The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-05-23
DeIusiOn About Genius. !

IT Is common mistake, especially with
young men Of ability, to suppose that what
they, call genius is sufficient for success in
life. They snesr at the s,udious as stupid
book.worms,' aerids the. industrious as mere
plodders, and boast that it is only necessa.
ry to apply themselyes for few minutes
in order to conquer the most difficult tasks.
We have seen, III our time, many SUCH
We have observed them, moreover, in ey-
cry walk Of life. We have known them as
quick working mechanics, as brilliant de-
Chalmers in debating societies, as witty or
eloquent students in college. But we have
lived long enough to notice that most OF
them have made shipwreck Of themselves
forever. The smart mechanic, disdaining
to work all the week when four or FIVE
Days labor would produce as much as 9TH
ers earned who toiled from Monday morn
ing till Saturday night, has generally &C.
duiree habits Of dissipation and idieness,
and ended, sometimes, in the penitentiary;
but more frequently in the drunkard's grave
The snowy orator has become a lazy law
yer, or good-for-nothing editor, or pot
Louise politician. Phe idle, though able stu.
dent, has sunk into fast young man, and
died before reaching forty, the victim of
his own excesses. As we look back on
those we knew Of these classes, scarcely
twenty years, ago, we See, alas! that almost
general ruin has overtaken them ,i.'- 81
That there Il naturally difference be-
tween men, in point Of ability, We do not
pretend to deny This difference is less
great, however, than is geherally suppos-
ed; and no genius, moreover; is sufficient
OF itself. without discipline and study. The
difference, we say, is not SO great as is
usually believed. 1t is true one person may
excel another in what Is popularity called
eloquence, but generally he is deficient in
something else, as, for example in the pure
ly logical faculty. A witty lawyer, able to
keep jury in roar, may not be as able
to argue case in bank US a less felicit-
GUS rival. An excellent book-keeper, to
whom long columns of figures are nothing,
may yethave no mechanical faculty at all,
and a good mechanic may be poor ac-
countant. Nature wisely distributes her
favors. generally bestowing. different spe-
cialities, so to speak, on different persons.
Jefferson was a great civilian, but had no
talent for war whatever. Wayne was a
splendid general, but quite an Indifferent
legislator. Putnam could head charge
gallantly, or defend a post heroically, but
had no head for planning complicated
campaign. In more humble life we see
similar proofs of this difference. There are
women, for irstahce, who can. cut and fit
as if by instinct, who seem, indeed. natural
born mantua-makers or tailors. There are
others who always bungle if they attempt
such things. .'" ',.,' sa5 '" $3.50
Everybody, in fact, who is not an idiot,
has a favorite faculty, or, to use the pro-
verbal phrase, "a knack of doing some.
thing Now genius, in its true accepta-
tiOn, is a knack of doing many things; OF,
in its narrower sense, is knack of excel
ling in literature Politics, or war. But as,
in the humblest life, proficiency, even in
that for which the person has peculiar fac
iilty, is only to be obtained BY practice, so,
in the higher walks Of mind, discipline is
absolutely necessary. The boy, who is
put to learn stone.cutter's trade, because
he is always moulding figures in clay, new
er becomes a sculptor unless he studies
hard The youthful dabbler in water COL
ors never rises to be great paintet without
long years devoted to his art. The lad,
who makes d capital college speech, ends
in becoming amere wOrdy, declaifner, un-
less he learns to think. It was not only
his talent for painting, which won for
Raphael the title of tdivine,' but the days
and nights he devoted to mastering draw.
ing and composition. The great Milton
worked hard at poetry, for thirty years, en-
deaVoring to perfect himself, before he Be-
gan Paradise Lost. There is not famous
name in history of which the SAME cannot
be said. To rely merely on what is called
genius, is to insure failure, nay! is to cast
away opportunities bestowed by Nature, II
is, in fact, Ito squander, like spendthrift,
the fortune, which, as it Were,. was given
! in advance ut Observation-Disclosures Leda7sr.