News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-05-27
The Very Wise Sometimes Very Stupid.

Sir Isaac Newton constructed house
for his cats. For the convenience of the
cat he cut large hole for entrance, 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 sup
pose 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 human intellect,
failed to preceive that kitten could go
through hole made for a cat. Richard
Brinsley Sheridan hired a suburban
villa. and two days later received visit
from a friend, who was told to climb
the fence in order to enter the house.
"But why not open the gate?" the
friend inquired. Because l can't
unite the string" Why don't you
cut it then2' Sheridan looked at him
in amazement, drew his knife, cut
the rope, walked through the gate, and.
turning around, kicked the gate off
the hinges. "If you love me- 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 a fence for two
days for lack of the stroke of penknife.
A few years ago one of our famous men
was found dead under circumstances
which gave rise to suspicion of suicide.
One of his acquaintances remarked: "He
was certainly crazy One evening |
called upon him and found him trying to
write letter. l could hardly see my
he l. 1,T,
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 astonishment as he
looked at the light, at me, at the letter,
and at the light again, was something
impossible to describe. Of course he
was crazy If he hadn't been he
would have turned up the gas
himself" So easily do we reach our
conclusions; so easily do we take things
for granted. Yet Sir Isaac Newton was
never supposed to be ''out of his mind,
and Sheridan was never suspected of be-
ing a lunatic The gas jet simply served
to throw more light on the stupidity of
a sensible mau, instead of proving by its
feeble glimmer the corresponding feeble
ness of his intellect. Nothing is more
constantly and completely surprising
than these apparent lapses of intelli-'
gence in persons whose intellect is ac-
knowledged to be superior to the avert
age. From a foolwe expect foolishness,'
and seldom have we reason to complain
of disappointme MT From the wise we
expect wisdom, though sometimes we
fail to find it. 1t is said that it is only
the fool who learns no wisdom from eX-
perience, but the foolishness of sensible
people is generally of kind which ex-
perience can in no way modify. 1t is
occasional, variable, unexpected, of
peculiar quality, admits no argument
tom precedent, gives no basis for calcu-
lation. Probably by contrast and
incongruity its effect is heightened
and it seems more senseless than ordinary
dullneSs because it is inevitably com
pared with the usual mental brilliancy.
We learn from the entertaining Letters
of Gustave Flaubert' that he had pre-
pared dictionary of the stupid sayings
of great men, and the volume is unique
and amusing one. 1t was the illustrious
Napoleon III. who made the profound
observation: "The wealth of a country
depends on its general prosperity" The
famous Havin wrote, as if giving utter
ance to a most valuable philosophical
statement: GAS soon as Frenchman
crosses the frontier he finds himself on
foreign SOIL Emerson says: Men who
have commanded great armies and taken
cities, who have made laws for an empire,
or proclaimed the greatest discoveries
in science, have sometimes shown the
utmost idiocy in connection with the
commonest affairs of life. n-PhreRoiogjcdl
Journal.