The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-04-04
A FAILURE.
HID. Steli, in ,he San Franeissan.l

II. D. Stell, in the San Franeisean.l
 Walter Ellis was a gentleman and [ scholar-his friends said a genius. WheE first knew him he vas, perhaps, twenty eight yearS of age, with pale, intellec. tual faee-not handsome, but pleasing from its expression of delicacy and re, 6nement. His image rises before me as 1 write. Dark brown wavy hair, brushed back from high, full forehead small mustache, which could not hide the ex. pression oi sensisive mouth, and large hazel eyes, whose gaze was at once thoughtful and pensive. When became acquainted with him he was living sorl of Bohemian life in one of our western cites. discovered, on being thrown into active intercourse with him, that we had tastes in common, and VIC were soon friends.
 It was always a wonder to me, as |, was to others who knew his brilliant qualities, that Walter Ellis did not get on. Had "the elements been kindlier mixed," am fully persuaded that any prize in the literary world might have been his. His mind was stored with all sorts of odd knowledge gained from aiQ(h tCootuks AkC W 0S V1t~ VI khE tfAVSh delightful convefsationalists have ever known. With art, music, science, phil osophy, history, and general literature, he was equally familiar. There was no subject of discussion among cultured people on which he could not speak with something of the authority of exact knowledge, but he never had the power or the opportunity to turn his fand of in. formation to worldly account. "lf he could only find his right place." l have heard many one remark, after listening to his talk, replete with accurate knowl- edge and sound critical analysis, and frightened with flashes of wit and poetry, or touches of keen satire; but he never did find his right place. He wrote spe- cial articles for prominent journals of which he was, from time to time, an ir- regular sateliite-which were always ae- cep,able, but never commanded more than nominal price. He wrote, too, stories, poems, and sketches, which found their place in the pages of popular maga- zines, but which yielded him little fame, and but meager profit. His style was always brilliant, precise, and polished, and people of refined tastes admired his writings; but he never attracted the at tention of the public, and therefore al. ways remained 10 obscurity.
 During a number of months intimacy with Walter Ellis have often asked my self what was lacking in him. but was never able to answer the question satis factsrily and now, looking back after the lapse of years, do not know that l can fully account for his failure. knew that he was capable of sustained effort, for he would on occasions perform pro digies of mental labor yet he never pro- duced connected work, and there were times when he would come to actual want before he could bring himself to take up his pen.
 am inclined to think that his chief want was the quality of self-assertion. saw many men less brilliant than he rise to distinction in the fields of j,ninsiisHl and general literature, while he remained in the backgrouud-largely, believe, because he would not elbow his way in The struggle of life does not always re- suit in the survival of the Attest, but in the survival of the strongest, and he would not push and scramble for place His was a nature that needed the sum shine of prosperity to develop il, and that he never had. The facts of his life, as l gathered them from himself and others, throw some light on the peculiar weak nesses of his character. His parents had both died in his early youth, leaving no means, and he had been consigned to the guardianship of near relative, who had faithfully done his duty in caring for him, but who had no sympathy with his tastes and no patience with his shortcom- ings. This, probably, was what gave his mind the morbid sensitivtness which " as always his most pronounced character istic. Neither at school nor college did he distinguish himself in his studies. The drier details of even rudimentary knowledge it was almost impossible for him to master and he was only saved from the reputation of a dunce by an occasional display ofhis brilliant, qualities. He was an indefatigable reaoer, and seemed to extract without conscious ef- | fort the best substance from the works of great writers, ancient and modern. After leaving college and being throSn on his own resources, he had made his way to the city, where he won some friends in spite of his shyness, and where his abil ties insured him at least a slender sus- tenance.
 Ellis always seemed to me rather out of place among the reckless, careless company with whom he consored, though he was a general favorite Whether he had ever yielded to any of the temptations which beset young men in cities ] cannot say, but while knew him his whole life was irreprozchable in its purity. He never indulged in any coarse jests, or even innuendoes, and his conversation was always marked by . peculiar delicacy and refinement; all this, too, though he made no profession to any fixed religious faith. He always man. aged to keep up a gentlemanly appear ance, though 1 knew that he sometimes suffered real privstion. Indeed, though in those days my own finances were nos in a very fourishing condition, 1 was often able 10 render him a little assist ance in the way of small loans, which