The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-03-25

years ago, could hardly have seen wilder
gentleness displayed upon its banks, and re-
Elected in its bosom, than we did. "--Haw-
horns Moses from an Old Manse.
g Were to adopt pet idea, as so many
people do, and fondle it in my embraces to
the exclusion of all others, it would be, that
the great want which mankind labors under,
at this present period. is-Sleep The
world should recline its vast head on the first
pillow, and take an age-long
nap. 1t has gone distracted through NOR
bid activity, and, while Perternaturally wide
awake. is nevertheless tormented by visions,
that seem real to il now, but would assume
their true aspect and character, were all
things once set right by an interval Of sound
repose. This is the only method Of getting
rid OF old decisions, and avoiding new ones;
Of regenerating our race, so that il might in
due time awake, as an infant out Of dewy
slumber; Of restoring to us the simple per-
ception Of what is tight, and the single-heart-
ed desire to achieve it; both Of which have
long been lost, in consequence Of this weary
activity Of brain, and torpor or passion OF
the heart, that now afflict the universe
Stimulanls. the only mode Of treatment hith-
erJo attempted, cannot quell the disease;
they do but heighten the delirium. Let not
the above paragraph ever be quoted against
the author; for, though tinctured with its mo-
dieum of truth, it is the result and expression
Of what he knew, while he was writing it,
to be but distorted survey Of the state and
prospects Of mankind. There We're circum-
stances around me, which made it difficult
to view the world precisely as it exists; for,
severe and sober as was the old Manse, it
was necessary to go but little way beyond
its threshold, before meeting with stranger
moral abapes Of men than might have been
encountered elsewhere, in circuit Of thou
sand miles. These hobgoblins OF flesh and
blood were attracted thilher by the wide
spreading influence Of great original Think
er, who had his earthly abode a, the oppo-
site extremity Of our village. His mind ac-
ted upon other minds, of certain constitu-
tion, with wonderful magnetism, and drew
many men upon long pilgrimages, to speak
with him face to face. Young Missionaries.
to whom Just 50 much Of insight had been
impaired, as to make life all labyrinth
around them, came to seek the clue that
should guide them out Of their self-involved
bewilderment. Grey headed theorists
whose systems, at first air, had finally i'm
prsoned them imam iron frame. work--irav-
elled painfully TO his door, not to ask de-
liverance, but to invite the free spirit into
their own thraldom. People that had light
ed on new thought. or thought that they
iancied new, came to Emerson, as the finder
Of glittering gem hastens to lapidary, 10
ascertain its quality and value Uncertain,
troubled, earnest wanderers, through the
midnight Of the moral world, beheld his in.
tellectual fire, as beacon burning on hill
top, and climbing the difficult ascent, look.
ed forth into the surrounding obscurity, more
hopefully than hitherto. The light revealed
objects unseen belore-mountains, cleaning
lakes, glimpses of a creation among the
chaos--but also, as was unavoidable, it at.
Iacted bats and owls, and the whole host oil
night-birds. which tapped their dusky wings
against the gazer's eyes, and sometimes were
mistaken for fowls Of angelic feather. Such
delusion always hover nigh, whenever bea.
con fire Of truth is kindled. For myself,
there had been epochs Of my life when |,
too, might have asked Of this prophet the
master-word that should solve me the riddle
of the universe. But now, being happy,
felt as il there were no question to be put.
and therefore admired Emerson as poet Of
deep beauty and austere tenderness, but
sought nothing from him as a philosopher.
1t was good, nevertheless, to meet him in
the wood paths, or sometimes in our avenue,
with that pure, intellectual CLEAN diffused
about his presence, like the garment Of a
shining one; and he so quiet so simple, so
without pretension, encountering each man
alive as if expecting to receive more than be
could impart. And, in truth, the heart oil
many an ordinary man had, perchance, in
scriptions which he could not read. But il
was impossible to dwell in his vicinity, with
out inhaling, more or less, the mountain at
mosphere Of his lofty thought, which, in the
brains Of some people. wrought singular
giddiness--new truth being as heady as new
wine. Never was poor little country viii
lage infested with such variety of queer,
strangely dressed, oddly behaved mortaIs,
most Of whom took upon themselves to be
important agents Of the worlds destiny, ye:
were simply bores Of very intense water.
Such, | imagine, is the invariable character
OF persons who crowd so closely about an
original thinker, as to draw in his unuttered
breath, and thus become imbued with false
originality. This triteness of novelty is
enough TO make any man, Of common sense,
blaspheme at all ideas Of less than a centu-
RVS standing, and pray that the world may
be petri6ed and rendered immovable, in pre-
cisely the worst moral and physical state
that il ever yet arrived at, rather than be
benefited by such schemes OF such phisolo-
piers "--Ha,cthorn's Noses from an Old
Levc's q oase.
Come down, o maid, from yonder mountain
height;
What pleasure lives in height 1.-THE shepherd
sanQ) 100