As for the rest, they were numskulls, ninnies, superficial, dogmatic, and ignorant.
It was their ignorance that astounded him.

What was the matter with them?
What had they done with their educations?
They had had access to the same books he had.

How did it happen that they had drawn nothing from them?
He knew that the great minds, the deep and rational thinkers, existed.

He had his proofs from the books, the books that had educated him beyond the Morse standard.

And he knew that higher intellects than those of the Morse circle were to be found in the world.