Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-11

Ralph Waldo Emerson, America s
great sage, who wrote for all time,
not Just for a day, sketched a por-
trait Of Charles A. Lindbergh, in his
essay on "Heroism."
Long, long ago, Emerson set down
his ideas Of what hero should be;
and let us today, while the heroic
Lindbergh is a guest Of the National
Capital, pause long enough to trace
out the relationship.
The very bit of strange Emersonian
verse at the head of this essay pic
lures the flyer breatsing the hail
storm:
RUBY wine is drunk by knaves;
Sugar spends to fatten slaves;
Rose and vine-leaf deck buffoons:
Thunderclouds are Jove's festoons,
Dropping oft in wreaths of dread
Lightning knotted round his head;
The hero is not fed on sweets,
Daily his own heart he eats;
Chambers of the great are jails,
And head-winds right for royal sails. "
See how we'll Emerson understood
the welcome awaiting a heroic deed
and its doer:
When any Rodrigo, Pedro or Va
lerio enters, though he is . stranger,
the duke or governor exclaims, This
is gentleman" and proffers civilities
without end, but all the rest are Stag
and refuse.
So Paris took Lindbergh to its
heart, after his fight through the
clouds, flying with the head-winds fit
for the royal sail'' of his monoplane.
X y X X
Emerson pictures Lindbergh, self
reliant, sure Of himself, daring, in
telligent, brave, yet modest, in the
following:
Our culture must not omit the
arming Of the man.
Let him hear in season, that he is
born into the state Of war, and that
the commonwealth and his own we'll
being require that he should not go
dancing in the weeds of peace: but
warned, self-collected, and neither
defying nor dreading the thunder, let
him take both reputation and life in
his hand, and, with perfect urbanity,
dare the gibbet and the mob by the
absolute truth Of his speech and the
rectitude Of his behavior"
Measured by the Emersonian yard.
stick, Col. Charles A. Lindbergh is
every inch a hero. He did not Ego
dancing in the weeds Of peace; in
stead, self-collected, land neither defy
ing nor dreading the thunder" Of the
Atlantic, he did, indeed. take both
his reputation and life in his hand"
and with perfect urbanity set sail for
France: and, once there, by the alb
solute truth of his speech and the
rectitude of his behavior, win the
admiration Of the world.
While others sat around discussing
the trip, Lindbergh few from Cali
fornia to New York. He, too, heard
the discussion of the dangers. But
does he quail?
Says Emerson:
Towards all this external evil the
man within the breast assumes war
like attitude, and affirms his ability
to cope single-handed with the in.
finite army of enemies"
Why. it Is almost as If the tall, wise
Emerson, who loved real men, saw,
in his minds eye, the tall Lindbergh
standing by the side Of his plane,
ready to hop-off.
ITO this military attitude Of the
soul we give the name Of Heroism, "
he continues. "Its rudest form is the
contempt for safety and ease, which
makes the attractiveness Of war.
"It is self trust which sights the
restraints of prudence, in the plenti
tude Of its energy and power to repair
the harms it may suffer.
And the following-how like Lind
bergh:
"The hero Is a mind of such bal
ance that no disturbances can shake