Emerson and Moorfield Storey: A Lost Journal Found

Abstract

THE CENTENARY OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON was widely observed. In Concord, Massachusetts, where Emerson made his home for nearly fifty years, two major commemorative programs were held. The better known was that sponsored by the Social Circle of Concord on May 25, I903, in which Samuel Hoar, Charles Eliot Norton, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, William James, and others participated.' Less well known perhaps is the Emerson Memorial School, sponsored by the Free Religious Association of America, in July, I903.2 Thirty lectures were given July I3-July 3I, with morning lectures in Concord at the Town Hall and evening lectures in Huntington Hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The speakers included Julia Ward Howe, George Willis Cooke, Franklin B. Sanborn, and Edward Everett Hale.3 One of only two persons to participate in both the Social Circle program and the Emerson Memorial School (the other being Emerson's son Edward) was Moorfield Storey, widely known Boston lawyer, spokesman against imperialism, and liberal New England Independent. His remarks at the May 25 celebration had been brief.4 He recalled his meeting with Emerson during his college days, cited the effect Emerson's writings had had upon him as a young man, and concluded by challenging those in his audience to fulfil the heritage of Concord and redeem their admiration of Emerson by supporting struggles for freedom by all men. The concluding chal-