for about three minutes i got really excited , like i was close to a breakthrough , and then two things became apparent : first , that ralph waldo emerson had lived and died in the 1800s and therefore could not have written any letters dated september third , 1940 , and , second , that his writing was so dense and arcane that it could n't possibly have held the slightest interest for my grandfather , who was n't exactly an avid reader .