Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1903-05-13
EMERSON ON
SELF RELIANCE


ton that envy is ignorance, that imita-
ton is suicide, that he must take him.
self for better, for worse. as his por-
ton; that though the wide universe is
corn can come to him but through his
toll bestowed on that plot of ground
which is given to him to till. The power
which resides in him is new in nature,
and none but he knows what that is
which he can do, nor does he know I'M
til he has tried.
God will not have his work made
manifest by towards. 1t needs di-
vine man to exhibit anything divine.
A man is relieved and gay when he
has put his heart into his work and
done his best, but what he has said or
done otherwise shall give him no
peace. 1t is a deliverance which does
not deliver. In the attempt his genius
deserts him; no muse befriends, no in
vention no hope.
Trust myself. Every heart vibrates
to that iron string. Accept the place
the Divine Providence has found for
you, the society of your contempt
raries, the connection of events. Great
men have always done so and confided
themselves, childlike, to the genius OF
their age, betraying their perception
that the Eternal was stirring at their
heart, working through their hands,
predominating in all their being. And
we are now men and must accept in
the highest mind the same transcend
ent destiny, and not pinched in a cor
ner, not towards fleeing before revo-
luton, but redeemerS and benefactOrs,
pious aspirants to be noble clay plastic
under the Almighty effort, let us ad-
vance and advance on chaos and the
dark
Society everywhere is in conspiracy
against the manhood of every one OF
it's members. Society is a joint stock
company in which the members agree
for the better securing of his bread to
each shareholder to surrender the lib
erty and culture of the eater. The
virtue in most request is conformity.
Self reliance is it's aversion. 1t loves
not realities and creators, but names
and customs.
Whose would be a man must be
nonconformist. He who would gather
immortal palms must not be hindered
by the name Of goodness, but must eX-
plore if it be goodness. Nothing is at
last sacred but the integrity OF our
own mind. Absolve you to yourself,
and YOU shall have the suffrage of the
world.
What I must do is all that concerns
me, not what the people think. This
rule, equally arduous in actual and in
intellectual life, may serve for the
whole distinction between greatness
and meanness. It is the harder be-
cause you will always find those who
think they know what is your duty
better than you know it. 1t is easy in
the world to live after the worlds
opinion. 1t is easy in solitude to live
after our own, but the great man is he
who in the midst of the crowd keeps
with perfect sweetness the independ-
ence of solitude.
The objection to conforming to usageS
that have become dead to you is that
it scatters your force. 1t loses your
time and blurs the impression of your
character. If you maintain dead
church, contribute to a dead Bible So
ciety, vote with a great party either
for the government or against it,
spread your table like base housekeep-
ers-under all these screens | have diff
fculty to detect the precise man you
are And of course, SO much force is
withdrawn from your proper life. But
do your thing, and I shall know you.
Do your work, and you shall REINFORCE
yourself.
If our young men miscarry in their
first enterprises, they lose all heart. Ii
the young merchant fails, men say he
is ruined. If the finest genius studies
at one of our colleges and is not in
stalled in an Office within one year aft
erward in the cities or suburbs, it
seems to his friends and to himself
that he is right in being disheartened
and in complaining the rest of his life
A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or
! Vermont who in turn tries all the pro-
LESSONS, who teams it, farms it, ped
dies, keeps a school, breaches, edits a
newspaper, goes to congress, buys a
township, and SO forth, in successive
years, and always, like a cat, falls on
his feet, is worth a hundred Of these
city dolls. He walks abreast with his
days and feels no shame in not study
ing profession" for he does not post
pone his life, but lives already. He
has not one chance, but a hundred
chances.
Let stole arise who shall reveal the
resources of man and tell men they are
not leaning willows, but can and must
detach themselves; that with the ex-
ercise of self trust new powers shall
appear; that man is the word made
flesh, born to shed healing to the ma
tions; that he should be ashamed Of our
COMPASSION, and that the moment he
acts from himself, tossing the laws, the
books. idolatries and customs out of