The Geography of Genius #222660

N 0 one would ever visit Ayr, Scotland, but for Burns. No one wouldhave any particular interest in Concord, Massachusetts, but for Emerson and Hawthorne and other great spir its who have been assocrated with it. Many villages and country places are kept 'alive by the influence of people who have lived there, and who continue to draw admirers after they have passed away. St. Francis has given to Assisi spiritual value worth far more than mil lions of money, and he never had a dollar in his life after his conversion. His gift was that of his beautiful life. He has been supporting a mountain town of three thousand inhabitants through the contributions of tourists and sight seers in sufficient numbers to actually maintain the people of his native place.