But I will not conceal from you that I think you too young to have
written "numerous essays" of the class you attempt, or to publish
a book consisting of such. No other kind of writing requires such
mental maturity; stories may be written at any age, though good
ones are seldom written early. Even poems and works of art have
been produced by some Raphael or Milton at a comparatively early
season of life, and have not given shame to the author at a later
age; though this is the exception, not the rule. But the purely
reflective essay belongs emphatically to maturer life. Your
twenty-four years have evidently been worth more to you than the
longest life to most men; but my judgment is that you should give
your genius more time yet, and should wait upon it with more labor.
This is my frank counsel. I will respect you so much as to offer
it without disguise. Let me fortify it by an example or two. Mr.
Emerson published nothing, I think, until he was past thirty, and
his brother Charles, now dead, who was considered almost superior
to him, maintained that it is almost a sin to go into print sooner.
Yet both these had all possible educational advantages, and were
familiar with the best books and the best results of American
culture from infancy almost.
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