Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-08-21
CONCORD PHILOSOPHY.
\ pRAueHT FROM THE SOURCE
or; THE PIERlAN SPRING.
a Philosophic Tea--Lecturers Who Fight
Shy of Their subjects-Peculiar Results
of Boston CuIture-Old Hobby Riders
Aired-Dante and His Beatrice.
Special correspondence.l

of Boston CuIture-Old Hobby Riders
A~ired-Dante and His Beatrice.
Especial correspondence
NEW YORK, Aug. 16.-Not long since I
burned eastward in search of light, l shall
never forget the first night l reached Con.
cord, Mass. / arrived about 6 in the even
ing, and was just congratulating myself upon
detecting in the hall of my boarding house the
aroma of delicately cooked viands, when 1
was summoned to "tea." My heart nearly
failed me at the ominous word; but so sharp
set was my appetite that it was impossible to
blot out faith that something must come to
appease my hunger. l descended, crossed the
threshold of the dining room, and there lay
the board before me. Covered with spotless
linen it certainly wns, hut on the linen stood
only n teapot, bread and butter, blueberries
round, dark, hard and deiiant-ana some
slices of pale cake.
A New England tea is enough to draw
teers from n stone But this was the land of
philosophy; here indeed was simple living,
however it might be as to high thinking. My
dropping spirits were not elated by the infor-
nation that breakfast was served Mt 6:3o a. m.
dinner at noon, and tea at 5 80 p. m. Thirteen
mortal hours to digest those blueberriesl /
understood the origin of transcendentaEsm.
! was already a disciple for mysticism, and
started Immediately to walk to Hillside
chapel where the School of Philosophy was
held.
1t was a pretty path l took under grand
elms, past the Emerson home, along one of
the principal streets of Concord. Thu chapel
is an Imprinted, rough, board building, vine
clad, and nestled on a grassy slope in an
orchard adjoining the old Alcott house.
J 1t is a decidedly close little place when the
sun shines with full summer heat, and the
roof has a way of letting the rain dribble
down ph~iIosophic necks; but we were seekers
after the higher way, so, of course, did not
notice the small Universities of this mundane
sphere.
For those disinclined to make their pilgrim
ages to Mecca on foot, there are huge omni-
buses running to and fro. These vehicles are,
of course, not named omnibuses. A spade is
not called u spade at Hillside chapel. The
conveyance for the mystics is a "barge." 1t
was in one of these that | first saw Miss Pea
body. Her hair hung, once upon a time, no
doubt, in ringlets either side her. face, but
years had made havoc of the curls, and now
straight locks struggled unkempt to the shout
deIs. With mantle hanging off this side, kerr
chief off that; with brooch and shawl pin
! askew, with well-inked digits. with one black
| cotton glove depending q good inch beyond
the fingers of the left hand, with bonnet hang
| ing by sleazy strings from the back of her
| head, with mystic u~tterance sat Elizabeth
| Peabody
When one thinks of the noble work she has
| done for education one feels. in spite of her
| appearance, a certain tenderness and gratitude
for the gentle lady bending under her weight
| of fourscorc years. She has made our paths
| easier, let us not make hers rough.
E - r. rrMt a,
| behind her came q little girl of some nine
summer nursing a big dol. This infont
| disciple was accompanied by her mamma
| Then Mrs. Cheney. the lecturer of the EVEN
inp made her appearance. Miss Peabody
rose from her arm chair on the platform. nd
| RANGED to Mrs. Cheney and saluted her with
| a transcendental kiss and ere,,race. II was
sweet to see the affections Irish on the
| platform. Before the lecture there was
one last thing necessary. Miss Peabody
must be supplied with a tumfler of water
Now all is ready and Mrs. Cheney begins to
discourse on ssDante and Michael Angelo. u
| Soon the infant philosopber tl,e owner Of
| the doll. succ,mbs to sleep. Miss Peabody,s
| bedtime is also ap~parently passed. her ewes
are light shut and head nodding. How hui
man ii is to start up and in manner affirm
that we have been wide awake all the time.
BuS after acting this mild form of deceit sew
eral times. catastrophe overlook the ancient
philosopher. Miss Peabody gave one big
nod. aud head and lumber went simulta-
I neously down into her lap. Anxious. devoted
maidens rushed to her assistance. and IN the
twinkling of an eye the lap was bailed out and
Miss Peabody righted; and again she was
silently protesting that she had only intended
to make deep obeisance to the golden truths
Spoken, and to offer up libations of water
Hamlet would have agreed with me. that all
things in heaven and earth ara dreamed of in
this philosophy.
As / attended the school from day to day.
it seemed to me that not more thano one or two
l~ecturers were at all deeply versed in their
subject. 1t is possible, perhaps, on a founda-
ton of those New England aualities-faculty
and general smartness-to build up a passably
good exposition OF social questions in our own
times; but to discuss an Italian poet of a by-
gone century requires scholarship. Most of
the disduisitions ON Dante were mere aca-
demic essays, not worth, to a real student, the
time consumed in listening to them. One
feeble effort was merely a chaotic mass OF
quotations from various books on the poet.
and most of these from a critic considered
by the scholarly of absolutely no worth.
And such was the public criticism
| made by the only Dante authority
present, Professor Thomas Davidson
| Some of the lecturers began with
excuses for lack of preparation, notably one