The evening times., 1898-10-06
ABSENT -MINDEDNESS.

absent -mindedness of De Quincy and
Coleridge, writer in the st. Louis Globe
Democrat does not suggest that in both
cases the opium habit, of which both
men were victims, may have had some
thing to do with it, That, however, was
not the case with the preacher in Ian
Maclaren's'' novel of Kate Carnegie"
who. turning around to have his back to
the wind when he took snuff, would con-
tinue facing that way. and fetch up
miles away from the place he started for.
The writer referred to says Coleridges
absent -mindedness came to him by in
heritance. and he himself tells the fol-
lowing story of his father a simple
minded clergyman, the rector of Ottery
st. Mary, Devonshire. Coleridge, pere,
besides being absent-minded, was terrible
careless about his dress, and often be-
tween his upper and neither garments
there would be seen some inches OF white
shirt. His wife, to remedy matters, had
established a private signal, on observing
which the worthy parson would hastily
tuck in the too-conspicuous garment. One
evening, at a tea party Mr.. Coleridge
was engaged in conversation with a
young and charming girl, attired in the
lightest of gauze fabrics, when he recog-
EiZed his wife's danger signal hoisted,
and at once began to tuck in, but the
more and faster he tucked in, the more
the white material seemed to show out
side, and il was only upon a~gentle remon-
STRANGE from the young lady by his side
that he was brought to perceive that he
had tucked away the whole of his COM
panion's muslin frock. AS blue-coat
boy, Samuel Taylor Coleridge was contin-
ually immersed in a day dream, and one
day he was walking along Fleet Street,
hinging his arms about him in total un-
consciousness of his surroundings, when
he plunged into an old gentleman's waist
coat, who promptly collared him as u
pickpocket. why, / thought ! was swim
ming at Hellspont, cried the boy, amaZ-
ed
philosophers have gained rather no
toriety for absence of mind perhaps be-
cause, to the common apprehension, the
material for their speculations has to be
procured from so far distant, so unimag-
Unable a region. The ordinary man eX-
poets a metaphysician or a moral phi
| losopher TO be little distant To lind
| Il Berkeley or a Butler good at bargain
| ing would be a distinct disappointment.
! Those who are looked upon as the schol-
! ar with touch Of contempt as mostly
! FOOLS generally have an equally hearty
| contempt for the poor philosophers. And
| thus the balance of self-satisfaction IS
| held even. But absent-minded philoso-
| piers have been common enough Who
! does not know the story of Newton and
! the egg? Wishing one morning 10 be un
! disturbed he bade the maid bring his
/ breakfast to his room; he would have an
/ egg, and cook il himself Abigail dutiful-
~ brought the saucepan and the egg, and
/ left the philosopher the most particular
! cisectlUns for the carrying out of this,
/ one Of the most elementary operations of
} the cooks art. After about an hour. she
returned to remove the breakfast things.
! Imagine her astonishment in finding her
master was still sitting before the fire.
gazing earnestly Al the saucepan. In ii,
amid the boiling water, lay the philoso-
piers watch, and in his hand was the
still unboiled egg. After this. the classi-
/ cal example OF the man who went on
tracing geometrical figures on the sand
/ of the floor while his city was being tax
/ en- by an enemy, sinks into comparative
: fceblcness. 1t struck ones youthful i'm
agination more, perhaps, because of the
| incredibiity of the fact that man
! should be SO fond Of geometry than be-
! cause of the extent. though that is suf1i-
! cient, of the absence of mind.
nlNtfSllH professors ana OOl'S nave
always shared the reputation of philoso
I piers in this respect, ana few colleague;
are without their tales of wonder anG
perhaps OF imagination as well, of learn,
1 ed instructors of youth whose hold upor
| the things of common life has been ol
1 the slightest. 1t is told for instance. o!
a certain Scotch professor of the Older
days, that his stay under the roof OF .
| friend c0incided exactly, much to the per
/ turbation OF the lady of the house witt
the disappearance of one of the cover.
ings of the bed. Subsequent inVestiga
tiOn of a necessarily delicate kind reveal.
1 eG the strange fact that the absent
minded professor had disposed about hi:
person the linen which was destined only
| for his couch.
at seems almost natural that musl
clans should often belong to this class ot
the absent-minded ones. Their realm i:
so abstract and. withal so beautiful il
| itself to those who are fitted To enjoy
| that no one can be much astOnShed i
| they become so entranCed with the 'hearC
! melodies which we ourselves recognize
| as sweet and with those 'unheard' ones
! which Keats declares to b. 'sweeter, "A:
| TO forget the jangling, the discordan
| noise of common life. They have better
| reason, so one is apt to think, for thei
| abstraction, than have pedants ano
| NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. All this is perfectly eX
| emplified i'll Beethoven. The instant h,
| entered a house we are told, he began L
write on the walls the blinds, the table
in the most abstracted manner He fire.
quently composed on odd slips of paper
which he afterward lost. Sometimes h
forgot even his own name. Going on
| day into a restaurant in Vienna he tool
up the bill of fare and began writing
score. quite unconscious of his surround
| ings After a while he called the waite
and asked how much he owed. You oW'
| nothing, sir, answered the man, w nat,
| said Beethoven have | not dined?'