Gifts of Genius | Page 2

1859.
INTRODUCTORY.
This volume speaks so well for itself that it does not need many words
of preface to commend it to a wide circle of readers. Its rich and varied
contents, however, become far more interesting when interpreted by the
motive that won them from their authors; and when the kindly feeling
that offered them so freely is known, these gifts, like the pearls of a
rosary, will be prized not only severally but collectively, because strung
together by a sacred thread.
The story of this undertaking is a very short and simple one. Miss
Davenport, who had been for many years an active and successful
teacher in our schools and families, especially in the beautiful arts of
drawing and painting, was prostrated by a severe illness, which
impaired her sight and finally terminated in blindness.
The late Benjamin F. Butler, in a letter dated October 13, 1858, which
will have peculiar interest to the many readers who knew and honored
that excellent man, writes thus:
"Miss Davenport has for several years been personally known to me.
She is now blind and unable to follow the calling by which, before this
calamity befell her, she obtained her living. Having lost her parents in
early life, and having few relatives, and none able to assist her, she is

dependent for her support on such efforts as she is still capable of
making. These, were she a person of common fortitude, energy and
hopefulness, would be very small, for to her great privation is added
very imperfect general health. Yet she has struggled on in the hope of
gaining such a competency as should ultimately secure 'a home that she
may call her own.' I commend Miss Davenport to all who feel for the
afflicted and who wish to do good."
The Rev. Dr. S. Storrs writes: "Miss Davenport is a Christian woman,
of great excellence of character, and of many accomplishments, whom
God in his providence has made totally blind within a few years past."
We need add but two remarks to these statements--one in reference to
the volume itself, and the other in reference to her for whose welfare it
is contributed.
The volume is one of the many proofs which have been gathering for
years, of the alliance between literature and humanity. Every good and
true word that has been written from the beginning has been a minister
of mercy to every human heart which it has reached, whilst the mercy
has been twice blessed when the word so benign in its result has been
charitable in its intention, and the author at once yields his profits to a
friend's need, and his production to the public eye. Thackeray has
written well upon humor and charity, but should he undertake to carry
out his idea and treat of literature and humanity in their vital relations,
he would have his hands and heart full of work for more than a lifetime.
Princes who give their gold to generous uses are worthy of honor; but
there is a coinage of the brain that costs more and weighs more than
gold. The authors of these papers would of course be little disposed to
claim any high merit for their offerings, yet any reader who runs his
eye over the list of contributors will see at once that they are generally
writers whose compositions are eagerly sought for by the public, and
among them are some names whose pens can coin gold whenever they
choose to move. All these articles are original, and nothing is inserted
in this book that has been before published. We are confident that it
deserves, and will command wide and choice circulation.
A word as to the lady for whose benefit these gifts are brought together.

The preface of Mr. Bryant and the letter of Mr. Butler, tell her story
with sufficient distinctness, and the readiness with which our men and
women of letters have so generally complied with her request, shows
what eloquence she bears in her presence and statement. Some
certificates from her pupils in drawing, who testify to her love of nature
and her delight in sketching directly from nature, so greatly to their
improvement in this beautiful art, give peculiar pathos to her case. The
organ that was the source of her highest satisfaction is closed up by this
dark sorrow, and the gate called Beautiful, to this earthly temple no
longer is open to scenes and faces of loveliness. What a fearful loss is
this loss of sight--on the whole the noblest of the senses, and certainly
the sense of all others most serviceable, alike to the working hand and
the creative imagination. The eye may not be so near the fountains of
sensibility as the ear, and no impression reaches the sympathy so