New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-23
"REMINISCENCES OF EMERSON
APAPER BY JOHN ALBEE.

with great men. We are drawn To them as ioa hhei
climate Young men seek them with an Instructive
hope of receiving direct gift which Will brighten
them selves with some beam of greatness; older men
divine that only 80 much as they take WIN 'nen
will they carry away The confidence of youth is
noblcr if more meulightened. In gong 10 cen
braed persons 1t does uncover treasures OF slng
lar sort. ouonr them disappointment and NORTH
cation II recognizes enough of greatness to
discover its own ttenCss. II finds that 1t cannot
come very near the great man because, as yet IL mas
no orbit Of its own. But at a distance all IL COM
pensated by the Imagination. AT a distance we
figure a magnifccnce the presence ana Affairs oi
genius What chagrin to find that possibly II mas
dirty hands and big fect. eats with knife, ana no
end Of uncomfortable manners haulk the wou'd-be
adnirer When Its genius is predominant 1t retires
| TO its adytum. whittier We cannot follow; we can
not catch it in the act of being genius; we remain
on the outside with IT'S follies or tatterlng equal
| tics. And there is shadow OF regret 10 see the
| man whose pages suggest only the ialrest ldea
| living subject 10 most of the vulgar conditions
which torment mankind Pfudo9ce hints that II
: would be wise to keep away. But we cannot; we
must embrace we must have speech with The Delhg
| 30 like. 50 unlike what we are. II we cannot APP
| proach the god on his mountain. We will surprise
him tending his sheep frohcking on all fours with
his children.
There was perhaps moro congruty in the presence
and conversation OF Emerson with the Ideal one
| naturally formed Of him han usually happens. /
think this Is partly the OF the powerful I'M
! preston he has made upon his contemporaries
His manner of life the man himself, was NJ one
with his thought; his thought al one with us e1-
preston. There were paradoXes mono OF the
supposed weaknesses of genus, to wonder at or To DC
forgiven and forgotten. He spoke Of Nature not as
an ele-ant ornament of his pages hut because ne
lived near TO her In meeting him. the dlsappolht-
mcnts. ii any there were, one found IN himself roi
he measured mon 20 that they became aware OF
their own stafe not opprcssvely' but by flashing
inward illumination, because he plac d something
to their credit that could stand the test OF ther
own audit.
EARLY ACQUAINTANCE WITH E,iERsoN's WORKS.
The .ttlc contribution wish to make TO tins day 5
memories concerns a tinc 80 remote that NAV he
p.rdoncd its personality. Ii concerns TINE When
the reality seems strangely like dream; and when
actually the dream became real. IL concerns boy
who had never heard Of Encron-nor anybody
ese-mtil he read Representative Men "; who
could find none to tell HIM whctherthe book was by
a living or dead writer, whether by M American OF
Fnglishm n (: and in vain did me seek for some one
who had read il and could sympatmze VIII las own
feeling in regard to it. Fortunately for bad that
little Puritan community 90 which the boy belonged
known Emerson. he wouid have been daatEe'aa. and
the boys trouble would have "c-uh pr ma
tureIy. Communities and churches now clam the
dead sage but formerly thcy would not tolerate
even those who read aim in silence. lloT much
shall we be changed before change! in lieu
thereof. let Ii, forget, aud be proud Of what we
once hated IL was "a small farmer of Concord Who
told me proudly that he had heard every one of
Fmcrson's lectures delivered in the town; and AFTER
a moments hest alton, he added, 4" Anc understood
'um. too" TINS was the same man who, "nen
ASKED his views of the School of Philosophy SAIL
- was a good thing for the ne.ghbors; more milk
and vegetables. you know" And when lremaTked
apropos Of the school, that now one OF Mr.. Acotfs
dreams had come true, Yes" said he; and "ish
he would keep right on dreaming
remember a day when ! STOOD idly over conn
fer looking nj the backs of what seemed to bo newly
published books. drew out one. bound in plain
black muslin. rs tile. Representative Men at
tractcd me. because bad just been reading for the
first time Plutarchs Lives" and for the first time
aroused by the readug OF any book. Those Greek
and Roman men moved the horizon some distance
from it's customary place. The tides OF the books
were at least cousins and wondered II there had
been any representative men since rpamlnondaS
and Scipio opened the volume at the beginning,
Uses of Great Men, anI read few pages, becom
inc more and more excited. until could Ica1 no
rore there 1t was as if had looked III mirror
for the first time | looked around fearful lest
some one he'd oh-cryed what had happened 10 me.
For a complete revelation wa opened IN hose Few
,oocs and was no more the same being a. when
entered the shop. lhcsc were the words had been
lnugrfine and waiting for This was the educa-
ton wantcd--thc word that made education worth
while and study profitable foundation and not a
perpetual scafIoldiug. These pages opened for me
path and opened it through solid walls OF igno-
rance aud binding environments
All that j. now far, far away aud seems indeed,
an alien history: yet, however much one may have
wand red amongs famous books it would be IN
grateful not to remember the one book which was
She taiislhan 10 al lts fellows Tho first work
read with an ardent mental awakening teaches us
how to read and gives to us power Of divida'ion
in the choice of reading Ore by one We GTapple
with these books, exhaust their magical first miiu-
encc over us. and bY these asslm' latlons buld up
our own structure. should be glad to read Encr-
sons volumes again for the first time. ! cam
now recover the old sensation open them moHlo-
rially like the author am reading better hut
their generativo power one recognizes in many
SUCCESSOR II You have lived in and through
Emersons literature you will never die while thcre
is a good book still ~ be read or to be written in
the world II creates immortal appetite and cX-
pectation.
THE APPETITE OF Youth.
closed the volume pf Representative Men
and put it back in its plaae. Bat could not leave
If there, and | could not afford TO purchase it.
However, did il cost all was woi'h-75 couis-
ami gave to me my ouiy worth. and l went away
rich, excited, eXp,ctant ! read it until ! bad
drawn ou rs much there was ior me- al that time.
II seemed to have been written for mo. Youth is
fall of remarkable discoveries and ai1initirs.
Nothing looks its hoaIy age nor hints to fresh,
Young life of an unnumbered coincidence IN human