The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1874-08-06
The Home OF Mr.. Beecher.

A brown-stone, three story house
At l24 Columbia Heights, only three
blocks from Plymouth Church, is
Mr.. Beecher's residence. He has
owned it and lived there for many
years. 1t is one of the row of nearly
like structures, and the property in
the neighborhood is very valuable.
The s'Heights' is the Murray Hill oi
Brooklyn, and Mr.. Beecher's place is
Just within the limits of the district
covered by that designation. The
door has . plate inscribed "H. w.
Beecher." just inside the hall
stands an old fashioned hat rack with
. mirror in it. Along the wall of the
stairway leading to the second floor
hang many framed engravings. The
parlor opens off the hall, and the door
is always open. Looking in, one
sees an apartment which has no
counterpart as to odd variety Of con-
tents. It is long and wide, and old
style in finish. The walls are di-
vided into panels by projecting posts
and by wooden ledge that runs
entirely around the room about four
feet from the floor. Bunches and
festoons of autumn leaves are hung
plentifully about, and there are
enough pictures, from oil paintings
to cheap ferrotypes, to leave but lit
tie of the walls uncovered. The
furniture is chaos Of styles. A sofa
is high-backed and mushy- bottomed,
merging into the softness Of second
childhood. A concert grand piano
is new and shiny. A nondescript
cabinet, huge and time-worn, is in
corner. A contrasting new book
case is full Of fresh, gilt backed vol
umes. Two yellowed geographical
globes, on high pedestals, stand like
sentinels at the corners Of the fire.
place. A table is covered with =
brown woolen spread. Everything
is Uttered with big and little orna-
mental articles, rs though the tokens
of all the Beechers' birthdays and
Christmasses were there preserved
Handsome bronzes, plaster figures,
china articles, countless things inn
possible to describe as to material or
intent, are on the cabinet, and on
carved brackets. Lacking any sem
blance Of method or taste in it's fur
niture, the apartment gains in an air
Of careless comfort.
Back of the parlor and connected
by wide doors is Mr.. Beecher's
study. Sitting at one of the large
windows, one can look down upon
the harbor, upon New York city, or
over into Jersey City and Hoboken.
The view is one Of busy life and
commerce spread out like diorama.
A large flat-topped writing desk,
with many drawers, stands in the
middle Of the room. Paintings
better than any in the parlor-hang
on the parts of the wall that are not
covered by book-shelves. Camp
chairs and a lounge furnish ample
seating capacity for visitors. A
stuffed easy chair provides for the
owner.
The late occurrences have changed
Mr.. Beecher's home habi's. Former
~, when not away from his farm, his
hours for visitors were from 2 to 4
every afternoon, and he saw every
body who called. The odd parlor
was his reception room, and at 2
o'clock it usually held not less than
half dozen visitors. To everybody,
high or low, he was courteous and
unstilted. His manner was oH-hand
and undigni6ed. "How are you, old
fellow?" was his usual salutation to
acauaintances. His study was the
for Plymouth's leaders,
and many of the Brooklyn clergymen
were frequent loungers there. In
deed, that floor Of the house was
much like the Offices Of business
man, the family occupying the two
more secluded upper stories.-Ne,o
York San.