With that surprising tendency of the human mind to delegate
its own powers to another, he accepted completely the verdict of the
Parisian publisher upon qualities he had had under his own
observation for an odd twenty years. Now, forsooth, because another
man had told him so, he took it for granted that I had some talent.
And all the time we had lived together he had hesitated to form that
opinion from first-hand knowledge. Extraordinary trait in human
nature, this liking to be thought for, instead of thinking for
yourself! This waiting to take up, second-hand, ready-made, the
views of another man, even when the fresh materials are at your
hand, and you may examine them and form your own. It is a universal
tendency, of course, and displays itself everywhere; in religion, in
morality, in fashions, in vices, in simple conversation--everywhere.
The glorious and free gift of Nature to every man, the capacity for
perception and judgment, he shamefacedly, as if it were a disgrace,
tries to shift off upon another. It always amuses me immensely when
brought before me, and it did now in my father's case. He assumed,
as innumerable people do, that success or failure proves or
disproves merit, which is such a curious opinion, as remarkable as
if a person believed the absence or presence of the hall-mark proved
or disproved the identity of gold.
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