The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-02
BOSTON has 4 WONDER CHILD.
DOINGS CALCULATED TO KEEP
you AWAKE NIGHTS.
ne skipped From Primary Grade 10 High
O." School In HaIf . Years schooling
Though He IL only 3, He Reyefs
IN His Logic. Latin and LOSarithms.

--InOukU I'VE - OhIy ~ no NcNUhs
IN His Logic. Latin and LoSarithnns.
Another wonder child lie stirring up Bcs-
ton. A few weeks age an eleven-yesr-old
boy was discovered in Tufts College feed
ing his young soul On mr. advanced course
IN philosophy. Last week Boston gazed
with complacent pride at the spectacle OF
q second prodigy within her gates.
This time il Is a real wonder child, IN
eight-yesr-old infant who toys with higher
mathematics, dallies with physics n
speaks four languages in a piping httIe
voice which haunts ones ears.
The child is William James Sidis. a name
sake Of Prof. William James OF Harvard.
"A a matter Of fact he was born in New York,
but We cannot take much JUNCTION TO our
souls on that account, for his father,
though Russian, vas educated AZ Harvard
and makes his home in Brookline.
Little william is essentially a Boston
product. To describe him in terms OF his
beloved mathematics, he Ia the Boston child
raised to the nth power.
4 William entered the primary depart
ment a year ago last spring. He was then
q. In thst respect he was like most other
children entering school.
He was also shout their size and, hke
them, he made his appearance in com.
'pany with his mother. Perhaps he clutched
her hand more than the rest did, but that
was not because he was afraid OF school.
II was Tor q reason which shall be explained
later.
All unswar that they had a prodigy
70 deal with, the primary teachers received
William James Sidis quite as II he had been
Johnny Jones. With that particular trand
Of gentle Patronage reserved for the first
Grade, Miss gaker asked il he knew his
letters.
He did. Could he read? He offered TO
demonstrate with the aid Of a volume OF
Shakespeare his ability in that line. When
he had done a scene from Julius Cesar
Il was very respectfully indeed that he
was admitted 10 the ranks Of learners.
But William James Sidis does not seem
20 be a learner. He is a diviner. Almost
he seems an owner in fee simple Of the
knowledge other people acquire by hard
work and long study.
When he says IL knew that before the
listener has an uncanny feeling that the
child il barking back to some previous
existence when he knew not only that
but pretty much everything else.
III look WlulhIn Odillct OliAs Ohuy a NoJ "a
two to show that the primary grade was no
place for him. He was promoted TO the
second grade before the week was out.
Inside OF another week he had been passed
on to the third grade, the teachers giving
o sigh Of relief as they settled back to the
comparative peace and quiet Of teaching
ordinary children.
IL s no fun TO ave a pupil who knew
that before" who suffers evident torture
when a thing Is told him more thar once,
who puts his fingers in his ears when knowl-
edge Ia being verbally hammered into the
heads about him, who does the same thing
during prayers because they do not nc into
certain private religious convictions ar
rived at by his own route, who IL q law
unto himself and 10 by virtue OF his unique
personality beyond other law.
No wonder that teacher after teacher
hRhed with relief AZ the little knicker-
-bockered figure went on and on, from grade
TO grade, tarrying no more than q few weeks
in any one OF them. He had typhoid fever
during the season, so that the total time he
spent in marching from the first grade %
the high school was about one-half OF a
school year.
A week ago he entered the high school
and again the trouble began. The child
In many wsys is still a child. His meteorio
flight through the lower grades had given
him no idea OF the school nut In which the
average pupil moves.
Far from school dominating William, 1t
was William that dominated school,. Know
ing, for instance, that he could do all the
problems in his algebra lesson 1t. did not
occur 10 him that he need put them all down
on paper. He had the serene conscious
mesa that he could do them. Why then
waste time at that point instead OF going
forward to something which as ~yet-only
"A vet--he did not know whether he could
dot
After his first day in high school his
teachers complained. They said he did
not do his work, that he was inattentive
and that they believed his cleverness was
superficial. In short, they didn't think he
was a prodigy, but IL he was one they
didn't want the jog trot Of the regular rou-
tine disturbed by his friskngs.
Then one OF the masters came TO the
rescue. He says that geniuses are far
from common, even in Boston, and hat he'd
sooner aid and abet one than not. He took
William apart and said:
-How's this, William l understand
that OF the nine problems In algebra yes
terday you did only three. Couldn't you
do the others?'
of counsel" said william. That's why
/ didn't do them
The paradox was perfectly plain to the
master, who nevertheless suggested to the
infant that he toss OF, s to speak, the en-
tire draught Of problems In the next lesson.
William did So. He did a few other things
too.
He asked permission early in the recita-
ton to point out 10 n Of the boys at the
blackboard what was going wrong In the
problem being dealt with. The teacher
gave the permission. The result was that
eight-year-old William practically took the
class in hand, wanted to do all the teaching
and left pupils and teacher gasping with
establishment.
The next day the master. who WINS up to
q weakness for geniuses. took the prodigy
under his own care.
NO, I won't talk about him, y this master
said to The Sun reporter, but his face
1tOhkad M in n NAV that uaa alOontant In