The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-10
FANNIE B. WARD.


"REMINISCENCES OF EMERSON.
Frank D. Sanborn, OF Concord, n. H,
spoke recently before the School Of Ex-
preston at Boston on "reminiscences
OF Emerson" Mr.. Sanborn, introduced
by DR. Curry as the last OF the Concord
school Of philosophers. proceeded with
out preamble to very personal and in
innate presentation of Emerson as he
knew him during thirty years in Con-
cord His remarks were entirely ex-
temporaneous, just as If he were having
quiet chat in his own library. 1t was
the next thing to meeting Emerson
himself
Mr.. SanbOrn began with an account
of his own meeting with Emerson. He
was at that time a sophomore at Har-
ward, and having heard Emerson speak
and read his writings, he walked one
day from Cambridge to call on him.
His two most lasting impressions of
that boyhood pilgrimage were Of Emer-
sons way of looking from his compan-
ions face as he talked, and of the phi
losopher's shoes, which were innocent
of any backing. This latter circum-
stance, as he later discovered, was the
result of a decision arrived at by En-
erson and his friends, that if leather in
tanning came out certain color they
would not change it by artificial pig
ments.
Mr.. Sanborn then referred to the
strange and narrow policy pursued by
Harvard towards her most distin-
guished graduate for a full thirty
years. "In those days. said he, 1.-The
teachers of philosophy at the college
would have scoffed at the idea that EN-
erson's writings were philosophical or
even that he had a philosophical mind.
So little did they know Of the thing
they were teaching that they passed by
the most eminent example Of philosoph-
ical thinking that this country has ever
produced. / understand now that they
are erecting a new building in Cam
bridge for the study Of philosophy, and
are going to call it Emerson Hall. But
it has taken them from 1886, when Ma
ture'-the most profound philosophical
book in the English ianguage-was
published, until nearly the beginning of
this century to pay this honor Boston
and Cambridge do learn in time, but
they learn slowly.
Then Mr.. Sanborn described his own
entrance into Concord as teacher of
little private school there started by
Emerson and Judge Hoar for their own
and their neighbors' children-some
seventeen in all. He was at Emerson's
house frequently. meeting most of the
people who came there, and often
Joined him and his family in their
walks through the country. When he
first went there TO live the country was
in the midst of the discussion which
preceded the civil war, and Mr.. San
born touched upon Mr.. Emerson's part
in it. Though he had an instructive
dislike for the colored race, yet this
feeling gave place before his sense of
Justice: and Mr.. Sanborn quoted pas
sages of his speech In 1874, on the occa-
sion Of the British liberation of slaves
in the West Indies, as the most perma-
nent anti-slavery utterances Of the
times LAS did all his addresses" he
said, however ephemeral or local their
occasions, this one contained certain
general principles stated in language
that makes them live. Emerson was
not active in the anti-slavedy move
ment however, largely through a
breadth of view that enabled him to
see and understand the other side of
the question. That seed of intolerance
which, as among all Calvinists, has al
ways flourished in New England, did
not exist in Emerson. With all his love
Of progress, moreover, he was extreme
ly conservative; he didn't believe in
forcing the season; he waited for the
suitable time and place. Boston
Transcript.