The Grenada gazette., 1888-03-24
GENIUS IS INDUSTRY,
Success In Ifc Due to Hard Work, rntieno,
and Research.

Success In Ife Due tn Hard Work. rntienSsp
| and Research.
There is no respect of classes with
genius. 1t enters the cottage of the
poor and the mansion of the rich.
Unlike what we call talents. it is in
herited by no one; like virtue. il is a
possession OF the individual and not
OF the family
DR. Smiles in his Life and Labor"
prints list Of eighty-one names of il
lustr0us scientific men, philosophers,
poets. novelists, dramatists. historians,
refOrmers, statesmen and generals.
Twenty-sevcn names belong to the
aristocratic class, twenty-seven to the
middle-class and twenty-seven to the
working class, from which fact it seems
to be true that great men come from all
ranks and classes.
A great geniIs resembles Melchize-
dek, in that, intellectually. he is with
out father, without mother" without
genealogy. He is his own ancestors
and posterity, for no begins and ends
with himself.
The Adams family, the Bayard
family, the Breckenridge family and
the Beecher family are illustrations Of
the fact that great talent may descend
to the third and fourth generations;
but from these four illustrious Ameri-
can families there has risen but one
genius-Henry Ward Beecher. Six Of
the leading representative statesmen OF
the formative period OF the Republic
Hamilton, Sam Adams, Jefferson. Clay
and Webster-have no "genealogy."
1t is hard to define the word genius.
by which we express the subtle, elusive,
something that makes man great
The word itself, coming from the Latin.
emphasizes mans belief in the super
natural origin of the something which
dies with him. For the genius OF the
Latins was a guardian deity, which was,
born and which died with the person
whose actions it directed.
Ruskin says that genius Is the power
ofpenetrating into "the root and deep
places Of the subject" This definition
recalls Newton's explanation of his
achievements in science - "always
thinking of it'-meaning his ability to-
concentrate his intellect on the subject
of his search. But then Newton, it
may be observed, was a very modest
man. He was more. He was uncon-
scious of his great mind, and illustrated
the remark of the physiologist who said
mo man was ever a great man who
wanted to be one"
But John Dalton. the great chemist
who developed the atomic theory. held
with Newton that his genius was
nothing but the power of patient in.
dnstry lahoring continuously at a sub
ject until he saw through it. We COM
mend his words, when complimented at
a public meeting, on his discoveries:
'fIhave succeeded better than many
it has been chiefly. nay, l may say al
most solely, from unwearied assiduity.
1t is not so much from any superior
genius that one man possesses over an
other. but more from attention to study
and perseverance in the objects before
them. that some men rise to greater
eminence than others. This it is, in
my opinion. that makes one man sue.
ceed better than another"
Dalton's 'unwearied assiduity" inl-.
PEELED him to observe and compare un.s
til his death, in his seventy-eighth year.
On the last night Of his earthly life.
he wrote the days record in his book
Of meteorological observations. of
which he had made more than two hun
tred thousand during half a century.
One can not promise himself. and
Keep his word. that he will be genius.
'ut he can be industrious, and he can
rain his mind to concentrate ITSELF
If it pleases God to take any of my
l hope it will be Isaac" said
father. Isaac was very dull boy.
But when the ''dull boy" died at the
'arly age Of forty-scven, he was known
IS the. great DR.. Isaac Barrow He
lad filled the Greek and the mathe-
natical chairs at Cambridge, had writ
EN- several books on geometry and
mathematics. and composed series OF
ermons, which are still read because
hey are storehouses Of thought. and
nforcc lessons of industry, godlpcss,.
'rayerfuincss and truthfulness. He..
90. ascribed his success to his indus
~. and not to his natural parts
'O,ilh'S (o,nnnnion