BAD FOOL NON-EXISTENT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIII, Issue 8743, 17 December 1913, Page 6

BAD FOOL NON-EXISTENT.

But to go back to the lighter side of Mr Ei'skine's contention. If it is . tiot true, that the good and intelligent man is rare in literature, we must yet admit that the. bad fool it also nonexistent. Yet we have all seen a great many in life. It does, not seem as it .some prejudices had prevented our ..social chroniclers from recording that impotent wickedness. Again, .to take the point which Mr Erskine has accentuated in his title and not elaborated in, his thesis, is it the fault of a good man if he is stupid? If he is a positively and not merely a negatively good man, we are almost inclined to say that it is. A positively good man mugt be unselfish and must be sympathetic. To put one's self in. another person's place requires a gpod deal of mental effort. If a man can make the effort in one direction he can make it in another. Many good people do not take the trouble to be intelligent. But stop—are, we. justified in saying this? We "have been talking of Trackeray. Oould Amelia, have been intelligent, -.try as she-might? For our own parts, -we arc inclined to' believe that real positive goodness together with dense stupidity is not possible to man it is possible to woman, however-*Thack-eray juado no mistake.