The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-25
THE INFLUENCE OF EMERSON.
Some Reflections Called Out by To-
Days Centenary Celebration.


To the Editor Of the Indianapolis Journal:
The most fortunate event Of my life
was the fact that. when a boy Of sixteen.
Emerson's Essays" fell into my hands.
1t was soon afterwards followed by his
poems, the majority of which I have had
by heart for fifty years. These two books
have had more influence on my life than
all others combined, save one. For years,
when a young man. they colored all my
thoughts and ideals; especially so modi-
fication of his Characterization" which,
briefly told, is Emerson's doctrine that
man is the ultimate source of all truth.
never subscribed to his teachings that
We make our own God, in the sense OF
questioning the Absolute Reality exterior
to ourselves, or His communication to US
through the Holy Spirit. OF those truths
which never can be proved" Emerson, in
my judgment, is wrong when he asserts
that our intutions are our highest source
of truth, and simply absurd when he says,
even though in metaphor:
81 am the owner of the sphere.
OF the seven stars and solar year;
OF Caesars hands and Platos brain.
OF Lord Christ's heart, and Shakspeares strain"
meaning thereby that there is not a power
higher than ourselves which communes
with us and leads us unto truth.
OF his essays "Self-reliance," "Compensa..
tion," THE Oversoul,' ''Heroism" and
Spiritual Laws" and of his poems The
Problem (his masterpiece). The Sphinx"
.'Good-Bye." The Rhodora,' Each and
ALI and "Alphonso of CASTLE" as well as
the World Soul" all early in life became
unconscious parts of my thinking, just as
the atoms of medicine which the doctors
give us in sickness become part and parcel
of our health. 1 think have got quite as
much out of the few lines which i,. preface
formal poems. Take that which introduces
his essay upon Experiences"
1.-The Lords Of Life. the Lords Of Life
In their own guise.
Gloomy and vast;
Like and unlike.
Portly and grim.
Use and surprise,
Surface and dream,
Succession swift and spectral wrong,
Temperament without tongue.
And the inventor of the game
Omnipresent without name;
They marched from East to West
Little man, least of all
Among the legs of his guardians call,
Walked about with troubled look
Him by the hand dear Nature took
Dearest Nature, strong and kind,
Whispered, Iaring, never mind;
Tomorrow they shall wear another race
The Victor thou; these thy race.
Or again:
MANS the elm and wealth the vine;
Strong and 3tanch the tendrils Irvine
None from ane its ta stock ss Vs
Fear not then, though child infrm
There's no God dare harm worm;
Laurel crowns cleave to deserts
And power to him who power exerts
Hast not thy share? On winged feet
Lo 1t rushes thee TO meet.
For all that Nature made thine own.
Swimming in air or pent In stone,
VIII rive the hills or swim the sea
And like thy shadow follow thee
One evening at Indianapolis. a score of
years ago, heard William T. Harris. now
the United States commissioner OF educa-
ton, repeat before an audience of teachers
the same experience, saying that for years
the quotation beginning 1.-THE Lords Of
much he had got out Of those apparently
mysterious lines.
Some of Emerson's rhymed apothegms are
unsurpassed models of mother wit and con-
densation. For example:
..Of all wits the main
Is to live smooth with who have none;'
..Of what avail the pillow sail
or land or life. II freedom faii?
Or.
So to God is man
When duty whispers low. Thou must.
The youth replies i can.
And yet our great author. easily the pre-
mier in American literature and whose one
hundredth birthday We to-day celebrate.
had his limitations. Although for many of
his earlier years minister OF the gospel,
and knowing very little personally about
sin, ne failed to grasp the character and
secret Of the teachings OF the greatest man
in history. Emerson mistook the often
muddy deliverances and workings of his
own mind for the well OF water springing
up into everlasting life" Of the Master. In
deed he denied His divinity. His cele-
brated Harvard address Of 1Ss7-which his
eulogists have called the American declar-
alton of literary independence-while meri-
torfous as a Remuneration OF dogma and
creeds In a larger sense was an unspesk-
ably sad mistake. for II missed the real So
luton Of the enigmas OF life and death.
All the same our Emerson-Matthew Ar
mold. to the contrary observation-disclosures
easily Americas greatest poet and pro-
foundcst seer. DArvIEL p. BALDWIN.
IoGonsport Ind, {ay -