Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1850-03-14
From the Home journal.
Ralph w. Emerson. =

The announcement that Mr.. Emerson was
TO lecture at the Mercantile Lihrary,a a few
evenings since, was torpedo touch, even to
that most exhausted and torpid Thing on
earth, editorial curiosity-for, thangir the
| impregnator Of whole cycle Of Bostc i,
mud, and The father of thousands of lesser
Emersons, he is ths most unapprouchahIv
original aud distinct ,iIcnotype oi our ,lay /:
aud, strange to say. we had never to the best
OF our knowledge, laid eyes upon him. For
this unaccountabie want of recognition and
singlIfica ion. living in the same town as we
were, when Emerson first began 10 preach
aud write. aud never taking the trouble To
go and behold him rs a prophet, we must
own TO lar,ly perceptions it was tluubt-
less due to his belonging TO n sert which we
supposed had but une relish. and which led
us to dismiss what we heard of him, of
course, with the idea that he was bu, new
addition otiie prevailing Boston beverage o.
Ginning -ant-water. e
The eye sometimes reverses. and always
mure or less qualities, the judgment formed
without its aid; aud we were very much
disappointed on arriving ut the Hall, to find
the place crowded, aud no chance Of near
view oI the speaker. The only foutliold 10
I've ha,l was up against the iartherest wall.
aud row of unsheltered gas-lighis blazed
between US and the pulpit. " lth one at eiiher
ear-tip pf the occupant,d drowning the express
sion of his face completely in the intense
light f,tle behind ii. To look al him AT all
was 10 do so with needles through the ewes.
and we take the trouble to define this, BY
way of a general protest against the unshad-
ed gashurners OF The Tabernacle, Stuyvesani
ln>iirure,and other public o,ns-where an
opmhalrna is very likely 10 be added to the
bad air and hard seats with which the even.
Ings entertainment is presented.
The single look we were enabled 10 give
AIR. Emersoo, The applause announced
that lie had come into the pulpit, revealed TO
us that il was a man we bad seen thousand
times, and with whose face our memory was
familiar; though, III the sidewalk portraits
taking by which we had treasured his physi-
! ognony. there was so little resemblance 10
the portrait taken from reading i'm, that we
! should never have put the two together,
probably. exceptihy personal isenlitica ton
We remember him perfectly, as a hoy
whoa we used To- see playing about ChauR-
cey Place=and Summer sreet--oue of those
pale Rtrie moral subli,aes with their shirt
collars turned over, who NE, recognized by
| Boston school boys as hdwAig fathers that
are Uni'aranss-ni,i though he came 10 his
first short hair about the time that came
TO our firsl tail-coar six or eight years heiad
US. we have never los, SIKH OF hisn. In The
visits we have made TO Boston, OF late years,
we have Seen hun in the street add retnem. /.
hered having always seen him as hoy
tyery hule suspecilng That there walked, IN
a lo:,n hong familiar. the deity Of an in,elec-
nal altar. .aIpon which. at that moment,
4 burned i fire IN our basom.
Eulersdn's voice was up TO his reputation.
| II mas curious contradictions, which he
tried IL, vain to anayze saiis!ac,oriy--an
omwurdiy repeiiant and iuwarsfiy recereH-
nal niinghng OF qualities, which n musical
composer would despair OF blending into
one. Ii beSpeaks Il lie that is half contempt.
hall adoring recognition, and very little be-
| tween. But it is nobIe, al,oge,her- And
What seems strange is TO hear such voice
procee ing from such body. it.iSa voice
with shoulders ir il, which he hasnot--with
lungs in it far larger than his--with walk
in il the public never see--with fist in d,
which his own hand never gave him the mo-
del for-and with gentlea,a4 10 it, which
his pnro shial and 'bare-necessariesaof life
SORT OF exterior gives no other betrayal Of
We can imagine nothing IN natiire-(whch
seems too, 10 have type for everylhing)-
! like the want of correspondence between the
Emerson that goes in at the ye.and the EN-
erson that goes in at the ear. We speak { rs
| we explained,) without having had an oppor-
tunity 10 study his lace-acquaintance with
features as everybody knows, being like the
peaing of an artichoke, and the core of the
face 10 those who know il, being very un-
ike the eight or ten outside folds that stop
the eve in the beginning. Bu' a heavy antl
yase-like blossom of a magnolia, with fra
GRANGE enough to perfume whole wilder
ness, which SHOULD he lifted by a whiriwiud
and dropped into a branch of an aspen,
would rot seem more rs II il nevei could
have grown there, than Emerson's voice
seems inspired and foreign to his visible and
natural hody. Indeed. 10 Use one OF his
simiiudes.) his body seems never TO have
broken The unhlical cori' which held il 10
Boston, while hi, soul has sprung To the adj
nlI stature Of a child OF the universe. aud
his voice is-rhe ntterance of the soul only. -
Ii Us one of his fine remarks that 1T makes a
difference 10 the force Of any sentence,
whether man is behind it or no'-but, with
ont his voice 10 make the ear stand surety
for his value, the eye would look for The first
lime OF Emerson and protest his draft on
admiration, as not 'passabe at-sigh.'
The first twenty sentences. which we
heard, betrayed one of the smaller levers OF
Enlerson's power OF style which we had mol
detected in reading him. He works with
SURPRISES. A man who should make visit
oil charity, and, after expressing all proper
! sympathy, should bid adieu 10 the poor wofn-
an, leaving her very grateful for his kind feel
| iurs. but should suddenly return. after shut
ting The door, and give her guinea, Would
| produce Just the effect OF his most electric
/ sentences. You 10 not observe it in reaaiag,
hccapse yon wihold the emphasis MI you
come TO Tie keyword. But, in delivery, his
cadences tell YOU that the meaning is gwen,
! and the interest of the sentence all over,
when-fiash comes n single word or phrase
! like tightening after lstened-out thunder. and
| ilIumiuates with Astonishing vi,i,lncss, The
cloud yuu have striven to see ure. Wecnn
give, perhaps, parlial.exempIsfcaton of il,
| by descriplon.r n.ratlier than quotation ot n
drol and graphic sketch, which lie drew in
| his lecture, of his frs; impression OF Eng
l.hmen ON The road The audience had al-
ready laughed 10 two or three places, and
with lhs .iilfen,Iontobe longer attended to on
l.rhar,o,nt quite gone out OF his eyes-lte was
| funhiug with his manuscript 10 look for the
next hra,l-Mhen,te closing word, jus, audi
| hIesthrew us all into a fit OF laughter. The
Enghslrpan. (if we may paraplirase rather
| Than quote for it is impossible to recall the
sutie co llncatioa Of his works, dresses 10
please himself He puts on as manv coats,
trowsers and wrappers as helikes, and while
| L., ~ssD.c,s aat.ars' riohlS ia unaffected hv