Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1884-02-20
Genius AMI SensitiYcncSS.

Every man of genius feels at times
sense of loneliness more or less. 1t
caused Byron much misery; John Stu
art Mill suffered from ii fo- years; and
Dickens, when near the en- |, complain
ed that he had missed someone he
had never seen. The ideal of such
men is seldom realized. Unknown to
themselves they create creature in
their heart and brain whom they eager
ly seek in flesh and blood, and too often
in vain. 1t does not follow--indeed, it
seldom happens-that the ideal con-
ceptlon of the man of genius is per-
feet creature, or one ike unto himself,
but generally of a contrary nature and
possessing the very qualities most
wanting in him.
Some few have found this id cal, and
always in the form of 4 woman; others
have found her only TO lose her, like
Walter Scott and Byron; not few
have found her in the wife of another
man, like Petrarch and S,erne; others
have fondly imagined that they have
found her, but, too late, have discover
cd their mistake. These last are they
whose married lives have proved fail
ures. The wives of men of genius sep
arated from their husbands are a long
and fearful list. Who is to blame?
Certainly not the wives, for they are
human and very feminine; and rs for
their husbands, they are more than hui
man; so lei net us men sit in judgment
upon them.
Byron had all the restlcssncss and
contempt for the world peculiar 10
Burns. Their natures were much alike.
The peer and the peasant unite in the
temperament OF the poet. Byron was
very near being the most unfortunate
man who ever lived. He endured the
misery of deformity, of disappointed
love, of calumny, and of genius. He
only wanted Burns poverty 10 make
him the most unhappy man ever born.
Any one of these misfortunes would be
as much as an ordinary being could
ccntercd in one man, and of the pain
full sensitivcncss of genius to such in
tiuences, We wonder that Byron was so
good q man that he was.
With men of genius, sensitiveness is
a perfect diseases; indeed, it is this very
| quality which enables them to feel and
express those emotions which escape
| other men. Senstiveness is an inno-
cent and amiable self-love, and must
not be confounded with seifishness. A
selfish man is sensitive, but only for
| himself; but a sensitive man has much
| sympathy for others. The two quail
ties always 60 together, and are large
| ly developed in women and men OF
genius. Many women have as much
sympathy as men Of genius, but they
exercise it with greater strictness and
partiality. Thus women have little OF
no sympathy for evil doers; men of ge-
uius frequently have.
Speaking of calumny, it is a thing to
which man of genius is particularly
liable, especially an unknown man. Peo-
pie see that he is often unhappy, and
uncertain and strange in his humor and
ways-in short. he is different from
themselves; and, not KNOWN. the
cause, they are SO kind as to invent
one, always taking great care that il
shall be TO the mau dIscrcdst. Said
Bllwer Lytton. with tears in his Syss.
''Ai.n caiumniatc mo. yet would dic
to serv. them" The TACT Is we love tc
see each her conc and fall down
heavily. Chicago Er,.