Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1884-07-24
A BORN GENIUS.

A BORN GENIUS.
"A very nice baby, indeed, my dear;
does you credit-he does really.
There, nurse cover up his dear little
tootsics, and take him away. | hope,
my love, he'll have health and good
looks, and-what's that? genius. Oh,
no-oh dear, no! You don't know
what it is be the mother of genius;
do. remember the time when my
Augustus was Just such another pink,
gurgling little bundle as the one that
has just left us. That was in his inno-
cent days. But he grew older, as boys
willard girls too, for the matter of
that, poor things!--and when he arriv-
ed at what should have been years of
discretion he startled me one day with
the news that he meant TO be IN author.
Such Il career, my love! and our family
had always been most respectable
ironm ongcrs from generation to gen
cration-Amcn!
"What's to become of the business,
Augustus?' | asked.
oh, the business may 90 to the
opposition shop, said he; and so it did,
every bolt and nail of it. What docs
iron weigh against poetry?'
y" We'll, if you ask me, Augustus, |
should say iron was the more substan-
lial of the two, and though you dcridc
your mothers opinion, as it's the fash
ion for young men TO do, still know
that iron would fill your pocket and
your stomach sooner than poetry
But, auntie, began my niece
Mary, who was in the room at the
timc-Q knew which side she was 90
ing TO take; she and Augustus were as
good as engaged to each othcr) But,
auntic, think how glorious ii must be
TO write Il bookn
"'Don't you be II little fool, my
dear, said: "It's my opinion that
more people write books than read
them nowadays; and if things 90 on
like this, the subscribers to library
will be paid instead of having to pay
money
"But poet, auntic-surcly there
are very few poets?
"'And no wonder, my dear, when
modern advanced thought leaves us so
little to be poctical about What is TO
rhyme with Glove" if "IIeavcn above
is myth? Where is the romance of
death if there is to be no reunion? 1t
must be very peculiar mind that
could find poetry in our ancestors, the
monkeys.
"But of course my opinion went for
nothing. Augustus was determined
to 20 to London to try his fortune as
an author. Mary aided and abcttcd
him, though it would separate them
for time. So off he went, instead of
being content with iron, and II poets
corner in our local newspaper.
"From the very day of his departure
Mary began to look in the publishers
column and amongst the reviews, as if
she expected the book to burst into
bloom at once, and to receive latter
ing notice. His letters didn't tell us
much except about dinners and sup
pcrs, until | began to think that
authors ate their way to fame much
as barristers eat their way to the law
In Il little while he wrote to borrow
money. | had expected that, aud sent
him what | could spare. At last the
book was announced. You can
imagine the excitement there was in
the house and in the town when half
q dozen beautifully bound volumes
found their way down to us. Mary
never paid so many visits in her life as
she did in those days, and wherever
she went the first topic was always
my Cousins book of poems She
carried them about with her every
where, and read selections aloud, un-
til | used to wonder she ever found
any one ut home when she called.
She recited them, too, from memory;
but noticed sometimes if she missed
whole stanzas here and there, the
sense didn't suffer much. But then |
only liked the old-fashioned poetry,
which one can understand. Certainly
the book was published, and no one
could know that he had paid every
farthing himself for the cost of print
ing, publishing and advertising.
"The next thing to do was to search
the papers for criticisms. In some
there appeared a very few lines of
faint praise, in others u few of con-
tempt, but in the majority there was
utter silence. About this time the
neighbors began to return Mary's
visits, and it was wonderful how many
newspapers they seemed to have seen,
and how carefully they had read them,
and how very sympathetic they were
about the harsh notices. Mary, how
ever, was not to be discouraged.
+" He has his foot on the first rung
of the ladder, she cried; 'he will never
rest till he has climed to fame and for
tune
"Then | am very much afraid there
will be another Wandering jew on
earth,' thought.
Presently there came another ap-
peal for money. | had expected that
too, but this time / was obliged to re-
fuse. didn't mean that all the little
savings which l had destined for him
and Mary and their children should 60
to make waste paper. Poor Mary
would have sent every farthing she
possessed, only luckily she didn't
possess any.
"The next letter | received con-
tanned some very surprising intelli-