Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1887 — The Size of It. [ARTICLE]

The Size of It.

It is doubtful if the intimate relation between mass and dignity in physical presence is at all appreciated. There is a popular superstition that innate majesty, some compelling power of the intellect, is the secret of that influence which leaders exercise over their followers; and although this may be true in the long run, and despite tlie list of instances from history with Napoleon L at the head that may be brought up, when it comes to immediate influence, and to practical, every-day affairs, commend us to the man of avoirdupois for getting his own way and making himself felt in the world. “My sole ambition,” a gentleman of pretty solid figure remarked the other day, “is to weigh two hundred and twenty pounds. When I have accomplished tliat I have no fear of getting all the deference I want. Don’t you notice how much more attention is paid to men who are big? If a small-sized individual begins to talk in a crowd nobody pays the slightest attention to him unless he has some sort of a bouncing reputation; but if he is a large man everybody turns round and says: ‘Let’s hear what this splendid great fellow has to say for himself.’ Oh, there is nothing like size, I tell you, iu making one’s way in the world.” Of course there was a certain whimsicality in this, but there was, too, a great deal of truth. There is a momentum and swing in mass, pure and simple, against which nothing short of the most vigorous intellect can hold its own, and even that stands thechance of being roughly used in a hand-to-hand encounter. A large man pushes himself forward simply by letting himself go. The force of gravitation seems to be enough to take him along, once he is star ted; and people stand out of his way instinctively, with a fear learned from the dangerous results of physical mishaps. It was said of a huge bully once that he got his way simply by the size of his frown, and the principle is of general implication. We are all of us susceptible to mere size, anR however much we may pride ourselves upon the unerring discrimination with which we discern intellectual greatness, we none the less are seldom able wholly to free ourselves rom the domination of the compelling brute force of physical bulk. —Bouton Courier. The largest copper plates ever rolled in Pittsburgh, Pa., were turned out last week. They were circular in form and measured 176 inches in diameter.