San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-09-27

James, the elder Tor his irregular read.
i1gS in the moral law. ThOreau has
given an account of this conversation
but without men tioning Mary Bmer-
son which will appear in the life OF
Bronson Aleott, now in press. AL
though religious person, of the old
fashion ed Unitarian faith, Miss Enaer-
son took the interest in Thoreau, and
deserves the compliment which he
here pays ner. He says, in his jour
hal:
1.-The wittiest and most vivaeious
woman / know, certainly that woman
among my acquaintance whom it is
most profitable to meet; the least
frivolous, who will most surely pro-
woke to good conversation. 1t is per
hips her greatest. praise aud peculiar.
ity that she, more surely than any
other woman. gives her companion
occasion to utter his best thought.
In spite of her own biases, she can
entertain large thought with hos
pitalily, and is not prevented by any
intellectually In 1t, as women COM
monty are. Thus she is capable OF
masculine appreciation of poetry and
philosophy.
"In short, she Is q genius, rs wo-
men seldom are, reminding you less
often OF her sex than any woman
whom know. / never talked with
any other who / thought accompani-
ed me SO far in describing poetic
experience. Miss Fuller is the only
other think OF in this connection
and of her rather from her frame
then from my knowledge OF her.
Miss Emerson expressed Tonight q
singular want of respect for her sex,
saying that they were frivalous, al
most without exception, that woman
was the weaker vessel, etc., and that
into " whatever family she might go
she depended more upon the clown
for society than upon the lady of the
house. Men are more likely to have
opinions of their own"
She was o very frank person, with
| q talent for fault finding, in which
she did not differ from others of her
sex so much as in some other res.
poets. One day, six years after
this interview with Thoreau, Mrs.
Thoreau called on her at the house
in Concord where she was then
boarding. The mother of Henry
Thoreau was not SO plain in her dress
even when aged, as her son was, and
this day she wore large yellow rib.
hons on her bonnet-which l remem-
Der very we'll, being then an inmate
of the Thoresu family. During the
call Miss Emerson closed her eyes,
but went on talking. But by and by
she said: "Mrs. Thoreau. l don't
know whether you have observe d
that my eyes are shut" YES, mad
am, 1 have observed it," "Perhaps
you would like to know the reason"
Eyes, l should. II don't like to see
q peason of your age guilty of such
llevity in dress" Emerson has pre-
served this anecdore in his sketch of
| his aunt, but mistakes the color of
| the ribbons hesrd.the same story
from Sophia Thoreau after 1t hap
| pened.
Mr.. Emerson once told me that his
| Aunt Mary was the best writer in
| Massachusetts,; meaning in the period
| from 1900 to 1880, when there were but
few who wrote we'll in our Common
wealth. Some oil his quotations Ger.
tainly justify his remark.
| In letter to her nephew, Charles
Emel son, during the Greek revolu-
| ton, she wrote what the peace So
cieties would hardly approve: "Wsr;
| what do think of ii? Why, in your
oppression, that it were ravaging the
whole geography OF despotism, 1t
would be an omen of high and glo-
rious import. War Is among the
means of discipline, the rough mel
iorators, and do worse than the strife
with poverty, malice and ignorance.
| War devaststes the conscience OF men,
wealth. Some of his quotations GER
| tainly Justify his remark. Thus In
1889, at the age of 70, she says, "Oh,
to dream moro deeply, to lose eternal
objects u little more! Sadness Is bet
ter than walking, talking, acting
somnam Glism. Usefulness, fit re-
| quires action, seems less like exls.
tence than the desire of being absor o.
ed In God, retaining consciousn ess.
Number the waste places of the jour
ney-the secret martyrdom of youth
heavier than the stake, l thought
The narrow limits which know no
outlet. the bitter dregs of the cup;
and all are sweetened by the pur-
pose of him I love. Hereafter the
yet corrupt peace does no less. Aud
If you tell me of the miseries of the
battlefield, with the sensitive Cham
ming (of whose love for life I am a.
shamed what of q few days of agony;
what of avulture being the bier,
tomb and psrson Of q hero, compared
to the long years of sticking on bed
and wished away"
Mary Emerson died early in May,
1863, at the age of SO. She was born
in the Old Manse at Concorp, which
overlooked the battle-ground there,
and she used to say she was In arms