New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-07-11

JOURNALS or RALPH WALDO EMER-
SON with AuuotstionS. Edited by 10
ward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Ener-
20, Forbes Illustrated Emo. Vol IN,
tSse-IS63 pp. XNiit ISL. Vol y. 1851
1879 PIP. xxhi 546, Boston. Houshton
MlILn Company
These concluding volumes of En-
erson's Journals" are in some respects
The most valuable of all. That is partly
because OF the era in which they were
written and partly because of the reve-
lstion which they afford of the man
himself at the summit and in the de-
cline OF his life. The decade which
they span had no superior in all Amer
lean history in interest to the patriot
or TO the scholar. 1t was big with
big deeds in peace and war, which
transformed radically the whole char
acter Of the American nation. 1t was
marked with intellectual activity and
literary productiveness not surpassed
by any other period. It's appeal to
every sense and sentiment of man was
overwhelming. And there were few
who responded to the appeal more
spontaneously than the Philosopher OF
Concord.
Those who have enormously mag
ined the ideslist and transcendentslist
as man apart from common interests
will here learn their mistake. II, fol-
lowing his own advice, he hitched his
wagon to a star the wheels still rolled
upon the earth. We find him discuss
ing Porphyry, Confucius, Aristotle and
St. Augustine; but at the same time
there is also plenty about Lincoln and
Jefferson Davis, John Brown and
Charles Sumner. Before the war" he
writes in the fall Of 1854, "our patriot
ism was a frework, a salute, serenade
for holidays and summer evenings, but
the reality was a cotton thread and
complaisance. Now the deaths of
thousands and the determination OF
millions of men and women show 1T
real" There has been no keener reve-
lation Of the very heart Of things than
in those sentences.
Nothing is more characteristic OF
the man, or more perennially surpris-
ing 10 those who know him best, or
more delightful TO those who love him
most. than the infinite variety Of his
observation and interest. Think of the
poet Of "Brahma"-the mystic "lf the
Red Slayer thinks he slsys"-making
an address before the county sgri-
cultural society at its annual cattle
show; and on "The Man with the
Hoe. Again, he quotes the opinions
of Ellerp Charming ION frogs and
farmers farming, ne thinks, is an
ATTEMPT TO outwit God with hoe
and brackets them with a passage from
the "Sakuntala." Among the innu-
merable anecdotes OF interesting per-
sons with which the books abount Is
one gem Of our old friend, Count Adam
Gurowski, some time Of THE Tribune"
staff and some thine OF the Depart
ment of State at Washington. Gurowski
asked, Where is this bog? l wish TO
earn some money; | wish TO dig peat
ooh, no, indeed, sir, you cannot do this
kind Of degrading work" 81 cannot be
degraded am Gurowski."
1t would be difficult to find a more
scathingly vigorous arraignment than
ne gives US of the Saturday Review
Gladstone -Palmerston hostility to the
United States, in the Civil War:
Every one forgot his history. his
poetry, his religion, and looked only
at his shop till. No Milton, no Bacon,
no Berkeley, no Montesquieu, no
Adam Smith was there TO hail new
dawn Of hope and culture for men, to
see the opportunity for radiance Of
This filthy pest which dishonors
human nature, TO cry over to US:
"IIp. and God with you! Strike for
the universe of mem" No; but, on
IN. other hand, every poet. every
scholar, every great man, as well as
the rich, thought only Of his own
pocketbook, and, TO our astonish-
ment. cried: Slavery forever"
We shall prosper, We shall de-
stroy slavery, bat by no help OF
theirs. They assailed US with mean
cavils, they sneered at our manners
At our failures, at our shifts, at the
poverty Of our treasury, at our
struggles, legal and municipal, and
irregularities in the presence Of NOR
.ai dangers. They cherished our enc
mics, they exulted az the factions
which crippled US at home; whenever
the allies Of the rebels obstructed
the great will and action Of the gov
eminent, they danced for JOY. They
ought 10 have remembered that
great actions have mean beginnings;
moor matters point 70 rich encs.
In the final volume the change IN tn
physicsl and mental disposition OF tn'
man Is progressively marked. 10 inc
end there is much Of the old Emerson
with his elevation Of thought, but the
breadth Of vision is not there. more
ard more he becomes interpretive oil
dwells upon the abstract, or upon mem
ories Of the past. His powers OF con
Temporary perception and appreciation
are falling. There are more references
20 the past than 70 the present. bu'
upon the principles which know no
tfs,e his hold IL a. strong as ever. Inc
last quoted entry 10 the conclusion OF