Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-04-01
STUPID GENIUSES.
The Unaccountable Freaks They
Have Committed.

for his cats. For the convenience of
the cat he cut large hole for en-
trance, for the equal convenience of the
kitten he cut a smaller one, and it was
not until his attention was called to it
that he realized the fact. which one
would suppose might be self-evident to
the feeblest 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 to perceive that kitten
could go through hole made for
cat
Richard Brinsley Sheridan hired
suburban villa, and two days later re-
ceived a visit from friend, who was
told to climbthe fence in order to enter
the house. ''But why not open the
gatep" the friend inquired. Because
] can't unite the string" 'Why don't
you cut it thenpn Sheridan looked at
him in amazement, drew his knife, cut
the rope, walked through the gate, and
turning around kicked it off the hinges.
'1f you love me, please kick me in
the. same fashion," he remarked to his
friend. The most brilliant wit of his
time, the dramatist who could unravel
the most intricate complications in
stage situations, had climbed fence
for two days for lack of the stroke of a
penknife. fN
A few years ago one of our famous
men was found dead under circum-
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 a letter.
could hardly, see my way across
the room. He complained that his
.eyesight must be failing, as it
was hard for him to follow the lines
upon the paper. In surprise turned
up the gas. His look of establishment
as he glanced at the light, at me, at the
letter, at the light again, was some
thing impossible to describe. Of course
he was crazy. If he hadn't been he
would have turned up the gas him
self"
So easily do we reach our conclu-
sions; so easily do we take things for
granted. Yet Sir Isaac Newton was
never supposed to be tout of his mind, y
and Sheridan was never suspected OF
being lunatic. The gas jet simply
served to throw more light on the
stupidity of sensible man, instead OF
proving by its feeble glimmer the cor
responding feebleness of his intellect.
Nothing is more constantly and COM
pletely surprising than these apparent
iapses OF intelligence in persons whose
intellect is acknowledged to be superior
to the average. From q fool We cxpec!
foolishness, and seldom have we reason
to complain of disappointment From
the wise we expect idom, though we
sometimes fail to find it. tits said that
it is only the fool who learns no wis
dom from experience, but the foolish.
ness of sensible people is generally OF q
kind which experience can in no way
modify, 1t is occasional, variable, I'M
expected, of peculiar quality, admits
no argument from precedent, gives nc
basis for calculation. Probably by con
trast and ihcongruity its effect il
heightened and it seems mere sense
less than ordinary dullness, because i
is inevitably compared with the usua
mental brilliancy. F8 W
Welearn from the entertaining LET
tiers ofGustaveF laubertn thathe had pre-
pared dictionary Of 1.-THE stupid say
ings Of great men" and the volume il
unique and amusing one. 1t was thu
illustrious Napoleon III. who made thu
profound observation: 1.-THE wealth o
a country depends upon its genera
prosperity" The famous Havin wrote
as if giving utterance to most valuable
philosophical statement: "As soon as
Frenchman passes the frontier, hefind
himself on foreign soil.
Emerson says: "Men who have com
manded great armies and taken grea
armies and taken great cities, who hav'
made laws for an empire, or proclaimed
the greatest discoveries in science. hav'
sometimes shown the utmost idiocy IL
connection with the commonest affair
of life"
Some of the greatest financiers are thu
first TO involve themselves in tinancia
embarrassments. Their familiarity witt
the fluctuations of the money market
and long career of success, has mad
them careless of risks and consequences
The world looks on open-eyed at tn
colossal schemes carried on by the brain
and capital of these men, and stare
open-mouthed at the inch-long letter
in the daily papers announcing thei
commercial crash. 1t is, in fact, onl.
the great kings of finance who hav
sufficient knowledge of the situation Z
take such chances. or who have SUN
Gent ability to handle the weapon