The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-06-27
A BORN GENIUS.

"a very nice baby, indeed, my dear
does you crcdit-he does really. There,
nurse, cover up his dear little tootsies,
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 to be
the mother ola genius; do | remember
the time when my Augustus was precise
ly such another pink, gurgling little
bundle as the one that has Just left us.
That was in his innocent plays. But he
grew elder as boys willard girls too
for the matter of that, poor things =
and when he arrived at what should
have been years of discretion he startled
me one day with the news that he meant
to be an author. Such a career, my
love- and our family had always been
most respectable - ironmongers from
generation to generation-Amen.
"'What's to become of the business,
Augustus" l asked.
"'Oh, the business may go to-the
opposite shop, said he; and so it did,
every bolt and nail of it. What does
iron weigh against poetryl'
Well, if you ask me, Augustus, l
should say iron was the more substantial
of the two, and though you deride your
mothers opinion, as it is the fashion for
young men to do, still know that iron
would fill your pocket and your stomach
sooner than poetry
But arntie, began my niece Mary
who was in the room at the timc-(I
knew which side she was going to take
she and Augustus were as good as en-
gagged to each othcr)-'But, auntic,
think how glorious it must be to write a
Ibook.'
" Don't you be little fool, my dear,
I said. It's my opinion that more PEG
ple write books than read them nova
days and if things go on like this, the
subscribers to library will be paid, in
stead Of having to pay money
-" But "a poet auntic surely, there
are very few poets p
And no wonder, my dear, when
modern advanced thought leaves us so
little to be poetical about. What is to
rhyme with Glove" if Heaven above" is
myth Where is the romance of death
If there is to be no reunion 1t must
be a very peculiar mind that could
find poetry in our ancestors, the mon
keys
But OF course my opinion went for
nothing. Augustus was determined to 90
to London to try his fortune as an author.
Mary aded and abetted him, though
1t would separate them for time. So
off he went, instead of being content with
iron, and a 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 a tlattering no.
tce His letters didn't tell us much eX-
sept about dinners and suppers, until
began to think that authors ate their way
to fame much as barristers eat their way
to the law. In little while he wrote to
borrow money. | had expected that and
sent him what l could spare, At last
the book was announced You can i'm
agire the excitement there was in the
house and in the town when half a-dOzeu
beautifully bound volumes found theil
way down to us. Mary never paid SC
many visits in her life as she did in thosl
days, and wherever she went the first
topic was always my cousins book Of
poems. She carried them about with
her everywhere, and read selection,
aloud, till used to wonder she evcl
found any one at home when she called
She recited them too, from memory; bu
| noticed sometimes that if she missed
whole stanzas here and there, the sens,
didn't seem to suffer much. But then
only like the ld-fashioned poetry, which
one can understand. Certainly the boob
was published, and no one could know
that he had paid every farthing himsel
for the cost of printing, publishing anC
advertising.
"Tne next thing to do was to search
the papers for criticisms. In some there
appeared few lines of faint praise, il
others a few of contempt, but in tn
majority there was utter silence. Abou
this time the neighbors began to return
AIary's visits, and it was wonderful how
many newspapers they all seemed t,
have seen, and how carefully they haC
read them, and how very sympathetic
they were about the harsh notices. Mary
however was not to be discouraged.
"'IIe has his foot on the first rung O
the ladder, she cried, he will never res