The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-02-26
.GeniusG etsE arlyR Reward D
Youth Wins III Literature.
Bv John A. Rowland.

OWEv11R the economist may be bat
VS.. ting the theory Of mans Falling Int \
4 88H the yellow leaf att 40 years old, the
4 ! fact is displayed 1T every opportunity
81 that genius will have It's reward early,
and that the present Is an ago OF young men,
Il The other lay d well known publicatl ton
distributed s., 900 81, 900, and ST 900 respect
lively, for the FIRST second, and third best
short stories in a ecompctltl ton numbering
more than L, 600 contestants. The universe $
was open to tho contestants In the treatment
OF themes, and 81, 900 for q 1000 word story
Is compensation worth while to tho ripest
tai prize out OF Il, 900 possibilities went ton
young man barely 20 years old, while tho (
third prize In the list went to another young
fellow OF only 81 years. I'll s2S HI E335 ss5
4 Time and again this old vexed poin 1T comes 4
up and will not down. I he schools are strug -j
Cling with 1t In search OF tight; he Individual
whose thoughts turn to self analysis Is strug-8
Cling with It: society is diagnosing some Of
its ills as resting upon q system which. cannot
watt for maturity in man, but which insists
upon squeezing him dry and casting him
aside In his best years. s5,3 " 81 VI Il.
Yet In every lit tie while an object lesson \
Is given, as in the short story contest, that
genius will not walt on The slow method of
the economist. II 4!
M PrecocityN No Longer Surprises. Ssf8
Il The schools We wrestled whit the genius
problem. but have made no fixed law from
which pedagogues may not deviatc In their
individual jud gment.3 In every school Is to be-
found the handful OF Sprecocious ones at the
top to whose PAGES the main body o. the
students may not keep step.swhilc at the bot
81
3to54whose slow step the pedagugue decides
he cannot hold back the majority Of hts 4
pupils. On all sides the schools for backward.
children have been esta bished and are we'll
attended, but provisions for the precocious
ones are ma de among the me diocre types,
and these precocious ones set the pa CO s the
mediocre ones are not allowed ton do for
the backward individuals b
Pedagogues have found faults&it It'll q school
system which prods the mediocre types to
the fast pace set by the brilliant handful in
the genius class. But tseveryS turn ! i, n Cd
ern affairs of life 4 be public Is looking On
at the 5imma ture genius rea ping where he
has scare ely had time to SOW, and the dis
itself wit q condi ton that is proving past
,theorizing. $s $y s39 q
Demand for the U p-to- Date.
81 Considering the recent llterary competI don
as characteristic In many ways OF this age
,ofs the fyoun g. NJ M ono may read from It
the posi- bil II ties hat the present is holding
out to these 70 ing q favored 4 ones w hat
could have been more favorable TOT the young
contestant for instance, Il than the public
taste whic b has ade It possible that outaof!
the u, 900 stories submitted every story but
on eG should have been laid since the election
OF President NJ cIinley? 2 with public So \
little exacting OF a time beyond the present
the young man barely at his ma ority may
bring to all the makeup material his fiction
all the observati lon and enthusiasm 5charac-
teristic Of his youth. The civil war period, so
far as concerns the modern short story, night
as well have been contemporaneo with the
glacial epoch. 5387 81 " ISL SS
y N only does this apply to literature, but 4
to many other walks in life the present. Is a r
most wholly within the limits OF observa-
ton OF the young man ba rely Of age. u Elec-
trcnlenglneerin offers one of the best fields 4
for the young man of higher chanicalb
genius, and within the last flfteonS years
nearly every thing developing in electricity
has been cxploi ted to full measure y there
are especially few proposi tons appealing to
the electrical engineer of today which may
have light shed upon 1t by an electrical au-5
thorty5 OF yesterday, q So frequently in the Z
confronting the scientist in rc- b
cent years tho nerd has been for him to 4
repudiate and disproYe where tradition at
tempted to teach. Within the Observations
Of men IS years old there have been scores
OF shorter cuts taken toward material res
suits In nearly every field OF human activi-@
ties, some OF these in the last ten years over