The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-04-21
TWO REAARKABLE LETTERS.
LOUISE cHANpLER Morlrox.

Waldo Emerson" recently published by ]. R- Osgood < Co, it seems to me there has been a general failure to note two very striking letters which throw an un- expected ray of light on the much-beraied temper of Carlyle.
 There was a high courage scarcely short of audaeity in the very nrs, letter of Emersons which Is published. After praising. as Emerson eoaid praise, with such royalty of appreciation a, Is only possible to gres; souls. the four numbers he had seen of the Saitor Resartus." he writes
 But has literature any parallel to the oddty of the vehicle chosen 10 coavey this treasure. delight in the contents the form, which my defective appreciation fer joke makes me no; appreciate. leave 10 your merry discretion. And yet dio ever wise and philznthrnpic author use 90 defying diction As if society were not sufficiently shy of truth wiihou, providing ii beforehand with an obleo ion to the form: Can il be that this humor proceeds from despair of finding 8 con- temporary audience, and so the prophe; feels a, liberty to utter his message in droli sounds: Did you no, tell me. Mir Thomas Carlyle, sitting upon one ofyouT broad hills. shat Ii was Jesus Chris, who built Dunsoore k,rk yonder: lfyou love such sequences. adini, IS you will. that no poet IS sent into the world before his time: that all the departed thinkers and actors have paved your way that tat least. when you surrender yourself natis ns and ages do guide your pen; yes, and common goose-quills as we'll as your diamond g.aver. Believe, then, that harp and ear are formed by one revolution of the wheel: that men are waiting to hear your epioal song and so, be pleased 10 skip those eNoursive, involved glees. and give us the simple air without the volley of variations. Al least. in some of you, prefaces you should give us the theory ot your rhetoric. comprehend not why you should lavish in that spendthrift style of yours celestial truths. Bacon and Plato have something too solid to say than that they can afford 10 be humorisis. ou are dispensing thA, which IS rarest. namely. ,he simplest truths truths which ile neN: 10 CONSCIOUSNESS. and which oniy the P.atos ard Goethes perceive. look for the lou, with impaiience when the vehicle wlll De worthy of the spirit-~ her the word will be as simple and so IS re- sisl.ss as ;he thought and. in short. when your words will be one with things. ] have no hope that you will md sud-. denly d large audience Says no, the saIeasm. .fraih hath the plague in his house.: and yet all men are tao1enklal.r as lr. Colendge would say your ac- dience. and if you will noi ln very Me phis;ophelisn repel and defy them. shall be actually: and whatever the great or the small may say about the charm of diabolism. true and majestic genius ca9 afford to despise il.
 venture 10 amuse you with this horni- lc,ic criticism. because Il is the sense of unctltlcal ambassadors ito whom you an no more than Hecubal whose instincts assure them that there is wisdom in this gro;esque, Teu;onio. apocalyp,ic strain of yours. bui that IS hence hindered in its effect. And though with all my heart would stand well with my poet, yet ii 1 offend shall quietly retreat into my un- versal relations, wherefrom l affection ateiy esPy you IS d man. myself as an- other.
 To this frank criticism Carlyle replied thus:
 With regard to style. and 50 forth, what you call your sauey objections are not only most ineligible, but mos, wei come and instructive. You say well tha; l take up the attitude because l have no known public: am alone under the heavens. speaking into friendly or un- friendly space: add. only. that will not defend such attitude. that call it ques- iionable. tentative. and only the best that l. Tn these mad times, could conveniently hIt upon.
 Since l saw you. have been trying. am sull trying. other methods, and shal! surely get nearer the truth. as honestly strive for II. Meanwhile. 1 know no method ot much consequence. excep, that of believing. of being sincere. From Homer and the Bible down to the poor es, Burns song. find no other art that promises to be perennial.
 For me. these two extracts are more of the characters of the two men than any others could make Of the same length. Emersons fearlessness. his sense of fitness and beauty, severe as that of a Greek-for Emerson always was sculptor rather than painter, and worked in cleai wnite-his willingness to risk the most congenial friendship he was likely to find, rather than leave wha; he felt to be a necessary truth unuttered-ah there we have the man who knew the heavens be- lore his time, and whom the heavens knew.
 Carlyle dwelt in less serene air. The din of the light was in his ears, and ,s hit hard and to pierce shams as though they were windoags-ihcse were his merits An arrogant man he was, with out question. since he saw through most men too clearly to revere them |; but yet with certain childlike humility in his hear-as is shown by these extrac,s- which the probing truth could find. A lesser man would not have seen the truths of Emersou's criticism SO clearly. nor yet have accepted them in such loyal and kindly spirit It has been hard to for give some of the dyspepsic growiings which disngure Carlyle. -Reminis- cenees:" but this whole noble volume of