Absent-mindedness has been frequently a characteristic of men of fame. It is to be supposed, no doubt, that their minds have been so wholly absorbed by great matters that the smaller, more trivial things of life have been considered unworthy of their attention. Among men of this stamp who have suffered in this way was Lessing, a famous German writer of plays and books of criticism. Lessing discovered at one period of his life that he was being robbed of his ready money by some person in his home, and, unable to determine who the culprit was, he put the servants of his household to a test by leaving a handful of gold upon his breakfast table one morning.
Meeting a friend he told him what he had done.
"That was risky," said his friend. "How much did you leave there?"
"Dear me!" cried Lessing. "I quite forgot to count."
A BUSINESSLIKE BEGGAR.
They tell a story of an enterprising beggar of Paris who went about with a sign "I am blind" hung around his neck.
"But you are not blind!" said a man of whom he asked alms.
"I know that," said the beggar. "But the man whose business I bought was. He used to make ten francs a day on this route with this sign. I bought him out. Pray help a poor blind man a little, sir."