The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-10-01
SOME NEW hooks.
The Life Of nm American Jourp alist.

dition to the series OF American Men OF Let
ters," now publishing by Houghton. Miiin
Co. So far rs he was successful. Mr.. Ripley
was a journalist. for his best work took the
form of fugitive contributions to tho ncwspn-
per press yet he deserves TO he counted among
American men OF letters for in this country
outside of journalism the men are indeed few
to whom the term would be applicable. Yet al
though in the first paragraph OF this volume
the biographcr pronounccs Mr.. Ripley re-
marknbc man" and AYERS that his ideas and
purposes left broad mark upon his ogc,' he
fails to Justify or even to reitcratc this eulogy
in the course Of his narrative. 1t is manifest.
from some Of Mr.. Frothinghams subsequent
admissions. that. while tho subject Of his hi
ography was an industrious man, II useful
man. yet he could scarcely be described rs re-
markabc without hyperbole. and it would be
difficult to trace his personal mark upon the
age.
George Ripley was born in Greenfield Frank
lin County, Massachusetts,. in October. 1902.
His father Is euphoniously described by his
biogrupher as II merchant" which Of course
means that he was n country storcRecpcr
though curiously enough the extra legal nature
OF the vocation did not prevent men in small
Now England towns from discbarging, as the
elder Ripley discharged. the functions Of jus
tice of the Peace and Justice OF the Court OF Sos
SlOnS. W TN Tue propensity W INV
nnteccdents OF his subject which is observed
in bogra pliers. Mr.. rockingham is careful to
point out remote connection between Mr..
Ripley and Dir. Franklin. Tho righteousness
OF this approximation Is manifest whom we cX-
anime the precise nature Of the relationship,
bearing in mind that Franklin was. in tho
strictcst and most invidious sense, a norus
homo and that while people might be glad
enough to own him as II direct progcnitor no.
body would dream Of pluming himself on
descent from Franklin's collateral relatives.
The fact which Mr.. rockingham deems
worthy OF record il that Rpleys great
great-grandfathcr on the maternal side was
Frankin's uncle.
Mr.. Ripley was educated at tho public school
OF his native town. and at the age OF II
entered Harvard College. He seems to have
we'll prolltcd by such instruction as was given
at the time. for. in 1928. he graduated first
scholar of his class-an honor, however. which
at that time meant far less than ut present.
since what was known us department had quite
as much to do with mans place on the rank
list us scholarship. In those days it might and
often did happen that the so-called first scholar
beat another, who occupied the tenth or twen-
tieth place not because he got higher marks
for the recitations actually attended. but be-
cause he was careful never to incur deductions
that Mr.. Ripley was good boy" from the
fact that during part Of his stay in Cambridge
as student OF theology he taught in his college.
But although, up to the time when President
Eliot put an end to the absurd confounding OF
discipline with the tests of scholarship the place
of man upon his class list could not always be
taken at its face value. it OF course implied that
the student'was much above the average. and
had not wasted such opportunities rs had been
opened to him.
Mr.. Riplcy's father was Unitarian, and the
young man. after graduating at Harvard. and
spending three additional years in the Cam
bridge divinity school. was ordained pastor Of
n Unitarian society whose meeting house was
at the corner of Purchase and Pearl streets.
near GrifIln's Wharf in Boston. Mr.. Ripley
called himself we are told. child OF Chan
ning's and at the time when he undertook the
ministry perhaps he was such in the restricted
sense Of sharing Channing's essential views.
But. says the biographer. "a child of that great
spiritual prophet saver of thoughts
which expressed the spirit of his age and
stirred the souls of men on either side Of the
Atlantic Ocean-he certainly was not. He was
lacking in the gift Of thrilling speech. His
convictions did not fall glowing from his lips
His ideas. though clear. cogent. and earnestly
put forth. did no execution In short, Mr.
his resignation was accepted. and his connec-
ton with the clerical profession was then def
nitey ended.
Nearly twenty years o. Mr.. Ripley's life was
spent either in preparation for the ministry OF
in discharge Of clerical functions and Of
course he never wholly outgrew the habits
thus acquired Thus. in New York he was ac-
customed to attend religious worship long after
he would have found it difficult TO discover n
rreacherwith whose theological opinions lie was
in even approximate accord. Soon after leaving
college he had begun to read German philoso-
ply. and 1t is but simple justice to say that
throughout the greater part Of his life no con-
temporary American was more conversant with
the whole range Of German speculation. from
Kant to Schopenhauer. He early became a dis
ciple Of the intuitive philosophy called trans
cendental. whose American teachers We're Chan
ming and Emerson. The first meeting
Of the Transcendcntal Club was held
at Ripleys house in September. 1886.
A year afterward Theodore Parker was
added to the club and an intimacy grew
up between him and Ripley which contin-
ned until the formers death. Apropos OF this
fact Mr.. rockingham proceeds to draw par
alel between the two men, which seems TO us a
somewhat injudicious proceeding. Much may
be conceded to the sympathy developed in a
DoeTapueT, Dut we HaTuIy lnlHk ~ was worth
while to sacrifice one OF the most truly creative
minds to which America has given birth on the
altar OF good-natured panegyric. Mr.. Froth-
lngham tells us that one meaning Mr.. Rip
leyl was a thinker. the other meaning Theo-
dore Parker was reformer." The reader
would scarcely guess from this parallel that
Theodore Parker was superlatively distin-
guished for genuine creative thought, whereas
the utmost that can truthfully be said for Mr..
Ripley is that he was a sklliu absorber d.
gester. and eXpouuder Of other peoples ideas.
OF the Brook Farm Community. which Mr..
Ryley took a prominent part in organizing.
Mr. Rockingham tells us that 1t had no ele-
ment OF socialism in it," What the writer
means by this curious assertion must probably
be inferred from the following sentence. in which
lie says that there was about it no SAVIOR Of an
tnomianism. pessimism. or nihism. We
scarcely need say that antinomianisin. pessi.
msm. and nhilism have nothing whatever tc
do with socialism properly So called. That the
Brook Farm was an embodiment OF the prnci
pies laid down by the most authoritative teach
ers OF socialistic doctrine in France and Ger
many would be made plain by glance at some
Of tho features Of the plan upon which III,