e's making," said the Idiot, with a
sigh. "Nature has set around me certain limitations which, while they are
not material, might as well be so as far as my ability to soar above them
is concerned--and it's well she has. If it were otherwise, my life would
not be safe or bearable in this company. As it is, I am happy and not at
all afraid of the effects your jealousy of me might entail if I were any
better than the rest of you."

"I like that," said Mr. Pedagog.

"I thought you would," said the Idiot. "That's why I said it. I aim to
please, and for once seem to have hit the bull's-eye. Mary, kindly break
open this biscuit for me."

"Have you ideas on the subject of architecture that you so desire to
become an architect?" queried Mr. Whitechoker, who was always full of
sympathy for aspiring natures.

"A few," said the Idiot.

Mr. Pedagog laughed outright.

"Let's test his ideas," he said, in an amused way. "Take a cathedral, for
instance. Suppose, Mr. Idiot, a man should come to you and say: 'Idiot,
we have a fund of $800,000 in our hands, actual cash. We think of
building a cathedral, and we think of employing you to draw up our plans.
Give us some idea of what we should do.' Do you mean to tell me that you
could say anything reasonable or intelligent to that man?"

"Well, that depends upon what you call reasonable and intelligent. I have
never been able to find out what you mean by those terms," the Idiot
answered, slowly. "But I could tell him something that I consider
reasonable and intelligent."

"From your own point of view, then, as to reasonableness and
intelligence, what should you say to him?"

"I'd make him out a plan providing for the investment of his $800,000 in
five-per-cent, gold bonds, which would bring him in an income of $40,000
a year; after which I should call his attention to the fact that $40,000
a year would enable him to take 10,000 poor children out of this
sweltering city into the country, to romp and drink fresh milk and eat
wholesome food for two weeks every summer from now until the end of time,
which would build up a human structure that might be of more benefit to
the world than any pile of bricks, marble, and wrought-iron I or any
other architect could conceive of," said the Idiot. "The structure would
stand up, too."

"You call that architecture, do you?" said Mr. Pedagog.

"Yes," said the Idiot, "of the renaissance order. But that, of course,
you term idiocy--and maybe it