New-York tribune., 1882-04-28
"REMINISCENCES OF AN EMERsoNIAN.

A LETTER FROM JOIN ALBEE-EMERsoNs IN
FlUENcE UPON HIS PUPILS AND UPON THE
WORLD OF READERS.
To the Edftor Of The TrfLWnc
SIR: The men whose youth fell in the decade
nreceding the civil war and who read books,
pecially poetry, were immensely moved on first
reading Emerson. The feeling We then had, and
the manner IN which variOusly expressed 1t.
would even now, in the completion of his life and
fame seem exaggerated to the world, as, indeed 1T
does to ourselves. 1t was the happy time when
comparisons are not made, when we admire without
criticism and are who'll possessed by the spirit of I'M
tation There very few of us who did not catch
the style of his sentences, and his ideas immedi-
ately became our own. They were reproduced on
hundred occasions, and we felt deep, heartfelt
pride III our superiority. Some eDdeaYOred 10 form
their lines upon his ideals. not unnecessarily
others TO dip their pens in his nlstand, with the
usual catastrophe. The ease with which his name
lent itself to al ective-EmersOnlan-was great
comfort and convenience to our critics; to define
the term was more than they, ourselves could do.
When hurled at us we felt it meant something OPP
probrious; but when reading EmcrsOn's books,
there was exalted mood that no epithet was good
enough for Thus our defensive posi- tion was diff
cult to hold and we became more or less concealed
and silent, except with sympathizers l remember
friends when it became known that was an Emer-
sonIan. knew they were ignorant of the contents
of Enerson's books; yet | felt conscious of some
thing not quite respectable and permitted One
learns later that innocent and sensitive persons can
easily be made TO feel guilty and, in New-Englaud
al least we have been made TO feel long that
nearly everything was sinful that it has grown into
q morbid seDsibiliy TO opinion.
Il was, however for many such prisoners that
Emerson found a release He freed us from the
control of some theological tenes and led MS to the
simply moral elements of the universe. think one
of Emers0n's chief services to his cOuntrymen is,
and will continue to be- in untanglng the connection
between forms Of religion and morals, in once moro
planting PROSTATE man upon his feet and in reveal
ing to him the moral beauties and dignites of life
No matter what his topic. he everywhere reaches
that conclusion. There is this thread through his
most illogical pages. This central unity may excuse
his unarculated sentences And, IN general. it may
be answered to literary objections that when Emer-
son is not poet. he is prophet, and, such is
amenable TO the canons which govern deliverances
Of that kind. II s perhaps too early to pronounce
whether their fonH is a style OF q mannerisn. A
genuine style never weares; time. therefore, and
many generations Of readers mnst settle this ques-
ton. Tastes change, much and often in liter
ature as in other things, and with most
surprising rapidity in tmo but
there is something. wo Will not even
call il a TASTE which does not change. Ii is some
thing which reaches as deep as the moral sentiment
There is much in Emerson's mode Of expression
which of itself challenges attention II has immense
elevation it goes like bird. from one tree-top TO
another, or as the gods talk around tho Olympian
peaks 1t is too lofty; one gasps and longs to touch
the ground Goethe, of all modern writer's best
knows how. in this respect. to manage the capcous