The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-02-23
(From The New York Herald)

asks LOT my reasons l0r referring W
Mr.. Bryan as one "who rose to popu- |
larity and prominence by his nuques- !
toned and universally admitted pos
session of extraordinary genuius and
Intellect" May encroach upon your
valuable and crowded columns to say
that the subtle force we call genius"
belongs to no race and has no fixed
Ihabitation?
Mr.. Bryan took the world by sur
prise when, having no national repu-
taton, he won immortal fame by
stampeding a national democratic
convention to him at Chicago in 1896
and obtained the nomination for pres
ident by the exhibition of eloquence
rarely heard in political convention.
Sixteen years afterward standing de-
fiant, he again stampeded a national
democratic convention, which result
ed in the nomination of Woodrow
Wilson for president. To genius
alone can be ascribed such intellect
lual triumphs.
Genius is constantly springing sur
prises on the world by breaking out
in strange and unexpected places. We
find it in all conditions, ages, sizes
and races of men. In literature we
find it typifed in Shakespeare and
shall say Brann? These two liter.
airy geniuses were separated from
each other by space Of three hun
dred years. We find both familiar
with all dialects and lnguages, YET
; both ignorant and untutored in the
formation and structure Of language
except as it came to them by intuition
. and inspiration; yet both must be
recognized n their different spheres
j., as masters of the English tongue
!, In this category we must also place
the name of John Bunyan, the humble
tinker, who as a writer of beautiful
n allegory is without an equal in tn,
literature of the world.
In the African race we find thi
q subtle force cropping out in Touissan
! LOuverture, the soldier Booker 7
Washington, the teacher; Paul L
Dunbar, the poet, and Blind Tom,
the musician.
. Who is it that has read the life Q
y Osceola, the Florida Indian chieftair
and remembers his tactics and hi
bravery, or is familiar with the p;
thetic eloquence of Logan, killed nea
Lake Erie in 1880, believes that g
MUS is a stranger to the red man?
As genius lays claim to no nation
atty and finds citizenship in a
> races, it likewise has no choice in tn
= size, age or conditions of men.
We sometimes find it in the palat
a. and again in the howell sometimes "
ie find it in the preocity Of youth; agai
ID in advanced age; sometimes in fra
e bodies and again in bodies of gre;
:, physical vigor.
st Peter the Great was perhaps II
70 greatest monarch that ever grace
+ the Russian throne and Napolet
90 Bonaparte the greatest military 6
er nius of the modern world. One mea
u ured six feet eight and half inche
d. the other less than five feet two.
ST Stephen A. Douglas, because
n small in statue and so big of bra
90 was dubbed by his partisan admire
" as the Little Giant he was sho
re nrecise and spruce to degree; viii
p his more successful rival, Abraha
rs Lincoln, was tall, angular and aw
- ward
Born in a southern cabin and nj
ured suualor, Lincoln's fame M
ey encircles the globe.
Bob Toombs and Alexander 5
phens may also be cited as ohter
ill amnlas. They were as unlike in p
sonal appearance as it were possil
~ for two mon of the same race and !
. tionality to be; yet in the light OF
al nips Georgians are divided as
G which deserves the greater prai
/ Tittle Aleck" was delicate to effe
| ipacv, and in the most robust peri
= Of his life weighed less than one HI
( dred pounds, while his ponderous
\ Htical adversar weighed nea
L tbree times as much. In the sha
. and shake of his head, the compass
I his voice and the splendor of his g
4 tures Toombs was likened to Il
= :, his strength and roar. Yet 5
I nbens. delicate to invalidism, outll'
I his vigorous rival and in his con
! ,r,;ons TO the yexed questions OF
2 ora in which they lived will proba
outlive him also.
I These wonderful contrasts in
8 physical development of great gem