Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-06-30
rn. M.r,y,aom Of Genias.


the past scarcely page can be turned
hut reveals some trace OF those VINO
have lived and died unappreciated.-
There is seemingly a strange fatality
clinging to and over-shadowlng the lives
OF men as though God had desired TO
lead them through the fiery furnace OF
afliction, from the very commencement
of their existence. Many who have bat
tied bravely against prejudice and
wrong, hopeful If but a single ray gilded
the future, have been the mark of perse-
cption and insult until unable longer to
buffet with the waves of misfortune, the
once strong spirit gasping and exhaust
ed has sunk beneath the cold, deep wa
tiers of death. o the bitterness of the
slow dying out Of hope and life The
sudden transition from sorrow to joy,
and from joy to sorrow again, who can
describe, but those who have gone before
and whose voices are now hushed and
still2 The greater portion of those
whom Heaven has endowed with genius
have been assailed by the malice and de-
traction of the world, How sadly comes
to us to-day the memory of Shelley, his
weary battle, singlehanded with the
storms which his o,cn electric nature had
gathered around him Noble, kind and
generous, with courage ss5lime, because
it could endure, he whose struggle for
the right was unceasing, lived an exile
from his own friends and country. His
children were torn from him, his name
was heaped with obloquy, nor did his
death soften the prejudices which embit-
tered his life. His ashes still repose far
from his native land, beneath the walls
Of Rome, and his memory is still pur-
sued with reproach. 2 '.sr
BY foreign hands his dying e7es were closed,
BY foreign hands his decent limbs composed
BY foreign hands his humble grave adorned,
BY strangers honored and by strangers mourned.
Among those who knew, but for
brief season, the bitterness of life I'M
appreciated, was Chatterton, the mar
velous boy"-''the sleepless soul that
persisted in his pride" The world has
never since witnessed such precocity of
genius as his. This youth, who at ele-
ven years of age wrote poems far supe-
rior to the early and so much Landed
productions of Pope, after struggling
mainly against the horrors of poverty,
his pen failing to procure the necessary
,,.,o,,, ~ u,hcictanrn or lact with hic
own hands, took the life that God had
given him. At the time of his death he
was bat seventeen years of age yet the
sorrow of a long lifetime seemed crowd
ed into this brief space. The life of
Hood "who sung the song of the shirt
was one of nnceasing exertion, embitter-
ed by i'll health and all the trials Incl
dental to authorship. When Frustrated
by disease, the government relieved him
with small pension, but he lived only
short time upon its tardy bounty. 1t
is true the world laughed at his spark
ling wit but when his claims to true
genius were fully recognized he WIS be-
yond the reach of all earthly assistance.
OF him says Gerald Massey:
twas the cd story, even the blind world
Knows not its angels Of deyerance
TIL they stand gloriied 'twixt earth end heaven.
Ii stones the martyr; then with praying hands
Sees the God mount his chariot of fire,
And calls sweet names and worships what 1t
spurned; ~. HH.4H
To those who walk beside them, great men seem
Mere common earth, but distance makes them
stars.
As dying limbs do len CITIZEN out In death, a..
So grows the stature of their after fame:
And then we gather up their glorious words,
And treasure up their names with loving care.
Keats, whose first attempts at author
ship We're 50 severely criticized in the
Quarterly Review, never recovered from
the anguish those malicious attacks
caused him. His mind was too keenly
sensitive to the worlds fats, and just as
he promised something great, he died.
He was buried as his friend Shelley re-
lates among the '.ruins of ancient Rome"
The cemetery is a romantic place, cover
ed in winter with violets and daisies, a
fit resting place for one whose life had
been too barren of the flowers Of hope
and prosperity. As the lighthouse built
afar out on the wave-washed beach
guides and encourages the mariner, SC
Gods promise, that justice shall be rem
dered to all men is the beacon light
which casts radiance over life, and by
which we steer our frail banks toward
the golden harbor of Heaven. There is
a future then in which the sorrowfu
past will melt away in memory like 8
dream; where seeing with clearer vision
that Affections are but tokens of God.
love, perfect peace shall dwell with thos'
who, like golden ripe sheayes, are gath
cred into the garner Of Heaven.
% M. L. EATON.
- Ripley Female College, June 20, 1864