Lessing once had a servant, of whose honesty he was warned repeatedly. For a long time he paid no attention to this, but finally he concluded to test the man. He told a friend that he had left some money on the table, to see whether their suspicions were well founded. “But did you count how much you put there?” asked the friend who knew Lessing’s absent-mindedness. Lessing looked at him startled; the need of counting it had never occurred to him.
Who He Was
One day Lessing entered an inn and sat down to write. The host came and asked him who he was. Lessing, intent on his writing, did not answer. Then the landlord came close to his side, looked over his paper and asked again harshly: “Who are you, sir; I wish to know!” Lessing turned around and said very seriously: “I am Lucas the Evangelist.” The saint, be it remembered, is always painted with an ox at his side.
Called Him Names
While Lessing was with Lichtenberg in Göttingen, they talked one time about genius. Lichtenberg said: “You are a genius!” To which Lessing replied: “I feel tempted to box the ears of anybody who calls me names like that.”
Absent-minded Men
Theodor Mommsen, the genial historian, when working, was oblivious to everything that happened about him. Once he had a servant who knew well how to take advantage of this. He served his master’s dinner in the study, and asked him to come to the table, but the professor paid not the slightest attention to him. A bright idea came to the man. He served the second course, took away the first, and ate it himself. He did the same with the second and third courses.
A few hours later, the professor began to feel the want of food, and going to the kitchen he asked, angrily: “Am I not to have anything to eat to-day?” “Why the professor has dined long ago,” answers the servant unblushingly, and Mommsen, cursing his absent-mindedness, went back to his work again.
Force of Habit
There are absent-minded physicians too. The physician of one of the princes was so busy, that he never found time to take care of his own health. Finally a virulent fever took hold of him. Absent-mindedly he felt his own pulse and muttered: “The fellow is lost; that comes from the stupidity of people who never will call in a doctor till it is too late.”