community
directory
books
authors
images
encyclopedia

[ Table of Contents ] [ Previous Page ] [ Next Page ]
An Adventure With A Genius by Alleyne Ireland
Book, page 61 / 105


Lysicrates, of the Greek Theater and of the Roman Amphitheater at
Syracuse, and of whatever else I was directed to observe.

Mr. Pulitzer had had these things described to him a score of times. He
knew which block of seats in the Greek theater at Neapolis bore the
inscription of Nereis, daughter-in-law of King Heiro the Second; he knew
up what stairs and through what rooms and passages you had to go to see
the marble bath in Napoleon's villa near Portoferraio; he knew from
precisely what part of the Acropolis the yacht was visible when it was
at anchor at the Piraeus; he knew the actual place of the more important
pictures on the walls of each room of the Naples Museum--such a one to
the right, such a one to the left as you entered--he knew practically
everything, but specially he knew the thing you had forgotten.

My exhibitions of memory always ended, as they were no doubt intended to
end, in a confession of ignorance. If I described five pictures, Mr.
Pulitzer said: "Go on"; when I had described ten, he said: "Go on"; when
I had described fifteen he said: "Go on"; and this was kept up until I
could go on no more. At this point Mr. Pulitzer had discovered just what
he wanted to know--how much I could see in a given time, and how much of
it I could remember with a fair degree of accuracy. It was simply the
game of the jewels which Lurgan Sahib played with Kim, against a
different background but with much the same object.

In the foregoing description of Mr. Pulitzer's daily life it has been
made abundantly clear that his secretaries were worked to the limit of
their endurance. It remains to add that Mr. Pulitzer never made a demand
upon us which was greater than the demand he made upon himself.

He was a tremendous worker; and in receiving our reports no vital fact
ever escaped him. If we missed one he immediately "sensed" it, and his
untiring cross-examination clung to the trail until he unearthed it.

We had youth, health and numbers on our side, yet this man, aged by
suffering, tormented by ill-health, loaded with responsibility, kept
pace with our united labors, and in the final analysis gave more than he
received.

We brought a thousand offerings to his judgment; many of them he
rejected with an impatient cry of "Next! Next! For God's sake!" But if

 
[ Table of Contents ] [ Previous Page ] [ Next Page ]
Google
  Web knowledgerush

Knowledgerush Search


 

Contact UsPrivacy Statement & Terms of Use

 
Copyright © 1999-2004 Knowledgerush.com. All rights reserved.