to another, as a self-satisfied acquaintance strutted away from the
pair after a monologue of ten minutes upon a matter of which both of
his companions knew infinitely more than he. "I hadn't patience to
listen to him, much less answer him good-humoredly--he is such a
fool!"

"I let him alone because he is a fool."

"But he is puffed up by the fond impression that you agree with him!"

"That doesn't hurt me,--and waste of cellular tissue in such a cause
would!"

"Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit?" asks Solomon. "There is
more hope of a fool than of him."

Which I take to mean that self-conceit is the rankest form of folly, a
sort of triple armor of defence against counter-statement and
rebutting argument. So far as my experience goes to prove a
disheartening proposition,--all fools are wise (to themselves) in
their own conceit. The first evidence of true wisdom is humility. One
may be ignorant without being foolish. Lack of knowledge because the
opportunity for acquiring it has been withheld, induces in the human
mind such conditions as we find in a sponge that has been cleaned and
dried. Information fills and enlarges the pores. Ignorance that is
content with itself is turgid and saturated. It will take up no more,
no matter what is offered.

This is the form of folly which the preacher admonishes us to answer
in kind. The effort to force the truth upon the charged sponge is an