Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
Historic Treasure of the Week - March 1, 1992
By Deborah Curtis Drummy
Vigo County Historical Society
Terre Haute writer-philosopher remembered
Terre Haute writer-philosopher Max Ehrmann was, in a sense, resurrected this week, an event that no doubt has taken place several times since his death in 1945.
Ehrmann seemed to have foreseen, or perhaps merely hoped for, the possibility of this happening, when he wrote in his journal: "Perhaps even when I am dead, some browser in libraries will come upon me, and, seeing that I was not altogether unworthy, will resurrect me from the dust of things forgotten."
In 1972, in observance of his 100th birthday, the citizens of Vigo County remembered Ehrmann in a big way, dedicating a full week of activities to his life and works. The celebration included a concert at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, with local choirs singing some of the author’s verse set to music, readers reading from his works, and a Community Theatre production of selections from his play, "The Bank Robbers."
A slide show was narrated by area residents who had been his friends. The Vigo County Historical Society offered an Ehrmann tour featuring Terre Haute sites that were significant in his life.
Ehrmann was born in Terre Haute in 1872 and died here in 1945. Except for the years when he earned his undergraduate degree at DePauw University in nearby Greencastle, followed by two years at Harvard Law School, Ehrmann passed his days in Terre Haute.
He worked for a few years as an attorney, and then as credit manager for his family’s overall factory located on the south side of 9 1/2 Street and Wabash. At age 40, he began writing full time.
Ehrmann regarded Terre Haute as "the world in miniature," describing it as such in his poem, "Terre Haute." His vision of our community was perhaps more gracefully and succinctly presented in his prose, however, when he wrote:
"In large cities one’s views are diffused; here none escape one’s microscope. The histories of many lives I have seen unfold year after year. Here there is romance and heroism--the whole drama of human life. Here in this smoky, commercial city . . . yes, even here let me keep my eyes open, my feelings warm, my understanding keen. Let me drive out of myself the universal madness to be elsewhere in search of the joy of life, for the joy of life resides within oneself. Let me universalize my sympathies, let me understand the young man eager for money, the young poet eager for beauty, and all youth eager for love. All this here in his dear city of my birth."
Concerning Ehrmann’s artistry, the man was much more adept at expressing his philosophies through prose than in verse. Like so many aspiring poets, Ehrmann was shackled by the often ungainly poetic convention of rhyme, so much so that most of his verses seem clumsy, and contrived, thereby detracting from the ideas expressed in them.
One might even get the impression that the author’s true meaning sometimes was sacrificed and replaced by ideas less precise but which fit the poetic form more neatly.
This weakness of Ehrmann’s poetic style, however, was compensated for by the strength of his prose. Indeed, if Ehrmann had expressed his philosophies in prose only, none in verse, the man might have found a higher place in the world of belle-letters than the obscure ranking he holds today.
One has to believe, however, that Ehrmann’s obscurity would not have bothered him much. In 1922, in his journal, the author clearly stated his artistic objectives when he wrote:
"I would like, if I could, to leave to my country a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods. My life is spent in a time and among a people of commercial interest, with its attending selfishness, cruelty and ostentation.
"I would reclaim a little of the heart of man, infuse some gentleness into the stern ethics of trade, and make life the supreme art instead of acquisition.
"If, in an hour of noble elation, I could write a bit of glorified prose that would soften the stern ways of life, and bring to our fevered days some courage, dignity and poise--I should be well content."
In 1927, Max Ehrmann wrote "Desiderata," a beautiful, soul-stirring guide to wise living. The piece has become world renowned and much beloved. Probably few pieces of secular writing have been so often reproduced, framed and displayed as an ever-ready source of strength and inspiration as this one simple work.
"Desiderata" is so clearly the accomplishment of the objectives Ehrmann had outlined five years earlier that one can be fairly certain he felt pleased to have written it.
This week’s historical treasure is a framed photograph of Ehrmann along with his poem, "Evening Song." It is on display in the basement of the museum.
The historical society and the Vigo County Public Library have files of information about Ehrmann. The author’s complete papers, some 600 pieces (including correspondence with such notables as Eugene V. Debs, Jack London, Enrico Caruso, and Theodore Dreiser) are in the archives at Depauw University.
I'll stop now...I know I can get carried away. But, context always helps me understand...
Shalom!