Show LIFELONG frieb THE ST STRANGE friendship OF EMERSON AND CARLYLE their views view wro were almost almont opposed dissimilar in temperament and ad tl tastes disliked each other as a makers Th laken but loved as mon men the friendship of goethe goethie and schiller of beaumont and fletcher of irving and paulding ot of socrates and plato have often been noticed as among tho the friendships of literary or philosophical minds manda but perhaps one of the literary friendships was the lifelong life louR intimacy between emerson and carlyle this thin intimacy was not by per aanal contact for emerson and carlyle mot met each other only upon two or three occasions all their lives a wide ocean of space divided them find and IL 11 wide ocean of tastes and temperament it would be hard to find two men who were more totally unlike carlyle was fierce tu the most terrific scold in all history Id story emerson was mild and benignant as an af afternoon in september carlyle frowned like a thunder cloud and emerson glowed like a sunburst carlyle seemed to despair of the future of the race and believe that tile the crazy old world was rattling on the down grade to destruction emerson was one of the most persistent optimists la in all history the past looked great to him the present looked grand and tile the future looked grander carlyles Car lylea style was jerky explosive and smashed together like a railroad wreck emersons style was compact smooth and epigrammatic carlyle wrote long histories like frederick the great and the french revolution which read like a long drawn out series of spasms as if their authors pen was waa afflicted with the st vitus dance emerson wrote short compact essays in which every thought was packed in the smallest possible compass com tho the views of these theae two men were almost diametrically opposed carlyle especially ally in hla his later days seemed to believe in an abBo absolute Inte monarchy he admired mf red the czar of russia his great hi historical is heroes were men who had bad tilled ruled men with a hand of iron emerson was a firm cham champion plon of republican institutions both emerson and carlyle were wera semi invalids all their lives but emersons invalidism only served to draw out the latent sunshine of his nature the more he ha was chastened chasteney chast ened by disease the sweeter grew his disposition carlyles invalidism made him rage like a caged tiger all his life long he thundered jarid denunciations at his own stomach emerson wished to bo be known as a lover of men carlyle cargyle called tto the public mostly tools fools yet these thesa two men so dissimilar in their tastes and temperaments main maintained a lifelong friendship and in fact emerson and edward irving were about the only men of this generation that carlyle ever spoke of with respect ept sartor Res artus carlyles first lengthy work and probably his masterpiece waa first brought out in book form in america by emerson the first words of warm appreciation that the book received came from this side of the Atlin atlantic tic in england it was received with gibes and sneers and contempt it was and still remains one of I 1 the strangest books that was ever writ ten but it is full cli charged arged with carlyles volcanic and dynamic genius emerson was one of the first to appreciate this genius and help to find it a public all of carlyles successive books as they appeared found a warm admirer in emerson though he must have violently disagreed with many of their sentiments A perpetual correspondence was kept up between the two men in this correspondence spon dence emerson wag was at his best and carlyle never liever was more characteristic than in his letters to emerson he must musj have in his inmost heart despised the theories and thoughts expressed in emersons books for his whole life was a battle against these theories and thoughts bat in spite of this radical difference of ideas there was something about the man lie liked emerson must have abominated many of the expressed opinions of carlyle and yet he was powerfully impressed by carlyles carlyle a personality alit they both hated each other as thinkers bat loved each other as men this friendship ought to demonstrate that the strongest attachments grow up sometimes between men of entirely divergent tendencies of thought men seek their opposites for friends as they seek their opposites for wives it is easy for one man to like and respect another man without agreeing with him it Is possible however that it if emerson and carlyle lad had been be en thrown into closer intimacy they would not have hate continued their friendship so long carlyle was not nn an easy man to live with ns as his own wife discovered to her sorrow morrow he became a chronic scold he found fault with his food he scolded if a draft of air blew too rude rudely y upon liia hia cheek lie he was wa s mad it if a dog barked b it a cat mewed or a hen cackled ile he hated nil all hla his neighbors nei labors inversely inver eely as he loved hemr if and genius as lie ho was his style seems to indicate that he loved himself very intensely emerson on the other liand haud may lie be written ad aa one who loved hig bid fellow man humanity had bad so 0 o large a place in his hia universe that there was no room for self not a pleasant man to live with for a arm of years was thomas carlyle it i i B doubtful if tho the sunny temperament of emerson ismore on could have maintained its sun linnem if brought in ia constant contact with such a human bear S watterson ford in yankee blade |