From collection Creating Acadia National Park: The George B. Dorr Research Archive of Ronald H. Epp

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Harvard University-Emerson Hall and Centennial (1903)
Harvard, University:
Emerson Hall and CentEnnial(1903)
Josiah Royce to George B. Dorr
(x)
deportat
GBD
credit to
Committee
Cambridge
October 23, 1898.
VISITING
Dear Dorr,
Whenever you can find any time to look into our
philosophy work, you are sure, so far as I am concerned,
not only to be welcome, but to do good by your sugges-
tions. I know nobody, other than yourself, whose
sympathy and whose criticism I should equally value
as I should yours. On the other hand, I know how
busy you are, and what a call upon your time such
work involves; and I do not wonder that you ask help.
As to the "young graduates" of whom you speak, those
who are at all seriously philosophical are in pro-
fessional positions mostly elsewhere, as clergymen,
or as teachers of philosophy. of accessible people
who have not been tried in my time as visitors, I
National
think first of Dr. Richard C. Cabot, who is nearby,
Green
then of Edwin D. Mead of Boston, Rev. Francis Tiffany
of Cambridge (not a very profound, but a practical sort
of man, with an interest in philosophy), Frank Sanborn
of Concord, -- all men who would be, at least, interested
in the subject. I cannot answer for the way in which
(October 23, 1898)
2.
my colleagues would welcome any such visitors. Palmer,
who has just been reappointed Chairman of the Division
Royce
jud
of Philosophy (my term of four years having been served)
4year
Chair
of
&
always makes very light of any visitors, and rather drives
them off. James does not care a copper. Munsterberg is
his Palmar
new to the business, and probably would care little. I
myself should always feel in duty bound to explain my
courses and methods so far as visitors might choose to
want to know about them, and should both welcome visit-
ation and value a report to the Overseers, it ever I
Averseers
came to learn what it was. Apart from a rather time-
consuming study of our work, I suppose that a committee
would never be able to say much about us.
And so I can only suggest that you get in (to
help out) some of the men mentioned, but, above all,
that if you give me your own presence again for awhile
this winter, I will try to give you material for a
report. R. C. Cabot is taking some work as a graduate
R.C.calet
here; but is all the more able to act as examiner, since
he now knows the ropes. He is a young man of mark, and
of a very cool head, although perhaps a little too close
to me, whom he kindly follows a good deal of late, to
be as critical as he ought to be.
(October 23, 1898)
3.
It was a great pity to be unable to accept your
kind wishes, and your Mother's, this summer, and come
to see you.
But duty demands me here, and even now
I have no time to do more than breathe and work, and
sleep between times. My warm love and greetings to
your dear Mother.
Yours very truly,
Josish Royce.
13
147
1903
rentures and make singular art collections. By mar-
The Unitarians and other liberals in religion, the Jews,
ge he became connected with several of the older
and other persons in the middle and western states are
nilies of Boston, and in this quaint house were portraits
arranging for local meetings in their regions; but how far
descendants of the two Govs. Dudley, and old furniture
this will extend is not yet decided.
ich happily escaped the flames the other day.
The mill and its wooded stream, the Artichoke, was not
(338) Feb. 5, 1903. REVIVAL OF THE CONCORD
ly a haunt of artists, as you said, but of poets and sages
SCHOOL FOR THREE WEEKS TO HONOR EMERSON.
ring the transcendentalist period, whither Emerson and
rgaret Fuller, Whittier and Caroline Sturgis Ellery
A committee has been formed to re-establish the Con-
anning and his cousin and brother-in-law, Wentworth
cord school of philosophy for three weeks in July and
gginson, often resorted. In the miller's parlor, by a
August, after the educational sessions are over, and this
od fire, members of this group held their intimate
committee is now mailing out a list of lectures, for the
irees, and on the mill pond was always good boating for
mornings at Concord and the evenings at Boston. The
ets and lovers. One of these, in this dual capacity, thus
committee are Edwin D. Mead, chairman, D. G. Haskins,
scribed the moonlight landscape:--
secretary, J. C. Haynes, Moorfield Storey, G. W. Cooke,
R. Thayer of Cambridge, and F. B. Sanborn; and the
The stream is well alive;
purpose of the school will be to do justice to Emerson's
Another passive world you see,
genius and character in 30 lectures by as many well-known
Where downward grows the form/ of every tree:
speakers. Who these will be is not yet made known.
Like soft light clouds they thrive;
Like them let us in our pure loves reflected be!
(339) Feb. 26, 1903. THE EMERSON SOCIETY--
PICTURES OF EMERSON.
We smoothly glide below
The faintly glimmering worlds of light:
The Emerson society of Boston, of which Mr. Malloy is
Day has a charm, and this deceptive Night
president, held its last winter meeting yesterday, and
Brings a mysterious show;
voted to join with the Free Religious association in keep-
He shadows our dear Earth, --but his cool stars are
ing the centenary of Emerson's birth, May 25th, in Boston.
white
Several of its members have been invited to give lectures
in the proposed reopening of the Concord school of philosophy
is a passage that can only be compared with Homer's
next July, at Concord and Boston. A word should be said
mous picture of night/ in the Grecian camp around Troy,
about the shocking caricatures of Emerson in the Booklover's
d Shakespeare's moonlight scene with Lorenzo and
magazine for February; scarcely one of the portraits being
ssica. And the comfort of it is that no fire can destroy
well engraved. The sketch of the Emerson study by Miss
e water and the woods, which make up the picture; while
Roberts comes out better and the facsimilies of letters are
e house on the knoll where the rivers meet, is to be re-
well given and are interesting. The articles are of various
lilt in spring, on the old lines, and beside the ancient
degrees of merit, and not free from mistakes. Mr. Good-
arden and orchard. The fire occurred at midday, and
speed of Park street, who is just announcing the small edi-
e more valuable belongings were saved and carried to a
tion of a new book, "The Personality of Emerson," will
rick house on the same estate, a little nearer the city;
there give a good engraving of one of the best portraits.
hile Miss Curzon and her niece are guests in a friend's
He has also become the publisher of Ellery Channing's
illa near by
"Poems of Sixty-five Years," issued last summer by
Bentley of Philadelphia, and has reduced the price of the
(337) Jan. 29, 1903. PLANS FOR THE EMERSON CEN-
beautiful volume to $2.50 Libraries which desire it
'ENARY.
should buy at once, as only about 140 copies remain for
sale.
The plans for celebrating the Emerson centenary grad-
ally take shape, and are nearly complete so far as Con-
(340) Mar. 12, 1903. ACTIVITIES CONCERNING THE
ord and the liberal religionists are concerned. The pastor
EMERSON CENTENNIAL.
f the old parish of Concord, Mr. Macdonald, will give an
ddress, in the church of Emerson's ancestors, on Sunday,
The proposed revival of the Concord school of philosophy,
he 24th of May, and the Unitarian body on the same even-
in 30 lectures, half given at Concord in the mornings of
ng will gather a great audience in Symphony hall, Boston,
July, and half at Boston in the evenings of the same days,
0 hear an address by President Eliot of Harvard. On Mon-
has been positively assured by the acceptance of 20 lec-
ay, the actual anniversary, there will be a series of meet-
turers out of 30, and the subscription of a guarantee fund
ngs in Concord, at which Senator Hoar, his classmate,
of $1500. Among the lecturers will be Mrs. Howe (it is
'rof. Norton, and Col. Higginson will speak, and the
hoped), Dr. Harris of Washington, Rev. S. A. Eliot, son
:hildren of the town will take part. Boston will also have
of President Eliot, Charles Malloy, F. B. Sanborn (on
neetings that day (the 25th of May) and the Free Religious
"Emerson and the Concord school of philosophy"), Rev.
society, of which Emerson was a member, will hold a
J. W. Chadwick, etc. The course will continue three weeks
neeting either Monday or Tuesday. Subsequently, and
and will take up almost every aspect of Emerson's compre-
luring the educational sessions in Boston in July, some
hensive character and versatile activity. John Albee is
notice will be taken of the anniversary; and Miss Farmer,
revising his little book, "A Remembrance of Emerson,"
it Greenacre, proposes an Emerson week in July or August.
for publication before the school assembles, and Houghton
Can built -
april 2, 1903
Auxi gri Dosc
7 han wanted & referty
to your toyful letter until
7 could bam from Program
the details of
fund meeting. The problect
makes me my happy in and.
we can handly now fail
of laying the stom on
Emergend birth day, / but
I hope we shall also
obtain item fall $ 2 50 050
originally In around
Ins Kindell asked of
the made has statement him
now whether the
might be defensed. V let
her J did not suffich the
money would be muched
until next year.
information
FROM
EDWARD E. HALE
39 HIGHLAND Sr.
ROXSURY. MASS.
April 8,
1903
near Mr. Dorr:-
I had really meant to relieve
you of the annoyance of writing.
I have gone over two or three lists of
the people who help the world forward, and
I think it might be well to address the
gentlemen and ladies who are included.
Kidder who was one of the public spiri-
ted people told me once that in England, a
tenth part of the rich people subscribed
their fair share to public enterprises;
that a tenth part gave to them occasionally,
and that eight-tenths of the rich people
never did anything about the public service
which they could help.
I am still hoping that your grandfath-
er's Log or Journal will turn up.
Always yours,
Elward E Rale
17 Luiney Sr.
10 May'o3
Dear Mr. Dor:
I shall report to
the Corporation tomorrow that
the Emerson Hall subscription
is sure to he completed and
that it is for them To fix the
site, essage the architech, and
go ahead .
Please tell me what you have
in hand as evidence of that
rsee York anonymous $ 10,000.
I are glad the committee
Hel
Emerson and Harvard College.
New York Times (1857-Current file); May 23, 1903; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 2002)
pg. BR18
1903
Emerson and Harvard College.
Emerson's Phi Beta Kappa address on
The American Scholar," delivered at Har-
vard in 1837, gave such serious offense to
the college that it was not until 186C that
sentiment had changed sufficiently to allow
his being given the degree of LL. D. To-
day Harvard cannot do enough in honoring
Emerson, The new building for the philo-
sophical department, the cornerstone of
which will be luid on May 25, the Emerson
centenary, Is to be an imposing memorial
to him. and will be called Emerson Hall.
A series of memorial lectures is being given
at the university as follows: .. Emerson us
is Philosopher," by Prof. Hugo Münster-
berg: Emerson as n Poet," by Prof.
George Santayana; of Emerson as an Amer-
lean." by D. S. Miller, and a reading from
Emerson by Charles Copeland. Prof. Muns-
terberg recently stated that the most ad-
vunced philosophy to-day was entirely in
accord :vith Emerson, and that Harvard
should take pride In Inscribing his name
over the doorway of her hall of philosophy
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
EMERSON HALL ASSURED.
Special to The New York Times.
New York Times (1857-Current file); May 19, 1903; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 2001)
pg. 1
EMERSON HALL ASSURED.
Announcement Made at Cambridge That
the Necessary $150,000 Has Been
- Subscribed.
Special to The New York Times.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 18.-Prof.
Hugo Munstolburg of Harvard, in a lecture
on "Emerson the Philosopher to-night,
made the important announcement that
the necessary $150,000 for the new Emerson
Hall of Philosophy had this day been se-
cured, and that the erection of the edifice,
which depended upon the raising of that
sum before Emerson's birthday, way now
assured.
Prof. Munstoiburg's lecture was the first
of a series of Emersonian lectures and
memorial services, which will continue at
Harvard during the coming week. and was
heard by an audience which picked the
immense new lecture. room to the galleriés.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
EMERSON HALL ASSURED.
Special to The New York Times.
New York Times (1857-Current file); May 19, 1903; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2001)
pg. 1
EMERSON HALL ASSURED.
Announcement Made at Cambridge That
the Necessary $150,000 Has Been
- Subscribed.
Special to The New York Times.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 18.-Prof.
Hugo Munstolburg of Harvard, in a lecture
on "Emerson the Philosopher to-night,
made the important . announcement that
the necessary $150,000 for the new Emerson
Hall of Philosophy had this day been se-
cured, and that the erection of the edifice,
which depended upon the raising of that
sum before Emerson's birthday, was now
assured.
Prof. Munstolburg's lecture was the first
of a series of Emersonian lectures and
memorial services, which will continue at
Harvard during the coming week. and was
heard by an audience which picked the
immense new lecture. room to the galleriés.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
THE EMERSON HALL FUND.
Special to The New York Times.
New York Times (1857-Current file); May 22, 1903; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2001)
pg.8
THE EMERSON HALL FUND.
Specia: to The New York Times.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 21.-Formal
announcement was made at Harvard to-day.
that through a number of gifts, amounting
in all to $5,000, Emerson Hall, the new Hall
of Philosophy, is now assured. One thou-
sand dollars of this amount was given by
Miss Alice Longfellow, daughter of Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, the poet, and $500
by Mrs. Bayard Thayer, The total amount
now subscribed is $150,205. and, Inasmuch as
the condition that $150,000 should be ralsed
before Emerson's birthday has now been
removed, the building will be started soon.
The site for the hall has been chosen just
back of Sever Hall, facing Robinson Hall,
the new architectural building.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
nether this work can
In the mix-up but had mounted Daven-
Excursions (1) variou
saful conclusion by a
port's wheel and finished the ruce.
in and about Boston
posed of Colombians
visitors during this,
8
povided In the treaty
LETTER ABOUT EMERSON HALL
stay of the Association
by our Congress, and
geons of the United
cation by the Colom-
At 7.45 o'clock this mc
It Is Being Sent Out by Those in Charge
took forty of the memb
M the Isthmus are few
of Fund for Harvard's Proposed Memorial
quarters at the Hote
buildings that make
Wharf, where the
Building
anuma and Colon, as
department steamer.
structures along the
carried them down the }
A general letter just sent out to persons
of wood. Very few
eral Adna R. Chaffee,
believed to be Interested in the project of
ve been built in the
tour of Inspection, acco
building a new hall of philosophy at Har-
₫ almost none In the
which, with the latter,
vard as a memorial to Ralph Waldo Emer-
ney are largely in a
ren and Foru Strong. A
son reads as follows:
idds very much to
taken out beyond the B
The visiting committee of the alumni in
ion to be worked out
to the city about noon.
charge of raising funds for a memorial hall
problem will have to
to Emerson at Harvard University desire
At twelve o'clock a
point of vlow of the
to lay that project before all who value
had elected to visit Ply
takes on the activity
Emerson and all Harvard men, that all
to the historic town b:
may have an opportunity to manifest their
fuction, with the vast
were met by member:
Interest by contributions, large or small.
lon, largely of a class
Guards and were escort
As a memorial to Emerson, this building,
know nor care any-
devoted to philosophic and philanthropic
none of the points of
All in all the prob-
teaching at the university where Emerson
being missed in the pili
Timself was successively student, lecturer
:e Isthmus of Panama
For those who had ex
and overseer. and taught in by men like
ormed men as greater
Professors James, Royce, Palmer, Minster-
visit old Boston a trip
hen the French com-
berg, Peabody and Santayana, seems singu-
foot was taken this aft
because of the fact
larly fitting. The hall itself is greatly
of about fifteen under th
needed at the university. For the further
f worl built there at
tain Myles Standish, w)
development of the rapidly growing philos-
old, with the attend-
ophic work, it 1s Indeed essential. The
man of the local comi
philosophical department has the greatest
ments during the conve.
rely possible by some
number of graduate students of any depart-
Burial Ground and Ch
ment or the university. Its courses are yo
at Major Black's re-
seen, and then a car wa
well appreciated by undergraduates that
nature as to effectu-
Charles River to Charles
average student now takes an entire
Panama Canal pro-
year or philosophy during 1118 college course.
er HIII Monument wa:
hat that report may
A
building devoted to one department gives
which no trip about Ro
to that department dignity. unity and em-
sum of money for the
1.9 complete. The aftern-
phasis. Nearly $150,000 has now been sub-
of the canal and the
inspection of the Navy
scribed for this hall, but more 19 needed to
Colon, and there are
give the memorial permanence and distinc-
rally possessed peculiar
sthmus well who de-
tion and to make the hall sufficient for the
ficers, especially to those
university's needs.
connected with the nav
be surprised if the
Contributions or pledges of subscription
ctically to the effect
may be sent to the treasurer of the com-
litation will make the
mittee, Richard H. Dana, or to any other
DISORDERLY CHU
mus very much bet-
member of the committee for forwarding to
him. Committee, George B. Dorr. chair-
hen the French com-
man, 18 Commonwealti avenue Boston;
Business Suspended
there. In that event
Richard H. Dana, treasurer, 905 Exchange
Episcopaliunm Pray
about the prosecution
Building, Boeton; Richard C. Cabot, 190
ing
y If the reports that
Marlboro street, Boston: Joseph Lee. 103
to the effect that the
Mt. Vernon street, Boston; Reginald C.
Chicago, May 20-Deb
Robbins, 44 Commonwealth avenue, Bos-
and violent that busine
will amend the treaty
ton: Thomas W. Ward, 15 Wall street, New
1,000 Instead of $10,-
while prayer was invoked
York.
'olombia in the trans-
of peace and good. will, I
The contributions so far received by the
the canal from the
terday's session of the
committee may be listed as follows:
Council of the Reformed
United States Gov-
Previously acknowledged
$147,260.00
further advices to be
Goorge A. Gordon
50.00
of America. Though to
Elizabeth C. Jenkins
5.00
delegates prayed earnest
Miss
Petersham
15.00
lea that has prevailed
Grace G. Cowing
10.00
ance, they renewed their
n the effect that the
Annie L. Sears
25.00
as "Amen" had been h
S indifferent to the
Mary P. Sears
23.00
the wishes of Bishop S
Anna S. Tapley
50.00
immus while there is
Charlotte A. Heige
25.00
two points. Both Bish
F. HX, Hedge
$1,00
confidence is ex-
Bishop ('heney begged t)
Mr. and Mrs. A. 8. Hill
100.00
hibit more decorum and.
ernment could doubt-
Milton Reed
25.00)
S done by the French
Charles W. Stone
21)(N)
peal by the former. sor
Frederick F
100.00
mas T : was di
661134 were (110
5170 was memorial permanence and
tion and to make the hall sufficient for the
ficers, especially in the
isthmus well who de-
university's needs.
connected with the n
be surprised If the
Contributions or pledges of subscription
actically to the effect
may be sent to the treasurer of the com-
mittee, Richard H. Dana, or to any other
DISORDERLY CH
initation will make the
hmus very much bet-
member of the committee for forwarding to
him. Committee, George B. Dorr, chair-
when the French com-
man. 18 Common Wealth avenue, Boaton:
Business Suspende
there. In that event
Richard H. Dana, treasurer, 905 Exchange
Episcopalians Pra
about the prosecution
Building, Boston; Richard C. Cabot, 100
ing
If the reports that
Marlboro street, Boston: Joseph Lee, 196
Mt. Vernon street, Boston; Reginald C.
Chicago, May 2211
to the effect that the
Robbins, 44 Commonwealth avenue, Bos-
and violent that busi
will amend the treaty
ton; Thomas W. Ward, 15 Wall street, New
while prayer was invok
0.000 instead of $10,-
York.
of peace and good will
Colombia in the trans-
The contributions so far received by the
terday's session of th
the canal from the
committee may be listed as follows:
Council of the Reform
he United States Gov-
Previously acknowledged
$147,200.00
50.00
of America. Though
further advices to be
George A. Gordon
Elizabeth C. Jenkins
5.00
delegates prayed earne
Miss
Petersham
15.00
ance, they renewed the!
dea that has prevailed
Grace G. Cowing
10.00
in the effect that the
Annie I. Sears
25.00
as "Amen" had been
Mary P. Sears
23.00
the wishes of Bishop
IS indifferent to the
Anna S. Tapley
50.00
hmus while there is
25.00
two points. Both B1
Charlotte A. Hedge
F. H. Hedge
25.00
Bishop Cheney begged
confidence is ex-
Mr. and Mrs. A. S. HIIII
100.00
hibit more decorum and
ernment could doubt-
Milton Reed
25.00
done by the French
Charles W. Stone
21) 00
peal by the former, S
Frederick F. Ayer
100.00
was restored. It was
tion. vet it is pointed
John P. Lyons
5 00
of money was spent
Emersonians of Englewood. N.
J.
element 100 by the you
(through Mrs. S. A. Duncan)
10 00
termined 10 prevail in tr.
by that company to
Middletown. Conn
10.00
tion of a missionary b1
itions. Their hospital
Charles F. Hinckle
10.0
A. A. Vaughan
15.00
ruled the council, igno
ced by everyone who
3 as beyond criticism.
S. W. Podman
20.00
Bishops Fallows and Ct
actically without limit
Thomas Dawes
20.00
eran members. The e
William Ladd Ropes
50)
satisfactory buildings
Thomas W. Higginson
5.00
postponed until after a
Frederic Palmer
5.00
its the best treatment
H. S. Hoffman of Phila
This treatment was
McDonald McFayden
5.00
25.00
missionary bishop of th
Elizabeth R. Simmons
borer from the West
Mrs. George S. Hale
13.00
1ca.
nbians without stint.
Edward B. Lane
50)
of workmen the doc-
Joseph Howland Hunt
25.00
Bishop-elect Hoffman
W..." Brookline
5.00
Rt. Rev. William Lawrence
25.00
N. C., sixty-one years
utar of men. and next
George Putnam
I(M).IM
in the ministry since 1)
two or three years of
C. E. Guild, Jr
15.00
came a member of the
of money, the laborer
John H. Rhoades
10.00
me spent in the com-
George Walton Green
10.00
Church. He built the
e most pleasant pros-
Mrs. G. S. Curtis
15.00
Philadelphia and in re
Alice M. Longfellow
1,000.00
voted all his time to hon
3176. Bayard Thayer
500.00
lendid hospital service
200.00
The council pledged $300
John J Chapman
Mrs. G. H. Sha
250.00
often criticised as too
23.00
npany undertook and
Mary H. Lyons
Frances R. Morse
23.00
town in a swamp
Mrs. Glendower Evans
23.01
CHURCH FUNDS AT
headquarters for its
Josephine Lazarus
25.(H)
In memoriam
25.00
Raptists at Buffalo
n was a short distance
Dr. and Mrs. H. I. Chase
5.04
Rate on
to known as Cristobal
5.00
L. Sprague
ng avenues of gravel
Mrs. James T. Fields
23.00
Buffato, N. Y., May
gutters of artificiti
$150,203.00
Baptist Mission Society
th alm trees set out
the report of the come
houses were of the
An Old River Boatman
rate of interest on ine (
found in any suburban
Captain Lester L. Luey, died at Greenfield
five per cent. Among
in which the well-to-
Wednesday afternoon at the age of 81. He
Rev. A. C. Dixon of Bo:
This city, reclaimed
was one of the few connecting links between
Evangellsm." He said
the result or an effort
the past and the present of the town; be-
day was that pastoral
any to provide for its
tween the methods of transportation and
evangelism and profe:
healthful conditions
business that obtained years ago and to-
should work together. L
day. His title of captain came from his
out into the open air dur
service as commander of the boats running
said. and into the secu
RD CO., Auctioneers
on the Connection River in the day$ of
Aurinir the winter A
field Street
Emerson and Harvard College.
New York Times (1857-Current file); May 23, 1903; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 2001)
pg. BR18
Emerson and Harvard College.
Emerson's Phi Beta Kappa address on
" The American Scholar," delivered at Har-
vard in 1837, gave such serious offense to
the college that it was not until 186C that
sentiment had changed sufficiently to allow
his being given the degree of LL. D. To-
day Harvard cannot do enough in honoring
Emerson. The new building for the philo-
sophical department, the cornerstone of
which will be laid on May 25, the Emerson
certenary, is to be an imposing memorial
to him, and will be called Emerson Hall.
A series of memorial lectures is being given
at the university as follows: .. Emerson us
is Philosopher," by Prof. Hugo Münster-
berg: .. Emerson as a Poet," by Prof.
George Santayana; .. Emerson as an Amer-
lean." by D. S. Miller, and a reading from
Emerson by Charles Copeland. Prof. Muns-
terberg recently stated that the most ud-
vanced philosophy 10-day was entirely in
accord with Emerson, and that Harvard
should take pride In Inscribing his name
over the doorway of her hall of philosophy.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
PRESIDENT ELIOT'S ESTIMATE OF EMERSON
New York Times (1857-Current file); May 25, 1903; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times
pg.
PRESIDENT ELIOT'S
of
When come to his interpretation of
ESTIMATE OF EMERSON
historical Christianity we find that In his
view the life and works of Jesus fell en-
tirely within the Hold of human experience
He sees in the delfication of Jesus an evi-
dence of lack of faith in the infinitude of
the individual human soul. He sees
in
Says His Thought Outran His
every gleam of human virtue not only the
presence of God, but some atom of his nat-
Times by Generation or Two.
ure.
Religious truth, like all other truth,
was to his thought an unrolling picture.
not a deposit made once for all in some
Emerson's Prophetic Teaching with Re-
sacred vessel. When people whip were
sure they had drained that vessel )and as-
gard to Education, Social Condi-
similated its contents attacked him, he
was irresponsive or impassive, and yielded
tions, and Religion.
to them no juicy thought: so they pro-
nounced him dry or empty, Yelt all of
Emerson's religious teaching led straight to
God-no to a withdrawn creator or an-
BOSTON, May 24.-An address by Presi-
thropomorphic Judge or King, but to the
dent Charles W. Ellot of Harvard was a
all-informing all-austaining soul of the
feature of the Ralph W. Emerson birthday
universe,
The present generation of schplars and
centennial exercises of the American Uni-
ministers has been passing through an im-
tarian Association, held to-day in Sym-
portant crisis in regard to the sacred books
phony Hall. President Eliot, in the course
of Judaism and Christianity All the feat-
ures of the contest over the higher criti-
of his remarks, said:
cism are foretold by Emerson in The
Emerson has been dead twenty-one
American Scholar. The poet chanting
years, and it is thirty since he wrote any-
was felt to be & divine man; henceforth the
chant is divine also. The writer was a
thing new, but his whole philosophy of life
just and wise spirit: henceforward it is
was developed by the time he was forty
settled the book is perfect. Colleges. are
years old, and it may be doubted if he
built on it; books are written on
Instantly the book becomes noprious; the
wrote anything after 1848 the germinal ex-
guide is a tyrant. This is exactly what
pression of which may not be found in his
has happened to Protestantism, which sub-
journals, sermons, or lectures written be-
stituted for infallible Pope and Church an
infallible book; and this is precisely the
fore that date. If, therefore, we find in
evil from which modern scholanship is de-
the accepted thought or established insti-
livering the world."
tutions of to-day recent developments of
Emerson Commemoration Dinner.
principles and maxims laid down by Emer-
Among the exhibits at the Emerson loan
son, we may fairly say that his thought
outran his times certainly by one, and
exhibition, to precede the Emerson dinner
probably by two, generations of men.
at the Waldori-Astoria to-night, are a
take up now the prophetic teachings
crayon portrait of Emerson drawn from life
of Emerson with regard to education. In
by Eastman Johnson, forwarded by Miss
the first place, he saw with a clearness to
Longfellow, daughter of Henry W. Long-
which very few people have yet attained,
fellow, and an oil portrait of Emerson
the fundamental necessity of the school
loaned by William C. Whitney. Altogether
as the best civilizing agency after steady
over 200 items appear in the catalogue of
the exhibition. Israel Zangwill. Hall Caine,
labor, and the only sure means of perma-
and several Presidents of American univer-
neat and progressive reform.
sities have sent autograph estimates of
"He taught that if we hope to reform
Emerson's work. The speakers to-night
will be Col. Henry Watterson, President
mankind we must begin not with adults
Schurman of Cornell. William T. Harris.
but with children; we must begin at school.
United States Commissioner of Education;
There are some signs that this doctrine has
Samuel J. Barrows, and Chancellor Mac-
Cracken of New York University. Edwin
now at last entered the minds of the so-
Markham will read a poem. Tickets for
called practical men. The Cubana are to
the commemoration can be obtained until
be raised in the scale of civilization and
noon from G. G. Dawe, 128 Broadway; tele-
phone, 970 Eighteenth Street.
public happiness; so both they and we
think they must have more and better
IN THE SHOPS.
schools. The Filipinos, too, are to be de-
veloped after the American fashion; so we
Those nice little West Indian water cool-
send them 1,000 teachers of English. The
Southern States are to be rescued from the
ers-and the biggest are not very little
persistent poison of slavery, and, after
in which people have been so much inter-
forty years of failure with political .neth-
ested, come in varying sizes and cost ac-
ods, we at last accept Emerson's doctrine
cording to size from small ones at 25 cents,
and say: We must begin earlier-at
school. The city slums are to be re-
up to 40, 50 and 65 cents.
deemed. and the scientific charity workers
find the best way is to \get the children
There are big wine bottles which are
into kindergartens and manual training
schools,
prettier though they have not the useful
Since the civil war a whole generation
qualities of the coolers. They can be used
of educational administrators has been
in any way in which a carate is used. They
steadlly at work developing what is called
the elective system in the institutions of
are large and round at the bottom, taper
education which deal with the ages above
in quickly to a small neck which rises high
twelve. Now. Emerson laid down in plain
above the bottle and on one side is a
terms the fundamental doctrines on which
peculiar nose, large where it joins the bot-
this elective system rests. He thought that
the one prudence in life is concentration;
tle and small at the spout. The working-
man takes his wine from these bottles and
the one evil dissipation. He said: You
he uses them cleverly holding them high
must elect your work: you shall take what
above his head and pouring the liquid
your brain can. and drop all the rest.
down his throat without touching his
Education used to be given almost ex-
mouth to the bottle or bringing it near his
clusively through books. In recent years
lips. The glass is of a light blue and the
there has come in another sort of education
bottles cost 75 cents each.
through tools, machines, gardens. draw-
ings, casts, and pictures. Manual training,
shopwork. sloyd and gardening have come
Saffron is a cooking ingrediant that the
into use for the school ages; the teaching
average cook knows little about It is
of trades has been admitted to some public
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
school systems; and, in general, the use of
used chiefly in this country for coloring
the hands and eyes in productive labor has
been recognized as having good educational
confectionery, with the exception of Span-
effects. The education of men by manual
ish restaurants where nearly every dish
labor was a favorite doctrine with Emerson.
is tinged with saffron and flavored with
He saw clearly that manual labor might be
it It is to he found at the shops where
made to develop not only good mental quali-
different imported delicaoles are to be had
ties, but good moral qualities.
and costs what seems a fabulous amount,
SOCIAL CONDITIONS.
75 cents an ounce. It is light, feathery
stuff and looks like a delicate of a
turn next to some examples of Emer-
dark red or burnt orange color. It is made
son's anticipation of social conditions, visi-
of the stigmas of the flowers of the saffron
plant. It takes 4,000 blossoms to make
ble to him as seer in his own day, and since
an ounce and there is reason for its being
become plain to the sight of the ordinary
expensive. It requires but a very small
millions. When he accumulated in his jour-
pinch to season a dish. The Spanish use
It with rice.
nals the original materials of his essay (?)
on Worship there were no large cities
They offer a special kind of rice at the
in the United States in the present sense
shop where the saffron. is gold. There/are
of that term. The great experiment of
other kinds, but the best, they say, is from
democracy was not far advanced, and had
India. It is in long grains and does not
not developed many of its sins and dangers;
break in cooking. It costs 8 cents a pound.
yet how justly he presented them in the
following description: In our large cities
the population is godless, materialized-no
Spanish peppers, pimentos-which are
bond, no fellow-feeling, no enthusiasm.
used not only in Spanish cooking,/br are
These are not men. but hungers. thirsts,
fevers, and appetites walking. How is it
so delicious with mushrooms and in many
people manage to live on. BO aimless as
other diahes-can be bought by the can;
they are? There is faith in chem-
pimentos marrons, 10 gents for a half
istry, in meat and wine, in wealth, in ma-
pound and 15 cents for a full pound.
chinery, in the steam engine, galvanic bat-
tery, turbine wheels, sewing machines, and
in public opinion. but not in divine causes.
There is a queer kind of Spanish bean.
'In Emerson's day luxury in the present
habas, which is said to be very good. It
sense had hardly been developed In our
costs only 5 cents a pound and is worth an
country; but he foresaw its coming, and its
experiment. The beans are dried and must
insidious destructiveness. We spend
our
be soaked.
incomes for paint and paper, for a hundred
trifles, I know not what, and not for the
things of a man. Our expense is almost all
Bo must the Spanish dried peas, which
for conformity. It is for cake that we run
cost 6 cents a pound for the small and 16
in debt; it is not the intellect, not the heart;
cents for the large sizes.
not beauty, not worship, that costs us BO
much. Why needs any man be rich? Why
must he have horses, fine garments, hand-
Sugared almonds, prepared in Spain, al-
some apartments, access to public houses
mandras Garrapinadas, cost 55 cents a
and places of amusement? Only for want
loose pound.
of thought. We are first thought-
less, and then find that we are moneyless,
We are first sensual and then must be rich.
Turron alcanta is a Spanish nugat put
He foresaw the young man's state of mind
up in pound packages.
to-day about marriage-Imust have money
before I can marry; and deals with It thus:
Give us wealth and the home shall exist.
Gragea is a fine little confection, tiny,
But that is a very imperfect and inglorious
round things in colors, which are sup-
solution of the problem, and therefore no
solution. Give us wealth! You ask too
posed to be used for ornamenting cakes.
much. Few have wealth: but all must have
It costs 50 cents a pound, but a pound
a home. Men are not born rich; in getting
would be enough to dress cakes for an
wealth the man is generally sacrificed, and
asylum full of children.
often is sacrificed without acquiring wealth
at last.'
It is interesting, at the stage of indus-
Spanish oil, a strong, pure olive oil,
trial warefare which the world has now
comes in small, square gallon cans and
reached, to observe how Emerson; sixty
costs $1.30.
years ago, discerned clearly the absurdity
of paying all sorts of service at one rate,
Some of the Spanish preserves are de-
now a favorite notion with some labor
unions. He points out that even when all
licious, and nothing could be more at-
!abor is temporarily paid at one rate, dif-
tractive to look at For instance, preserved
ferences in possessions will instantly arise:
pineapple means that very small whole
In one hand the dime became an eagle
pineapples are put up in a rich, clear juice.
as it fell, and in another hand a copper
cent. For the whole value of the dime is
in knowing what to do with it.' Emerson
There are other preserves which are also
was never deceived by a. specious philan-
good and look nearly, if not quite, as appe-
thropy or by claims of equality which find
tizing. There are preserved oranges and
no support in the nature of things. He was
a true democrat, but still could say:
lemons, mangoes, guayaba, the fruit of
think I see place and duties for a noble-
the guava tree, which looks like pre-
man in every society, but it is not to drink
served peaches and has a flavor entirely
wine and ride in a fine coach, but to guide
its own. All are put up in glass jars, and
and adorn life for the multitude by fore-
sell, respectively, for 75 cents and $1.10 for
thought, by elegant studies, by persever-
two and three pound jars.
ance, self-devotion, and the remembrance
of the humble old friend-by making his
life secretly beautiful." How fine a picture
Spanish figs in juice, put up in tin cans,
of the democratic nobility is that!
cost 85 cents.
In his lecture on Man the Reformer,"
which was read before the Mechanics Ap-
prentices' Association in Boston in Janu-
A canned Spanish fish, which resembles
ary, 1841, Emerson described in the clearest
salmon and is treated in the same way. is
manner the approaching strife between
85 cents a can.
laborers and employers, between poor and
rich, and pointed out the cause of this strife
in the selfishness, unkindness, and mutual
Fruits to be cooked are the plantain,
distrust which ran through the community.
green or ripe, to be fried, boiled, and served
He also described with perfect precision the
whole or mashed, and are 50 cents a doren.
ultimate remedy, namely, the sentiment of
love. Love would put a new face on this
There are yams, green or ripe, and ma-
weary old world in which we dwell as
langa, a farinacious root which is much
pagans and enemies too long.
The
used in Cuba.
virtue of this principle in human society
in application to great interests is obsolete
and forgotten. But one day all men will
be lovers, and every calamity will be dis-
solved in the universal sunshine."
It is more than aixty years since those
words were uttered; and in those years so-
ciety has had large experience of Industrial
and social strife, of its causes and conse-
quences, and of many attempts to remedy
or soften it; but all this experience only
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
goes to show that there is but one remedy
for these ills. It is to be found in kind-
ness, good-fellowship, and the affections.
In Emerson's words: . We must be lovers,
and at once the impossible becomes possi-
ble.' The world will wait long for this
remedy, but there is no other.
EMERSON'S RELIGION.
"I pass now to the last of the three
topics which time permits me to discuss-
Emerson's religion. In no field of thought
was Emerson more prophetic, more truly a
prophet of coming states of human opinion,
than in religion. In the first place, he
taught that religion is absolutely natural-
not supernatural, but natural.
He believed that révelation is natural
and continuous. and that in all ages proph-
ets, are born. Those souls 'out of time pro-
claim truth, which may be momentarily re-
celved with reverence, but is nevertheless
quickly dragged down into some savage in-
terpretation which by and by a new proph-
et will purge away. He believed that man
is guided by the same power that guides
beast and flower. - The selfsame power
that brought me here brought you.' he says
to beautiful Rhodora. For him worship is
the attitude of those . who see that:against
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Page 1 of 2
X
Emerson Centenary
MEMORIAL EXERCISES
IN THE MEETING HOUSE
OF THE FIRST PARISH
IN
CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS
ON
MONDAY AFTERNOON
MAY THE TWENTY-FIFTH
NINETEEN HUNDRED AND THREE
ONE HUNDRED YEARS
AFTER THE BIRTH OF
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
ARRANGED BY THE SOCIAL CIRCLE
A SOCIETY OF WHICH HE WAS A
MEMBER FOR FORTY.TWO YEARS
http://www.cla.sc.edu/engl/emerson/images/Centenary1b.jpg
11/17/2003
Ticket for Afternoon Exercises
Emerson Crutrutial
U" his ticket will admit the bearer to
the MEETING HOUSE OF THE FIRST
PARISH in Concord, on Monday, May
twenty-fifth, 1903, between two and
three a' 'clock in the afternoon At three
o2 clock the doors will be opened to all comers
http://www.cla.sc.edu/engl/emerson/images/Centenary3.jpg
11/17/2003
COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS
CHARLES FRANCE ADAMS
SOLOMON LINCOLN
TROMAS HAILEY ALDRICH
Join D. Love
JOHN L. HATES
WILLIAM C. LORING
RICHARD C. CARTE
FRANCE C. LOWELL
RICHARD H. DANA
Enwin D. MEAT
SAMUEL A. ELIOT
GEORGE H. MIFFLIN
WILLIAM ESTICITY
GEORGE R. Nurrer
W. CAMERON FOREST
Bus PERRY
HENRY L. Hindinion
Rounter TREAT PAINE
TROMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINGON
HENRY S. PATTCHETT
SAMIEL HOAR
Ezex R. THAYER
EDWARD ESERETT Half
WILLIAM R. TRAVER
Marcus P. KNOWLTON
ROBERT Winson
Joseph LEE
GEORGE WISCLESWORTH
ele
Page 1 of 1
ORDER OF EXERCISES
6. A SONG OF DESTINY
By Extendion
English is Ree J. 1
I MUSIC
Mail: is
Unite the direction 4 THOMAS W.
Far in you regions of light, where plan
wander the Spiriti been,
2 PRAYER
Breakfast on by of glacy, Bright and divis
Di Rev. Less B Missoused
when a misser hand wakes is from diane
Five from case like & like that is deeping as
Hearnn dwell.
3. INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS
Pain and as held spendi Missions, is 3
By Samuel Hora
over times
Chairman of the Meiding
And is 338 their eyes all gaing on is
and eternal?"
4. ADDRESS
Sing by the Concerns Capital A
By CHARLES Noticia
% ADDRESS
is ADDRESS
By Tuous WEITHCRIB
By Jona
http://www.cla.sc.edu/engl/emerson/images/Centenary1c.jpg
11/17/2003
8. ADDRESS
By GEORGE FRISHIE HOAR
9. SEVENTY-EIGHTH PSALM
Sung by the Congregation
to the cure of St. Martins
My tongue, by inspiration taught
Shall parables unfold 1
Dark oracles, but understood,
And owned for truths of old.
Let children learn the mighty deeds
Which God performed of old,
Which, in our younger years, we saw,
And which our fathers told.
Our lips shall tell them to our sons,
And they again to theirs }
That generations yet unborn
May teach them to their heirs.
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11/17/2003
Emerson Hall, Harvard
Page 1 of 2
,Inc.
The Rulph Waldo Emerson Society
Emerson Hall, Harvard
Emerson Society I Writings by Emerson | Writings about Emerson
|
I
Images of Emerson I Chronology I Emerson Ephemera
|
I
Related Sites I Home Page I Site Map I
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Emerson Hall, Harvard
Page 2 of 2
Created 15 April 2003 by Mila Tasseva for The Ralph Waldo Emerson Society.
Webmaster: Joel Myerson. This site is supported through the generosity of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society and the English
department of the University of South Carolina. Unless otherwise stated, images are from the Joel Myerson Collection of Nineteenth-
Century American Literature at the Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina.
Copyright © 2003, the University of South Carolina
URL: http://www.cla.sc.edu/ENGL/emerson/
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Page 1 of 1
Dinner
(By the risite bridge that the flood,
at the Centenary of
Their flag to April's breeze unforted,
Here once the embanded farmers stood,
1Ralph Waldo Emerson
And fired the dior heard round the world.
36y the Social Circle in Concord
The for long done in silence slept :
Allke the conquerer silent sleeps $
And Time the rideed bridge has ascept
Down the dark irream which seasand creeps
On this green lank, he this soft stream,
We set today a enrive stone :
That menory may their deal release,
When, like our lires, series are gonc.
espirit, that made those little dare
IT
To die, and leave their children free,
Bill Fine and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and there?
if the suggest white
This children is wishind duty this earth and sky
The to sing for discuss present * the base is 10M Hundred,
Tell them. delive that it eyes were made for
This Beauty is its for being."
may Rineteen humbred and three
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11/17/2003
Page 1 of 1
Life Nicks
Radishes
Olives
Much the best society I have
Cream of Lettech
EVER known is a eleb in Cancord
called the Social Circle, consisting
Turbania of Halflint
Lobilier Sauce
always of twenty-fixe of our citizens:
Sliced Cultumbers
doctor, lawyer, farmer, under, miller,
Fillet of Boat
mechanic, etc., sulidist of men, who
Potito Computies
Green Pes:
yield the sulidest of gossip. Hara
Alparagia, Hellandalsa
vard University is a wafer compared
to the solid land which my friends
Lettoch and Tomato Salad Mayornia
represent. www. Emerson la is friend in
Fratton Publing
Strawberries
1846 Dec. 12.
les Clear and Water loes
Asserted Cakh
Toasted Crackers
Requefert Cheese
Cream Cheese
Coffee
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Page 1 of 2
was
RWS Smeason
AR25
-
-
EMERSON CENTENARY SERVICES
SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON
MAY 24, 1993
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11/17/2003
-
RALPH WALDO EMERS
1803-1903
THE HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY will first sing the
"Blessed are the men who fear Him ; they ever walk in the ways of peace. T
light to the upright. He is gracious, compassionate, righteous."
MR. EMIL MOLLENHAUER will conduct the choru
MR. H. G. TUCKER will play upon the organ.
The REVEREND EDWARD EVERETT HALE will lead the PE
and then, all standing, there will be read alternately the follou
Let us now praise famous men and our fathers
Many shall commend hi
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m nuteman
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Title
The Emerson centennial, May 25, 1903 : extracts from a few of the
many tributes to Emerson called forth by the centennial
observances from some of the leading scholars of to-day.
Publication info.
[S.I. : s.n., 1903]
Location
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SPEC COLL C.PAM.2 Item 103
CONCORD/Special
LIB USE ONLY
Description
28 p., [6] leaves of plates : ill., port. ; 20 cm.
Note
Cover title.
Includes selections from George Willis Cooke, Thomas Wentworth
Higginson, George A. Gordon, George F. Hoar, Hugo Münsterberg,
Hamilton W. Mabie, and Charles W. Eliot.
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Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 -- Anniversaries, etc.
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EMERSON DAY IN CONCORD
New York Times (1857-Current file); May 26, 1903; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851-2
pg. 5
EMERSON DAY IN CONCORD
100th Anniversary of the Philos-
opher's Birth Celebrated.
Senator Hoar Delivers an Address on
His Contribution to Man's Knowl-
edge of Spiritual Laws.
CONCORD, Mass., May 25.-Concord to-
day gave itself up to a general celebration
of the one hundredth anniversary of the
birth of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Seldom
dict not of the year or of the generation
only. but of the centuries.
has the town stopped all business for a day
When Dean Stanley was in this country
out of respect for one man, but to-day
he took special pains to inform himself of
this was done, so that her people might be
the history and present condition of our
religious denominations. The result of
unhindered in paying tribute to a distin-
his observation was that _whatever might
guished son. There were two parts to the
be the sect or creed of the clergymen they
day's programme. The forenoon exer-
all preached Emerson.
I: were a sorry story for humanity if
cises were planned exclusively for the
these eternal verities had been uttered by
school children and were held in the Town
but one voice. or had waited from the be-
Hall Those of the afternoon were of a
ginning for any one voice to utter them.
They were revealed to humanity in the
more public nature.
morning of creation. The revelation will
Charles Eliot Norton of Harvard was the
continue until time shall be no more. What
first of the Invited speakers to address
is best in humanity answered in the begin-
ning. and will answer to the end. The les-
the afternoon assembly. His subject was
son is that the common virtues, the common
The Ground and Nature of Emerson's
hopes, the common loves, the common
Influence on His Own Generation, and My
faiths of mankind are the foundations on
which the universe is builded. and are the
Personal Reminiscences of the Man."
things that shall endure. There is a diver-
Thomas Wentworth Higginson delivered
sity of gifts, but the same spirit. There is
an address which was full of personal
a difference of language, but the same mes-
sage. Emerson says he is base-that is the
reminiscences of the Concord sage. Prof.
one base thing of the universe-to receive
William James of Harvard followed.
benefits, and render none. Noblesse
Senator George Frisbie Hoar was the last
oblige.' says the chivalrous proverb of
France. To whom much is given, of him
speaker. In the course of his remarks
much shall be required,' says the Hebrew
Mr. Hoar said:
Scriptures.
Emerson tells us that Beauty, Love, and
do not undertake to speak of Mr. Em-
Truth are one. He is only another wit-
erson's services to the youth of his coun-
ness that Faith and Hope, and Love are
try, as a guide to the best literature, or as
the pillars on which all things rest, and
that they abide. Their identity the Church
a counsellor and inspirer to that noble and
has striven for ages to express in the great
brave behavior of which he was himself
doctrine of the Trinity. Emerson also tells
so admirable an example. I will not speak
us that they are one with Duty and with
of him as a eritic, to whose almost infalli-
Joy.
But above all these, comprehending them
ble touchstone every man. brought his
all, is his perception of a presence that I
metal to see if It were gold. I will not
hardly know how to name, and that it
undertake to speak of him as a poet, or as
sometimes seems he did not like to name.
I asked a famous preacher what it was
an orator, rising, on fit occasion, to the
that he thought Emerson saw more clearly
loftiest eloquence.
than other men. He said: It is the Imma-
nent God.' What Emerson would have
have time to speak of him in but one
called it if he had given it a name, I do
aspect. That is, the contribution he made
not know-God. the Over-Soul, the Un-
to the knowledge by mankind of spiritual
known. the Unity manifesting itself In
laws. I think he had the farthest and clear-
Beauty, in Power, in Love, in Joy. in Duty,
existing everywhere, speaking in every age
est spiritual discernment of any man who
through some prophet of its own-it spoke
has lived in modern times. His vision was
to our age its high commands through the
not only keen and far-sighted, but he was
lips of Emerson."
singularly free from the things that dis-
tort or disturb. There was no local at-
DIVORCE OF MRS. EDYTH WARD.
traction, or temptation, or heat, or blur.
So we may take him as the best witness
End of Suit Against Reginald H. Ward,
we know of to the spiritual facts which are
Known in London as Count
all around us and close to us, but yet, so
many of which we cannot know, or know
Ward.
but imperfectly, by any seeing or hearing
Justice Fitzgerald of the Supreme Court
of our own. What we see ne saw more
clearly. What we hear he heard more dis-
signed yesterday an interlocutory decree
tinctly. And always he sees a face we can-
of divorce in favor of Mrs. Edyth New-
not see, and hears a voice we cannot hear.
comb Ward against Reginald H. Ward.
Every man who is seeking a spiritual
life finds in Emerson his own faith, if he
Edward G. Whittaker, as referee, took all
have faith, as the Christian sects find
the testimony in the action. The Wards
theirs in the Saviour. Now, what are the
were married in this city on Nov. 26, 1889,
things in which our confidence is strength-
ened and deepened by the fact that he tells
and the acts complained of by the wife
us they are true? He has taught us the
were committed here in October, 1902, and
virtue of completeness, and courage, and
in Paris during November of the same
sincerity of utterance. In dealing with the
year.
things that pertain to the soul he utters no
Mr. Ward is a Bostonian and a great-
half truths, no plous frauds. He gives us
grandson of the Revolutionary soldier Gen.
no milk for babes. The purpose of Emer-
Artemas Ward. Five years ago he moved
son, like that of Milton. is to justify the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
ways of God to man,' and they do not need
to London and acquired there a paper title
to be clothed in a veil. God is not to he
of Count.' By successful speculation he
seen, as Moses saw him, from behind.
not only materially increased his own for-
He affirms that inspiration and the
tune, but became popular in social circles
process of revelation did not end with the
through putting influential persons in a
aposties and the Scriptures. It is going on
way to invest their money to advantage.
to-day, and all the time, to him that hath
It has been reported that Mr. Ward con-
ears to hear. The bush is burning still.
templates marriage with an English wo-
Has any man spoken to us like him of
man somewhat his senlor.
the virtue of a good hope, since the apos-
Mrs. Ward was Miss Edyth Newcomb
tle placed it forever in the centre of the
of Kentucky, daughter of H. Victor New-
mighty group? He saw that crime and sin
comb, an important factor in Wall Street
led all souls to the good. The cosmic re-
until his illness forced him into a sani-
sults will be the same whatever the daily
tarium.
events may be. He was eminently a recon-
ciler. lesser
orbits, even lines. Cne
thing saw not seen,
That owner,
and forever So when
freedom. love, pa-
triotism, name will
be the our called. So
far HS can it, they
can rest
He In all
secular immor-
tality. world and
the human unreasonable,
inexplicable, is, he mortal His has and first literature He immortal the call that virtue, soul made larger shows case the of affirmation, their which testimony forever are victim without religion, with of the all if orbit witnesses, us mankind not the time that divergent best him. that the is only doctrine inclosed it. be to justice, victor. except statement slave the best. be prove Yet have his of he is all
but makes
no absolute that we
shall be Whether
WA shall know each other again is a Sun-
day school question. He will not spend his
time about it. Perhaps. as he says of Car-
lyle, this nimble and active spirit does not
care to beat itself against walls. But he
is not, like Carlyle, a destroyer. or a scorn-
er. He worships no demon of mere force.
If he do not know what we long to know
of another world. he pays due homage to
the loving and wise Spirit that sitteth as
Sovereign on the throne of this. Rather,
he believes that the world is but one world,
and that the Sovereign who reigns over it-
never to be dethroned-knows very well
that every road leads to the gates of his
kingdom.
Mr. Emerson's philosophy had no sto-
icism in it. If it brought him ampler com-
pensations than were vouchsafed to com-
mon men, grief also filled to its depths a
larger heart, and touched with its agony
nerves more finely sensitive than those of
common men. Who has uttered, like him.
in that immortal threnody, the voice of
parental sorrow? What more loving heart
ever mourned the loss of a brother's love
than that which could not be unlocked be-
cause the key had gone with Charles and
Edward?
To cite the tributes of eminent authori-
ties to the great place of Mr. Emerson in
literature, and his trustworthiness as an
intellectual and spiritual guide, would oc-
cupy not only the day but the year. We
cannot undertake to do that, But we
ought to be certain that we are not in-
duced by our love for our delightful friend
and townsman to confound our own nar-
row field of vision with that of all man-
kind-especially with that of posterity.
Yet that must be a fixed star of the first
magnitude, of whom observers, whose ta-
tions are apart by the distance of the
whole heavens, concur in so reporting.
When the Jew, and the Catholic, and the
Unitariar, and the Anglican. and the Cal-
vinist, and the Skeptic; when the Russian,
and the German, and the Scotsman con-
cur with his own countrymen in their
estimate of a religious teacher, we may
fairly believe that we have got the ver-
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
The Concord Year of Harvard
Page 1 of 3
Magazine
The Concord
Oct
1998
The Concord Year
of Harvar
Harvard Buildings in
By D. Michael Ryan, company historian with the Concord Minute Men, an 18th Century historic
interpreter with the National Park Service and Associate Dean of Students at Boston College.
Historically, Concord has been renowned for its events, people, ideas and
literature. However, the fact that venerable Harvard College once existed for a
year (1775-76) within this town is little remembered.
Harvard and Concord were not strangers. Town founders Peter Bulkeley and Simon
Willard had sons graduate from the College. Citizens pledged monies to support the
school's beginnings and insure a source of ministers, lawyers and teachers. Local boys
attended Harvard and annually selectmen visited the campus recruiting students (needing
tuition money) to instruct at its schools. Many of the local ministers were Harvard
graduates and these town-gown relations insured that during a period of educational and
intellectual depression (late 17th/early 18th Century), Concord remained enlightened and
updated.
Following the 1775 fights at Lexington and Concord,
an army formed in Cambridge needing buildings for
headquarters, barracks and hospitals. On 1 May, the
Committee of Safety ordered the students and faculty
removed from Harvard College. The fledgling army's
needs increased with the battle of Bunker's Hill and the
July arrival of Gen. Washington as commander-in-
chief. Tradition holds that at this time, Rev. William
Emerson (alumnus) while visiting the troops and school, offered the support of Concord
as a site at which the College could resettle. Harvard officials accepted. Students (about
143) and faculty (about 10) were requested to gather in Concord on 4 October. 1775
Harvard settled into its new home. President Samuel Langdon resided at Dr. Timothy
Minot's house (site later of Middlesex Hotel; now a park at town square); Professor
Sewell at James Jones' (Bullet Hole House); Professor Wigglesworth at Bates/Anderson's
(near present intersection of Old Bedford Rd./Bedford St.); Dr. and Mrs. John Winthrop
at the Whitneys' (Wayside) or possibly at Capt. Stones' (west of Hildreth Corner on
Barrett's Mill Rd. #222?). The College library was located in the Humphrey Barrett
http://www.concordma.com/magazine/oct98/harvard.html
2/23/2007
The Concord Year of Harvard
Page 2 of 3
house (Monument Rd., halfway between the Manse and town square), while science
apparatus remained with Dr. Winthrop. Students lodged some at taverns much to the
faculty's dismay and some at private homes (unheated, unfurnished back rooms). Dr.
Joseph Lee hosted 12 students (area near 38 Willard Rd.) including son Samuel '76.
While it is certain that the core of the College was in Concord center, traditions located it
at other sites. Due to the number of students at the Lee home, the Willard Farm area was
thought to be the school's focal point. As the road near Annursnack Hill off Barrett's Mill
Rd. contained cellars of former houses which might have hosted students, was used by
students to walk local girls ("lover's lane") and was named College Road, it was believed
to be the College's central location. However, recitations were held at the court house,
meeting house and empty grammer school all in Concord center. Travel (1-5 miles) to
these locations and the homes of faculty for instruction presented hardships especially in
winter.
Benefits and problems of hosting Harvard were shared by Concord. The state-of-the-art,
unique College Clock was moved to town for public use as was the school's fire engine.
Harvard boys courted local girls, wore their academic gowns to church and spent money.
They also broke the windows of the meeting house and other buildings with snowballs.
Of 26 Freshmen, the average age was 15 thus leading to maturity difficulties. Student
illnesses, especially smallpox, were also of concern to the citizens. However, honor came
to Concord in the form of Harvard conferring its first Doctor of Laws degree on Gen.
Washington in April 1776.
Once the British evacuated Boston (March 1776) and the
American army vacated Cambridge, impatient students
pressed for a return to campus. In June, Harvard College
adjourned home and held its annual exercises for the 43
Seniors. Grateful College officials forwarded a letter of
appreciation to the Concord people which included an
apology for any "incivilities of behavior attributed to the
inadvertence of youth". The broken windows were paid for and a sum of 10 Pounds
voted to the town.
While some of Concord's Class of '76 went on to greatness elsewhere (a governor, 2 state
Chief Supreme Court Justices and Harvard's first professor of chemistry and materia
medica), others returned to serve their host town. Dr. Isaac Hurd would be a physician;
Jonathan Fay, an attorney; and in 1778 Dr. Ezra Ripley would return to be First Parish
minister and marry Rev. Emerson's widow Phoebe.
The Concord-Harvard connection continued. Alumnus and prominent Concordian John
Cuming would leave money to the College to fund a professor in physics (beginnings of
Harvard Medical School). Graduates, friends and townsmen Ralph Waldo Emerson
(school's Hall of Philosophy named for him) and Henry David Thoreau would bring fame
to themselves, Concord and Harvard. Daniel Chester French, Concordian and creator of
the Minute Man statue, would sculpture the famous statue of John Harvard.
Thus, once upon a year. Concord and Harvard College were one. The history, traditions
and destinies of these noted institutions did and continue to enrich and educate our
citizens and nation.
http://www.concordma.com/magazine/oct98/harvard.html
2/23/2007
CONCORD FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
NOT TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT
PERMISSION OF THE LIBRARY.
H E
ETHICAL RECORD
PERCIVAL CHUBB, Editor
VOL. IV
JUNE-JULY, 1903
No. 5
CONTENTS
Emerson's Presiding Idea
175
By Prof. Edward Dowden
Channing, Emerson, Parker
177
By John White Chadwick
Emerson as a Reformer
181
By William M. Salter
Personal Reminiscences of Emerson
182
By S. Burns Weston
Separate Insert: Portrait of Emerson on Japan Paper
Emerson's Interpretation of Nature and the Natural Life
184
By Percival Chubb
Emerson's Influence in Germany
188
By Wilhelm Spohr
The Emasculation of Emerson
189
The Emerson Centennial at Concord and Boston
191
Emerson's Prophecy
193
Ethical Discipline in the Church of Rome
194
By Joseph McCabe
The Need of a Civic Parliament and an Inter-Municipal League
197
By Charles Sprague Smith
Outline of a Course of Ethical Instruction
198
Books That Concern Us
202
Work of the New York Society for Ethical Culture
210
THE ETHICAL RECORD, a magazine of practical ethics, is published bi-monthly, except
August-September. It appeals to all. those who are interested in the treatment of the prob-
lems of personal and social life from the ethical point of view. Its contributors are not
confined to adherents of the Ethical Movement, but include those who are especially quali-
fied to deal with current issues from this standpoint.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE.-One dollar a year, with Lecture Supplement (10 issues), payable in
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SPECIAL OFFER TO SUBSCRIBERS,-By arrangement with the publisher, we are able to
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MANUSCRIPTS, books for review, newspapers, etc., should be addressed to the Editor.
BUSINESS communications should be addressed to THE ETHICAL RECORD. Rates for adver:
tising on application.
THE ETHICAL RECORD, 48 East 58th Street, New York
0
American Transcendental Quarterly 31 (Summer 1976)
27
world shall be made right, and that it is the duty of
every individual to take up that task in his own per-
son. It is this heroic and courageous quality in
The EMERSON
Emerson that causes him to appeal most vigorously
to youth. He gives them ideals, he inspires them
CENTENNIAL
with noble purposes and he has the heroic temper
they need in a teacher.
To an increasing number of persons Emerson is a
prophet of the new faith in which they find life and
joy. He is, in fact, a great religious teacher, not of
May 25, 1903
the conventional type, and not of the religion of form
and ritual. His is a religion of the inward life, of
direct intuition of spiritual realities, and of individual
EXTRACTS FROM A FEW OF THE MANY
faith. He is preached in all churches, but many who
TRIBUTES TO EMERSON CALLED FORTH
have found truth in him will not belong to any com-
BY THE CENTENNIAL OBSERVANCES
pany of worshipers. He comes especially to the
FROM SOME OF THE LEADING SCHOLARS
lonely, the struggling, and those who have painfully
OF TO-DAY
found their way to individual liberty. For such as
these he has a courageous and strenuous word, one
that fits well into their need. He has helped many
everywhere to find in religion something real, vital,
and natural; something that is in harmony with the
facts of life and the daily experiences of men.
THE EMERSON CENTENNIAL
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
From the Boston Transcript, May 29, 1903
ALL Boston, all New England, and to a great ex-
From the Outlook, May 23, 1903
ent all the United States has observed the one hun-
Undoubtedly the most remarkable example that we
Iredth anniversary of the birth of Ralph Waldo Emer-
have had in America of the selection of leading names-
on during the week just passed. The actual birthday
by a picked class of electors - a method which was
vas on Monday, May 25, but the day most generally
the ideal of our ancestors, and which the Presidential
elected was the Sunday preceding, when from pulpits
electoral body unsuccessfully tried to put in practice
nd platforms everywhere Emerson's words and philo-
- was in the voting for a Hall of Fame in New
ophy were read and discussed. The widespread
York, as given by a hundred men and women, or,
ublic interest in the various memorial meetings, and
more accurately, by ninety-seven men and three
he expressions of gratitude and admiration made by
women, selected with what seemed to be the greatest
nen of varying creeds and beliefs, have shown the
care. It consisted of twenty-five chief justices, Na-
eep hold which Emerson's philosophy has taken on
tional and State twenty-five presidents of colleges
he generations succeeding him.
twenty-five professors of history or scientists; and
twenty-five publicists, editors, and authors. All but
From the Boston Daily Advertiser, May 23, 1903
three. of these cast their votes and succeeded in elect-
There has never been a more striking tribute to
ing twenty-nine candidates out of the possible fifty;
1e force and dignity of character and intellect than
a majority, not a mere plurality, being required. The
he unanimous accord with which scholars and men
first seven of these, as was natural, were taken from
f affairs in this centenary year are offering their hom-
public life. Next to these, being eighth in order,
ge to the memory of the quiet scholar and gentleman
came Emerson. Washington, alone among them,
ho in all his life held no public office of promi-
had every vote cast, 97; Lincoln and Webster had
ence, who sought fame through none of the usual
96, Franklin 94, Grant 93, Marshall and Jefferson
hannels, who used no adventitious means of noto-
91 each, Emerson 87. Every other author, every
ety, but lived his own life in simple sincerity.
other poet, every great inventor, merchant, or scien-
This summer there will be a reawakening of inter-
tist, remained below - only three other literary men
y, to heroic effort in behalf of duty, reason, and jus-
being, indeed, included - Longfellow, Irving, and
ce. No one who has found his way into the full
Hawthorne. The decision was not, of course, infalli-
tent of Emerson's teaching can love compromise,
ble, but it was a remarkable testimonial to the recog-
ase, or moral acquiescence. He demands that the
nized leadership of our foremost literary man. Let us
28
ask, What was the key to his power
At the head of American letters Emerson must
is a proof of the many-sidedness of Emerson
stand his voice first called his countrymen to original
so many people seek to determine this key,
work, and his Essays are still the highest fruits of
ether they grasp it or not. When a man takes
this American vocation. Among the greater religious
etly a supreme hold upon the thought even of his
forces of the nineteenth century Emerson must stand,
n country, it is inevitable to ask the source of his
not because he influenced the largest numbers, but be-
luence; and it is difficult to look back upon the
cause he gave forth one wholesome and governing
at literary leaders of the world without seeing that
idea. That governing idea, issuing its call to come
y may be divided into the system-makers and the
face to face with all reality, has not been unavailing.
n-system-makers, and without also seeing that the
Men whose religious idiom is far away from that of
er class endure the longest, on the whole. Plato
Emerson have heard the call, first from other and
I so little system that we rarely know at any given
more potent thinkers, but afterwards strengthened by
ment whether he is speaking for himself or for
his clear utterance and they have answered it. They
rates, his master. Aristotle had his own system,
are struggling forward into immediate relations with
we care in comparison little for it. The great
humanity they are trying to see man and all his
glish, Scotch, French, and German philosophers
interests, the order of the world and God, face to
S in review, and we see how they succeed and re-
face; they believe that only in this immediate vision
ce one another. But Epictetus, Marcus Antoninus,
of truth can the life of men be preserved.
leca, still live their detached maxims outlast the
tems of others; they did not displace each other ;
SENATOR GEORGE F. HOAR
Y versions of them constantly appear, perhaps to
ind us that it is, after all, the fragmentary and un-
From the address at Concord, Mass., May 25, 1903
tematic teacher that we most need. Renan's fine
He has taught us the virtue of completeness, and
ark about the works of Marcus Antoninus, that
courage, and sincerity of utterance. In dealing with
ey will never grow antiquated, because they em-
the things that pertain to the soul he utters no half
y no dogma," might have been made for Emerson.
truths, no pious frauds. He gives us no milk for
eard the same point made by that very acute
babes. The purpose of Emerson, like that of Mil-
ker Mr. Griggs, who said of Emerson, " He did
ton, is to justify the ways of God to man, and they
aim to combine, and was therefore always fertiliz-
do not need to be clothed in a veil. God is not to
like Plato." Of course the lack of system may
be seen, as Moses saw him, from behind.
worse than any system, just as non-ostentation
He affirms that inspiration and the process of re-
become more offensive than ostentation but it
velation did not end with the Apostles and the Scrip-
he man who is oppressed by neither that we like
tures. It is going on to-day, and all the time, to him
best. There may have been moments when Emer-
that hath ears to hear. The bush is burning still.
yearned for a formal method - in his first lecture
The spiritual message comes to each man for him-
The Natural History of the Intellect" he seemed
self, which he can trust and which he must act upon
e trying for it, but the second lecture of the course
" Trust thyself Every nerve vibrates to that iron
er came. He holds us by his detached sentences;
string." The universe is for the building up of in-
e take those to heart, each reader perhaps carrying
dividual character. Each soul is to be a star and
y a different sentence, it is all we ask.
dwell apart. Men should greet each other every
morning as coming from far countries like the
DR. GEORGE A. GORDON
Gods, who sit apart, and talk from peak to peak all
around Olympus.
From the Atlantic Monthly, May, 1903
merson was an original thinker, a writer of dig-
He has made the best statement in all secular lit-
and charm, a profoundly poetic nature, and one
erature of the doctrine of immortality. He shows us
be loftiest spirits of his century. As an American
that the world and the human soul are not only un-
of letters he is of unique and enduring signifi-
reasonable, but inexplicable, without it. Yet he makes
:C. His perception of the living world of men is
no absolute affirmation, except that we shall be im-
and abiding his sense of the meaning of litera-
mortal if that be best. Whether we shall know each
its relativity to life, is clear and high ; his ideals
other again is a Sunday-school question. He will not
contributor to literature are a precious tradition,
spend his time about it. Perhaps, as he says of Carlyle,
his work remains the best that Americans pos-
this nimble and active spirit does not care to beat it-
self against walls. But he is not, like Carlyle, a de-
stroyer, or a scorner. He worships no demon of
mere force. If he does not know what we long to
29
another world, he pays due homage to the
fifth day of May, one hundred years ago, the country
1 wise Spirit that sitteth as Sovereign on the
was provincial in culture, taste, and attitude; it had
this. Rather, he believes that the world is
separated from the Old World on political grounds,
orld, and that the Sovereign who reigns over
but its spiritual fortunes were bound up in the for-
r to be dethroned - knows very well that
tunes of the older societies it sat at the feet of
d leads to the gates of his kingdom. He sees
Europe, and its intellectual life was essentially deriva-
if force or of disdain looking down on man-
tive. To Emerson more than to any other single
on a race of groveling swine or chattering
person or force was due the spiritual emancipation of
or myself, I never read what Emerson says
the new nation. He first interpreted the growing
mortality, or think of him as thinking about
democratic community, not only to the world, but to
it summing it all up in Addison's noble line,
itself, by defining its fundamental conception of the
The Soul, secure in her existence, smiles."
place and value of the individual man, by developing
Emerson first uttered his grave and cheer-
its consciousness of historical unity with the older
there still echoed in the ear of mankind the
races at the same time that he declared its spiritual
dain inspired by the diseased brain of Carlyle,
independence, by showing in his own life and thought
and speech how the culture of the race, accumulated
imagined the serene and silent stars looking
with infinite toil, self-denial, and self-expression, could
m their eternal solitudes on the varied occu-
be held and used with unfettered freedom and entire
of
men. " What thinks Boötes of them as
self-reliance.
his hunting dogs across the zenith in their
There must have come "to many who heard the
sidereal fire What thinks Boötes of
address on The American Scholar," delivered in
Boötes is but a few specks of shining dust,
Cambridge on the last day of August, 1837, a sense
g with putrescent light, save as he is clothed
of something great and prophetic Lowell described
uty and with glory in the conscious soul of
it as "an event without any former parallel in our
The only thing in the world, under him who
literary annals, a scene to be always treasured in the
that can ever be truly an object of reverence
memory for its picturesqueness and its inspiration.
ian soul subjecting itself, of its own volition,
What crowded and breathless aisles, what windows
higher than its own desire. The answer to
clustering with eager heads, what enthusiasm of ap-
of the old world came from the seer of the
proval, what grim silence of foregone dissent." The
address was not only an epitome of Emerson's view
So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man,
of life; it was a quiet, well-poised, but perfectly ar-
When Duty whispers low, ' Thou must,
ticulate, declaration of intellectual independence. It
The Youth replies, can.
is the second great formal document in the history of
the emancipation of the American people. It an-
PROF. HUGO MÜNSTERBERG
nounced the moment when " the sluggard intellect of
this continent will look from under its iron lids and
in address delivered at Cambridge, May 18, 1903
fill the postponed expectation of the world with some-
wave of Idealism is rising. The short-sighted
thing better than the exertions of mechanical skill.
ition of Positivism will not lurk under the roof
Our day of dependence, our long apprenticeship to
W hall of philosophy. To be a true student of
the learning of other lands, draws to a close.
st scientific, of the most scholarly, of the most
We will walk on our own feet; we will work with
it philosophy means to respect and to study hard
our own hands; we will speak our own minds.
ences, the physical and the psychical sciences,
A nation of men will for the first time exist, be-
the same time to understand that natural science
cause each believes himself inspired by the Divine
the science of reality, that psychology does not
Soul which also inspires all souls."
the freedom of man, that no life has a meaning
it the relation to the Over-soul. We cannot
More distinctly than any other man who has ap-
a whole system and a whole text-book on the
peared among us, Emerson affirmed the presence of
of the new building. It must be enough to
there a symbolic word. Happy, forever happy,
the divine in every human being, the direct and per-
niversity which can write over the door of its
sonal relation between each man and the Infinite, the
: of philosophy the name, Ralph Waldo Emer-
authority of individual insight, the dignity of the indi-
vidual soul; and this is, in a true sense, not only the
basal idea, but the religion of democracy.
HAMILTON W. MABIE
From Harper's Magazine, May, 1903
Emerson's quiet but resolute assertion of the right
en Emerson was born, in Boston, on the twenty-
of every age to select its teachers, and of every man
30
straight to the sources of truth, seemed to Her-
the success or failure of the new society shall be
Grimm profoundly significant. He speaks with
measured by its service in the emancipation of the
e of oppression of the immense accumulation
soul, the exaltation of man.
lowledge, the heritage of decades of centuries,
which the mind of the Old World staggers.
HAMILTON W. MABIE
best powers barely suffice," he says, " to enable
glance over what has been already accomplished.
From the Ladies' Home Journal, May, 1903
ald be hailed as a blessing if some one could
He read widely, knew literature in several languages,
ice us that the heritage of our ancestors is to be
was familiar with the older thought of the East and
ide, that untrammeled we may press on to the
with the younger thought of Europe but he believed
before us." And he saw that this was precisely
that each age must do its own thinking, write its own
:vvice which the poet and thinker of the New
books, and live its own life. He believed profoundly
1 was doing in a reverent spirit but with a per-
in the divinity of man in the right of each man to
free mind. Emerson estimated at their full
have a personal relation with God, and in the equal-
the accumulations of knowledge which lay in
ity which equal access to the Infinite establishes on
ults of Europe, but he was resolute that his
an indestructible basis. He was, therefore, an Amer-
people should make their own intellectual and
ican of the Americans in his faith in free government,
al fortunes; that they should be not only heirs
in free schools, in open libraries, in the widest oppor-
past, but producers of present wealth. They
tunities for education and growth. To him America
not to feel too heavily the weight of history
meant Opportunity. He rejoiced in the simplicity of
vere not to respect too deeply the authority of
American life, in the democracy of American society.
on they were to see, feel, think, and act for
He was the most eloquent preacher of self-reliance
elves; they were to "enjoy an original relation
we have had. He was not afraid of commercial pros-
: universe.
The sun shines to-day also.
perity and he took delight in the working power of
is more wool and flax in the fields. There are
the country but he insisted on keeping the things
ands, new men, new thoughts. Let us demand
made with the hands in subjection to the things made
vn works and laws and worship."
by the spirit, in keeping the soul free from bondage to
conventions or to the burdens and cares which come
e greatness with which Emerson invested the
with wealth, in placing civic greatness above political
1 spirit was reflected not only in his own bear-
success, and in the duty of the Republic to give the
it in his whole dealing with knowledge and art,
world a new kind of diplomacy and a new example
his own style. In diverting attention from the
of unselfish public life.
ngs and insignia of public and social distinction,
stening it upon the spirit behind the accidents
Emerson's most characteristic works are his poems,
idents of life, he discarded the conventions and
his essays,
" Representative Men,"
"
Nature,"
So-
ons of the art of writing, and spoke from his
ciety and Solitude," and his occasional addresses. He
with perfect simplicity and directness.
was not a great poet in the range of his thought or
the account of the nation with this beautiful
the perfection of his art, but he has left a few poems
rophetic spirit it is clear there is still a great
descriptive or interpretive of Nature on her more
edness to be discharged for time has revealed
mysterious or symbolic sides which have a place of
increasing distinctness the service of one of
their own by reason of their insight, their sense of the
an eminent Frenchman has said " America
unity of things, their pure and spiritual beauty. In
alted him because she saw herself in him, and
the occasional addresses, spoken mainly to young men
S her conscience." Concerning the quality and
and on college occasions, Emerson presented the
of his work there is general agreement; he has
idealistic conception of life with noble urgency and a
ed the reaction which follows the death of a
quiet and persuasive confidence, expressed not only
of original and individual force; the defects of
in his words but also in the serenity of his bearing and
rose, the limitations of his verse, are clear
in the rare beauty of his expression. He was a win-
h; but the depth of his insight, the lift of his
ning speaker his voice was singularly expressive of
ht, the freshness of his spirit, the felicity of his
his thought, and he bore himself like one who came
) and its penetration, the wholeness and sym-
from a higher and purer world than ours. His mes-
of his life : these are far beyond the region
sage to young men was a simple one, as all really
estioning. He explained America to herself in
deep and noble messages must be : follow the highest
of the spiritual life, he set man in his true place
things resolutely believe in the best that is in you
New World, he has kept the conscience of the
" hitch your wagon to a star" ; trust in yourself;
and established for all time the doctrine that
live your own life; keep yourself unspotted from the
31
His essays contain his philosophy of life and
carried on against much active opposition and more
confession of faith, his view of democracy,
sluggish obstruction. The system is a method of ed-
ght about human relations, occupations, re-
ucational organization which recognizes the immense
pleasures, in a style which seems obscure at
expansion of knowledge during the nineteenth cen-
cause the results of thinking rather than its
tury, and takes account of the needs and capacities of
S are presented, but which is, at its best, mar-
the individual child and youth. Now, Emerson laid
simple, sincere, and beautiful.
down in plain terms the fundamental doctrines on
essays are full of passages of that kind of elo-
which this elective system rests. He taught that the
which is the matching of great thoughts with
one prudence in life is concentration the one evil,
ords. He belongs, with Hawthorne and Poe,
dissipation. He said " You must elect your work
ont rank of American writers; and in range,
you shall take what your brain can, and drop all the
spirituality, he is our foremost man of letters.
rest." To this exhortation he added the educational
quaintance with his pure and beautiful genius
reason for it, - only by concentration can the youth
can be made only by acquaintance with his
arrive at the stage of doing something with his
This country has given the world nothing
knowledge, or get beyond the stage of absorbing and
hey ought to be in every American home and
arrive at the capacity for producing. As Emerson
puts it, " Only so can that amount of vital force ac-
cumulate which can make the step from knowing to
PRESIDENT CHARLES W. ELIOT
doing." The educational institutions of to-day have
not yet fully appreciated this all-important step from
address in Symphony Hall, Boston, May 24, 1903
knowing to doing. They are only beginning to per-
ceive that, all along the course of education, the child
EDUCATION
and the youth should be doing something as well as
e up now the prophetic teachings of Emerson
learning something should be stimulated and trained
gard to education. In the first place, he saw,
by achievement; should be constantly encouraged to
clearness to which very few people have yet
take the step beyond seeing and memorizing to doing,
I, the fundamental necessity of the school as
- the step, as Emerson says, " out of a chalk circle
t civilizing agency, after steady labor, and the
of imbecility into fruitfulness." Emerson carried this
re means of permanent and progressive reform.
doctrine right on into mature life, He taught that
S outright We shall one day learn to super-
nature arms each man with some faculty, large or
litics by education. What we call our root-
small, which enables him to do easily some feat im-
inch reforms, of slavery, war, gambling, intem-
possible to any other, and thus makes him necessary
:, is only medicating the symptoms. We must
to society; and that this faculty should determine the
higher up namely, in education." He taught
man's career. The advocates of the elective system
we hope to reform mankind, we must begin
have insisted that its results were advantageous for
th adults, but with children : we must begin at
society as a whole, as well as for the individual.
There are some signs that this doctrine has
Emerson put this argument in a nut-shell, at least
t
last entered the minds of the so-called prac-
fifty years ago Society can never prosper, but must
hen. The Cubans are to be raised in the scale
always be bankrupt, until every man does that which
ilization and public happiness so both they
he was created to do."
think they must have more and better schools.
Filipinos, too, are to be developed after the
can fashion; so we send them a thousand
We are all of us aware that within the last twenty
rs of English. The Southern states are to be
years there has been a determined movement of the
d from the persistent poison of slavery; and,
American people toward the cultivation of art, toward
orty years of failure with political methods, we
the public provision of objects which open the sense
accept Emerson's doctrine, and say We
of beauty and increase public enjoyment. It is curi-
begin earlier, at school." The city slums are
ous to see how literally Emerson prophesied the actual
redeemed ; and the scientific charity workers
direction of these efforts
ne best way is to get the children into kindergar-
nd manual training schools.
On the city's paved street
Plant gardens lined with lilac sweet ;
ce the civil war, a whole generation of educa-
Let spouting fountains cool the air,
administrators has been steadily at work devel-
Singing in the sun-baked square ;
what is called the elective system in the institu-
Let statue, picture, park, and hall,
Ballad, Aag, and festival
of education which deal with the ages above
The past restore, the day adorn,
It has been a slow, step-by-step process,
And make to-morrow a new morn
32
ve introduced into our schools, of late years,
college, the school of art, the institution of any kind,
drawing, modeling, and designing,-
stop with some past utterance of genius.
They
V, but in a promising and hopeful way.
look backward and not forward. But genius looks
taught that it is the office of art to educate
forward. Man hopes genius creates. Whatever tal-
tion of beauty and he precisely describes
ents may be, if the man create not, the pure efflux of
e most recent of the new tendencies in
the Deity is not :-cinders and smoke there may
education and social life, when he says
be, but not yet flame." And more explicitly still, he
must come back to the useful arts, and the
says " Colleges have their indispensable office,-
I between the fine and the useful arts be for-
to teach elements, But they can only highly serve us
That sentence is the inspiration of one of
when they aim not to drill, but to create." When
recent of the efforts to improve the arts and
Emerson wrote this passage, the spirit of research, or
I to restore to society the artistic craftsman.
discovery, or creation had not yet breathed life into
slow the institutional realization of this ideal
the higher institutions of learning in our country
cation ! We are still struggling in our ele-
and to-day they have much to do and to acquire before
and secondary schools to get a reasonable
they will conform to Emerson's ideal.
instruction in drawing and music, and to
SOCIAL CONDITIONS
om other subjects a fair allotment of time to
I turn next to some examples of Emerson's antici-
aluable elements of true culture. They
pation of social conditions, visible to him as seer in
universal language. Yet the ultimate ob-
his own day, and since become plain to the sight of
in education is to teach men to see nature
the ordinary millions. When he accumulated in his
tiful and at the same time useful beauti-
journals the original materials of his essay on Worship,
ISC alive and reproductive; useful, while
there were no large cities in the United States in the
al and fair. Take up to-day the last essays
present sense of that term. The great experiment of de-
ion, the last book on landscape architecture,
mocracy was not far advanced, and had not developed
shest teachings of the principles of design,
many of its sins and dangers; yet how justly he pre-
will find them penctrated with Emerson's
sented them in the following description " In our
of art as teacher of mankind. Emerson
large cities the population is godless, materialized,
in' and again that true culture must open
no bond, no fellow-feeling, no enthusiasm. These are
of beauty that " a man is a beggar who
not men, but hungers, thirsts, fevers, and appetites
to the useful."
walking. How is it people manage to live on, so
aimless as they are
There is faith in chemis-
erson's early days there was nothing in our
try, in meat and wine, in wealth, in machinery, in the
nd colleges which at all corresponded to
steam-engine, galvanic battery, turbine wheels, sew-
now know too much about under the name
ing-machines, and in public opinion, but not in divine
C sports. The elaborate organization of
causes."
ts is a development of the last thirty years
In Emerson's day, luxury in the present sense had
hools and colleges; but I find in Emerson
hardly been developed in our country but he fore-
eason for the athletic cult, given a genera-
saw its coming, and its insidious destructiveness.
e it existed among us. Your boy hates the
We spend our incomes for paint and paper, for a
and Gradus, and loves guns, fishing-rods,
hundred trifles, I know not what, and not for the
d boats. Well, the boy is right, and you are
things of a man. Our expense is almost all for con-
direct his bringing-up, if your theory leaves
formity, It is for cake that we run in debt it is not the
rymnastic training.
Football, cricket,
intellect, not the heart, not beauty, not worship, that
wimming, skating, climbing, fencing, riding
costs us so much. Why needs any man be rich
IS in the art of power, which it is his main
Why must he have horses, fine garments, handsome
:0 learn.
Besides, the gun, fishing-rod,
apartments, access to public houses and places of
horse constitute, among all who use them,
amusement Only for want of thought.
We
e-masonries." We shall never find a com-
are first thoughtless, and then find that we are money-
tification of athletic sports than that.
less. We are first sensual and then must be rich."
memorable address on " The American
He foresaw the young man's state of mind to-day
which was given at Cambridge in 1837,
about marriage. must have money before I can
pointed out that the function of the scholar
marry and deals with it thus Give us wealth and
clude creative action, or, as we call it in
the home shall exist. But that is a very imperfect
's, research, or the search for new truth. He
and inglorious solution of the problem, and therefore
The soul active
utters truth, or creates.
no solution, Give us wealth You ask too much !
its essence it is progressive. The book, the
Few have wealth; but all must have a home. Men
33
are not born rich in getting wealth the man is gen-
Nor in the bow that smiles in showers,
erally sacrificed, and often without acquiring wealth
But in the mud and scum of things
There alway, alway something sings.
at last."
The universe was ever new and fresh in his eyes, not
In
his lecture on Man the Reformer," which was
spent, or fallen, or degraded, but eternally tending
read before the Mechanics' Apprentices' Association
upward : -
in Boston in January, 1841, Emerson described in
the clearest manner the approaching strife between
" No ray is dimmed, no atom worn,
My oldest force is good as new,
laborers and employers, between poor and rich, and
And the fresh rose on yonder thorn
pointed out the cause of this strife in the selfish-
Gives back the bending heavens in dew.'
ness, unkindness, and mutual distrust which ran
through the community. He also described, with per-
It was a prophetic quality of Emerson's religious
fect precision, the only ultimate remedy, - namely,
teaching that he sought to obliterate the distinction
he-sentiment of love. " Love would put a new face
between secular and sacred. For him all things were
on this weary old world in which we dwell as pagans
sacred, just as the universe was religious. We see an
and enemies too long.
The virtue of this prin-
interesting fruition of Emerson's sowing in the nature
diple in human society in application to great inter-
of the means of influence which organized churches
usts is obsolete and forgotten. But one day all men
and devout people have, in these later days, been
will be lovers; and every calamity will be dissolved
compelled to resort to. Thus the Catholic Church
in
the universal sunshine." It is more than sixty
keeps its hold on its natural constituency quite as
years since those words were uttered, and in those
much by schools, gymnasiums, hospitals, entertain-
years society has had large experience of industrial
ments, and social parades as it does by its rites and
and social strife, of its causes and consequences, and
sacraments. The Protestant Churches maintain in
of (many attempts to remedy or soften it but all this
city slums " settlements," which use secular rather
experience only goes to show that there is but one
than the so-called sacred methods, The fight against
remedy for these ills. It is to be found in kindness,
drunkenness, and the sexual vice and crimes of vio-
good fellowship, and the affections. In Emerson's
lence which follow in its train, is most successfully
words, " We must be lovers, and at once the impos-
maintained by eliminating its physical causes and pro-
sible becomes possible." The world will wait long
viding mechanical and social protections.
for this remedy, but there is no other.
For Emerson inspiration meant not the rare con-
RELIGION
veyance of supernatural power to an individual, but
In no field of thought was Emerson more pro-
the constant incoming into each men of the " divine
phetic, more truly a prophet of coming states of
soul which also inspires all men." He believed in
human opinion, than in religion. In the first place,
the worth of the present hour -
he taught that religion is absolutely natural, - not
Future or Past no richer secret folds,
upernatural, but natural
Oh friendless Present ! than thy bosom holds."
Out from the heart of Nature rolled
The burdens of the Bible old.
He believed that the spiritual force of human char-
acter imaged the divine -
He believed that revelation is natural and continuous,
and that in all ages prophets are born. Those souls
The sun set, but set not his hope :
Stars rose ; his faith was earlier up :
out of time proclaim truth, which may be momen-
Fixed on the enormous galaxy,
tarily received with reverence, but is nevertheless
Deeper and older seemed his eye,"
quickly dragged down into some savage interpretation
Yet man is not an order of nature, but a stupendous
which by and by a new prophet will purge away. He
antagonism, because he chooses and acts in his soul.
believed that man is guided by the same power that
" So far as a man thinks, he is free." It is interest-
guides beast and flower. " The selfsame power that
brought me here brought you," he says to beautiful
ing to-day, after all the long discussion of the doctrine
of evolution, to see how the much earlier conceptions
Rhodora. For him worship is the attitude of those
of Emerson match the thoughts of the latest expo-
who see that against all appearances the nature of
nents of the philosophic results of evolution.
things works for truth and right forever." He saw
good not only in what we call beauty, grace, and
We know a good deal about the intellectual ances-
light, but in what we call foul and ugly. For him a
tors and inspirers of Emerson, and we are sure that
lky-born music sounds " from all that's fair: from all
what's foul " -
he drank deep at many springs of idealism and poetry.
Plato, Confucius, Shakespeare, and Milton were of
" 'Tis not in the high stars alone,
his teachers Oken, Lamarck, and Lyell lent him
Nor in the cups of budding flowers,
Nor in the redbreast's mellow tone,
their scientific theories and Channing stirred the
34
esiduum which came down to him through his for-
ical and poetical sources of their inspiration. Then
ears from Luther, Calvin, and Edwards. All these
the Jewish and Christian peoples may come nearer
materials he transmuted and moulded into lessons
than they do now to Emerson's conceptions of inspi-
which have his own individual quality and bear his
ration and worship, of the naturalness of revelation
stamp. The precise limits of his originality are inde-
and religion, and of the infinite capacities of man.
terminable, and inquiry into them would be unprofit-
Meantime, it is an indisputable fact that Emerson's
able. In all probability the case would prove to be
thought has proved to be consonant with the most
much the same with most of the men that the world
progressive and fruitful thinking and acting of two
has named prophets, if we knew as much of their
generations since his working time. This fact, and
mental history as we know of Emerson's. With re-
the sweetness, fragrance, and loftiness of his spirit,
ard to the Semitic prophets and seers, it is reasonable
prophesy for him an enduring power in the hearts and
to expect that as Semitic exploration and discovery
lives of spiritually minded men.
advance, the world will learn much about the histor-
JMMANUEL KANT.
yolf
D
U.S.POSTAGE
UNITED STATES
1948
STAR
MOTHERS
3
CENTS
3
3POSTAGE 3
he Centenary of te Butte
of Ragsh waldo Susan
CONTENTS
Boston R.iveride Press, 1903
PAGE
THE MORNING
1
MORNING INTRODUCTION
3
ADDRESS OF WILLIAM LORENZO EATON
5
ADDRESS OF LEBARON RUSSELL BRIGGS
14
THE AFTERNOON
31
AFTERNOON INTRODUCTION
33
PRAYER BY LOREN BENJAMIN MACDONALD
34
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL HOAR
36
ADDRESS OF CHARLES ELIOT NORTON
45
ADDRESS OF THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
58
ADDRESS OF WILLIAM JAMES
67
ADDRESS OF GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR
78
THE EVENING
95
EVENING INTRODUCTION
97
OPENING REMARKS, BY JOHN SHEPARD KEYES
99
SPEECH OF CAROLINE HAZARD
99
SPEECH OF MOORFIELD STOREY
104
LETTER FROM JAMES BRYCE AND OTHERS
111
SPEECH OF HUGO MUNSTERBERG
113
SPEECH OF EDWARD WALDO EMERSON
119
THE CONCORD HyMN
128
APPENDIX
129
THE SOCIAL CIRCLE AND COMMITTEES
137
WONEGIO
1
(1903)
SERIES III. PUBLISHED VOLS.
52
THE EMERSON CENTENARY
ADDRESS OF CHARLES ELIOT NORTON 53
closed in them. It resided, I believe, in the fact that
he lived more in accord with the moral order of the
My own relations with Emerson began after his
soul than other men, more as one whose soul was
position as poet and seer was established, not with the
always open to the influences of the divine spirit,
great public indeed, bnt with the best of his contem-
however that spirit be defined. In this was the source
poraries. Twenty-five years younger than he, I felt
at first a certain hesitancy and shyness in personal
of the serenity and elevation of his own spirit, and in
relations with him, not only because of the disparity
it was also the source of that clear insight into the
significance of common life and daily trivial affairs
of age, and the distinction of his place in the esteem
of worthy men, but also because my father had been
which his reflections upon them and his aphorisms
conspicuous in opposition to the drift of his teach-
concerning them display.
In 1870, after reading Emerson's volume entitled
ings and had used language of severe condemnation
of them. It seemed to me possible that Mr. Emerson,
Society and Solitude, Carlyle wrote to him in well-
though too high-minded to feel resentment toward
chosen words It seems to me you are all your old
an upright and high-minded opponent, might yet in-
self here, and something more. A calm insight,
cline to hold back from more than merely formal
piercing to the very centre; a beautiful sympathy, a
beautiful epic humor; a soul peaceably irrefragable
acquaintance with me. But I was mistaken. From
the beginning of our intercourse he treated me with
in this loud-jangling world, of which it sees the ugli-
a simple graciousness and frank confidence that set
ness, but notices only the huge new opulences (still so
me at ease with him, and quickened in me that affec-
anarchic) knows the electric telegraph, with all its
tion and reverence which I have just spoken of his
vulgar botherations and impertinences, accurately for
what it is, and ditto ditto the oldest eternal Theolo-
inspiring in every one who had the happiness of
coming into close relation with him.
gies of men. All this belongs to the Highest Class
Thirty years ago this month I had the opportunity
of thought; and again seemed to me as, in several re-
of seeing more of him, and of being in more constant
spects, the one perfectly Human Voice I had heard
relation with him than at any other time. He was
among my fellow-creatures for a long time. And
returning with his daughter from his last visit to
then the style,' the treatment and expression, - yes,
Europe, and I, with my family, was a fellow passenger
it is inimitable, - Emersonian throughout.
on the steamer. There was no crowd on board; the
You have done very well ; and many will know it
vessel was not one of the swift Leviathans of to-day.
ever better by degrees." The judgment of the friend
We had long walks together on the deck; and in the
is confirmed by that of the new generation.
evening, after the rest of the passengers had gone
PUBLISHED VOLS.
54
THE EMERSON CENTENARY
ADDRESS OF CHARLES ELIOT NORTON
55
to their berths, he and I used to sit talking together
He would not entertain for a moment the evidence
for an hour or two, till eleven o'clock, when the lights
of ruthlessness and disorder in nature, of perversion
were extinguished in the deserted cabin. The visit
of the moral nature in men. His faith was superior
to Europe and to Egypt had been undertaken, as
to any apparent exceptions to his doctrine; all of them
some of you will remember, at the urgency of friends,
could be brought into accordance with it.
in the belief that a change of scene and interest
In our long evening talks he told me much of his
would be serviceable to him after the shock which
early life. He was often in a mood of reminiscence,
he had experienced from the burning of his house in
and in the retrospect all life lay fair behind him, like
the summer, and the depressed condition of health
a pleasant landscape illumined by the slowly sinking
which had followed it. It had done him all the good
sun. The sweetness and purity and elevation of his
GBD?
that had been hoped for, and he now seemed in
nature were manifest in his recollections, and his
excellent health and spirits.
vision of the past was that not only of the poet, but
'It is rank blasphemy," said he one day, to
of the good man who had gained from life the best
doubt anything in the universe everything in life
it can afford. He returned over and over again to the
makes for good. The moral element in man supreme,
happiness of life and the joy of existence. He had
is progressive. Man is always better than himself.
been very fortunate in his times.
The world is all for happiness, and is meant for the
The 25th of May, his seventieth birthday, was
happy. It is always improving. Pain and sorrow are
the last day before the voyage ended. When I
of no account as compared with the joy of living: if
greeted him in the morning, he replied with a plea-
a man be overcome by them he violates the moral
sant semi-humorous smile, and with a blush like a
order."
youth, You are too good with all these kind words,
"The universe is not a cheat; the beauty and the
but the day is a melancholy one for me, for I count
order of the external world are sufficient proof that
this seventieth birthday as the close of youth He
the spiritual world is in accord with the hopes and
had been reading with great interest on the voyage
instincts of man and nature for their own perfection."
the quatrains of Omar Khayyám, and one of them
"Order, goodness, God are the one everlasting,
may have been lingering in his mind:
self-existent fact."
"I measure a man's intellectual sanity by his faith
Yet Oh ! that Spring should vanish with the Rose!
That Youth's sweet-scented manuscript should close 1
in immortality. A wise man's wish for life is in pro-
The nightingale that in the branches sang,
portion to his wisdom."
Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows
SERIES III. PUBLISHED VOLS.
56
THE EMERSON CENTENARY
ADDRESS OF CHARLES ELIOT NORTON 57
But my thoughts fell back to his own Terminus,
On the last occasion that I saw him at his own
written ten years before not so much to its opening
house his powers of recollection were imperfect, but
words, " It is time to grow old," but rather to the
his gracious benignity was unchanged. His talk had
verses with which it ends -
its old tone, though the intermittent thoughts some-
" As the bird trims her to the gale,
times failed to find perfect expression. As I was
I trim myself to the storm of time,
bidding him good-bye at his hospitable door, his
I man the rudder, reef the sail,
daughter, who proposed to go with me to the rail-
Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime
road station, urged him to accompany us. "No," said
Lowly faithful, banish fear,
he, no, my dear, my good friend whose name I can-
Right onward drive unharmed;
The port, well worth the cruise, is near,
not recall, has had quite enough of me to-day ;" and
And every wave is charmed."
then turning to me with a smile, as if to apologize
for the seeming lack of courtesy in his inability to
One day, a day of rough waves and lowering skies,
recall my name, he said in words and manner like
as we walked the deck, he spoke of the stout hearts
his old self, " Strange that the kind Heavens should
of the early mariners, sailing the untracked seas.
keep us upon earth after they have destroyed our
How, in Heaven's name, did Columbus get over
connection with things
as Clough asks. "Not so much of a wonder after
The last time I saw him was at the funeral of
all," said Emerson; Columbus had his compass, and
Longfellow on the 26th of March, just a month be-
that was enough for such a soul as his; there was
fore his own death. He leaned on my arm as we
the miracle of the magnet, the witness of the divine
walked through the path at Mt. Auburn behind the
spirit in nature, type of the eternal control of matter
poet's coffin, and as we stood listening to the short
by spirit, of fidelity to the unseen and the ideal. I
service at the grave. He hardly seemed to belong to
always carry with me a little compass," and taking
our actual life he was present but yet remote; for
it from his pocket, he added, I like to hold the god
him, too, The port well worth the cruise was near."
in my hand."
If there be pathos in the record of these last days,
He lived for nine years after his return home.
there is no drop of bitterness in it. They were the
Some of you remember his gently declining days.
peaceful ending of a happy life. "Enoch walked
The evening mists steadily gathered about him, but
with God; and he was not, for God took him."
while they gradually obscured the light of his mind,
Emerson's fame is secure. The years will sift his
they were still suffused by the unquenched glow of
work, but his true message and service were not for
his spirit. His sweetness, his faith never failed.
UNLT
1
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THE EMERSON CENTENARY
ADDRESS OF T. W. HIGGINSON
59
his own generation alone. It is not the founders
respond to it. The point upon which I am to speak,
of schools whose influence is the strongest and most
as I understand, is the record of Ralph Waldo
lasting in the world, but rather that of teachers who
Emerson as a reformer.
lift and invigorate the souls of men by sentiment and
In viewing him thus, we may well recall Father
habitual loftiness of view. Men draw strength and
Taylor, the famous preacher to sailors in Boston,
high resolve to-day, after seventeen centuries, from
who, when criticised by some fellow Methodists for
the desultory Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and
being a friend of Emerson, inasmuch as he was a
in long future time men seeking to elevate and lib-
man who, they thought, must surely go to hell, re-
erate their souls will find help in the words and ex-
plied, "It does look so; but I am sure of one thing;
ample in the character of Emerson.
if Emerson goes to hell it will change the climate
The Chairman then introduced Colonel Thomas
there and emigration will set that way." The wide-
spread commemorations of this month show that
Wentworth Higginson.
Father Taylor, as usual, was right. They imply that
Emerson was not merely a technical reformer, but
stood to the world as a vital influence and repre-
ADDRESS OF
sented the general attitude of reform. Above all
thought rises the freedom to think; above all utter-
THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
ance ranks the liberty to utter. The man who first
WHEN one opens the morning's newspaper on a day
asserted that liberty at a given time, and, in assert-
like this and finds it filled, like all its companion
ing it, made it attractive and convincing, became
journals, with eulogiums upon one man, it is diffi-
the leader of his period. It was Emerson who did
cult not to recall that fine passage in Landor's
this for us. From the moment that his volume called
Imaginary Conversations, where Demosthenes says
Nature was published in 1836, the thraldom of
of Athens, I have seen the day when the most
Puritanism was broken and men were summoned to
august of cities had but one voice within her walls;
follow the Inner Light. William Penn and the
and when the stranger, on entering them, stopped
early Friends had stretched out their hands for this
at the silence of the gateway, and said, Demos-
attitude, but had never quite reached it, because
thenes is speaking in the assemblage of the people.'
still somewhat fettered by the tradition of Bible
One controlling voice speaks to us to-day and all
worship, and by a persecuting clergy of whom Wil-
that we can do is in our humbler individual tones to
1 Conway Emerson at Home and Abroad, p. 66.
SERIES III. PUBLISHED VOLS.
112
THE EMERSON CENTENARY
SPEECH OF HUGO MÜNSTERBERG
113
Miss AGNES C. MAITLAND, Somerville College, Oxford.
bridge, at an expense of $150,000, which sum he has
Professor HENRY GOUDY, D. C. L., Oxford.
already raised, is with us to-night, and we desire to
Professor J. G. McKENDRICK, Glasgow University.
thank him in this manner for the great service he
Professor S. ALEXANDER, Owen's College, Manchester.
has done for the memory of Emerson. I have plea-
Professor GEORGE SAINTSBURY, Edinburgh University.
sure in introducing to you Professor Münsterberg, of
Professor GEORGE ADAM SMITH, Glasgow.
Harvard University.
PATRICK W. CAMPBELL, W. S., Edinburgh.
Sir LESLIE STEPHEN.
Sir WILLIAM TURNER, Edinburgh University.
SPEECH OF HUGO MÜNSTERBERG
Professor Marcus Dods, Edinburgh.
Professor LATTA, University, Glasgow.
MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : - The
Professor A. V. DICEY, All Souls, Oxford.
overwhelming kindness of your generous words,
Professor ALEXANDER LAWSON, University, St. An-
Mr. Chairman, adds much to the embarrassment with
drews.
which I stand before you. I am deeply embarrassed
I Professor C. H. HERFORD, Manchester.
indeed, - how can I, a foreigner, an outsider, rise at
Professor A. S. PRINGLE PATTISON.
this occasion to speak to a circle of women and men,
:
EDMUND GOSSE, LL. D., London.
inspired from childhood by the atmosphere of Emer-
son's New England? I have been brought up near
THE CHAIRMAN - Rudyard Kipling declined his
the Baltic Sea, and in my childhood the waves of
invitation, but we have his "Recessional" here to-
the ocean seldom brought greetings from these New
night and we hope to have the pleasure of hearing
England shores to the shores of Germany. And yet
Mr. Parker sing it.
my youth was not untouched by Emerson's genius.
I am glad to mention this Emersonian influence
Kipling's 'Recessional" was sung by Mr. George
abroad, because in the rich chord of the joyful enthu-
J. Parker, accompanied on the piano by Mrs.
siasm of this day I missed only one overtone: a tone
Charles Edward Brown.
bringing out the grateful appreciation which Emer-
son found in the not-English speaking foreign coun-
THE CHAIRMAN : - The gentleman who has per-
tries. As far as I remember, I had only three Amer-
haps honored the memory of Emerson by the grandest
ican books, in German translation, in my little
and most lasting memorial, and who proposed the
schoolday library. At ten I got a boys' edition of
plan for the Emerson Hall of Philosophy at Cam-
Cooper's Leatherstocking; at twelve I enjoyed
UNIT 1
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SERIES III. PUBLISHED VOLS.
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THE EMERSON CENTENARY
SPEECH OF HUGO MÜNSTERBERG
115
Longfellow's poems, but at fourteen I had Emerson's
Essays. And they accompanied me through my stu-
man, the Philosophy Department of Harvard has
dent days I read and reread them, and he became
not to report any new facts to-night. The Emerson
thus the star to which I hitched my little wagon
story is very simple, very short, and completely known
when it was to carry me to the new world from the
to you. We saw a year ago that the time had come
fatherland. This was not without effect on my own
to place an Emerson Hall for Philosophy on the
American experiences. Emerson's work had SO often
Harvard Yard, and that it was necessary for that
represented to me the spirit of the new world which
purpose to collect $150,000 before the 25th of May,
I entered that my mental eye became so sensitive as
1903 we began thus to collect, and when we counted
the contents of our purse, on the 23d of May 1903,
to recognize the Emersonian lines and curves and
we found there $150,250. That is the whole simple
forms everywhere in the background of American
life. Most Europeans, and especially Germans, who
story indeed, and yet some connotations to it may
be in order, and I am most happy to make them
come over, see everywhere the features of commer-
cialism and practical utilitarianism. I was impressed
in this company.
First, do not misunderstand the report of our
by the idealism of this young, healthful community,
treasurer; the sum I mentioned was meant from the
and in the first essay which I published on America,
in a German paper, only a few months after my first
beginning merely as a fund sufficient to secure a
visit, I wrote with most sincere conviction "If
building,- not at all sufficient to secure the building
for which we were hoping from the start. We want
you really want to understand the deepest energies
of this glorious country, do not consult the editorials
a spacious, noble, monumental hall - the architec-
tural plans are drawn. To build it as the plans sug-
of the yellow press of New York, but read the
golden books of the wise man of Concord."
gest it we need $100,000 more; and while we
But, Mr. Chairman, I feel that I have no right to
highly appreciate any small gifts toward this addi-
tional sum we are firmly determined not to reject
speak here as a German, since you have assured us
that the foreign scholars have been invited for to-
even the largest contributions.
But all this refers to the externals, to the news-
night, with the understanding that they are not
allowed to come a cover has been laid for me,
paper side of our memorial work; let me speak in
this narrower circle of some more internal points.
nevertheless, I take it that I was expected not to
Seen from such an exoteric point of view, it may
forget that I am here as the representative of the
Harvard Philosophy Department. But, Mr. Chair-
look as though we Harvard philosophers had said
through all the year : "Happy public, you are fortu-
UNIT 1
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THE EMERSON CENTENARY
SPEECH OF HUGO MÜNSTERBERG
117
nate in being allowed to build a fine building for our
assure you that it is exactly the opposite feeling with
splendid philosophy instruction, and now that the
which we look into the future, and this conviction
checks are written, the public may kindly remove
that we must fulfil our duty better, much better,
itself and the students may fill their fountain pens
than heretofore, is common to all of us in the whole
to write down in the new building our glorious effu-
large Department of Philosophy. A lucky chance
sion of wisdom." Well, over there in Cambridge,
brought to me this morning, when I left for Concord,
we must impose on the freshmen and sophomores,
a letter from our colleague, Professor Royce, who is
but here let me say at once, we know exactly that
spending his sabbatical year in the country of his
the generous contributions of the community were
childhood, in California. He finds the fit word bet-
not given to us but to Emerson, And if we ever
ter than I could hope to do let me read from his
forgot it, our benefactors reminded us of it. I asked,
letter. I had written to him that the success seems
for instance, the help of Andrew Carnegie, and he
near, and he replies -
gave generously, but when I replied that there would
feel very deeply how great are the responsi-
Royce
be rejoicing in Harvard that at last he had given to
bilities which the new gift places upon the shoulders
Harvard University, saw in the far background
of each teacher of the department which is thus
the big Harvard Library building we need so badly,-
endowed. I do not know how much I shall be able
he left me not the slightest doubt that his pledge
to do to live up to these new responsibilities. I only
was for the Emerson Memorial, but not for Harvard
know that the news of the success of the Emerson
as Harvard. Yes. it is thoroughly an Emerson build-
Hall endowment fills me with a desire not only to
ing, a late expression of Harvard's gratitude for her
improve here and there, but quite to make over
greatest son.
afresh, and to change throughout for the better, my
But we know also that the value of this memorial
methods of work as a teacher of philosophy and
gift lies not in its walls and roof, but in the kind of
with a determination to devote myself as never be-
work which will develop within those walls. It will
fore to the task of offering to philosophy and to
be a true Emerson memorial only if the words and
Harvard my best services. That the founding of this
work in that hall become help and guidance, wisdom
new building may mean the beginning of a new life
and inspiration for new and new generations of Har-
for philosophical study in our country, and the dawn-
vard men. There would be no hope of such influence
ing of a new day for the interests of higher thought
if we instructors really entered into it with an air
in our national affairs, is the earnest wish of your
of self-satisfaction and self-complacency. Let me
absent colleague."
III. PUBLISHED VOLS.
118
THE EMERSON CENTENARY
SPEECH OF EDWARD WALDO EMERSON 119
This is the feeling of our common department's
soul. We shall not enter the new Philosophy Hall
SPEECH OF EDWARD WALDO EMERSON
with the feeling that we can sit there on our laurels,
but with the firm promise that we will live up to the
MR. CHAIRMAN, My Honored Friend, - My
duties which the single word above its door demands
Friends and Neighbors: - The Social Circle, as
from us. We all are united by the ideal to make
stated in its book of chronicles, was not merely
our work in Emerson Hall worthy of the name that
founded for the diffusion of useful communica-
honors it
tions" by the twenty-five members who composed it,
Mr. Chairman, I see from your pretty menu-card
some of which might be shared by their wives and
that Emerson once said, " Harvard University is
some not, - but for the promotion of the social affec-
thin like a wafer compared with the solid land of
tions, that they should not die. I am glad to see
our Social Circle in Concord." That was sixty years
how liberally the Circle has gone to work to promote
ago, and there has not been much change since that
them by such a thoroughly social and affectionate
time, indeed. But now the change will come, believe
and catholic occasion as this.
us. Emerson Hall in Harvard University will be
Now, it makes me smile a little when, after the
built on solid land, too, on the solid land of our best
exercises that I have had the privilege of attending
will and effort, and we will work that it may prove
here and elsewhere, I think of a remark that I have
perhaps even not less solid than the Social Circle,-
so often heard my father make. My mother was
solid land on which to stand to-night gave me the
constantly remembering that "Ten years ago to-day
greatest possible pleasure.
such a thing occurred," and other members of the
family would remember other anniversaries. When
THE CHAIRMAN:- Dr. Emerson needs no intro-
at table such remarks were made, my father would
duction from me to you. He will occupy the few
often laugh and say, "Oh, it is always a hundred
remaining moments before the time to leave for
years from something." But he was so good a towns-
the train, and the exercises will then close with
man and he had such an affectionate regard for his
singing the "Battle Hymn" to the tune of "Old
neighbors - and he construed that term very largely
Hundred."
- that if we can conceive of him being present and
receiving such a tribute as has been given to him
to-day, it is very clear how it would have affected
him. Some of you are too young - or too young
1905.]
Emerson Memorial Hall.
249
250
Prof. Palmer arranges the poems in a new order, placing his notes on
Emerson Memorial Hall.
is
striking:
[December,
the page facing the text. For pictorial illustrations he gives portraits,
Here,
generation
after
and
works
of
the
generation
will
be
views of scenes and buildings connected with Herbert, facsimiles of manu-
great
scholar
inspired
and
by
the
life
scripts and reproductions of title-pages. The result is as nearly per-
of other the university can instruct and inspire, philosopher, through in the a way in which no
fecta book which author, editor, critic, and publisher unite to do their
best - as we are likely to see. It is the definitive edition of George
Emerson, one enters the building, in the hall will be seen the seated Department.
As Memorial. It is to be the home of the Philosophical very atmosphere
Herbert: a delight for every lover of fine bookmaking and it may
simple Doric in bronze, by Frank Duveneck. This hall is of impressive statue of
serve as a model of the way in which poets can (and therefore should)
room, proportions 350 and detail. The leads directly to and
be edited.
and rooms seating. for persons. On the first floor are also several a lecture-
which will be seminars. A generous staircase leads to the class-rooms
the devoted to the sections of second floor,
EMERSON MEMORIAL HALL.
This floor museum, and also the be
sociological has largely library Sociology. philosophical Here library. will
class-rooms also a lecture-room seating 150 beside
Harvard's newest building, the Emerson Memorial Hall, the latest
rooms on and studies. Through special gifts the persons, libraries and various other
building to be given to the University, will be finished some time in De-
The third this floor floor are to be splendidly furnished and equipped.
cember, when it will be occupied by the departments of Philosophy and
has been is devoted entirely to Psychology. Here the
Psychology. The structure, an illustration of which we publish in this
for care psychological given to the planning of the most complete greatest
issue, stands adjacent to Sever Hall, facing Robinson Hall, and was de-
ment-rooms, in studies research, and in class-rooms. the equipment of laboratories arrangement and experi-
signed by Guy Lowell, '92.
A difficult problem has been successfully solved in the erection of this
It is thus seen that under one roof Harvard has now assembled
building. Sever and Robinson Halls differ so radically in architectural
accommodations closely bound together, and has provided generous and depart-
design, as well as in color and size, that the task of forming an harmonious
1903, said: in a speech at the Emerson Centenary at Concord, Prof.
Munsterberg for a great work whose results are immeasurable. splendid
group seemed well-nigh impossible when the ground was broken for Em-
erson Hall. The building, though one story greater in height, has been
know also "We want a spacious, noble, monumental hall. in May,
made to balance Robinson Hall in mass and design, and therefore with
roof, but in that the value of this memorial gift lies not in its But we
Sever the three give to the Yard a group of much interest.
will be the kind of work which will develop within those walls and
The materials of construction are brick and limestone, used in about
become a true Emerson Memorial only if the words and work in walls. It
the same proportion as those in Robinson Hall. The most unusual fea-
generations of Harvard Men."
help and guidance, wisdom and inspiration for new and that new hall
ture is the use of large columns of brick, which carry through two stories.
These occur in a group of six upon the front, and in a group of two upon
ning he of "That the founding of this new building may the which
A.letter...from said Prof. Royce was read at the same meeting, in
the end elevation, giving a motive for the Yard entrance. They give the
desired effect of light and shade without detracting from the quiet effect
ing of a new life for philosophical study in our country, mean and the begin-
of color due to the predominance of brick. The columns are of Ionic
affairs, a is new day for the interests of higher thought in our national dawn-
order, and the whole building is Greek in feeling and detail. Over the
Prof. the earnest wish of your absent colleague."
Yard entrance is the one word " Philosophy and across the frieze over
'Gainst James, in an address at this centenary celebration, also
the colonnade, on the front, What is man that Thou art mindful of
him." At the present moment, although the newness of the limestone
cheered and long as our English language lasts, men's hearts beloved
master. As death and all oblivious enmity shall you pace forth, said
in the building gives rather sharp contrasts of color, the simplicity and
musical their souls strengthened and liberated by the noble will be
dignity of the design are such that time will quickly tone the structure, 80
mind of pages three with which you have enriched it." With the and in
that its real qualities will give to the Yard an added character that it has
Memorial of the professora who will labor together in this words
greatly needed.
vard and Hall, the reality and worth of the building is realized Emerson for Har-
The uses of the Hall will be such that the uniqueness of the Memorial
for humanity.
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William James
Address at the Emerson Centenary in
Concord (1903)
(spelling and punctuation regularized)
The pathos of death is this, that when the days of one's life are
ended, those days that were so crowded with business and felt
so heavy in their passing, what remains of one in memory should
usually be so slight a thing. The phantom of an attitude. the
echo of a certain mode of thought, a few pages of print, some
invention, or some victory we gained in a brief critical hour, are
all that can survive the best of us. It is as if the whole of a man's
significance had now shrunk into the phantom of an attitude,
into a mere musical note or phrase suggestive of his singularity
- happy are those whose singularity gives a note so clear as to
be victorious over the inevitable pity of such a diminution and
abridgement.
An ideal wraith like this, of Emerson's personality, hovers
over all Concord today, taking, in the minds of those of you who
were his neighbors and intimates a somewhat fuller shape,
remaining more abstract in the younger generation, but bringing
home to all of us the notion of a spirit indescribably precious.
The form that so lately moved upon these streets and country
roads, or awaited in these fields and woods the beloved Muse's
visits, is now dust; but the soul's note, the spiritual voice, rises
strong and clear above the uproar of the times, and seems
securely destined to exert an ennobling influence over future
generations.
What gave a flavor so matchless to Emerson's individuality
was, even more than his rich mental gifts, their singularly
harmonious combination. Rarely has a man so accurately known
the limits of his genius or so unfailingly kept with them. "Stand
by your order," he used to say to youthful students; and perhaps
the paramount impression one gets of his life is of his loyalty to
his own personal type and mission. The type was that of what he
liked to call a scholar, the perceiver of pure truth; and the
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mission was that of the reporter in worthy form of each
perception. The day is good, he said, in which we have the most
perceptions. There are times when the cawing of a crow, a
weed, a snowflake, or a farmer planting in his field become
symbols to the intellect of truths equal to those which the most
majestic phenomena can open. Let me mind my own charge,
then, walk alone, consult the sky, the field and forest,
sedulously waiting every morning for the news concerning the
structure of the universe which the good Spirit will give me.
This was the first half of Emerson, but only half; for genius,
as he said, is insatiate for expression, and truth has to be clad in
the right verbal garment. The form of the garment was so vital
with Emerson that it is impossible to separate it from the
matter. They form a chemical combination - thoughts which
would be trivially expressed otherwise, are important through
the nouns and verbs to which he married them. The style is the
man, and if we must define him in one word, we have to call him
Artist. He was an artist whose medium was verbal and who
wrought in spiritual material.
This duty of spiritual seeing and reporting determined the
whole tenor of his life. It was to shield this duty from invasion
and distraction that he dwelt in the country, that he
consistently declined to entangle himself with associations or to
encumber himself with functions which, however he might
believe in them, he felt were duties for other men and not for
him. Even the care of his garden, "with its stoopings and fingers
in a few yards of space," he found "narrowing and poisoning,"
and took to long free walks and saunterings instead, without
apology. "Causes" innumerable sought to enlist him as their
"worker" - all got his smile and word of svmpathv. but none
entrapped him into service. The struggle against slavery itself,
deeply as it appealed to him, found him firm:
1. God must govern his own world, and knows his way out of
this pit without my desertion of my post, which has none to
guard it but me. I have quite other slaves to face than
those Negroes, to wit, imprisoned thoughts far back in the
brain of man, and which have no watchman or lover or
defender but me.
This in reply to the possible questions of his own conscience. To
hot-blooded moralists with more objective ideas of duty, such
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fidelity to the limits of his genius must have often made him
seem provokingly remote and unavailable; but we, who can see
things in moral liberal perspective, must unqualifiably approve
the results. The faultless tact with which he kept his safe limits
while he so dauntlessly asserted himself within them, is an
example fitted to give heart to other theorists and artists the
world over.
The insight and creed from which Emerson's life followed
can be best summed up in his own verses:
So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
So near is God to man!
Through the individual fact there ever shone for him the
effulgence of the Universal Reason. The great Cosmic Intellect
terminates and houses itself in mortal men and passing hours.
Each of us is an angle of its eternal vision, and the only way to
be true to our Maker is to be loyal to ourselves. "O rich and
various Man!" he cries, "thou palace of sight and sound, carrying
in thy senses the morning and the night and the unfathomable
galaxy; in thy brain the geometry of the city of God; in thy heart
the power of love and the realms of right and wrong."
If the individual opens thus directly into the Absolute, it
follows that there is something in each and all of us, even the
lowliest, that ought not to consent to borrowed traditions and
living at second hand. "If John was perfect, why are you and I
alive?" Emerson writes; "As long as any man exists there is some
need of him: let him fight for his own." This faith that in a life at
first hand there is something sacred is perhaps the most
characteristic note in Emerson's writings. The hottest side of
him is this non-conformist persuasion, and if his temper could
ever verge on common irascibility, it would be by reason of the
passionate character of his feelings on this point. The world is
still new and untried. In seeing freshly, and not in hearing of
what others saw, shall a man find what truth is. "Each one of us
can bask in the great morning which rises out of the Eastern Sea,
and be himself one of the children of the light." "Trust thyself.
every heart vibrates to that iron string. There is a time in each
man's education when he must arrive at the conviction that
limitation is suicide: that he must take himself for better or
worse as his portion; and know that though the wide universe is
full of good. no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but
through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which it was
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given him to till."
The matchless eloquence with which Emerson proclaimed
the sovereignty of the living individual electrified and
emancipated his generation, and this bugle-blast will doubtless
be regarded by future critics as the soul of his message. The
present man is the aboriginal reality, the Institution is
derivative, and the past man is irrelevant and obliterate for
present issues. "If anyone would lay an axe to your tree with a
text from I John, V, 7, or a sentence from Saint Paul, say to
him," Emerson wrote, " My tree is Yggdrasil, the tree of life.' Let
him know by your security that your conviction is clear and
sufficient, and, if he were Paul himself, that you also are here
and with your Creator;" "Cleve ever to God," he insisted "against
the name of God;"- and so, in spite of the intensely religious
character of his total thought, when he began his career it
seemed to many of his brethren in the clerical profession that
he was little more than an iconoclast and desecrator.
Emerson's belief that the individual must in reason be
adequate to the vocation for which the Spirit of the world has
called him into being, is the source of those sublime pages,
hearteners, and sustainers of our youth, in which he urges his
hearers to be incorruptibly true to their own private conscience.
Nothing can harm the man who rests in his appointed place and
character. Such a man is invulnerable; he balances the universe,
balances it as much by keeping small when he is small, by being
great and spreading when he is great. "I love and honor
Epaminondas," said Emerson, "but I do not wish to be
Epaminondas. I hold it more just to love the world of this hour
than the world of his hour. Nor can you, if I am true, excite me
to the least uneasiness by saying, 'He acted and thou sittest
still.' I see action to be good when the need is, and sitting still to
be also good. Epaminondas. if he was the man I take him for,
would have sat still with joy and peace, if his lot had been mine.
Heaven is large and affords space for all modes of love and
fortitude." "The fact that I am here certainly shows me that the
Soul has need of an organ here, and shall I not assume the post?"
The vanity of all superserviceableness and pretence was
never more happily set forth than by Emerson in the many
passages in which he develops this aspect of his philosophy.
Character infallibly proclaims itself. "Hide your thoughts! - hide
the sun and moon. They publish themselves to the universe.
They will speak through you though you were dumb. They will
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William James, Address at the Emerson Centenary in Concord THE PEIRCE GATEWA Page 5 of 8
flow out of your actions, your manners and your face.
Don't
say things: What you are stands over you the while and thunders
so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.
What a
man is engraves itself upon him in letters of light. Concealment
avails him nothing, boasting nothing. There is confession in the
glances of our eyes; in our smiles; in salutations; and the grasp
of hands. His sin bedaubs him, mars all his good impression. Men
know not why they do not trust him, but they do not trust him.
His vice glasses the eye, casts lines of mean expression in the
cheek, pinches the nose, sets the mark of the beast upon the
back of the head, and writes, o fool! fool! on the forehead of a
king. If you would not be known to do a thing, never do it; a man
may play the fool in the drifts of the desert, but every grain of
sand shall seem to see - How can a man be concealed? How can
he be concealed?"
On the other hand, never was a sincere word or a sincere
thought utterly lost. "Never a magnanimity fell to the ground but
there is some heart to greet and accept it unexpectedly
The
hero fears not that if he withstood the avowal of a just and
brave act, it will go unwitnessed and unloved. One knows it, -
himself - and is pledged by it to sweetness of peace and
nobleness of aim, which will prove in the end a better
proclamation than the relating of the incident."
The same indefeasible right to be exactly what one is,
provided one only be authentic, spreads itself, in Emerson's way
of thinking, from persons to things and to times and places. No
date, no position is insignificant, if the life that fills it out be
only genuine:
1. In solitude, in a remote village, the ardent youth loiters
and mourns. With inflamed eye, in this sleeping wilderness,
he has read the story of the Emperor, Charles the Fifth,
until his fancy has brought home to the surrounding woods
the faint roar of cannonades in the Milanese, and marches
in Germany. He is curious concerning that man's day. What
filled it? the crowded orders, the stern decisions, the
foreign despatches, the Castellan etiquette? The soul
answers - Behold his day here! In the sighing of these
woods, in the quiet of these gray fields, in the cool breeze
that sings out of these northern mountains; in the
workmen, the boys, the maidens, you meet, - in the hopes
of the morning, the ennui of noon, and sauntering of the
afternoon; in the disquieting comparisons; in the regrets at
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William James, Address at the Emerson Centenary in Concord THE PEIRCE GATEWA
Page 6 of 8
want of vigor; in the great idea, and the puny execution, -
behold Charles the Fifth's day; another, yet the same;
behold Chatham's, Hampden's, Bayard's, Alfred's, Scipio's,
Pericles's day, - day of all that are born of women. The
difference of circumstance is merely costume. I am tasting
the self-same life, - its sweetness, its greatness, its pain,
which I so admire in other men. Do not foolishly ask of the
inscrutable, obliterated past, what it cannot tell, - the
details of that nature, of that day, called Byron, or Burke;
- but ask it of the enveloping Now Be lord of a day, and
you can put up your history books. [From "Literary Ethics,"
1838.]
"The deep today which all men scorn" receives thus from
Emerson superb revindication. "Other world! there is no other
world." All God's life opens into the individual particular, and
here and now, or nowhere, is reality. "The present hour is the
decisive hour, and every day is doomsday."
Such a conviction that Divinity is everywhere may easily
make of one an optimist of the sentimental type that refuses to
speak ill of anything. Emerson's drastic perception of differences
kept him at the opposite pole from this weakness. After you
have seen men a few times, he could say, you find most of them
as alike as their barns and pantries, and soon as musty and
dreary. Never was such a fastidious lover of significance and
distinction, and never an eye so keen for their discovery. His
optimism had nothing in common with that indiscriminate
hurrahing for the Universe with which Walt Whitman has made
us familiar. For Emerson, the individual fact and moment were
indeed suffused with absolute radiance, but it was upon a
condition that saved the situation - they must be worthy
specimens, - sincere, authentic, archetypical; they must have
made connection with what he calls the Moral Sentiment, they
must in some way act as symbolic mouthpieces of the Universe's
meaning. To know just which thing does act in this way, and
which thing fails to make the true connection, is the secret
(somewhat incommunicable, it must be confessed) of seership,
and doubtless we must not expect of the seer too rigorous a
consistency. Emerson himself was a real seer. He could perceive
the full squalor of the individual fact, but he could also see the
transfiguration. He might easily have found himself saying of
some present-day agitator against our Philippine conquest what
he said of this or that reformer of his own time. He might have
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William James, Address at the Emerson Centenary in Concord THE PEIRCE GATEWA
Page 7 of 8
called him, as a private person, a tedious bore and canter. But
he would infallibly have added what he then added: "It is strange
and horrible to say this, for I feel that under him and his
partiality and exclusiveness is the earth and the sea, and all that
in them is, and the axis round which the Universe revolves
passes through his body where he stands."
Be it how it may, then, this is Emerson's revelation: The
point of any pen can be an epitome of reality; the commonest
person's act, if genuinely actuated, can lay hold of eternity. This
vision is the head-spring of all his outpourings; and it is for this
truth, given to no previous literary artist to express in such
penetratingly persuasive tones, that prosperity will reckon him a
prophet, and perhaps neglecting other pages, piously turn to
those that covey this message. His life was one long conversation
with the invisible divine, expressing itself through individuals
and particulars: "So nigh is grandeur to our dust, so near is God
to man!"
I spoke of how shrunken the wraith, how thin the echo, of
men is after they are departed. Emerson's wraith comes to me
now as if it were but the very voice of this victorious argument.
His words to this effect are certain to be quoted and extracted
more and more as time goes on, and to take their place among
the Scriptures of humanity. "Gainst death and all oblivious
enmity, shall you pace forth," beloved Master. As long as our
English language lasts men's hearts will be cheered and their
souls strengthened and liberated by the noble and musical pages
with which you have enriched it.
END OF: William James, "Address at the Emerson Centenary at
Concord (1903)"
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de complace and authorized WIND aoes
not hear the of Houghton, Miffin & Company.
EMERSON'S COMPLETE WORKS
THE EMERSON CENTENNIAL
NEW CENTENARY EDITION. With a Biographical Sketch and
DIVER
copious Notes by EDWARD WALDO EMERSON, and five beautiful
photogravure portraits of Emerson. This edition will contain two or
three new volumes of hitherto unpublished material. Crown 8vo, gilt
Memorial School at Concord and Boston
top, at $1.75 per volume. Twelve volumes to be published this year.
Vol. I and II now ready.
1. MATURE, ADDRESSES, AND
8. LETTERS AND SOCIAL AIMS.
July 13-31, 1903
LECTURES.
9. POEMS.
2.
ESSAYS. First Series.
10. LECTURES AND BIOGRAPH-
L
ESSAYS. Second Series.
ICAL SKETCHES.
&
REPRESENTATIVE MEN.
11. MISCELLANIES.
5. ENGLISH TRAITS.
13 NATURAL HISTORY OF IN-
e. CONDUCT OF LIFE.
TELLECT AND OTHER PA-
The Free Religious Association of America, of which
9. SOCIETY AND SOLITUDE.
PERS.
Emerson was one of the founders and vice-presidents, in re-
IM Kinerside Edition. 12 vols., as above, 12mo, with two Portraits. Price per
vol., S.T. per set, $21.00. (This edition contains a General Index to the Collected Works.)
sponse to a general demand from students throughout the country
The Limite Chaonic Edition. 12 vols., as above, 18mo. Price per vol., $1.25: per
not, $15.00.
for a broad consideration, in this centennial year, of Emerson's
SEPARATE WORKS
life and influence, has perfected plans for an Emerson Memo
ESSAYS, FIRST AND SECOND SERIES, AND POEMS. vols. 18mo, half calf,
rial School, in July. To secure the broadest possible spirit in
in box, 36.75
the planning of the program for this important commemoration,
ESSAYS, FIRST AND SECOND SERIES. 1 vol., crowe 8vo., $1.00.
REPRESENTATIVE MEN, WITH NATURE, ADDRESSES, AND LECTURES
the committee appointed by the Association has been enlarged
Crown Ovo, $1.00.
CORRESPONDENCE or CARLYLE AND EMERSON, 1834-1872 Edited by
by the addition of scholars representing the old Concora maar
CHARLES ELIOT NORTON. 2 veis., crown 8vo. 14.00. Library Edition. 2 vols.,
kimo, $3.00.
tion, the Harvard sentiment, and the Saturday Club, with which
THE EMERSON-GRIMM CORRESPONDENCE. 16mo, $1.00 net. Postage 5 cents.
Emerson was so long and so fondly associated,--th committee
POEMS. Household Edition. With Portrait. Cr. Bvo, $1.50; full gilt, $2.00.
consisting of Edwin D. Mead, George Willis Cooke, Jotn C.
COMPILATIONS
Haynes, Frank B. Sanborn, William R. Thayer, Moorfield
POEMS FROM THE WRITINGS OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON With 10-
Storey, and David Greene Haskins, Jr.
tradition and Notes by GEORGE H. BROWNE. In Riverside Literature Series.
Memo, paper, 15 cents.
The school will open on Monday, July x3, and continue
An admirable introduction to the study of E METION.
three weeks. There will be thirty lectures. covering the various
The above, with Fortune of the Republic, and other Essays, linen, 40 cents.
BIRTHDAY BOOK. Illustrated, 18mo, $1.00; full flexible levant, $3.00.
aspects of Emerson's life and work. The morning lectures
CALENDAR BOOK. 32mo, parchment paper, 25 cents.
will be given in Concord, and the evening lectures in Boston.
BIOGRAPHIES OF EMERSON
Two afternoons will be devoted to Memories of Emerson, by
A MEMOIR OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON. By JAMES ELLIOT CABOT. 2 vols.,
men and women who were personal friends of the great thinker
BROWN Bro, $3.59.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON. By OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 16mo, $1.25.
and there will be throughout the period of the school special
EMERSON IN CONCORD. By EDWARD W. EMERSON. Crown 8vo, $1.75.
Sunday services, with sermons or addresses by eminent lovers
RALPH WALDO EMERSON: HIS LIFE, WRITINGS, AND PHILOSOPHY.
By GEORGE WILLIS COOKE. 12mo, $2.00.
of Emerson.
m sale by all Booksellers. Send, postpaid, on receipt of price by the Publishers.
The time for the commemoration has been fixed so as
best to accommodate the great number of teachers and students
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
Boston and New York
from all parts of the country who will come to Boston early in
Association. it is telt that hundreds of these, who will spend
July 13. Rev. Charles Gordon Ames, The Sources of Emerson."
the summer in New England, will welcome the opportunity of
14. Rev. Charles F. Dole, Emerson the Puritan.'
attending this inspiring summer school; and its opening will
15. Joel Benton, Emerson with Nature."
16. Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer, "The American Woman's
therefore immediately follow the Educational Association's
Debt to Emerson."
Morning
convention. The division of the sessions between Concord
17. Prof. Kuno Francke, Emerson's Debt to Germany and
Lectures
and Boston will also; it is felt, be pleasing to these visiting
Germany's Debt to Emerson."
in
20. Edwin D. Mead, Emerson's Message in Education."
scholars, while at the same time a convenience to the large
21. Rev. Charles E. Jefferson, "Emerson and Carlyle."
local public.
concord
22. Dr. Edward W. Emerson, "The Religion of Emerson."
The quick and easy railroad and trolley connections will
23. Prof. Charles F. Richardson, "Emerson's Place in
American Literature."
enable visitors to take lodgings in Lexington, Bedford or Cam-
"
24. Percival Chubb, "Emerson's Spiritual Leadership in
bridge, as well as in Concord or Boston. The frequent
England."
trains, early and late, between Concord and Boston will make
27. Prof. Nathaniel Schmidt, "Emerson and Oriental
headquarters in either place, or in the pleasant places between,
Thought."
28. Charles Malloy, "The Sphinx."
entirely convenient for those attending the full course. Those
29. Rev. John W. Chadwick, "The Simpler Emerson."
desiring lodgings and board in or near Concord may address
30. Moorfield Storey, 'Emerson and the Civil War."
the Emerson School Committee, Concord, Mass.
31.
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, "A Century from the Birth of
Emerson.
The lectures in Concord will be given in the Town Hall,
where Emerson in his lifetime lectured a hundred times, at ten
EVENING LECTURES IN BOSTON.
o'clock. The lectures in Boston will be given in Huntington
July 13. Pres. Jacob Gould Schurman, "The Philosophy of
Hall, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at quarter
Emerson."
of eight o'clock. The morning lectures will be followed by
14. Rev. Samuel M. Crothers, "The Poetry of Emerson."
discussion.
15. Frank B. Sanborn, "Emerson and the Concord School of
Philosophy."
The price of tickets for the season, covering both the
16. George Willis Cooke, "Emerson and the Transcendental
Concord and Boston lectures, will be $5. Tickets will be
Movement."
sold for the morning and evening courses separately, for $3
as
17.
Rev. Samuel A. Eliot, "Emerson and Harvard."
and also for single lectures, 35 cents. The tickets are sold in
20. William R. Thayer, "Emerson's Gospel of Individualism."
Boston at the Old Corner Bookstore, corner of School and
21. Dr. Francis E. Abbot, "Emerson the Anti-imperialist or
Prophet of the Natural Rights of Man."
Washington Streets, the Congregational Bookstore, 14 Beacon
22. Rev. R. Heber Newton, Emerson the Man."
Street, and the Unitarian Rooms, 25 Beacon Street; and in
23. Henry D. Lloyd, Emerson's Wit and Humor."
Concord at H. L. Whitcomb's bookstore and Richardson's
24. William M. Salter, "Emerson's Aim and Method in
Social Reform."
drugstore.
"
27. Rabbi Charles Fleischer, "Emerson, the Seer of
Address for any required information the Secretary of
Democracy."
"
the Committee, David Greene Haskins, Jr., 5 Tremont Street,
28. Rev. Benjamin F. Trueblood, "Emerson and the Inner
Light."
Boston, Mass., of whom tickets may be ordered by mail.
"
29. William Lloyd Garrison, "Emerson and the Anti-Slavery
Movement."
"
30. Prof. A. E. Dolbear, "Emerson's Thought in Relation to
Modern Science."
44
31. Rev. Edward Everett Hale, "Emerson's Gospel for his
Own Time and for Ours."
36
46
be a pleasure to serve with you in even this infrequent
5 See the accompanying flyer for the kind of activities
rather shadowy manner; and I think we shall found our
sponsored by this club.
count in thus meeting occasionally the earnest persons,
6 See the "Introduction" to my recent edition of Charles
ing and old, who find the wisdom and the spirit of Emer-
Malloy's A Study of Emerson's Major Poems, Hartford
so well adapted to their needs.
(Transcendental Books), 1973.
I was in Washington in the great snow storm, but found
7 This letter is in the Concord Free Public Library and
streets too much for my trying to visit you. I hope you
is edited here with the kind permission of its librarian,
give us an opportunity to see you here in Concord be-
Mrs. Rose Marie Mitten.
long. At present Mrs. Sanborn is at 150 W. 59th St.
8 Sanborn's letter dated Concord, Mass., Aug. 6, 1899,
York, visiting Mrs. Edw. Hoar; Mr. Channing is well,
to Harris at Hurricane, N.Y. Owned by the Concord Free
am
Public Library.
Yours as ever,
9 Boston Evening Transcript, Jan. 31, 1901, p. 10. San-
F. B. Sanborn
born's letter is dated "Concord, Jan. 28."
of W. T. Harris, Washington, D.C.
10 Call number: HUD 255.505 (Box This autobiog-
raphy was edited with permission in the ESQ, no. 16
(3rd Quarter 1959), pp. 27-30.
Later in the year, Sanborn reported to Harris: "I wrote
in the Spring in regard to becoming a Vice President,
Mrs. [Julia Ward] Howe and myself, of the new Emer-
SANBORN'S FIRST BLAST AGAINST HARVARD
Society, which was initiated with success in May last.
FOR NEGLECTING EMERSON
did not reply; but as 'silence gives consent we put you
the list. In 1901, Sanborn sent a promotional letter to
Kenneth Walter Cameron
editor of the Boston Evening Transcript, setting forth
details concerning the Society, which "meets every week
F. B. Sanborn's philippic on July 22, 1903, against
Thursday afternoons at three o'clock in the room of the
Harvard University for its early treatment of R. W.
etaphysical Club, at 200 Clarendon street, and either
Emerson was appropriate for the series of observances
tens to lectures, or more usually, hears Mr. Charles
in Boston and Concord honoring the centennial of Emer-
alloy, the best interpreter of Emerson's oracular poems,
son's birth
It had an important precursor, however
scourse upon those, or upon some prose chapter of the
in a letter Sanborn directed to the "Visiting Committee2
oncord sage. It is a gathering of Emersonians, some
of the Philosophic Division of Harvard University," which,
in this literature, but mostly familiar disciples, who
on the preceding February 7. had sent him a formal invi-
eatly enjoy this study of the master, in the form which
tation to attend a meeting in the house of Mrs. Bullard at
Malloy, an early friend of Emerson, the lecturer, has
3 Commonwealth Avenue on February 14---the agenda to
ade popular in New England and New York, at Greenacre
include "addresses upon the work and growth of the Philo-
the White Mountains, and chiefly in the circle of cities
sophical Department and the proposed plans for Emerson
id towns around Boston. At present he is carrying on a
Hall." I shall allow the document to speak for itself. 3
eekly course of such readings at Malden, which have con-
nued all winter, and will run on toward May. Your read-
may like to know the terms on which the exercises of
Concord, Mass., Feb'y 13, 1902.
is society may be heard. Membership, covering all lec-
George B. Dorr, Esq.
res and readings for a year--some thirty in all--requires
Chairman of the Visiting Committe, etc.
fee of $4; but single admissions are twenty-five cents for
3, Commonwealth Avenue, Back Bay.
lecture, at the hour named above. Discussion follows
Dear Sir:
accompanies the reading, as at the Concord School of
ilosophy, twenty years ago, where Mr. Malloy was an
I regret that my engagements are such that I cannot
casional speaker 19 In an autobiographical sketch dat-
be present at the important meeting at Mrs. Bullard's to
April, 1905, now in the Harvard University Archives10
which you invite me tomorrow, where I should learn what
inborn wrote to the Class Secretary: "I have been for
I am desirous of knowing, the plans for instruction in
or three years one of the Greek Committee of Brown
the Philosophical Department of Harvard University, with
diversity, and was recently chosen President of the Emer-
which it is proposed to connect the name of my old friend
Society of Boston, which was established three years
and master in certain philosophical studies, Mr. Emerson.
20, for the consideration and interpretation of Emerson's
I entered the University something more than thirty
ritings."
years after Waldo Emerson had graduated there, and when
he had been teaching, in his profound, if desultory, man-
Letter from H. N. MacCracken, Esq., 87 New Hacken-
ner, for more than twenty years, in public discourses and
ck Road, Poughkeepsie, N.Y 12603, dated March 22,
by published writings. Yet in 1852, when I entered, if
968.
there was a single professor or tutor who (I will not say)
See The Unitarian, X, no. 12, pp. 538-543.
taught but who faintly understood, the principles at the
See my Response to Transcendental Concord, passim.
root of Emerson's philosophy (which I have been wont to
See my forthcoming volume, Transcendentalists in Tran-
call Spiritual or Vital, to distinguish it from what he used
ition: Popularization of Emerson, Thoreau and the Con-
to term 'Scotch metaphysics') it was not my good fortune to
ord School of Philosophy
come in contact with such. A few students in the College,
48
a few more in the Divinity School, were acquainted with
2
It included George Bucknam Dorr, Harvard Class of
writings and valued them highly; but so far as the Fac-
'74, Chairman, and the following: Pres. Charles William
and Government of the University was concerned, with
Eliot, Major Henry L. Higginson, Prof. William James,
exception of a single professor in the Divinity School
Prof. Hugo Münsterberg, Prof. George H. Palmer and
the retiring professor of Philosophy, Dr. Walker, I
Prof. Josiah Royce. (See accompanying illustration.)
line to the opinion that Paley and Hobbes--and certainly
3 Owned by the Concord Free Public Library, which has
cke and Sir William Hamilton--filled a larger space in
kindly permitted me to edit it here. (I have slightly im-
ir substitute for speculative philosophy than Emerson,
proved Sanborn's punctuation.)
tinus, Aristotle and Plato put together. I will not men-
n Kant, Hegel, Fichte and the fixed stars of German
losophy, for we were taught by our instructors that
THE VIMITING (D)MMITTER OF THE BHILOPSPHICAL DIVINIOX OF
y were either useless or pernicious in our speculative
HARVARD UNIVERSITY HEQU'ENTH THE HONOR OF YOU'R PREMENCE AT
dies.
THE HOUMM OF MRM. BULLARD. 3 CY)MMONIKALTH AVENUE. ON FRIDAY
It is with peculiar pleasure, therefore, that I hear,
AFTERNOON. PRINTARY 14mm, AT HALM PANT FOUR O'CLAN'S.
er half a century, that Emerson begins to assume at Har-
ADDRESSES UPON THR WORK AND GROWTH OF THM MHILASMPRICAL
rd the place that was rightfully due him in 1836, when his
IRPANTHRNT AND THE PROPONNIX PLANN FOR KNKWHON HALL WILL MM
st book "Nature" came from the press. In speculative
MADE NY
ought that slender treatise, as afterwards in ethics his
PREMIDENT ELIOT.
PROF. HTGO MUXNTERHERO.
ore extended volumes, placed Emerson so far above every
MAJOR HENRY L MIGGINMON.
PROF. GHOKUN H. PALMER.
nerican philosopher, not excepting Jonathan Edwards and
PROF. WILLIAM JAMEN,
PROF. JONIAH ROTCH.
mjamin Franklin, that it is strange his altitude was not at
ast vaguely suspected by his own University.
That Emerson felt this want of appreciation is well
GROUGE H DONR. CHAIRMAN.
own to me, though he perhaps undervalued his own merit
FRURUARY True 1908.
For
a philosopher and teacher of wisdom. It was partly to
stify their own appreciation that the managers of the Con-
5rd School of Philosophy, nearly a quarter of a century
go, opened their courses of lectures, in which philoso-
hers of several sects in philosophy took part, to that dis-
C. H. BRAINARD AND THE GROZELIER PORTRAITS
nctive form of thought and speculative ethics which Emer-
OF EMERSON
on represented. He was too far advanced in age (as he
ad been when tardily invited to lecture at our University)
Kenneth Walter Cameron
bipresent his views systematically, but several of his
isciples and friends supplied the defect in some degree,
The not-80-well-known picture of Emerson facing
nd the result of this experimental and almost impromptu
this article is from a large lithograph published in 1859 by
chool convinced those who took part in it how much to be
Charles Henry Brainard of 124 Washington Street, Boston,
egretted was the oversight of which Harvard and New Eng-
who had apparently written to Emerson in early July 1858,
and had been guilty in regard to this inspired and inspiring
hopeful of being permitted to reproduce a charcoal upon
eacher.
which Samuel Rowse had been working. But when Emer-
Those who admired Emerson when it was the fashion
son had replied on July 19 that 'nothing can be done at
10 ignore or ridicule or censure his original presentation
present with Mr Rowse's sketch" because he 'left it im-
of fundamental truth must rejoice greatly to see a wiser
perfect six weeks ago," intending "after an interval" either
spirit prevailing in his University. Much time has been
to mend it or make a new one, 2 Brainard turned to Leopold
ost; much shallow and even hurtful teaching has been al-
Grozelier for a charcoal upon which he was then either at
owed to disgust the young with the true sweetness of Phi-
work or which he was planning to execute. The result was
losophy; but we may now hope that the wider range and op-
announced (sometime in 1858) in the following newspaper
portunity of the Department in which you have an official
notice: "R. W. Emerson. A large lithographic portrait
place will in some measure atone for the defects of past
of Mr. Emerson, from the matchless crayon of Grozelier,
years.
will shortly be added to the extensive collection of pictures
In these strictures I do not fail to recognize how great-
of eminent men already issued by Mr. C. H. Brainard.
ly the capacity and spirit of philosophic instruction at Har-
The difficulty of getting a good likeness of the Seer of Con-
vard has improved since I was its hapless victim in 1853-
cord has been proverbial, but Mr. Grozelier achieved a
54, and I know nothing better calculated to continue this
complete success in his picture of the Herald of Freedom,
improvement than the accomplished purpose which I under-
which he will doubtless repeat in the larger portrait."
stand you and the gentlemen who are to speak tomorrow
The background of this 1859 Grozelier lithograph de-
have in view.
serves to be mentioned. Four years earlier Brainard had
Very respectfully,
hit upon the idea of issuing portraits of men prominent in
F. B. Sanborn
the anti slavery crusade. Announced on Dec. 26, 1855, as
"Heralds of Freedom," they included William Lloyd Gar-
See Sanborn's Transcendental and Literary New England,
rison, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, Gerrit Smith,
ed. K. W. Cameron, Hartford (Transcendental Books),
Joshua R. Giddings, Samuel J. May, and, of course, Ralph
1975, pp. 350-352.
Waldo Emerson- "drawn in the highest style of the art of
Everson Hall
Hathi Tust
Treasurer's Statement 7902-1903.
16
For a course of six lectures in Philosophy, from
James M. Barnard
$100
Mary Putnam Jacobi
100
William James
175
A. Marquand
25
John T. Morse, Jr.
150
Edward C. Pickering
50
$600
For the building of Emerson Hall, from
Edwin H. Abbot
$500
Amount brought forward
$58,631
Anon.
2
George B. Dorr
1,000
Anonymous
50,000
Miss Julia M. Dutton
25
Anonymous
1
"E"
50
Francis R. Appleton
25
Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Eliot
200
Chester H. Arnold
5
Emersonians of Englewood, N.J.
10
Frederick F. Ayer
100
'Euphorion"
50
" B"
10
Mrs. Glendower Evans
25
Mrs. C. E. Bacon
10
Mrs. James T. Fields
25
Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Barnard
500
Henry Wilder Foote
50
William S. Bigelow
1,000
Mrs. W. H. Forbes
10,000
Miss Elizabeth Bradford
25
J. Geddes, Jr
2
Lawrence G. Brooks
2
Albert Gehring
200
Francis Bullard
500
Miss Amelia M. Goodwin
50
Stephen Bullard
200
Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Goodwin
100
Mrs. William S. Bullard
300
George A. Gordon
50
J. Eliot Cabot
2,500
Francis C. Gray
100
Mrs. Louis Cabot
500
Ira E. Gray
100
Richard B. Carter
5
George Walton Green
10
John J. Chapman
200
C. E. Guild, Jr.
15
Mr. and Mrs. H. Lincoln Chase
5
Mrs. George S. Hale
13
Stephen Chase
10
Edward Harding
5
J. H. Clark
100
W. T. Harris
100
Class of '67, member of
250
Mrs. Jacob H. Hecht
100
Mrs. Mary N. Colvin and
F. H. and C. A. Hedge
50
25
Mrs. Delafield
Mrs. Charles R. Hemenway
200
Mrs. A. Coolidge
10
Henry L. Higginson
250
Miss Grace G. Cowing
10
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
5
Joshua Crane
10
Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Hill
100
John Crosby
10
Charles F. Hinkle
10
Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Cummings
250
Ethel Whitney Holbrook
25
Charles P. Curtis
500
Henry Holt
100
Mrs. G. S. Curtis
15
H. H. Horne
10
S. Newton Cutler
25
Joseph Howland Hunt
25
R. H. Dana
1,000
"In Memoriam
25
Thomas Dawes
20
Miss Marian C. Jackson
10
Smith o. Dexter
1
William James
5
Miss Louise Diman
5
Miss Elizabeth C. Jenkins
5
Amount carried forward
58,631
Amount carried forward
$71,733
Digitized by Google
Original from
Cont
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
17
Amount brought forward
$71,733
Amount brought forward $109,485
Arthur M. Keith
5
J. H. Rhoades, Jr.
10
Harris Kennedy
20
R. C. Robbins
1,000
Miss Hannah Parker Kimball
50
S. W. Rodman
20
Edward B. Lane
5
James H. Ropes
5
William Lawrence
25
William Ladd Ropes
5
Miss Josephine Lazarus
25
Selwyn A. Russell
10
Mrs. Henry Lee
10,000
C. W. S
20
Joseph Lee
10,000
Edward T. Sanford
10
Charles A. Loeser
200
Mrs. F. B. Sawin
1
Mrs. Stephen Loines
25
Miss Annie L. Sears
25
Miss Louisa P. Loring
150
Miss Mary P. Sears
25
" 'Lover of Emerson"
2
Miss Emily Sever
25
Mrs. Edward Lowell
10
Mrs. G. H. Shaw
250
Miss Georgiana Lowell
10
Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw
1,000
Percival Lowell
100
Miss Olive Simes
15
Mrs. Arthur Lyman
10
Mr. and Mrs. William Simes
100
Arthur T. Lyman
5,000
Miss Elizabeth R. Simmons
25
Frank Lyman
50
L. Sprague
5
John P. Lyons
5
Mrs. C. W. Stone
5
George Grant McCurdy
5
Miss Elsa W. Stone
5
McDonald McFayden
5
James J. Storrow
250
VT,
Miss Fanny P. Mason
10,000
Miss Anna S. Tapley
50
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Merriman
100
Willis Tew
25
Miss Frances R. Morse
25
Mrs. Bayard Thayer
500
Mrs. Samuel T. Morse
200
James Bradley Thayer
100
Hugo Münsterberg
100
Mrs. James B. Thayer
100
Grenville H. Norcross
250
Washington B. Thomas
1,000
Arthur o. Norton
10
A. A. Vaughan
15
J.M.P.
10
" W'
5
Robert Treat Paine
100
Mrs. Oliver F. Wadsworth
10
Frederic Palmer
5
Samuel G. Ward
1,000
George H. Palmer
100
Henry B. Washburn
2
Mr. & Mrs. Francis G. Peabody
100
George F. Weld
5
Norton Perkins
25
Miss Susan J. Wentworth
100
Mrs. John C. Phillips
100
W. A. White
100
David Pingree
500
George Wigglesworth
100
F. L. Porter
25
Miss Ann Bent Winsor
10
George Putnam
250
Herbert H. Yeames
2
Mrs. George Putnam
100
$115,420
James J. Putnam
25
Milton Reed
25
Interest on deposit
175.75
Amount carried forward
$109,485
$115,595.75
From George Foster Peabody, $5,000, " for plantation of
shrubs within the fence and about the buildings of the College
Yard." This gift was made in connection with the graduation
of Mr. Peabody's nephew, Charles Samuel Peabody, of the
Class of 1902.
Digitized by
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Original from
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Creditectural Record
your
1927
Guy Lowell
Born Aug. 6, 1870-Died February 4, 1927.
The profession of Architecture has lost a
of C. K. G. Billings on Long Island, as well as
distinguished member in the sudden death at
the new Piping Rock Country Club, also on
Madeira, on February 4, 1927, of Mr. Guy
Long Island. He designed city gardens for
Lowell. A member of the well-known Boston
Andrew Carnegie and the late J. P. Morgan;
family, Mr. Lowell was a cousin of President
and for Morton F. Plant at 86th St., all in
A. Lawrence Lowell, and the late Prof. Percival
New York, and an Italian garden for Mr.
Lowell, of Harvard University, and a second
Plant at New London, Conn.
cousin of James Russell Lowell.
Mr. Lowell also served as advisory architect
He was born in 1870, graduated from Har-
on Parks for the Metropolitan District and the
vard in 1892, studied at Technology for two
Charles River Basin, in Massachusetts, and was
years and was Diplomé of the Ecole des Beaux
engaged in a similar capacity for a new park
Arts, Paris, in 1899.
system in Pittsburgh, Pa. Such are a few
In his practice he designed and built many
among many accomplishments in his chosen
successful public and private buildings, including
profession, but he was far more than a skilled
clubhouses, college structures and residences.
architect. He had to his credit a long list of
Also he planned a number of gardens and
achievements in the creation of buildings known
estates, for Landscape Architecture had been
to us all-but his life was one of activity and
included in his studies in Paris and he
success, as well, in other fields. To quote from
lectured on this subject at Technology from
the Bulletin of the Boston Society of Archi-
1900 to 1913.
tects:
Besides such well-known buildings as the
"At the Lowell Observatory in Arizona he
Boston Musuem of Fine Arts, and the Cumber-
continued with enthusiasm and understanding
land County Court House at Portland, Maine,
the research developed by Percival Lowell.
he had but recently completed the New York
When 'Sonder' boat racing began to
County Court House in New York, and a
interest Americans, Guy Lowell entered the lists
new building for the Art School for the Boston
and quickly became one of the leaders, taking
Museum was under way at the time of his death.
his boat, the 'Cima,' to Kiel for the interna-
tional races and bringing home trophies of
At Andover, Mass., he built a score or more
victory.
When war was devastating
of the buildings for Phillips Academy at
Harvard he designed Emerson 'Hall, a new
Italy and the outlook darkest, Guy Lowell, as
Lecture Hall residence of the President;
a Major in the Red Cross organization, with
at Brown University in Providence, R. I.,
courage and skill led the supply motors to
several buildings, including the Carrie Memorial
points where they would do the most good, and
where American friendship and help spurred
Tower, were designed by him; and Simmons
on the Italian troops. For this he was honored
College at Boston, and the State Normal
and decorated by the Italian government.
School at Bridgewater, Mass., have several
In two beautiful volumes on 'Italian
buildings of his design. He was architect of
Villas and Farmhouses' he shared with us his
the Iowa State Memorial, at Vicksburg, Miss.;
many journeys of study. He was one of the
Eden Hall at Bar Harbor, Maine; the New
first to publish a book on American gardens.
Hampshire Histórical Society Building at
As a Lecturer upon Landscape Architecture, he
Concord, N. H.; the Johnson Memorial Gates,
devoted his income from his lectures at Tech-
on Westland Avenue; the Edwin U. Curtis
nology to a scholarship to the students to whom
Memorial on the Charles River Basin, while at
he had given inspiration. From Guy Lowell's
the time of his death he was preparing some
office have come a large number of men who
designs for a Memorial Fountain for the State,
have established their own offices scattered
intended for Copley Square, in Boston.
over the country. Lowell never lost his interest
Among many private residences and estates
in any of these men, and he was always their
on which he has been engaged might be men-
friend. He led a very full and unselfish life,
tioned those of Bayard Thayer at Lancaster,
ready to be of public service or to aid those
Mass. George O. Knapp at Lake George
who needed him. (He was a lover of music and
Bryce Allan and Thomas McKee at Beverly,
painting and sculpture and literature and the
Mass. Robert Gould Shaw, 2nd, at Hamilton,
sciences-not in the spirit of a dilettante, but
Mass. Francis Skinner at Dedham, Mass.
with deep understanding and appreciation.
Clarence H. Mackay at Harbor Hill; Paul D.
"Guy Lowell loved his profession in all its
Cravath at Locust Valley, L. I.; Richard
phases, and by his life and his work he digni-
fied and broadened it. His devotion to ideals
Sears at Isleboro, Maine; Payne Whitney at
shortened his years, because to whatever he
Manhasset, L. I.: B. F. Goodrich at York
undertook, he gave himself with his whole
Harbor, Maine; F. L. Ames and Gordon Ab-
heart, and nothing else mattered but to do
bott at North Easton, Mass. Charles S. Sar-
his best.
gent, Jr., at. Cedarhurst, L. I.; the estate
FRANK CHOUTEAU BROWN.
[373]
The profess
distinguished
Madeira, on
Lowell. A m
family, Mr. I
A. Lawrence
Lowell, of H
cousin of Jan
He was bo
vard in 1892
(years and wa
Arts, Paris,
In his pra
successful pu
clubhouses,
Also he pla
estates, for
included in
lectured on
1900 to 191
Besides S
Boston Mus
land County
he had but
County Co
new buildin
Museum wa
At Andove
of the bu
Harvard 1
Lecture H:
at Brown
several bui
Tower, W
College a
School a
buildings
the Iowa
Eden Ha
Hampshir
Concord,
on Westl
Memoria
the time
designs f
intended
Among
on which
tioned t
Mass. ;
Bryce /
Mass. ;
The Architectural Record
April, 1927
Mass.
Clarenc
GUY LOWELL
Cravath
(1870-1927)
Sears
Manhas
Harbor
bott at
gent,
[372]
Anneral
Hathi Track
President and Treasures's Rap at
LD 2112
1902-1903 contribute
1902/03
CONTENTS.
PAGES
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
5-54
REPORTS OF DEPARTMENTS:-
THE FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
55-95
THE COLLEGE
96-110
THE LAWRENCE SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL
111-114
ATHLETIC SPORTS
115-117
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
118-153
THE DIVINITY SCHOOL
154-163
THE LAW SCHOOL
164-168
THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE
169,170
THE MEDICAL SCHOOL
171-192
THE DENTAL SCHOOL
193-196
THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION
197
THE LIBRARY
198-221
THE GRAY HERBARIUM
222-225
THE BOTANIC GARDEN
226-229
THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM
230-232
THE CHEMICAL LABORATORY
233-238
THE JEFFERSON PHYSICAL LABORATORY
239-242
THE DIVISION OF ENGINEERING
243,244
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY
245-248
THE OBSERVATORY
249-258
THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY
259-262
THE ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY
263-267
THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY
268-275
THE MINERALOGICAL MUSEUM AND LABORATORIES OF
MINERALOGY AND PETROGRAPHY
276,277
THE PEABODY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
AND ETHNOLOGY
278-287
THE SEMITIC MUSEUM
288-291
THE FOGG ART MUSEUM
292-296
THE GERMANIC MUSEUM
297-300
RADCLIFFE COLLEGE
301-304
APPENDIX
305-332
INDEX
333-338
TREASURER'S STATEMENT
1-107
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Original from
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
COURSES OF INSTRUCTION IN 1902-03.
69
20. THE SEMINARY IN ECONOMICS.
Competent students were guided in investigation, undertaken independently or
in connection with courses primarily for graduates, and the results were
presented for discussion.
7 Gr., 4 Se. Total 11.
History of Religions.
2. Professor G. F. MOORE. - History of Religions in Outline. First half-
year: The Religions of China and Japan, Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria,
and the Western Semites (including Judaism and Mohammedanism).
Second half-year : The Religions of India, Persia, the Greeks, Romans,
Germans, and Celts; Christianity.
2 Gr., 16 Se., 11 Ju., 10 So., 3 Fr., 1 Sp., 1 Sc., 13 Di. Total 57.
Philosophy.
Primarily for Undergraduates:
1a. Professors ROYCE and MUNSTERBERG. - General Introduction to Phil-
osophy. Logic. Psychology.
1 Gr., 5 Se., 85 Ju., 96 So., 37 Fr., 13 Sp., 14 Sc. Total 251.
1b. Asst. Professor SANTAYANA and Dr. PERRY.-Outlines of the History of
Philosophy, Ancient and Modern.
1 Gr., 1 Se., 45 Ju., 47 So., 7 Fr., 8 Sp., 8 Sc., 1 Med., 1 Bu. Total 119.
For Undergraduates and Graduates : -
2 1hf. Dr. PERRY. - Advanced Psychology.
6 Gr., 4 Se., 1 Ju., 1 So., 2 Sp., 1 Sc. Total 15.
14 1hf. Dr. HOLT. - Experimental Psychology (elementary laboratory course).
4 Gr., 3 Se., 1 Ju., 1 Sp., 1 Sc. Total 10.
14a 2hf. Dr. YERKES. - Comparative Psychology. The Mental Life of Animals.
5 Gr., 9 Se., 3 Ju., 5 So., 1 Fr., 1 Sp., 1 Sc. Total 25.
5. Professor PEABODY, assisted by Mr. IRELAND. - The Ethics of the Social
Questions. The problems of Poor-Relief, the Family, Temperance, and
various phases of the Labor Question, in the light of ethical theory.
5 Gr., 60 Se., 37 Ju., 15 So., 5 Sp., 4 Sc., 8 Di. Total 134.
10a 1hf. Asst. Professor SANTAYANA. - Philosophy of History. Ideals of
Society, Science, and Religion.
5 Gr., 28 Se., 15 Ju., 3 So., 1 Fr., 5 Sp., 1 Di. Total 58.
10 2hf. Asst. Professor SANTAYANA. - Aesthetics. The Philosophy of Art, with
a survey of aesthetic theories.
5 Gr., 26 Se., 24 Ju., 12 So., 2 Fr., 4 Sp., 2 Sc., 2 Di. Total 77.
9 1hf. Professor ROYCE. - Metaphysics. The Fundamental Problems of Theo-
retical Philosophy. Realism and Idealism Freedom, Teleology, and
Theism.
13 Gr., 10 Se., 1 Ju., 5 Di. Total 29.
3. Professor JAMES and Dr. MILLER. - The Philosophy of Nature, with
especial reference to Man's place in Nature. The Fundamental Concep-
tions of Science; the relation of Mind and Body; Evolution.
13 Gr., 24 Se., 12 Ju., 3 So., 3 Sp., 2 Di. Total 57.
Digitized by Google
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
70
THE FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES.
12. Asst. Professor SANTAYANA. - Greek Philosophy, with especial reference
to Plato.
7 Gr., 10 Se., 4 So., 2 Sp., 2 Di. Total 25.
11a 1hf. Dr. PERRY. - Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibnitz.
2 Gr., 6 Se., 2 Sp. Total 10.
11b shf. Dr. PERRY. - The History of English Philosophy from Locke to Hume.
3 Gr., 7 Se., 4 Ju., 3 So., 1 Fr., 4 Sp. Total 22.
7 2hf. Professor PALMER. - History of English Ethics.
6 Gr., 11 Se., 2 Ju., 2 So., 3 Sp., 1 Di. Total 25.
16. Dr. MILLER. - Ethical Ideals of the Nineteenth Century.
2 Gr., 4 Se., 5 Ju., 4 Sp., 1 Di. Total 16.
17. Professor E. C. MOORE. - History of Christian Thought since Kant.
1 Gr., 1 Sp., 9 Di. Total 11.
SEMINARY COURSES.
Primarily for Graduates : -
120a. Professor MUNSTERBERG, Dr. HOLT, and Dr. YERKES. - Psychological
Laboratory. Experimental investigations.
15 Gr., 2 Se. Total 17.
20b. Professor MUNSTERBERG. - Psychological Seminary. The Psychology of
Aesthetical, Ethical and Logical Processes.
17 Gr. Total 17.
120c. Professor ROYCE and Dr. R. C. CABOT. - Metaphysical Seminary. The
Problems of Logic. Studies of various fundamental conceptions of Phil-
osophy and of Science.
9 Gr., 3 R. Total 12.
120d 2hf. Professor PALMER. - Ethical Seminary. Systematization of Ethics.
6 Gr., 1 Se., 1 Sp., 1 Di. Total 9.
120g. Dr. MILLER. - Seminary in the History of Modern Philosophy. Modern
Pantheism, with especial reference to Spinoza and his influence.
4 Gr., 1 Se., 1 Sp., 1 Di. Total 7.
Education:
For Undergraduates and Graduates : -
1. Mr. A. O. NORTON. - The History of Educational Theories and Practices.
7 Gr., 4 Se., 11 Ju., 5 So., 3 Sp., 7 Sc. Total 37.
2a 1hf. Professor HANUS. - Introduction to the Study of Education. Discussion
of Educational Principles.
11 Gr., 17 Se., 8 Ju., 9 So., 2 Sp., 6 Sc. Total 53.
2b shf. Professor HANUS. - The Development of Schools and School Systems in
America, more particularly in Massachusetts. Contemporary Tendencies
and Problems.
1 Gr., 5 Se., 2 Ju., 1 Sc. Total 9.
5
1hf. Mr. A. o. NORTON. - The Education of the Individual. Historical and
critical study of modern views.
5 Se., 1 Ju., 1 So., 10 Sc. Total 17.
Primarily for Graduates : -
13. Professor HANUS, assisted by Mr. A. O. NORTON. - Organization and
Management of Public Schools and Academies. Supervision, Courses of
Study, and Instruction.
10 Gr., 10 Se., 1 Sp., 12 Sc., 1 Law, 9 R. Total 43.
Digitized by Google
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS.
247
measurement, examining to thousandths of a second the differences
of reaction when the preparatory attention is divided between sight,
sound, touch, pain, and so on. C. H. Johnston worked on time-
perception, examining how far the subjective time-order of impres-
sions corresponds to the objective succession of phenomena, applying
a kinematoscopic method to find out whether psychical suggestion,
attention, and habit can reverse the real order of quickly succeeding
stimulations. J. L. Meriam was concerned with the fusion of touch
sensations, examining the illusions which result from a multiple con-
tact. The chief effort was to develop for the field of touch the
psychological category of fusion, which so far had been applied only
to sound and light. H. A. Miller constructed and tested a large
number of devices for the study of individual psychical differences
with regard to perception, memory, imagination, attention, feeling
and volition,-devices intended especially for the rapid examination
of school children. It was his chief aim to study the differences
of race in the school population. C. M. Olmsted was engaged in
a
problem from the field of space-perception. It was a question of
the relation between the position of the eyes and the relative size of
the two retinal images, a question which leads immediately to the
wider one of how far our space-perception is a peripheral or a
central process. D. C. Rogers studied the motor factors in the
localization of sound and their connection with the localization in
the visual field, which was distorted by the use of prisms and other
means. He turned later to the interrelations between the localization
of sound and bodily movements. J. E. Rouse continued his obser-
vations on the emotional effects of stimulations in birds. M. A. Shaw
worked on analogies between optical and tactual illusions, trying to
reproduce on the surface of the skin the conditions of the well-known
optical illusions of distance and direction, and thus to examine the
unity of our space-perceptions. Dr. Yerkes, finally, continued his
investigations on the reaction-times of the frog, giving special
emphasis to the problem of inhibition by simultaneous stimulations.
But at the same time he worked on the space-perception of turtles,
and on the sense-reactions and behavior of several other animals.
It is perhaps not superfluous to add what I said here a few years
ago, that none of the animal experiments has the slightest relation to
vivisection, and that no animal is brought to conditions which would
not appear suitable for a student who plays the part of the subject
in an investigation.
The only hindrance to our work has been the lack of room, and
we are thus especially thankful that the last year saw, on the hun-
by
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Original from
Digitized
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
248
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY.
dredth anniversary of Emerson's birthday, the completion of the
collection of the $150,000 which the Corporation had determined as
the minimum requirement for the building of Emerson Hall. We are
thus sure to have in time a hall devoted to philosophy and psychol-
ogy, a hall of which one floor will be given over to the Psychological
Laboratory. But there can be no doubt that this minimum sum is
insufficient for the erection of the building which the architect has
planned on the basis of the moderate wishes of the department. If
no further funds can be added, the plans will have to be curtailed
essentially, and every sub-division, the Psychological department
not the least, would feel a heavy disappointment. If the plans of
the laboratory have to be reduced, the fear is justified that the
improvement as to the local conditions will be only a temporary one.
With a slight expansion of the work, which we hope for in several
directions, the old lack of room would again interfere with our pro-
gress. We confidently hope, therefore, that before the building on
Quincy street, opposite Robinson Hall and next to Sever Hall, is
started next spring, at least $50,000 more will come to us from
sources which appreciate the name of Emerson.
HUGO MUNSTERBERG,
Professor of Psychology.
Google
Original from
Digitized by
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Treasurer's Statement
1902-1903
16
For a course of six lectures in Philosophy, from
James M. Barnard
$100
Mary Putnam Jacobi
100
William James
175
A. Marquand
25
John T. Morse, Jr.
150
Edward C. Pickering
50
$600
For the building of Emerson Hall, from
Edwin H. Abbot
$500
Amount brought forward
$58,631
Anon.
2
George B. Dorr
1,000
Anonymous
50,000
Miss Julia M. Dutton
25
Anonymous
1
"E"
50
Francis R. Appleton
25
Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Eliot
200
Chester H. Arnold
5
Emersonians of Englewood, N.J.
10
Frederick F. Ayer
100
"Euphorion"
50
" B"
10
Mrs. Glendower Evans
25
Mrs. C. E. Bacon
10
Mrs. James T. Fields
25
Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Barnard
500
Henry Wilder Foote
50
William S. Bigelow
1,000
Mrs. W. H. Forbes
10,000
Miss Elizabeth Bradford
25
J. Geddes, Jr
2
Lawrence G. Brooks
2
Albert Gehring
200
Francis Bullard
500
Miss Amelia M. Goodwin
50
Stephen Bullard
200
Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Goodwin
100
Mrs. William S. Bullard
300
George A. Gordon
50
J. Eliot Cabot
2,500
Francis C. Gray
100
Mrs. Louis Cabot
500
Ira E. Gray
100
Richard B. Carter
5
George Walton Green
10
John J. Chapman
200
C.E. Guild, Jr.
15
Mr. and Mrs. H. Lincoln Chase
5
Mrs. George S. Hale
13
Stephen Chase
10
Edward Harding
5
J. H. Clark
100
W. T. Harris
100
Class of '67, member of
250
Mrs. Jacob H. Hecht
100
Mrs. Mary N. Colvin and
F. H. and C. A. Hedge
50
25
Mrs. Delafield
Mrs. Charles R. Hemenway
200
Mrs. A. Coolidge
10
Henry L. Higginson
250
Miss Grace G. Cowing
10
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
5
Joshua Crane
10
Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Hill
100
John Crosby
10
Charles F. Hinkle
10
Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Cummings
250
Ethel Whitney Holbrook
25
Charles P. Curtis
500
Henry Holt
100
Mrs. G. S. Curtis
15
H. H. Horne
10
S. Newton Cutler
25
Joseph Howland Hunt
25
R. H. Dana
1,000
"In Memoriam' "
25
Thomas Dawes
20
Miss Marian C. Jackson
10
Smith O. Dexter
1
William James
5
Miss Louise Diman
5
Miss Elizabeth C. Jenkins
5
Amount carried forward
58,631
Amount carried forward
$71,733
Digitized by Google
Original from
Cant.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
17
Amount brought forward
$71,733
Amount brought forward $109,485
Arthur M. Keith
5
J. H. Rhoades, Jr.
10
Harris Kennedy
20
R. C. Robbins
1,000
Miss Hannah Parker Kimball
50
S. W. Rodman
20
Edward B. Lane
5
James H. Ropes
5
William Lawrence
25
William Ladd Ropes
5
Miss Josephine Lazarus
25
Selwyn A. Russell
10
Mrs. Henry Lee
10,000
C. W. S
20
Joseph Lee
10,000
Edward T. Sanford
10
Charles A. Loeser
200
Mrs. F. B. Sawin
1
Mrs. Stephen Loines
25
Miss Annie L. Sears
25
Miss Louisa P. Loring
150
Miss Mary P. Sears
25
"Lover of Emerson"
2
Miss Emily Sever
25
Mrs. Edward Lowell
10
Mrs. G. H. Shaw
250
Miss Georgiana Lowell
10
Mrs. Quincy A. Shaw
1,000
Percival Lowell
100
Miss Olive Simes
15
Mrs. Arthur Lyman
10
Mr. and Mrs. William Simes
100
Arthur T. Lyman
5,000
Miss Elizabeth R. Simmons
25
Frank Lyman
50
L. Sprague
5
John P. Lyons
5
Mrs. C. W. Stone
5
George Grant McCurdy
5
Miss Elsa W. Stone
5
McDonald McFayden
5
James J. Storrow
250
Miss Fanny P. Mason
10,000
Miss Anna S. Tapley
50
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Merriman
100
Willis Tew
25
Miss Frances R. Morse
25
Mrs. Bayard Thayer
500
Mrs. Samuel T. Morse
200
James Bradley Thayer
100
Hugo Münsterberg
100
Mrs. James B. Thayer
100
Grenville H. Norcross
250
Washington B. Thomas
1,000
Arthur O. Norton
10
A. A. Vaughan
15
J. M. P.
10
"W"
5
Robert Treat Paine
100
Mrs. Oliver F. Wadsworth
10
Frederic Palmer
5
Samuel G. Ward
1,000
George H. Palmer
100
Henry B. Washburn
2
Mr. & Mrs. Francis G. Peabody
100
George F. Weld
5
Norton Perkins
25
Miss Susan J. Wentworth
100
Mrs. John C. Phillips
100
W. A. White
100
David Pingree
500
George Wigglesworth
100
F. L. Porter
25
Miss Ann Bent Winsor
10
George Putnam
250
Herbert H. Yeames
2
Mrs. George Putnam
100
$115,420
James J. Putnam
25
Milton Reed
25
Interest on deposit
175.75
Amount carried forward
$109,485
$115,595.75
From George Foster Peabody, $5,000, for plantation of
shrubs within the fence and about the buildings of the College
Yard." This gift was made in connection with the graduation
of Mr. Peabody's nephew, Charles Samuel Peabody, of the
Class of 1902.
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Original from
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
CEPL Notes.
3/29/07
to
Care 1 Codyle Emerson 2 vols.
Boston: JR Osgood, e1883.
S C ward, mosted hospitality,
ii 52 .232, 274,304
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VRWE in two. S.G wad to me Mccready (actor)
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from in the city, and besules
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peace of the Fuller removin Courant 7/28/51,
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day, 4/17/55
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Title
Emerson bicentennial essays / edited by Ronald A. Bosco and Joel
Myerson.
Publication info.
Boston : Massachusetts Historical Society ; Charlottesville : Distributed
by the University of Virginia Press, 2006.
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Call No.
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Emerson, R. W., subject
Description
XX, 473 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.
Series
Massachusetts Historical Society studies in American history and
culture ; 10
Massachusetts Historical Society studies in American history and
culture ; no. 10.
Contents
Holmes, Cabot, and Edward Emerson and the challenges of writing
Emerson's biography in the 1880s / Robert D. Habich -- Saving Emerson
for posterity / Lawrence Buell -- Emerson and his audiences: the New
England lectures, 1843-1844 / Nancy Craig Simmons -- Chladni
patterns, Lyceum halls, and skillful experimenters: Emerson's new
metaphysics for the listening reader / Sarah Ann Wider -- The new
movement's tide: Emerson and women's rights / Phyllis Cole -- Emerson,
Garrison, and the anti-slavery society / T. Gregory Garvey -- The legacy
of reform: Emersonian idealism, Moorfield Storey, and the civil rights
movement Len Gougeon -- Poverty and power: revisiting Emerson's
poetics / Joseph M. Thomas -Re)visiting "The Adirondacs": Emerson's
confrontation with wild nature / Robert E. Burkholder -- Emerson,
Columbus, and the geography of self-reliance: the example of the
Sermons / Susan L. Roberson -- Emerson and gnosticism / Albert J. von
Frank -- Emerson on language as action / Gustaaf Van Cromphout -- "If
body can sing": Emerson and Victorian science / Laura Dassow Walls
"The power of recurring to the sublime at pleasure": Emerson and
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10/19/2006
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feeling / Wesley T. Mott -- Experience, instinct, and Emerson's
philosophical reorientation / David M. Robinson -- Later Emerson:
"Intellect" and The conduct of life / Robert N. Hudspeth -- History and
form in Emerson's "Fate" / Barbara Packer.
Note
Papers from the Emerson Bicentennial Conference, held April 25-26,
2003 at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subject
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 -- Criticism and interpretation --
Congresses.
Added author
Bosco, Ronald A.
Myerson, Joel.
ISBN
093490989X
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9780934909891
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"The Infinitude of the Private Man"
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"The Infinitude of the
Private Man"
A bicentennial appreciation of Ralph Waldo
Article To
Emerson
E-mail this
by Lawrence Buell
In This Issue
Download F
May-June 2003
Contents
Until age 30, he did nothing to distinguish himself from
respectable mediocrity. He graduated in the exact middle of the
59-member Harvard class of 1821, his greatest distinction the
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dubious honor of being chosen class poet after six others who had
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been asked "positively refused." Yet he went on to become one of
to receive Editor's
Highlights!
the great literary essayists of all time, and one of the most
influential figures in the history of American thought. This was
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), whose bicentennial will be
celebrated this year in a series of gatherings from Massachusetts
to China.
The Boston into which
Emerson was born was a town
of fewer than 25,000 people,
proud of its revolutionary
heritage but a cultural
backwater compared to London
and Paris. It was New
England's metropolis, then as
now; but New Englanders
feared (and with reason) they
were destined to become a
smaller and smaller part of the
United States. Yet within a
mere half-century, New
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4/5/2005
"The Infinitude of the Private Man"
Page 2 of 6
England - and the Boston area Emerson as a young man..
in particular - had become a
Photographs courtesy of Harvard
center for literature, for avant-
University Archives
garde American thought in
Calligraphy and styling of photographs by
Bartek Malysa
religion, philosophy, and
education, and for a host of other reform movements from
temperance to abolition to feminism. The so-called
Transcendentalist movement, for which Emerson was the key
inspirational figure, was one of the primary reasons why.
As a child of Romanticism, Emerson was attracted by the
romantic idealization of childhood. But he never idealized his
own. He consistently referred to his father's generation
slightingly, as "that early ignorant and transitional Month-of-
March, in our New England Culture." When their father died
young, Emerson and his brothers grew up in genteel poverty -
pinched, driven, and sickness-prone. Small wonder that his first
course of action as an adult was prudently to follow the beaten
path to ministry that his father and grandfathers had trod ever
since the seventeenth century. But the early death of his beloved
first wife, Ellen (Tucker) Emerson, began a chain reaction that
shook him out of that conventional niche and into a career as
freelance writer and public lecturer.
Energon forseey the United States bringing
materity a renewed respect for the individual, and a new
attentiveness the worth of ordinary or common life.
Loss plunged Emerson into a deep loneliness that unexpectedly
opened up the discovery of an inner power he could only think of
as a god within. "I have only one doctrine," he wrote years later,
"the infinitude of the private man." He did not exaggerate by
much. Self-Reliance, as he preferred to call it, did indeed become
the cornerstone of his mature thought, and of Transcendentalism.
Meanwhile, his modest inheritance from Ellen's estate enabled
him to resettle in precarious security in his ancestral town of
Concord, remarry, and try his wings in a venue that proved a
much better match for his talents.
The American Lyceum movement, just then taking shape, was a
loosely-knit assemblage of individual town- and city-based forums
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4/5/2005
he Infinitude of the Private Man"
Page 3 of 6
for lecturing, debating, and other entertainments of a more or less
instructive character: a premodern equivalent to adult education
and educational TV. Thanks in no small part to the already-
embedded Yankee traditions of village organization and the self-
help ethic, lyceums proliferated quickly all across the northern
states, following the path of the New England diaspora westward
to and across the Mississippi. Almost every year from the mid
1830s to the late 1860s, Emerson worked up a "course" of six to a
dozen lectures, typically starting in or near Boston and fanning
out in widening circles as the network grew, contracting at each
place for the exact number of engagements. These lectures he
quarried and synthesized from the voluminous journal he kept
lifelong ("my savings bank," he called it) and reworked later into
books of essays.
The lyceum was an
ideal platform for a
person of ministerial
background (the
largest single
occupational group
of speakers) who
had justified that
choice of vocation to
himself on the
grounds of his love
of writing and
oratory. But the
topics were not
supposed to be
specialized or
sharply partisan or
doctrinal. Cultural
enlightenment and
intellectual
stimulation were the
primary goals. The
standby lyceum
13.
talks favored by the
famous abolitionists
Wendell Phillips and
Frederick Douglass,
Emerson in middle age. At right: A caricature
for instance, were
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4/5/2005
"The Infinitude of the Private Man"
Page 5 of 6
"The American Scholar" voiced its audience's inner anxieties and
convictions. The core vision of Emerson's 1838 address to the
graduating class and faculty of Harvard Divinity School was quite
similar, but its far more confrontational tone provoked a
firestorm. That Emerson made religious reform his theme and
proceeded to target the timidity and conformism of his own sect,
and in its inner sanctum to boot, was especially galling. The
Divinity School Address was a ringing assertion of the claims of
individual conscience and spiritual experience over against
Unitarian teachings about the authority of Jesus. It established
Emerson's reputation for intellectual radicalism and made him
persona non grata at Harvard for more than a decade.
Emerson as a national icon. At left: Emerson's home in
Concord, Massachusetts.
Photographs courtesy of Harvard University Archives
Calligraphy and styling of photographs by Bartek Malysa
In time, alma mater re-embraced the prodigal son, appointed him
to its Board of Overseers, made him a distinguished visiting
professor, and named its philosophy building after him. Why?
Fame certainly helped, as Emerson's lectures and books
increasingly made him a household word throughout the northern
United States and he came to be regarded as the chief spokesman
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4/5/2005
"The "Infinitude of the Private Man"
Page 6 of 6
for progressive American ideas in Britain and parts of Europe. So
too, at least in the long run, did his increasing engagement with
secular issues, particularly the antislavery movement. Perennially
suspicious of team efforts of any sort, Emerson was slower to join
it than many in his own circle, including even his own wife, Lydia
(Jackson) Emerson. But he was well in advance of mainstream
northern consensus. In the decade before the Civil War he became
increasingly an outspoken public advocate for abolition. After the
war, he was increasingly looked upon as the articulator of the
Union's highest ideals.
"I never dared be radical when young/For fear it would make me
conservative when old" - SO goes a mini-poem by Robert Frost,
inspired by a passage in the greatest of all Emerson's essays,
"Experience." In his own lifetime Emerson found himself typed in
turn as a dangerous radical and as a national icon. Which image is
truer? This is a question still being debated two centuries after his
birth. It's a sign that Emerson will remain alive for a long time to
come.
Lawrence Buell is Powell A. Cabot professor of American
literature and chair of the department of English and American
literature and language. His books include Literary
Transcendentalism; New England Literary Culture; and The
Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the
Formation of American Culture. His new book, Emerson, will be
published by Harvard University Press this May.
More features
Next.
May-June 2003: Volume 105, Number 5, Page 25
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4/5/2005
Program for the graduation ceremonies at the Ripley Female College, Poultney,
Vermont, where Emerson lectured on "Resources" on 26 June 1865. Personal
collection of Joel Myerson.
Report on the Permanent Memorial. Boston: John Wilson and Son, 1866. D 62.
Head title. This was one of the many fund-raising projects for Harvard on which
Emerson worked.
291 DOLLS 41 CTS.
Royalty check from
Boston Augt 19th 1867
Ticknor and Fields of 13
THE SECOND NATIONAL BANK OF BOSTON.
M
August 1867, endorsed.
Pay to the Order of. Ru Emersime
8
May-Day and Other Pieces.
Unas Hundred Ninety One
41
Dollars
YOU
Boston: Ticknor and
No.
Fields, 1867. A 28.1.a.
Juhnor Holds,
2,000 copies. The
Royalty check, 1867
Myerson Collection
contains both binding variants. On display is
Concord
25 pily-
one of 100 copies specially bound, this one
inscribed by Emerson to Grindall Reynolds, his
my dear fields,
minister in Concord. Also on display is a copy
specially bound in leather by the publisher for
for "Domestic
presentation-in this case, by Emerson's
Life", I no not he
wife Lidian.
any frave offection.
May-Day and Other Pieces. London: George
though I really mean
Routledge and Sons, 1867. A 28.2. The
tout it in that
Myerson Collection contains four (A, B, D, E)
of busy
miscakeness which
of the six binding variants.
Letter to James T. Fields of 25
is it you al that
Letter to James T. Fields,
July 1867 about his troubles in
writing But I
1867
completing Society and Solitude.
shall
Unpublished. Personal
not Maturday at
collection of Joel Myerson.
the Club
AUTUMNAL YEARS
Emerson's health began to fail as his mental faculties gradually diminished and a type
of aphasia, in which he could not remember the names of people and common
objects, affected him. The publication of Society and Solitude (1870) represented the
last book for which he was solely responsible. A twilight, reflective volume, its essays
include "Society and Solitude," "Civilization," "Art," "Eloquence," "Domestic Life,"
"Farming," "Works and Days," "Books," "Clubs," "Courage," "Success," and, appropri-
ately, "Old Age." A strenuous course of lectures at Harvard, "Natural History of
Intellect," in 1870-1871 exhausted him physically and intellectually. To recuperate, in
the spring of 1871 he visited the West Coast, where he met the naturalist John Muir.
16
After a fire partially destroyed the Emerson house in 1872, further accelerating
Emerson's mental decline, he and his daughter Ellen visited Europe and Egypt while
the house was being rebuilt (mainly through monies contributed by Emerson's
friends), but he was never the same after returning to Concord. His daughters Ellen
and Edith Emerson Forbes helped Emerson complete a poetry anthology he had been
working.on for years, Parnassus (1875). James Elliot Cabot, a longtime family friend,
was recruited to help put Emerson's other literary manuscripts in order. With the assis-
tance of Ellen Emerson, Cabot arranged a final volume of essays, Letters and Social
Aims (1876); some of the essays were reprints ("The Comic," "Quotation and
Originality," and "Persian Poetry"), and others were creatively drawn from Emerson's
manuscripts ("Poetry and Imagination," "Social Aims," "Eloquence," "Resources,"
"Progress of Culture," "Inspiration," "Greatness," and "Immortality"). Also in 1876,
the publisher James R. Osgood initiated the first real collected edition of Emerson's
writings, the "Little Classic Edition." Cabot and Ellen Emerson also put together other
former lectures for periodical or separate publication, such as Fortune of the Republic
(1878) and "The Preacher" (1880). Emerson died quietly in Concord on 27 April
1882 and was buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, close to the graves of the Alcotts,
Hawthornes, and Thoreaus.
Society and Solitude. Boston: Fields, Osgood, 1870. A 31.1.a. 1,500 copies printed.
Society and Solitude. London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, 1870. A 31.2.a. The
Myerson Collection contains all three binding variants. On display are copies
bound in cloth and paper-covered glazed boards, the latter aimed at a more
popular market.
Letter to Franklin Benjamin Sanborn of 12 September 1871 about Emerson's work
on Parnassus. Unpublished. Personal collection of Joel Myerson.
Remarks on the Character of George L. Stearns. [N.p.: n.p., 1872]. Head title. A 32.1.
This memorializes a friend of Emerson's who was active in the abolitionist
movement. The Myerson Collection also contains a letter of condolence from
Bronson Alcott to Stearns' widow.
17
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