Excerpt from Representative Phi Beta Kappa Orations To the Committee named below, therefore, the United Chap ters has entrusted the task of selecting these orations and of see ing the volume through the press. The Committee has found it by no means easy to make a selection; doubtless several more volumes as good as this could be made. The Committee hopes that the reception accorded this volume may be so favorable as to make possible the publication of a second series of orations, and perhaps a volume of poems. The frontispiece is from a crayon portrait of Emerson, about 1846, by either Hildreth or Johnston, and first appeared in Vol ume V of Emerson's Journals. It is here reproduced by the kind permission of the owners of the copyright. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.