New-York tribune., 1878-05-04

good visitor He knew what say, and when to leave
and did come often. Eight volumes OF MS Wft-
ngs been published, and there are as many more
TO be collected out Of bis notebooks by the competent
editor. This man was not destitute OF aHecuoh' hc
knew what the tender passion He was known 10
be little tender once to a wild Iish girl who walked
with him in the country"
The next portrait which Alcott painted was that OF
william Ellery Claiming. the nephew OF me ohan-
ming There are three Channngs living whose names
begin with Willam-William f., William Elefy, ana
william Henry. William Elery is poet. lie "fl'es
fine passages but not whole poems He the shyest Oh
men, Ihave only called on him three times In many
years He and goes when he pleascs III ne ca's
on Friday he will call the next Friday, and VIII De sure
10 bring racy fresh talk with him but If You aludc to
himself or his uncle he doesn't know whom you are
talking about His modesy is equal to his rhymes lie
doesn't know that the man Charming lives anywhere
| and has never seen him"
LOUISA ALCOTT.
Mr. Alcott had been requested by Mr.. Cook and others
! to say things about his gifted daughter MISE
Louisa AlcOtt and rather reluctantly he conseneu 10
do So He began with the remark that she peeped over
her moral sense once and got the benefit OF IT, She De
gan TO keen a diary notebook when only hVc years
old and has done since She got her cnite "'
home and through her experience. she peE'h "uno'
ship by writing letters Then she vcntured sores 'heh
followed the reading of them to her parents ana ssis
then the acting of them dramas then model hcare
in tbe attic She had her grandmOher's brOcadc SILK
dress which had been off duty we'll nigh century rs
costume and the grandtathers military suit also iah
fully preserved duty for the hero of the OCCASION
The old people were sudiOusy kept down stairs ana
what went on could only be judged by TIC
peals of laughter which came from the Con-
cord boys aud girls who were fortunate
enough to be invited the performance in tn" attic
The next step was TO transfer the theatre to the barn.
where the private theatrcas soon made consideIape
in the town. This gave her stories notofl'y' len
other stories were written. II was noised aDioau ta
they existed An editor heard of them, and got one for
his Journal His papers disappeared so 1ast that he
wanted another In this way the first fruit OF author
ship a hyc-dollar note came to hand, and caused
1utter of ioy in the young girls life When the late wal
came, Mr.. Alcott had no boys TO do the hghtlng'
and Louisa felt that she must represent the
family in the Union Army, and went to George
town as nurse. Here she was taken dangerously
ill., and hcl e. upon recovery she wrote the letters
home which published as Hospital Sketches THESE
made her known. Then she wrote a twO-voume novel
which publisher compelled her 10 cut dOwnin0 one vol
ume, because he didn't believe anybody would feau
novel in two volumes and the result was that the book
was spO Miss AlcOtt now determined to take anthol-
shin into her own hands ana please herself Little
Women was the first result of this decision, ana the
rest of Louisas is familiar to the public Mr.
Alct said that he had become known as the grand
father of these te women and he not ashamed OF
the compliment. il response to question: nc audod' aS
he closed his address, 81 regard il as the finest stroke
of fortune have TO have had the friendship OF
Emerson. 1t is friendship which dates pack lofV
years"
TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF,
II WAS the original plan that when Mr. Alcott finished
his address Professor Bovine should act as master OF
ceremonies and call up others, but much interest had
been awakened that after two had briefly SPOKEN
and confessed their Indebtedness TO Emerson volunteer
questions were asked-coud no longer be kept bac-and
1autal
chair to tell the company more things about himself ana
what his methods of reading and writing were. He said
that lie was brought up In small Connecticut town
NolcotO where he had few books and few opporfuni-
ties for culture He was educated on tn" Pilgrims
Progress" He borrowed the book Of a neighbOr, and
after keepng IL six months returned II and then bOr-
rowed 1t again. This he did every six
months. until the book was given to him.
He could not properly call himself IA writer.
He had published few works, but didn't know that any
body had ever read them. He was an unpublished
author. He had always kept notebook lie had put
everything into IT, interviews with men, visits TO friends
extracts his thoughts whatever came to him. lie
bad sevnny volumes OF these diaries, of them
tanning over thousand pages. His printed books were
chiefly made up Of selections from them HIS gft was
moi i'm writing but he should have enjoyed II very nucA
II some friend had reported his conversations nnd al
lowcd him to edit them As IL was he was an author III
ouautlty If not in quality But he had special diff
".
where his best things He had put into them every
thing that interested him, and wished he could have
friend to make index for him. He began his diary
seyentyve years when he was about ten years old
Questions we're now pu, him rapidly as he could
| answer them One was whether Shakespeare kept q
| notebook Mr. Alcott thought that lie got the best
tbnrs for his plays at the club. Then the point was
| node by one of the company that Hawthorne rather
summed literary society and more at home with the
Salem sea captans and with other rough hearty men,
than in cultivated society. This brought out new
| story from Mr.. Alcott HawhOrnes house III concord
was very near the forest, where be could easily hide
| himself but this was not enough. He seemed
at times morbidly anxious TO get away from mankind
To do this he had built on the top OF the hill
near his house It's stairs were so narrow that you cOud
only 90 up or down by holding on to both rails ana II
used 10 be said that Hawthorne had trapdoor AT the
ton and that when he wanted to be absolutely alone he
used to ascend and sit down on the trapdoor
Mr. AlcOtt said he never saw inc apuoo p' '"c i'S'
of the story was true.
ENiERsON's RELIGIOUS VIEWS.
was felt in Emerson and Mr. Alcott was
rather closely pressed to tell what his friends religious
views were This very delicate ground, and 1t was
not easy to answer direct questions without going be-
vond te limits OF friendship, but Mr. Alcott gave his
usual wise answer: " Mr.. Emerson IS an ethical
writer In him the Puritan type ripcned, but did Lot
tokc the Puritan form. His modesty did not allow him
tn mt his thought into the usual FORMS and SO he was
silent. He frequently attends the Unitarian Church.
and his daughter Of its most devoted Numbers
Emerson is absolutely sincere in these respects Except
in one sentence in his essay Immortality hc accepts
that doctrine. He is Christian theist an hdiVidual
| that belongs TO the church or one member
| His creed is unwritteD lie Is better than his
creed He is to be taken by the hand among
all Christians as q brother. have never fully sympa-
tbized with him in his religious opinions There is a
tyne of mind which does not express Its nmost convc
tions and Emerson has it, lie Is greatly beloved by the
| Concord people, and is universally regarded as their
foremost citizen in every good work. You always
tell when Emerson f. appealing to the common sense OF
the nenne uis fayorc gesture, when he has ANYTHING