ed Unitarian
conservatism of Boston, which was rudely shocked by Emerson's excursions
beyond its well-fenced precincts. But when I had got at what proved to
be my lifework for education, I discovered in Emerson's poems and essays
all the fundamental motives and principles of my own hourly struggle
against educational routine and tradition, and against the prevailing
notions of discipline for the young; so when I was asked to speak to you
to-night about him, although I realized my unfitness in many respects
for such a function, I could not refuse the opportunity to point out how
many of the sober, practical undertakings of to-day had been anticipated
in all their principles by this solitary, shrewd, independent thinker,
who, in an inconsecutive and almost ejaculatory way, wrought out many
sentences and verses which will travel far down the generations.

I was also interested in studying in this example the quality of
prophets in general. We know a good deal about the intellectual
ancestors and inspirers of Emerson; and we are sure that he drank deep
at many springs of idealism and poetry. Plato, Confucius, Shakespeare,
and Milton were of his teachers; Oken, Lamarck, and Lyell lent him their
scientific theories; and Channing stirred the residuum which came down
to him through his forbears from Luther, Calvin, and Edwards. All these
materials he transmuted and moulded into lessons which have his own
individual quality and bear his stamp. The precise limits of his
individuality are indeterminable, and inquiry into them would be
unprofitable. In all probability the case would prove to be much the
same with most of the men that the world has named prophets, if we knew
as much of their mental history as we know of Emerson's. With regard to
the Semitic prophets and seers, it is reasonable to expect that as
Semitic exploration and discovery advance, the world will learn much
about the historical and poetical sources of their inspiration. Then the
Jewish and Christian peoples may come nearer than they do now to
Emerson's conceptions of inspiration and worship, of the naturalness of
revelation and religion, and of the infinite capacities of man.
Meantime, it is an indisputable fact that Emerson's thought has proved
to be consonant with the most progressive and fruitful thinking and
acting of two generations since his working time. This fact, and the
sweetness, fragrance, and loftiness of his spirit, prophesy for him an
enduring po