The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1874-02-27
Tests Of Greatness.

1t all the untested generalizations an
cOnnotatlOns that are accepted in tn
world were brought to book, and, whe
found wanting, ordered to execution
there would be much slaughter. Onl
platoon firing on large scale wOul
meet the case. When we use the word
"a great man, have we any detinit
idea Of what we mean? Here forese
somebody will make answer, "NO, no
2 definite idea, but q, workable one.
Now, fine words are all very we'll, bu
not if they help us to err and go astra,
like lost sheep when we might do bet
ter.
remember reading that all great mel
are great eaters. Does anybody believ'
this? Yet there is share OF sense in it
In human beings who do much work
there must be great vital force; the fur
mace must burn well; and it seems tt
! follow that it must take in plenty o
fuel. But, after all, that does not fol
low; for it is conceivable that one fur
mace might have greater power than an
other OF extracting force from the sam,
amount OF fuel. One has seen it con
tended that the mental power Of a wo
man is equal to mans because the Wo
mans intellect has less driving power
and works with less waste. AsI sa
and heard this from a ladylecturer once
| had In my mind a picture which would
have pleased her much-ladies arc &C
serious. 1t was picture of Leech's in
Punch. The train was on the point OF
| starting; all the passengers but two had
taken their places; the wife was beckon-
ing madly from her seat in the carriage
the guards and husbands were frantic
| but nothing would induce the tall, stout
nurse, baby in arms, to hurry to hel
place. She. would give the enraged hus-
necessity she felt under of looking to the
plate, ETC., ETC., etc. It is certainly true
that Qovable) women are deficient in
driving force" aud long may they keen
so, thought /.
However, this is DEPRESSION. 1t has
been contended that the difference be-
tween genius and ordinary faculty con-
slsts in the greater or less power of as
similating certain kinds of nutriment.
This looks as if the gulf between pro
dueing beef and tea and producing an
Aristotle could not be very great. (Here
the scientific expert turneth up his nose,
snOrteth, saith: "This sciolist is i'll
read knoWeth not of biology is in the
gall of ante-evolutional bitterness and
the bond of pre- Darwinian iniquity.'')
But, then, every man OF genius is not
a great man. I have read, again, that
every great man is, by the definition, in
harmony with the spirit of the age. But
why is he9 And how are we to know
the spirit of the age? What sort of man
was SpinOza, and what sort of spirit OF
the age was he in harmony with ? /
could easily, but decline at present for
good reasons, make out q przzling list
fnH. .xyn nd !, Il
plausibly made out your spirit of the age
with it, should say, All this is an ex
post facto hash of uncertainties" | re-
peat the question, What is the spirit of
the age? You may think you have got
it; and yet all the while some trif1e is
happening round the corner which will
flood the world with quite another "spir-
it" before the hands have been round the
clock. "The stone that the builders re-
jected," and so forth. But | did not
mean to be so serious. was thinking,
when / wrote, Ground the corner of
Sam Weller and Mary: "'Ah, my dear,
if you knoW'd who was here, you'd
change your note, as the hawk observed
to hisself with q cheerful laugh ven he
heered the nightingale singin' round q
corner" Il have not read "Pickwickr
SINCE the 1elu&es auu Qare say that Is
But in one thing | am quite
serious-there is always something wait
ing round corner with acheerful laugh;
all is influx and effux; and to say that
such q man is great, partly because he is
in harmony with the spirit OF the age, is
only giving one O nut to crack which,
ten to one, when cracked is empty. i,
The first time l. ever asked myself
what a great man is, WAS, / remember,
when [ read Charming OH Napoleon
He says something like this:
. 1t would be difficult to Enquire wheth-
er he was great or not the man who, in
. few years, has changed the face of
Europe, has taken out of our hands the
question whether he shall be called
great ..-a.. ............. ,
Here then was first glimmer of guild
ance. We call man great primarily
With reference to the force he shows. |
But there is necessarily great uncertain |
y in all such classiticaGons. It is posi- |
Dle-nay arguable-that Watts divine |
md moral songs have had as much |
sHeet on the world as Napoleon's VIC |
jories, but 1 hope no one would call Watts |
/ great man. -.
And I also hope no one will take this |
playful chatter of mine for more than it |
8 meant.-E Matthew Browne,