Morning journal and courier., 1883-05-07
Gratitude.
(From the Spectator.l


 The man of genius is as ungratefuI as the child. In the child's case we are all so pre- pared for the absence of gratitude that the word strikes us as altogether inapplicable. Children cannot be grateful, and cannot, therefore, be ungratefuI. Something not al- together unlike this is true of the man of genius-indeed, it is true of very much larger class than one we could designate by anything that the world recognizes as genius. The wealthy, richly endowed nature keeps habitually the standard of gratitude that we all held when we were four years old love bestowed is as natural, service is as much matter of course, merely to draw near one's benefactor is in the one case as in the other, an ample requital of all service. We cannot say that the external effect is the same; it must always be with certain shock that we discover that any mature human being keeps the child's recklessness of obligation, what ever reason may urge in defense. But req son has much to urge in this case. 'It goes against me to see X take his obligations to you so easily,"- says some wife, fully con- scious of all she could have done for her children with the hundreds that have gone to make life easier for her husbands gifted friend. You make too much of little money" says he, but an uneasy feeling is re- viyed by her words, and perhaps does not again slumber. Yet, after all which side lies the true obligation It may be a matter quite indifferent to him that his name will be known to the generations that come after as the friend of X; he is not so- licitous, perhaps, to be remembered other wise than in the loving memory of few sur- vivors, but has not he received more from the poet or the teacher than he has given him Is not hisdife more improved by the friendship than that which it has shelter ed from penury This is the question whic b, whenever he asks himself, he answers with an emphatic affirmative but it is one of Il to depend for their truth on the lips that ut ter them, and it is always 8 shock to find that the of genius himself takes this view of the relation. But indeed, though we speak of genius, we would point out the temptation of 8 much larger class Genius is but the summit of that mental elevation Of which the lower heights, though unrecogni- gable from afar, have to those who tread them not few of the characteristics of gem jus, and many @ name associated with no worldwide resonance rouses memories that could not be surpassed in viVidness and sig ni6cance by any that are enshrined in classic biography and revived by stately monument Wherever there is this mental wealth, we shall be apt to find certain poverty in the power of feeling gratitude. The man who is always welcome, who feels his presence 8 boon, who cannot but be aware that he leaves all society the chillier for his absence, does not associate any services rendered him with S0lI-u5u1dl. " dS AL yOo WhO 4Ab&O4uSCo AAAA to this delightful home? He can hardly re- member the fact, so many there are who seek his society. Did your painstaking ser vice render possible this brilliant achieve ment? He feels you fortunate ID having had hand in anything that has seemed 70 him worth doing. Indeed, there is great deal of cereful, disinterested service, which the person for whose sake it is done would scornfully repudiate, if he supposed that any oratitude was due from him to the worker Gratitudei Were you working at a noble cause, then, with merely personal objects An enthusiast is indignant at the possibility of loyalty to himself coming in to eclipse the claim of devotion to his work. He cannot remember how mixed are the springs of most human action, how small class of motives we can divide into good and bad, how un- wise it is to discourage the personal inhuen- ces that dilute pure love of principle or 8 cause. There is something noble in his in gratitude; but it is not polite, nor rooted 1n any real depth of moral wisdom.