Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-04-28


IRalph Waldo Emerson was born in Bos-
ton. NAV 25, 1903. He belonged emphati-
caily TO the Braham stock of View England,
being the ninth of line of ministers count
ing ancestor on both sides. Ralph, like
his father, was graduate OF Harvard Col
lege. He was not among the highest
scholars in his class that of 1S21, but his
abilities were proved and recognized. he
gained a BOwdoin prize for an essay on the
Character of Socrates, and next year for an
essay on the Present State of Ethical Phllos-
ophy. His popularity was attested by the
election 70 the office OF class post. i or
five wears after graduation he assisted his
elder brother William in a school kept by
the latter at Boston.
In'IS26 he was licensed to preach as
Unit irian minister, and in 1929 he was or
dained colleague of the Rev. Henry ware,
Jr., pastor OF the Second Unitarian
Church of Boston. He held this place only
three wears, for he had come to doubt the
propriety OF administering the Lords Sup
per, doubling that it was intended to be
permanent ordinance. He was getting
misty, also, regarding other tenets OF his
denomination. His people could not see
things as he did, and cepted his resigna'
nation, but with regret.
From this time his clerical career was
ended He went TO Europe for year. and
on his return delivered his first lecture.
the subject was Water. During the same
season he delivered three other lectures,
one on the Relation OF Man TO the Globe;
the other two on Italy. A series of bio
grophical lectures on distinguished men
soon followed. lie was eminently favor
tie on the platform, and during the palmy
days OF the lyceUm no lecturer was in
more constant request.
In 1885 he removed to Concord, Mass,
which has since been his home. lie was
hard student, and his labOrs bore fruit IN
numerous contributions TO reviews and In
addrt sses. He had been the orator OF the
Phi Beta Kappa Society, OF Cambridge, IN
1884, and in 1887 he delivered before this
organization his famous American Scholar.
Ii was enthusiastically received, but did
not create half the stir that his address be-
fore the Divinity School produced next
year. 1t was the first public declaration OF
trausCenden talism to which Unitarian
institution had listened.
In 1886 he had published little volume
called Nature. Ii did not attract much
notice at the time. but as he grew famous,
attention was recalled TO il. In lS4O he
Joined Margaret Fuller, \ Bronson AlcOtt,
Theodore Parker, George Ripley, and others
in the publication OF the Dial, a transcen-
uenldl N quarterly, bLlC SuOLIAiltltN vi Nht''4
seemed moOnshine to the matter OF fact
public, but to its admirers il appeared the
perfection of wisdom and originality.
In lS4l-44 were published Emerson's
Method of Nature, the clearest expression
of his principles, and two volumes OF ES-
says. In 1915 he appeared as poet, puz-
zling rather than gratifying all but the inl-
tiated by the quaint Obscurity OF his utter
anCeS. In 1917 he visited England aSecOnd
time. He was now famous, was warmly
received, and leCtured to general admira-
tiOn. His Miscellanies, 1860; and Essays
on Representative Men, 1850, were his next
publications. They were both highly sue
cesSful His English Traits, 1856, and his
Conduct OF Life, 1860, rank among his best
productions.
His poem of Brahama, contributed to an
early number of the Atlantic Monthly, and
beginning:
"If the Red SLAYER thinks he Slay>,'
was the subject of innumerable parodieS.
When explained it is made to appear sub
lime. In 1867 he published q second col.
! lection Of poems; in lS69-7O, Society and
Solitude and his complete prose works.
In 1878 he put forth four series of essays,
In 1873 he contributed to the North Ameri.
| can Review a paper on the Sovereignty oi
Ethics, written some years previously, we
believe, and in 1879 delivered an address
on The Preacher in the Cambridge Divinity
| Chapel.