Milford chronicle., 1892-09-30
eENIus 40 succesa
Genius in Art Is No Better Paid in Dol
lars Than In the Old Daya


lars Than Ia the Old Days.
Formerly it was an opinion generally &C.
cepted that genius could not exist long
with turn Of affairs. To "gnaw a crust
I in garret" was looked upon as the natur-
al and fitting thing for poet TO do whic
I spinning the golden cocoon % art Tyne
I have changed, and we have changed with
them to such degree that nowadays 1 G
muses. are expected to endow a genius
WRth the knack Of turning a shilling a.
adrAitly as he is expected to turn the stylus
or wA,ld the plectrum. Art, and especially
BterarySart, is at this moment Of all arts
the suresf, In financial footing; IN other
words. the literary genius is better paid
than airy other7yorker in purely artistic
vocatiJ Jn, and yet il i8not q hundred years
since the days Of his stafSRton.
We hear good deal abO4s the unreii-
ability of literature as a.profession, but
the bottom fact in the matter is Nhat the
profession is as reliable as any otheF to
those who can master it as a business. IN
the business Of letters there is no way Of
avoiding scrutiny and exposure. All the
world is the writer's critic. Il is not so
with the physician; he can look wise, pour
out three drops Of sweetened water, feel
his patients pulse and go his way. Even
the lawyer has many a short cut by which
he can escape detection when he blunders,
but the writer must meet every demand or
he must fall.
A moment or two of careful thinking
will dislose to any mind the element which
distinguishes literary and art life from
every other field of human experience and
aspiration. To succeed In the best sense Of
any calling you must have genius, but
success today is measured by money, and
we may as well for the moment take the
best possible view Of this criterlon-the
golden yardstick. We may take 10 as q
general rule that every person entering
upon the profession Of literature has i'm
view two things-fame and money, with q
heavy balance Of preference tO the credit
of the latter.
In this view Of the case can we safely say
/ that genius succeeds better than mere
agile and clever talent? Take the success
full novels, for example, published during
the year, and what will be the impTessionf
4 With one exception, the most popular and
paying nayelsof recent issue have been Of
poor workmanship and have appealed to
/ human sympathy through other channels
than art; but they have been written by
men and women Of genius who were will
/ ing to cater to vulgar taste for the sake
| Of success. The reader who runs is not apt
/ to make note Of this clever, If dehasing,
4 trick of the literary profession, nor is Il
our purpose to anRlyze it. What we have
/ in mind Is to point out why it is that writers
have harder time OF il than other profes-
sional people.
Some one has said that genius is patience,
/ but the saying will not hold when applied
| to the irritable, restless, Unsuitable knights
of the pen The time has passed when the
4 poet, the novelist or the essayist was con-
I tent to delve for the applause OF posterity.
| Success must be Immediate or some other
string must be pulled; fame and mQueE
forthwith is the demand, but if mme el-
not be had, then notOriety and moi 81,
money at an events.
We called atteptiou not long ago to the
system Of literary booming. which Is but
{ n nsic Of the general scheme in which liter
airy effort has involved itself af late Even
/ genius has been "hustled" into to it tC
such an extent that one regards askance
every sudden apparition above the literary
/ horizon.
To set our own opinion in plain words
we seriously Doubt whether genius in art
is better paid today than it was in the time
1 OF the garret and the crust, save where Il
truckles to mere popular demand. The
money making genius watches the wealth
ervane of current taste rs broker watche:
the movements Of financial weathercocks
and strikes for the lucky lead lie deal:
in literary margins, he bulls or bears the
market. he takes a chance on every change
OF the wind Perhaps this is why there art
50 few genuine creations in literature y.
present.
The poet writes TO suit the needs Of the
magazine editors. so likewise does the
prose writer and in this way journalism
Is shaping both men and literature. Genius
/ is no longer proud and fond of savage
liberty, or if IL is the exigeucies Of a life
overpressed with the weight Of artificial
needs and dazzied by the glare Of gold shut
cut the possibility OF entertaining lofty
exhibitions The French, the English and
the American authors seem to be IN a mad
chase after great incomes. rather than il
search Of the muses.. eGenius succeeds, but
at loss, no lnutter what are its receipts il
bills and checks -~Chautauquan.