His voice had gradually lowered, and now it became inaudible; he was
oblivious to my presence, and had gone forth from his own self; he was
lost in matters celestial, and abstractedly continued unintelligibly to
mutter to himself as, brushing his hair from his forehead, he picked up
his well-worn felt hat, and placed it awkwardly on his shaggy head, and
then shuffled away without bidding me farewell. The bent form,
prematurely shattered by privation; uncouth, unkempt, typical of
suffering and neglect, impressed me with the fact that in him man's life
essence, the immortal mind, had forgotten the material part of man. The
physical half of man, even of his own being, in Daniel Vaughn's
estimation, was an encumbrance unworthy of serious attention, his spirit
communed with the pure in nature, and to him science was a study of the
great Beyond.[5]
[5] Mr. Drury can not claim to have recorded verbatim Prof.
Vaughn's remarks, but has endeavored to give the substance. His
language was faultless, his word selections beautiful, his
soliloquy impressive beyond description. Perhaps Drury even
misstated an idea, or more than one, evolved then by the great
mind of that patient man. Prof. Daniel Vaughn was fitted for a
scientific throne, a position of the highest honor; but, neglected
by man, proud as a king, he bore uncomplainingly privations most
bitter, and suffered alone until finally he died from starvation
and neglect in the city of his adoption. Some persons are ready to
cry, "Shame! Shame!" at wealthy Cincinnati; others assert that men
could not give to Daniel Vaughn, and since the first edition of
ETIDORHPA appeared, the undersigned has learned of one vain
attempt to serve the interests of this peculiar man. He would not
beg, and knowing his capacities, if he could not procure a
position in which to earn a living, he preferred to starve. The
only bitterness of his nature, it is said, went out against those
who, in his opinion, kept from him such employment as returns a
livelihood to scientific men; for he well knew his intellect
earned for him such a right in Cincinnati. Will the spirit of that
great man, talented Daniel Vaughn, bear malice against the people
of the city in which none who knew him will deny that he perished
from cold and privation? Commemorated is he not by a bust of
bronze that distorts the facts in that the garments are not seedy
and unkempt, the figure stooping, the cheek hollow and the eye
pitifully expressive of an empty stomach? That bust modestly rests
in the public library he loved so well, in which he suffered so
uncomplainingly, and starved so patiently. J. U. L.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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