New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-02-27

! mems Of fine literary effort. They will be foun
1 well worth reading.
!, APOLOGY TO THE GENIUS or COMPOSITION.
\ lAos Gracious Genius AS I am on the eve 9
leaving school, and am considered to be somewha
methodical in my ways, have endeavored 70 se
all my affairs in order, and retire from my school
+ hood (if / may be allowed to use the eSpresson)
5 with nothing left unfinished. have, Of course
I sent my album upon an extensive tour, and 1t mas
! returned to me laden with the good wishes and
! imperfect rhymes Of my companions. nave pe-
come reconciled to two or three of my schoolmates
, with whom had desperate quarrels about causes
So trifling as to have been entirely forgotten.
have taken an afactionate leave of my books, and
n tie grace to refrain from saving that | never
i wished to see them again. had made last pill
grimage to every thing connected with the old
schoohouse and having done all this, have felt
| that there IS something left still undone.
i Tpondered up this subject long and deeply and
| atlength, in happy moment, it flashed upon ME
| that the sins have committed against you, most
injured Genius, are what has weighed 50 heavily
upon my mind, and therefore hasten to make
full confession Of my grievous crimes, and hope
that my sorrow and my candor will plead in my
favor. AAs | commence to recall my offences i am
almost appalled, at their number and magnitude,
but nerve myself for the task. (and let it be
understood that when say /, mean we, that is MY
whole class have often said that I wished some
thing awful would happen to the person who first
wrote composition, and / now think that person
must have been your honored self. have said
this every time have hadto write composition
and have written on an average forty per year
during the three years that have been pupil of
the High School. BY d simple process Of multiple
cation, find that have made the declaration one
hundred and twenty times.
My first essay in the department Of composition
had for subject the ambitious title of The
Mind was then about twelve years old; but it
i not worth while to be too particular about dates,
especially when one is young lady, and just on
The point of graduating. find, on reperusng it
or still preserve my first efforts-tha the mind is
has power which thinks, wills and reasons. I !
hen said that it was very important that we should
cultivate our minds and that the public schools
we're an excellent institntion--the two last words
being trebly underlined. followed this by the as
'ertion that peoples minds were very different,
iome persons being smart and others almost fools
Tou will observe from this that began my career
Is writer in a manner designed to be yery bril- |
liant.
Since then, 4 have embodied, in the form of com |
positions, my ideas on great number of profound
ubjeets. Of course have written many times of |
friendship, Hope, Love, Charity and all those
,ther sacred qualities which l think belong only to
muses. like myself. / find by accurate computa- /
ion, that since ] have been a pupil of the High I
school have heard forty-seven compositions upon
Hope, fifty-six upon Love, one hundred and two |
pon Friendship and thirty-tye upon Charity. |
,ut what did their writers know about the1ns 1t /
nay be said, Friendship is but name,'' or, what
worse, subject for school girls essays. And as
or Loye--none of us have ever been in love, or at
east never have, and suppose it is so delicate
natter should only speak for myself All know
.bout Hope is, that when deferred it maketh the /
leart sick, for have in vain hoped that my class
mates would improve in the selection Of subjects,
but long since gave it up. We have eighty-one
upon the Beauties of Nature: but I
What do we know Of it except in the light Of mud
ind dust as we go to and from school, and the slips
# grass trying to grow on the edges of the side
Talk, and the water that meanders through the I
lanai that intersects our city
We have written upon the charms Of Silence and i
solitude while drays were rattling through the
tfsstS, anu He were nearly IFantc with the noise.
We have each said one hundred and twenty times,
hat is in every weeks journal. that another week
las rolled into internity; and we are twenty in
number, that agreeable remark has been made by
'ur class not less than two thousand eight hundred
md eighty times.
For all these sins and many more, kind Genius /
rave forgiveness for myself and class II You will
rant it will promise in my own name and theirs,
hat we will be SO careful in future of offending
.ou, that we will never write another composition.
md will influence all our friends, who are school
iris, TO do likewise.
Feeling much relieved, now that have made an
pen confession, and hoping that my apology may
lot be made in vain
remain your pentent
MAGGIE HILI.MAN.
From our Regular Correspondent
LEFT HAND AISLE DYsK No. g.