Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-07-18
IGNORANCE AND BLISS.
PLEASURE THAT COMES TO THOSE
WHO LACK KNOWLEDGE.

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conveniently can, and he is sure that be
can foretell the weather every time.
well, sab" he informs me, Il knowed it
were to be a dry month. The moon said
I 20 plain as dat ar hoe handle But they
wouldn't believe me-"
/ What a sublime contempt he has for the
rest OF us We are bundled off in that
parcel OF nobodies called they" He Is
absolutely sure that he knows more than
any aud all other people This is one com
! pensation Of ignorance that it is supremely
/ wise
But" say, Ned, how do you come to
know what is ahead when no one else
/ does" He does not undertake to tell, but
| Is puzzled over the undOubted fact, and
stands moment on his work with an in
troverted look. No matter, he knows, and
that is quite enough; and it begins to dawn
on him that he is peculiarly gifted man,
probably prophet.
! The bulk Of our prophets are uneducated,
md most Of them of the most ignorant
class. He has only to conceive thing to
insure its truth. His facts are not common
property that any one can investigate and
verify or disproye, but are private affairs
known nowhere outside his brain,
UNQUEsTIoEIEG sIMPLEToNIsM
| Another consolation Of ignorance is
nredulity. There really is no sentiment 80
delicious as being fooled. No, do not
mean being fooled by professional jokers,
such az kept my black fellow up till 2 last
night looking for a vast comet with tail
a. long as half the heavenly span, and
head as big as the moon; but being fooled
| by popular theory. 1t is exasperating TO
doubt, and when one gets to have a habit
/ ak lnnl-f,rr oil nj
| 1t, and over it, there Is no end Of pother
and brain work
Why, the worst quarrels ever known
have been over Greek accents and Hebrew
vowel points ~ big as fly specks. Igno
rance notq aCe Of the ignoramus sort avoids
all this by just believing the current no
lions without examination say this Is
delicious in more ways tLan one.
! My friend RaymC nd IL going TO eternal
| Paradise, where he win be waited on like a
/ king, have all hii wants supplied, and
never know a care; all this because his
creed is sound His wife IS unable to give
/ him peace nd rest here, although she
works hard enough to do 1t. He Is a dis
satisfied, fretful creature; but he is conf
dent that in another world he will be ALSO
! lutely painless and careless, and full to the
! brim Of bliss What a large compensation
Is this for unquescioning simpletonisml
! Ignorance has other advantages. 1t is
| ,lear enough that Governor Berkeley was
right It takes a very solid ignorance to
! insure social peace. Printing presses bring
| IN a host of clashing ideas New ideas
/ have a habit Of humping against each
others pates,
| THE AFFECTIONS OF THE LEARNED
/ There never has been as merry lot of
people in America as the negro slaves were
/ before emancipation, notwithstanding Miss
/ Stoves pathetic Uncle Tom. You and
never axe contented because we know
there Is so much more to be known, We
are afflicted with our ignorance; we feel
! squelched more and more by the fact that
we canot begin to keep pace with science
and literature.
/ 1t is really painful TO take up the pub
! fishers bulletins aud see how the world is
running away from US. There is just n
little comfort in not looking at the English
and French and German lists. All, If one
can but crawl back into himself and be
stolidly Indifferent to these thingsl Ignc
rance can but we cannot. Simply because
we know a few things we have found out
/ our ignorance, and are finding il ont more
keenly every year
A really wise man gets almost wholly
suppressed by the conviction of his lack OF
( information. Will this 20 on, and how
far will it 70 on' Egotsm is interested in
/ knowing what will be the limit to the
modesty Of n really informed man.
Perhaps you have heard the comments Of
an average audience on a very able lecturer
/ ] once beard Emerson discussed by agroup
making its glad exit from Faneuil hall
1 "Couldu't make out his drive" said one
Don't think lac could himself" replied a
second. Ignorance goes on utterly IN
ruflcd by the fact that it cannot define
transcendent1hsm, OF remotely get an idea
OF what transccndeutalist is driving at
There are probably books enough already
in the world 10 run US comfortably for the
next thousand years ignorance writes
most Cf them.
MEN WHO MAKE BOOKS.
J Two hundred years ago no one wrote q
book unless he had a gift, or at least some
thing unusual To say. The books of those
days had readers, and lived. The books of
today are got into print by paying the pub
fishers They do not expect to be read-at
least are not What funny place is a
book storel The old stock IN a dry goods
store has value, out not 50 here Yet !
was about to suggest that the new copy
FlEhh law ~ tAtAtAN'i an Az ~ AAANNuleAe-
Mediucrity"
The more ignorant a tourist is OF Amer
lea the more sure he is to publish bis note
book when he gets back TO Europe Since
Sir Charles Dukes book concerning rs not
one has lad an intellectual value except
that OF Professor Bryce. Oar own travellers
have for the most part given mp publishing
hop, skip aud jump annotations OF foreign
lands.
Literary ignorance is by no means the
worst phase IF stupidity 1t is a happy
vent for folly When a mau has said "a
foolish thing in print he is satisfied. Then
il is done upin leather IL can do no harm
unless il s. read wonder what are the
exact probabilities that a feeble book viii
be read. The publishers tell Us that few
books sell go copies. How about those that
sell ten or thirty or fifty copies' Are they
the really valuable booSss
How long will literary energy take TO
spend itself in this country on sucG basis
OF remuneration; Is there any way where
by We can have a valuable critics. Journal
to tell us the truth about a book'-St.
Louis Globe Democrat