80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND 



read my handwriting, so he went to see a friend of 

 him who could decipher my hieroglyphics, Mr. T. 

 Murkland, who explained him the contents of my 

 letter, but he was not satisfied ; he maintained that I 

 wanted roses, but did not say how many I wanted nor 

 the kind. Mr. Murkland told him I wanted none at 

 all. By God ! he said : look at the word Rosa / does 

 it not mean Roses ? No ! it means for you not to tell 

 your friend what he has written to you, but he add 

 that you can do it if you feel so ; he does not care. 



Now you will perhaps believe that I think that man 

 was an ass, not a bit of itj he was as smart as any 

 one called so; he was ignorant of the meaning of that 

 word, but he had no pretensions. Ignorance is not 

 stupidity but if he had any pretension to know things 

 that he did not he would be stupid, that's my. way to 

 define ignorance. I do not not know Hebrew, yet I do 

 uot consider myself an idiot because I am not a poly- 

 glot. See what it is to have too much modesty. I say 

 that I do not know Hebrew language when I do! 

 Amen! is Hebrew and I know it in English and 

 French, etc. So I am a polyglot also ! 



Now I have better to return to my subject, digres- 

 sions on smartness as a rule the community judge by 

 the label in the scale where the merits of men and 

 things are appreciated according to their specific weight 



