Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-25
TRIBUTE TO EMERSON
Centennial Anniversary Of
His Birth.
EVENT CELEBRATED
PATRIOT, oRIENTAL1sT, POET
AND PREACHER.
Addresses Before Unitarian Club Last
Evening-President Of the
Club Presides.

Tributes to the memory Of Ralph. Waldo
Emerson were paid at All Souls Church last
evening. the occasion being the commem-
grafton of the centenary anniversary OF
his BIRTH May %. The meeting was under
the direction of the Unitarian Club of this
city. Mr.. Carroll D. Wright its president,
presiding. Rev. A. D. Mayo pronounced
the invocation, after which Mr.. William E.
Green rendered a violin solo.
Mr.. A. r. Spofford, assistant librarian
of Congress, was the first speaker. He re-
ferred to Emerson as a man and patriot
DIR. Spofford gave his personal reminis-
cences Of intercourse with the famous phil
osopher and poet at intervals from 1S49 to
1876. He had broken bread, he said with
the Concord philosopher. at the home OF
the latter, more than fifty years ago, and
had organized courses of lectures for him.
Emerson was the pioneer lecturer of
America" said DR.. Spofford. He began
in 1885 with country lyceums. at SO and
his expenses for each discourse. When. IN
1850. 1 brought him $500 as the proceeds OF
his five lectures on The Conduct of Life,
he asked. with smile. What shall do
with these gifts of the good providence
that you bring me" Well said some
invest Them An excellent idea said the
philosopher, and went on his way rejoic-
ing
As an Orientalist.
Dr. William T. Harris commissioner OF
education, spoke on Emerson as an oriental
list and poet.
Emerson" said Commissioner Harris,
held firmly to the doctrine of evolution,
which Is the doctrine of Europe as OPP
posed to Asia, and Of the present age tn
stead of past ages He follows Plato, and
that
does not lose the finite in the infinite
does not take empty being as the absolute,
but sees creative power-an infinite reason
as the absolute.
1.-The supremacy of ethics, doctrine
preached by Emerson, shows that he Is
not a pantheist. holding that all finitude is
absorbed back into an abstract unity Of
deity, but theist, holding that the finite
world is eternally created to furnish forth.
as 1t were. cradle for new souls. In his
poem prefxed to his essay on Spiritual
Laws Emerson expresses his own view OF
the absolute. not as empty being, but as
Creator. universal Providence, full OF
goodness and righteousness that makes
evil result in good.
THE universe is here spoken of as the
living heaven. which contains and uphelds
and at the same time is active builder or
architect. Using the hours that man has
not nodded by his feeble will. 1t erects
eternal towers. 1t is sole and self-com-
manded. not coordinate with any one, but
supreme"
Tribute to the Poet.
Mr.. George Willis Cooke Of Boston, the
well-known essayist, paid tribute to the
poet.
I'VE can comprehend" said Mr.. Cooke.
"only when we fully recognize that he al
ways lived In the OPEN free of mind ready
for new adventures of thought. glad in all
that is fresh and untrammeled. His atti-
tude toward slavery was entirely consistent
with the idea that he wished for every man
what he claimed for himself. He must
have seen that the slave could not secure
his freedom unaided. Only a social act
could bring about this result
'EmersOnS worth for us does not lie in
his conformity to the thinking of today
but In the suggestiveness Of his thought
and the inspiring quality of his views of
life. 1t is when We regard Emerson as
popular teacher, going up and down the
country, talking to all sorts and conditions
of men, that we may most truly recognize
what he was and what he accomplished.
He was great ethical teacher a preacher
Of the moral sentiment. a proclaimer Of the
gospel of hope and courage.
THE special phase of philosophical think
Ing with which Emerson'S name has been
associated is no longer foremost in the
recognition Of scholars, and that which is
accepted in academic circles is widely diff
ferent from his. But this fact has not
lessened the growth of his fame He is an
eternal man Emerson gives US, as no one
else has done in this country, the concep-
ton of a religion without dogma and with
out ritual"
Prophet and Preacher.
The last speaker was Rev. Ulysses G. B.
Pierce, minister of All Souls Church whose
subject was Emerson as Prophet and
Preacher
Mr.. Pierce said, in part: What has al
ready been said of Emerson makes it
pretty plain that he was unusually gifted
with the qualities of mind and heart that
make the prophet and preacher. He needed
only to be born in the east to have his
name linked with others whose pre-emi-
hence is due to the same spiritual qualities
man of remarkable intuitive power, his
insight foresaw many of the discoveries
that are the pride of our day. He was q
Darwinian before Darwin. Though he
could not have written the Origin of Spe-
cieS' or The Descent of Man. yet he could
not have spoken more plainly if these books
had been open before him.
Though Emerson ceased to be a pastor,
he was always preacher Though he left
the church, he never forSook that for which
the church stands. He simply stepped from
one pulpit into another Whether on
lyceum platform or in lecture room, alike
in essay and poem. Emerson was always a
preacher. With him literature, whatever
form it might assume, was a means, not an
end With him it was less art for arts
sake than all for mans sake. Whatever
question he considered, he brought to it
such moral penetration and spiritual in
sight that the subject was thereby lifted
into the domain of religion. Whatever
does this is in its essence preaching.
1T is surprising what unexpected variety
is thus afforded. His text is never twice
the same, and the form of discourse is al
ways different; yet he is always preaching
the worth and the supremacy of the soul
He sings in different keys and with end
less variations. but his theme is always
the same. The great essay 'Over-Soul' is
at once germ and epitome of his philoso-
ply. To use Emerson's own figure it is
the acorn which holds within itself a
thousand forests Now it inspires the i'm
mortal essay on Self-Reliance,' and again,
its quiet workings are limited in the essay
on Compensation Here, it is seen to be
the ground of religion and there it is the
basis of the Immortal Hope. There are
many to whom the high words Of this
prophet and preacher are hardly less than
a rosary whose beads they never tire of
counting. Whatever the size or color of
the beads. they are always strung on the
same cord; and they are never so securely
strung when the string itself is least
visible. Emerson Is at his best as prophet
and preacher when the reader is least con-
scious of him, and the spell is most COM
plete when in reading his words it seems
that we ourselves are only thinking aloud
while it may be doubted just what place
Emerson is to hold as essayist or poet, it
f r1aa hot r,y.NvS l,<A - T.