Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-17
What Do You Kno1U2

|
n questions which he put to them, Mr..
Thomas A. Edison describes certain
| college graduates who applied to him fol-
employment as amazingly ignorant" He
goes further and pronounces college men in
general amazingly ignorant"-"They dom
seem to know anything" Among his ques.
lions, and typical, were these:
Where do we get shelac from?"
"Of what kind of wood are ak handles
made?"
What State, produce phosphates?"
"Who wrote Home Sweet Home?'"
What ingredients are in the best white
paint?"
"How is window glass made?"
"Why is cast iron called pig iron?"
where is Spitzbergen?"
What voltage is used in street cars?'
"Who invented logarithms
Interesting questions, and we'll worth find
ing out; but is inability to answer them real
ly mark of sluggard wits or even of infor-
national inferiority? Suppose some bespec-
tacled, parchment-skinned deliver into things
curious should drop in to see Mr. Edison and
begin firing in this wise:
What is the art of haruspication?
What did Daedalus do?
Why did the Egyptians esteem the ibis
so highly?
When, approximately, was the book of Job
written?
What did Hanno do with the gorilla skins
which he brought back from his famous
7oyage?
Where and when lived Prester John
What will prevent tomato wilt?
What is redintegration?
Who found the thigh bone of Pithecan-
thropous, and how old is it reck, ned to be?
What is the longest word in Shakespeare?
These, too, are questions keenly interesting
but nobody would dream of calling Mr.. Edi-
son Amazingly ignorant" if over some of
them he should scratch his head in vain.
Sooth to say, the most learned are amazing
ly ignorant if qui1zed far beyond the field or
region of knowledge which it is their wont to
cultivate or to explore.N An old fisherman of
whom the Sage of Concord had made a fast
friend confided to a neighbor the opinion
that it was pity so fine man as Mr.. Emer-
son didn't have more "ejicashun.' Touch
stone, bubbling with the wit and worldly
wiseness of the court, encounters CORN, the
shepherd, and solemnly asks, Hast any phil
osophy in thee, shepherd" Whereupon simple
CORN, as clustered perhaps as Mr. Edison S
-oung collie gian, replies: ENC more but
that I know tn more one sickens, the worse
at ease he is; and that he that wants money.
means and content is without three good
friends; that the property of rain is to wet,
and fire to burn; that good pasture makes
fat sheep; and that great cause Of the
night is lack of the SUM- But Touchstone.
impressed though he must have been by this
shearing of wisdom, shoots back the embar-
RAISING query ''Wast ever in court, shep-
herd?" Alas for poor Corin,. now pressed
hopelessly beyond his range! mo, truly,
he stammers 'Then,' Touchstone triumphs,
| "truly thou art damn d-like an i'll roasted
egg, all on one s1de.
Just so are we all prone to damn" the
ignorance of those who dwell or thlnk out
side our own Giro Pharisee and Sadducee'
cocBney and rustic, Chinese and Occidental
each is shocked or riled or amused at the
Others peculiarities. And unless we are
careful to seek the grace of charity and pray
for the sense of humor we may 1all lnIo
neri1 of stoning the prophets and making
egreoious asses of ourselves. Who )ut the
crave Know-It-Alls put Ga''ieo in irons, ano
burnt the beauteous angel of Orleans, and
who hit thew set their hard faces SOWING
against the fre-bringers of every generatlon
| eft amt so much peoples Ignorance ina
does the HARM" said Artemus Ward; III
the.r knowing so many things that amt SO
which is precisely the vice of the olsoC
vbnther in science or politics or theology
Your true seer or scientist knows thaI ne Is
hut gatheri pebbles washed IN oy an III.
finite sea, and { the moment OF MS granee "
discovery turns skyward the eyes o.
child To imLart that spirit, along Win
hI,,,oer and relish for truth, is the rlght pul-
nose of every college as it is of all education
and az if was the example of that dear teacn-
or socrates, who, when they came ashing mn ~
bT the oracle pronounced him wlsest VI
Athenians lau shed the reply, peo 80
others know not, and know not 'na I,>r nnT1
Inow not. whilst I know not, ana NM"
that I know not