The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1911-03-24

possession Of it is but to give adj
mission to the things that are. Ac-
cepting the gift and proftine by il,
we become what it was intended
we should be.
Genius is great, but no product
OF genius il more than a shadow
which points TO the sun Of success
beyond. Genius only avails to
authenticate itself az the normal
power Of a man. II does not do the
work OF the world.
Youth may have talent but not
genius. lie may have sense and
not be endowed with a greater
gift.
Talent is but a tangle of contri-
dictioza.
The youngster throws wood in a
pond and it floats. He throws his
new jack knife into the pond after
the wood. 1t sinks. How is the
boy to know that the same force
will lift the wood and swallow the
knife2
Some day he will know. Com
mon sense will tell him why. With
this knowledge he will be satisfied
and seek other pursuits.
The boy Of genius is not so easily
satisfied. lie begins to look for
deeper reasons and possible results
which might follow. He instinc.
lively feels that many an exception
may be the fruit Of a larger law,
and that somewhere in it turks an
uncomprehended perfection.
Many things in youth are diff.
ficult to understand. Nature is
filled with complicated problems
which confuse the young mind. In
studying these problems, if the
geuius exists, it will certainly as
seTt itself.
Beasts eat grass and plants. The
beast dies. Plants and grass then
feed upon the beast. Fire, water
and frest, in their old quarrel, des.
troy whatever they build. The
night consumes the day, summer
the snow and winter the warmth of
summer.
Change is a revolving wheel in
which so many circling spokes rise
and fall.
These conditions, these complica-
tons, these unfathomed problems
give the boy of genius food for
thought. The boy Of talent does
not care. Sense is satisfied with q
superficial explanation. Genius in
in every situation takes a strong
hold on reality, a tap root, going
down to the source Of things.
The bent Of the boy will sooner
or later show itself if he has genius.
A landscape, rough and rugged,
raw, black and desolate, filled with
crooked trees and crude colors, as
il seems to ordinary eyes, has its
entire appearance changed when
looked upon by the eyes of an artis-
tic genius. He restores the har-
mony broken by our microscopic
view. He detects beauties which
are appreciated by the genius with
in him, which pass as commonplace
TO our less appreciative understand.
ing.
Music to the man Of ordinary
understanding, when played by
musicians of more talent, seems to
be q shattered suspension Of chords.
His very ears ache. When the
chords are touched with the fingers
Of genius the past is melted, the
present forgotten and q way pre-
pared the future.
There never was a face in which
Raphael could not see beauty, hid.
den from ordinary eyes. The dull
est landscape to Turner was a fairer
vision than most Of us ever expect
to see, Byron in his characters Of
lust shows q kind Of magnanimity
which refreshes the victims OF re-
sp~ecatbility and routine.
Genius first named our system
universe and marked it consistency
Genius still goes on ~reconciling US
all, showing how creatures and
men are made Of one stuff, and that
stuff not so bad.
Let the thing be whatever it may,
press on it a little with the mind Of