The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1904-09-22
THE ORIGIN or GENIUS.
Mystery Surrounding the Cause Of Great
ness in Men.


Mystery Surrounding the Cause Of Great
ness in Men.
The revival Of interest in Chopin,
to the appearance Of biography and
discussion OF his place among mu.
steal composers, has also called atten
ton to the fact that there is also nc
discoverable origin Of his genius. Ills
parents, while not Of the lowest peas.
ant class, were not remarkable people
nor did any of his brothers or sisters
display any marked characteristics te
distinguish them from the average hu
man kind. Chopin, however, from i'll
fancy, gave evidence Of superior mu'
steal development. He speedily dis
tanced his instructors upon the piano
wrote such difficult music that he was
compelled to devise his own method
Of lingering, and improvised long be
fore he knew anything Of technical
counterpart and harmony. His geniui
was intuitive. No one can tell whence
it came. All delighted in its manifasta'
ton.
What is true Of Chopin is true OF
nearly every other genius the. worlc
has known. A family pursues it's com
monplace existence for several genera
tons, and then, without any apparent
reason, a son or daughter, endowed
with faculties quite foreign to parents
and relatives, mounts to the highest
pedestal of fame. Genius, however
does not beget genius, and so, as soon
as nature has sported with the one
shining example, the glory dies away
and once more the dead level of com.
mon humanity is resumed.
There was not, for instence, grad
ual ascent to nor an equally even de
scent from the height which Shakes.
peare reached. He stands alone, with
nothing before and nothing after
Neither his father, reputable mer.
chant in Stratford, nor his mother, the
daughter of a respectable landholder,
was apparently destined to give to the
world so great a son. Wagner's father
was the clerk of a police court, al.
though he passionately loved the the.
atre, and his mother possessed no es.
pecial gifts. Beethoven's father was
an ordinary musician and his mother
was the daughter of a cook. The list
might be Indefinitely extended, includ.
ing great leaders Of men like Mahomet
and Napoleon; or poets, from Homer to
Tennyson; or painters, from Raphael
to all the famous artists of the present
day.
In all of these men the mystery OF
genius was present. Its presence ex.
cited curiosity, as we'll as admiration
and yet it's cause remained a sealed
book. All that is said and written il
mere guesswork. No one knows what
peculiar convolution Of the brain, What
particular activity of undiscovered
cells, makes the poet, the musician, the
artist, or the general. We say that a
man is born poet or a born musician
and there we pause. Science brings
nothing definite to our aid, and leaves
the curtain darkly down.
While it is true, as Carlyle said, that
genius is capacity for taking infinite
pains, it is also true that no amount OF
labor can supply the missing element
of genius. A man who lacks the vital
spark at his birth might as we'll accept
the place which nature has assigned
him. It is not for him to be great.
Perhaps the time will come when the
researches of the scientists will reveal
to us how geniuses are made, discov.
ering the conditions which create the
wonderful gifts which make the whole
world bow in admiration. Until then,
however, the mystery of genius musi
be ignorantly worshiped.
1t is even poor consolation to agree
with Schopenhauer that there is a
touch of genius in every man. He ar.
CUES that unless this were the case
it would be impossible to explain the
love Of humanity for art and music
and all the concrete manifesto tons OF
beauty. At the same time this is mere.
ly the statement Of fact, not the dis.
covery Of cause. With the birth OF
every genius the eternal riddle pre-.
sents itself unsolved. Some Of these
days when the world is not so wholly
given over to materialism, as it is to.
day, some rare, ethereal, spiritual mind
may grasp the secret. Meanwhile, we
Of the grosser flesh car simply wonder
and Observation-Disclosures Post.