76 LITEEAET VALUES 



the danger is that he will be too formal ; he will 

 get himself up for the occasion ; there will be no 

 ease or indifference in his manner ; he will go to 

 delving in his mind, and we shall miss the simple, 

 direct self-expression that we are after. 



In Dr. Johnson's talk, as reported by Boswell, we 

 touch the real man ; in the " Rambler " you touch 

 only his clothes or periwig. His more formal writing 

 seems the product of some kind of artificial put-on , 

 faculty, like the Sunday sermons one hears or the 

 newspaper editorials one reads. The sermon is in 

 what may be called the surpliced style, the Eam- 

 bler in the periwigged style. Emerson said of Al- 

 cott that his conversation was wonderful, but that 

 when he sat down to write his inspiration left him. 

 Most men are wiser in company than in the study. 

 What is interesting in a man is what he himself 

 has felt or seen or experienced. If you can tell us 

 that, we shall listen eagerly. The uncultured man 

 does not know this, but seeks the far-off or the deep 

 down. 



Our thoughts, our opinions, are like apples on 

 the tree : they must take time to ripen ; and when 

 they are ripe, how easily they fall ! A mere nudge 

 brings them down. How easily the old man talks ; 

 how full he is of wisdom ! Time was when his 

 tongue was tied ; he could not express himself ; his 

 thoughts were half formed and unripe ; they clung 

 tightly to the bough. Set him to writing, and with 

 great labor he produced some crude, half-formed no- 

 tions of his own, mixed with the riper opinions of 



