Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/184

 Americanism, and what a nobly-framed community and social intercourse. But the principle, the vitalising, the strengthening source—yes, that Emerson sees merely in the pure consciousness of man himself! He helieves in the original purity and glory of this source, and will cleanse away everything which impedes or sullies it—all conventionality, untruth and paltriness.

I said to an amiable woman, a sincere friend of Emerson's, and one who, at the same time is possessed of a deeply religious mind, “How can you love him so deeply when he does not love, nor put faith in the Highest which we love?” “He is so faultless,” replied she, “and then he is lovely!”

Lovable he is, also, as one sees him in his home and amid his domestic relations. But you shall hear more about him when we meet, and you shall see his strong beautiful head in my album, among many American acquaintance. I feel that my intercourse with him will leave a deep trace in my soul. I could desire in him warmer sympathies, larger interest in such social questions as touch upon the well-being of mankind, and more feeling for the suffering and the sorrow of earth. But what right indeed has the flower which vibrates with every breath of wind to quarrel with the granite-rock because it is differently made. In the breast of such lie strong metals. Let the brook be silent, and rejoice that it can reflect the rock, the flowers, the firmament, and the stars, and grow and be strengthened by the invisible fountains, which are nourished by the mountain-tops.

But I must give you a specimen or two of Emerson's style, and of his manner of seeing and feeling which most please me. I will make two extracts from his “Essays,” which are applicable to all mankind, to all countries, and to all times, and which are portions of, or drops from that vein