has made a very good point in bringing up the case of the great minds of
the world. I believe that genius is 'an unlimited capacity for hard
work' in more cases than you think. Now if people who have power of that
sort should let themselves be turned aside by a desire to be open to
impressions from all sides, the world would certainly be the loser by
it. I haven't genius even of the hard work description, and so I shall
never deny myself the pleasure of as much of your society as I can get,
merely to go on pegging away at the regeneration of the pharynx of the
earthworm! But if anybody has the power of doing something really great,
for the world's sake, don't preach versatility to that person. There are
few enough of us that can add to the sum of knowledge."
"That's a part of what I mean, Anne," struck in Marjorie eagerly. "There
are few of us that can do that, but there are quantities of people who
will never be able to do more than grind, and who yet abstract
themselves from the world of actual life as though they were hermit
geniuses. I say they have no right to do it, and that they owe as much
to their fellows as to their own brains. Don't you see that the
existence of such people among us is what gives people like Mr.
Ballantyne their opportunity to misjudge the college woman? I've thought
a good deal about both sides of this, and I think I have good grounds
for carrying on what Lee and I have called, rather as a joke, our
crusade. Please don't misunderstand me to mean that the women of really
great intellectual power are to let their remarkable work be interfered
with by turning that power aside to every little thing."
"So far as we ourselves are concerned," said Kate, "I think we may agree
with you, Marjorie; for probably none of us is a genius except our
European Fellow--of course she is. And so if we may be allowed to let
alone all those bearing the marks of genius, we may join the crusade
too. I am willing anyway to help in the attack on the large and
flourishing Ballantyne species, and convince it that not all college
women consist solely of massive intellect."
"And I too," said Anne.
"So am I," came from each of the others.
"Good children," said Marjorie gaily, as she threw an arm across the
shoulders of Anne and of Kate, on either side of her. It was all she
said but her satisfaction was deep.
Silence fell among them as it will when good friends sit together. A
late robin-song floated over to them from the apple-trees. The evening
star, like a sanctuary lamp, swung above the dying altar-fire of the
sunset. The cool, nameless fragrance of a spring night filled the air.
There under the old cherry-tree sat the seven with no word, until at
last the silence was broken by snatches of melody, vague talking, and
the laughter from strolling groups. Then, drawn back from their
dreaming, they rose and went away to join the singing on the senior
steps.
_Edith Campbell Crane, 1900._
Transcriber's Notes:
Italics are represented with _underscores_, bold with =equal signs=.
Eliminated duplicate title headings before stories.
Normalized some inconsistent italics.
Some inconsistent hyphenation (e.g. roommate vs. room-mate) and
contraction (sha'n't vs. shan't) retained from original.
Retained some archaic spellings (e.g. "yoeman").
Page 87, changed "hawthorne" to "hawthorn."
Page 109, added missing close quote after "thine eyes."
Page 125, changed "philanthrophy" to "philanthropy."
Page 212, changed "insistance" to "insistence."
Page 233, removed unnecessary comma after "alumnæ."
Page 290, changed "recognzied" to "recognized."
Page 295, moved misplaced quote from behind "said Anne."
End of Project Gutenberg's A Book of Bryn Mawr Stories, by Various