New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1844-02-26
rom The Dial.
TANTALUS.
py RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

fFHF astronomers SAID, UlVe US AiaIloi eiiao
little notion and we will construct the universe.
II is not enough that we should have matter, we
must also have single IMPULSE one shoVe 10
launch the mass, and generate the harmony Oh
the centrifugal and centrlpetal forces. once
heaye the ball from the hand, and we can sno"
how all this mighty order grew.-A very un-
reasonable postulate, thought some Of their stu,
dents, and plain begging of the question. Could
YOU not prevail to know the genesis of projection
as we'll as the continuation of 1t IN allure,
meantime had not waited for the discussion, but,
right or wrong, bestowed the impulse, and the
balls rolled. Il was no great affair, mere push,
but the astronomers were right in making much
of it, for there is no end to the consequences OF
the act. That famous aboriginal push propagates
itself through all the balls Of the system, and
through every atom of every ball through al!
the races of creatures, and through the history
and performances Of every individual EXagge-
ration is in the course OF things. Nature SENDS
no creature, no man, into the world, without ad-
ding small excess of his proper quality. Given
the planet. it is still necessary to add the impulse
SO to eyery creature is added little violence OF d.
recton in it's proper path, shove to put 1t on lis
way: in every instance slight generosity, q q
drop too much. Without electricity the air would
rot. and without this violence of direction Whlch
men and women have, without spice OF oigot
and fanatic. no excitement, no efficiency. we
aim above the mark to hit the mark. Every act
hath some falsehood of exaggeratlon IN 1t. ana
when now and then comes along some sad
sbarp.eyed man, who secs how paltry game IS
naved and refuses to play, but blabs the secret
how then is the bird flown? 0 no, the wary
Nature sends new troop OF talrer forms, OF
lordlier Youths with little more excess OF drec-
nIrnc
ton TO hold them fast to their several AIMS; makes
them little wrong headed in that direction IN
which they are rightest, and one goes the game
again with new whirl for generation or two
more See the child, the fool OF his senses, with
his thousand pretty pranks, commanded by every
sight and sound, without any power to compare
and rank his sensations abandoned to every
bauble, TO whistle, painted chip, a lead
dragoon, a gilt gingerbread horse; individuazing
every thing, generating nothing, who thus de-
lighted with every thing new, lies down at night
overpowered by the fatigue which this day Of
continual pretty madness has incurred. But Ma
ture has answered her purpose with the curly,
dimpled lunatic. She has tasked every faculty
and has secured the symmetrical growth of the
bodily frame by all these attitudes and exertons !;
an end of the first Importance, which could not
be trusted to any care less perfect than her own.
This glitter, this opalme lustre plays round the
top of every toy to his eye, to ensure his fidelity,
and he is deceived to his good.
We are made alive and kept alive by the same
arts Let the stoics say what they please, we do
not eat for the good Of living, but because the
meat is savory, and the appetite is keen. Nature
does not content herself with casting from the
flower or the tree a single seed, but she fills the
air and earth with prodigality Of Seeds that, if
thousands perish, thousands may plant them
selves, that hundreds may come up, that tens
may live to maturity, that at least one may re-
place the parent. All things betray the same
calculated profusion. The excess of fear with
which the animal frame is hedged round, shrink
ing from cold, starting at sight Of a snake, at
every sudden noise or falling stone, protects us
through multitude of groundless alarms from
some one real danger at last. The lover seeks IN
marriage his private felicity and perfection, with
no prospective end; and Nature hides IN his hap
pness her cwn end, namely, progeny, or the
perpetuity of the race.
But the craft with which the world is made
runs also into the mind and character of men.
No man is quite sane but each has vein of folly
in his composition, Il slight determination of
blood to the head, to make sure of holding him
hard TO some one point which Nature had taken
10 heart.
Great causes are never tried on their merits;
but the great cause is reduced to particulars, to
suit the size of the partisans and the contention
is ever hottest on minor matters Not less re-
markabe is that over-faith of each man in the
Importance Of what he has TO do or say. The
poet, the prophet has higher value for what he
utters, than any nearer, and therefore it gets
spoken. The strong, self-complaccnt Luther de-
ciares, with an emphasis not to be mistaken, that
I'D .nl6 y II
Jacob Behmen and George Fox betray their ego
tism in the pertinacity of their controversial
tracts, and James Naylor once suffered himself to
be worshipped as the Christ. Each prophet comes
presently 10 identity himself with his thought
and to esteem his hat and shoes sacred. How.
ever this may discredit such persons with the
ludicious, it helps them with the people, and
gives pungency, heat, and publicity to then
words similar experience, is not inreqnen'
IN private hte. Each young and ardent person
writes diary, into which, when the hours OF
prayer and penltence arrive, he inscribes his soul
The pages thus written are to him burning and
fragrant; he reads them on his knees by mid
night and by the morning star; he vets then,
with his tears. They are sacred too good fol
the world, and hardly yet to be shown to the
dearest friend. This is the man-ahlld that Is
born TO the soul, and her life still circulates in
the babe. The living cord has not yet been cut
By and by, when some time has elapsed, he be.
gins to wish to admit his friend friends to this
halIowed experience, and with hesitation, yet with
firrnness, exposes the pages to his eye VIII they
not burn in his eyes? The friend eoZdly turns
them over, and returns from the writing to con-
yersation with easy transition, which strikes the
other party with astonishment and yexation. He
canaot suspect the writing itself. Days and
nights of fervid life, of communion with angels OF
darkness and of light, bear witness in his memory
20 that tear-stained book. He suspects the intel