The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-02
IrrltabIIIty Of Literary People.


Some how the impression is ont that
geniuses are not agreeable. We suspect
that the lmputation of irritability against
them Is not well founded But advocates
of thetheory that genius is cross, will
cite many illustrations to sustain pro.
position that now has general acceptance.
Carlyle is quoted as shining example
to prove the irritability of genius. But
there are some rather large illustrations
on the other side. There was Longfel
low. Was he irritable? Since Gold.
smith, Charles Lamb, and Washington
Irving were ferried over the river OF
death, a gentler spirit has not been on
the earth The breath of peace was over
his life, apd the song of peace, and hope.
and rislp8 nsHlofI syas IN every poem that
TeII from his happy pen. Through
long life, often sorely tried by boring
visitors, the world has heard no notes
of discomfort Even his winter songs
may be heard in the spring time. He
was never tangled bell out of tune"
His life and his words we're sweet music
to the world, always inviting to rise to
better things. 1t was Of Longfellow
whom TenDyson wrote:
sI hold it truth, with him Who sings
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping stones
OF their dead selves to higher things"
George Eliot was not turbid spirit
she saw the burdens of life and knew
how to help others carry them. Genius
gave to her the power to analyze the
worlds experience and no woman ever
had in a higher degree the force of inter
penetration, but in all of this she pre-
served herself for the ages as sound
and healthy being. Emerson had none
of the irritability of genius His life
was carefully preserved rom all eIcesses
by what he called "the restraining grace
of common sense" We do not mean
that he could not feel the stings of
wrong, or was beyond the buoyancy of
hope, but in all he looked at life in a
spirit of perfect repose. He was as
serene as the blue sky. The world might
rage. He saw the rage. He felt the
surges of the waves. He knew them.
but he never lamented to them. His
griefs were for himself. He was not a
man from afar who touched the world at
one or two polar points. But lis currents
were around him; yet DO man knew bet
ter than he how to command the ele-
ments which surrounded him. Neither
his life nor his works will support the
theory that all literary people ale irrit-
able.
We call up another great example
Charles Darwin, who lived and worked
rs peaceabIy and serenely as the yreat
laws of nature, of which he became the
exponent and Interpreter. He was net
sullen and morose man, who dwelt in he
gloomy recesses of q cross and grabbed
nature. To those who lived with him
his life was like the sun. There was
friendship and happiness in it. He was
never so distracted III scientific specul-
tiOns that he forgot the highest link Z"
on our planet His life socially and as a
citizen was a part of that orderly system
of the universe which he so reverently
admired, and to the study of whose laws
he hrouebt his great mind referring
to DarwiRs peaceful life the London
Spectator contained the following: "Of
Mr.. Darwin it may be said that his life
was happy, his method fruitful, his work
mastery. In it's own way the life of Mr..
Darwin was an ideal life Arrogance,
irritability, and envy, the faults that
ordinarily beset men of genius, were not
so much conquered as non-existent in
singularly simple and generous mind.
Mr.. Darwin was not only man of
genius, with the patience and divination
of genius, he was also man of genius so
placed that his genius had the freest
possible play In its own special line.
That the order of the universe is the
order of a supreme mind working silently
and closely through ages, and not
spasmodically through centuries, is now
as much an accepted idea of civilized
man as the theory of gravitation. To
the general acceptance of this idea no
one contributed so powerfully as Mr..
Darwin, although he contributed to 1t
in much less exclusive way than the
way in which Newton contributed to the
acceptance of the theory of gravitation."
If we are 10 Judge by eminent examples,
they will not support the generally ac-
cepted theory that literary people are
disagreeable and irritable -Indiandp-
otis Herald.