Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-11-14

oete nosr @ commonplace people. he
mas been spoifed by little notice In the
paper, and should lse bedded down every
night with barley straw and fed on corn
In tne ear. Genius is a good thing, 80 I
am told, and do not despise 1t myself,
put when 1t is made to take the place Of
common decency and snaps its fingers at
friendship, would rather not see any
signs of it in my children.
This man was one whose work had
admired. l could not see how his heart
could be otherwise than pure and un-
selfish. His words had called up the
tenderness which is common in the
hearts of all, even in the coarse nature
OF the funny man. read his beautiful
hnes, and said to myself: Here is one
whose soul is all aglow with divine SUM-
SHINE. He lives in a perpetual Indian
summer of gladness, and the birds and
the angels love to associate with him"
dis soul was all aglow with sunshine
when things went his way, but when
they did not it was aglow with red re-
hectlon from the great coke works where
the worm dieth not and the fire de-
partment Is an ignominious failure. I
would not advise a tender, trusting girl
to marry genius like that. Marry a
plain, openfaced mechanic who is will
ing to submit to the laws which govern
humanity In general, rather than the
spoiled pet of pelt hunting public
which adores at distance and despises
at short range Select one who is willing
to give blow for blow, smile for smile
and dollar for dollar wherever he goes;
a man who does not live in the artificial
warmth of silly alteration, who is not
perpetually yearning for another curtain
call, whose morbid and boundless appe-
tite for praise takes at gulp the simple
devotion of wife and children and
howls for more and more.
Very few men of unusual ability and
genius are firm friends or domestic sac
cesses. Why is it?
In my judgment it is for the simple
reason that in the matter of praise they
finally get to preferring quantity rather
than quality. They would rather get a
column of the most obvious rot than a
paragraph of genuine Endorsement.
They need it by the bale and so they
must fill up on the cheap and non-nutri-
tious taffy of strangers, when if their
taste had not been destroyed by gorging,
valuable simile from a valued friend
would so farther than the ringing ap-
plause of thoughtless multitude.
/ saw my gifted friend last week, and
somehow as we rode along on the train
it seemed to occur to him that he ought
to ''get even with" me in some way for
past Inequalities. l did not look at it
in that way, but he did
So he asked me to dine with him-on
a buffet car.
We had tomato soup-canned; picked
lambs tongues - timed; Bert's justly
celebrated Belgian crackers, canned
pudding and revised coffee. Gle had
waited till we crossed the line and got
into state where no liquors are Sold
Then we had cigarette, and his obliga-
ton to me rs host was wiped out.
Genius is good thing. but if it should
break out in my family think would
call in the doctor before it got much
of start. All the way from Edgar
A. Poe to Blind Tom the history Of
genius has been cloude1 by ingratitude,
domestic infelicity and cruelty. Let us
each and every one, as we crouch around
our own firesides to eat popcorn and
Spitzbsrgen apples of mediocrity, re-
member that there is a sweet and beau
tiful favor to square and yet unevent-
full life which the pampered children OF
abnormal and overgrown talent never
know
@4xf AMe