The story
“The professor was wealthy, which was a lucky thing, for his mind was always in the past. He had an intimate knowledge of what had happened in prehistoric days, but utterly ignored what was going on in his own generation. When his wife died it was naturally a shock, and he almost hated the helpless infant she left. Soon he returned to his study, having left word that his baby son must not be allowed to disturb him, and soon he practically forgot his existence. In fact it rather puzzled him one day to find a boy of seven in his study, engrossed in a scientific book. He could not place the child at first, but finally remembered that it was his son and heir, and for the first time was proud of him. It struck the professor that here was something to do that would be worthwhile. The child seemed to have a bright mind and to be fond of books. The more the professor questioned him, the more satisfied he became, and he plunged enthusiastically into the work of a tutor. The professor was very brilliant, and the child was very young. The course of study mapped out would have appalled a university senior, but the child attacked the work with enthusiasm. He made wonderful progress for a time, and then what any sensible parent could have predicted, happened. The boy suffered a nervous breakdown, and for a time hovered dangerously near the portals of the other world.
“The grief-stricken parent could not comprehend what had happened or how much he was to blame. He sorrowed because lessons were neglected, and while the child was convalescing, blandly started to renew them. He was not a cruel father, it should be stated, only a foolish one. By rare good fortune, the helpless child had a sensible nurse, who had loved and cared for him from his birth. She stopped the lessons, defied the father, and bluntly told him that his conduct would certainly cause the death of his child if continued. The doctor, appealed to, upheld the nurse, and the worried professor consented that the nurse try her way to restore the health of the son he now loved deeply. The nurse and the boy went to the country, where books were tabooed and helpful exercises and enjoyment favored. Later, the professor, in response to a letter from his boy, went to visit him. He found that the child had forgotten all about cube root, integral calculus, and the fourth dimension, but that he had learned to fish and wanted his father to join him. The worldly wise nurse came out of the farmhouse shortly after the professor arrived, shaded her eyes, looked off and smiled. She saw a learned man and happy little boy seated side by side at the bank of the stream fishing and having an enjoyable time. And she knew that the professor realized that his ways had been wrong, and that infant prodigies seldom grew up to be leaders of men and minds, unless they were permitted to be boys when they were boys and not little priggish bookworms. There would be plenty of time later for study, she mused, but so far as the present was concerned, she rejoiced that the child she loved was to be permitted to have his time to play.”
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 22 June 1912
