Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-29

His Life and Character.

| His Life and Character.
Ralph Waldo Emerson who died at his home
in Concord, Mass, Thursday evening, was born
in Boston May Is. 1903, aud was graduated at
Harvard College in 1921. In college he twice
received prize for dissertations and once for
defamation. He was the poet of his class on
class day. Reckoning back eight generations
there had always been a clergyman in his family.
| ana after he had taught school five years he
was admitted as preacher In the Middlesex
ASSOCIATION of Ministers, and in 1929 was or
dained minister OF the Second Unitarian church
| In Boston. In 1889 he resigned, and in 1888 "a
spent nearly year in Europe. and, returning,
began his career a lecturer making his home
| thereafter Concord, Mass. a town an ancestor
OF his had helped to found. 'Water." "Italy"
| and the Relation of Man to the Globe" were
the subjects of his first lectures, which were
delivered i'm Boston. He next lectured on Mil
ton. Martin Luther Michael Angelo Edmund
Burke and George Fox. separately, in a series
of biographical deliverances. and read poem
before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cam
bridge. In the following years, until 1S49 he
lectured frequently, his topics being English
Literature, the Philosophy of History, Human
| Culture, Human Life and the Present Age In
| 1S3She published Literary Ethics" an grafton.
| and in 1880 Mature, an essay.
1t was from 1910 to 1874 that with A. B. AlcOtt
William II. Claiming. Theodore Parker, George
Ripley, and others he contributed to The Dial
\
was the editor the first two years and Mr.. Emer-
son the last two. In 1S41 he published 1.-THE
Method Of Nature" MAN. the Reformer," and
the first volume Of his Essays The second,
third, and fourth volumes of the Essays were
delivered In 1874, 1870. and 1871, respectively.
In 1916 appeared his first volume of poems. In
| 1913 he leCtured in England on the "Mind and
Manners of the Nineteenth Century" It was
ten years later that he published "Engiish
Traits" In 1850 he published his work on ''Rep-
resentative Men," aud in 1852 his work appeared
in the memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. {"
Other compositions Of his in more recent years
| have been ''The Conduct of Life" 1850; an
"Oration on the Death Of President Lincoln :"
1865; MAY Day and other Pieces" in verse,
1867 an Introduction to Prof. GOOdwin's trans
lation OF "Plutarchs Morals 1871 'Parnassus,
Selected Poems, and very many lectures, poems
and magazine articles. Mr.. Emerson was mar
| ried In the autumn of 1885 to LYDIA daughter of
Charles jackson, of Plymouth, Mass.
Emerson at Home.
! From the New York Times.
| At $50 o'clock the news was announced to
the townspeople by the 79strokes being sounded
the bell of the Unitarian church tolling the
years of his life. To the Concord people this
death came as personal loss. They say of him
tonight that he was the gentlest and most ap-
proachable Of great men. and his home was
! freely open to his neighbors until his retire
ment with approaching feebleness and even
Etlftu TIC dltOIcIneT SeCluue himself. but
| responded to occasional brief calls i'm his old
kindly way. He was as beloved by the
people about him for the sweetness of his
disposition and his uniform kindness as
ne was honored for the wealth of
! his intellect and the exalted position he held
among thinkers and men of letters of two con-
tinents. During these few days Of his last illness
the solicitude OF the people of the town has been
marked, and the calls at the quiet old house be-
hind the pnes in which he lay dying were many
| md oil oil,
| While his age and feebleness hardly justified
hope of his recovery. it was difficult for those
TO whom his spare figure. moving about the
quiet village streets, had for SO many years been
a most familiar one. to realize that he was evil
| IDENTIFY so i'll or so aged and so the word of his
| DEATH that moved rapidly about the town lust
| before the striking of the O'Clock bell, and
that was later repeated by the tolling bell, came
| after all as sharp and unexpected shock.
MIR. Emerson's last appearance on any formal
| occasion in Concord was several months ago at
a meeting of the village club. when, with the
assistance Of his devoted daughter and who
has been of great assistance to him i'm his liter
airy work and studies of later years. he read
extracts from an unpublished essay His last
| appearance i'm Boston was at the meeting of the
Massachusetts Historical Society," when action
was taken on the death of Carlyle-a memoir
| able occasion because of Mr.. Emerson's presence
| at his own institution. When Longfellows
death came his retirement was quite complete.
and hence his appearance at the poets funeral
was surprise to many of his nearest friends.
He passed through this, for him, great under
taking, however, exceedingly well, and just
| previous to this last attack of illness he was
considered as in fairly good health, though
| delicate and his faculties somewhat impaired
Emerson appears to have acted his own def
milton OF philosopher-he reported to his own
| mind the constitution Of the universe He
looked calmly at everything, into it, through it;
| ana wnen ought came to him from within or
without he jotted 1t down, not mentally merely
but actually At all times he followed the
| habit in the street or in his study, at mid
| night or morning. His wife, as the story goes
| sometimes asked him when he had arisen in the
| watches OF the night, "Are you i'll. Valdez"
mo. dear" from the selfpoised husband, ''only
an idea" He had been twice married. first,
died few months after; secondly three wears
later, to Lidia Jackson, of Plymouth, Mass. He
| has had three children, son and two daugh-
tiers. who are clever and capable. His home at
| Concord is described as a "plain, square
wooden house, standing in grove of pine
trees, which conceal the trent and sides from
the gaze of passers-by." 1t has hallway in the
center to which entrance is made from an old
fashioned porch. The roof runs up from the
| four sides to point in the center, from which
two large chimneys rise. Besides the pine trees,
there are in the yard tall chestnuts, while IN the
rear stands plain yellow barn. Half an acre
Dehind.the house serves as a garden, in which
fine roses grow, and rare holiyhocks. of which
Entering from the hallway to the right, the visi-
tor finds plain, square room. lined on two
sides with simple wooden shelves, filed with
books. large mahogany table stands in the
center OF the room, covered with books
and morocco writing pad. There is large
fireplace against the wall. above which hangs
copy of Michael Angeles "Fates" Busts
and statuettes OF men prominent in modern
reforms stand upon the mantei-shelf, along with
quaint, rough lido. which Mr.. Emerson brought
home with him from the Nile. Engrayings hang
upon the walls and the pine trees, In little
wind. brush against the window-panes. Across
the hall is the parlor-a large room. filing the
southern quarter OF the house, the windows cur
tanned In crimson. In the spring of 1873 this
house was nearly destroyed BY fire, but it was
rebuilt after the original design. Mr. Emerson
went to Europe while the work was being done.
his family living in the old manse, the home of
Mr.. Emerson's grandfather, and better known to
the present generation as the home for con-
siderable period of Nathaniel Hawthorne. It
was along the road facing which Mr.. Emerson's
house stands that the British troops marched on
the memorable 10Th of April, IT'S
Apparently absorbed in characterization.
Mr.. Emerson always managed his affairs
4 0yith ir,fo SY,-:e