The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-10
s~+s
= STATURE AND BRAINS.
. . = = i I = = 4
Chicago Tribune

NNAA4Sd6O 4flDuIlCsJ
The ~failacious notion that great
ness. genius and cleverness go with
the little man and that the big lad
runs a huge chance Of being left be.
hind in the intellectual marathon
dates from the days Of Napoleon's
splendor. The Little Corporal" is
indirectly responsible for the SUPER
stition, and 1t is no older than his
fame.
In the> good old barbaric days the
big man was revered for his height
and Drawn and certainly stood the
best chance in the competition for
power. So much depended upon the
strength Of the arm and a heavy
hand. Then when the Corsican prov
ed that a man Of diminutive physique
and no particular health could pos
sess a mercurial mind and sway un-
limited power with more or less wis
dom the whole world jumped to the
conclusion hat in some fashion the
law Of compensation, whatever that
may be, had been at work bestow-
ing all the genius on the understood
man and leaving the big man to shift
for himself.
Truly it is all a superstition. Aside
from the men who have made. them
selves by their public appearances
where an impressive bearing counts
" AAluSAAS ] 10 NY IN AlACdAlS OlIllcull
to point out q hundred of the worlds
greatest figures who have attained
the height Of six feet or more and
thousands who have been designated
in historic annals as tall and impos-
ing.
Nobody writes, novels any more
with little heroes, and, in fact, they
never did; but now, especially since
the girls seem to be sprouting up to
ciprh ,pn11S11o1 hoirht0 IL vl,n1p11 male
a ludicrous figure of a ma to de-
scribe him as a little a even
though he had an imposing brow and
all that goes with the Napoleonic
pose. 1t still takes height to make a
man impressive, be the connection
romantic or otherwise; and as to as
sociating unusual endowments with
brevity Of ~height-,alas for the little
man!-it is hard to substanttate
among modern figures or great men
Of the past.
OF cours there are such worthless
as the immortal Napoleon, Alexander
Hamilton, Charles Lamb. Beethoven
and Stephen A. Douglas for the con-
ISOLATION of the diminutive man with
the big head and the aspiring but
understood genius. They were all be-
and imposing brows. They made
themselves felt in various spheres Of
life, but there are so many giants.
moderately tall men, tall men and
middle-sized fellows who have just
as much right to red ink On: the pag-
es Of history that it is difficult to
draw any conclusions from so small
a number. however select.
For instance, here IRE a few who
were always reputed to have been
of unusual size and bulk: Charles
Sumner was 6 feet 4 inches tall. Both
Thomas Jefferson and Charles God
frey Leland were 6 feet 2h inches.
and Andrew Jackson was just an
inch shorter than they. Abraham
Lincoln was 6 feet 4 inches. and
there are enough of the elect lover 6
feet according to biographers, to
make the small man feel more or
i, less out of the race.
For instance, there are Sam Ad-
ans. Captain Cook, Charlemagne.
Bismarck, Jonathan Edwards. salman
P. Chase. Eugene Field, Henry Field
ing. Charles Darwin, the elder Du-
mas. Walt Whitman. Bayard Taylor.
James Monroe. Alfred Tennyson.
George Washington and George
Thomas. Then there are Phillip
Brooks and Robert Southey. general
" described as Of abnormal height,
and a hundred others.
The man who most recently spread
abroad and helped to establish the
theory of the inherent greatness Of
small men vas no less person than
Lombroso. the great Italian GRIMM
ologist, recently dead. Possibly the
professor. being of no great stature,
felt bound to establish his own claim