LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE RALPH WALDO EMERSON Frontispiece From a daguerreotype taken in the West in 1859 REV. WILLIAM EMERSON, PASTOR OF THE FIRST From an engraving in The Polyanthos for May, MRS. RUTH EMERSON From the painting by Alexander, in the possession WILLIAM EMERSON, OF NEW YORK, OLDEST From a daguerreotype in the possession of the family EDWARD BLISS EMERSON 62 104 158 190 From a silhouette in the possession of the family CHARLES CHAUNCY EMERSON 254 From a silhouette in the possession of the family I SOCIETY AND SOLITUDE SEYD melted the days like cups of pearl, A cabin hung with curling smoke, Or gleam which use can paint on steel, Princely women hard to please, Fenced by form and ceremony, Decked by courtly rites and dress And etiquette of gentilesse. But when the mate of the snow and wind, He left each civil scale behind: Him wood-gods fed with honey wild And of his memory beguiled. In caves and hollow trees he crept As if in him the welkin walked, The winds took flesh, the mountains talked, Sphered and concentric with the whole. |