The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-02-07
LECTURE BY
MRS. FREAR
Able Presentation
of EmersCnS
Life.

MIS- Mary HDllllngham trear gave the
first of her series of Emerson lectures
yesterday afternoon in the rooms OF the
Young Woman's Christian Association,
before large and appreciative audience
of Association members with literary
leanings. The success of the first lee
ture, and the able presentation of the
general points of the life of the New
England essayist, is an Indication that
the analysis of the works of Emerson
in succeeding lectures, VIII be of more
than passing interest Mrs. Frear pos
sesses the faculty OF telling nipple facts
in clear and concise manner, to which
is added a distinctive charm of express
sion.
| In narrating the events of Emerson $
life. Mrs. Frear gave details of the vicis-
STUDIES under which he struggled to ov-
ercome his ambitions. The undercurrent
of pathos which ran through Emersons
earlier years, and almost up to the time
that he mounted the lecture rostrum.
drew out of him the deeper thoughts
which have stamped him as one of the
foremost essayists of his age. Emerson,
with his intellectual attachments, achiev-
ed the greatness of the philosopher, as
the Buddha of the West.
| Mrs. Frear'S lecture dealt with Emer-
sons life, personality, time and contem-
poraries. His temperament was largely
/ due to the peaceful and rural surround
ingS in which he dwelt for the greater
part of his life and there was every
thing about the old manse where he spent
much of his time with his mother, broth
ers and wife to stimulate his mind to a
realization of the beauties of nature. AS
a student at Harvard his associates said
he seemed to dwell apart and looked
upon the world at the age of fourteen as
from a neutral tower. He praised the
verse of Byron then and criticized the
works of the English poets, his earlier
contemporaries. He was beloved by his
classmates, but was neither demOnstra-
tive nor boisterous, and gave no sign of
the mental power he was to WELD in
later years. The rigid discipline of pow
erty during his college years and the con-
slant squirting on of his mother and
aunt nerved him to battle heavy odds.
His delicacy of health discouraged him, |
but he had hope, and hope was the guild |
ing star of his life He had fine tonic |
in his correspondence with his aunt, who |
urged upon him deeper study of nature. |
but he thought that year in the coun- |
try without books would be intolerable. |
In his later years the advice of his aunt |
was followed, and he then placed depend
ence upon solitude for much of his in
SEPARATION. He had physical, financial and |
mental struggles, and after he had stud
en- in health but not discouraged. At
that time he burned for the gift of elo-
quence and knew ii would only come
from deep convictions. His sermons
showed no eloquence. We're not conven-
tional or even startlingly new.
Threads of light and pals of darkness
We're strangely intermingled in his life |
At times his life was tranquil and then
racked with the suffering occasioned by
"A death in his family. In his lecture
tours Emerson failed many times to sat-
isfy his ambition. and in the presenta-
ton of a subject before an audience, and
he felt he was born to remain at home.
While at Concord he did not mind his
from city life but looked
upon life there as placid river flowing
between peaceful rural fields. He con-
r:buted largely to politics, but was no
politician. He admired soldiers. but Ger
ainly he did not desire a soldiers glory
FOR himself. During the slavery agitation
n the North, Emerson was often drag
5ed to the lecture platform that his pres
ance would lend influence TO the great
question, but ne did not court greatness :
~ willing participation.
1t was said of Emerson that he kept |
people at arms length, merely slipping
1t friendships, and living up to the
phrase. Those whom God hath put asun-
Ter. why should man try to join togeth-
,r?" Nevertheless. he always welcomed G
'oung men. and lavished praise upon
hose whom he admired. 1t thus !
lie liked the cOmpanionship of Thoreau. 0
The life principle of Emerson was OPP .
im.Sm. He was always hopeful even in
lis greatest adversely. He avoided eX-
remes. He had little in common with t
he reformers of his day. Summing up n
lis life and personality. the speaker said
emerson was the natural product of his
ims. and strong in his own individuality. 4
Ie was sympathetic with refOrmers. but
US moi lal q hN- thair. rias