Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-27

limited to visible actions and concrete objects, |
soon strayed into distractions The rapidity /
with which he grasped the analogy. between |
seeing and thinking, and lifted himself out Of |
the material into the metaphysical plane, as
tonished me beyond measure. lie possessed |
an overruling sense Of logic. keen and pene-
trating, vet so swift that il 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 | said to aim, as he was
quick to detect any inconsistency, and his
memory covered the full amount of all that
| had said since he had come to have COM
mand of the language.
For some time we eonversed 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-
corning the novel l 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
hastened to undeceive him He was greatly
shocked to find that anything could be said
or written which was not true. This led me
| into something of n 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 q means OF freeing myself
from the opportunities for instruction and
discussion to which he was now treating me,
and which were becoming decidedly irksome.
| sent Akbar, the mahout, to Madras with a
letter to French oculist. He brought back
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 l had
wooden rack constructed by neighboring
rayat, who did carpenter work which held
the volume open and at the right altitude.
Ulysses was now ready to begin his literary
researches independent of my aid Kneeling
before the rack, in which he soon learned to
fasten the book himself, be 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 a steadily increasing ease and
rapidity.
There was one person who had observed
all these proceedings with establishment and
disapproval. This was Briggs the English
gardener who took care of my place. l
think he had an idea that 1 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 1 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 hauteur
whenever he happened to come in sight
THAT there helephant," Briggs complained
to me, ''do treat NE most harrogant, sir.
didn't never expect to come to this ERE"
spoke to Ulysses about the matter, and
demonstrated with him.
Il cannot understood it." be wrote in re
ply: II asked the man about Schopenhauers
Four-fold Root of Sufficient Reason to which
found reference in a volume of essays BY
Frederic Harrison He said he never hat
heard of any such root Can he not reaC
and talk as you do and as all mortals do
How does it happen that he is ignorant Of
these thingsf'
explained TO him that only small par
of the human race cared to interest itself il
affairs of the intellect, and that millions O
men were still in the condition of unhappy
mental blindness from which he had so re
Gently emerged. He was aghast at this state
ulent, but it did not tend to re-establisl
Briggs in his respect.
1t was now the season of the year when
YVES accustomed to make tour among tn
neighboring coffee plantations, to estimat
and bid on the crops. l was not able to tax
Ulysses with me conveniently, so l left hir
in the care Of Briggs and Akbar To Brigg
l gave the key to my library, with orders
supply Ulysses with whatever he might dt
! Inand, and prepared for my pupils use
catalogue Of all the books in my collection
,, The library was chiefly made up OF works c
! history, philosophy and criticism, adnirabl
suited to tine special tastes Of Ulysses.
My absence lasted during a period of nearl
three months, and on my return l foun
Ulysses almost in q condition Of must" {
a insanity. He had read all, or nearly all, Il
books that had placed upon the list, ar
! had gained through that extraordinary men
. DRY Of his an immense mass Of fact and opil
: ion He was now suffering from intellectu
: dyspepsia. | consulted him about his trouble
: and got in reply an avalanche OF questions
every variety OF subject His confidence
my knowledge was, apparently, unGmite
: | would have been a source of inexpressib
= qualification to me if | could have shared
| was not unmindful of the fate which hs
:, befallen poor Briggs nevertheless l felt
- my duty to help Ulysses out of his difficr
= ties. did not imagine that his questio
~ would occasion ne much trouble, and if tn,
- should, thought myself the possessor of 81
: ficient savoir dire to get out of it in sor
~ way. l avoided some things by merely 6
VI surfing him that he would understand the
better when he had read more Whenever
esSayed an answer to any of his interrog
y tories, he had an unpleasant habit of pinnil
-. opinions. | had never appreciated the exte
~ and variety of my ignorance until it W
- subjected to this test, although Ulysses at
y, tude toward me was always that of pupil
~ teacher, yet l saw at times traces of t
"a Socratic method in the long series of qu
tons which he put to me, and l was CO..
Ill PEELED, not infrequently, to squrm out
~ some inconsistency i'll most undignifi
=. fashion.
a. This inquisition continued for number
- days after my return and | could not clt
:. my eyes to the fact that IVES failing to he
~ my own in the estimation of Ulysses. FRI
~ cyclopedia Of literature which happened
~, be in my library Ulysses had stored his mi
nS5 with an enormous fund of information
nn subjects of which was completely ignora
tte In this field l was continually falling II
,1 traps There were also TRANSACTIONS Of Con
-, and Hegel to which he had devoted consid
eo able study, but l checkmated him there
n. talking learned nonsense, which was s,
u, be could not distinguish from deep me
10 physics 1t was evident, however, that
10 was beginning to appreciate that somethi
~, was the matter Although he had not co
'A' to the point of ranking me with Briggs, s
na- my position was getting to be a precari'
In one, and saw the necessity for great care
in For some time l avoided being drawn il
by conversation with Ulysses, keeping him
RI bay with o number of new books, which
et- had brought with me from Madras. He '
me not long in approaching that there was so
Inc purpose lying back of this policy, and
I'D manded an exclamation of me | was G
of fusa1 by, his ,,oint hlanE c1astiopc opd n,