The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-10

to. the immortal gallery. and that
sentiment entered into his defense
Of the little man.
The list Of big mon given above.
1t will be seen. covers almost every
conceivable occupation and profess
greatness. The little man might be
inclined to attribute a big mans sue
cess to his overwhelming presence
and the effect that this would have |
upon the public. which still worships
manly size and strength. II they were
all men who depended upon their
public appearances for their success.
diers; many OF them never sven held
an executive ONCE Of any sort. but
concealed their bulk In the privacy
OF their studies. One can possibly
believe that Captain Cook. Jonathan
Edwards. Sumner and perhaps WASH
tngton held q certain dominance over
men by their stature and inspired re-
but what did height have to do with
Darwin's biological studies, Tenny-
sons versiication or Wait Whttman's
writings?
It is only natural, Of course, that |
little men with no particular phys
ique SHOULD be relegated to the intel
lectual pursuits and hat they should
onueaSOt 70 MAKE up lot tnelT 1aCk
OF physique in study. cleverness and
the exercise Of their cerebral facul-
ties. 1t is the traditional practice on.
the farm to select the little fellow
tor the most schooling and ultimate
entrance into some trade or profess
sion where his brain will count for
more than his body: He need not
necessarily be the genius Of the FAM
lily, blu the big boys and girls are
needed to do, the heavy work and
their schooling Is Just as brief as the
law permits.
This scheme has worked for so
many centuries in all fields Of labor
that the little ma has certainly been
given a decided start over his big
brothers and the full sized man. ca
pable OF doing the worlds manual
more or less by a process Of selec-
ton. This by no means proves that"
the little member OF the family Is
the cleverest- but he ts given every
advantage while his husky relatives
pillow the stony hillside, and. with a
trained mind. no matter how inferior
it may be. he naturally outstrips and
outgrows his environment.
In the middle ages the little men
went into the church and the big
men into the heavy trades and the
army, where brains at that time were
not particularly an asset. Chief Just
ice Marshall, Shelley. Byron and
Keats were all fairly tall men, but
they were all men born to positions
or the capacity Of independence.
Other circumstances. such as racial
tendencies. climate and environment.
and so forth, go far to disprove h
tradition that all short men have an
advantage in cleverpess over their big
fellows. The southern Europeans
are all short. and the jewellers Of the
north always have been tall and stall
wart. Coast jewellers almost univers-
ally are smaller than mountain and
forest folk. 1t has been pointed u
by champions OF the superior small
man that nearly every great COM
mander at sea has been a short man.
Now ,seamen usually are coast dwell
ers, and it would follow that the sail
or should be shorter than the forest
ranger and mountaineer.
Nelson, the great English admiral,
was below medium height, but there
have been great sailors ana seafaring
adventures from nations Of tall peo-
pie who were Of enormous proper
tons. For instance, witness the re-
puted height Of every great viking OF
whom we have any record. Scandi-
way the mountains and forests came
down to the sea, and the sailors were
mountaineers as we'll. 1t hardly can
be said of such men as Harold Hard
rada, Harold Haarfager, Left Ericsson,
Rolf. the ancestor Of William the
Conquerer, and all the other Svens.
Erics. and .Harolds. that they lacked
power in spite of the fact that they
were all described as giants Of enor-
nous strength and belligerent PROV
ess.
Lombroso in Italy might easily
have looked about him n said, "all
our great men are little men," Not
only the geniuses. but the sluggards
as we'll. are small in his native land.
The tall man is an exception, yet
there have been tall Romans and
Italians who have achieved fame and
in some instances greatness. Julius
Caesar and Lorenzo de Medici were
above middle height.
From these W worthless grading
down to middle size-say from five
feet ten or eleven inches down to
five feet seven or eight inches-the
category Of tall" men includes many
more distinguished ame Matthew
Arnold and Christopher Columbus.
Agassiz and Bryant, Charles XII. Of
Sweden and 'Stonewall" Jackson.
Ben Jonson and General Sam Hous-
ton. Edward Fitzgerald and Peter the
Great. Thackeray and Thaddeus Stew
ems. Leigh Hunt and Patrick Henry.
Francis Parkman and John Bunyan.
Richard Strauss and Sidney Smith.
were or are all above medium height
and to any one familiar with their
careers the juxtaposition Of these
names Is sufficient to prove that
height is no more a deterrent to
genius in the retiring professions
than in public life.
On the other hand, it Is really q
simple matter to compile a list OF
little men who are tall in achieve
ments. but the little man. like the
farmer boy who is understood, invari-
ably has the advantage. because he
can do nothing else II he is not will
ing to fight with his intelligence: The
big mar has SO many temptations to
use his strength. John Paul Jones
grown big, enough. OF a blacksmith.
for that matter. Theodore Parker
came of country people. and while
there is nothing to prove that. he
would not have been a preacher had
he grown above 5 feet 8 inches. there
is a possibility that had he been six
inches taller he would have been too
precious in his fathers stony fields to
have beer spared for college.
Robert Browning, John Adams. Sir
Thomas Moore. the Duke of yelling
ton. William the Silent, Frederick the
Great, Schubert. Grant and Rossetti
were all little men, ranging from S
feet 8 inches down. These are re-
sounding names, but II it is simple
and easy to run them of 1t is sven