Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-01-03
ACCIDENTAL GREATNESS.

1t is trite saying that many val.
liable discoveries have resulted from
mere accident. The history of the
arts and sciences has demonstrated
the truth of the proposition. But
did it ever strike the reader that a
similar remark will apply with equal
force to the literature? The biog-
raphies of scores of noted authors
show that the creation of their no
blest works was due to some trlfllng
circumstance. $3.50. d. ili. D..
A sudden impulse, an idea, an in
spiration if you choose to call it, that
may have had its origin in an acci-
dent but for which the world would
have remained ignorant Of the gem
ius, nay even of the existence of
some man of marvellous literary
ability. Sir Roger Achsam was in
duced to write "The Schoolmaster,"
the wcrk on which his fame chiefly
rests, by friend who heard him de
nounce, in vigorous terms, the pracL
tice of flogging in school. Cowley
became poet by accident; he got
hold of copy of Spenser's "Faery
Queen" when but boy, and so
deeply was he impressed with its
beauties that he made poetry a study
and finally dedicated himself Who'll
ly to the muses..
Shakespear's wild ways when
youth brought him into disgrace in
his town, causing him to abandon
his trade of wool carding and to join
a company of players. This acci-
dent made him first an actor and
next writer of plays.
A sentence uttered by Moliese's
grandfather led the young man to
turn from a life of dissipation and
prepare for the stage. The grand
father was fond of plays and often
went to see them in company with
his grandson. Moliere's father did
not liks this, and angrily asked if
his son was to be made an actor.
"Would to heaven" returned the
man THAT he Were as good an actor
as Montrose.p The youth was
struck by these words; he became
dissatisfied with his trade and left
it, and as II result became q renown-
ed actor and playwright,
Instances like these may be null
tiplied indefinitely; in fact the his
tory Of men of letters aoounds in
them, and one who reflects on the
subject at all cannot fail to come to
the conclusion that poets, philoso-
pliers and historians, as well as in-
ventors, have frequently been start |
cd ON the road to fame by accident.
johnson defined genius rs "a mind |
OF general powers accidentally de- |
termined by some particular direc-
ion"-a definition which very few
In these days would pronounce alb
accurate, and yet il con-
Iains a truth, IL not the whole truth.
The great philosopher regarded the
mission of the author as an humble |
one. "lo talk in private, to think
N solitude, tn inquire or to answer
INQUIRIES is the business of the schOl-
lr. He wanders about through the
world without pomp or terror, and
IS neither known nor valued but by
men like himself" Milton had u
,rander conception Of "that lasting
anne and perpetuity OF praise which
iod and good men have consented Il
hall be the reward OF those whose
published labOrs advanced the good
# mankind.n .n..,s u, u...
Tomake great name is a task
more difficult than 20 accum-
late II great fortune. Young
uthors who find il difficult 10 .
ecure publishers for their works
hould not let this fret or discourage
hem, for many Of the most cele-
rated writer's met with the same
bstacle at the outset OF their liter
~ career. When Sterne inlshed