The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-02
IN 1866.
An intellectual Society of Ideal
American Simplicity.

". d. Howells, in Harper's Magazine.
With life in Cambridge, as it began to
open itself TO US, we were Infinitely more
than content. This life. so refined. so in
telligent, SO gracefully simple, / do not
suppose has had anywhere else its paral-
lei. 1t was the momen before the old
American customs had been changed by
European influences among people or east
er circumstances; and in Cambridge So
ciety kept what was best of its village
traditions, and chose to keep them in the
full knowledge OF different things.
The reader will imagine how acceptable
this circumstance was TO q young literary
man beginning life with a fully mortgaged
house and a salary Of untried elasticity.
If there were distinctions made in Cam
bridge they were not against literature,
and we found ourselves in the midst of. a
charming RI ass sGcietyi hd indifferent thoTs IT. a ,PPp pinhsr
education which comes so largely by ma
ture. That is to say. in the Cambridge OF
that DAY 'and, L dare say, OF TINS, a rnind
after that came civil manners and
the willingness and ability to be agreeable
and interesting; but the question OF riches
or poverty did not enter. Even the ques-
ton of family. which is of so great con-
Germ in New England, was in allegiance.
Perhaps il was taken for granted that
every one in old Cambridge society must
be of good family, or he could not be there:
perhaps mere residence tacitly ennobled
him; certainly his acceptance was an in
formal patent OF gentility. To my mind.
the structure of society was almost ideal,
and until we have a perfectly socialized
condition of things / do not believe we shah
ever have a more perfect society. The in
stincts which governed IL were not such
as can arise from the sordid competition
of interests; they flowed from a devotion
to letters. and from a self-sacrifice in ma
terial things which L can give no better
notion of than by saying that the outlay
of the richest college magnate seemed to
be graduated TO the income of the poorest.
In those days the men whose names
have given sDlendor TO Cambridge were
still living there. / shall forget some of
raem in the alphabetical enumeration of
Louis Agassiz, Francis ]. Child, Richard
Henry Dana. jr., John Fiske, DIR. Asa
Gray, the family of the Jameses, father
and sons. Lowell, Longfeilow, Charles Eliot
Norton, DR.. John G.. Palfrey, James Pierce,
DIR. Peabody. Professor Parsons, Professor
Sophocles. The variety of talents and Of
achievements was indeed so great that Mr..
Bret Harte. when fresh from his Pacific
slope, justly said. after listening to q par
tial rehearsal of them: why you couldn't
fire a revolver from your front porch any,
where without bringing down a two-vol-
umer!' Everybody had written a book. or
on article, or a poem; or was in the process
or expectation of doing it, and doubtless
those whose names escape me will have
greater difficulty In eluding fame. These
kindly. these gifted folk each came 10 see
us and to make us at home among them;
and my home is still among them, on this
side and on that side of the line between
the living and the dead, which invisibly
passes through ali the streets of the cities
0f mon