, 1876-01-02
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EA1EEQ0N.

IL IS Ilfu9 1Or AMetiCa 10 IeCoEu1b At1
poet, philosopher, and prophet, WHO sits in
genial serenity in the wooden house at Con-
cord, who, like AGAssIz, has no time to make
money, and who is the distinctive thinker
and SO the distinctive creator OF his country,
and in some respects of his time. He is
poet though he sometimes follows BnowS~
nos rule Of disregarling form for the sake
of thought to such an extent that the
we:ghty idea breaks the sentences framed to
hold it into almost incomprehensb1e frng-
ments. Yet there is no purer rhythm even
in Sw1SnugxE's salacious stanzas than in TINT
famous qua.rain which begins a famous cs~
say:
Thou caust not wave thy s!aH in sir,
t)r dip thy paddle in the lake.
But il earves the low Of heaury there.
and the rippts In =hyEno the oar forsaSe.
He is philosopher, though the sect which
has for its creed There is but one God,
the Unknown with q big q, and HERBERT
SPENCER is its prophet" may sneer at the
philosophic claims Of the man who has never
composed system OF thought, but leaves
the reader to build it up for himself from the
materials so lavishly furnished BE is
prophet Of Immortality, OF the good, the
beautiful, the rhythmical, the true, the
golden age, though he speaks only By
the right divine of se1-inspiration- Ills
prose style hes been almost perfect.
The c1ear-cut sentences have been like the
famous clipper-ships that once sailed between
New York and Shanghai, Americans ~mnde,
faulHess in form, freighted with the richest
of cargoes. Few Of the so-called masters OF
style can satisfy the reader who turns from
EltrRsoN's pages to theirs Ha notes dif-
fusiveness an inaccurate use Of words, an at
fectation, which find no place among the par
agraphs of the Sage of Concord Unfortu-
nateIy, the latter's last volume, published
few days ago." Letters and Social Aims, lis
markedly inferior, in form, not substance,
to his earlier works. There are breaks and
dashes, clauses tackled on to clauses, repeti-
tions Of words md phrases. The book seems
like d bit Of hurried workmanship. Gods
aud philosophers lower themselves BY hurry
ing, even for On instant There is nothing
majestic about man who runs.
EMEGsou has written the Bible OF the
heathen. The man who revolts from the
creed Of his childhood is unfortunately apt to
embrace its Bible in the number Of his cast
down idols Associated in his mind with one
particular form OF faith, it falls With that. He
no longer appreciates the beauty, the grand
eur, the suggestiveness, which have made
the Bible textbook for thousands Of men
and women who disbeleyed everything com-
monty deduced from its contents. 1t lies un-
opened on his shelves, and Wu1TEF1ELD's
sonorous sentence II could write damna-
ton in the dust that covers your
Bibles" strikes him as merely bit Of ingen-
ious rhetoric. He must drnw his strength
in sorrow, his comfort in time Of distress,
from some other source. Strength and COM
fort are garnered up for him in EAERsoS's
ESSAYS. The heathen reads them Is the
Christian reads the Scriptures, and the differ
ence in the good done by the two is one of
degree, not kind Both books lift their dis
ciples into purer atmosphere. Both help
them to lead better lives. Both tsach rever-
ence for humanity, under all its uncouth dis
g11ises The ono is the Bible Of the Chris
tian, the other the Bible Of the heathen. In
this fact lies the chief worth Of EMEnsoS's
work and writing.