The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-02-27
THE r EPU BLIC.
From the Boston Transcript,
.eThe Great Emerson
TO The Editor of the Transcript:

To the Editor Of the Transcript
writer in your paper, not long ago, treated
Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson with great disrespect'
He employed great severity and force Oh hgnage,
il seems to me, when he spoke of "he nohingnsss
of Emerson' have lately read, with peculiar sat
isfaction, the highest audation OF Emerson, from
the pen of Mr. Willis, between whose prose ana
that Of the gifted Emerson there is often striking
resemblance.
So far as the great Emerson is a person OF pre-
eminent genius, ! consider him seq made man
altogether Let me explain. l knew MS latnef'
Mr. William Emerson, well; and have listened 10
hundreds of his sermons. He was a man OF gehtcei
manners with good voice, and an easy ceivery,
He was exceedingly amiable and pleasant IN the
parochal relation. Before he came TO Boston, from
Harvard in I799 he had the so6ri4uet OF the otoer-
garden preacher" He had rather an erect ana mil
tary walk, which he might have contracted from
/ his father, who was chaplain in the army, ana
died such. But he, himself, was man oil scanty
learning, and notoriously OF no extraordinary pow
! ers Of mind The mother of the great Emerson was
awoman of amablec lechayacter, but without the small
| est pretensons to genius
! Now, something suppose must be accorded 70
the oneratiou of the laws of la chime generdtDe and
unless we allow in such matters, as in grammatical
construction, that two negatives make an anrma-
tive, we must admit that Mr.. Emerson's genius ID
of his own creation entirely.
The world, / am aware, contains number oI
worthy people, who are partial to plain Englishl
Now il seems to me to be the design OF Providence
that our state should be one OF probation, and thal
we are destined to win, not only our bread put al
our earthly enjoyments, by the sweat OF our prow7
There is a pleasurable excitement in struggling
with difficulties II is precisely this which renden
the reading of almost every thing from the pen A
the great Emerson so very delightful. -
once asked an intelligent Jesuit, with whoW
was travelling and who had assured me OF his per-
feet belief in the doctrine of ana
in the miraculous iqueiacton of the piooo % sailI
Januarius, if he could reason upon these matter N
ssGod forbd,' he replied, "that should pretenu
comprehend things past finding out" Such Is mi
| reply, when am asked ii understand the writina
of the great Emerson. look upon nine In ten 4
the sentences of this self made man as high conu1
dral mysteries. II
His lectures have given great satisfaction; Y
there is a larger proportion than some folks wy
Of, in almost every auditory, who have more Pie'
sure in being amazed and stupehed, than IN oei1
enlightened. And il cannot be denied, that
great Emerson deals in species of demi- delicio
dumbfoozlement, and fudgemstical humors, whii
have seldom been surpassed in this or any otT
country.
me, this morning. ] find few passages of PEG
liar merit, underscored; and i cannot, in CO.
VI science, withhold them. The casket, where M
G these gems, is called " Nature" II
e Embossed for a season in nature, whose no0s
of life stream around sand through us, and inytd
It US, by the powers they supply to action propf
: toned to nature, why should we grope among
dry bones of the past, or put the living generatn
), into maseuerade out of its faded wardrobe! h
!, sun shines to-day also. There is more wool sd
flax in the fields. There are new lands, new me-
q new thoughts. Let demand our own WOE,
, and laws, and worship"
IS A few more of these jewels, taken almost at 'n
dom, may be worth the exhibtion, as speeihe' vi
, the great Emerson.
ii "when we speak Of Nature, in this mannerwc
ar have distinct but moet poetcal sense IN the nd
g We mean the integrity of impression mad' py
manifold natural objects'
ve Again: "a In the presence of nature, wild deghi
IN runs through the man, in spite OF real soriws
'n Nature says-beis is my creature, and msugre MS
be sna tbe e1 bs1s gss ground
De bathed by the blithe air, and upted into iunit'
ne space-all my egotism vanishes. become ans
parent eye. ball. ! am nothing. see all rIh'
currents of the Universal Being circulate thrugt
me; am part or particle OF God. -,
Again "The greatest delight, which the eld'
and woods minister is the suggestion Of an ocul
relation between man and the Vegetable. an no
IN alone, and nacknowledged. They nod to meanC
r. 10 them"
!. Now / take the last two passages, transhte'
D from the Emerson into the English Language, =
mean precisely this; Standing btreheaded ON
G. ground, and at the moment hted into intn'i
n space Iam no longer the great Emerson, but sy,
h. ball am nothing and euery thing, and beng n
duced 10 nothing, I avn fraction q Almighty Goo
Ia Ihaps no pleasure the feids graf az that tohtt
procesds from nis conpicfon that I'm related 10 y
v Squash, and pompions ! look upo, the eabbages
5y nv cousins Of the half blood, and tce keep up moo
ding acquaintance.
us Such a man, 50 related, Is worth running alte
L. Objections made. am aware, tothc style OF q
great Emerson. Others take an entirely diferer
al view Of the matter, and make Dmplaint oi
al more solemn character. They SPEAK OF the gre
nv EmersonIn terms Of gross disrespe,t. They "a
n Ne is a tremendous humbug; and that Il is prepo
ferrous 10 complain OF a mans styc whose ver
es substance is nothing but chaff.
re Now and then, they admit, there IL gimme
a. ing Of thought but even that, they sver. has q
v, ways a crazy crack in il, and is 80 bundled up
en- miserably affected verbage, that II does not pa
for the trouble Of cxtrication from it, complex e
r- velopes.
he Flint in his Ten Years in the valley Of the Mi
rl, sissippi, relates that Indian, with solemn
Of mystery, informed him, that II he would come
90 the Indians wigwsm, he world show him gre
treasure, the like Of which had never been seen
ne fore Flint, from the Indians description, impe
cd feet as IL was, supposed il must be jewel, al
rs most probably a large diamond. He went to
wigwam. The Indian, with great deal OF Ger
in monious Tnummery, took large parcel from
-s corner and proceeded 10 unfold IL. Wrappers
ls. birch bark and Indian cloth were taken of, o
he after another till the patience OF the vlser was TAI
J. ly exhausted; when at length the Indian held up
Ia. view fragment Of cut glass dccantcr stopper,
which nc had sold packs Of valuable beaver. ]
t. variably think Of this anecdoie when think OF
great Emerson.
r.
Not only so-but also"
nt
he Isxxy IdSp.-Iti IL stated in a Liverpool paps