The Arkansaw traveler., 1882-12-31
fFsr As ArkexAs1 Trszeisy. GEORGE RIPLEY.
N R. R VI.

The recently published lfe of Georxe Ripley, by his hfe-long friend and eaTly e0npznion, Buckingham. is book wor- thy Of more than passing notice An zf- kcnonate and delicate tribute to the ge- niss of man who did much for journal isA and literature and who left deep impress upon the age in which he Eveo. ii restores and places before us the life of one whom fate prevented flom as,erins his souls deepess convictions, one wAo in many ways was truly great and who did for American thought and literature a ~ork which none osher could have done brt he: and which having been doae eonscientiously and wen voa for him a name of which any man nigh, well be proud and which IS destined never 10 grow dm.
 The offspring of one of those sturdy cd Puritan families, which have done so much for 1e formation cf the thought and character of our nxtioE and which have furnished us so many great men. George Ripley was born q, Green6eld. Mass. pretty lttie village n the Con- necicut valley Tn October. I8oa. From hfs mother. woman of remarkable thought and feeling, he inherited many oi the traits of hear, and mind which dis nngui<hed him and his accomplished sis .e. in after years. His early school-days were spent at the public schools of Green ked and Hadley. where he fitted for col lcge, his father like many others having determined that his son should have the best education his marrow means could afcrd. Young Ripley entered Harvard 1rff ia-A tAl the head of class which contained a score ofyoung men, distinguished in after years n the varIous walks oflife. During hls long college vacations. anxious to do wha, he could for himself young Ripley. following the prevailing custom of that day. helped to replcnish his fathers soanty purse, on which he was drawing so heavily, by teaching school While yet but boy he had decided 10 enter the Unitarian ministry and so after leaving college he entered upon course of the eiogicai study al the completion of which be was ordained the pastor of small Uni- tArian church in Boston. Soon after his ordination he married young lady in every way fitted to be his wife and who for over thirty years vas 2 loving and helpful companion. When Mr. Ripley esseTed the ministry, Cnita<ian:sm xas a ~eEd far narrower and with a different meaning than k pos sesses to-day. But soon afteT his ordination the spirit of inquiry and study was awakened which has changed tenets ot that denomination to the most liberal of chrstian beliefs. The young pastor was fully abreas, with thls spirit Of advance nent and took prominent par in all He theological controversies that were then excited. His famous Pamphlet, written to feiu,e the uUerances of Andrews Norton is familiar to every student Of American theology Mir. Ripley was a constant student and mined deep into the rich helds of German theology. He had collected a choice It. bray and was thoroughly conversant with all the ancient and modern schools of theological and philosophical thou ght. Among his mos, intimate friends he num- bered William Ellery Channing, the greatest of preachers Ralph Waldo Elm erson, the Plato of American thought, who had Jeff the ministry to become in another way the teacher of ali mankind; and above all others Theodore Parker, ,sat great student, magic preacher and fery refogmer, whose advanced lines of thought turned him out of nearly all the Unitarian churches in Boston. As the years went by George Ripley found his views slowly but surely changing his ideas of the GodheAd became more broad and liberal he became the opponent alike of sects and creeds ; and moreover he developed into an ardent believer m transcendentalism, which notwithstanding the way m which it has often been pre- seated to the world and the frequent short comings of it's disciples. is one of the srandest, puress and most eievasing be- i'efs that was ever given to man. At last the preacher became so advanced m his ideas tha, he deemed it best 10 resign his charge and abandon the ministry but such a step was not Tesorted to without mature delib- eraron. For nearly fifteen years he had rninistered to a people who had become endeared to him by the days of Joy and of sorrow, of suffering and of death which they had spent together and who now so,rowfully watched his departure. Bu, the pleadinxs of conscience ~ere too strong no, to be obeyed, and so in iS4I he resigned his charge and Jeff the minis try. He had entered it a thoughtful, ear nest man deeply in love with has calling and fully alive to it's highes, and noblest demands; the flight Of years only served to broaden and strengthen the traits of character that had chAracterized him from the first, and it was but natural se- qrence that he should leave the ministry, an earnest, sanguinary worker for social reform Such he was in 1891, and such, though he lived to zee some of his bright est hopes hl and the sweetest promises turns into ashes, he continued until deash. He threw of his clerical robes to engage in an el3ors for reform, which. though k met with speedy hilure, became famous the world over end made i:s author known to the lovers Of truth and progress m all lands
 George Ripley vas, sbsve all oeAen, the founder of Brook Fam. In his mind the idea osieinased and through his la- DOTS it became a reahfy. We of the present day can see why such Qnixneic Il n L. 2~2 -a