The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-12-16

women like yOu-supp 81 X mat there are
enough women like you constitute class
do not, unless my penetr ti)n is at fault, love
twice, nor marry withop Eove?' He waited
for an answer.
90 Your penetration is It at fault. Oh, father,
in pity let us speak no M re of that
81 Forgive me No; will not touch your
poor heart again until ysu give me leave to
heal it and if have dexe so hitherto, it was
not from heedlessness, bS .om necessity. My
child, it was needful thattths wound should be
thoroughly searched befo ( could be dressed,
but that has now been do e. For the present,
let it alone. There, rem n then, open to you,
literature and art, if ysa are woman of
genius if not, of courseHsilure Will be your
only reward in either. ~.os, what Is vugarly
called talent know tn; you have to a rare
degree; but genius is so IRE that the presump-
ton is always strongly Sainst its being pos
sessed by any one, either .nan or woman, until
its possession has been osed. Perhaps you
have it, Notwithstanding Let us see. Let me
ask you question or tw For which do you
feel within yourself the a.eSt aptitude, ltera-
ture or art?
go OF the two, / think o. literature. | can
copy with my pencil anr hing that j see; but
| cannot design. | CAM read any music, and
even play .faaatasie when I'm in the mood, but
| fear that they owe all ~ 6 merit, which they
have, to their being exc, t5d with the express
sion of the momentary eng which prompts
them. / cannot write II 4 down, because |
know nothing of the rule f music; and am
sure that what little ms, 5tion have would
die under the drudgery learning and con-
forming to them. On - other hand, | write
prose and verse with ea5ss nd sometimes with
pleasure
9 In literature you VII probably succeed,
then, if in either Your le-tiny, perhaps, often
faces you when you a. Ike in the morning,
or aroiises you in the mig y or confronts you in
the daytime, with dunk in her hand-a
sketch of a romance, 80 m, or play. She
will give you only ftful 2 pses of il, probably.
She half unrolls it thee, -7ie folds it up. She
lets you see sometimes the ginning only, some
times the middle, someti, the two ends. She
is very seldom indulgenf saough to reveal to
you the whole at once. q she ever does so, it
is most likely, for AN inlt'.ht only, and with a
malignant purpose to over sad and overwhelm
you with more details IL / your memory can
hold. She says, howev, e his plan, which l
hold in my hand, half HE { en- from your eyes,
you are doomed to carry 2.! before the eyes of
mankind. The memory f~@s unearthly beauty
shall haunt and torment. y its grandeur shall
Cypress you; its very dsSshlty shall defy and
taunt you, until your wori done. From what
| have already shown yot, .uess the rest. The
harmonious proportions f. IN the portion you
have seen. Dispatch &c, you there is to be
no cheerful, calm entonship, no refresh
ing sleep, no relished tood~ until the task lies
behind you, that now lies.bt1ore. You may fly;
but | shall follow. You msy pine; / shall not
pity. You may fall sick ;.b.it shall lie i'm wait
for your recovery, and put our pen before your
needle, into your trembling land. !
Z" She speaks; and yoe obey, impatient to
have the doom behind yo@ insteadro of before.
You go apart fearfully, 81 ut your door, and
give yourself up to the my FERROUS prompting,
like Pythia forced to the ripod You are no
longer a woman, but q $ er, a soothsayer, a
writing medium. Ideal er itures swarm in the
air about you You throw youself into them
they themselves into yeua1 You speak their
words, do their deeds, fed teir feelings, shrek
their pangs. The thoughts 'thicken. They daz-
zle-they blind you. Your brain reels with
them. Bewildered, you turn this way and that
until you are dizzy, TO catch them before they
escape you, as a child does to catch all the
snow-fakes i'll hurryng storm. Your heart
beats hard, your breath pants fast. Still you
hurry on /; because you cannot stop, because the
preternatural dictaton does not. Time hur
ries on with you. Your clock strikes the hours
fast rs it usually ticks the minutes-hours
which do on you the work of years-such hours
as print wrinkles on the brow and the brain.
+" AT length, sudden stop surprises you
Coming to YOURSELF you look about you, and per-
ceive that your task is finished. That is at
least, a relief You laGguidly take it up, turn
it over, and read it, at first with curiosity, then
with admiration, and then with anna cement. 1t is
something new under the sun. 1t does not
seem to you to be yours. 1t is not, properly
speaking, though it makes you famous. 1t is
the work of the demon whose servant you are.
IL L IL.
fore. He has taken much of your life to put
into it. A few more such achievements, and
all will be spent, and you will go to him for
the arrears of your wages.
"s' Have you ever felt anything like this?
said the Bishop. / never had"
" Thank God!" cried Herman
"Are you glad? Then / am too, now
though was rather sorry at that time, to tell
the truth"
&" Indeed l ami Selfforgetfalness is one
thing, and one of the noblest things, too, under
the sun-self-abandonmep quite another. No
body can love a generous ardor and enthusiasm
more than do, but distrust and detest I'M
natural excitement of all kinds. Why should it
be more right or reputable wifully to infame
and finally destroy ones God-given brain
with undue solitude, fasting, or labor, than with
opium, in order to write, carve, or paint, better
than ones neighbors for that / take it, is what
the cant about sacrificing one self to art COM
monty means, in plain English"
:" The Bishop was glad; too" said Constance
But that, said he, is female genius 1t is
the forbidden fruit which is now and then Of
fered to Ewes daughters by the serpent, as it
was to her. Like her, they do not thrive upon
1t. 1t first intoxicates, then kills them
50 But surely exclaimed, not all women
of genius are of this description n
:" To be sure said he, now | think of it.
there are exceptions, some of whom you may
have met with, but whom. | did not consider it
necessary to mention, because | could not be-
lleve that your place could be found among
them-female geniuses, if you will, but females
not OF feminine but of masculine genius. II
have myself CHANGED here and there to encoun.
ter nondescript, calling herself woman,
who, without any goading inward gad-Ay or ex
haustng lire IN her veins, beseged eminence
scientifically, month by, month, and wear bv
year, and conquered it at last, by regular ap
proaches, like man. She has no heart to un
settle her aim by its Ierturbatons and her
iron nerves and Inda-rubber spirits are incana.
BILE of WEAKNESS and discouragement. She eats
drinks, sleeps laughs, and talks, but deliberately
succeeds, Notwithstanding. She regularly and
readily takes her seat on Che tripod every day. for
a certain number OF hours; she suffers only when
she is kept away, and even then she ienChlres it
stoically. If Apollo will not come down, she
cheerfully makes him curtseyl at the end of
the time, and goes away, watching all the
time, however, with the stanch, calm, cold
blooded persistent instiact of cat that sits be-
side mouse-hole, while she seems intent upon
her needle-work or housekeeping, to pull him
down upon her head if he lets drop within her
reach SO much the hem of his garment, or
one golden hair. The hext day.. she is at her
orI AZ IS. he Co, -,