"
His painstaking never relaxed, even when he was to read a familiar
lecture to an uncritical audience. He had been invited by the members
of the Young Ladies' Saturday Morning Club to read one of his essays
in their parlor. This he kindly consented to do, as well as to pass
the previous night with his friends in Charles Street, and read to
them an unpublished paper, which he called "Amita." Some question
having arisen as to the possibility of his keeping both the
engagements, he wrote as follows:--
"DEAR MRS. F.,--I mean surely to obey your first command, namely, for
the visit to you on Friday evening next, and I fully trust that I
wrote you that I would.... And now I will untie the papers of 'Amita,'
and see if I dare read them on Friday, or must find somewhat less
nervous."
I find the following brief record of the occasion:--
"Mr. Emerson arrived from Concord. He said he took it for granted we
should be occupied at that hour, but he would seize the moment to look
over his papers. So I begged him to go into the small study and find
quiet there as long as he chose.... Presently Emerson came down to
tea; the curtains were drawn, and a few guests arrived. We sat round
the tea table in the library, while he told us of ----'s life in
Berlin, where Mr. and Mrs. Hermann Grimm and Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft had
opened a pleasant social circle for him. He also talked much of the
Grimms. His friendship for Hermann Grimm had extended over many years,
and an interesting correspondence has grown up between them.
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