Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-08-06

pie and control much more than half its
land area.
Is this merely an interesting coinci-
dence or is there some truth IN the
theory of the mental superiority of the
small man? Everybody doesn't believe in
1.-THE large man certainly not-possibly
no one but the small man hmself?. 1t
must be conceded at once that Ave OF
these nine rulers are such by the acci-
dent of birth, and would have been
what they are, no doubt. had they been
as tall and stupid as our old friend Co
Hath of Gath. But they are not tall and
they are not stupid, and so at least they
can not be used as evidence against the
theory, while the other four may be pre-
scented as proof that the idea is worth
talking about if nothing more. And here
is the way one theorist, no doubt a small
man, does his talking:
'"we hold 1t fer a self-evident prop
osition" he says. that great men arc
always small Does the reader doubt
it? Then we will prove 1t to him. We
are astonished that no one has before
taken this topic up seriously II for no
other reason, 1t should be done to en-
courage the many small men who live
on earth, cheering them with the knowl-
edge of the vast intellectual stature at
tanned by men of like size with them
selves, and also to abate the pride. II
not the stature. of the sons of Anarek,
and keep them from looking down ON
men of lower height.
I'VE shall prove how incomparably SUI
perior the man of breyity Is to the man
of longitude. and while making the one
feel as though he had been stretched to
a higher standard, we shall cause the
other to shrink down. becoming smaller
by degrees and beautifully less, until
he is almost hidden in his own boots.
If the advantages of shortness were
enumerated they would I'LL volume,
and not a short one, either.
And here, to save ourselves some
troubel, we refer the reader TO De Quin-
eeys writings, where convincing proof
can be found that the ancient Greeks
and Romans were. as nations, middle II
not small-sized races. No one can read
the mass of proof collected by him up
on the question. or listen to the various
probabilities which he offers without be-
ing convinced that the race of ancient
heroes, statesmen. warriors orators and
writer's were men of moderate stature,
and as a race would now be considered
understood
1.-The ancients. then living in the cities
especially. were a shoft-legged people.
To proceed from the general to the par
ticular, however / assert that almost, II
not all. of the great men of Rome and
Greece, of whose stature any mention
was made, were men of small or mod
70 cfu tItpa Caesar. ARal-
saus, Solon. Socrates, are but few of
them Take a glance down 'Plutarch's
Lives and see how often he speaks of
his heroes as being OF small frame and
how rarely he aliudes to size IN any
one worthy of high place in history.
.sGlance over the history of the Middle
Ages, when size of body seems to have
been valued as indicating that personal
strength so necessary In an age or sin
gle combats; we find few large men
really great. Charlemagne and Alfred
stand out most prominently. We admit
in all his greatness. both of body and
mind. the deserved reputation which the
first has established Yet in the daz-
cling brilIianey of his glory we are like
ly TO forget that he was merely the sue
cessor and the follower of his father.
Pepin lie Brief. or the Little, who not on
ly cleared the way for his son. but
marked out and constructed much of
the road which he travelled so glorously,
"Canute the Dane, who wanted only n
few more years of life among the civil
izing influences of Christianity to have
rendered him the first man. and monarch
of Europe. was VIGOROUSLY of small
size and slender frame So commonly
was the truth of this fact regarded
among the Romans that it passed into
proverb: 'Tibi parcae. membra granda
dant eyes mentis;' that is, If the fates
have given you big body. you will.
want Qack) mind. And proverbs. we
know, contain the concentrated wisdom
of a community.
1--WE have spoken of some of the great
men of ancient times who were small
in person; there was one who stood out
among the very first in point of great
ness and who was not only man of
small stature. but who also assumed a
name Indicating his personal appearance.
We allude to Saul of Tarsus. the scholar.
preacher and organizer of the church.
He was low in stature; his name,
Paulus. is taken from the Latin and
means little or small
cone great asset of a small man and
often and deceiving trait to others as
far as his real ability Is concerned is his
modesty. II is somewhat of a physical
impossibility for small man to think
much of himself when larger persons
physically are in the same consideration.
Hence he often ultimately gets the bet
ter of his taller adversary because or
his apparent littleness and modesty
There are certainly at least two types
of short men of genius-the slight, frail
but fairly symmetrical type approach
ing what is called the true DWARF and
the type of the stunted giant Ca type al
so to be found among the dwarfs proper.
The former are fairly symmetrical, but
fragile; generally with little physical
vigor or health, all their energy being
concentrated in their brain. Kant was
of this type. The stunted giants are us
ually more vigorous. but lacking In SYM
metry. Far from being delicately dimin-
utive persons, they suggest tall persons
who have been cut short below; In such
the brain and viscera seem to flourish at
,, the expense of the limbs. and while alb
normal they often have the good fortune
to be robust in both mind and body.
| When such. the person Is likely TO be an