NOTES FROM THE PRAIRIE 109 



I call it grotesqueness). But it was of no use; it 



makes me tired all over to think of it. All the 



time I said to myself, * Oh, do stop your scolding ; 



you are not so much better than the rest of us.' 



One is willing to be led to a higher life, but who 



wants to be pushed and cuffed along? How can 



people place him and our own Emerson, the dear 



guide and friend of so many of us, on the same 



level? It may be that the world had need of him, 



just as it needs lightning and rain and cold and pain, 



but must we like these things ? " ^ 



1 My correspondent was Mrs. Beardslee of Manchester, Iowa. 

 She died in October, 1885. 



