RALPH WALDO EMERSON: J^i s JHaternal Ancestors.- . rrim x-* / RALPH WALDO EMERSON HIS MATERNAL ANCESTORS i&Etmmscntces of J^t BY DAVID GREENE HASKINS, D.D. BOSTON CUPPLES, UPHAM AND COMPANY Cfjf Io Corner Bookstore 1887 RALPH WALDO EMERSON HIS MATERNAL ANCESTORS WITH Some Sfotmniscences of l^im BY DAVID GREENE RASKINS, D.D. Every wan is a bundle of his ancestors EMERSON BOSTON CUPPLES, UPHAM AND COMPANY Cfje to Corner 1887 COPYRIGHT, 1886 AND 1887, BY CUPPLES, UPHAM & Co. All Rights Reserved. ELECTROTYPED BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON. PUBLISHERS PREFACE. THE substance of this volume originally appeared, as serial pa pers, in the August and Septem ber numbers for 1886 of The Literary World. From the types of this periodical, a small pam phlet edition of these papers only three hundred and fifty cop ies was made up and issued by the present publishers. The continued demand for the pam phlet has led to the publication of it in a more permanent form. In this edition much new ma terial, mostly derived from fam ily sources, has been supplied by the author, who was Mr. Emer son s cousin. The volume has v also M118323 vi Publishers Preface. also been illustrated by represen tations of some persons and places intimately connected or associated with Mr. Emerson. Of the illustrations, some have never before been made public. INTRODUCTORY. THE biographies of Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson which have thus far appeared do not include an account of his mother s family. Believing that the public is in terested in whatever relates to him, and having in my posses sion the more important papers necessary for giving the history of the family on his mother s side, I have undertaken in these pages, in some measure, to make good the omission. I have also ventured to sup plement the record by some per sonal reminiscences of Mr. Em erson. If any one else had been able to throw these recollections upon the screen, I certain!} should not have taken it upon oil myself via Introductory. myself to do it. The reader will bear in mind that I had been unconsciously photographed in to the negatives, and could not eliminate myself from the copies. In exhibiting these views to the public, I defer to the wishes of friends in whose judgment I have confidence. \ CONTENTS. Publisher s Preface v Introductory vii Robert Haskins 2 John Haskins 3 King s Chapel 15 Hannah Haskins 28 Ruth (Haskins) Emerson 38 Madam Bradford s Letter 53 Mrs. Ruth Emerson s Letters about her son, John Clarke 65 Ralph Haskins 80 The Canterbury House 86 Edward B. Emerson 87 Henry F. Harrington 92 " Good-by, proud world " 97 Reminiscences of R. W. Emerson . . 107 School in Roxbury 109 Grace before Meat 114 His Method of Composing . . . . 115 His Religious Beliefs 117 Henry D. Thoreau 119 IX x Contents. His Explanation of Carlisle s Style . 123 Letter about Gibbon 125 Answer to the Question, "Do you be lieve in God?" 130 Miss Martineau 131 His Funeral . 134 Concluding Remarks 136 Notes 143 ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Ruth Emerson, mother of Ralph Waldo Emerson . . . Frontispiece 2. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Title-page vignette 3. John Haskins (portrait), facing page 3 4. The Haskins House . . " " 8 5. King s Chapel . . . . " " 15 6. John Haskins (silhouette) " " 20 7. Hannah Haskins (portrait) " " 28 8. Hannah Haskins (silhouette), facing page 33 9. The Reverend William Emerson, father of R. W. Emerson, facing page 38 10. The First Church (Old Brick), fa cing page 45 11. The First Church (Chauncy Place), facing page 5 12. Judge William Emerson, brother of R. W. Emerson, facing page . 56 13. Ralph Haskins . . . facing page 80 14. The Canterbury House " " 85 xi xii Illustrations. 15. Edward Bliss Emerson, brother of R. W. Emerson (silhouette), fa cing page 87 16. Charles Chauncy Emerson, brother of R. W. Emerson (silhouette), facing page 9 2 17. Ralph Waldo Emerson (silhouette, taken in Concord about 1843), facing page IO 7 18. Oftagon Hall, Roxbury, facing page no 19. The Second Church (New Brick), facing page II2 20. R. W. Emerson s house, Concord, Mass., facing page H4 21. The Reverend William Emerson s book-plate, facing page . ... 142 RALPH WALDO EMERSON: HIS MATERNAL ANCESTORS. HANGING upon a wall of my study, and looking down upon me while I write, are two old- time portraits. One is the por trait of my father s father, the late John Haskins of Boston; the other, that of his wife, Hannah (Upham) Haskins. 1 These per sons were the honored heads of a family of sixteen children, of whom Mrs. Ruth Emerson, the mother of Ralph Waldo Emer son, was the tenth in the order of birth. The genealogy of the Haskins family is not a long one. 2 Robert ,2 , : ftafpb Waldo Emerson: Robert Haskins, the father of John, is the first of the name of whom there is any trace. He came to Boston in the early part of the last century. His origin is unknown. There are two tra ditions concerning him. One is that he came to Boston from Vir ginia, where he is said to have left numerous relatives; the oth er, that he came from England with a brother and settled in Bos ton, and that the brother went to Virginia, where there are persons of the name now living. He married, in 1728, Sarah Cook, daughter of Philip Cook of Cambridge, whose name is on a tombstone of the old burying- ground adjacent to the meeting house of the First Parish of that town. He lived, after his mar riage, in Boston, occupying a house JOHN HASKINS. His Maternal Ancestors. $ house on the northwest corner of Kingston and Essex Streets, which was taken down only a few years ago. Nothing further is known about him, except that he was by occupation a cooper, and that he died of small-pox during the infancy of his only child, John. His wife, after a widow hood of about seventeen years, married, December i, 1747, for a second husband, Thomas Hake of Boston, who, like her first husband, was a cooper. John Raskins. John Haskins was born in Bos ton, in the house above referred to, March 12, 1729. An old and accepted family chronicle records that " when he was sixteen months old, he and his father had the small-pox the nat ural way. His father died, and the child was so reduced by the disease 4 Ralpb Waldo Emerson: disease that he was laid in the same room with his father, ap parently dead. By opening the window the child was revived, and spared in mercy to his wid owed mother. She was pious, and early taught him to love and fear the Lord. He was an af fectionate and devoted and obe dient child, and though he wished to go to sea, he determined never to leave his mother until she had another friend." In early youth he applied him self to acquiring a knowledge of his father s trade, that of a coop er. He was eighteen years of age at the time of his mother s marriage to Mr. Hake. John now resolved to gratify his long cherished desire to go to sea. He accordingly em barked in a letter-of-marque ves sel that was bound for the West Indies and commissioned to a6l against His Maternal Ancestors. 5 against France and Spain, which were then allied in hostilities against England. 3 He was gone o o o two years, sailing from one island to another, and supporting him self by working at his trade. In his absence he endured many hardships. He was taken pris oner by the Spaniards, and after wards by the French. He was finally retaken, though with the loss of his clothing, by an Amer ican vessel, in which he returned home. He was received by his mother with great joy and grati tude, and was immediately taken into partnership in business by his step-father, Mr. Hake. It is rea sonable to suppose that young Haskins s desires for a sea-life had been more than satisfied by the experiences of his voyage. How ever that may have been, the opening made for him by Mr. Hake proved sufficiently advan tageous 6 Ralph Waldo Emerson: tageous at the time to satisfy his ambitions in staying at home, and he continued to reside in the town of his birth till the end of his long life. On the twenty-third anniver sary of his birth, March 12, 1752, Mr. Raskins married Hannah, daughter of Phineas and Hannah (Waite) Upham, of Maiden. Mrs. Haskins was about five years younger than her husband. Mr. Hake died in 1755. By his last will and testament, dated the same year, after providing for the payment of certain legacies, he devised all the remainder of his estate, both real and personal, " unto my much esteemed friend and son-in-law, John Haskins of Boston, cooper." What changes, if any, Mr. Hake s death made in Mr. Has- kins s business, there are no means of ascertaining. Some time af terwards His Maternal Ancestors. 7 terwards, there is reason to sup pose that he was concerned in commercial transactions; but this may have been in connection with his business as a cooper. The coopers, in those days, were an incorporated body, and had a large shipping trade, particularly with the West Indies. It is cer tain that later in life, I do not know when, he changed his busi ness, and w r as for many years a distiller. During the period between 1764 and 1769, Mr. Haskins ac quired possession by several pur chases of a considerable traft of land lying between Rainsford s Lane (now Harrison Avenue) and Orange (now Washington) Street. The front of this prop erty on the latter street was oppo site the present Boylston Mar ket. Upon the other end of the estate, fronting on Rainsford s Lane 8 Ralph Waldo Emerson: Lane, Mr. Haskins, in 1765, ere6ted a substantial and spacious house, which he made his home for the remainder of his life. 4 Behind the house was a large garden, with ornamentally paved paths, which is pleasantly re membered by persons still living, especially for its plums and St. Michael pears. In the early years a carriage-way extended through the grounds from street to street. After Mr. Haskins s death, this house was occupied by the family until the decease of his widow in 1819, and, except for an inter val of a few years, continued to be the home of his three unmar ried daughters until about 1862, at which time, almost a century after its erection, it was taken down, and the "Savage School" was built by the city of Boston on its site. In 1883, the school- house His Maternal Ancestors. 9 house, having been sold to pri vate parties, was in turn razed to the ground, and a lofty block of brick stores now marks the place of the old family home. Before the Revolution, Mr. Raskins was much interested in military affairs, and held the com mission first of Lieutenant, and afterwards of Captain in the old Boston Regiment. The latter commission is in my possession. It is issued to John Haskins, Gen tleman, by Thomas Hutchinson, Esquire, Governor in Chief of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the name of his Majesty, King George III., and bears date, Boston, February 20, 1772. I have also in my possession " The Alarm List" of Captain Has- kins s company. In the early days of the excite ment over the Stamp A6t, Mr. Haskins had been one of the Sons to Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Sons of Liberty"; but later, repelled, probably, by the radical measures of Samuel Adams and his followers, he became a mod erate royalist. He remained in Boston during the siege; but immediately after the evacuation of the town by the British, he took the oath of allegiance to the new government. It is not improbable that his father, like most of the English settlers of Massachusetts and Vir ginia, had been in his younger days attached to the Church of England. His mother, however, who had sole charge of his early training, was a Congregationalist, and brought up her son in her own faith. But in early manhood Mr. Haskins attended King s Chapel, and became deeply interested in the Episcopal church, of which for the more than fifty remaining years of his life he was a promi nent His Maternal Ancestors. n nent and respe6ted member. His Prayer Book, which has come down to me, contains his auto graph with the date 1757, and, on the fly-leaf before the Psalms in metre, a prayer composed and written by himself, on the occa sion of his first receiving the sacrament of the Lord s Supper, February 4, 1759. But while he chose for himself the old paths to walk in, at the same time, he never sought unduly to urge his religious opinions or church pref erences upon others. " There are many ways to Heaven," he used to say; " but the Episcopal church is the turnpike road." He allowed his wife to worship according to the Puritan forms under which she had been edu cated, and made liberal provision for her doing so, first and for many years at the New South Meeting-House, and later at the Brattle 12 Ralph Waldo Emerson: Brattle Street and the Park Street Meeting-Houses. Mr. Haskins took high views of the duties which pertain to the head of a family to provide for the Christian training of the children. The registers of King s Chapel and of Trinity Church, where he worshipped at different periods, and which record the baptisms of all of his children, show the importance which he attached to having their church life begin as nearly as practica ble with their natural life. For the most part, the children were baptized on the day of their birth ; in no instance was the sacrament delayed beyond the first week of their existence. From this beginning, it was his aim to bring up his family in all the usages and duties of a Christian life. When small, the children went to church as circumstances deter mined His Maternal Ancestors. 13 mined, sometimes with their fa ther to King s Chapel, sometimes with their mother to the New South ; but when old enough to exercise intelligent judgment, they were required by their fa ther to decide for themselves which service they preferred to attend, the Episcopal or the Con gregational, and to give him the reasons for their choice in writ ing. His daughter Ruth (after wards Mrs. Emerson) was one of the children who expressed a preference for the Episcopal wor ship. The plan seems to have worked well. It accustomed the children to think and a6t for themselves, and to hold their re ligious opinions with moderation and charity. As far as I can learn, the children were very equally divided in their prefer ences. It is related that Mr. Haskins and 14 Ralph Waldo Emerson: and his wife, after the latter had established her connection with the Park Street Society, were wont on Sundays to walk to gether to their respective places of worship the children fol lowing them in pairs from the homestead in Rainsford s Lane to the corner of Winter and Marl boro (now Washington) Streets. Here the family procession di vided, Mr. Haskins with those of the children who preferred Episcopal worship, turning into Summer Street to go to Trinity Church; and Mrs. Haskins with the others, turning in the op posite direction towards Park Street. A gentleman, now de ceased, who, in the early days, had been a guest of Mr. Haskins, and had one Sunday accompa nied the family on their way to church, told me that on ap proaching the corner where the separation His Maternal Ancestors. 75 separation must occur, Mr. Has- kins gravely turned to him with the enquiry, " Do you prefer to go to meeting with Mrs. Haskins, or will you worship with the saints and servants of the Lord at Trinity?" Mr. Haskins was a pew-holder of King s Chapel, and regularly worshipped there till the retreat of the British army from Boston in March, 1776, when the chapel ceased to be used as an Episco pal church. It will be remem bered that the venerable Dr. Caner, who had been re<5tor of the church for nearly thirty years, together with the greater part of the proprietors and the congre gation, were royalists, and had accompanied the troops in their escape to Halifax. In conse quence, the doors of the chapel were closed for eighteen months. During the following five years the 1 6 Ralph Waldo Emerson: the chapel, with the consent of some of the proprietors who re mained in the country, was occu pied by the congregation of the Old South Meeting-House. In the meantime, and subsequently till his death, Mr. Haskins wor shipped at Trinity Church. But he never relinquished his property rights in King s Chapel. In 1785, after the forfeited pews of the original owners had been sold, and mostly to the members of the Old South congregation who had long occupied them, Mr. Haskins was appointed, by the then proprietors, one of a committee of seven to report certain desired changes in the Book of Common Prayer. These changes were chiefly in the di rection of a reaction against the bald tritheism of much of the congregational preaching of the day. They had already been formulated His Maternal Ancestors. 77 formulated, acceptably to his people, by Mr. James Freeman, the young lay pastor of the con gregation, in the draft of a re vised Service Book. Mr. Free man had modeled his book, in the main, after the Book of Common Prayer; but not satisfied with the alterations rendered necessary by the changed political relations of the country, he had gone to the length of eliminating or modify ing every expression that taught or implied the doctrine of the Trinity. Mr. Haskins took strong ground, both in the com mittee and before the proprie tors, against the last described changes. They were, neverthe less, adopted by a vote of twenty yeas to seven nays. I have before me two docu ments relating to the part taken by Mr. Haskins in the above pro ceedings. One is a manuscript in i8 Ralph Waldo Emerson: in his own handwriting, of sixteen pages of letter paper, filled with proof-texts supporting the doc trine of the Trinity, and with notes on the origin and compila tion of the Prayer Book, evi dently designed for his private use. The other is the copy of a paper in the nature of a protest, which he presented to the pro prietors, April 2, 1785, a short time before their adoption of the changes reported by the com mittee. It is entitled, " Reasons for Dissenting from the Proposed Alterations in the Liturgy of the Church." In this paper, after a clear and forcible statement of his objections to the contem plated changes on the ground that they were not in accord with the teachings of the Scriptures, Mr. Haskins urges (i) that it is unfit and against all ecclesiasti cal precedent that questions in volving His Maternal Ancestors. 19 volving the faith of the church should be passed upon by a body composed wholly of laymen; (2) that a General Convention of the Episcopal Church, made up of both clergymen and laymen, was to be held during the year, by which all needed changes in the Prayer Book would be duly con sidered and legally made, and by those who had a right to make them; (3) that the pro posed changes affected the fun damental doctrine of the Prayer Book, and would, therefore, be unjust to the persons who had contributed to the building and to the funds of the church with the understanding that it was to be conformed in faith and mode of worship to the Church of England. This document, which is sin gularly able, as well as entirely respectful in tone, closes with the request 20 Ralph Waldo Emerson: request that, in case the majority report of the committee should be adopted, " this protest may be entered in full on the records of the church." Notwithstanding, no reference to it appears in the books of King s Chapel ; nor has it ever, to my knowledge, been brought to the notice of the gen eral public. Later, Mr. Haskins also united with others in protest ing against the lay ordination of Mr. Freeman. Mr. Haskins was over seventy years of age when he retired from a6tive business. He had accu mulated a handsome property, which was mostly invested in real estate. In person, Mr. Haskins was above the common size and stat ure, with somewhat of a military ere6lness of figure, and possessed a natural gravity and dignity of bearing, the effect of which was enhanced JOHN HASKINS, [TAKEN LATE IN LIFK.] His Maternal Ancestors. 21 enhanced by his mode of dress, which was that of the ante-revo lutionary period. 5 Correspond ingly, he was distinguished by unusual strength and upright ness of character, and equally for soundness of judgment and for practical wisdom. Many per sons were in the habit of apply ing to him for counsel in their affairs, and numerous pithy say ings attributed to him were re peated from mouth to mouth for more than a generation after his death. His reputation for truth and rectitude gained for him the popular designation of " Honest John Haskins." The following anecdote of him was told me by a gentleman who had it from the lips of the elder Harrison Gray Otis. A Boston man, one Mr. John Boies, was on the eve of sailing on a long voy age, and having a few hundred dollars 22 Ralph Waldo Emerson: dollars in silver saved from his earnings, which he did not need to take with him, a friend ad vised him to deposit the sum in the old Massachusetts Bank. "No," replied Mr. Boies, "old Honest John Haskins is better than any bank; I am going to get him to keep it for me." Mr. Haskins was reluctant to receive the money, but finally yielding to Mr. Boies s urgency, he led the way to the cellar, where he dug a hole in a retired corner in which he buried the box contain ing the treasure, and placed over it an empty hogshead. Then call ing his negro servant, Gloucester, he directed him to fill the hogs head with water. Having seen this clone, his visitor departed satisfied. After a long absence Mr. Boies returned, when Mr. Haskins said to him that the care of the money had caused him some His Maternal Ancestors. 23 some uneasiness, and that he should be glad to be relieved of it. Accordingly, with Glouces ter s help, the hogshead was emp tied and removed, when the box was found safe, and given back to its confiding owner. Both the devout and the prac tical sides of Mr. Haskins s char acter are charmingly illustrated in the explanation he once gave of his preference for a precom- posed liturgy in public worship. He said that upon leaving the door of his house to go to church he made it a point, if unattended,, to say the service, which he knew by heart, to himself, beginning with the opening sentences, and continuing in the prescribed order, taking both the minister s parts and the people s, till he reached the church. By this course, he said, if he arrived late, he was pretty sure to be up with the minister 24 Ralph Waldo Emerson: minister and lost nothing; on the other hand, if he reached the church before the services began, he was in a better frame of mind for entering upon them a second time. Still another anecdote has been preserved of Mr. Haskins, which is worth relating for the glimpse it affords of his home life. One day, while the family were at dinner, a building not far from the house was discovered to be on fire. The large group of children started at once and eager ly from their places, but were in stantly checked by their father, who, rapping upon the table to command attention, reverently but briefly returned thanks for the meal, saying, as was his wont, " The Lord be praised for this and all his mercies." Then, after a short pause, he added, " Now, boys, run." In His Maternal Ancestors. 25 In business, Mr. Haskins was diligent and methodical in his habits, and scrupulously exat and just in his dealings with others. In the family, he was an exem plary father, faithful and judicious in the training of his children, and a remarkably kind and indul gent husband. His son Ralph, in the entry in his diary which records his father s death, says of his father and mother: "No cou ple ever lived more happily to gether during their married life, a period of nearly sixty-three years." Mr. Haskins was also noted for his hospitable entertainment of visitors, and for his liberal charities. It is said to have been his practice whether or not it was common in the early days, I am unable to say to invite two or three persons from the poor-house to dine with him once a year. 6 Mr. 2(5 Ralph Waldo Emerson: Mr. Haskins died in Boston, October 27, 1814. He was bur ied from Trinity Church, on the 3ist of the same month, the service having been said by the Reverend Dr. Gardiner. By particular request of the family, no obituary notices of the deceased, and no mention of the time of the funeral, appeared in the newspapers. Nevertheless, a respectable congregation at tended the last rites. The re mains of the deceased were placed in the family tomb under the church. 7 Mr. Haskins s wife and thir teen of his children survived him, besides forty-six grandchildren. It is remarkable that his death was the first that had taken place in his immediate family for nearly fifty-three years, and that for the space of sixty-one years, from Nov. 5, 1761, to Dec. 14, 1822, not His Maternal Ancestors. 27 not a death occurred among the thirteen children who survived him. The following lines,which were written on the occasion of Mr. Haskins s death by his grandson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, then a lad of eleven years, will be read with interest : ON THE DEATH OF MR. JOHN HASKINS. See the calm exit of the aged saint, Without a murmur and without complaint; While round him gathered, all his children stand, And some one holds his withered, pallid hand. He bids them trust in God, nor mourn, nor weep ; He breathes religion, and then falls asleep. Then on angelic wings he soars to God, Rejoiced to leave his earthly, mortal load; His head is covered with a crown of gold, His hands, renewed, a harp immortal hold; Thus clothed with light, the tuneful spirit sings- He sings of mercy and of Heavenly things. Hannah 28 Ralph Waldo Emerson: Hannah Upham. Hannah Upham, the wife of John Haskins, came of good old New England stock, a typical Puritan family. Her ancestor, John Upham, came from Eng land, probably in 1635, and settled in Weymouth; but later he re moved to Maiden, where the fam ily lived for many years, and where Hannah herself was born. The Uphams were evidently men of ability and character, and en joyed the confidence of the small communities in which they lived. They were selectmen, moder ators of town-meetings, members of the General Court, officers in the militia, and deacons of the church. One of them was town treasurer. Another, Lieutenant Phineas Upham, son of the first settler, was mortally wounded in the great swamp fight with the Narraganset HANNAH H*A5>K % INS > I I 5 % ! His Maternal Ancestors. 29 Narraganset Indians at Canoni- cus, in 1675. Through her moth er, Hannah Waite, Miss Upham was descended from Captain John Waite, one of the leading men of Maiden, who was captain of the military company, Speaker of the House of Deputies, and one of the compilers of the first body of the Colony Laws; she was also descended from Rose Dun- ster, a sister of the Reverend Henry Dunster, the first Presi dent of Harvard College; from Thomas Oakes, cousin of the Reverend Mr. Oakes, the fourth President of the same institution, and from John Howland, the fa mous Mayflower Pilgrim. Han nah s father, Phineas Upham, was one of the ten children of Phineas and Tamsen Upham of Maiden, and was born in that town in 17078. He was a brother of Dr. Jabez Upham, who settled in Brookfield jo Ralph Waldo Emerson: Brookfield, and attained distinc tion there both as a physician and as a member of the General Court. He married, in 1730, Hannah, daughter of Joseph and Lydia Waite. He died in 1738, when about thirty years of age. The circumstances connected with the death of Mr. Upham furnish a remarkable parallel to those connected with the death of Mr. Robert Haskins, related above. I give them in this case, as in the former, in the words of the old family chronicle: " Mr. and Mrs. Upham were both eminently pious. When Hannah was about four years old, the throat distemper pre vailed in Maiden, and many died. Among these were Mr. Upham, and three of his four children. Hannah, the surviving child, was brought very low. Dr. Tufts attended His Maternal Ancestors. 31 attended her. His remedies were ineffectual. He. one day returned from visiting her, and resolved to spend the night in study and prayer on her account, which he did. Finding one med icine that he had not tried, he administered it, and it relieved her. After some time, she was restored, to the great joy of her afflicted mother, with whom she lived alone in the house for seven years. She was carefully and religiously educated, and thus prepared to be a blessing in the church, and to the world. The goodness and mercy of God were signally manifested towards these individuals [John and Hannah Raskins], and the prom ise connected with the fifth com mandment was fulfilled in their experience." Mrs. Upham, Hannah s moth er, ^2 Ralph Waldo Emerson: er, married, in 1744-5, f r a sec ond husband, Israel Cook, an un cle of John Haskins, with whom she lived for many years, in the family residence at Maiden. Their home, during her life, was a favorite gathering-place of Mr. Haskins s family the daughters going in pairs, to make visits of several days together, to their Grandmother Cook. She died October 3, 1789. Hannah was born in her fa ther s house in Maiden, May 6, 1734; was married in the same town, by the Reverend Joseph Emerson, the grandfather of the Reverend William Emerson who afterward espoused her daughter, Ruth; and died in Boston, Sep tember 18, 1819. She was, in many respects, a remarkable wo man. Hardly eighteen years of age at the time of her marriage, she became the mother of Mr. Haskins s HANNAH HA.SKINS, [ i^A^EN, I.ATE IN His Maternal Ancestors. 33 Haskins s sixteen children. 8 Thirteen of these children were living at the time of her death, in <^ * her eighty-sixth year, the oldest of these children being then sixty-five years of age, and the youngest forty years. Her health through life was generally good, and her memory and faculties remained unimpaired to the last. The portrait of her, in my pos session, painted seven years after her marriage, represents her as unusually slight of figure; but she is described as being, in her later years, a large woman, of fine appearance. She was so far from inheriting wealth that Mr. Has- kins, it is said, provided her wed ding outfit. But she brought a more than compensating portion to his home, in her singularly calm and happy temperament, and amiable disposition; in the well balanced powers of her mind, }4 Ralph Waldo Emerson: mind, and the strength of her religious character; in her spirit ual culture, and the quiet benig nity of her manners. Fully shar ing her husband s views in re gard to the religious education of the children, she was pecul iarly fitted, by her natural endow ments and Christian graces, to mould their character and guide their conduct; and, under her faithful oversight, they were brought up in the best methods of a well ordered New England home. Of the children who lived beyond infancy, nine were daugh ters, and naturally came almost exclusively under her influence. Their more amiable traits, par ticularly the eminent loveliness of disposition which distin guished all of the daughters, are said, and no doubt correctly, to have come in a peculiar sense from her. In what degree the moral His Maternal Ancestors. 35 moral impress of their mother s character manifest in the chil dren was due to their having been so long and closely united in the family bond, it is not easy to determine. But the statistics involved in the inquiry are strik ing and interesting. The family life, which came to an end at Mrs. Haskins s death, covered a period of more than sixty-seven years. Of the thirteen children who survived her, all were born before the twenty-eighth year of her married life, and till that time only one, the oldest, had been married. Of the twelve others, nine were subsequently married, but at long intervals of succes sion. The dates show that all of the children lived at home, and enjoyed the influences of the family circle for many } T ears be yond the limits of boyhood or girlhood. The three younger daughters j<5 Ralph Waldo Emerson: daughters remained unmarried and at home through life. The family intercourse was also kept up by occasional visits to the old home from those of the married children who had settled at a distance; and, sometimes, these visits were returned by the par ents, in company with one or more of their other children. There were, also, weekly gatherings, in their father s house, of the mar ried children who lived near home, and during the Christmas season there were general family reunions. Though in her later years the responsible cares of the household devolved upon the daughters, by whom they were assumed in turn, yet, during all of the period referred to, Mrs. Haskins was the revered domes tic head of the family, the hon ored and beloved centre of the home system of thirteen chil dren His Maternal Ancestors. 57 dren and nearly fifty grandchil dren. Notwithstanding the re sponsibilities and cares of her large family, she was mindful of her duty to others, and, in pro portion to her means, was gen erous in her benefactions to the poor. A pleasant tradition of the family relates that she kept a mother-of-pearl charity-box, capable of holding about five dollars in silver, from which she used to draw freely, waving it before her husband whenever it needed to be replenished. She retained her connection with the Congregational Church to the last. At her death, her son Ralph wrote of her: "She has per formed all the duties of life well. With truth it may be said, she was one of the best of mothers, best of wives, best of Christians, and best of women." Her re mains $8 Ralph Waldo Emerson: mains were deposited with those of her husband, in the family tomb under Trinity Church. Ruth Raskins. Ruth Haskins, daughter of John and Hannah (Upham) Haskins, was born in Boston, November 9, 1768, and was bap tized the same day in King s Chapel, by the rector, the Rev erend Dr. Caner. She was mar ried at her father s house by the Reverend Dr. Parker, re6lor of Trinity Church, October 25, 1796, to the Reverend William Emer son, minister in the town of Har vard, and son of the minister of the same name, formerly of Con cord. She died in Concord, at the house of her son, Ralph Waldo Emerson, November 16, 1853- Like all of her father s chil dren, Ruth received in her youth careful His Maternal Ancestors. 39 careful religious and domestic training, and the best school op portunities of the day. In addi tion, it was her happy lot to fill, numerically, the place of " the golden mean," in the line of the children of the family who lived to grow up. She had five sisters and one brother older than her self ; and three sisters and three brothers younger. At the time of her birth, her oldest sister was fifteen years of age. The advantages incident to this posi tion in the family were felt more and more as she grew up, and are, no doubt, to be reckoned among the more important influ ences which contributed to form her character. On the one hand, she enjoyed the society and ex ample of the numerous older band of children; and, on the other, the perhaps greater moral benefit of exercising, on her own part, 40 Ralph Waldo Emerson: part, the tender and responsible offices of an older sister. Of her life previous to her mar riage, I know little, except that it was varied by frequent visits to her married sisters, to her Grand mother Cook, and to her Aunts Waite, at Maiden. In these vis its, probably, she became ac quainted with young William Emerson, whom she afterwards married. His Grandmother Em erson lived there, as well as his Aunts Brinton and Rebecca Em erson, and his Aunts Waite, with whom his sister, Mary Moody Emerson, lived. It is certain that the lovely Christian graces of Ruth s char acter had been early developed and matured. The following extract from one of her letters gives an idea of the cast of her mind, and of her spiritual expe rience at this time. The letter was His Maternal Ancestors. 41 was addressed to her sister Deb orah, the wife of the Reverend Mase Shepard of Little Compton, R. I., and is dated Boston, June 4, 1793. " Most sincerely do I thank my sister for her friendly letter by Major Davis, and assure her that with reluctance I let pass the same conveyance of return ing her a line. My many avoca tions, and his stay being short, put it out of my power. " I was much pleased with your striking comparison of a gar den of flowers to the different modes of worship. My senti ments exactly accord with yours, that it depends entirely on the disposition of the heart. May this be but right with God, and we need not fear. For your good and affectionate wishes, re ceive, in return, the best a grate ful 42 Ralph Waldo Emerson: ful heart can offer, for your pres ent and future happiness. " The contents of Mr. Shep- ard s and your letters to sister Lydia give me peculiar joy and pleasure. May you go on seek ing God, till you obtain at his hand that peace which the world can neither give nor ( blessed be God ) take away." The remainder of the letter, which is quite long, is largely taken up with quotations from Wogarfs Essays on the Church Lessons^ which she commends to her sister as a book which she has lately read with great pleas ure. There is also preserved ktnong Ruth s personal papers of this period a series of closely written letter-sheets, in the nature of a Diary, the interesting character and uses of which are explained in His Maternal Ancestors. 43 in the following introductory sen tences: " Boston, April 20, 1795. Pre vious to the above date, I have had many thoughts respecting the advantages that might arise from the constant practice of writing down minutely the deal ings of God toward me every evening, or at least once a week. Viewing this to be a good means to obtain the knowledge of my self, and to observe if I make progress in the Christian and di vine life, or grow in the knowl edge of the Holy Scriptures, I desire now in a better strength than my own to resolve that from this date, April 20, 1795, I will, as God shall enable me, from time to time carefully notice all his providences towards my friends or myself, whether pros perous or adverse, and consci entiously 44 Ralph Waldo Emerson: entiously note down whatever appears to be for the glory oft God, or the good of my own soul. Most mighty God^ assist me now to look up to thee by prayer for thy blessing on these feeble endeavors to promote and strengthen vital piety t and true religion in my own immortal soul!" The entries in this diary are continued, at more or less fre quent intervals, until May, 1799. Ruth was in the twenty-eighth year of her age when she was married to Mr. Emerson. Soon after the wedding she accom panied her husband to Harvard, and at once assumed the charge of his home. Here about three of the fifteen and a half years of their married life were passed, and their first child, a daughter, was born. Mr. THE FIRST CHURCH, (Old Brick). 1712 1S08. THE REV. WM. EMLRSON, INSTALLED MINISTER, OCT. i799. His Maternal Ancestors. 45 Mr. Emerson having been chosen to succeed the Reverend Dr. John Clarke, as minister of the First Church, in Boston, the family removed to that town in 1799. There they lived at first in the old parsonage belonging to the church, situated on the southerly side of Summer Street, near the corner of Chauncy Place, now Chauncy Street. Afterwards, while a new parson age was building on the adjacent corner of Chauncy Place, they occupied for twelve or fourteen months a house in Atkinson Street, opposite the northerly end of Berry Street, which stood next to the house of Mr. Samuel Bradford. But on the comple tion of the new parsonage they moved into it, and lived there till Mr. Emerson s death. The following extracts from letters written by Mrs. Emerson while 46 Ralph Waldo Emerson: while she lived in Harvard may prove interesting. They were addressed to her unmarried sis ter, Elizabeth. In one of these, dated Harvard, April 24, 1797, which was about six months af ter her marriage, she says: " I have ever been disposed to think my affe&ion was the same for each sister; but the pain I feel at a separation from you causes me to believe and own something like to a partiality. Surely it cannot be reprehensible to love so good a sister. But it would be, if I were to repine at our separation while I am under the most endearing obligations to a friend nearer than parents or brethren, one who is altogether worthy of my affections. Thus blessed, fain would I hush every rising murmur about distance from that little spot I once de lighted His Maternal Ancestors. 47 lighted in as my home, and com plain only of those imperfections in myself that render me un worthy of such a companion. I daily regret that so little of that benign and heavenly disposition recommended in the gospel is discernible in my condu6l. Our divine Redeemer hath left an ex ample for all those who will live godly lives to follow. Why, then, do we not imitate him more closely? Henceforth, let it be our chief care to walk in his footsteps, that we may be grow ing in humility and every Chris tian grace." The following is from a letter written after her husband had re ceived a call to the pastorate of the First Church, in Boston. The letter is dated Harvard, August *3> 1799 - Truly 48 Ralph Waldo Emerson: " Truly, in one view, a re moval is not likely much to ad vance my own private happiness and ease. My partiality for re tirement and rural scenes is great; and my aversion is great to the useless ceremony, parade, and pomp, that almost neces sarily are attached to a town life. But these smaller considerations are greatly outweighed by the prospect of means for Mr. Emer son s greater improvement in the profession in which he most de lights. Consequently, this must render his life more useful and happy. A competency for sup port without his turning his at tention to any other business, joined with the idea of returning to dwell among my kindred and friends, are considerations, my sister, that preponderate in my mind. I am sensible that, with these advantages, my cares will be His Maternal Ancestors. 49 be multiplied, and probably my sorrows too. Yes, I already be gin to feel pain from the con sciousness that I am not qualified to move in the sphere of action to which I may possibly be called. My consolation is that the same source remains whence I have derived all that I possess, and where centres all that mor tals can wish for, or hope to en joy. To this blessed fountain, may it ever be my delight and highest ambition to repair, and thence may I continually draw forth such supplies as shall en able me to a6t with dignity and honor in every station and em ployment of life." In a letter dated Harvard, August 20, 1797, Mrs. Emerson pays the following tribute of es teem and love to her mother s mother: "We 50 Ralph Waldo Emerson: " We were much pleased with the testimonial of your respect for our deceased grandmamma, whose memory will be ever dear to all who knew her virtues. To you I may breathe forth the wish, for you will join me heart ily in it, to possess those inhe rent virtues, amiable qualifica tions and graces, that gave the brightest lustre to her character. While we revere and love the memory of our departed friend, let it be our constant care and study to be imitators of her ex ample, as far as she followed our divine Saviour." Mr. Emerson died May 12, 1811. An entry in my father s diary on the i6th of the same month says: " Brother Emerson s funeral took place to-day. A sermon was delivered His Maternal Ancestors. 51 delivered by Mr. Buckminster, and a very large and respe6table procession was formed. Between fifty and sixty coaches followed. Every attention has been paid by the committee of the church and its members to the widow and friends of the deceased." Mr. and Mrs. Emerson had eight children, of whom six, five sons and a daughter, were living at the time of their father s death. The oldest of the surviving chil dren, William, was then hardly ten years of age, while the youngest, a daughter, was an infant in arms. Of the sons, William, Ralph Waldo, Edward Bliss, and Charles Chauncy, were early remarkable for unusual en dowments of mind and character. Ralph Waldo was accounted by the near relatives of the family as the least brilliant of the four. Though 52 Ralph Waldo Emerson: Though Mr. Emerson died three quarters of a century ago, yet there is living, and, singularly and happily, not far from my own door, in Cambridge, a lady, now in her ninety-fourth year, who, during her maturer girlhood, was for several years a member of his family, and who has kindly sent me, in her own clear and handsome writing, her reminis cences of that period. The per son I refer to is Madam Brad ford, widow of the late Charles Bradford of Boston, and mother of the late Joseph Russell Brad ford of Cambridge, in whose family she now has her home. Madam Bradford s letter, which I give below, presents a remark ably realistic picture of the do mestic life of the Emerson family. It bears high testimony to the writer s faculties of observation as a girl, and to the extraordinary retentiveness His Maternal Ancestors. 53 retentiveness of her memory in age. Her rare simplicity of style, and her facility and felicity of minute description, combine to impart a unique interest to her recollections of the Emerson home in the Summer Street par sonages. Madam Bradford s Letter. Dear Sir ; I went to reside with Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Emer son in 1806, Mr. Emerson being chosen my guardian. They re sided in Summer Street, Boston. I was in the family between four and five years, while the children were quite young. Mrs. Emer son was a lovely woman, very superior and very religious. I do not remember ever to have seen her impatient, or to have heard her express dissatisfaction at any time. The daily duties and cares of domestic life never appeared 54 Ralph Waldo Emerson: appeared to annoy her. She cer tainly must have exercised great self-control. She was very in dustrious, and, in order to save time, kept her knitting in a table drawer in the parlor, and would take it out when receiving friend ly calls. She had the care of the silver communion plate, and was very particular that it should be made bright before use. I think a man, who was the sexton of the church, came once a month to attend to it. Mrs. Emerson often went to the ironing-board to iron Mr. Emerson s bands. She could trust no one to do them. They were made of lawn. It was the custom at that time for settled ministers to wear bands and black silk gowns, and a plaited, broad band of black silk round the waist. Mr. Emerson looked very handsome thus attired. I remem ber Mrs. Emerson taking her in fants His Maternal Ancestors. 55 fants for baptism. She would leave her pew, and alone would take the infant in her arms and go to the altar. Mr. Emerson would take the babe on his arm and baptize it, giving it back to the mother, who returned to her seat calm and undisturbed. The children when quite young were dressed in yellow flannel by day as by night. I did not think it pretty enough for the pretty boys. But I see now the wisdom, combined with the econ omy, of Mrs. Emerson. When the boys were older, then dark blue nankeen for jacket and trou sers took the place of yellow flannel. Waldo had a habit of sucking his thumb when he was a very little boy, and his mother made a mitten to his night dress. He sometimes said his prayers to me, the Lord s Prayer, and " Now I lay 5<5 Ralph Waldo Emerson: lay me down to sleep"; and he often repeated little pieces to me. So did William; but I remember more of Waldo. He used to speak " You d scarce expect one of my age," " Franklin one night stopped at a public inn," and a part of the " Dialogue between Brutus and Cassius." Waldo had a wonderful mem ory. When he was about five years old he went with his fa ther and me to Newburyport. Mr. Emerson went to visit his sister, Mrs. Farnham. I went to my grandmother s, and took Waldo with me. He seemed very willing to be with me. He always called me cousin Mary. We only remained two days in Newbury. Mrs. Emerson always retired to her chamber after breakfast, for reading and meditation, and must never be interrupted at that time JUDGE WM. EMERSON*. Ms Maternal Ancestors. 57 time. We had family prayers in the morning, and each one read a verse of Scripture, the children taking part as soon as they could read. Mr. and Mrs. Emerson were particular as to the keeping of Saturday evening in prefer ence to Sunday evening. They never received or made visits on Saturday evening. At that time the \vork-basket was put aside, the parlor fire-place nicely put in order for Sunday, and the little boys clothes all arranged for them to dress for the day. Sun day Mrs. Emerson always dressed in the morning ready for church. She would often wear a nice cal ico. She had a brown silk dress with a satin stripe which she often wore when going to a par ty. I well remember standing by her when she was before the glass putting on the lace ruffle round her neck. I wanted her to $8 Ralpb Waldo Emerson: to look pretty, and would some times offer a suggestion which seemed to me an improvement. I remember going with Mr. and Mrs. Emerson to a party the night of the " cold Friday." We only had a short walk to Chauncy Place, but it was bitter cold, and the parlors could not be made comfortable, though the cheerful fires gave a pleasant look. The cold was tremendous. We had chocolate for break fast three times a week, with toasted bread, but no butter. This has a simple sound, but we see the wisdom of Mrs. Emerson as well as economy; for choco late was better for the health of the children and for all of us. I think we always had good din ners. On Saturdays it was salt- fish dinner, with all its belongings of vegetables, melted butter, pork- scraps, etc. The salt-fish dinner was His Maternal Ancestors. 59 was always aristocratic. On Thursdays, which was the day for the Thursday lefture," the clergymen from the neighboring towns met in the Chauncy Place Church, taking their turns to preach, and Mr. Emerson would generally bring home with him some brother ministers to dine. The sermon and prayer were by the same minister. Old Dr. Pierce of Brookline always set the tune for singing. The congre gation rose at the sound of his voice. On the Friday before com munion, Mr. Emerson s and Mr. Buckminster s churches united in the afternoon " preparatory lecture." Mr. Buckminster was the minister of the Brattle Street Church. Mrs. Emerson usually attended the " preparatory lec ture." I remember Miss Hannah Ad ams, the historian, once dining at 60 Ralph Waldo Emerson: at Mr. Emerson s, with Mr. Buck- minster. She seemed to me to be very old. She was short and very small in person, though so great in mind. She became the first tenant at Mount Auburn. The last week in May, which was called "Election Week," in former times, Mr. and Mrs. Em erson sometimes had, on con vention morning, twelve minis ters to breakfast. Every Sunday evening Mrs. Emerson had a waiter prepared on the sideboard, with decanters of wine and of some kind of spirits, with tumblers and wine glasses. The deacons of the church and other friends often came on Sunday evening. Mon day afternoons, Mr. and Mrs. Haskins always received their children to tea. I used some times to go with Mrs. Emerson. I remember her father as being genial His Maternal Ancestors. 61 genial and cordial in his manners. In the winter time, at the family gathering, he had a silver tank ard of sangaree inside the fen der, and, when the right time came, he would carry it round that each one should partake of it. They drank it from the tank ard. I do not remember much about her mother, except that she was a fine, stately-looking woman. I have a pleasant rec- ollecSlion of Mrs. Emerson s sis ters. They were always friendly and kind towards me, and so was her mother. Her sisters, Miss Nancy and Miss Fanny Has- kins, were very mild and gentle. I can remember how industrious they were, making tatting and bobbin. I saw much more, how ever, of her other unmarried sis ter, Miss Betsey. She was very efficient, and would often come to assist Mrs. Emerson in times of 62 Ralph Waldo Emerson: of necessity. On Thanksgiving Day, her father s family all dined at Mr. Emerson s; on Christmas, they all dined at the family home in Rainsford s Lane; on New Year s Day, they met at Mr. Thomas Haskins s, on the cor ner of Carver and Eliot Streets; and on Twelfth Night, they all went to her brother-in-law, Dr. Kast s, on Hanover Street. I re member what a great privilege I thought it to be allowed to go to these family meetings. They were very pleasant, and without music, or dancing, or games. I remember Mrs. Emerson s sister, Mrs. Kast, as a dignified lady, and her daughter, Miss Sally, who was very pleasant. The latter called to see me a few years after her marriage, with her husband, Dr. George C. Shepard. He was an Episcopal minister, a cousin of his wife, and His Maternal Ancestors. 63 and a large, fine-looking man. It seems to me that Mrs. Emer son s family was a remarkable one, so respe6tful and affe&ion- ate towards each other. It was " love all through." I think her mother must have been a superi or woman to have brought up and educated so large a number of children, instilling into them such religious principle that nev er departed, but has descended from one generation to another. I met many years since the Rev. Samuel Ripley, half-brother to the Rev. Mr. Emerson, and on my inquiring how Mrs. Em erson was, his reply quite star tled me when he said, " She is as near heaven as she can be." I soon understood him. By his words, we see how he appre ciated her pure, spiritual life. I believe her heaven began on earth. She was much beloved 64 Ralph Waldo Emerson: by the parish. She was a good disciplinarian, firm and decided in the government of her chil- r dren. The law of obedience , must be fulfilled; and when it was . necessary to correcl; the children, it was done not in anger. Atthe family meetings on Mon day the tea was carried round on a waiter. Green tea, with loaf- sugar and cream, bread cut thin, spread with butter and doubled, with a basket of cake handed round, this repast was all-suffi cient in those days. Over the sideboard there were two portraits, one of the Reverend Charles Chauncy, and the other of the Reverend John Clarke, two former ministers of the First Church, predecessors of Mr. Em erson. Mr. Emerson was a hand some man, with florid complexion. He was fond of music. I always am reminded of him when I hear the His Maternal Ancestors. 65 the hymn, "Jesus, I love thy charming name." I think it was his favorite, and I sometimes played it for him to sing. The new parish house was on the same place where Hovey s store is. Opposite were the large houses of Mr. Bussey and Governor Sullivan, with beauti ful gardens. Regretting that I cannot tell you more that would interest you, I am, with sincere regards, Yours truly, MARY R. BRADFORD. Cambridge, December, 1885. Madam Bradford s graphic de scription of the Emerson home in Summer Street finds a fitting supplement in the glimpses sup plied by Mrs. Emerson herself, of the lights and shadows which fell upon one period of her fam ily life. Some of the more char acteristic and interesting of the letters 66 Ralph Waldo Emerson: letters of Mrs. Emerson which have been preserved are those which relate to John Clarke, the first of her children born in Boston, who was also, for a sea son, after the early death of a daughter born in Harvard, the only living child of his parents. The name he bore was given to him in honor of his father s immediate predecessor in the ministry of the First Church. He is said to have developed very interesting traits of char acter; but he died before com pleting his eighth year. The circumstances of his death, how ever, are not given in his moth er s letters. For domestic reasons, which I am unable to explain, when John Clarke was only about six years of age, his parents decided to place him under the oversight and instruction of the Reverend Lincoln His Maternal Ancestors. 6j Lincoln Ripley and his wife, Mrs. Phebe Bliss Ripley, of Waterford, Maine. Waterford was one of the homes and gathering places of the Emerson family. Mrs. Ripley was Mr. Emerson s sister; and Mr. Ripley, who was the minister of the town, was a brother of his step-father. Two other sisters of Mr. Emerson also resided in Waterford, namely, Rebecca, the wife of Mr. Robert Haskins (himself a brother of Mrs. Emerson), who had a large family of children, and Miss Mary Moody Emerson, who lived with her. The letters of Mrs. Emerson, above referred to, were written to her sister, Mrs. Ripley, after John Clarke s departure for his new home. The following ex tracts from these letters can hardly fail to awaken a tender interest in the little boy, and are espec ially 68 Ralph Waldo Emerson: ially satisfactory as showing Mrs. Emerson s aims and prin ciples in the education of her children, and the strength of her religious character. BOSTON, Nov. 16, 1805. My Dear Sister, I began to write you respecting the impor tant trust we were about commit ting, for a time, to your care; but ere I had finished, intelli gence came that the vessel was just going to sail. I therefore had only time to put Clarke s things hastily into his trunk with out a line, or inventory of the articles. Although I feel un willing to send him at this season, and while so young, from home, yet I know not the persons on earth to whom I should with so much confidence deliver so im portant a care as that of a child. Oh, my sister, you cannot im agine His Maternal Ancestors. 69 agine, because you never ex perienced, what I now feel! Having written thus far, I was interrupted. Nov. 24, Sabbath evening. A whole week and day has elapsed, and we are still uncertain whether our dear boy has arrived at Water- ford. We now begin to fear lest some accident has befallen him on the way, or ere this time we might have heard. But away, all these anxious fears! We have committed him to God, and to you. Your parental care is en gaged for him. That holy Being who gives life is able also to pre serve it. I will therefore trust in the Lord, and not be afraid, hoping for good tidings. If the dear child is already, as I hope he is, one of your family, suffer me to mention a few things. The first is, I wish him taught to practise agreeably to the 70 Ralph Waldo Emerson: the Golden Rule, " to do unto others as he would wish others to do unto him"; and make him repeat, if you please, those four lines out of the Primer, "Be you to others," 9 etc. I think he understands them. I have perceived sometimes in him a desire to evade prompt obe dience. I hope he will not dis cover anything of this sort to you. It is very probable I am myself wholly to blame for this appearance. He at times seems, through indolence, not disposed to help himself to many things which he is quite able to; for instance, if he finds any person inclined to wash and dress him, he will choose they should do it entirely, when, with very little help, he can do it wholly him self. If he wants a tire or great coat, he will like to have some one bring it, and I much prefer he His Maternal Ancestors. 71 he should wait on himself, and on others, too, in everything, that he is equal to. I need not say, because I know you will not fail to inculcate on him re spect to his superiors, love and amiable sweetness of deport ment to his equals, and kindness and condescension to his in feriors, and to all animals and insects. You agree so exactly with us respecting a milk diet for children, that I shall not fear his having anything else, more than once a day meat or broth. Dec. i. Again I resume my pen one moment just to say we were made happy by hearing through Mr. Bradlee of the boys having safely reached Bridge town, and of their meeting Mr. Ripley there. We are hourly expecting to hear by letter of their being at home at Water- ford. On 7^ Ralpb Waldo Emerson: On Thanksgiving Day, as usual, our parents, brothers, and sisters passed the day with us. . . . Our party were eighteen. John Clarke we missed very much. Give my love to him, and tell him, if you please, I only , wait to hear from you that he is a good boy, and then I shall write him a letter as I promised him. In the evening (of Thanks giving day), at supper table, it was remarked, that, as a family, we had peculiar cause for thank fulness and gratitude to God. For though in every separate family during the past year we have been visited with sickness; yet none have been destroyed by death. . . . Yours affectionately, R. EMERSON. In another letter, dated March 9, 1806, Mrs. Emerson writes as follows: "When Ms Maternal Ancestors. 73 " When I was last at Waterford, I thought it would not be possi ble for me to visit you again under many years; but I think now I shall not be contented un less I make an exertion to get there this Summer, should John Clarke continue with you through the season. We are pleased to hear you speak of his obedience and affection towards you. Tell him William and Ralph now go again to Mrs. WhitwelPs School. His brother Edward we think a fine boy. This you will say is very natural, for all parents think their own children the most for ward and promising in the world. As opportunities are so rare, I shall send by Mr. Bradlee, a suit of blue nankeen clothes for John Clarke, and two pocket handker chiefs, with a few sugar-plums. Give him my love, with a kiss for me, and tell him it always makes 74 Ralph Waldo Emerson: makes me happy to hear he is a good boy." Again, April 20, 1806, she writes: " I assure you, my dear sister, we are much indebted to you for your parental attention to John Clarke. However painful the task, we trust you will persevere in correcting everything you dis cover wrong in him. I am de lighted with your resolution in withholding his books as you did, and also with the pains you took to make him humane and charitable. Go on, my dear sis ter, and . . . teach him generosity and beneficence, and we shall always applaud your conduct. Give yourself no trouble in fu ture to inform us of the articles you cause him to give; but make him give of those things he val ues His Maternal Ancestors. 75 ues most, till he derives pleasure from bestowing. I am happy to hear he is so hardy as to play without mittens. Give my love to him, and tell him that I shall send him a little box, the first opportunity, if I cannot with this letter, containing some sugar or naments, a Bible, fish, etc., a pres ent to him from Miss Lucy Amo- ry, a young lady that boards with us for a little while. I hope I shall hear he divides these things with his cousins and school mates. I shall send his clothes for the summer soon, they are not quite finished." The following letter describes the little boy s return to his home after about a year s absence: BOSTON, O&ober 10, 1806. I thank you very much, my dear sister, for your letter, and much J6 Ralph Waldo Emerson: much more for your numerous tender and parental attentions to our dear son. He is well, and appears to have gained much. Truly I was surprised to see him entering the gate, with a young man I did not recollect to have seen before, bringing- his clothes. O O I hasted to the door. He seemed happy, and met me with joy and a tremulous agitation; but did not shed a tear. Information being given to William in the back room that his brother had arrived at home, he came run ning to the door. On seeing John, he looked amazed till he came half way across the room as though he could not credit what he saw. They then, as it were in an instant, leapt into each other s arms, and remained locked together for the space of two minutes, kissing each other 7 c^ with great joy. But Edward being His Maternal Ancestors. 77 being present did not meet so cordial an embrace from John Clarke. His being an infant when he left home, in arms, and now was running about, the change was so great that he asked if it was not his brother Ralph. On telling him it was not, he still seemed to think it could not be Edward. By and by, Ralph W. came in from school, and John then went and kissed him, and seemed convinced; but did not seem to enjoy half as much from seeing the younger brothers as from seeing William. We feel sincerely grateful to God for his guardian care of our dear child in his absence, and for his great goodness to us in return ing him in health and safety to our embraces. Yours affectionately, R. EMERSON. John 78 Ralph Waldo Emerson: John Clarke died only about five months after reaching home, April 26, 1807. Mrs. Emerson s affli&ion was so great, it was not until the following August that her lips were unsealed to her sister. At that time she began a letter to her as follows: August, 1807. My Dear Sister, I have been endeavoring these three months past to bring my mind into such a state as to be able to write to you freely, and to unbosom my sorrow for the loss of our beloved and first-born son, John Clarke. This dear boy is called from our embraces by our heavenly Father, who is infinite in wisdom and goodness. Therefore I will not complain, though I feel daily the agonizing pain arising from his loss, but little diminished by the length of time elapsed since his death. . . . The His Maternal Ancestors. 79 The letter, which is too long to be reproduced in full, con cludes, on this topic, in these words: " How deeply soever we are afflicted, we know that there is no sorrow we can meet with but some others have felt it before us; and our blessed Saviour himself was pleased to surfer and to die that he might leave us an exam ple of patient suffering. In his blest life I see the path, and in his death the price, and in his won derful ascent the proof supreme, of Immortality. The most sooth- ing thoughts to our minds under this bereavement, are those that lead us to contemplate our de parted child as an inhabitant of celestial glory in the presence of God, his Maker, and associated with angels and spiritual beings, where his infantile capacities will be 8o Ralph Waldo Emerson: be continually ripening and ex panding through the ages of Eternity." . . . Mrs. Emerson survived her husband more than forty-two years. After his death, no one stood more nearly in the relation of head and adviser of the family than my father, Mr. Ralph Has- kins. Mrs. Emerson was a very dear sister of my father. He was the youngest of the large circle of brothers and sisters. Of the five sisters living at home when my father was born, three were too young to be trusted to assist in the care of their infant brother. Much of this happy charge de volved upon Ruth, who was then eleven years of age. Thus the brother and this sister grew up in peculiar intimacy, and the bonds between them were re markably strong through life. My His Maternal Ancestors. 81 My father was married in 1814, four years after the decease of Mrs. Emerson s husband. He made his home for some years in Boston, but, finally, established himself in Roxbury. The Emer son boys, as they grew up, were more and more frequent visitors at my father s house, and were treated by both of my parents as sons. My father had a high ap preciation of their character and intelledlual qualities. He was proud of theif success at college, and, with my mother, always at tended their college exhibitions and Commencements. He ad mired their scholarly tastes and methods. In particular, he cher ished great expe6lations from the brilliant oratorical powers of the two younger brothers. He was gratified by the tender devotion of all the sons to their mother, and equally by their disposition to 82 Ralph Waldo Emerson: to help one another. He had himself been able to assist in de fraying the college expenses of the oldest son, William. But this was all that would be al lowed. William, on graduating, taught school in Kennebunk, to enable him to help Waldo through college; Waldo, in turn, kept school to render like help to Edward; and Edward did the same to help Charles. It will be remembered that they all grad uated from Cambridge: William, in 1818; Ralph Waldo, in 1821; Edward Bliss, in 1824; and Charles Chauncy, in 1828. A graceful acknowledgment of Mrs. Emerson s affectionate regard for my father is contained in the following note from her son, Mr. R. W. Emerson. It was written in reply to a note which I addressed to him some years ago, informing him that I had His Maternal Ancestors. 8} had been asked to supply mate rial for a sketch of my father, to be printed in the Memoirs of the New England Historic Genea logical Society, and intimating that I should be pleased to re ceive from him any fa6ts or reminiscences concerning my fa ther that he might deem of inter est. In answer, he wrote as fol lows: CONCORD, May 21, 1880. My Dear Cousin, I have al most ceased to write a letter in my old age, but I must risk the danger at your request. Your father was the admired brother of my mother. I learned from her that I was named Ralph for him, he being at the time far ab sent in the Pacific Ocean, in charge, as supercargo, of one of Mr. Lyman s ships Mr. Ly- man, the then eminent merchant of 84 Ralph Waldo Emerson: of Boston. Great was her joy in his safe return home, and he met her affection by careful interest and advice in her affairs from year to year. His house was to my brothers and myself a joyful place. I re call many visits to it, particularly in Roxbury, when we lived within a mile of you all. I confess, too, that I was proud of his manly beauty in the "Bos ton Hussars," and which I think he never lost. Yours affectionately, R. W. EMERSON. I have only a general and im perfect acquaintance with the movements of Mrs. Emerson s household after the death of her husband. The vacancy in the pastorate of the First Church oc casioned by Mr. Emerson s death remained unfilled till 1813. For some His Maternal Ancestors. 85 some two years, or more, of the period which intervened be tween these events, Mrs. Em erson continued to live in the Summer Street Parsonage. Sub sequently, in 1814-15, and per haps later, she and her family, including her husband s sister, Miss Mary Moody Emerson, made their home with her parents, in the old family mansion in Rainsford s Lane. It was while she was living here that her fa ther died. My earliest distinct recollec tions of my aunt and of her sons date from the latter part of the year 1823, when I was five years old. About this time, and for some two years afterwards, the Emerson family, except the old est son, William, who had lately sailed for Europe, lived in a small house, 10 buried in the woods, in a part of Roxburyj then sometimes called 86 Ralph Waldo Emerson: called Canterbury, situated a few rods up a picturesque lane run ning easterly out of Back Street, now Walnut Avenue, about half a mile north of the present Forest Hills Cemetery. The house was not visible from Back Street; but from the lane its western gable could be seen above the surround ing foliage. It is to the time of their residence in this house that Mr. Emerson refers in the closing lines of the above letter. My father s home then, and for many years after, was on Back Street, but nearer Boston than the Can terbury house by about a mile, as Mr. Emerson s letter represents. The intervening distance was too trifling to interfere much with the intercourse between the house holds. I remember that my fa ther s family chaise used often to traverse it to and fro, and occa sionally returned with my aunt to EDWARD BLISS EMERSON. His Maternal Ancestors. 7 to spend the day with my mother. The boys scorned to ride; but their feet brought them at any and all hours to the house. They were the most cheery of the many visitors. They entered with zest into the social life of the house hold, and seemed equally to enjoy the out-of-door resources which the ample grounds presented. On Wednesday and Saturday after noons, the woods resounded with their declamations and dialogues. During the summer of 1824, Mr. Edward B. Emerson, proba bly at my father s suggestion, cer tainly with the aid of his influence, established a private school for boys in Roxbury, which both my older brother 11 and myself at tended. It was kept in a hall over Field & Gould s dry goods store on Meeting-House Square, at what is now the westerly cor ner of Highland Street. " The school 88 Ralph Waldo Emerson: school was opened by Mr. George Ripley, acting as temporary sub stitute for Mr. Emerson, June 16, 1824. On the 2ist of the follow ing month, however, Mr. Edward B. Emerson himself took charge of the school, and conducted it with brilliant success until the autumn of the next year. At this time, the ardor with which he had devoted himself to his work hav ing seriously affected his health, he arranged with his brother Waldo to continue the school at an early date, and entered imme diately upon arrangements for taking a long period of rest. Mr. Edward B. Emerson pos sessed in a rare degree that high est quality of a good teacher, the ability to interest his pupils in their studies. His enthusiasm for learning kindled their ambitions, his engaging manners won their confidence, and his encouraging methods His Maternal Ancestors. 89 methods of instru6lion stimu lated their efforts to excel. By means of social visits to their homes, and through the abundant opportunities of the school-room, he acquired a knowledge of their character and attainments which enabled him to adapt his instruc tions to their individual needs. Oratorical talent was much more esteemed and cultivated in the early days than now. Mr. Emer son had won great repute as an orator at Cambridge, where he had lately graduated with the first honors of his class; and parents deemed it a high privilege to have their sons instructed in elo cution and declamation by him. Among the pleasant memories which I recall through the long vista of years in connection with Mr. Edward B.Emerson s school, are two incidents in my own ex perience, which, though trifling in themselves go Ralph Waldo Emerson: themselves, are, perhaps, worth repeating, as showing his ready sympathy with his pupils, and the pains which he took with even the youngest of the boys to make the acquisition of knowledge easy and interesting to them. I remember that I had one day become wearied and discouraged over my geography lesson. The task required the finding of a long list of towns, rivers, and moun tains, upon a map crowded with names printed in very small type. Mr. Emerson, observing that I was disturbed in mind, I was a child of only six years, kindly came to my desk, and, having learned the cause of my trouble, laid a wooden ruler which was at hand across the top of the map, and, while slowly moving it down the page, showed me that it was easy for the eye to catch the re quired names as they came into view His Maternal Ancestors 91 view along its upper edge. I can hardly overstate the relief and satisfaction that I remember to have received from this simple expedient. It taught me to study with method. The names on the map no longer played hide and seek with me, and from that time my geography lessons be came interesting rather than dis couraging. On the other occasion referred to, my difficulty was to remem ber the sermon of which we were required to present an abstract during the week. In this case, Mr. Emerson happily initiated me into the uses of mnemonics, giving me a rule by which, in the present instance as in the former, my task was made light and more attractive. It was merely to as sociate the heads of the discourse with the columns or windows of the church, beginning with the one 92 Ralph Waldo Emerson: one nearest the pulpit, and fol lowing them in order as far as was needful. My earliest recollections of Mrs. Emerson s Roxbury home are associated with the festivities of a large family gathering on Thanksgiving Day, December 2, 1824. I also remember numer ous visits to my aunt during the year that followed this event. But I have at hand a more vivid sketch of the domestic circle than my own memory offers, in a let ter I have lately received from the Reverend Henry F. Harrington of New Bedford, a Roxbury boy, and one of my seniors at Mr. Emerson s school, where his fine parts were held in high account by both his teacher and school mates. Mr. Harrington says : " I was repeatedly invited to visit the Emerson family in the ancient CHARLES CHAUNCY EMERSON. His Maternal Ancestors. 93 ancient farm-house in " Love Lane," Roxbury, of a Saturday afternoon and to stay to tea. I have the picture of what I saw at those times in sacred recollec tion: Madam Emerson, knitting or sewing by the huge old fire place ; the aunt, busy round about in household affairs; and the three talented brothers, Waldo, Ed ward, and Charles, reading or pleasantly conversing, and mak ing it agreeable for their young guest." In another part of this letter, Mr. Harrington pays the follow ing eloquent arid amply deserved tribute to Mr. Edward B. Emer son: " Oh, what a teacher Edward Bliss Emerson was! I have had the supervision of schools the most of my long life. I have been 94 Ralph Waldo Emerson: been familiar with numberless teachers, and have seen what some of the best of them have been and done. I have had reason to hold very many in love and honor as models of high- toned character, and admirable service in their vocation. Yet none of them have approached the transcendent reality which made Edward Bliss Emerson a gift of God to those he taught. With conscientious devotion he threw his whole being into the work. He regarded every child committed to his charge as an immortal jewel which he was to free from defiling dross, and fash ion and polish for eternity. So while with vast intellectual grasp and ambitions he was earnest for our mental progress, he was far more concerned to build up, on an enduring foundation, the struc ture of a noble character ; and there His Maternal Ancestors. 95 there was, withal, the display of a tender sympathy and cheery encouragement which won our hearts. " He had just graduated from Harvard, and was a model of manly beauty of the highest type in form and feature. His face was the mirror of his inward be ing. Immaculate purity of soul, intellectual greatness, exquisite refinement of feeling, and ten- derest sensibility, were all en gaged in limning its wonderful attractions. " I love to recur to my memory of him. Whenever in the course of my duties I have had occasion to urge my teachers to aspire to emulate a worthy model of ex cellence, I have only had to de scribe the reality as it existed in him. " Had the lives of Edward and Charles been spared beyond early manhood 96 Ralph Waldo Emerson: manhood, the Emerson name would have been still more of ten spoken. Massachusetts, pro lific of foremost men, would have found them among the greatest, at the front in her af fairs." The facl:, remembered by very few persons now living, that Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson, when a young man, had his home for a time in Roxbury, was incidental ly but pleasantly brought to gen eral notice by the publication of a letter of Mr. Emerson, written to Dr. James Freeman Clarke, in 1839, and first printed, by per mission of Dr. Clarke, in Dr. O. W. Holmes s charming sketch of Mr. Emerson, which appeared in 1884. In the letter referred to, Mr. Emerson, speaking of his verses entitled "Good-by, proud world," remarks that they were composed His Maternal Ancestors. 97 composed sixteen years before, when he kept school in Boston, " and lived in a corner of Rox- bury called Canterbury." The interest that has since come to be felt in the spot where Mr. Em erson s early home stood is a gratifying tribute to his genius. Dr. Holmes says that " Good- by, proud world, recalls Spenser and Raleigh." Mr. Emerson and notably in these verses meets the highest test of a poet, in being true to nature. The lat ter portion of the poem, which I quote here entire, is a strikingly felicitous and faithful description of his " sylvan home." GOOD-BY, PROUD WORLD. Good-by, proud world ! I m going home : Thou rt not my friend, and I m not thine. Long through thy weary courts, I roam; A river-ark on the ocean brine, Long I ve been tossed like the driven foam; But now, proud world ! I m going home. Good-by 98 Ralph Waldo Emerson: Good-by to Flattery s fawning face; To Grandeur, with his wise grimace; To upstart Wealth s averted eye; To supple office, low and high; To crowded halls, to court and street; To frozen hearts, and hasting feet; To those who go, and those who come; Good-by, proud world ! I m going home. I am going to my own hearth-stone, Bosomed in yon green hills alone, A secret nook in a pleasant land, Whose groves the frolic fairies planned; Where arches green the live-long day Echo the black-bird s roundelay, And vulgar feet have never trod A spot that is sacred to thought and God. Oh ! when I am safe in my sylvan home, I tread on the pride of Greece and Rome; And when I am stretched beneath the pines Where the evening star so holy shines, I laugh at the lore and pride of man, At the sophist schools and the learned clan; For what are they all, in their high conceit, When man in the bush with God may meet! My father s diary, under the date of O61. 21, 1825, records William Emerson s first call af ter his arrival home from his for eign tour, on the i8th instant, and also the farewell call of Edward His Marernal Ancestors. 99 Edward B. Emerson, previous to his departure for Europe. Though the diary is not ex plicit on the subject, it seems prob able that at or near this time Mrs. Emerson removed from Roxbury to Cambridge. I was then seven years of age. But my aunt s form, her lovely sweetness of expression, her gentle manners, just as I was familiar with them at that time, and which impressed every one who knew her, remain the same in the image which my memory now gives of her, un changed by my later recollec tions of her in age. This in part explains, perhaps, why the oil- portrait of her now in possession of the Emerson family, and which I remember in my boyhood as an excellent likeness, is highly satisfactory to me, except for a lack of vivacity of expression, largely due, it may be, to the ef fect joo Ralph Waldo Emerson: feet of time upon the color- imr. 12 "- The removal of my aunt s family from Roxbury had its compensations. Though we saw less of her sons, I think we saw more of my aunt than before. Whatever may have been her domestic ties, she was able to make visits to my father s house often a week or ten days in length at more or less frequent intervals, during the several years which intervened before my leav ing home for college, in 1833. It was mainly from the opportu nities presented in these visits that my impressions of her char- after are derived. There were no railroads, and, I think, no omnibuses, in those days. My father drove daily in his own chaise into Boston. He never appeared happier than when he returned with " sister Emerson His Marernal J4*ic&stois:s . /of j Emerson " at hi s "side-i My "brotH-i , : er and I wo u I d ; sarn et : ime^ ; riin J down the road to greet them. Her arrival always brought sun shine into the household. I do not mean that she was demon strative in her ways. She was not a great talker, though she was an attentive and responsive listener. But there was always cheer in her presence. She was sympathetic, and she interested herself in our home occupations and amusements. My aunt s vis its are pictures in my memory which I look back upon with pleasure. But it would hardly do to attempt to take them out of the domestic surroundings in which they are set. Much that I see in them, while interesting as bringing to mind my aunt, has at the same time other and natur ally dearer associations; but they are necessarily wholly personal. For i,c2 Ralph Waldo Emerson: Ftfr^ "exampte/my father s home, especially in its interior life, but, also, in its outward aspects; the quiet country road that led up to it, unfortunate in name, but beau tiful with its continuous linings of barberry bushes, and of savin trees in some places overgrown to their tops with the foliage and brilliant berries of the " Roxbury waxwork"; the square white house with green blinds; the flower beds and green-house and orchards and green fields and near woods; to say nothing of the large variety of animal pets that were domesticated upon the premises; for obvious reasons, none of these things can be ex pected to have any general inter est. None the less, however, I can bear witness to the pleasure and profit which I have received in various ways through life from my recollections of Mrs. Emer son His Maternal Ancestors. 103 son in my early days. Her love ly character deeply impressed me as a boy, and I am conscious, if it has not influenced my life, it has, at least, been of service in enabling me to hold up to others the model of a Christian saint. The Reverend Samuel Moody Haskins, D.D., the rector of Saint Mark s Church, Brooklyn, L. I.,. writes concerning Mrs. Emerson as follows: " Aunt Ruth s face was a bene diction to every beholder; her kind voice, music to the ear;, her kinder words, soothing to the heart; her deeds of mercy, a comfort to the sorrowing and the poor; her memory, a perpet ual joy to every one who had the happiness to know her." Dr. Haskins s sister, Mrs. Char lotte F. Cleveland, of Orange, N.J, 104 Ralph Waldo Emerson: N. J., who was a member of Mrs. R. W. Emerson s household dur ing the years 1851-52, bears the following interesting testimony to the chara6ler of her aunt: " Of an equable, placid tem perament, she was ever the same, dignified, yet affectionate to all. She was extremely methodical in all her habits, very much averse to change. She was also a person of great fortitude, an instance of this occurring when her hip was broken during the night, and she would not ring o * o her bell, but waited till the ser vant came as usual to her room in the morning. It was during my visit that this accident oc curred, from which she never wholly recovered. Before this, she walked with us to the Uni tarian Church every Sunday morning. During her sickness, she His Maternal Ancestors. 105 she wished me to read her a part of the Psalter each day, and fre quently the Lessons for the day. Occasionally, on a Sunday, she asked me to read the Commun ion Service, and requested that her grandchildren should be present. The Prayer Book used was her own, given her by her father, in January, 1783. Her tender thoughtfulness for all was another of her many lovely traits. She enjoyed the visits of Dr. W. H. Channing, who came more than once to talk and pray with her. " Cousin Waldo came every day to sit for a while with his mother; and, during pear-season, always brought her of his choic est. It was his habit to gather the pears himself every morning often storing some in his cab inet drawers. " It was during the winter of io6 Ralph Waldo Emerson: 1851-52 that Cousin Waldo was helping his younger children in their Latin lessons, which he enlivened in many ways, some times repeating fine passages of poetry, with the peculiarly fas cinating voice and expression that made it a feast to hear. His eyes were weak, and I read to him quite a number of books, while he would sit with his back to the light. I wish I remem bered some of his pithy and pleasing comments. He once asked me how it happened that I had forsaken the church of my ancestors. I replied that I ad hered to the church of my fa ther and our grandfather. He smiled, and said something com plimentary to the Church of England; but I do not recall his Words." . . . Professor Charles Upham Shep- ard R. w. EMKKSON, [TAKEN ABOUT 1843.] His Maternal Ancestors. ard, of New Haven, in reply to a note from me, says : " You suggest, in asking some contribution for a sketch of our excellent aunt, Waldo s mother, a task for which I feel quite in adequate. No one short of a Raphael should undertake the portrait of so holy a woman." Reminiscences of Ralph Waldo Emerson. MR. RALPH WALDO EMERSON, was born in Boston, May 25, 1803. He graduated at Harvard College, Cambridge, in the class of 1821; was ordained a minister, O6tober 10, 1826, and settled over the Sec ond Church in Boston, March n, 1829. He married, September 30, 1829, Ellen Louisa Tucker of Concord, N". H., who died Febru ary 8, 1831. In September, 1835, he io8 Ralph Waldo Emerson: he married, for a second wife, Lidian Jackson of Plymouth, Mass. He died at his home in Concord, April 27, 1882. The above dates are given only for the convenience of reference. I shall not attempt to fill in the outline with a sketch of Mr. Em erson s life, but only to recall some of the least unimportant of the facts connected with him in the remembrances of my youth and early manhood. Far back towards the dawn ing period of my memory I am enabled by my father s diary to fix the date as the 8th day of May, 1824 an event of great family importance and interest took place in my father s front parlor, in the presence of the household and some specially in vited guests, among whom were my Aunt Emerson and her son Ralph Waldo. The occasion was the His Maternal Ancestors. 709 the baptism of my infant sister. 13 The sacrament was administered by the Reverend Dr. Gardiner, rector of Trinity Church, Bos ton, where the family wor shipped; and Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson stood as godfather to the baptized child. Mr. Erner- son never forgot this occasion; but pleasantly referred to it in what, I believe, was his last meeting with my sister, in a call which he made upon her while she was living in Paris, I think in 1872. I have before mentioned that in the latter part of 1825, when Mr. Edward B. Emerson was compelled, on account of failing health, to give up his school for boys in Roxbury, he made ar rangements with his brother Waldo to take early charge of it. In pursuance of this arrange ment, Mr. Ralph Waldo Emer son no Ralph Waldo Emerson: son re-opened this school, January 3, 1826, in the second story of O6tagon Hall, 14 then known as the Norfolk Bank Building, sit uated on the corner of Dudley and Kenilworth Streets, and which is still standing. My older brother and myself, Mr. Henry F. Harrington, and, I think, most if not all of the other pupils of Mr. Edward Emerson, were also members of this school. I have very agreeable recollections of my Cousin Waldo as a teacher, but, for reasons that I do not know, he gave up the school in less than three months from its opening, or on the 28th of March, 1826. Mr. Harrington, in the letter from which I have before quoted, writing from his remembrances of this time, says : " Mr. R. W. Emerson was not specially OCTAGON HALL, ROXBURY. His Maternal Ancestors. in specially successful as a teacher. He took the school off the hands of his brother Edward, whose health had failed. He was study ing for the ministry, and his heart was centred in his studies. Still, everything went along with the utmost smoothness, and the in tellectual portion of his duties was faithfully and adequately performed." The grief caused in my fa ther s family, by the death of Mr. Emerson s wife, in February, 1831, was very profound. I had not myself seen her often; but I distinctly recall her as a very beautiful and very lovely person. Her remains were deposited in the cemetery situated on what is now Kearsarge Avenue, Rox- bury, a short distance from the easterly side of Warren Street, and near the Roxbrry Latin School ii2 Ralph Waldo Emerson: School. It was formerly a re tired spot, and not devoid of natural attractions. For several months after his wife s death, I think till his departure for Eu rope in 1833, Mr. Emerson was in the daily habit of walking from Boston, in the early morn ing, to visit her grave. The cem etery lay between my father s house and the business part of Roxbury, then known as " Rox- bury Street." I often passed Mr. Emerson on his way to the grave, as I rode to school. It used to be said in the family that no weather interfered with the regularity of these visits. My father had early discerned the promise of the Emerson boys, and had brought up his children to feel his own admira tion for their character. When I entered college, in 1833, my four cousins were all living. At the THE SECOND CHURCH, (New Brick/. HANOVER NE*fl RlCHVBrsO STREETS) , j , \ > >, ^ His Maternal Ancestors. 113 the time of my graduation, four years later, the two youngest of them, whom I knew best, were dead; William, the oldest, had made his home far away in New York; my cousin Waldo alone was accessible to me, and he resided in Concord, some twenty miles distant from Mr. Greene s Academy at Jamaica Plain, where I was a teacher for more than a year after leaving college. Mean time Mr. Emerson s writings had attracted universal attention. He was hailed as a new and great light. His opinions and utter ances were topics of discussion in all circles. Though I occa sionally met him Saturdays at my father s house, more fre quently at his office, in Boston, where Mr. Emerson had occa sion to consult him on his moth er s affairs, yet I had a strong desire to see him in his home, and 114 Ralph Waldo Emerson: and to find out from observation and from his own lips as much as I could of his ways, of his methods of study and compo sition, and particularly of his be liefs. During the vacation periods of the two years that followed my leaving college, I found several opportunities for gratifying this desire. I remember more than once driving from Roxbury to Concord, in company with my sister, dining at my cousin s, and returning in the evening. A triv ial but interesting point in con nection with the dinners was the form my cousin used in saying grace before meat. It surpassed even " episcopal brevity." The few but sufficient words were, " We acknowledge the Giver." Mr. Emerson s regard for my father manifested itself through life in the cordial and kind inter est His Maternal Ancestors. 7/5 est which he took in his children. In the earliest of the visits re ferred to, there were no other guests, and my cousin devoted himself, first of all, to showing us the sights of Concord. In re- specl: to everything that related to Concord he was an enthusiast to the last. After returning to his library I began at once upon the subject I had at heart; beg ging him as a cousinly favor, which I should highly esteem, to tell me something of his habits of study and writing, and, also, of his religious opinions and be liefs, making, at the same time, playful reference to my attach ment to the historic church of our grandfather. He seemed interested and gratified; and with great minuteness of detail an swered my various questions. He explained to me his mode of composing. He said that usu ally n 6 Ralph Waldo Emerson: ally, after breakfast, he went to walk in the woods in pursuit of a thought; very much as boys go out in summer to catch butterflies. He was not always successful, any more than the boys were. But, when successful, no boy was ever happier with his butterfly than he with his thought. Having captured his thought, he put a pin through it, and took it home, and placed it in his col lection. He explained that he made a note of his thought; but, generally, only in his mind; and that he kept what he called a Thought Book, in which he en- o * tered each thought, having first worked it over and clothed it in fitting garb. Sometimes he would go again in the afternoon into the woods, and there, or perhaps by the roadside, would find another thought, which he would treat in the same manner. But His Maternal Ancestors. 7/7 But this was exceptional. He was satisfied if he succeeded in securing one thought a day. The thoughts were entered one alter another in the Thought Book, without regard to their connec tion. Whenever he wished to write an essay or a lecture, he made free use of the Thought Book, selecting and adapting such thoughts as seemed fitting, O O" and stringing them together as a child strings beads on a thread. After this explanation, I was at no loss to account for the mosaic character of much of his writ ing. With equal readiness, and at much greater length, Mr. Emer son answered the many questions which I put to him about his re ligious opinions. I regret that I am unable to reproduce with ac curacy much that he said. I re member that he expressed great admiration n8 Ralph Waldo Emerson: admiration for Swedenborg. It is not improbable that he was at that time engaged in writing his essay upon Swedenborg, which contains all, and more than all, that he said to me of him, though it lacks, of course, the charm which Mr. Emerson s voice im parted to the spoken words. I assumed, from his enthusiastic utterances, that he was a Sweden- borgian. But this he would not fully allow. On my asking him how, then, he would define his position, he answered, and with greater deliberateness, and long er pauses between his words than usual, " I am more of a Quaker than anything else. I believe in the still, small voice, and that voice is Christ within us." Meeting Mr. Emerson one day, I think in the summer of 1838, at my father s office in Boston His Maternal Ancestors. 119 Boston, I inquired, incidentally, whether he saw much of my classmate, Mr. Henry D. Tho- reau, who was then living in Concord, and with whom I had lately corresponded, I think con cerning a school which was in quest of a teacher. " Of Tho reau? " replied Mr. Emerson, his face lighting up with a smile of enthusiasm, " Oh, yes; we could not do without him. When Mr. Carlyle comes :o America I ex pect to introduce Thoreau to him as the man of Concord." I was certainly very greatly sur prised at these words. They set an estimate upon Thoreau which seemed to me, to say the least, extravagant. In college Mr. Thoreau had made no great im pression. He was far from be ing distinguished as a scholar. He was not known to have any literary tastes; was never a con tributor /2o Ralph Waldo Emerson: tributor to the college periodical, the " Harvardiana"; was not, I think, interested, certainly not conspicuous, in any of the liter ary or scientific societies of the undergraduates, and, withal, was of an unsocial disposition, and kept himself much aloof from his classmates. At the time we graduated, I doubt whether any of his acquaintances regarded him as giving promise of future distinction. But though so brief a period had elapsed since our college days, a remarkable reaction to use a chemical figure had taken place in Thoreau, due to his frequent contacts and inti mate intercourse with Mr. Emer son, beginning from the very time of his leaving college, and concerning which I had pre viously no knowledge. Social propinquities have often much to do His Maternal Ancestors. 121 do both in moulding our charac ters, and in determining our des tinies. Thoreau" 1 s opportunity did not come to him in college; it was waiting for him in his own village. Not long after the interview with Mr. Emerson above referred to, I happened to meet Thoreau in Mr. Emerson s study at Con cord. I think it was the first time we had come together after leaving college. I was quite startled by the transformation that had taken place in him. His short figure and general cast of countenance were, of course, un changed; but, in his manners, in the tones and inflections of his voice, in his modes of expression, even in the hesitations and pauses of his speech, he had become the counterpart of Mr. Emerson. Mr. Thoreau s college voice bore no resemblance to Mr. Emer son s 722 Ralph Waldo Emerson: son s, and was so familiar to my ear that I could readily have identified him by it in the dark. I was so much struck with the change, and with the resemblance in the respects referred to be tween Mr. Emerson and Mr. Thoreau, that I remember to have taken the opportunity as they sat near together, talking, of listening to their conversation with closed eyes, and to have been unable to determine with certainty which was speaking. It was a notable instance of un conscious imitation. Neverthe less it did not surpass my com prehension. I do not know to what subtle influences to ascribe it, but, after conversing with Mr. Emerson for even a brief time, I always found myself able and inclined to adopt his voice and manner of speaking. I remember once meeting Mr. Emerson His Maternal Ancestors. 123 Emerson at my father s office, and walking with him to State Street. I happened at that time to be interested in Carlyle, and gladly seized the opportunity to lead my cousin to speak about him. I referred to the difference in the style of composition be tween Carlyle s earlier and later writings. I remarked that I O thought his earlier style a model of excellence, and I asked Mr. Emerson if he could explain to me under what influences, or with what motives, Carlyle had adopted the unnatural, and, as it seemed to me, the affected style of Sartor Resartus and The French Revolution. It did not occur to me till too late that the question had any personal bear ings. Mr. Emerson s reply was partly in the character of a para ble. "I presume," he said, " that Mr. Carlyle desires to secure at tention 124 Ralph Waldo Emerson: tention. If I had something of great importance to say to the crowd that now jostles us, I am sure I should be at my wits end to get a hearing. But suppose I should plant a hogshead over there against Scollay s building, and should mount upon it with ribbons of all the bright colors streaming from my hat, and arms, and button-holes, do you not think I should be sure of an au dience? " In the year 1839 I was a stu dent in the Theological Seminary at Andover. Conducted by the classes of that institution is a literary society known as " The Porter Rhetorical Society." I became a member of that society, and was appointed to read a paper before it. I selected for my subject " The Life and Labors of Gibbon." The following letter from Mr. Emerson His Maternal Ancestors. 125 Emerson was evidently written in reply to one from me, inform ing him of the duty assigned to me, and of the theme I had chosen for my address. It is too stirring an appeal to young scholars not to have a wider ap plication than its writer gave it. CONCORD, June 18, 1839. My Dear Cousin, I am glad to hear you have so pleasing and animating a task as a theory of Gibbon s genius. I think a young man cannot read his autobiogra phy without being provoked to rise a little earlier, read a little longer, and dine a little shorter. He knew that every real good must be bought; and therefore, although a man who had as keen a relish as any for literary society and the comfort and splendor which surround the English gen try, he early took the manly part of 126 Ralph Waldo Emerson: of banishing himself to a lonely chateau on the borders of France and Switzerland, where he led among his books a monk s life, compensating himself for the ad vantages he forfeited, by the pomp of the events and images with which he surrounded his own mind, the whole Roman, the whole barbarian world, and the procession of so many ages and empires. You remem ber Byron s fine verse to him, Canto III, Stanza 107. And I think you must adorn your essay with the two stately paragraphs in which he records the concep tion and the conclusion of his history. In the year 1833 I was at Lausanne, and obtained per mission of the inhabitants to walk in the garden, "in the covered walk of acacias." It commands a view of the Lake of Geneva. I do not think there is any need His Maternal Ancestors. 727 need to panegyrize Gibbon, nor to excuse his faults. He seems to have never forgiven the Cath olic Church for having taken him in, in his youth, and when once made ashamed of his easy conversion, he avenged himself all the rest of his life by his ran cor against the whole historical church. A worse fault is the dirt he has defiled his notes with, a cheap and base wit, and no wise better than that which scrawls walls and fences with its effusions, betraying through his Greek and Latin a coarse and mutilated soul, dead to the meaning of nature, and, in the midst of what is called culture, destitute of the highest culture. But you must give this evil man his due, and make it felt what condemnation his noble labor and perseverance cast upon scholars who have libraries in W 7 hich 128 Ralph Waldo Emerson: which they never read; upon scholars who chide Gibbon, but are unable even to name his dignified studies, his original au thorities, his great plan, and great execution of it. Our young men read reviews and newspapers, and smoke and sleep. It seems to me that erudition is not the tendency of the best minds of our time, as it was of Gibbon s and the following age. We in cline to cast off authority, and, of course, we think instead of reading. But it at least behooves those who magnify authority in this age, to read and know what authority teaches. The exam ple of this literary iconoclast ought not to be lost on them. I have no other words at pres ent to add, and yet, perhaps, you will warm your own imag ination, if you should read the Belisarius chapters; the chapter on His Maternal Ancestors. 729 on the fall of Constantinople; and perhaps that on Monachism. Yours affectionately, R. W. EMERSON. MR. DAVID GREENE HASKINS, Andover, Massachusetts. In the subsequent years I had fewer opportunities of seeing much of Mr. Emerson. I occa sionally obtained visits from him by procuring invitations to him to le<5ture before the lyceums in the places where I resided. In this way I secured his presence at my marriage, in Portland, in 1842; likewise in 1851, at my home in Medford, when I was the rector of Grace Church in that town. On this last occasion I remember that some of my people expressed their surprise that I should invite Mr. Emerson to Ie6lure, because they " had supposed he did not believe in God Ralph Waldo Emerson: God." I was probably more successful in allaying their fears than Mr. Emerson himself would have been. Conversing with him at the tea-table, previous to the lecture, I told him of the ob jection that had been made, and how I met it, which I now forget. I then said to him, in effect: Now, I think I am entitled to ask what you would have answered if the inquiry had been made of you, " Do you believe in God ? " His reply, though quaintly worded, was nevertheless very gravely and reverently made: " When I speak of God, I prefer to say It It." I confess that I was, at first, startled by this answer; but as he explained his views, in the conversation which followed, I could discover no difference be tween them and the commonly accepted doctrine of God s omni presence. Conversing lately with my His Maternal Ancestors. 131 my good friend and neighbor, the Reverend Dr. A. P. Peabody, concerning Mr. Emerson, I re marked that I thought his pan theism was of the best kind. "I do not call it pantheism" said Dr. Peabody; "I call it hyper- theism" My mind often recurs with interest to one occasion, when, happening to meet Mr. Emerson in Boston, I lunched with him, by invitation, at the American House, in Hanover Street. I am unable either to fix definitely the date of this occasion, or to report accurately, if at all, the conversation that was had. I only remember that on that day he had learned of Miss Mar- tineau s change of views, and her adoption of the dismal philoso phy of Materialism, and that I felt oppressed by the dejection of Mr. Emerson s spirits and the Ralph Waldo Emerson: the sadness of his countenance. The one saw God nowhere, the other saw God even r where. This is my impression of the explana tion he gave me of his dejected- ness. At no period after the early days of Mr. Emerson s residence in Roxbury was it my privilege to live in near neighborhood to him. Even after moving to Cambridge, I seldom met him, except on the college Com mencements, and in rare visits in company with some members of my family to his house. But I never lost my inherited admi ration of his character, nor my early love of the man. The last time he was at my house was in 1877. The Gene ral Convention of the Episcopal Church met that year in Boston. I had invited the Bishops who were Trustees of the University of His Maternal Ancestors. of the South to pass an evening at my house, and Mr. Emerson and one or two other special guests were asked to meet them. Mr. Emerson came and stayed over night with me. He was in excel lent spirits. The Bishops were much interested in conversing o with him. Several of them after wards said to me that their meet ing with Mr. Emerson was the most gratifying incident of their visit to Boston. The next morn ing, inviting my cousin into my study, I called his attention to the portraits of our grandparents, referred to in the beginning of this paper. It was interesting to observe the pleasure expressed in his countenance as he stood before them, and to listen to some of his childhood s memories of the "good grandfather and grand mother," of neither of whom I had any recollection, the former, indeed 1 34 Ralph Waldo Emerson: indeed, having died before I was born. " How well," he said, " I remember the good old man call ing me to him and asking, < Do you go to school, my son ? and when I replied that I did, his patting my head, and saying, < That s clever, that s clever. " What I have said above of the appearance and character of my grandparents, accords with the description and recollections of them which Mr. Emerson gave me at this time. I was present at Mr. Emer son s funeral; but took no public part in the services. The Reverend Dr. Haskins, who read at the grave a portion of the Episcopal Order for the Burial of the Dead, and who pro nounced the final benediction, was the Reverend Samuel Moody Haskins, D.D., the writer of the note concerning Mrs. Emerson above His Maternal Ancestors. above quoted, now in the forty- seventh year of his re6lorate of Saint Mark s Church, Brooklyn, L. I. He was a cousin of Mr. Emerson on his mother s side as well as on his father s, his father, Mr. Robert Raskins, having mar ried Rebecca Emerson, a sister of the Reverend William Emer son, the father of Ralph Waldo. Dr. Raskins informed me that the Prayer Book which he used upon this occasion was one referred to above by Mrs. Cleveland that had been presented to Mr. Emerson s mother by her father, John Raskins, in 1783. He also told me that upon repeating the words: " We therefore commit his body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust," he threw upon the lowered coffin some ashes which he had collected and brought to the grave from Mr. Emerson s study fire-place 136 Ralph Waldo Emerson: fire-place, commingled with sand and dust taken from the walk in front of his house. With this brief reference to Mr. Emerson s funeral, my remi niscences of him which have any general interest come to an end. Though they are few and incon sequential, still, as connected with the life of so rare a man, I trust that they will not be thought too trivial to be recorded. In the face of an often quoted aphorism of Mr. Emerson " Great geniuses have the short est biographies; their cousins can tell you nothing about them " it can hardly be ex pected that I should attempt any formal characterization of him. Besides, I am far from deeming myself qualified for the under taking. The objection, however, does not apply with equal force to giving briefly my impressions of His Maternal Ancestors. of the man, which, in fact, is all that the fitness of things requires in bringing these pages to a close. Considering my early knowl edge of Mr. Emerson, it is by no means strange that I should never have experienced the difficulty which many find in accounting for much that appears abnormal in his character and writings. He was endowed by nature, in a remarkable degree, with the fac ulty of spiritual discernment. His training and education and gene ral surroundings, also, tended al most exclusively to develop the spiritual side of his nature. His mind was thus predisposed to subjectivity, and to concern itself with the spiritual, rather than with the outward, the historical, and objective relations of what ever engaged his attention. Even the predominating faith of New England, in which he had been nurtured Ralph Waldo Emerson: nurtured, and of which his fathers for generations had been among the ablest advocates, was itself based upon a protest against for malism. This was the source of much of its strength as well as of much of its weakness. Puritan ism unquestionably had its provi dential uses in its day. Mr. Emer son was a child of Puritanism. But in his strivings after a spiri tual life, he came early to feel that, for himself, all forms, even those connected with the cele bration of the Lord s Supper, which Puritanism itself held sa cred, were unnecessary a hin drance and not a help to worship and he ceased to observe them. In his own words, "Sacrifice was smoke, and forms were shadows." Nevertheless that abounding faith in God, which was the glory of the old Puritans, had struck deep root in his heart and his spirit ualistic His Maternal Ancestors. ualistic sentiments naturally en twined themselves around it. I am not aware of any mate rial change in my estimate of Mr. Emerson s character from the time of my earliest acquaint ance with him. It is possible, however, that my judgment of him may be, in some degree, unconsciously tinged by my recollections of the lovely quali ties of his mother, from whom, it always seemed to me, he in herited many of his most strik ing traits. If I were asked to express in the fewest words what it was in Mr. Emerson that most impressed me, I should answer without hesitation, his reverent faith in God; his pure and blameless life. Ordinarily, the conversation of even devout men consists with the idea that God is far away from us, govern ing the universe from his throne in 140 Ralph Waldo Emerson: in the distant heavens. Whereas intercourse with Mr. Emerson produced the direct reverse of this impression. For his discern- ings of God were like those of the Psalmist of Israel: "Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. . . . Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" Everything that went to make up Mr. Emerson s individuality gave unmistakable assurance of this. It was im possible to hold converse with him I might almost say to hear the tones of his voice, or to mark the expression of his counte nance without perceiving that spiritual things were verities to him, and the near presence of the Infinite One a reality. It was the same conviction of the same His Maternal Ancestors. 141 same truth that Saint Paul de clared from Mars Hill to the men of Athens, " God is not far from every one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being." With this profound sense of the divine omnipres ence, Mr. Emerson seemed to walk through this earthly life with the wondering tread and rapt mien of one who had been permitted to enter into the streets of the Heavenly Jerusalem; look ing on either hand with reverent curiosity; recognizing the divine image even in the humblest of its indwellers, and thoughtfully scrutinizing every obje6t in his way, with the purpose of learn ing what he could of its relations and uses in the divine economy. It is impossible that the life of such a man should not be pure and blameless. It is impor tant Ralph Waldo Emerson. tant, also, for the moral uses of such a life, that the true source of its inspiration should be known of all. y%> ( r o (BOOK PLATE OF THE REV. WM. EMERSON.) NOTES. 1 These portraits were taken in 1759, seven years after the marriage of the persons they rep resent, by a painter named Bad ger. Though open to criticism as works of art, they are never theless said to have been good likenesses of the originals at the time they were painted. 2 See Memoirs of Ralph Has- kins, by D. G. Haskins, Jr., pre pared by request of the " N. E. Historic Genealogical Society," and printed in Vol. I. of the So ciety s Memoirs. 3 Mr. John Haskins s son, Ralph, says in his diary, under the 144 Notes. the date of his father s death: "My father went to the West Indies without giving notice to any one of his intentions, which he regretted through life." 4 The above view of the Has- kins house, on Rainsford s Lane (Harrison Avenue) was produced, in the main, from a drawing made from memory by a granddaugh ter of John and Hannah Haskins, who lived there during her school days, in 1818, and was also fa miliar with it in later years. I refer to Mrs. Fanny Haskins (Shepard) Boltwood, widow of the late Lucius Boltwood, Esq., of Amherst, Mass. No one now living is higher authority in re spect to either the outward as pects of the old home, or to its memories and traditions. The general correctness of Mrs. Bolt- wood s sketch of the house is affirmed Notes. 145 affirmed by Mrs. Lydia (Wood) Peverly, who, in 1813, and for some years later, lived in the house opposite, on Rainsford s Lane; as well as by Mr. Ralph Haskins, who, in one period of his youth, was accustomed to visit the house daily. 5 The late Mr. Charles Foster, of Cambridge, told the writer that, when a boy, he attended worship at Trinity Church, Bos ton, and distinctly remembered Mr. Haskins s striking appear ance as he used to walk up the aisle wearing a long red cloak and carrying in his hand his cocked hat. 6 Drake, in his Old Land marks of Boston," says: "During the Revolutionary War, the in mates of the almshouse fre quently suffered for the necessa ries , 46 Notes. ries of life, and appear to have been at all times largely depen dent on the charity of the towns people." 7 After the destruction of Trin ity Church, by the fire of Nov. 9, 1872, the contents of the Has- kins tomb were transferred to Cedar Grove Cemetery, Dorches ter. 8 The Raskins Family Register. 1. SARAH, b. Ap. 22, 1753; m. Sept. 21, 1773, John Inman, of Boston; d. Dec. 14, 1822. 2. THOMAS HAKE, b. Jan. 12, i?5S; d - A P- I2 > *755- 3. HANNAH, b. Dec. 17, 1757; m. Nov. 12, 1780, Dr. Thomas Kast, of Boston; d. Sept. 6, 1837. 4. DEBORAH, b. July 17,1759; d. O6t. 13, 1760. 5. JOHN, b. Ap. 18, 1761; d. Nov. 5, 1761. John Notes. 6. JOHN, b. Aug. 19, 1762 (Harvard Col., 1781); m. June 5, 1791, Elizabeth, dau. of Wil liam and Sarah (Gardner) Ladd, of Little Compton, R. I.; d. Sept. n, 1840. 7. LYDIA, b. O61. 7, 1763; m. May 22, 1798, the Rev. William Greenough, of Newton; d. Dec. 13, 1840. 8. DEBORAH, b. Nov. 5, 1765; m. July 6, 1788, the Rev. Mase Shepard, of Little Compton, R. I. ; d. Feb. ii. 1841. 9. MARY, b. Dec. 22, 1766; m. Nov. 7, 1793, William, son of William and Sarah (Gardner) Ladd, of Little Compton, R. I.; d. Oa. 28, 1839. 10. RUTH, b. Nov. 9, 1768 ; m. O6t. 25, 1796, the Rev. William Emerson, of Harvard, Mass; d. Nov. 16, 1853. 11. ANN, b. Feb. 22, 1770; d. Aug. 9, 1842. Elizabeth 148 Notes. 12. ELIZABETH, b. Ap. 25, 1771; d. March 15, 1853. 13. ROBERT, b. July 2, 1773; m. May 17, 1797, Rebecca Em erson, of Concord, Mass.; d.Jan. 6, 1855. 14. THOMAS, b. Jan. 9, 1775; m. Aug. 23, 1801, Elizabeth, dau. of Dr. Francis and Sarah (Up* ham) Foxcroft, of Brookfield, Mass; d. Oft. 17, 1853. 15. FANNY, b. Dec. 26, 1777; d. Sept. 16, 1854. 16. RALPH, b. Ap. 5, 1779; m. Rebecca, dau. of David ancl Re becca (Rose) Greene, of Bos ton; d. Nov. 9, 1852. All of the above named were born in Mr. Haskins s house, in Ramsford s Lane (now Harri son Avenue ), Boston. 9 " Be you to others kind and true, As you d have others be to you; And never do or say to them Whate er you would not take again." The Notes. 149 10 The view of Mrs. Emerson s Canterbury house was produced, with slight alterations, from a sketch drawn from memory by the Reverend Henry F. Harrington, superintendent of schools, New Bedford, and copied by Mr. Ar thur Gumming, teacher of draw ing in said schools. Its location, as above described, is indicated on Hale s map of the town of Roxbury (1832). The lane up on which it is marked is about one hundred and fifty rods north of Seaver Street. It bears no name. When this lane was ex tended, it was called Williams Street. It is now included in the territory of Franklin Park. By order of the Park Commission ers of the City of Boston, Mr. L. Foster Morse, auctioneer, Mon day, June 2, 1884, sold the house (to be removed) for the sum of twenty dollars. Mr. Morse, in a note 1 50 Notes. note to the writer giving the above information, says: "The cut of the Emerson Canterbury house is quite correct, and I have had my views of it endorsed by three others who lived in the vi cinity for many years." Mr. Au gustus Parker, o Roxbury, is authority for the statement that the house used to be called The Parker Scarborough House, and that the late Mr. Moses Williams, -who died in 1882, at the age of ninety- two years, said he remem bered it as an old house in his boyhood. 11 Mr. Ralph Raskins, now of New York City. 12 The albertype frontispiece representation of Mrs. Ruth Em erson was made from a photo graph taken from the oil portrait of her above referred to. The Notes. 13 The late Mrs. Charles C. Jewett. 14 In Mr. Emerson s clay, the tower of Oftagon Hall was sur mounted by two white colossal figures emblematic of "Charity and her babes,/ which had for merly stood upon the Boston Almshouse. These were long since removed, but are properly shown in the above drawing of the building. 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Published annually. i2mo. 294 pp. Cloth . . $0.7-5 HARVARD UNIVERSITY IN THE WAR OF 1861-1865. By FRANCIS H. BROWN, M.D. A RECORD OK SERVICES RENDERED IN THE ARMY AND NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES, BY THE GRADUATES AND STUDENTS OF HARVARD COL LEGE AND THE PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS, i vol. 8vo. 407 pp. Cloth, gilt top, rough edges. With index 4,00 Dr. Brown was selected as editor of this work by the "Committee of Five," consisting of Presi dent Eliot, Dr. R. W. Hooper, Mr. Waldo Hig- ginson, Professor Child, and Mr. C. E. Guild. HARVARD : THE FIRST AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. AN HISTORIC WORK. By GEORGE GARY BUSH, Ph.D. i6mo. Cloth, gilt top, rough edges. Very choicely printed, bound and illustrated .... 1.25 ROLLO S JOURNEY TO CAMBRIDGE. A TALE OF THE ADVENTURES OF THE HISTORIC HOLIDAY FAMILY AT HARVARD UNDER THE NEW REGIME. With twenty-six illustrations, full-page frontispiece, and an illuminated cover of striking gorgeousness. By FRANCIS G. ATTWOOD. i vol. Imperial 8vo. Limp. London toy-book style. Third and enlarged edition 0.75 " All will certainly relish the delicious satire in both text and illustrations. Boston Traveller. " A brilliant and witty piece of fun." Chicago Tribune. of the above works sent, postpaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price. CUPPLES, UPHAM & CO., PUBLISHERS, BOSTON. STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. NOV 99 1CM1 IFEB 5 1945 ,.,-. JUN 21 1945 APR 2 p - 19^ 1 lli FEB 29 946 . 23a/55ji/ SiO? y t j> ,:^ ^r> REC D LD CCQ O Cr -n U _ no unu 1887 Emarson, i s TTiK^h flT*n some reminiscences of M 118323 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES