Evening star., 1927-12-07

Do you know who is the most dis
tinguished American writer?
Probably no two persons, offhand.
would agree on the man, but Prof.
Bliss Perry, scholar of impeccable
tastes, says he is Ralph Waldo Emer-
son.
This statement is contained in the
preface to Prof. Perry's The Heart
of Emerson's Journals" published by
the Houghton Miffiin Co. last year.
Pointing out that hitherto no con-
densation from the 10 stout published
volumes of the Journals" had APP
peared in American, the compiler
states:
ut has been undertaken by the
present editor, with the consent of
Emerson surviving children and
with the cooperation Of his publishers
in the belief that a single volume edi-
ton of the Journals will now be
welcomed by the overwhelming circle
of readers of our most distinguished
American writer"
IF one likes to browse around in a
book this is an ideal volume to select,
either for personal use or as a Christ
mas present for that difficult person,
the man or woman who has read
everything"
Probably every family contains one
such reader, perhaps a boy or girl
who has gone through the approved
land sometimes the unapproved) list
of reading. for whom the selection of
a new book is task, indeed.
Il do not know what to get for
hint would like to get him book
but he has read everythingn
Our tip is to get such a precious
yOungster "The Heart of Emerson 8
Journals" He. or any other book
lover. will get many quiet hours of
enjoyment from it. There are none
too many books which one can read
piecemeal, as it were, here a little
and there a little. This is one of
the really good ones
We defy any one with a wholesome
reverence for American literature 20
start looking through this book with.
out becoming interested in it. Here
are the thoughts of a real man, set
down honestly, without fear or favor.
Emerson kept his journals for SIS
years, from 1920 to 1875, whereas the
famous commonplace books of John
Wesley and of John Quincy Adams
cover only a slightly longer period of
time, as Prof. Perry points out.
The latter says of the Journals:
Emerson once described his diaries
as his savings bank Here he jotted
down poetical or rhetorical phrases
for future use; he garnered his
houghts-gleanedf from saunterings in
the woods or by Walden Pond-know-
ing that some day he should need them
for a book or for a lecture.
HE indexed his long row of manu-
script volumes carefully. From them
he drew the material of his addresses
and the addresses in turn served as
material for the finished essays Singu-
larly interesting are the first prose
drafts Of some of his famous poems,
like Each and ALL The Two Rivers
and Days But whether the first
sketches were prose or verse, medita-
tions upon human life or analyses of
himself, they all went into the savings
bank as reserve capital for the hour
Of need"
The arranger of these selections
truly says there is a certain fresh
ness and charm in these original jot-
tings that is sometimes lost in the
smoothly finished paragraphs of the
published essays. In literary
quality, then. and still more in auto
biographical interest. the present vol
ume Is believed to challenge compari-
son with any book that Emerson pub
lished in his lifetime"