Dr. Holmes's
larger but still handy volume, and then we can apply ourselves with
better understanding to Emerson's essays and poems. I particularly
mention his poems, for I believe that Emerson will come to be rated
higher as a poet than he has yet been. His poetry at its best is hardly
below anyone's best; the only trouble is that there is so little of it;
but ultimately all writers are judged by their best. In the same way we
may take up all the writers of the group, learning something of the life
of each and reading some of his works before passing on to another. Let
me especially call your attention to the writings of Thoreau, who is
less known to his countrymen than any of the others. He is a writer of
great originality and freshness of view. He, too, wrote some exquisite
poetry, worthy of any name in literature; but you will have to look for
it among other verse that has more originality than charm. Obviously
what I have recommended is not the work of one year's leisure, but the
protracted delight of many years: for these books are not to be hurried
over to get to the end of the chapter or to see how they are coming out;
neither are they material for skipping. They are to be read attentively
and reread; and if one or another fails to make a strong appeal to some
reader, surely he cannot fail to find in most of them a source of lofty
pleasure and spiritual enrichment. One fruit that we may expect from
such reading is that we shall find ourselves drawn nearer to the supreme
masters and shall end by surrendering ourselves to them. To know our New
England group is not indeed to climb the Alps of literature, but it is
at least to climb its White Mountains. Every gain will be a fresh
incitement, and those who at the start join the literary Appalachian
Club may be looked for some day in the ranks of the Alpinists.

A word on the reading of contemporary writers; for even our second list
did not bring us down to our own time. We shall, of course, read our
contemporaries, and we have a right to, so long as we do not give them
the time and attention that clearly belong to their betters. The truth
is that contemporaries--unless they are contemporary poets--have a quite
unfair advantage over their elders, our own in time and place being so
much more attractive to us than anything more remote. Still, our
contemporaries have a claim upon us--even, I am rash enough to assert,
our contemporary poets--for they have a message that th