The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-04-01
WORLDS BRIGHTEST BOY WAS
 BORN ON ALL FOOLS DAY

whose name was William Wise. The tallest man I ever knew was a fel- low by the name of Short. Therefore I am not surprised to learn that the brightest boy in the world was born on the first of April, fourteen years ago today.
 William James Sidis, the marvel of precocity who, by a curious freak Of fate, was ushered into the world or the festival day of fools, first evi- denced his superior wisdom in his Boris Sidis, is member of the fac ulty of Harvard Medical School, and a savant and psychologist whose criti- cisms of the modern educational sys- tems have lately been given wide pub- licity. He is a Russian Jew, na- tive of the empire of the Great White Czar, who came to America in 1887 when twenty years of age. The moth CT of the youthful prodigy is wo- man of great learning, graduate of the Boston University Medical School and holds the degree of M. D.
 Dr. Sidis does not believe in forcing the minds of tender children, but Will lie sidis needed no admonitions to study. Between the ages of one and two he learned to read, at three could write on a typewriter, and at four had mastered the contents of many weighty books and could repeat such passages as pleased him. When only six he passed the entrance examina- ton of Harvard Medical School. Math- ematics early claimed his attention, and by the time he was nine he had become an expert astronomer. At that age he could also speak half a dozen languages, and had invented a new Universal language" of his own, which by many linguists has been de- clared equal to Esperanto. At eleven he became a Harvard freshman, a member of the class of '13-the young est student in the long history of that institution-and astOunded the faculty by delivering a lecture on abStruse mathematical subjects connected with the fourth dimension"
 Dr. Sidis believes that in the atmos- phere of American freedom his sons mind has blossemed forth with the fruit of the accumulated intellect of generations of his ancestors, whose minds, through oppression, were bar ren and unproducasve. He also holds that the system of education he adVO- cates has had great deal to do with Willie Sidis' marvellous intellectual at- tainments, and that any normal boy. trained by the Sidis method, could be fitted to enter college at eleven.
 The first day Willie Sidis attended public school at Brookline, Mass, the teacher asked him If he could read He took from his pocket a copy of Julius Caesar and recited an entire scene. The astounded pedagogue al most tainted. Beginning in the first grade at g o'clock, at noon Willie was in the third grade. Seven grades 1n seven months was his record, and the teachers were up in arms. They had prejudices against attempting to teach anything to a savant who clearly knew f1nx Willie shocked their religious sensi- biIities by calmly but firmly insist ing upon putting his fingers in his ears during the few minutes set apart for morning prayers. He explained that the God idea was only a relic of superstitious ages, and that sensi- ble people no longer believed in any supernatural Deity. Yet, when Will lie was asked what living man was his most beloved hero, he replied, with out a moments hesitation:
 Hans Wagner"