Mr. Emerson in ’Frisco.
Reading edition
While Ralph Waldo Emerson was on his way to California, several years ago, he fell in with a gentleman who was altogether so sociable and chatty that an otherwise tedious journey was rendered as cheerful as you please. This gentleman’s name was Sackett, and he told Mr. Emerson that he resided in San Francisco: this was 65all the information he ventured concerning himself, but from his conversation Mr. Emerson gathered that his newly made acquaintance was indeed a gentleman of intelligence and standing. Mr. Sackett pointed out all the points of interest along the way, retailed a lot of amusing anecdotes, and, best of all, was an attentive listener when Mr. Emerson fell to discoursing upon the Is, the To Be, the Seeming, and other frothy subjects with which his scholarly and saintly intellect seemed thoroughly conversant.
The natural consequence was that Mr. Emerson came to the conclusion that Mr. Sackett was as charming a gentleman as he had ever met with, and it was in this positive conviction that he accepted Mr. Sackett’s invitation to dine with him immediately upon their arrival in San Francisco. The next morning Mr. Emerson was well-nigh paralyzed to find in all the local papers this startling personal notice: “Professor Ralph Waldo Emerson, the eminent philosopher, scholar, and poet, is in our city as the guest of Mr. H. J. Sackett, the well-known proprietor of the Bush-Street Dime Museum; matinées every half-hour, admission only ten cents. The double-headed calf and the dog-faced boy this week!”
Mr. Sackett is now in the amusement business in Chicago, and he refers to his experience with the sage of Concord as one of the most profitable strokes of enterprise in his long and active career.
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