St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-07-05
A Learned Peasant.
A GERMAN WHO MASTERED FIFTY-ON
ORIENTAL LANGUAGES.

A GERMAN WHO MASTERED FIFTY -oNh
ORIENTAL LANGUAGES.
In the village of Rothenacker, near the
town of Schleiz, there lived from the year
1906 until 1871 q man named Nikol Schmidt
Kunzel, who was sn unprecedented phe-
nomenon, and who was known as ''the
learned peasant"
He was more or less familiar with fifty
one Oriental languages. He either spoke
them or possessed q scholastic knowledge
of them. Among the languages were
Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syrian,
Arabic, Persian, Armenian, Abysslnian,
Egyptian, Ethiopian, Turkish, etc. He
had committed the New Testament to
memory in fourteen of them and the Old
Testament in six.
From his twelfth year this hungerer for
knowledge studied in season and out OF
season. He attended the little country
school during the short winter term and
then applied himself diligently while
tending his fathers cattle or working IN
wood or meadow during the rest OF the
year. His father came between him and
his desires. and frequently forbade him
wasting his time over books, and while
such interdict lasted Nikol studied in
secret He never missed attending church
on Sundays and listened attentively to the
preachers every word. In his fourteenth
year his mothers brother taught him to
write.
About the same time he obtained Latin
catechism which he compared and studied.
sentence for sentence, with his German
one Before he was 20 years of age he was
we'll known to the booksellers OF Schleiz,
jena, Hof and Nurnberg, at whose shops
he was constant visitor. He studied at
times the long night through, frequently
| by the light of the moon. While thresn-
ing in the barn he would cover the walls
| with Grecian, Hebraic, Chaldean and
Arabic alphabets, and he learned the
strange symbols without ceasing from
| labor.
1t was not long before ''the learned
peasants" singular talents were talked OF
| far beyond his own little village. AS M
came and went from Weimar, Dresden ane
jena he was the object of undisguised at'
tention, and not without emotion did the
crowds regard this self-taught man ano
| celebrated scholar. Besides his perio dica
requirements he began the study O
| physics, astronomy, meteoroiogy, botany
| chemistry, optics and mathematics. d
turned small dwelling house on his farm
into an 0DSofV8tOfys Auu SouShs' VIVA va,
| help of we'll selected mathematical ans
astronomical instruments to fathom tn
secret distances.
He did not escape the miseries and dev
astations which the war brought upon III
countrymen. His house and lands wer
left to him desolate and waste. Financi
ally ruined, the scourge of care forced hin
to look about him for some employment
Owing to the urgent persuasion of intiuen
tial friends Nikol was appointed writer
the German calender just at the time whel
the fierce struggle between Julianism ant
Gregarianism was at its height, and 'twa
he who led the way to golden mean
And for over century the book love
who unearths Schmidt Kunzel Cal
endar" from any booksellers shop i
Nurnberg feels that he has found rio
prize. ~ .o-,
Nikol Schmidt died on June 26, 1871
leaving q large family to mourn his loss
None OF his children Inherited his thirs
| for knowledge or bin singular talent fo
making forsisn LANGUAGES his own.-fhs
zdelphiG 1sH3es.