, 1884-06-26
Something About the Habits
Of the Brooklyn Divine.
Mark Twain in Pure and
Simple Language
Tells About the Great Preach,
er's Many Peculiarities.
From the Buffalo. N. Y. Express.

clothes on. Once, when demonstrated
with upon the singularity of his conduct
in this respect, and the pernicious effect
the example might have upon the younger
members of his congregation, he replied
with the frank aud open candor hat al
ways characterized him, that he would
give worlds to rid himself of the custom
and added hat the anguish he had suE-
fered in trying to break himself of the
habit had made him old before he was 90
MIR. Beechcr never wears his hat at din
ner. He does not consider it healthy, 1t
does not Immediately break down ones
constitution, but is slow and sure. He
knows one case where the nun listed
in the habit, in spite of the tears and en-
treaties of his friends, until it was too late,
and he reaped the due reward of his rash
ness-ior it carried him off at last, at the
age of LOG. Had the man listened to
reason, he might have lived to be a COM
fort to his parents and a solace to their
declining years.
Mr.. Beecher never swears. In all his
Life Il proiane expression has never passed
his lips. But if he were to take it into
his head to try it once, he wouli make
even that disgusting habit seem beautiful
he would han lie it as it never was
handled before, and if there was a whole
some moral lesson hidden away in it any
where he would ferret it out and use it
with tremendous effect. Panoplied with
his grand enlowments-his Judgment,
his discriminating taste, his felicity of ex-
pressions, his graceful fancy-if Mr..
Beecher had a mind to swear he could
throw into it an amount of poetry and
pathos, andsplendid imagery, and moving
earnestness and resistless energy, topped
on and climaxed with agorgeous pyrotech-
mic contlagration and fligree and fancy
swearing that would astonish and delight
the nearer, and forever after culver
through his bewillered memory an ex-
quisite confusion of rainbows and music,
and thunder and lightning. A man Of
high order of intellect and appreciation
could sit and listen to Mr.. Beecher swear
for Il week without getting tired.
Mr.. Beecher is very regular in his hab-
its. He always goes to bed promptly be-
tween 9 and 3 O'Clock, and never upon
any account allows himself to vary from
this rule. He is just as particular about
getting up, which he does the next day,
generally. He considers that to this dis
ciplinc, and to this alone he is indebted
for the rugged health he has enjoyed ever
since he adopted it.
Mr.. Beecher does not go around and
get advertisements for the Plymouth
Pulpit If he does it, it is without his
knowledge or consent. If such a report
has been started it is an absolute duty to
reiute 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 a purely general way at
this time. Mr.. Beecher could augment
the bulk of the pamphlet to which his
sermons are attached if he chose to 90
around and solicit such a thing. He has
to preach, and he has to make dedication
speeches for all sorts of things, and he is
obliged to make a few remarks on all dis.
flguished o ca ioIs be ause very often
Mr.. Greeley is busy and cannot come.
And besides, he has to carry on his farm.
Mr.. Beecher's farm consists Of thirty
SIX acres, and is carried On on strict
scientific principles. He never puts in
any part of a crop without consulting his
book. He Lloughs, and reaps, and digs
and sows according to the best authorize
and the authorities cost more than the
other farming implements do. As soon
as the library is complete the farm will
begin to be 4 profitable investment. But
book farming has its drawbacks. 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 it was too late and
the hay was spoiled. Mr., Beechel
raises some of the finest crops of wheat il
the country, but the unfavorable differ
ence between the cost of producing it anc
It's market value after it is produced ha.
interfered considerably with its success a
a commercial enterprise. His specia
weakness is hogs, however. He consider
hogs the best stock a farm produces. HI
buys the original pig for S .5O and feed
him $40 worth Of corn and then sells hin
for about 80. This is the only crop h
ever makes any money on. He loses Of
the corn, but he makes S7.5 on the hog
He does not mind this, because he neve
expects to make anything on corn anyway
And any way it turns out, he had tn
excitement Of raising the hog, anyway
whether he gets the worth of him or moi
His Strawberries would be n comfortabl
success if the robins would eat turnips
but they wont, md hence the difficulty
One of Mr.. Bcecher's most horrlssin.
difficulties in his farming operations come
of the close resemblance of different sort
of seeds and plants TO each other. Tw
years ago his far sightedness warned hin
that there was going to be a great %scarcit
Of watermclons. and therefore lie put in
crop of twcnty-sevcn acres Of that frui,
But when they came up they turned on