Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1858-12-17
MR.. EMERsoN's LECTURE.

Mr.. Ralph Waldo Emerson of Concord Mass
and found themselves repaid for going. They
may not remember much of what they heard
may find it difficult to state to-day even
what his subject was, and may, consequently,
not be conscious of any great amount of
instruction gained or impulse received but
they know that they listened with pleasure,
unmixed with q moments tedium, to the
speaker; that many of his sentences seemed
filled with wisdom, and many more with a
dry and quiet humor and that, if there was
nothing that thrilled, neither was there any
thing that repelled. His hearers will agree
one and all, that it was n good lecture, and
so it was. We failed, for ourselves, to dis
cover throughout, the subtle thread of con-
nection on which Mr.. Emerson strung his
thoughts, and our abstract of the lecture will
ers, we fancy-a collection Of scattered
aphorsms.
The subject was The Conduct of Lite. Mr..
Emerson said he did not wish life to be cheap;
we have something more to do than to
draw in our breath and puff it out again; it
is something more than the lime in our bones
that holds us together That by which each
one conquers is a secret to all others. Fine
is impossible to the man that can ,oN-who
can say, that needs to be, therefore it shall
be. A good deal of every man is rubbish,
and great part of mankind are rubbish.
How many politicians, quack doctors, alder
men, dandies, border ruffians and the like,
might be advantageously spared. al do not
care for the masses" said Mr.. Emerson, I"
only wish to tame. divide and break them up
to draw out of them the individuals. Give
me only honest men and sweet women-not
the boisterous, head-strong, unthinking,
gin-drinking Masses there is difference
in individuals hence the absurdity of the
custom of pairing Off in vogue with our leg
islators, as if the failure of one man to vote
wrong, could release another man from the
duty of voting right suppose the 300 at
Thermopylae had paired off with as many
Persians, would it have been all the same to
Greece? Nature is chary of G eat souls. She
showers an acre of sour crabs where she gives
one good dessert apple. She gives shoals of
Indians, with but two or three good heads
in a nation of them. Each good available
man has fifteen to twenty inefficient ones de-
pending on him. Do you say then, the rabble
may be done without Not 50 the mass
are neuters. each of which may, in given
conjunction of circumstances become queen
bee. Moreover, the masses exist; and if n
man is, 1t is because he Is wanted. If we are
here, it is because we have right to be here
as good right as Cape Cod has to be there
The first lesson of History is that Good is
a good doctor but Bad is often better one
The grand results of History are all brought
about by disgraceful tools. Out of Sabine
forays real Romes arise. God hangs greatest
weights on slenderest wires. Every deform-
ity is good passion out of place, and every
man is sometimes indebted to his vices. Poi
sons make good medicines God makes the
wrath of man to praise him. We cannot
ask that the individual shall be faultless, but
only that Man shall steadily ameliorate. All
great men come Of the middle classes. 1t is
a fatal disadvantage to be cockered and to
eat too much cake. Bad times have a scien-
tifc value we learn geology the morning
after the earthquake. Thus In human life
erything-folly, disasters, blunders, bad
boys and border rufians, as well as virtues
and philanthropists-is worked up and comes
into use.
The greatest necessary of life is health. To
gain that no exertion must be grudged for
sickness is a hungry eannibal that devours
soul and body. DR.. johnson said "every
man is a rascal as soon as he is SICK As
the best part of health, cultivate kind dis
position. When we are sincerely pleased we
are nourished. Goodness hath ever smile
"Paint costs nothing" say the good house
keepers but sunshine costs less and is the
finer pigment of the two. "Be merry and
wise" is au old and good proverb. l know
and hate, those fellows who always see
black star in the zenith. Hope puts us in
working mood.
There are three wants which are never
satisfied that of the rich man who wants
more, that of the sick man who wants some
thing different. and that ofthe traveller who
says 'any where but here Mr.. Emerson
does not believe in wandering ; he thinks
there is bad restlessness in our people. A
prominent instructor of girls had told hlm
that an idea of an education now adays, was
whatever qualified one for going to Europe.
But why 60 from home? the stuff of all ma
tons is the same. In all lands they scald
milk pans, and swaddle infants and burn
brushwood.
Mr. Emerson next talked of conversation.
He did not object to levity upon occasion.
Like Talleyrand, he found nonsense often re-
freshing; but strong viscous virulent fool
was no joke. A blockhead makes block
heads of his companions and when the case
is bad one, the only remedy is amputa-
tion--cut and run.
Our chief want in life is OF some one to
make us do what we can. Weprovide good
houses and good food and good clothing
but too often neglect to provide good friends.
If you deal generously by others they will
deal generously with you. Let not your
service be mercenary though paid for in
money. Remember that wherever there
is failure some stepis omitted. You can
boil granite as easily as you can water, and
braid rock strata as easily as you do candy,
if you only take all the steps.
The above will give our readers some idea
of the Lecture. 1t was decidedly Emersoni-
an,-many things being wei and truly said,
and many sentences containing in a curious