The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-07-07
Great Little Men.

There is very amusing article in the
June number of the Gentleman's Magazine,
by Mr.. Philip Kent. ON brains and
Inches" Bazac says that the little fell
lows are the fellows for work. and Mr..
Kent has gathered together number of
practical illustrations of the prOverb that
s'the best goods are packed in the smallest
bundles" and quotes Bacon, Fuller, and
Balzac's saying on the relation between
over. developed inches and under developed
brain. From the ample ''scrap" catalogue
that Mr.. Kent has collected, it would seem
as if the great majority of the men who
have helped to make the world have been
descendants of Zacch8us. and the rule ap.
pears to hold good in all callings and pro.
LESSONS. That the best generals and the
greatest conquerOrs, like Attila. the
"ScOurge of God;" Aetius. commander in
chief of the Roman troops in the time of
Valentinian; TimOur the Tartar. "the ter
ror of the world" Charles Martel. COnde.
Marshal Luxembourg, Sir Francis Drake
and Admiral Keppel-''little Keppep and
1.-The beardless boy" as he was called
were all small men. Titus was one of the
best and smallest Roman emperOrs. Fred.
erick the Great did not err on the side of
height. Oliver Cromwell who lowered
over his generation. did so only mentally.
being lacking in inches; while Napoleon
Bonaparte and his great rival, the Duke of
Wellington, may fairly be described as tiny
men. the former standing about five feet
one and three quarters in his stockings, and
the Iron Duke beating him in this respect
only by about six inches. Nelson. five feet
four. comes midway between the victor and
victim of Waterloo.
Most of us scribblers look best on paper"
once remarked a grandson of JerrOldS to
the writer of the article, and the truth of
the remark seems to be borne out by the
record of the physical inches of literary
men from all time. BOcchOris. one of the
wisest and most able of the Egyptian kings.
was dwarf. EsOp is represented as a
misshapen hop o. my. thumb. Horace was
sleek, fat little man. the Emperor Angus
tus testifyIng to the fact by writing to him
that. Though he lacked inches. he lacked
not paunch." The great Chinese sage,
COnfucius. only reached middle height.
Shakespeare was seemingly never measured.
or, if he was. his height has not been
handed down. but Milton was short in stat
ure. Dryden. "Poet Squab," was dumpy.
as was also Lord Maucaulay. Mrs. Carlyle
speaks of ''poor little Dickens" his rival
Thackeray. boasting of a larger allowance
of inches. though not of brain power.
Moore was only five feet, and when it came
out that he and ''Thomas Little" were one
and the same writer, wag remarked that
Moore was Little and Little is Moore"
COwper barely reached middle height. Pope
was pigmy of four feet six, and VOltaire
and ScarrOn were mere Liliputians, while
Swift's giant intellect was lodged in the
brain of a rather stout, ungainly man of
just five feet eight. Lytton was about five
feet six. Anthony TrOlloppe about five feet
ten and John Stuart Mill five feet eight
Coming to the arts. we have Bruneschelli.
the architect. and Michael Angelo. both
small men. Sir Christopher Wren could