Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-10-18


house Mr.. Dana came from the stout
hearted, rugged minded New England
stock that bred men like himself and
his journalistic father and sponsor,
Horace Greeley, also a native of New
Hampshire.
The facts of Mr. Dana's life chrono-
logically stated, show that in 1912 his
family moved to Gaines, N. Y, where
hey remained until the following year,
when they returned to New England,
making their home in GuildhalI. Vt.
In 1881 Charles was sent to Buffalo.
where an uncle lived, and in that city
he attended the preparatory schools
and fitted himself for Harvard, which
he entered in 1899.
The intellectual atmosphere of Har-
ward az that time was singularly suited
o young Dana's mind and tempera-
ment. America, which had so long
bowed to the superior claims of Eng
and in the world of letters. was filed
With mental restlessness and ambi-
ious to produce somewhat that might
lrove worthy of recognition by Gull
ured minds, not only at home. but
abroad.
The result of this, as the world
KNOWS now, was the brilliant work of
LongtelloW, Lowell, Holmes. Thoreau
and Hawthorne. The defiance of these
young men to conventional standards
which were always British and the lit
erary excellence of their workmanship
were both equally in harmony with
The disposition of the young student.
TWO years passed at Cambridge and
hen falling eyesight maze further COL
.ege work an impossibility and cam
PEELED rest for year.
Just at this juncture the "Rrooly
Farm colony, with its cooperative
labor and philosophical background
attracted the attention of the Young
man in his enforced idleness and an
pealed strongly to his Imagination.
for in his younger days Dana was an
enthusiastic idealist, and those who
knew him best found in the caustic
satire of his matured mind the lofty
scorn of one whose own idols are so
nearly perfection that he can find
naught but contempt for those who
bow the knee to baser clay.
That many developing natures had
similar warnings is evidenced by the
fact that the colony numbered first
and last about 100 among whom were
George Ripley and Hawthorne. togeth-
er with other lesser lights, both men
and women.
The story is told of Dana that so
anxious was he to enter the new com
munity in perfect accord with their
views and principles that he cast into
the Charles river all his personal eff
fects except the clothing he wore. and
went afoot to Brook farm to join his
cO-theorists Once established there
he bravely bore his part in the manual
work of the farm, and devoted a part
at least of the time to philosophic
calm and short moral essays, which
appeared in The DIAL journal pub
lished by the colonists.
But the Brook farm experiment
came to an end. Then followed trip
to Europe, and with this preparation
Charles A. Dana entered the field in
which he was to be so conspicuous a
figure.
His first journalistic venture was in
connection with George Ripley, John
S. Dwight, and others, in the establish
ment of the Harbinger, a weekly jour-
nal devoted to social reform and gen.
eral literature. In 1S47 he went on the
editorial staff of the New York Tribune,
and for several years, down to 1861,
was the managing editor of that paper.
The great question of the day at that
time was anti-slavery, and Greeley and
Continued on Fourth Page.