
| '.''i 7ABl'ON''A 90 W. OilI OIL HIS TllnU.
and Sheridan was never suspecfed of
being a lunatic The gas jet simply
| served 10 throw more liuht ON The
stupidity OF a sensible man. instead Of
| proving by IFS feeble glimmcr the cor
| responding 1eebleness of his intellect.
Nothing is more constantly and COM
| pIet"ly surprising than these apparent
| lapseS Of intelligence in perrOns whose
infnIlnHf IL "a u,l 1nT - g.. 4.
| io the average. From q fool we expect
foolishness, and seldom have we reason
| to complain Of disappointment From
The wise We expect wi.dom. though we
sometimes fail 10 find IT. Its said that
II j, only the fool who learns no wis
dom from experience. but the foolish
ness Of sensible people j, generally of q
Kind which experience can in no way
modify. II is occasional. variable. un-
expected. of peculiar quality. admits
no argument from precedent gives no
basis for calculation. Probably by con
trast and incongrWitv lis effect +,
heightened and it seems more sense
less than ordinary dullness. because il
Is inevitably compared with the usual
mental brilliancy.
Wolearn from the entertaining "I,ct-
ters Of Gustavc Flaubert" that he had pre-
pared q dictionary of 'the stupid saw
inRs of great men. and the volume il
unique and amusing one. II was the
illu-trious Napoleon IlT. who made the
profound observation. The wealth Of
. country depends upon its general
prosperity. The famous Havin wrote.
rs If giving uttcrauce 10 q most valuable
philosophical statement: "As soon as q
frenchmau passes the frontier. he finds
himself ON foreign soil
Emerson says: "Men who have COM
manded great armies and taken great
armies and taken great cities. who have
made laws for an empire. or proclaimed
the greatest discOfeTies IN science. have
sometime shown The utmost idiocy i'm
connection with the cOmmOnest affairs
Of life
some of the greatest fnancier. are the
ir-t to involve themselves I'm financial
cmbsrrassmeuts Their familiarity with
The fluctuations Of the money market.
and long career of success. has made
them careless Of risks and consequences.
The world looks ON opeu-eyed at the
colossal schemes carried ON hv the brains
and capital II these men. aud starcs
opcn-mUuthed at the inch-long letters
in the dahy papers announcing their
commercial crash IL is. in fact, only
The great Kings ~ finance who have
sufficient know ledge of the situation 10
iako such ch4ncrs, or who have tuifi-