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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��his successful generalship, he lost his presence of mind and was entirely un- able to reply. He was not the man, therefore, to assert his own supremacy. His services were needed and he waited for the summons of the nation. It is supposed by many that there are multitudes of great men who are never developed. Their talents are hid because they are unknown. Ad- dison remarks, " The philosopher, the saint, or the hero, the wise, the good, or the great man, very often lies hid and concealed in the plebeian, which a proper education might have disin- terred and brought to light." He also compares education to the art of the statuary ; the statue lies hidden in the block of marble and the artist only cleaves away the superfluous matter and removes the rubbish. " The fig- ure is in the stone ; the sculptor only finds it." The poet Gray has embod- ied the same sentiment in the following beautiful stanzas :
" Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire ;
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed
Or waked to ecstacy the living lyre.
Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark, unfatliomed caves of ocean bear ;
Full many a flower is born to blush un- seen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air."
According to this theory, if all men were educated, we should have Homers, Flatos, Shakespeares and Franklins in every village ; but the extreme rarity of such men among the most highly cultivated nations, renders it probable that such gifted minds seldom make their advent upon our earth. 'vV mute, inglorious Milton" is almost an impossibility. It is the nature of genius to become conspicuous ; and you might almost as easily put out the light of a beaming star as to hide the glory of intellect in a plebeian. Mind will make itself known and felt, wheth- er it exist in the savage or the sage. True it is, education must develop it ;
��but true genius never consents to inac- tion and supineness. It seeks culture where it is not offered. Look at the Corsican lieutenant in the streets of Paris. Violence and anarchy are tri- umphant. Every man's hand is against his neighbor. All are at their wits' end.. A young officer appears at the head of the broken columns of infantry, orders^ with the authority of a monarch, the cannon to sweep the street, and with great presence of mind assumes the command and restores order. This was the beginning of a new state of things for France. The man was equal to the occasion. He was qualified by nature for the post he assumed. There was not probably another man among all the great men who figured during, the reign of terror, who could have enacted successfully the same part. Napoleon was fitted for the place. The circumstances were such as to call into action his highest powers. They stimulated but did not create them. A multitude of instances might be cited from the world's history, show- ing that such executive energy is the re- sult of clear conceptions of the under- standing, outrunning the deductions of." logic and prompt decisions of the judg- ment when under high excitement.. Such conduct is the highest outward ex- pression of mind in action. It is the best test of superior endowments. When- ever such gifts are bestowed by the Greator,they generally show themselves early in life. Turn out a company of children upon a common to seek re- creation, and very soon the voice of some one boy will be heard above the shouts of the many giving orders for some favorite game ; and, by acclama- tion or silent compliance of the crowd, he is at once installed dictator of the- play-ground. Let a company of little girls hold a tea-party ; and some one of them will soon be found personating the school-mistress or the housekeeper^ and summonins; others to her side to receive her commands or listen to her rebukes. Let a company of emigrants assemble at a common place of ren- dezvous from everv town in the state l
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