Year: 1867

Stupidity acts good steadying influ-
ence; 1t enabled people to turn corners
by graceful curve instead of all abrup,
angle, and generally softens the shock
and collisions 60 which the world would
otherwise be exposed. We may often
observe on small scale the same pleas
ant, and. SO to say, lubricating, influ-
ende OF stupidity In society. If two
clever men come together who differ In
opinion upon some exciting topic, such
rs the Jamaica prosecutions, they prob
ably begin to argue as If argument were
not the very bane of all agreeable con-
versation. They manage to pierce each
others armor ut the weak places, to hit
upon the most irritating topics, and to
keep to that point In a manner calculat-
ed to be vexatious; for III two logical
people really keep to the point they
must ultimately end by something like
giving each other the lie. Now stupid
man acts i'm such a case as an admirable
buffer. He is probably argumentive,
but he prevents the argument ever
tending to conclusion. It rambles
vaguely about, and stirs up clouds OF
irrelevant topics, and get bewildered
and entangled till every one is glad to
drop it. The fool behaves like the
blunderer who interferes between two
skillful opponents, and prevents them
from ever closing; probably he is run
through the body himself but as it Is
In merely logical sense, he is perfectly
insensible to the wound. In short, the
presence of a few fools on such occa-
sious dulls the force Of the blows de-
Hvered. They act the part of the conf
pound which, when mixed with gun
powder, renders 1t non-explosive; and
society, which, If exclusively formed
OF clever men, would be q mere arena
for intellectual gladiators, becomes. toll
erably tranquil by reason of its fools.


1t must be admitted that the clever
fool does not possess this admirably
tranquilizing influence. On the con-
trary, he is one Of the disturbing ele-
ments Of society. A man who has
plenty of brains, but little wisdom,
must of course pursue an erratic and
incalculable cource. His political func-
ton Is obvious. He may be used to
demonstrate the futilityo new reforms,
when he acts as q leader; or, when act
ing under more capable guidance, to
supply the rank and file of forlorn
hopes. There are many clever men
| who have q talent for making any
cause they adopt ridiculous whether
vegetarianism, or the conversion of the
jews, or manhood suffrage; and it is q
fortunate coincidence when such men
adopt cause ridiculous In itself. The
best way of making its absurdity con-
spicuous to the popular mind is to asso-
ciate 1t irretrievably with an absurd
character. In the case of genuine re-
forms which have virtually enough to
survive the satire directed against most
incipient reforms, the clever fool Is
antI nj lx f,k1 81. n.
He is an involuntary martyr who adj
vertises his cause sufficiently to attract
the attention of other supporters, If
the cause survives him, he has the
chance of being canonized accordingly,
and perhaps n good many of those adj
mirable enthusiasts upon whom we
look back as wise beyond their time
merely had the luck to bfunder into the
right position.


Fools may be useful as ballast, but
very inconvenient when their weight
Is placed in more exalted stations. In
fact there Is good deal of reason for
holding that brains are more important
than virtue in high positions. In pri-
vate life IL is probably true, according
to sundry respectable aphorisms, that
virtue In moderation is on the whole a
good thing even i'm this life; but virtue,
when 1T takes the common form of
wrong-headed conscientiousness, is a
highly Objectionable pecuIiarity I'm
rulers. A man of first rate ability gem
orally does more good than harm us a
ruler, because IL is obviously his inter
est to make things work we'll, and to
get rid of obsolete machinery. Even
when his personal motives are bad, a
Caesar or Napoleon has sincere respect
for facts, and tendency to demoish
fictions whereas ruler with strong
conscience and an inferior brain is the
most likely OF all men to Justify revo-
luton. Hence the use of fools has very
strictly defined limits, and we need
never be afraid that the supply will not
be quite equal to the demand. .--lSatur-
day ReUielc.