The Portland daily press., 1894-03-07
Emerson. tho Man. tho Seer, and the Poet.

Emerson, the nj am the Seer, and the Poet.
In beginning his last lecture in the
course on Modern Literature Mr.. Bel
lows said that he had studied the writ
ings of the Concord seer for over quar-
ter of century, had read much that
had been written by critics concerning
his thought and influence, and had only
felt his admiration increase for the great
mans star1ike purity, his high optimism
and his benevolent wisdom. Emerson
was one who, as. Prof. Mayer said, lived
as if he really believed in Immortality,
and his every act seemed to breathe
something ofthe great amplitude of time.
Fifty years ago there was fine inte-
1ecuual life in the smaller towns and vii
lagos of New England-such as, it is to
be feared, does not exist in them today.
There was often to be found society
of earnest and thoughtful men and
women, intent on the things OF the
mind and growth in the spirit. Such
society was to be found, then, in Con-
cord, Massachusetts,, where wiuh.Alcott-
the mystic, Hawthorne, the shy recluse
and wizard-romancer, Thoreau, the
educated savage and Margaret Fuller,
the Sibyl, with Emerson himself, there
was some of the plainest living, and
highest thinking this country-or any
country-has known.
The lecturer traced the events OF
Enerson's life from it's hard struggle
with early poverty, his desultory read
ing in college, where he wrote themes
tor dull boys, his brief experience in
teaching, where his simplest word of
sorrow at scholars offense seemed
more terrible than others punishment,
to his experience as preacher and a
lecturer. He gave up his Boston pulpit
to become a preacher in the universal
church. 1t was inevitable that he
should abandon the work of the minis
ter, as he could never adapt himself to
the ordinary parish work, and he found
the lecture platform as good pulpit as
he wanted. Very plain and simple peo-
ple, who could hardly understand his
philosophy, still enjoyed Mr.. Emerson's
lectures, because they felt he recognized
the dignity of human nature and it's
power of receiving fresh inspiration
from on hign. 4
The Brook Farm experiment was
alluded to as one most suggestive of
reform much needed in the management
of our domestic life. Though much of it
seems to us today visionary and imprac-
ticable, it had in it much of hope and
promise for the future.
Emerson was seer; he never argues
about the truths he states, but simply
says that he sees these things to be true.
He is an optimist, fairly ignoring all
sin, and evil and misery in the world
to proclaim" the soul of good in things
particularly with Marcus Aurelius, and
like him-though not, as Mr.. Arnold
points out. great writer or a great
philosophy maker-he is a friend of all
those who would live in the spirit" He
states. the constant presence of the over
soul in man, the imperative need of self
reliance-so that in some of his utter
ances, as in the Essay on Friendship,
he takes a somewhat extravagants posi-
tion; he believes in the sovereignty of
spirit over matter, or sometimes in and
through matter, breaches the Indifference
of circumstances and the supremacy of
the soul. His views on immortality,
though not strictly according to the
views of the usual religious teachers,
are still based on great philosophic
truths.
Extracts, were read from Emerson's
poems to show that though he may not
rank with the great poets, he is yet most
felicitous in occasional lines, and though |
the thought is sometimes too weighty
for the form, yet certain strains of his
linger with us, and have rare stimulat-
ing power in the moral and spiritual
life.