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CONSTRUCTIVE GENIUS
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bar of the zoologist and the microscope of the botanist have unearthed and brought to light a legion of facts which have caused grave and serious men, honest and intelligent men, to doubt. And these facts have propounded the problems which caused the great constructive genius of La Place to give us the Nebular Hypothesis. These facts caused Darwin to give us evolution.
The intellectual power of mankind is not equally distributed. Constructive genius is rare, while the power to execute other men's ideas is abundant. Nature has given to a few men the power to lead, it has destined the great mass to follow, a few to teach, the great multitude to learn, a few to sow the seeds of progress, the vast populace to garner the harvest. It required high a order of talent for John Milton to conceive and construct Paradise Lost, but all the world can read it, admire it and pay homage to the poet. It was an extraordinary mind gave us David Copperfield, and twenty generations of all nations in all languages will gather lessons from this simple story. It was an assemblage of extraordinary minds that constructed the constitution of our republic, and at a distance of a century we find fifty millions of people enjoying the liberties inherited from the heroes of the Revolution, and if we are blest with a wise administration of government a hundred centuries will find their work still intact.
The men of genius who accomplish great things never press themselves upon the world. They are contented to remain in obscurity until there is imperative demand for action, then they step boldly forward and do their work. It was such an emergency that called the modest Washington from Mt.Vernon to lead our rebellious forefathers, and such an emergency called Lincoln from his law practice at Springfield to the chief magistracy of the republic.
It is not unusually the case that genius, when called for, comes whence it is least expected. It seems to haunt dark cells where light and life would seem to be perfect strangers. It springs forth like a spontaneously generated plant. Yet there should be no mystery connected with the fact that brilliant boys often become dullards as men,
and the boys who appear to possess but mediocre ability become the ruling spirits of the world. There should be no mystery connected with the fact that the honor men of a class in college, when tested in the crucible with which the world tries men, are often found to be the second-rate men. The problem is solved by the fact that it requires a different kind of talent to be effectual in the outside world from that which makes one shine within the walls of a college The college demands accumulative power; the world calls for constructive genius. It was his constructive genius that made General Grant, who graduated far down in his class, the most remarkable man that ever led an American army. His constructive power took Nathaniel Hawthorne from near the foot of a famous class and made him the first among American novelists. Constructive genius made Daniel Webster our most valuable statesman. Constructive genius enabled Horace Greey, whom it took twelve years to learn the multiplication table, to establish the New York Tribune. No great enterprise has ever become a success unless it has been led by a man of great constructive power. No man has won for himself either fortune or lasting fame unless his constructive power did the work. Ten thousand men may be slain in battle but no name goes into history except that of the general. A thousand scientists search the mountains, the plains, the valleys, and even the depths of the sea for the evidences which will prove either the truth or falsity of a theory; yet all names, save that of him who conceived the theory, must take a subordinate place and finally fade entirely away.
In the smaller circles of private life constructive power makes the successful merchant, manufacturer and mechanic; the lawyer, physician, minister and schoolmaster. Facts are of vital importance. The power to accumulate them must be possessed fortunately it is abundant The power to use them,the power to place them in new and useful combination,the power to sap wisdom from knowledge is rare.
PAUL DONNELL.