Emerson College - Emersonian Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 20 text:

is love.” Tlic text is suggestive of the life of the man; the sermon spoke of the power for good which must have radiated from him during his ministry. Failing health compelled him to lea ' c his chosen calling and he went to England for some months of travel and rest. After his return he was aj)- pointed lecturer on Vocal Physiology and llygicne in the P oston I ' nivcrsity ' School of Oratory where he remained n nil the death of Prof. Monroe, its dean, when the dc])artment was disconi innod. , hont a year later Dr. Emerson, sni - rounded by a few friends, opened the Alonroc Conservatory of Oratory in Pem- berton Square. In a few years this -ichool outgrew its accommodations and was moved to Veslcyan ] lall on Prom field .Street. The name was changed to the lonroc College of Oratory, and in iS8o. by the urgent recjucst of many of the .Mnmni and the graduating c ' ass of that year it was changed to ihe Ifmcrson College of Oratory, in lionor of its founder. .Pgain the college out- grew its quarters and was removed to ( )dd I ' ellovvs’ Pnilding, and snbse- (inently to L’hickering Hall In 1902 failing health compelled Dr. Emerson to retire from active work, and on his Inrtliday, o cmber 30th, 1908 at the age ol he iinietly and peacefully pa- ' sed away. While the life incidents mav be brictly named, the far-reaching influence r)f the life and teachings of Dr. Emerson cannot be measured. ' J ' o say that for twenty years lie was the spiritual leader of large congregations and for twen- ty-two years more the beloved head of a great educational institution, the largest of its kind in the world, is but faintly suggestive of what he has ac- complished. The teaching of orarory today is on a different basis because of him ; thousands all over this broad land, and in foreign climes, are carrying the glad tidings of a psychological education and a broader spirit of benevo- lence, of love, and of helpfulness to hundreds of thousands whose lives are becoming different because of the great heart and noble life of Charles Wesley ' .merson.

Page 19 text:

Dpa Ohaples Wesley Emerson In the year 1638 Thomas Emerson, who was of a family knighted by Henry VHI, came from England and settled in the little Massachusetts town of Ipswich. From him descended Ralph Waldo Emerson, Wendell Phillips, I’hillips Brooks and Thomas Emerson, who was the father of Charles Wesley Emerson. The story of the life of Dr. Emerson, like the stories of the lives of other great men, might l)e simply and briefly told. He was born in J’ittsfield, Vt., on the 30th of Xovember, 1837. His early life was passed amid the rugged hills and peaceful valleys of his native state. His early education was re- ceived in the public schools, and under the special tutorage of his father, a man of liberal education, refined tastes, and high intellectual power, who in- stilled into his son’s mind a love of study, a desire for research and a power of independent thinking which marked the progress of his entire life. .Vfter completing his work in the public schools and the higher courses in English, classical and scientific lines with his father he pursued the study of theology under the guidance of the Rev. Dr. Tyler of X ' ermont. M ' hcn but nineteen years of age he preached his first sermon, and two years later was ordained by the Association of Congregational Alinisters of W indham County, Trmont, to the ministry. For twentv years he was engaged in this work, being settled respectively in Halifa.v, Brookfield and .Xorthfield, ’t., and later in Fitchburg, and then in Chelsea, Mass. The desire for broad- er culture lead Dr. Emerson to take a course in medicine, receiving his M. D from one of the medical colleges in Philadelphia, and to i)ass through the departments of I-aw and O-atory in Poston Hniversity. Ever a student, he devoted himself to e.xtensive reading and study of history, art science and literature. Once he heard it said that not twenty in a generation really (lerstood the philosophy of Plato, and for years he pored over the works of the ancient Greek, resolved to be one of the twenty. It was the writer ' s pri- vilege to listen to Dr. Emerson in the pulpit but once, when he preached from the text, “X ow ' abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these

Page 21 text:

EMERSONIAN BOARD