The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-02
BEECHER.
Henry Ward ns Business Man from the
"Murk TWaino Standpoint
Tho prpopbar Ell with his


The great preacher never sleeps with his
clothes on. Once, when demonstrated with upon
the sngularity of his conduct in this respect and
the pernicious effect the example might possibly
have upon the younger members of his congre-
cation, he replied with the frank and open can
dor that has always characterized him, that he
would give worlds to be able to rid himself of
the custom-and added that the anguish he had
suffered in trying to break himself of the habit
had made him old before he was ninety. Mr..
Beecher never wears his hat at dinner. lie does
not consider it healthy. 1t does not Immediately
break down ones constitution, but is slow and
sure. He knows one case where man persisted
in the habit in spite of the tears and entreaties
OF his friends until 1t was too late, and he
reaped the due reward of his rashness-for it
carried hlm Oil at last, at the age OF hundred
and siX Had that man listened to reason he
might have lived to be comfort to his parents
and solace to their declining years
Mr. Beecher never swears. In all his life a
protane expression has never passed his lips.
But if he were to take it into his head to Try it
once, he would make even that disgusting habit
seem beautiful-he would handle it as il was
never handled BEFORE and If there was whole
some moral lesson hidden away in it anywhere,
he would ferret it out and use it with tremen-
dOus effect. Panopled with his grand endow-
ments-his Judgment his discriminating taste,
his felicity of expression, his graceful fancy
Mr. Beecher had a mind to swear, he would
throw into it an amount of poetry, and pathos
and splendid imagery, and moving eanestness,
and reslstless energy, topped off and climaXed
with gorgeous pyrotechnic contlagration of
flagree and fancy swearing that would astonish
and delight the nearer and forever after culver
through his bewildered memory an exquisite
confusion OF rainbows and music, and thunder
and lightning. man of u high order of intel
ect and appreciation could sit and listen to Mr..
Beecher swear for week without getting tired.
Mr.. Beecher is very regular in his habits. He
always goes to bed promptly between 8 and
o'clock and never uIen any account allows him
self to vary from this rule. He is Just as parti-
cular about getting up, which he does the next
a hat ty, &c Il Il.
cipline, and to this alone, he is indebted for the
rugged health he has enjoyed ever since he
adopted it.
Mr.. Beecher does not 90 around and Get ad-
yertisements for the Py1noutb Pulpit. If he
docs, it is without his knowledge or consent. If
such q report has been started, it is an absolute
duty to retute it in this article. However, no
such report has yet been heard Of and therefore
it is not necessary to do more than refute it in
purely general way at this time. Mr.. Boecher
could augment the bulk of the pamphlet to
which his sermons are attached if he chose to
go around and solicit ADVERTISING but he would
not dream of doing such thing. He had no
time for such recreation. He has to preach, and
he has to make the dedication speeches for all
sorts of things, and he is obliged to make few
remarks on nearly all distinguished occasions.
because very often Mr.. Greeley is very busy and
cannot come. And besides, he has to carry on
his farm.
Mr.. Beecher's farm consists of thirty-sX acres,
and is carried on on strict scientific principles.
He never puts in any part of crop without
consulting his book. He ploughs and reaps and
digs and sows according to the best authorities
and the authorities cost more than the other
farming implements do. AS soon as the library
is complete, the farm will begin to be profitable
investment. But book farming has its draw
backs. Upon one occasion, when it seemed
morally certain that the hay ought to be cut, the
hay book could not be found and before it was
found il was too late, and the hay all spoiled.
Mr.. Beecher raises some of the finest crops of
wheat in the country, but the unfavorable
difference between the cost of producing
it and its market value after it is produced has
interfered considerably with its success as q
commercial enterprise His special weakness is
hogs, however. He considers hogs the best
game farm produces. He buys the original
pig for dollar and half, and feeds him forty
dollars worth of corn, and then sells him for
about nine dollars This is the only crop he
ever makes any money on. He loses on the
corn, but he makes seven dollars aud half on
the hog. He does not mind this, because he
never expects to make anything on corn. And
any way it turns out, he has the excitement of
raising the hog, whether he gets the worth OF
him or not. His strawberries would be a COM
Portable success if the robins would eat tunips,
but they won't and hence the difficulty.
One of Mr.. Beechers most harassng difficult
ties in his farming operations comes OF the
plants to each other. Two years ago his far
sightedness warned him that there was going to
be great scarcity of watermelons, and therefore
he put in a crop of twenty-seyen acres OF that
fruit. But when they came up they turned out
to be pumpkins, and dead loss was the conse-
quence. Sometimes portion of his crop goes
into the ground the most promising sweet pota-
toes, and comes up the infernalest carrots
though have never heard him express it just in
| that way. When he bought his farm he found
| one egg in every hens nest on the place. He
said that here was just the reason so many farm
ers failed they scattered their forces too much;
concentration was the idea So he gathered
| those eggs together and put them all under one
| experienced old hen. The hen roasted over that
| contract night and day for eleven weeks, under
the anxious personal supervision of Mr.. Beecher
| himself but she could not phase" those eggs.
| Why? Because they were those infamous pOrce-
| lain things which are used by ingenious and
fraudulent farmers as ''nest eggs" But perhaps
| Mr.. Beechers most disastrous experience was
| the time he tried to raise an immense crop of
| dried apples. He planted fifteen hundred dol
| lars worth, but never one of them sprouted. He
| has never been able to understand, to this day,
| what was the matter with those apples.
| Mr.. Beecher's farm is not a triumph. ItwOuld
| be easier on him if he worked it on shares with
some one; but he cannot find anybody who is
willing to stand half the expense and not many
that are able. Still, persistence in any cause is
| bound to succeed. He was very inferior
farmer when he first began, but Il prolonged
| and infmching assault upon his agricultural
difficulties has had its effect at last, and he is
now fast rising from atlluence to poverty.
| MARK TWAIN.
| EXCURSIONS,