Arkansas intelligencer., 1849-12-01
the Arkansas IntelIigencer.
STORY OF a e n IU S!

rsTORY OF a GENIUS.
infancy, | was not like those around
- ~ pleasure in the rude. common place
INV brothers; could not join in their
clee. nor in those feais of agility of
~ we're so proud. My Father disliked
~ was timid. and. as he termed it.
nv Mother. because was not so beau
!s, o.Iers. No kind word cheered my
s~1. 10 kiss of love imprinted on my lips.
- IN solitude. where nature pours ont
E. -sr1s for those that love her. Nv de-
N gather siar-flowers on the azure fields
.sity. hurting about, instead of pebbles.
ads of millions of millions of miles in
s,snce. and blowing out suns with the
Ia single breath.
4, non of ball-plays. | conceived scenes
Z, contest among viewless beings of the
s.r.-noi fairies, or sy lphs, or any known
| 4 PRACTICAL conception, or popular super
sl bright. starry. immortal Creatures,
no, out of dust. like the rough. palpable
Ltbe vitality of flesh and bone. but out of
4sreaI light, and riding on sunbeams. living
fr5rw palaces, and independent of the laws
and sDace. Nv hide-and-seek was, to
| n wandering fancies among the stars that
.,sesn bevond the range of the telescope,
! 10 hunt them up, and The mystic affinities
| sg night dFaw around them, away among
iEgh.ed dingles of endless space, or amid
4, Of some exIinguished comet. My foot
|, sas. the velocity of excited passions. when
[st is all fame, and the fiery blood courses
Ia the swollen veins. like an impeiuous steed
F. accustomed track. Young hope, young
|-Oung ambition, were let loose, ah too early
sOul.
i frst period of my intellectual being was,
Il confidence. | confided most undoubted-
believed all things in NV own fiattering
stioss. in every reflected image which the
|aied future, gay hopes deiusive mirror.
[ack TO nv Youthful eyes. trusted with
Ebole heart, every lie of the world, nor
,ed that deception covered all things with It's
f heaven spread over the bIackness of hell.
Hjered through nv garden of flowers, deeming
and me alike above The power Of the winter
or the crushing fingers Of decay.
tsoon. very soon. | reached The second period
" Intellectual history: the period Of doubt.
saw that there were sin, and suffering. and
,h0lowness, in this fair. smiling, changeful
]. Twas not disappointment. but some
more awfully trying TO the patience. and
uciiYe to the hopes. that tore away the veil
eeSion frCm the surface of earthly things.
Is the demon-g0d Safety. Then came over
spirit the freezing certainty, that there was
ealiy in this real world. that all was lransi-
as the lsstOons Of morning mist. hung around
mountains brow, and one by one all nv low
faded away in intensest gloom. Then when
.y passed me by, swimming in light. such
rs cannot yiei5, and smiles that might create
and !Qye, in statue of marble, needed it
Il reminded me of the fcmb-dBSt of annihi-
.: cheerfuIness seemed wrecked mockery,
The mefriest laugh rung like funeral hnel.
ambition might have offered me the empire
o sOFld-unaccepted. | will no. say it would
; been, bot it certainly would have been de-
ID. baIhed the day, for it reminded me of
1, and the night still more, for it suggested
aeep which knows no waking-ihe dreamIess,
Hike sleep of death. Ioathed all things.
ls all are doomed to die, from the lights of
by, that shoot from their high places, to the
saf Of Flora's garden. Thus gloom. thick.
lie, and deraneiDg, vas gathering It's shades
! and closer around line fading ray of intel
d life.
t at last | have passed, know no. howl
:. tell when. into third period in my indi-
D history the period of patience. | know
as fully as when despair spread her mantle
ikness over my soul, That the earth and all
ly things, are mere emptiness. vain, and
sfactory. as the mirage TO the eye of the
led and weary pilgrim. know that enjoy
never can spring from any source. opened
IS unsubs,anlial world. My mind is nos
/, as the sleeping lake, .or my thoughts haze
directed upward my hopes have taken q
above and beyond the stars, TO that void
9 all is real. where no deceit wounds the soil,
e no storm of passion disturbs the TRANQUIL
ness Of the blesi.
ETTEvILLE, Nov. 18th, 1915 EUGENI.