Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-04-16

] hhIBo hCdle ne pldgtu llt phIl VI luul HOItug
in Tom Browns School Days at Oxford, who
led the sports of his club, but while his COM
rades were sleeping of their debauch, sat up
all night with wet towel round his head to
prepare for the examination of prizes which
he had the reputation Of carrying of without
an effort. A foolish aifectaton at the best
| The reputation of having reserved power is
something that may well be striven for. but
nothing is gained by the patent caricature
Of it. When men of science give us assur-
ance that an effect can be produced without
n cause, and skilled mechanics begin again
their search for perpetual motion, we may
offer ourselves as dupes to the pretense
that knowledge can come by intuition, and
genius know no law of acquisition Until
then we had best stand by the old maxim
that that every great character has its foun-
dation in powerful energy"
! 1t is matter of curiosity also to learn the
ways in which some Of the great workers have
set about their tasks. Victor Hugo, believe,
does his work in Il scantily furnished cham
Der away up under the roof Of his house. A
| bench or diyau runs along one side, in front
of this is a large table with writing materials,
and there with scarcely a book in sight, in
deed this, as some of his critics have often
maintained is an explanation of his mistakes
in scientific and historical reference, he
works out in solitude and at leisure his won
derful rhapsodies Button, the naturalist. on
the other hand, always wrote in full dress,
with diamond rings and perfumcd paper and
gold sand out OF respect ] think he said to
his audience, the public. Macaulay could new
or do but one thing at a time. The subject on
which he was engaged haunted him like
ghost until it was laid. While DR.. Thompson,
formerly Of Broadway Tabernacle, n. Y, had
always on hand tasks Of the most various
sort, and would write his ringing editorials
for the Independent while sitting engaged in
conversation with family and friends.
Forbes, the English war correspondent,
wrote his famous letters IN the saddle some
times under the eneny's FIRE But more re-
marhable than either of these instances, if
we take into account the quality of the work,
is the case Of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe
She, it is said, crooHS over her writings. Her
Uncle Toms Cabin, prepared for the press
from week to week while the story was COM
ing out in a Washington newspaper, was
written by the evening lamp at the table
about which her children were gathered CON
ming their various lessons for the next day
guest once asked Wcllaston the English
chemist, to show him his laboratory. He rang
the bell and his servant brought in a COM
mon round tray, on which were few glasses
and a retort or two. That" said he lis my
laboratory" Edison, Oh the contrary has a
special factory for his experiments, where he
fluids employment for forty men, many of
them experts in science, and all chosen for
their skill in obtaining results. OTeubach
can compose only in the spring time by the
seaside. Lecocq can write anywhere in
trains, in hot bath, on the top of bus, in
the rain, or in dentists ante-room waiting
TO have a tooth drawn. But Wagner. the au-
tocrat Of the opera, can compose only with
the assistance of suits of satin clothes which
he dohs and dons according to the style of
the thing at which he is working, wearing
for instance while busy with pastoral duet,
primrose satin, and for martial chorus scar
let
1t is among the curiosities Of my subject,
also to learn the way in which some authors
became famous by work thrown off in mo
ments of enforced leisure. Erasmus wrote
his Praise Of Folly in the house of Sir Thorn
as More to while away some hours of retire
ment from his regular duties Bunyau wrote
his Pilgrims Progress when barred from the
pulpit by the walls of Bedford Jail, and Bax-
ter his Saints Rest, on his death bed. And
there is many great worker, the very ref
use of whose labors, the work done through
expenditure of surplus energy. would have
won both fame aud fortune for man of
smaller calibre. Macaulay tells Us that the
best jest book that was ever written was one
dictated by Lord Bacon from memory one
day when illness had rendered him incapable
of study, and Henry Crabb Robinson says
that he found man in England, DIR. Lindley,
secretary of the Horticultural Society, who
knew the poet Goethe only as a botanist in
which character he said he was regarded as
of the highest authority both there and in
France.
1t is matter of curiosity also to note the
many instances in which the slightest hint
has proved fruitful in suggestion to the mind
that was in search of discovery. The sight of
a spiders web during morning walk in his
garden, gave Sir Samuel Brown the idea of
suspension bridge, The sight of a lobster
presented at the table furnished James Watt
with plans for carrying water by pipes along
the bed of the Clyde, Brunei took his first
lesson in building the Thames tunnel
from the boring of tiny ship worm. Guthrie
got his hint for the ragged schools from the
sight of John Pounds, the cobbler of Ports
mouth teaching children from the street
and Afford his idea of commentary from a
word in sermon at Cambridge. = A chance
remark at the dinner table led Eli Whitney to
invent the cotton-gin, and a strangers hint
at an inn enabled Wedgewood to revolution
ize the porcelain manufacture of England
Naturalists tell us that the waste of seed
germs is enormous, almost beyond the pow
er of computation. This certainly has been
true in the realm of invention. Ever since
the eye was made to see and the brain to
think, Nature has been holding out her mod
els for use of man, but only here and there
has one been found to offer soil so rich that
her seeds could germinAte.
OF higher rank than the mere curiosities of
my subject must we class the illustrations of
success won by workers in the face of obsta-
cles seemingly insurmountAble. Health, and
age, and circumstance have alike yielded to
the indomtable viii of man. Think of Hay
den becoming painter with eyes so imper-
feet that he was forced to bring his face al
most in contact with the canvas to put his
colors on and that French artist, who born
without hands, learned to use the brush with
his feet Think of Columbus spending eight
cen years at court and then setting sail in
crazy craft that seemed designed to sink his
troublesome project in the bottom of the
ocean, Think of Miss Milford at the age of sixty