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RUTH HASKINS EMERSON NARRATIVE HISTORYAMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY W ALDOS RELATIVES “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Ruth Haskins Emerson
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  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

    “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY

    WALDO’SRELATIVES

    “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Ruth Haskins Emerson

    mailto:[email protected]?subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturemailto:[email protected] subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturehttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    November 9, Wednesday: Ruth Haskins was born in Boston to Captain John Haskins (who had a distillery on Harrison Avenue) and Hannah Upham Haskins.

    NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT

    1768

    Ruth Haskins Emerson “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfmailto:[email protected]?subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturemailto:[email protected] subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexture

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    October 25, Tuesday: The Reverend William Emerson, Jr. got married with Ruth Haskins in Boston.

    DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD.

    1796

    Ruth Haskins Emerson “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfmailto:[email protected]?subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturemailto:[email protected] subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexture

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    February 9, Friday: Phebe Ripley Emerson was born in Harvard, Massachusetts, a daughter of the Reverend William Emerson, Jr. with Ruth Haskins Emerson.

    LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD?— NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES.

    LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD.

    1798

    “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Ruth Haskins Emerson

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfmailto:[email protected]?subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturemailto:[email protected] subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexture

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    November 28, Thursday: John Clarke Emerson was born in Boston, a son of the Reverend William Emerson, Jr. with Ruth Haskins Emerson.

    THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT

    1799

    “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Ruth Haskins Emerson

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfmailto:[email protected]?subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturemailto:[email protected] subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturehttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    September 28, Sunday: In Boston, the remains of William Billings were deposited in an unmarked grave, a proceeding usually reserved for paupers or social outcasts.

    Phebe Ripley Emerson died at the age of two in Boston.

    A letter from John Moss, presumably to Governor James Monroe, as on file among the Letters Received by James Monroe at the Governor’s Office, Record Group 3, Library of Virginia:

    On the reverse of this sheet is the inscription: “Letter John Moss respecting Billy who was instrumental in apprehending Gabriel 1800 Sept 28th.”

    CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT

    1800

    Honoured Sir

    From the repeated applications of the Negro Man Will King Who gave me Information of the Said Gabral being on Board of Capt Taylor and he himself & Capt Taylor was then a going to Secure him– I gave Other Information for fear he Should Make his escape– and Without delay the Villon was arrested– I fear Your Repose will be interupted but your Dignity knows best how to Compensate the Negro Man for his good conduct he Is under a good carector and Very Submissive

    I am Sir Your Most obt.

    & Hum: Servt.

    John Moss

    Septr. 28th.

    1800

    Ruth Haskins Emerson “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfmailto:[email protected]?subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturemailto:[email protected] subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexture

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    July 31, Friday: In Athens, Lord Elgin began removing sculptures from the Parthenon for transport to London. Everything he put his hand on would be known, collectively, as “the Elgin Marbles.”

    William Emerson was born in Boston, a son of the Reverend William Emerson, Jr. with Ruth Haskins Emerson.

    THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT

    1801

    “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Ruth Haskins Emerson

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfmailto:[email protected]?subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturemailto:[email protected] subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturehttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    May 25, Wednesday: Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton, 1st baron Lytton was born in London to General William Earle Bulwer of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk and Elizabeth Barbara Lytton, daughter of Richard Warburton Lytton of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. (His name as assigned at birth was Edward George Earle Bulwer.)

    The Reverend William Emerson, pastor of the 1st Church of Boston, attended the Election Day sermon of another reverend and then dined with the governor of Massachusetts. When he returned to his parsonage he was informed of the women’s business of that day: his wife Ruth Haskins Emerson had been giving birth in Boston and the apparently healthy infant had been a manchild. The baby would be christened Ralph, after a remote uncle, and Waldo, after a family into which the Emerson family had married in the 17th century.1

    (That family had been so named because it had originated with some Waldensians who had become London merchants — but in the current religious preoccupations of the Emerson family there was no trace remaining of the tradition of that Waldensianism.)

    1803

    1. Great-Great-Grandmother Rebecca Waldo of Chelmsford (born in 1662, married Edward Emerson of Newbury, died 1752); Great-Great-Great Grandfather Deacon Cornelius Waldo (born circa 1624, died January 3?, 1700 in Chelmsford)

    WALDENSESWALDO EMERSON

    WALDO’SRELATIVES

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

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    April 17, Wednesday: Edward Bliss Emerson was born in Boston, a son of the Reverend William Emerson, Jr. with Ruth Haskins Emerson.

    1805

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    April 11, Saturday: When Spanish soprano Isabella Angela Colbran performed in Bologna, this was Gioachino Rossini’s initial glimpse of his future mistress and wife.

    Robert Bulkeley Emerson was born in Boston, a son of the Reverend William Emerson, Jr. with Ruth Haskins Emerson, named perhaps after Bulkeley Emerson of Newburyport, Massachusetts (1732-1801), an entrepreneur.

    Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

    7 day 11 of 4 M / When the buisness of the day was over, towards night went to Connanicut with R. Greene & J Lankson to be at meeting tomorrow. we lodged at Cousin J Greenes, & the next morng took a memorable walk with my dearest R in which he was very communicative on Subjects which interested my feelings as well as instructive to my mind. he gave some particulars of his present journey, & visits to some of the familys in Newport, some pleasant some painful, but on the whole a pleasant prospect among the Youth of our Moy [Monthly] Meeting. & some hopeful who are not members. The meeting was large and favor’d. Rowland first sympathisingly addressed the little remnant of that meeting that were members with himself, incoraging them to hold on their way saying “Fear not little flock it is your heavenly fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom” - then to the People he preached the Cross & the necessity of bearing it, dispising the Shame, & at a second Standing he affectionatly addressed the Youth, shewing the prefference between a pious life & beauty of Vanity & the necessity & beauty of an early dedication to the requirings of truth we dined at J Greenes & after dinner Rowland feeling his mind at liberty to proceed homeward we walked toward the ferry. we had a little sweet conversation, & parted at the wharf in much love & I trust true affection. in this little opportunity my mind seemed doubly united to this my very endeared friend, with whom I have been some Years acquainted & allways found him to be a near sympathising friend, one that is deeply gifted in the divine Mystery having a word of comfort in due season to Such as are afflicted, & to those who are traveling Zion ward, & a Skilful reprover of unfaithfulness May he with myself be preserved in the truth & finaly become so established as never to depart therefrom After parting with him at the ferry returned to Cousin Greenes & spent a little time with them in a greeable conversation, particularly with cousin Anne. - Then crossed the ferry home, with a large company of rude young men & boys. Several of them were drunk, & used very bad language. I pittyed them & felt thankful that I was not like them. Spent the evening with my precious H — relating to her the occurences of the day & wished she could have partook of our Zest

    1807

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    ———————————————————————————————————

    April 26, Sunday: In the Convention of Bartenstein, Russia and Prussia agreed to pool their forces to drive French troops out of Germany.

    John Clarke Emerson died in Boston before completing his 8th year (his brother Ralph Waldo Emerson was three).

    Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

    1 day 26 of 4 M / Pretty good meetings in the afternoon D Buffum bore a livly [testimony] to the necessity of our preparing for the final change, God being just and equal in all his ways would afford sufficient means to enable us to attain a seat in the Kingdom.Between meetings finished a letter began the day before to my friend J Austin [of] NantucketTook tea at D Williams where my mind was cover’d with the precious life. Oh I love to feel it & desire to be found worthy more & more to receive the heavenly Bounty.

    ———————————————————————————————————

    RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

    RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    November 17, Thursday: Charles Chauncy Emerson was born in Boston, a son of the Reverend William Emerson, Jr. with Ruth Haskins Emerson.

    King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia established a system of municipal self-government, providing for popular participation.

    Friend Stephen Wanton Gould made a record of the presence in Quaker meeting of a person who was not white:

    5th day 17 of 11 M / A labor on my part to keep near the fountain & a little help experienced, but Alass not a sufficient care to dwell within mine own Tent —I acknowledge this with shame, Oh that I may yet do better —- At meeting but poor. Paul Cuff was at meeting & I believe was the first black man that ever Set in a preparative or any other Meeting of buisness in Newport — In the Afternoon we had Cousin Silas Casey. Harriss Greene, Freelove Greene, Sarah Greene & Sister Mary at Tea - all of whom spent the eveng except Cousin Casey. bother David also gave us a kind call —After company had gone I wrote a letter to cousin Abigail Casey

    1808

    RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfOther records indicate that Charles Chauncy Emerson was born on November 27, 1808.

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    Note that Friend Stephen is not saying that this was the first time that a person of color had attended a Quaker meeting, but that it was the first time that a person of color had attended the meeting for business. It was actually a rather common thing, for a servant of color to attend Quaker worship with his or her white master or mistress, and the Negro Gallery of the Friends meetinghouse in Saylesville, Rhode Island can still be inspected today (although nobody ever sits up there anymore and it is likely that no Friend in that meetinghouse today would be aware that when they cast their eyes upward during worship, what they are gazing at originated as a racially segregated seating arrangement).

    WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MINDYOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF

    Ruth Haskins Emerson “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfmailto:[email protected]?subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturemailto:[email protected] subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturehttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfThis is a magazine illustration of a Negro Gallery at a public performance in Louisiana in 1871.

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    November 27, Sunday: Charles Chauncy Emerson was born in Boston, a son of the Reverend William Emerson, Jr. with Ruth Haskins Emerson.

    Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

    1st day 27th of 11 M 1808 / In the forenoon attended Meeting which was silent, after meeting feeling as I apprehended a freedom & inclination went to Middletown to visit my relations there -Dined & spent part of the Afternoon at Cousin Mary Goulds, where my mind was feelingly touched with desires & even intercessions for the wellfare of her & her Dear children - Then to cousin Alices & took tea where I felt much sweetness & really thought what I then enjoyed was worth going for, not having felt that precious covering which I love to feel so eminently for a long time - in the edge of the eveng walked homeward & stopt at Uncle Saml & spent the evening then came to town stopt at Brother Davids & found my endeared H there on our way to our habitation stoped at Father Rs found Caleb more unwell

    RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfOther records indicate that Charles Chauncy Emerson was born on November 17, 1808.

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    February 26, Tuesday: Mary Caroline Emerson was born in Boston, a daughter of the Reverend William Emerson, Jr. with Ruth Haskins Emerson (she would live only four years).

    Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

    3rd day 26th of 2 Mo// John Price a late Slave Trade was this afternoon committed to the grave, he died the day before yesterday - far very far be it from me to judge the poor man, but I think I may hazard the desire that the sin which he committed in the traffic in human flesh has gone before hand to judgement - He died of the peripnumony. [difficulty breathing ?] I have heard nothing of the state of his mind during his illness.

    —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

    1811

    INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

  • RUTH HASKINS EMERSON RUTH HASKINS EMERSON

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    April 14, Thursday: Charles-Philippe de France, comte d’Artois was named Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom, succeeding Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, prince de Bénévent as Head of State for France.

    Prince Eugène, Viceroy of Italy, signed a peace accord with the Allies and surrendered his forces.

    Mary Caroline Emerson died at the age of three.

    Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal:

    5th day 14th of 4 M 1814 / In our Meeting to day my mind was agreeably & proffitably employed most of the time & love was renewedly Kindled in my heart towards the small company gathered -& desires raised that we might all labor to improve our time while it lasted. — Newport has now become striped [stripped] as to numbers, many have removed away & the few which remain who are concernd to be faithful in their day have no small weight to bearFather R bore a short testimony

    1814

    RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

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    March: At some point this month Waldo Emerson delivered the 4th lecture of his current series in Salem, but we don’t know the exact date (perhaps it was on the 1st of the month).Waldo’s brother Charles Chauncy Emerson, coming home to Concord from Boston, was obliged to ride on top of the stagecoach and caught a bad cold. He would go down to Staten Island and stay with his brother Judge William Emerson while seeking some relief from “this lake of fire I am bearing about in my breast,” and would collapse and die of tuberculosis after a walk on May 9th.

    The engagement of his brother Charles, who resided with Mr. and Mrs. Emerson, to Miss Elizabeth Sherman Hoar of Concord, had had much to do with their decision to purchase a home there. They had added new rooms to the house they purchased, expecting that he would soon bring his bride to live with them (the plan was for them to be wed during the month of September after an engagement of three years). Madam Ruth Haskins Emerson would then have had the joy of having two grown sons under the same roof with her, along with their wives, and potentially their children as well. But this was not to be. Of Charles his grieving brother would write: —

    And here I am at home again. My brother, my friend, my ornament,my joy and pride has fallen by the wayside, — or rather has risenout of this dust.... Beautiful without any parallel in myexperience of young men was his life; happiest his death.Miserable is my own prospect from whom my friend is taken.... Iread now his pages, I remember all his words and motives withoutany pang, so healthy and humane a life it was, and not likeEdward’s, a tragedy of poverty and sickness tearing genius....I have felt in him the inestimable advantage, when God allowsit, of finding a brother and a friend in one.

    This grieving brother would write to his other brother William: —

    Concord, May 15, 1836. ... At the church this morning, before the prayers, notes of thefamilies were read [desiring the prayers of the congregation]and one from Dr. Ripley, and one, “many young people, friendsof the deceased, join in the same request.” As it was unusualit was pleasing. Mr. Goodwin preached in the morning from thetext, “Who knoweth the time of his death?” and made affectionateand sympathetic remembrance of Charles. Grandfather, [Dr.Ripley] in the afternoon, called him by name in his own ruggedstyle of Indian eloquence. “This event seems to me,” he said,“loud and piercing, like thunder and lightning. While many agedand burdensome are spared, this beloved youth is cut down in themorning.”

    This grieving brother would write about Charles at the end of the chapter “Discipline” of NATURE.

    1836

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

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    January 15, Sunday: Mrs. Lidian Emerson wrote to Waldo Emerson:

    Henry is about as well as when you were here — and a greatcomfort to Edith [second daughter, born in 1841] with whom hedances and for whom he plays the flute. Richard Fuller [youngerbrother of Margaret Fuller and of Ellery Channing’s wife EllenFuller Channing] sent him a music box as a N. Year’s gift andit was delightful to see Henry’s child-like joy. I never saw anyone made so happy by a new possession. He said nothing couldhave been so acceptable. After we had heard its performance hesaid he must hasten to exhibit it to his sisters and mother. Myheart really warmed with sympathy and admiration at his wholedemeanour on the occasion — and I like human nature better thanI did ... Here is Mother [Ruth Haskins Emerson, Waldo’s mother,who lived with the Emerson family] just come in from church —where she affirms she saw Henry in your uppermost seat, notwithout “astonishment.” It must be that he is converted to theright doctrine. I had a conversation with him a few days sinceon his heresies — but had no expectation of so speedy a result.

    1843

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    Summer: Franklin Benjamin Sanborn entered Harvard College with sophomore standing. At the age of 20, reputedly, he had reached 6 feet 5 inches — some standing for a sophomore in college.2

    There were, at most, two wheelchairs in Boston. Waldo Emerson’s mother Ruth Haskins Emerson was in such an appliance.

    1852

    2. Unfortunately, neither basketball, nor the basketball scholarship, had as yet been devised.

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

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    Ednah Dow Littlehale was off again, for another excellent summer adventure in New Hampshire, with walking companion. This time Seth Wells Cheney proposed.

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

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    Leverenz, David. “The Politics of Emerson’s Man-Making Words,” PMLA 101 (1986), 38-56.

    November 16, Wednesday: Waldo Emerson’s mother, Ruth Haskins Emerson, died.

    1853

    “A Review From Professor Ross’s Seminar”

    Starts out with an anecdote about a professor who tried to write a book aboutEmerson and never got it finished. Jonathan Bishop: “There is something at theheart of Emerson’s message profoundly recalcitrant to the formulations of thediscursive intelligence. Emerson wrote to Thomas Carlyle in 1838: “Here I sit& read & write with very little system, & as far as regards composition with themost fragmentary result: paragraphs incompressible each sentence an infinitelyrepellent particle” (CORRESPONDENCE 185). Also picks up on Harold Bloom (Yale) andWoody Hayes (Ohio State) both tooling around the country talking about how Emersonis their spiritual leader, and gives them (us?) “access to manly power” (38). Themain argument begins with the early essays (“Self-Reliance” etc.), where the word“man” should not be seen as inclusive. Emerson’s modern, democratic, individualized“man” is not king, and he is also not a woman — several JOURNAL passages emphasizethat. Power should be in the man’s mind, not in government or property.

    The second section points to Emerson’s proposal that a “new cultural elite” shouldrun things, and that you don’t have to be rich to get into that crowd. There’s abit on how Waldo Emerson resented his minister father, the Reverend WilliamEmerson, who favored Waldo’s brothers — Mary Moody Emerson helped him get free ofhis father. He developed an “evangelical political fantasy” (46) that the SmartPeople would have to counter more obviously powerful groups who were taking overthe frontier — this matches typical New England fantasies. It also picks up ongeneral social changes between 1825 and 1850, where shopkeeping and the Bostonbrahmins were replaced by managers and professionals. These new men took over. [cf.EDUCATION OF HENRY ADAMS for a similar history of these years. People simply stoppedasking Adamses to be president.]

    The third section deals with Emerson’s later sense of powerlessness, in contrastto “The nonchalance of boys who are sure of dinner” (“Self-Reliance”). Severalbiographers blamed Emerson’s “inhibited” mother for his depressive strategy andemotional withdrawal. (Ruth Haskins Emerson died in 1853. ) Leverenz dislikesthe evasiveness of “Experience,” not just Emerson’s inability to deal with hisson’s death, but his “impersonal geometry” (52): “Two human beings are like globes,which can touch only in a point” (“Experience”). The general conclusion is thatEmerson’s obsession with power masks rivalry, fears of failure, and a shiftingsociety that he could not control — “alienated liberalism” (53).

    [DR 5/89]

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    After November 16: Henry Thoreau brought Robert Bulkeley Emerson from Littleton, Massachusetts for his and Waldo Emerson’s mother, Ruth Haskins Emerson’s funeral.

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfDaguerreotype made in 1853 by Addison A. Fish

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    December 3, Saturday: Waldo Emerson wrote to the Reverend Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham about his mother Ruth Haskins Emerson:

    December 3. Up river by boat to Clamshell Hill. Saw two tree sparrows [American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea] on Monroe’s larch by the waterside.Larger than chip-birds, with more bay above and a distinct white bar on wings, not to mention bright-chestnutcrown and obscure spot on breast; all beneath pale-ash. They were busily and very adroitly picking the seedsout of the larch cones. It would take man’s clumsy fingers a good while to get at one, and then only by breaking

    My mother was born in Boston, 9 November 1768, & had therefore completed 85 years, a week before her death. Her father Captain John Haskins whose distillery on Harrison Avenue was pulled down not many years ago was an industrious thriving man with a family of thirteen living children. He was an Episcopalian & up to the time of the Revolution a tory. My mother was bred in the English church, & always retained an affection for the Book of Common Prayer. She married in 1796 and all her subsequent family connexions were in the Congregational Church[.] At the time of her marriage her husband was settled in Harvard, Masstts. In [1799] they removed to Boston on his installation at First Church. He died in 1812 and left her with six children & without property. She kept her family together & at once adopted the only means open to her by receiving boarders into her house & by the assistance of some excellent friends, she carried four of her five sons through Harvard College. The family was never broken up until 1826, when on the death of Dr Ripleys daughter (my fathers half-sister) she accepted the Doctor’s earnest invitation to make her home at his house. She remained there until my marriage in 1830, when she came to live with me. After my housekeeping was broken up in 1832, and on my return from Europe in 1833, she went with me to Concord, & we became boarders in Doctor Ripley’s family, until I bought a house & took her home with me in 1835. This was her permanent home until her death. I hardly know what to add to these few dates. I have been in the habit of esteeming her manners & character the fruit of a past age. She was born a subject of King George, had lived through the whole existence of the Republic, remembered & described with interesting details the appearance of Washington at the Assemblies in Boston after the war, when every lady wore his name on her scarf; & had derived from that period her punctilious courtesy extended to every person, and continued to the last hour of her life. Her children as they grew up had abundant reason to thank her prudence which secured to them an education which in the circumstances was the most judicious provision that could be made for them. I remember being struck with the comment of a lady who said in my family when some debate arose about my Mother’s thrift in her time, the lady said, “Ah, but she secured the essentials. She got the children educated.”

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Langdon_Frothingham

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    off the scales, but they picked them out as rapidly as if they were insects on the outside of the cone, utteringfrom time to time a faint, tinkling chip....

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

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    The Reverend David Greene Haskins, D.D.’s RALPH WALDO EMERSON: HIS MATERNAL ANCESTORS(Boston: Cupples, Upham, 1887):

    On pages 121-2, curiously, this author confesses that “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.” He, however, deflects this self-awareness onto Henry Thoreau primarily, mentioning himself only it would seem in passing. We are left, therefore, with the historical quandary of the extent to which this description is a description of Thoreau, versus the extent to which it is a description of Haskins. We should consider, in evaluating comments made by other commentators along this same line, the degree to which these comments are original, versus the degree to which they have been contaminated by a prior examination of this Haskins source:

    I happened to meet Thoreau in Mr. Emerson’s study at Concord.

    I think it was the first time we had come together after leavingcollege. I was quite startled by the transformation that hadtaken place in him. His short figure and general cast ofcountenance were, of course, unchanged; but in his manners, inthe tones and inflections of his voice, in his modes ofexpression, even in the hesitations and pauses of his speech,he had become the counterpart of Mr. Emerson. Mr. Thoreau’scollege voice bore no resemblance to Mr. Emerson’s, and was sofamiliar to my ear that I could readily have identified him byit in the dark. I was so much struck with the change, and withthe resemblance in the respects referred to between Mr. Emersonand Mr. Thoreau, that I remember to have taken the opportunityas they sat near together talking, of listening to theirconversation with closed eyes, and to have been unable todetermine with certainty which was speaking. It was a notableinstance of unconscious imitation. Nevertheless it did notsurpass my comprehension. I do not know to what subtle influenceto ascribe it, but, after conversing with Mr. Emerson for evena brief time, I always found myself able and inclined to adopthis voice and manner of speaking.

    1887

    RWE’S MOTHER’S FOLKS

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/transclusions/18/80S/87/1887_RWEsMaternalAncestors.pdf

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    Lawrence Buell has pointed out, on pages 221-32 of THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMAGINATION: THOREAU, NATURE WRITING, AND THE FORMATION OF AMERICAN CULTURE, that it is “[n]ot by chance” that Thoreau’s journal was first excerpted and published, “a generation after his death, as four season books.”

    He traces the history of this sort of season book back through Susan Fenimore Cooper’s RURAL HOURS of 1850 and James Thompson’s THE SEASONS of 1726-1740 through Virgil’s GEORGICS and China’s BOOK OF SONGS and Hesiod’s WORKS AND DAYS even unto “the art of paleolithic cave drawings.” — An extended tradition, that. Buell even has the wit to characterize WALDEN here as “the most famous of all American season books,” and we observe again the oft-observed phenomenon I characterize as “flattening,” as the most excellent standard-bearers are portrayed as merely instances of one or another debased category in a categorization scheme. A necessary part of the business/busyness of academe is that each effort is to be subsumed to its genre. (They’ve got us surrounded — they’re not gonna get away this time!)

    Friend Daniel Ricketson even attempted to imagine how his friend Henry Thoreau, “A Shanty Man,” might have appeared had he reached the age of 70.

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

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    INTRODUCTORY

    To those who are not specially interested in the character ofThoreau, who regard him merely as a writer who has sometimesexpressed original thoughts in a happy way, who has made someinteresting observations of natural phenomena, and at timeswritten beautifully about nature, it may seem hardly worth whileto publish more of his journal. But from time to time I meetwith or receive letters from persons who feel the same deepinterest in him as an individual, in his thoughts and views oflife, that I do, and who, I am sure, will eagerly welcome anyadditional expression of that individuality. Of course there aremany such persons of whom I do not hear.Thoreau himself regarded literature as altogether secondary tolife, strange as this may seem to those who think of him as ahermit or dreamer, shunning what are commonly considered asamong the most important practical realities, trade, politics,the church, the institutions of society generally. He tooklittle part in these things because he believed they would standin the way of his truest life, and to attain that, as far aspossible, he knew to be his first business in the world. Evenin a philanthropic point of view, any superficial benefit bemight confer by throwing himself into the current of societywould be as nothing compared with the loss of real power andinfluence which would result from disobedience to his highestinstincts. “Ice that merely performs the office of a burningglass does not do its duty.” It was not sufficient for him toentertain and express as an author “subtle thoughts,” but heaspired rather “so to love wisdom as to live, according to itsdictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, andtrust, “to solve some of the problems of life not onlytheoretically, but practically.” It is the clear insight earlycreating a deep, persistent determination so to live, ratherthan his genius, which gives value to Thoreau’s work, thoughthis insight itself may well be regarded as the highest form ofgenius. It is the attitude one takes toward the world, far morethan any abilities he may possess, which gives significance tohis life. It has been well said by Brownlee Brown that “courage,piety, wit, zeal, learning, eloquence, avail nothing, unless theman is right.”As the young pass out of childhood, that foretaste or symbol ofthe kingdom of heaven, the expression of serene innocence is tooapt to fade from their faces and the clouds to gather there,while it is considered a matter of course that each one shouldattach himself to the social machine. One becomes a lawyer,another a clergyman, another a physician, another a merchant,and the treasure which the childlike soul has lost is sought tobe regained in some general and far-off way by society at large.But the burden which men thus readily take upon themselves inthe common race for comfort, luxury, and social position is out

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

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    of all proportion to their spiritual vitality, and so the truestlife of individuals is being continually sacrificed to theJuggernaut of society. Men associate almost universally in theshallower and falser part of their natures, so that whileinstitutions may seem to flourish, corruption is also gainingground through the spiritual failure of individuals; finally thefabric falls, and a new form rises to go through the same round.The highest form of civilization at the present day seems to bean advance upon all that have preceded it, though in someparticulars it plainly falls behind. Perhaps only by thisalternate rising and falling can the human race advance. But theprogress of individuals is the essential thing; only so far asthat takes place will the real progress of the race follow, andthose persons contribute most to this real progress who,stepping aside from the ordinary routine, give us by their livesand thoughts a new sense of the reality of what is best, of theideal towards which all civilization must aim; who are so inlove with truth, rectitude, and the beauty of the world,including in this, first of all, the original, unimpaired beautyof the human soul, that they have little care for materialprosperity, social position, or public opinion. It was notmerely nature in the ordinary sense, plants, animals, thelandscape, etc., which attracted Thoreau. He is continuallymanifesting a human interest in natural objects, and thoughtsof an ideal friendship are forever haunting him. Touching thehighest and fairest relation of one human soul to another, I donot believe there can be found in literature, ancient or modern,anything finer, anything which comes closer home to our bestexperience, than what appears in Thoreau’s writings generally,and especially in “Wednesday” of the “Week on the Concord andMerrimack Rivers.”

    “MAGISTERIAL HISTORY” IS FANTASIZING: HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY

    “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Ruth Haskins Emerson

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfmailto:[email protected]?subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexturemailto:[email protected] subject=Contribution to Kouroo Contexture

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    COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others,such as extensive quotations and reproductions ofimages, this “read-only” computer file contains a greatdeal of special work product of Austin Meredith,copyright 2014. Access to these interim materials willeventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup someof the costs of preparation. My hypercontext buttoninvention which, instead of creating a hypertext leapthrough hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems—allows for an utter alteration of the context withinwhich one is experiencing a specific content alreadybeing viewed, is claimed as proprietary to AustinMeredith — and therefore freely available for use byall. Limited permission to copy such files, or anymaterial from such files, must be obtained in advancein writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo”Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Pleasecontact the project at .

    Prepared: October 8, 2014

    “It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over untiltomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.”

    – Remark by character “Garin Stevens”in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfmailto:[email protected], tomorrow is such and such a date and so it began on that date in like 8000BC? Why 8000BC, because it was the beginning of the current interglacial -- or what?

    Bearing in mind that this is America, "where everything belongs," the primary intent of such a notice is to prevent some person or corporate entity from misappropriating the materials and sequestering them as property for censorship or for profit.

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    ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT

    GENERATION HOTLINE

    This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by ahuman. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested thatwe pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of theshoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (as above). What thesechronological lists are: they are research reports compiled byARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term theKouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such arequest for information we merely push a button.

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdf

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    Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obviousdeficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored inthe contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then weneed to punch that button again and recompile the chronology —but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary“writerly” process you know and love. As the contents of thisoriginating contexture improve, and as the programming improves,and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whateverhas been needed in the creation of this facility, the entireoperation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminishedneed to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expectto achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring roboticresearch librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.

    First come first serve. There is no charge.Place requests with . Arrgh.

    http://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/thumbnails/T/HDT.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/explanation.pdfhttp://www.kouroo.info/kouroo/ActiveIndex.pdfmailto:[email protected]

    Ruth Haskins Emerson17681796179817991800180118031805180718081811181418361843185218531887


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