Perhaps the most famous midget in the world is Tom Thumb. The real name of the original Tom Thumb was Charles Sherwood Stratton. He was born in Bridgeport, Conn. in 1838 and weighed 9 ¼ pounds at birth. But
Charles Stratton virtually stopped growing at 6 months of age and remained about 25 inches in height and 15 pounds in weight until he entered his teens. Later he attained height of approximately 40 inches and a weight of 70 lbs. His father, a New England Puritan, looked upon his son being a midget as evidence of God’s displeasure and kept the boy confined to his home for sometime. When the boy was 4 years old P.T. Barnum, the showman, engaged him for exhibition purposes and changed his name to Tom Thumb. When Tom Thumb died in 1883 at the age of 45, he was still a midget.
Charles Stratton could not help being a midget due to faulty glands, but we can keep from being “spiritual midgets”. Our Father is displeased with us when we fail to grow, because he commands us to grow (II Pet. 3:18, I Pet. 2:1-2) He would not command us to do something we are unable to do. When Christians do not eat the proper spiritual food (Matt. 5:6) and take the proper spiritual exercise (Heb. 12:1-2) they too, will be midgets. Such midgets are a “sight” to a curious world and are displeasing to our Father.
– Henry McCaghren
