ys looked middle-aged. Boys who had as little
fun as the Emerson boys had when they were growing up would not be
expected to look young.

In the end, Ralph became a minister, as well as a writer, and a
lecturer, and a philosopher. His father and his grandfather had
been ministers, too. I fancy it was trying to send all these
minister-Emersons to school and college that kept each set of parents so
poor.

Ralph's father, William Emerson, did not care to be a minister. He
wanted to live in a city and teach school, play his bass viol, and
belong to musical or singing clubs. But his mother looked ready to cry
when he told her this and said: "Why, William, it has taken all the
money I had to send you through Harvard College. What good will it do
you, if you do not become a preacher?" So, rather than grieve his
mother, he agreed to fit himself for preaching. How he hoped he might be
sent to some large town! But instead of that, he settled in a small
place where neighbors lived two or three miles from each other. He was
as lonesome as he could be. He was too poor to buy a horse and too busy
to spend half his time walking, so he could not get very well acquainted
with the families that came to hear him preach. Besides, his pay was
small, and if the kind-hearted farmers had not brought him a ham, a leg
of lamb, or a load of wood now and then, I don't see how he would have
managed.

In spite of all these hindrances, William saved a little money in five
years. He bought a small farm and got married. As the years went by and
there were children to feed, his preaching did not bring half the money
they needed, so he taught school, his wife took boarders, and
he--even--sold--his--beloved bass viol. And I do not think they felt
that anything was too hard if only these children could go to college.
Mrs. Emerson was very proud of her husband when he stood in the pulpit
on Sundays, and used to shut her eyes and try to imagine how their boys
would look in a pulpit.

Finally good luck came their way. Mr. Emerson was asked to preach in
Boston. Then he had the city life he loved, he heard good music, and
could call on his friends three times a day if he wished, and the boys
had fine schools.

None of the children were over ten when this good man, Minister William,
died. And then came the widow's struggle to educate them. The church
members were kind to her; she took boarders again, and sewed and mended
with never a complaint, so long as