The record-union., 1894-06-20
EMERSON, THE SAGE OF CONCORD.
A Scholarly Review of the Renowned
Authors Writings,
Rev. q. g. B. Pierce's Address Before
the Unity Club on Monday
Evening Last.

On Monday evening tne u u1ty OIOO %
this city had the great pleasure OF listen
ing to most interesting address on En-
erson by Rev. U. G. B. Pierce Of Pomona,
who for the last three weeks has hlled
the pulpit of Rev. I. j. Horner OF this
city. Upon the adjournment OF the club,
Rev. and Mrs. Pierce were rendered re-
ception by the ladies of the Unitarian
Church. in which the members of the
club participated.
Mr.. Pierce is fine reader, sympathetic
and forcible. His paper was analytical,
scholarly and just; its paEhos and appre-
olative criticism acceutuated by occasional
touches of the most delightful humor. 1t
is safe to say that no more thoroughly en-
joyable lecture on similar subject has
been delivered in this city for many
years. There is space for only portion
of the paper, which must be heard TO be
thoroughly appreciated.
Theodore Parker once exclaimed,
"Thank God for the sun and moon and
Ralph Waldo Emerson" And why
should we not thus prize great man?
In these latter days there Is none moro
worthy of regard than Emerson. Mat
thew Arnold calls him tine friend and
alder of those who would live in the
spirit" Professor Tyndall says of him:
Emerson was a splendid manifestation
of reason IN its most comprehensive form
and with all its most godlike aspIra-
tions." And this is not the opinion OF an
enthusiastic admirer OF transcendental-
ism, but the verdict OF deep and careful
thinker.
Emerson's writings have girdled the
globe. Horatio Greenongh reports hav-
ing found woman in Florence reading
Representative Men" in her own tongue.
Kennan says he found a condemned exile
in Siberia reading self Reliance"
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born In BoS-
ton May 70, 1603 Holmes pithy remark
that a mans training should begin 100
years before his birth suddenly found tul-
fillment in Emerson, for he descended-or
rather ascended-from family which for
eight generations had represented the
thought and culture of New England.
But, while Emerson had the inestimabIe
privilege of being well born, 1t should
not be supposed that his was an easy lot.
For him there was no room at the inn,
and he was born in manger. The PLAIN
living and high thinking that he advised
others were the staples Of his own fares.
1t was in Boston that Emerson spent
his boyhood. W hen he was Ii years old
he entered the freshman class OF Harvard
University. Emerson was not partlcu-
larly bright student, and what he most
priced at college was the association with
other Young men. Emerson has said that
the most helpful part of boys schooling
is what he picks up on the way. The re-
mark is geographic gleam. Tor Emerson
was most interested in the things not
taught in the course. Literature had q
peculiar fascination for him, and the
faculty sometimes reminded him that
this fondness was being gratltled to the
neglect of the other studies.
When he was awarded prize Of $50,
Ralph promptly sent the money to his
mother to pay the bakers bill. Except
this germ of thoughtful unselfishness,
there was in Emerson's college life no
prophecy of the coming man. He was
graduated in 1921 without discredit, but
also, as Cabot confesses, without distinc-
ton.
In the Harvard Divinity School his work
was rather desultory and often inter
rupted by illness, but in October, 1926,
the Unitarian body licensed him to
preach. He was ordained as assistant Of
Henry Ware at the Second Church in
Boston. In 1929 he married Ellen Louisa
Tucker, a woman of rare worth and of
singular promise. Shortly after their
marriage Mr.. Ware resigned the charge
of the church, thus leaving all the work
for Emerson. 1t was not long before he
had endeared himself to all lovers of the
good. Father Taylor of the Seamen's s
Baptist Bethel had little patience with
Unitarianism, nevertheless he had to
confess that Emerson would go to
Heaven, for, said he, ''lf Emerson should
go to the other place, he would change
the tide of emigration"
Emerson became troubled with doubts
about the Lords Supper. Accordingly,
he proposed to the trustees OF the church
that the rite should be omitted. The
ob,,rol, ruao uO xya16ad n fba auotOT11 Iof
they were unwilling TO abolish the SYM
bol. Nothing remained for him but to
resign the charge, and he left the Second
Church of Boston, never again to become
pastor.
How truly photographed Emerson's
writings are we may judge from such sem
tences as this: "Have we not some of US
met soul whose influence was such that
the friendship made an epoch in our
life?" Such a friend Emerson sought;
and such, in large measure, he found in
Thomas Carlyle. These men rushed to-
gether like two atoms, yet 1t would be
difficult TO imagine two men more diff
ferent from each other: Emerson as gen
tie and cheerful as q sunrise; Carlyle,
rough and somber as the fogs around
him; Emerson chanting the beauty of
the good, Carlyle growing at the bad.
Their friendship endured TO the last, and
for almost forty years letters passed be-
tween them.
Meantime Emerson was undergoing a
serious mental evolution, leaving the
current beliefs farther and farther be-
hind. When he hears the preacher urg-
ing upon people the beliefs and customs
of primitive Christians Emerson retortS:
stCan not you ransack the graveyards and
get your great-grandfather's clothes?"
Henceforth Emerson was hereto of
the heretics, and even the Unitarian pull
r.. = ]. II.
dangerous an lnnovator. But courses
of lectures were arranged in Boston and
neighboring cities. and the people heard
him gladly.
The lectures were often in form and in
style oracular and Kaleidoscope. His
thoughts resemble a beautiful mosaic
rather than q wall with every stone in its
place; they were pearls needing only to
be strung on silver thread. Few OF the
lectures were ever published, but most Of
them were recast into essays.
At the solicitation of friends abroad
Emerson went TO England in 1S47 and
gave lectures. a few years after his re-
turn he came West TO lecture. A mans
first visit TO the West is likely to be a
revelation, and such it was TO Emerson.
He says; Here l am in the deep mud
of the prairies. My chamber is a cabin.
my ellow-boarders are legislators" It
must have been gentle shock for Emer-
son TO enter the best hotel on the Missis-
sippi and there be confronted with the
sign: Gentlemen will not come TO the
table without their coats on.n
Emerson's life had been maturing so
beautifully that the first intimation of
decay was unexpected. In his letters to
Carlyle he had complained that ideas
come less freely that formerly, and that
then expression became more of labor.
This difficulty of finding the word to ex-