The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-08-20

cally he is as interesting IL subject rs the pro-
fession could ask, for he is one of the few
born with tubercles in their lungs" as
the saying is, who has completely recov
cred and enjoyed forty years of unbroken
health. The history is highly CURIOUS.
Mr.. Mitchell was II son of the famous
jurist, Stephen Mix Mitchell. and brother
of the clergyman and author, Rev. Alfred
Mitchell, and was born in Norwich, Conn,
April -, 1922. In spite of his physical
weakness he acquired an academic etuca-
ton quite early in life and was graduated
from Yale at nineteen in the somewhat
famous class of Ill He was n member of
the Alpha Delta Phi and of 'Skull and
Bones" was college editor for his class
and was selected to give the farewell class
address.
He worked three years on farmland i'm
proved in health but II little He journeyed
&c England and III n few weeks wac
warned by the phyaiciana that he must get
out o. these fogs. He started TO the Isle
of Jersey on little sailing vessel, which
was blown far ont to sea by n storm still
noted on the coast. The old Norman cap
tain afterward said it was n question
whether he should let his sole passenger
die OH board or brace him up long enough
to die on land. He braced him up, and
one of the first things Mr.. Mitchell noticed
after few days rest was that his breath
ing was perfectly free.
The trouble in his lungs was gone for
ever. For nearly week he WAS so despcr-
atcly seasick that he could not straightcn
himself, and as he humorously added, 'as
everything else came up so did the tuber-
cles." He took n long tour on foot and re-
turned home with the health of an athlete.
The results appeared in 1916 in his first
book, Fresh Gleanings or, Il New Sheaf
from the Old Fields of Continental Europc -
He studied law and did not like it, went
abroad again in 1913 and got caught in the
grand revolutionary movement of that
year, the account of his observations ap-
pearing in his 1.-THE Battle Summer" pub
lished i'll 1910. He then began The Lor-
gnette" in weekly numbers, but it soon APP
pearcd In book form.
1t was in 1850 that he published his most
popular work, "Rcveries Of n BacnelOr,"
and this was followed the next year by
dream Life" written in much the same
| strain and almost as popular. He con
tinued to write and publish for thirty
years longer, but none of his later works
| appears 10 have attracted the general reader
| as did those two.
Mr.. Mitchell has changed his style and
written many things more practical than
|
"Dream Life" He has become noted MS q
landscape gardener, and his utteranccs
thereon are authority. The park at East
Rock, n. H., was laid out and adorned by
his directions, and so were many private
| parks and grounds. He has lectured otter
| on agriculture and received the applause
| of practical farmers. He was one of tho
| judges OF industrial art at the Centennial
of 1876 and United States commissioner al
the Paris exposition of 1869. In short
there is nothing dreamy" in his business
life
| OF his home he gives this description IL
one of his works: Il have n quiet farm
house in the country, very humble place
tenanted by worthy man of the old New
England stamp, where l sometimes 20 fol-
a day or two in the winter to look over tn,
farm accounts and to see how the stock il
thriving on the winters keep. One sid,
the door, as you enter from the porch, is
little parlor, scarce l2 by 10 feet, with
cozy looking fireplace, n heavy oak floor
couple of armchairs and brown tabl,
with carved lions feet. Out of this room
opens n little cabinet, only big enough TO
broad bachelor bedstcad. where l slecl
npon feathers and wake in the mornin,
with my eye upon saucy colorcd litho
graph print of some fancy Bessie. 1t hap
pens to be the only house in the world o
which am bona fide owner''
This is the Edgewood, which leads il
the title of so many of his works May 81
1853, he married Miss Mary +. Pringlc, o
Charleston, and soon after sailed with he
to Venice, where he was American consll
for two years. In 1865 he bought the 20
acres near New Haven, and there he ha
made the beautiful Edgewood farm
| which is still his home The pretty uni
vcrsity city is but two miles away, and he
You'd lies the placid sound, on the othe
side of which rise the heights of Lon,
| Island Ard in thia ulncn snvs NJ,