The Wond'rous Wise ManThere was a man in our townAnd he was wond'rous wise;He jumped into a bramble bushAnd scratched out both his eyes.And when he saw his eyes were out,With all his might and mainHe jumped into another bushAnd scratched them in again!OUR town is a quiet little town, and lies nestling in a little valleysurrounded by pretty green hills. I do not think you would ever haveheard our town mentioned had not the man lived there who was so wisethat everyone marvelled at his great knowledge.He was not always a wise man; he was a wise boy before he grew tomanhood, and even when a child he was so remarkable for his wisdom thatpeople shook their heads gravely and said, "when he grows up there willbe no need of books, for he will know everything!"His father thought he had a wond'rous wise look when he was born, andso he named him Solomon, thinking that if indeed he turned out to bewise the name would fit him nicely, whereas, should he be mistaken,and the boy grow up stupid, his name could be easily changed to Simon.But the father was not mistaken, and the boy's name remained Solomon.When he was still a child Solomon confounded the schoolmaster byasking, one day,"Can you tell me, sir, why a cow drinks water from a brook?""Well really," replied the abashed schoolmaster, "I have never giventhe subject serious thought. But I will sleep upon the question, andtry to give you an answer to-morrow."But the schoolmaster could not sleep; he remained awake all the nighttrying to think why a cow drinks water from a brook, and in the morninghe was no nearer the answer than before. So he was obliged to appearbefore the wise child and acknowledge that he could not solve theproblem."I have looked at the subject from every side," said he, "and given itcareful thought, and yet I cannot tell why a cow drinks water from abrook.""Sir," replied the wise child, "it is because the cow is thirsty."The shock of this answer was so great that the schoolmaster faintedaway, and when they had brought him to he made a prophecy that Solomonwould grow up to be a wond'rous wise man.It was the same way with the village doctor. Solomon came to him oneday and asked,"Tell me, sir, why has a man two eyes?""Bless me!" exclaimed the doctor, "I must think a bit before I answer,for I have never yet had my attention called to this subject."So he thought for a long time, and then he said,"I must really give it up. I cannot tell, for the life of me, why a manhas two eyes. Do you know?""Yes, sir," answered the boy."Then," said the doctor, after taking a dose of quinine to brace up hisnerves, for he remembered the fate of the schoolmaster, "then pleasetell me why a man has two eyes.""A man has two eyes, sir," returned Solomon, solemnly, "because he wasborn that way."And the doctor marvelled greatly at so much wisdom in a little child,and made a note of it in his note-book.Solomon was so full of wisdom that it flowed from his mouth in aperfect stream, and every day he gave new evidence to his friends thathe could scarcely hold all the wise thoughts that came to him. Forinstance, one day he said to his father,"I perceive our dog has six legs.""Oh, no!" replied his father, "our dog has only four legs.""You are surely mistaken, sir," said Solomon, with the gravity thatcomes from great wisdom, "these are our dog's fore legs, are they not?"pointing to the front legs of the dog."Yes," answered his father."Well," continued Solomon, "the dog has two other legs, besides, andtwo and four are six; therefore the dog has six legs.""But that is very old," exclaimed his father."True," replied Solomon, "but this is a young dog."Then his father bowed his head in shame that his own child should teachhim wisdom.Of course Solomon wore glasses upon his eyes--all wise people wearthem,--and his face was ever grave and solemn, while he walked slowlyand stiffly so that people might know he was the celebrated wise man,and do him reverence.And when he had grown to manhood the fame of his wisdom spread allover the world, so that all the other wise men were jealous, and triedin many ways to confound him; but Solomon always came out ahead andmaintained his reputation for wisdom.Finally a very wise man came from Cumberland, to meet Solomon and seewhich of them was the wisest. He was a very big man, and Solomon wasa very little man, and so the people all shook their heads sadly andfeared Solomon had met his match, for if the Cumberland man was as fullof wisdom as Solomon, he had much the advantage in size.They formed a circle around the two wise men, and then began the trialto see which was the wisest."Tell me," said Solomon, looking straight up into the big man's facewith an air of confidence that reassured his friends, "how many sistershas a boy who has one father, one mother, and seven brothers?"The big wise man got very red in the face, and scowled and coughed andstammered, but he could not tell."I do not know," he acknowledged; "nor do you know, either, for thereis no rule to go by.""Oh, yes, I know," replied Solomon; "he has two sisters. I know this isthe true answer, because I know the boy and his father and his motherand his brothers and his sisters, so that I cannot be mistaken."Now all the people applauded at this, for they were sure Solomon hadgot the best of the man from Cumberland.But it was now the big man's turn to try Solomon, so he said,"Fingers five are on my hand;All of them upright do stand.One a dog is, chasing kittens;One a cat is, wearing mittens;One a rat is, eating cheese;One a wolf is, full of fleas;One a fly is, in a cup--How many fingers do I hold up?""Four," replied Solomon, promptly, "for one of them is a thumb!"The wise man from Cumberland was so angry at being outwitted that hesprang at Solomon and would no doubt have injured him had not ourwise man turned and run away as fast as he could go. The man fromCumberland at once ran after him, and chased him through the streetsand down the lanes and up the side of the hill where the bramble-bushesgrow.Solomon ran very fast, but the man from Cumberland was bigger, and hewas just about to grab our wise man by his coat-tails when Solomon gavea great jump, and jumped right into the middle of a big bramble-bush!The people were all coming up behind, and as the big man did not dareto follow Solomon into the bramble-bush, he turned away and ran home toCumberland.All the men and women of our town were horrified when they came up andfound their wise man in the middle of the bramble-bush, and held fastby the brambles, which scratched and pricked him on every side."Solomon! are you hurt?" they cried."I should say I am hurt!" replied Solomon, with a groan; "my eyes arescratched out!""How do you know they are?" asked the village doctor."I can see they are scratched out!" replied Solomon; and the people allwept with grief at this, and Solomon howled louder than any of them.Now the fact was that when Solomon jumped into the bramble-bush he waswearing his spectacles, and the brambles pushed the glasses so closeagainst his eyes that he could not open them; and so, as every otherpart of him was scratched and bleeding, and he could not open hiseyes, he made sure they were scratched out."How am I to get out of here?" he asked at last."You must jump out," replied the doctor, "since you have jumped in."So Solomon made a great jump, and although the brambles tore himcruelly, he sprang entirely out of the bush and fell plump into anotherone.This last bush, however, by good luck, was not a bramble-bush, but oneof elderberry, and when he jumped into it his spectacles fell off, andto his surprise he opened his eyes and found that he could see again."Where are you now?" called out the doctor."I'm in the elderberry bush, and I've scratched my eyes in again!"answered Solomon.When the people heard this they marvelled greatly at the wisdom of aman who knew how to scratch his eyes in after they were scratched out;and they lifted Solomon from the bush and carried him home, where theybound up the scratches and nursed him carefully until he was well again.And after that no one ever questioned the wond'rous wisdom of our wiseman, and when he finally died, at a good old age, they built a greatmonument over his grave, and on one side of it were the words,"Solomon; the Man who was Wond'rous Wise."and on the other side was a picture of a bramble-bush.
