New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-25
psIpU WILDO EVEPSOy

The cycnty-sovcnth birthday of Il man so
eminent and beloved rs Mr.. Ralph Waldo Emerson
could hardly be permitted to pass without
distinct recognition Of some distinguished kind.
To tho reverence due TO clear and exalted thinking,
we Join tho universal respect paid to old age.
AS the years Of survival grow naturally fewer,
we grudgo the dimnutiOn and rate them
costcr and cOstlior. 1t is customary to say that
the dominant literary taste is insufficient and of
dubious accuracy. Ccrpcrs urge, sometimes
with show Of reason, that we aro living i'll an
age of loose thinking which Is perhaps worse than
no thinking at all. In Il time of rank and
cAlorcscent production, the eye may DO bcguled
into keeping at low anglo whilo sturdicr and
statclier growths arc neglected. Tho phenomenon
il that, maugro our shalOwness and merely
manufactured letters. thinker like Emerson
should get such hold of the public heart and head.
A writer is not to DO fairly estimated by what
his literary fellows say of him. Their tribute is
partly n matter of good breeding; partly 1t IS
cXtOrtcd by professional of YcracOus
criticism and through fcalty to the guild The
Literary UOrM has taken the pains. upon this
anniversary occasion, to evoke from various we'll
known persons their estimate OF Mr.. Emerson.
We prefer to think rather of the fcalty of those
who arc not distinguished. The praise of tho
academy is worth having, but not less the praise of
tho factory: tho farm and tho workshop. And,
after all if We consider tho nature and conditions
of literary fame, we shall find that its gst is not
80 much in the approval of the select few as i'll
the plaudits of the many. Tho great regulations
aro won from the masses of bOOk-rcadcrs and not
from the thin ranks of tho boOkmakers. The
immortalitcs come of universal suffrage.
Mr. Emerson's books are popular i'll the best sense
of tho word They are not. accepted through tho
bullying of 4 conventional hurrah. Each reader
who loves them does in private personal
way and would not abatc jot of his adirmatOlL
though all tho rest of mankind should conclude
to read them no more lie has given bonds to
sincerity. lilo is safe from indiscrimnato ac-
ceptanco. lie would not be afraid to discard
whole chapters, if they did not recommend them
selves TO his conscientious approval. He is not
disnayed If no encounters that which ho does
not easily comprehend, or cannot comprehend at
all. The Obscurity of this paragraph is to be par
dOncd for tho lucidity of that which follows it
A fresh charm, q new grace smiles II welcome rs
each successive page is turned. There is music
IT, ut tho moment there DO no point-blank mean
ing; and there Is the swiftly recurring epigram
which tells us everything in BREATH and, having
done its GRAND. makes room for tho next one.
Then, too, strangely mingng with recondite specu.
latiOn and with those ornamental illustrations
which the imagination Of the writer supplies,
there is pcryading and almost hOmey common
sense, while tho expression which had been
little ongmatic becomes plain to simplicity.
The difficulty Of pcrusing Emerson intelligently
has been strangely exaggerated and wo have gone
Oh talking of it,. because we talked of it in tho
beginning. Ho who has long read him has litto
or no embarrassment In finding out what the
philosopher and poet would DO at There are no
mysteries Of character to puzzle those who have
long been ,.friendsj and respectful familiarity
accustoms us to the nomenclature and methods
of books which have won q household place with
us. The perfect Yeracity of Emerson makes all
equal with his otherwise unequal moods. If he
rises into rareHed atmosphere of subtle discrimi-
nation, we go with him; but with all his love of
the supefssrrestrial his speech Is often like the
speech Of rustIcs, an has q DOrlc flavor Of the