The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-01-25
OLD YEAR CELEBRITIES.
w. H. R.
Emerson as a Man.
[For The Commonwealth

In a country where the art of mon
ey.getting prevails as an epidemic,
where haste and worry make youth
gray, where party manipulations ex-
tract the nervous vigor from the gen.
lus of people, it is peculiarly re-
freshing to find an author, who, in
the mint of life patiently ''coins his
BRAIN for a perpetual currency
among the nations that he delighted
to serve. But in country of so
vast extent, of constant turmoil in
the ebullition of trade, of enormous
railway operations, country whose
rivers traverse q continent by the
thousand miles, where spring up
splendid cities of "magnificent dis
tances,' it were more natural to look
for such a man as Carlyle, with his
erratic, bold. and sometimes irrever-
ent way of saying things, than to
light upon the inimitable specimen
of unobtrusive simplicity, Ralph
Waldo Emerson.
While a Unitarian who saw the
same universal mind in all existences,
unity in all complexities, the person
ality of Emerson is distinct, and such
an embodiment of that lofty idealism
to which he ever aspired that in vain
we seek more spotless man in the
annals of letters. His character is a
crystallization of the diamond .quali-
ties of noble race. Whether We
look ON him in the aspirations OF
youth, in the symmetry of manly de-
velopment. or in that maturity which
rounded up in the full-orbed serenity
Of eighty years, he is at all times a
man whose presence is a sweet en-
chantment,
His amlablity was surpassed only
by the elevation Of his character.
Despite his own protest against the
use of the ''Superlative," there was
tone of the superlative about him
superlative excellence. And yet he
DO re his greatness with the simplicity
of child. Perched so lightly, yet SO
loftily, above the din of the world, his
eagle eye looked down with pene-
trating though gracious benignity
that rebuked what was vile and soft
ened what was harsh. His amiabili-
tv is never seen more beautifully il
lustrated than in his delign. to en-
courage the efforts of those whose
eyes are turned upward Some ver-
ses in manuscript of an unknown
writer were read on one occasion to
Mr.. Emerson in the presence Of 9TH
ers, and his comment, curt and 'lncls-
i've, was just such as to afford all the
encouragement the young poet need
ed and to lead on to the distinction
which the author has since won. mo
discouragement must damp his
ardor," concluded Mr.. Emerson, mo
rebuff be sufficient to quell the inn
pulse which urged him to write. A
single voice in his favor should be
enough to support him till he attain
that mastery of style and taste which b
shall perfect his gift. Indeed, sim
gle voice is more than had myself
as beginner" he added with a SUBJ
tie smile. s.My friends used to
laugh at my poetry and tell me l
was no poet"
Emerson hated sham, affectation,
braggadocio, in whatever form they
showed themselves. But his was not
the art of invective. No bitterness
ever marred the even temper of his
mind, no discord the pervasive har.
mony Of his nature. He seldom nsed
the knife to prune the deformities
which his keen eye was so ready to
ssee. 1t was by setting forth ethical