Evening star., 1927-12-07
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

This is quite a claim but perhaps
most readers will admit the justice of
| it. after reading at random in the
339 pages of this volume. 1t is not
sacrilege to say that most Americans
today honor Emerson theoretically
rather than actually; in other words,
while they admit his greatness, they
do not read him personally, although
many a home library contains a set
of his works.
"The Heart of Emerson's Journals"
will stir to active reading many per
| son who merely recalls the essays as
a rather tiresome task of high school
| days. Here one finds the man him
self, with all his failures and sue
cesses, not the parade writer of
| the essays.
The charge that the Essays" are
disjointed in character, although very
| smooth, is a true one. Emerson had
so many ideas that he did not find
!! it feasible to marshal them one by one
in his written works.
He believed that the reader could
| jump over some of his points as well
as he could, and he perpetually hon
ored those who hOnored him by read
ing his works by going on the as
he did. and were fully as able to grasp
his arguments as he was to make
them.
| Perhaps no writer ever "Wrote
down" less to his readers than Emer-
son. One has to possess some mental
muscle to read him, either his poems,
collected addresses or the immortal
essays. He offers no "easy reading"
If Prof Perry's claim is true, that
the one-volume collection of material
from the journals offers comparison
with anything Emerson himself pub
lshed, it Is certainly so that the aver
age reader. even one who honestly
cares for Emerson, will find the col
lection a great deal easier to read, not
only because Of it's short selections,
covering such q range Of topics, but
also because of the autobiograp aphical
interest.
Prof. Perry has done a notable piece
Of biography at the same time he
successfully complies a Selection, -
always a difficult task BY giving a
Chronological table. and carefully not
ing the chief events in Emerson's life,
as he goes along with the quotations,
the compiler creates a living interest
in the mind of the reader.
X X X
What man was Americas Emer.
son! Even as a boy Of 18 years he
had the courage to analyZe himself
very pOintedy. and the integrity to
work himself out Of it" into success
and the honest happiness which ac-
companies achievement.
Think of the man who was to do so
much. writing:
"In ~ days I shall be 10 years old,
which | count miserable thing. Has
any other educated person lived so
many years and lost so many days?
l do not say acquired so little, for by
an ease of thought and certain loose.
ness of mind l have perhaps been the
subject of as many ideas as many of
mine age. But mine approaching ma.
turity is attended with goading sense
of emptiness and wasted capacity"
He continues: Look next from the
history Of my intellect to the history
of my heart. A blank, my lord. ]
have not the kind affections of a
pigeon. Ungenerous and selfish. eau
tious and cold, ! yet wish to be roman
tic; have not sufficient feeling to spea k
a natural, hearty welcome to a friend
or stranger, yet send abroad wishes
and fancies of a friendship with a
man I never knew" He knew his
faults and tried to correct them, a
mans size task for any man,