Wichita eagle., 1888-10-05

different sort of an undertaking. The hitch
in the proceedings at this point was SO seri-
GUS that, for a time, gave up all hope Of
accomplishing my object. It seemed i'm
possible to establish the necessary connec-
ton in his mind between the written
characters and the spoken word. At last il
| suddenly dawned upon him and he learned
fatal omenD tho word "book" The acquir-
ing of one word constituted the test in my
| calculations That point being gained, the
rest was only question of additional work
and continued patience.
1t was not long before Ulysses could write
| upon the board the names of most Of the OBJ
jects which had been used in his instruction
thus far, and the verbs which l had taught
him ID connection with them To combine
those words into sentences was largely q
matter of imitation, for he had already
come to understand them when SO ar
ranged. In short time we were carrying
on long conferences, and the vocabulary Of
Ulysses had increased to the point of en-
bracing most of the words used in daily con-
versation. With the establishment Of this
mode of intercomnunication, Ulysses was
able to explain to me what his difficulties
were, and could proffer more available as
sistance. then, for the first time, enjoyed
an intimate acquaintance with brain that
was not human I could look into it and
study its character and mode Of action I
need not add that the occupation was fas-
cinating one.
Our conversations, which were ct first
limited to visible actions and concrete objects,
soon strayed into distractions The rapidity
with which he grasped the analogy between
tbipl-irrr a,,6 Iiftfa2 bi,11Se
the material into the metaphysical plane, as
tonished me beyond measure. He possessed
an overruling sense Of logic, keen and pene-
trating, yet so swift that it seemed trans
figured to intuition But the most wonder
full feature of his intellect was his memory.
Now that words were supplied him, as tools
with which to conduct his thinking, what
were before mere vague impressions became
definite ideas, fixed and everlasting. soon
found that it was necessary to be absolutely
accurate in all that l said to him, as he was
quick to detect any inconsistency, and his
memory covered the full amount Of al that
had said since he had come to have COM
mand of the language.
For some time we conversed together every
day, / talking or writing and he using the
blackboard. As print was too slow for prac-
tical use, / taught him to write shorthand
One day he made some inquiry of me con-
cerning the novel 1 happened to have in
hand, and read him several chapters of it.
His delight at gaining so much knowledge in
SO short a time was unbounded. / discovered
that he regarded it as authentic history, and
fastened to undeceive him He was greatly
shocked to find that anything could be said
or written which was not true. This led mo
into something of a dissertation upon the
forms Of literature and the canons Of taste.
He listened with an absorbed interest. The
bent of his mind was evidently not practical,
but literary and artistic.
Ulysses fondness for hearing me read gave
me an idea as to a means OF freeing myself
from the opportunities for instruction and
discussion to which he was now treating me,
and which were becoming decidedly irksoule-
I sent Akbar, the mahout, to Madras with
letter to a French oculist He brought back
q large monocle which had ordered made
for the use Of my pupil. There was q hole
In one of Ulysses ears, drilled there by some
former, less appreciative owner, through
which | passed light silk cord, allowing the
glass to hang conveniently pendant. ! had
"a wooden rack constructed by neighboring
rayat, who did carpenter work, which held
tho volume open and at the right altitude.
Ulysses was now ready to begin his literary
researches independent of my aid. Kneeling
before the rack, i'll which he soon learned to
faSten the book himself, he lifted the monocle
to his eye with the fingers of his trunk, and
commenced to read At first he proceeded
slowly, and was often compelled to summon
me to his assistance. After l explained to
him the use Of the dictionary and allowed
him to keep one near at hand, this source of
ANNOYANCE ceased, and he worked away by
himself with steadily increasing ease and
rapidity.
There was one person who had observed
ell these proceedings with nstonishment and
disaDproval. This was Briggs, the English
gardener who took care of my place I
think he had an idea that was violating the
laws of the church of England in some way,
l scarcely know how. On one occasion,
when | happened to be in Madras, Ulysses
discovered, by appealing to him for the
meaning of certain words and phrases that
all mortals were not endowed with the Same
fund Of information that l happened to
possess. No sooner did he find out that
Briggs knew less about such matters than he
did himself, than he began to treat him with
open contempt, slowly bringing up his eye
glass and inspecting him with cold hauteuf
whenever he happened to come in sight
THAT there helephant,' Briggs complained
to me, ''do treat me most harrogant, sir. I.
didn't never expect to come to this ERE"
spoke TO Ulysses about the matter, and
demonstrated with him.
II cannot understood it." he wrote in re-
ply: ~ asked the man about Schopenhauer's
Four-fold Root of Sufficient Reason to which
I found reference in a volume of essays by
Frederic Harrison. He said he never had
heard of any such root. Can he not read
and talk as you do and as all mortals dot
How does it happen that he is ignorant Of
these thingsm
explained to him that only small part
of the human race cared to interest itself in
affairs Of the intellect, and that millions Of
men were still in the condition Of unhappy
mental blindness from which he had so re-
Gently emerged. He was aghast at this state
ment, but it did not tend to re-establish
Briggs in his respect.
II was now the season Of the year when I
was accustomed to make tour among the
neighboring coffee plantations, to estimate
and bid on the crops. / was not able TO take
Ulysses with me conveniently, so | left him
in the care OF Briggs and Akbar To Briggs
] gave the key TO my library, with orders to
supply Ulysses with whatever he might de-
mand, and / prepared for my pupils use
catalogue OF all the books in my collection
The library was chiefly made up of works Of
history, philosophy, and criticism, admirably
suited TO the special tastes Of Ulysses.
Ny absence lasted during period of nearly
tHrpa months and I fNr1r1d
Ulysses almost in condition of must or
insanity. he had read ell, or nearly ell, the
books that had placed upon the lis. and