And he would stand by these intellectual conclusions to the issue of life or death. Huge Judge Cone had called Stephens a traitor. Stephens retorted with the lie and threatened to slap the judge's face. They met. The judge demanded a withdrawal. Stephens refused and struck. There was an instant collision. Cone pulled out a knife and slashed his opponent again and again, got him down, and cried, *' Retract, or I '11 cut your damned throat." " Never! " said Stephens ; '*cut if you like." He caught the descending knife-blade in his bare hand, which was cut to pieces, and he went to the hospital, when his ad- versary was dragged off, with eighteen knife-thrusts in his body and arms. The man simply could not say he was wrong when he knew he was right. It is like the legend of Galileo, who succumbed to the gentle per- suasions of the Church and yet whispered, '* E pur si muove^
It is most interesting to follow out this intellectual ten- dency in the different phases of Stephens's life. To be- gin with, he was a man of system and exactness. Mani- fold and varied as his occupations were, he yet, w^here possible, arranged his time according to a schedule and gave certain hours to certain pursuits. Moreover, he had a fine memory for minute details and was always strong in dealing with figures and statistics. Art and the artistic side of literature seem to have had little attraction for him. His reading, which was both careful and extensive, was mainly in history and in lines of practical thinking
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