New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-05-26
EMERSON AT HOME.
. NOBLE AND BEAUTIFUL PRIVATE LIFE

Socia Circle" in Concord. Mass, BY Edwara
Waldo Emerson. l@mo' pp' zoo "''s"''''
e.. M. Edward Waldo Emerson has written this
chronicle of his fathers home life, as he says TO
how to those who care TO see, more fully than
Aouh be done in MIR. Cabots book consistently
with its symmetry, the citizen and villager and
households. the friend and neighbor.' These are
..n.c,. n Emersons life which are sure to be well
com.d HEARTILY. for il Is just TINS 90
,..s,n and home life OF celebrated
man that the world takes the keenest
tr&.rest in and BIZ the help Of this information IT
often e.uees him most accurately. The record OF
tmsrson,s home life is moreover, entirely satisfac-
.orv Il IL what was expected in all ways save
ana n shows him to have possessed Tar more
hrmor tban his works indicate. His behavior
toxrrd his neighbors and townsmen was always
rrntsl and endeAred him to them, and he was ever
on the watch for quaint characteristics ana vaiu-
able suggestions, given out in homely talks aoout
everyday matters His son has drawn freely
mon Mr. merson's journals for this volume, and
thus we have his own views upon many sunlects.
side by side with plenty OF illustrative anecdote.
IN one OF the early journals he has this charao-
>.,,.,i. reminiscence. II remember when q child
In the pew on Sundays amusing myself with saying
over common words as black white board,
s,c twenty or thirty times, until the words lost
an meaning and fxedness, and began 10 douoS
which was the right name for the thing when
sew that neither had any natural RELATION pu'
WIRE an arbitrary. 1t was chid's first lesson IN
Healiwn." About the same time he gives curl
ous illustration Of new kind OF decadence. he
svx: sTbe old school Of Boston citizens whom
remember had great vigor, great NOISY poo'es'
think certain sternutatory vigor. the hke "nere
OF have not heard again. When MAJOR D. OF oiu
Mr.. r. H. took out their pocket handkerchieis ~
church, 1t was plain that they meant business
sbev vouh snort and roar through their noses like
the lowing Of an OK and make all r,ne as''u' al,
Il takes a North Ender to do that Emersons
a,., nub,ic appearance seems to have been earlier
IN his career than is generally supposed lils son
written: "A gentleman who in his youth was
elerk in Deacon Whites store tells us that ne useo
Ia love 70 hear the small Ralph decaim, and would
sapture him when he came on an GRAND ana SET
him nothing loath, on sugar barrel, whence ne
would entertain his earliest Concord audience the
chance freouenters Of the grocery with rectat'ons
Of poetry, very likely Campbells Glenara or the
Koecusko passage or statelier verses IT IN ''N'o"'
All the brothers worked very hard at college, ana
,one Of them appear to have had any real boynoou'
The straitened circumstances in which the oealn
a. ,he,, father had left them, and the Spartan
LOYALTY TO duty vigorously insisted upon oy ,he'i
mother and Aunt Mary contributing 70 keep 'helh
up TO the mark. Emersons preference TOT soi-
,nde was shown early, and remained to the last
,honob he became sociable in his peculiar way,
His attitude vas ever that OF an observer ana
..na.n, xben be WAS in the world. 1t was only
tom HIS study that he ventured upon didactc'sm.
How he Joined the Church. and held cure OF
INK and fell into conscientious doubts and re-
signed his pastorate. and suffered from
al health and married and lost MS hre'
wife and for some time drifted seeking his Vooa-
ton and not finding it, has been told 100 oi'eh !"
be recapitulated here. 1t is after his maj ee'te
v,.nt A. Concord when ne had established the
oceunntions and habits he was to follow thehce
forth with little deviation that the chief interest,"
of his sons book begins. The Aunt MARY W
yshose stimulating counsek he owed so much III MS
vouth was o person Of no little eccnntriciV' "ne
VIA in the habit Of borrowing horses ana o"rrases
on the spur Of the moment and on the "r"hses'
pleas: aOnce she even impressed the morse VI -"
man who came to call the physician at whose
honse abe boarded, and rode sidewise on mans
saddle 70 the Mnnse, arrayed in her dmity shrouo'
which tired OF waiting for death, she USED as
dsv gown. and over it on this occasion. thfe"
.csr,et shswl which somebody had laid down in
the .ntxv.n Truly woman OF character, th,s'
but apparently not a very comfortanie companion;
far e IN recorded that she was constantly ehgaeeu
IN nomadic peregrinations' from one part Vi
Mo-. I'm land 70 another, for she was TOO con-
ceptrstad a bittercordial to be ever taken Tor
long time at any one boarding place.
His first interviews with Nature revealed 70
him that his book knowledge OF her WAS foundeo
upon superficial or erroneous observation Oh 'he
part Of his guides, and that he had TO learn every
thing anew lie says in his Journal: IL s'en's
a IL we owed to literature certain Impressions
concerning nature which nature did not JUSTLY,
By Latin and English poetry was born ana oreo
in an oratorio Of praises Of nature, flowers plrds
and mountains. sun and moon. and now l find
know nothing Of any of these fine things; tha'
have conyersed with the merest surface and sho"
NJ them all and of their essence or OF their history
Iroxr nothine Now Furthermore melanchoily
discover that nobody-tlat not these chanting
ron4s tbeusel,vs-know anything sincere OF IN D
handsome natures they so commended' that 'nes
contented themselves with the passing ch'fp OF
hird or saw his spread wing In the sun as nc
auts.red by they saw one morning or TWO IN tneir
Hxes and listlessly looked at sunsets ana ~
r,eated idly these few gmpses IN theif song
when he went into the woods all was ne" vi
xss undescribed, and he says: Every man Cn"'
,o.s into the woods seems TO be the hrst man 'na'
80, ,,,snt into a wood. His sensations and bis
.,s ~. new You really think that nothing
,an be said about morning and evening ana VI.
g.. 4. rnornina and evening have not yet oegun
=. \. describedn He could not recognize VI
~. ..,;.a.d with the impressions OF others NJ
80, drsw his own pictures in his own ""!
Tr- ,h.nomenal WAS pleasant and necessary 70
hirn He says again: The rock seemed soo,'
"a me. I think we can never AFFORD 70 part WIN
Matte. How dear and beautiful II Is 70 US AZ
-. En- our thirst 50 is this rock to our eyes
and hands and feet -. What refreshment ~na'
sss,,h what magic affinity, ever an old friend
III. . dear brother or friend when we chn'
swa.,sd,v With strangers comes in this honest lace
whilst we prcttie with men, and takes grave
liberty with us and shames US out OF our MOI"
ssuse."
,a more he communed with nature