. The library of historic characters and famous events of all nations and all ages. , and theshrewdest of guidesin the ways of theworld. His judg-ment of other menwas so discriminat-ing as to be calledfatal to himselfHe anticipates thisimperfect epitaph onhis work by the confession, I am the victim of again he said, I am not a great poet, but whatever thereis of me at all is poet. Emerson can no more be measured for any regulation uni-form worn by the army of writers than the rolling clouds thatveil and reveal the summer sky can be condensed into a an age of unlovely m
. The library of historic characters and famous events of all nations and all ages. , and theshrewdest of guidesin the ways of theworld. His judg-ment of other menwas so discriminat-ing as to be calledfatal to himselfHe anticipates thisimperfect epitaph onhis work by the confession, I am the victim of again he said, I am not a great poet, but whatever thereis of me at all is poet. Emerson can no more be measured for any regulation uni-form worn by the army of writers than the rolling clouds thatveil and reveal the summer sky can be condensed into a an age of unlovely materialism, in a land where progressis too much measured by profits, he dared to play the part ofthe youth with the banner Excelsior, even if the nobilityof the unpractical climb won only smiles in the pure and expansive soul mirrored the aspirations of allgreat souls in all ages and countries, and if the rays reflected 309. 3IO HISTORIC CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS EVENTS. were confusing to the average eye that would separate them,the intense force of the sunbeam of his intellect will cause itto shine the brighter and penetrate further into the dim future. Emerson has abundant faults as a writer. Some one notunfairly charged him with pouring out thoughts like unload-ing coal, indiscriminately and confusedly, to which the replywas made that his coal is really a load of precious gems. Yetthe average mind finds it hard in these exacting times todevote due consideration to books of which each sentence isa jewel, and of a different sort from its neighbors. Not theleast valuable element in teaching or writing is the painsdevoted to assisting the student to keep pace with hisinstructor, Emerson does this as often, perhaps, as he dis-dains to do it, and he never sins by intent, but because hismaster-thought sweeps him up to higher planes of vision. Ralph Waldo Emerson came of the best New Englandstock, the intellectual
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecthistory, bookyear1895
