Morning journal and courier., 1894-01-02
AHALE OLD AGE.

The Author OF ssDream Life'' and
SsReveries OF . bachelor, - HIS
Home Life 1t Edgesvood.
The New York Times says of our much
esteemsd and distinguished townsman,
Donald g. Mitchell:
even Horace would have been content
with tho home Of dear old Tx Marvel"
who wrote "Rsver1es of Bachelor" 70
long ago that II seems hardly possible that
he could now BE- living In good health and
in full possession Of his mental vigor. He
became famous before he was thirty. That
II the reason.
Edgswood, - he calls his farm of 200
acres, IL situated some three miles east of
New Haven, upon . hill several hundred
feet above that city. A high evergreen
hedge quite hides the house from the road,
but from the porch on q clear day, New
Haven IL brought so near that it seems as
IL you can almost hang your hat upon the
soldiers monument, while beyond the broad
expsnse Of the harbor, covered with sails,
place as one tired of city life dreams about
and place where dreams are born. Here
the genial, ruddy faced old man, who looks
more ike an English country gentleman
than the genuine Yankee that he is, has for
many years devoted himself to his fancies
and to agriculture. By day he has busted
himself with new fertilizers and new grains,
and by night he has written at the plain
little desk in his library. Poets, states
mon and fuanciers have visited him, and
all have sung the praises of his ideal coun-
try place."
A description is given of the home and
{ka ay1prouu6ip1a altar vhfch IL "a ram II.
ed - follows:
His seventy-two years do not prevent
him from walking in the woods every day.
He is great believer In walking. And he
should be, for 1t saved his life. When he
was young man, and his friends prophe-
sled that he would early become q victim
| to consumption, which was hereditary in
the Mitchell family, he epent two years
| tramping over Europe. In England alone
he travelled 600 miles on foot, stopping at
night at the country inns and proceeding
| speaking of this he said: II do not know
| much about the cities of England, but
know the country pretty WELL" The ordi-
| nary traveller visits only the cities. Mr..
Mitchell reversed the custom, and he was
not wholly unwise In doing 1t. These Cross.
| country tramps he has kept up, even in his
later years, walking, by days journeys Of
twenty to thirty miles, each summer to
eastern Connections, the home of his boy
hood, whose ''brooks and hills" are still
very dear to him, he says.
| In the evening, after dinner was over, he
welcomed his visitor in q chair at his eide
before the great fireplace, where the beech
logs cracked and blszed and threw ont 9
cheerful light. No brass fire dogs; plain
old-fsshionsd iron ones. No marble; plain
1 stone, blackened by the years. A fireplace
withsl to make one think. Occasionally
the host would give the logs a shaking
With his iron tongs, making the tonguei
of fame leap high up, the light chasing thu
shadows away from his face, which is q
wholesome that 1t ia feast to look upor
it, and setting off the snow-white bsari
with reddish tinge. He leaned his heai
upon his hand, shutting out the soft hgh
of his students lamp and leaving his Who'll,
countensnce to the freight and tie eye
| of his visitor. He has q nose like Rober
i n