Unappreciated Genius.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 February 1911, Page 4

Unappreciated Genius.

Thackeray longed to have known Shakespeare and. listened to his talk, but Thackeray was a literary man, and to. John Smith, his neighbour »T a talk with Shakespeare might ha. > been boredom. A New Zeahirlor of distinction, who has a, q;reit admiration of Stevenson, tells wivh i-s'.'sli of meeting a man who had .voried on a schooner used by Ste"> >s-.>n for errising in the South teas r lhe man was not in the least aware ri the good fortune that ha-! coi.ie bis " way. Stevenson to hi• a was tr.o very reverse of a hero ' a balmy cove," he called him. \\ L. S. used to sit on deck at night and spi:. yarns quito beyond the other's comprehension, so that the latter loot'.' , on 'him with contempt. M nl k'vevs of .Stevenson would give tneir heads to have met him, but the. only impression this man had or his '"'fr with fascinating personality M'as that he wa.s "'"'a balmy cove." A wiitcr ~ in T.P.'s Weekly tells of .1 si..-.i hull case of lack of apprccit l "' -p. !io 1 wa.s in an Edinburgh the '' other day when a man cam? in ;iid asked for TTnll Caine's 'Oiiristn:, ' k and snorted when lie found he coui.l I not get it. The new-comei , notice;! a volume of Stevenson, with the ani thor's portrait exposed, and said, 1 "Hullo! I once met that man. ,. The bookseller, as wa.s natural in a inn - who did not stock Hall Came, vua 1 greatly interested, and in- r |iii;e,i into 1 the circumstances. The disappointed customer told how ch-.i-.-e hs.d thrown him into Stevenson's company, and the two of thorn waMcrd along an Edinburgh street. ' Ncr > met anybody like him in my li F e. He was dreaming about something■-• T don't know what. T tmd to Iμ l^ ■ some sense, but lie just raved- f 1 couldn't make out what be VMis'sf?K--ing about—off his head, a Hi, 1 • think—just raved'—glad gladi v },e-i ■ 1 we. got to the other office, I cai i\s- ' sure you. I didn't think nine 1 ! Nt ■ him." Kir, I'm glad to have ■ • met you," said the sh | opk , >)p'?r. 1 "You have seen Stevenson. I 'Irnk he was one of the greatest men of our age." "Well'ho didn't .vU.v ' it!" snapped the misser of g'>!de r i i opportunity, as he turned, to go. 'I be < bookseller looked after him with ks ignation and envy. Tf he had mot; Stevenson!