The Wilmington morning star., 1941-01-21

NEW YORK, Jan. 2o-Noth;rr
could shake me worse than IN 5is
cover n day all across page ~
the papers that instead of beina
genius and wizard Professor Alhert
Einstein was just plain crazv. bu,
1t is something to think abont
nevertheless, because, after all
how do we know? If a man is 81
smart that nobody else can under.
stand him how do we now he is
smart? How do we know he isn't
making up out of his head. and
even when he writes j. down. whv
you can't even print it, because we
don't have any words or letters for
it, and you have to take picture,
OF it and print the pictures instead
Like when little kids are inst
learning to make chicken tracks
on a piece of paper with a pencil
and they say these marks spell
something, so you enter into the
spirit of the thing and say it's
wonderful, but, of course. in the
case of a little kid Jou know it is
just a gag.
Down at Princeton
But you take, for instance, down
at Princeton they have a thing they
call the department for advanced
thinking, and, Just like regular col.
leges, they get together a certain
number of hours a week and think.
but you can't understand it be.
cause it is all way out of this
world, but, nevertheless, they
claim it is very tasty if you know
the score. They get around a
blackboard and make signs on it
like you make playing hopscotch
or like you write on the wall of the
phone booth when you are waiting
for your party, but they claim
these marks mean something mys.
ferrous, and the way they talk it
up you just take it for granted,
and everybody says they certainly
are marvellous, and how can they
stand it to be so smart.
What I want to know is how do
we know it isn't all a gag, and
maybe they get together in some
body's room at night and play
~ticktacktoe, and decide they will
juice it up and call in the report.
ers and tell them they have lust
discovered a new kind of gas In
sun, and these scorecards of the
ticktacktoe tournament - well,
they represent the idea, but if any.
body wants to know just how they
figure that out they say you are
too dumb to understand. Because
even if we have got some reporters
from Harvard now, well, after all,
you ask any girl who has been to
an affair with a Harvard student
and they will tell you they get their
share of dummies at Harvard, too,
and Einstein could fool them as
easy as he could fool the next one.
Joke on You
I mean if you think a thought
that doesn't make any n and
you tell it to me, well, naturally,
l look you over to see if you have
been gnaWing a crock, because if
your idea doesn't make any sense
it means I am dumb or you are
drammed up. Like, if I do say it
myself, we didn't raise, any half
wits in our family, and l could
always count my change, so if d
thought doesn't make sense the
joke is on you, and it certainly
doesn't mean that I am the dummy
But these wizards they make a
lot of marks that aren't letters al
all or even numbers but just hooks,
like you check a laundry list and
plus and minus and divide by a
mark that looks like a mistake,
and they say that is their wonder
full new idea and you are supposed
to collapse:
How co they know so much about
the sun just from looking at it
through a piece of creased paper
or a spyglass and putting down
marks when my eyes are as good
as a%nybodys, and if they say space
curves you are supposed to give
them a big writeup.
Or suppose I get a press ager.
to spread it around how l have
made up some positively new
thoughts, but nobody can even I'M
derstand what they are about, are
they going to give me a house and
a salary to come down to Prince"
ton and just quietly think in car
pet slippers and an old sweater,
because I am a wizard? Or Will
the family go to the judge and say
they are afraid to have me around
talking that way and making 7y
marks on paper, so how abe, W
ing me a test, and if l can eE.
plain it to the jury, we'll, you
know where they will put me. They
will put me away under glass
somewhere until I come out OF II
If the jury can't understand me
can't say the jury is crazy anu
you better put them away. 1hey
will say I am the I'M who is nuIS,
and that is what bothers me apoOs
Professor Einstein and the resi- o.
the advanced thinkers at Prince,
ton, because to hear them tell you
the rest of the world is teeolI
minded and we all ought to DC
locked up because W. don't unael'
stand them.
1 don't know. Maybe we arr
nuts and they are smart, when you
come to think how all they nave
to do is live at Princeton free WIN
a pretty good salary and the po's