Louisville messenger. (Louisville, Miss.) 1842-1843, 1843-03-18
THE CAMBRIDGE LEATHER
DRESSER.

,r by GEO. ". EMERSON.
e For many years and many tim
@ IN year, ! have passed by the shc
II OF q dllligent, industrious mechani
e whom | have often seen busy at h
: trade, with his arms bare, hard ;
9 word, His industry and steadine.
nave been successful, and he ha
) gained competency. BIT he stiI
remains wisely devoted 70 his trade
During the day, you may see him a
MS work, or chatting with his neigh
bors. at night he sits down in hi
little parlor, by his quiet ireside, anc
enjoys the company Of his friends
and he has the most ettraordinar,
collection of friends that any man il
New England can boast Of. VIM. fl
Prescott goes out from Boston, and
talks with him about Ferdinand and
Isabella. Washington Irving comes
from New York, and tellshim the sto-
ry OF the wars Of Grenada, and the
adventurous voyage Of Columbus.
Sparks comes down from Cambridge,
and reads to him the letters of Wash.
lngton. Or, ifhe is in the mood for
poetry, his neighbor, w. Allison, the
great painter, steps in and tells him
story-and nobody tells a story so
well-or repeats to him lines of poe
Try. Bryant comes with his sweet
wood notes; which he learned among
the green hills Of Berkshire; and
X. h. Dana, father and son, come,
the one to repeat grave heart-stirring
poetry, the other to speak of his two
years before the mast.n Or, if this
mechanic is III speculative mood,
Professor Hitchcock comes to tell him
the changes of the soil in Massachu-
sets since the flood. Nor is his ac-
qualntence confined to his own coun-
try. In his grave hoursscnds forHers-
chel from across the ocean, and he
sits down and discusses eloquenly on
the wonders OF the ETHEREAL world.
Nor is it across the stormy ocean
OF the blue wave alone that his friends
come to visit him; but across the dar-
ker and wider ocean of time, come
the wise, the good, the eloquent, and
the witty, and sit down by his table,
and discourse with him az long az he
wishes to listen.
The eloquent, blind old man of
Scio, with beard descending to hi.
glrdle, still blind, though eloquent,
'itS down with him; and as he sang
almost 5000 years agoamong the Gre.
clan aisles, sings the war of Troy, or
he wanderings of the sage ULYSSES.
The poet of the human heart comes
rom the banks of the Avon, and the |
'oet of Paradise from his small gar |
len-house in Westminster; Burns from |
lis cottage on the Ayr, and Scott
rom his dwelling by the Tweed; and
ny time these 3 years past, may have
zen seen by his 6reside, man who
ught to have been a hero with school
oys, for no one ever felt so for them:
man whom so many Of our neighbors
Boston lately strove so hard to see {
Charles Dickens. In the midst of I
lch friends, our friend the leather 7
resser lives a happy and respectable {
ie; not less respected and far more $
Apply, than if an uneasy ambition ?
I'd lmade him Representative in q
ongress, or a Governor of a State =
I'd the more respected and happy, Il
at he disdains not to labor in hon c
able calling. P
My young friends, this is no fancy Il
etch. Many who hear me know as q
ell as do, Thomas Dowse of CAM o
idgeport; and many have seen his a
loice and beautiful library. But | u
ppose there is no one here who Il
lows a neighbor of his, who had in a
early years the Same advantages.
It who did not improve them; who n
yer gained this love of Ereading, q y
no now in consequence instead of Il
ing this happy life, wastes his eve &
ngs in low company or tayerns, CT p
zes them away by his own fire. Il
hich Of these lives will you lead /? >
icy are both before you. "a