Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 295, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1915 — Size and Ability [ARTICLE]

Size and Ability

"You can’t teU by the look of a frog ’ how far ho can jump.” That old and crude philosophy is as applicable to men as to frogs, says the Kansas City Star. A story in the Star, a short time ago, told of the arthral at Union station of four men, three of them alert, well-dressed, impressive-looking. The fourth wore a battered old gaberdine frayed at the buttonholes. His manner was timid and retiring. In size he was insignificant. He was a little great man. Dr. Charles H. Mayo, one of the greatoet surgeons the world has over known. John B. Gough, the great platform orator, used to tell a story about himself, how he arrived late at a hall in Glasgow, where he was to speak. The place was packed. He could not got in. To the crowd wedged into the front entrance he told that he must fiet in, he was Gough, the speaker. They looked at him, he was an undersized man. and laughed. They imagined that Gough, the great orator, must bo a tall Tnan. He went to a side window, hoping to be able to crowd in there. It was already jammed full, and they, too, laughed when he told them ho was John B. Gough. Finally he went to a rear door and told the man on guard there that ho was Gough. .“Yes, five or six other men have already told me t K at,” the watchman said. Gough gave him a shilling to pass him in to the stage and after the lecture the doorkeeper went to him and said: "Well, Gough you’re like a singed cat; better than you look.* Many men who do great things are small in stature and Insignificantlooking. Nearly all of them would pass unnoticed in a crowd. Gen. Sir John French, field marshall tn command of the British forces in France, "the incomparable Ney* of the British army, Is described as: “Short and squat In stature, a ludicrous figure on horseback and not at all the sort of man In appearance one expects a cavalry leader to be." And he Is “quiet and unassuming.* They all are—all the men who do great things. Lloyd-George, British chancellor of the excequer, one of the great men of England, Is described as follows in Colliers Weekly: "A short, stocky man, about the size of La Follette, there was nothing distinguished In his appearance.* Ho is known as “the little Welsh lawyer.* Lord Roberts, a great general, was known as "Little Efobs.* Grant was short and stocky. Lord Nelson, "the greatest sea fighter the world has ever seen,* was undersired and delicate. Napoleon was “the lltte Corporal.” Stephan A. Douglas was "the little giant.” Harriman and Jay Gould, wizards of railway finance, were u» derslzed. So Is John D. Rockefeller. The list might be extended to cot umns, disproving the popular belief that for a man to be a genius he must be big; but still the world will keep on believing it.