The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-11-29

WRITTEN o THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
II you want to be sure whether your
husband, neighbor, teacher or any other
person. male of female, in whom you are
interested. Is a genius. consider the fol-
lowing points in his or her mental and
physical makeup:
Whether the person Is little or tall is
very important.
Middle-sized men and women do not
count so much in the race for genius as
either dwarfs or giants.
Whether the person be thin or stout
likewise enters into the calculations, and.
whatever you do. respect the pot-bellied
man.
A big head sometimes spells genius.
while a very small brain receptacle is GER
tainly not to be despised.
Genius frequently turks behind 'idiotic'
features. while good looks. the essence of
manly or womanly beauty. are attributes
of MANY of the worlds heroes of history
and literature
To be a genius one need not necessarily
admire the doings Of other geniuses: on
! the contrary. Weigh this in your mind
before passing judgment on a neighbours
mental caliber.
Likewise observe whether he is e1-
tremely sensitive to pain or whether a
pin prick. applied to his arm or hand. is
felt only at the end Of ten or twenty sec
onds.
Most geniuses object to noise: some love
music. others abhor It.
All these things and contradictions and
many more have to be taken into consid-
Grafton before one can safely pronounce a
man or woman a genius.
Generally speaking. genius possesses the
qualities OF everyday mortals either
greatly emphasized or reduced to a mini
mum.
1t IS a fact abundantly proved by the
worlds statistics. that the majority of
geniuses are either very tall or very tiny
persons while the average man or woman
possessed OF ordinary mental gifts only
is usually Of medium height.
Here are the figures: Among common.
everyday folks 6s per cent are of medium
h>fght, while 16 per cent are small and 16
&c tail.
The recognized geniuses. male and fe-
male. that graced this earth up to Janu-
airy last are grouped as follows:
Forty-one per cent lowered high above
their fellow-men. Icing exceedingly tall.
Thirty-seven percent were likewise no.
ticeable In a crowd-on account OF their
extreme smallness-while only % per cent
were men and women of medium height.
One of the smallest men and greatest
Philosophical geniuses that ever lived was
Eptctetus. the contemporary of Nero and
Antoninus. who supported the doctrine of
the immortality of the soul and whose
writings furnished the Emperor Antoninus
with maxims ''to conduct life will honor
to himself and advantage to the great
Roman Empire" Epictetus prided him
self upon being a little fellow.
WHO / ann" he answered the impera-
tor-"a very small man."
GEORGE ELIOT
A SMALL GREAT WOMAN.
The most eminent Of English woman
Cyclists. Marian Evans, better known az
Sfvrge Eliot. was a tiny woman, and II
she had brought the manuscript of the
book that made her famous. Scenes of
Clerical Life" to Blackwood's Magazine
in person. instead OF submitting 1t anon
ymously. the chances are it would never
have been recognized as the work of a
rare genius.
Swinburne. too. the master of melody
and lyrical invention. is a small person.
There would have been more than one
contrast between him and Tennyson if he