The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1892-10-20
MUSCLE OR
BRAIN7
SOME STRANGE FACTS.
WILL 1T EYER CHANGE?


4
| there WAS light.-Gen., l-3.
God has said many time during
the ages. Let there be light! and
| whenever the sublime uttersnce 10
heard some great genius Is born.
Some Incidents which have made
the last few days conspicuous stand
| in bold and Suggestive contrast TO
each ether. One cannot ponder them
without rather painful conscious
ness that the world is queer place
to live in; that the human race has
only half learned it's alphabet as yet,
and that the millennium is so far
away that the Lick telescope can
make Lothing better than q nebula
out of the frInges OF its garments.
Cynics who delight to sneer tell US
with something OF assurance that
society is st'll 10 the Hotten ntot cycle
of development and that our boa. ed
civilization and refinement are more
or less OF sham and humbug.
TIE incidents to whicn we refer tend
to curroborate this theory.
I.-Mr. George William Curtis
was man of brains and 10 early life
he started out with the noble purpose
OF achieving career by means Of
his genius. HIS won popularity ex-
tending f1nm the Atlantic to the Pa
cltic rss welcome visitor 10 every
scholars home both here aud abroad,
and used bis talents for the benefit
OF his kind.
If 1t be true that we really weigh
a man accordinQto his intrinsic worth
and repay his toll according to its
real value, Mr.. Curtis should f-ve
amassed, not exceeding wealth. per-
hsps. but certainly an ample com
potency. In his habits he was simple
aud frugal; IN his work be was in
dustrious and aspiring We are in
debted to him for enjoyment of the
higher order and acknowledge it
with unetinted praise Nevertheless,
after a life of constant and con-
sclentious endaavor, extending
almost to the limit set down by the
Hebrew seer, be died a comparatively
poor man. Sixty Thousand dollars
Was the SUN total Of his savings.
U.-W Whittier in q ripened age has
also passed on. and when We inquire
concerning the financial results with
which the world rewarded his splen.
did genius We find them very disap-
pointing. We are almost forced to
the conclusion that everything
pays better ttan ideas; that when a
man devotes himself to literary pur-
suits he dooms himself to poverty
that it is more profitable from this
world point of view to be skilled
mechanic than a poet or an artist. /.
Whittier lived on slender income
simply, less expenslvely and sur
ronnded by fewer luxuries than the
confidential clerk in an importing
| house or the keeper Of successful
corner grocery.
III.-James Co,betr achieved q
victory which has made his name a
household word. 1t was not con.
test of brains, but OF knuckles. His
chief business WAS to dodge the
sledgehammer blows OF Sullivan and
to pound toe face of his opponent
out Of all recognizable shape. Hav'
ing accomplished both results be
poeketed snug little fortune OF
thirty five Thousand dollars and hal
ever since been besieged ty offers o.
one or two Thousand dollars for {
thirty mlnutes' exhibition. In I
word, he has made In a single weel
with his fists as much as Curtis o
Whittier mode by lifetime of in
tellectual toll, and probably NOR
than any college president could lay
by in score Of years.
The inevitable conclusion is thai
scholarship is the equivalent Of mar
trydom, The world does not paJ
the largest price for The most elevat
ing kind of work or for the service
Of it's most gifted men. On the con
trary, it is poloriously indifferent L
both. So universal is this tnal i
f you find scholar, poet, an astrono
, mer, yos are sure to find poor ID an
So far as money is concerted il pay
, hundred times better to invent
new porous plaster than TO write th
best book that ever came from th
e press. The most noted professors /
our universities would feel rich wit
t the salary which a painted Glow
i squanders.
We make no comments of tbes
S..t, 1h.t tboc ora fecta ia itsalf