The Continental Monthly , Vol. 2 No. 5, November 1862: Devoted to Literature and National PolicyVarious
History
The Continental Monthly , Vol. 2 No. 5, November 1862: Devoted to Literature and National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
But these media do not come bottled up in tin tubes, and to this gift a
mortal hand ought not to presume. It might as well aspire to draw
infinitely as to tint infinitesimally; for before it can find use for
all the colors in nature, it ought to have all nature upon the canvas.
But finally, we hold that reproductive art is as much part and parcel of
human nature as the appreciative, or sensation of beauty; and that any
one can learn to copy and color a landscape or design, as well as to
perform upon a musical instrument. Let genius still wield the creative
wand, but in the wide domain of art, over his grotto alone be it
written, _Procul o procul este profani_.
ONE OF THE MILLION.
Shoemaker Scheffer opened his shop within sight of the college
buildings, and expected to live by trade. He was young and skilful,
obliging, and prompt, and acquired, ere long, a substantial reputation.
Prosperity did not mislead him; he applied his income to the furtherance
of his business, abhorred debt, squandered nothing, was exact and
persevering.
At work early and late, he seemed the model of contentment, as he was of
industry. Prompt, obliging, careful, he made the future easy of
prediction.
But though the ruddy firelight shines well on the window panes, what
griefs, what agonies, what discords, are developed around the
hearthstone. Scheffer's quiet demeanor was, in some degree, deception.
One woman in the world knew it was so--no other being did.
The immediate excitant of his unrest was found in the college students,
who passed his place of business at all hours of the day. He remembered
that he might have worked his way into the ranks of those fellows.
Nothing vexed him so much as to see a lounger among them; for he must
needs think of the time when, a stripling, he agonized over his choice,
and said to himself, thinking of his mother (dead now, when the comfort
he toiled for was secured), 'Time enough for books when I am sure of
bread; flesh is needy and perishing, spirit is eternal.' He had walked
out of school to the counter of his uncle, and stood behind it seven
years, doing with earnest might what his hand found to do.
And here he was now, on his own ground, wistfully looking over his
barriers into the college yard, and, shall we say it, envying the
career of every studious lad--most of all that of the scholarly Harry
Cromwell, and the broad-browed, proud young Mitchell, who came into his
shop now and then, in remembrance of old days; for these lads could all
remember when they stood in one straight line among the social forces,
and neither had marched out of the old division to take rank in the new.
One day Paul Mitchell strolled into Scheffer's shop. Scheffer, at the
moment, was reading a newspaper, and he did not instantly throw the
sheet aside: he thought it unlikely that Paul required his service. But
at last, laying the paper away, and going up to Mitchell, he asked:
'What will you have, this morning?'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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