242 INDOOR STUDIES 



fame is not a limited quantity which must lessen in 

 proportion as it is divided up, hut, like the sun- 

 light, each man may have it all and not roh his 

 neighbor. Inventors and discoverers and men of 

 science may anticipate each other, but literary gen- 

 ius can never be anticipated; the value of the gift 

 which it brings is in its uniqueness. I heard it 

 remarked the other day of one of our promising 

 young poets that his work lacked flavor. It is this 

 flavor which is indispensable, and which can never 

 be forestalled by another. There is rivalry in the 

 trades and the professions, but you poet, or you 

 novelist, or you essayist, if your work has flavor or 

 character of its own, your chance for fame is just 

 as good as if there were no competitors in the field. 

 It is not a vacant niche in the Temple of Fame 

 which you are striving for, and which only one can 

 fill: it is a niche in the hearts of men, where the 

 room is boundless. 



Goldsmith felt himself under the shadow of 

 Pope's great fame, but of course he was a gainer 

 from Pope's career. His performance was as unique 

 as Pope's, and has probably been of more service to 

 mankind. But Pope cleared and sharpened the 

 mind of his age; dull wits found less acceptance 

 after than before him, and in this benefit Gold- 

 smith, like others, was a sharer. 



