Evening star., 1897-03-06
Miss Sarah Farmer and Her School of
Philosophy.
An INSTITUTION MAINrAINEDBY FAITH
Story of the Establishment as Told
to Pauline Pry
FOR THE FUTURE

as I proceed with my story. any part of
it ems improba too good
to be true in the experience of mere human
teings-you must remember that 1t is a
dream. still a dream. In spite of the fact
that the persons who figure in 1t are real
flesh and blood. the places actually existing
ard the events matter of history.
The dream came to me few days ago in
the person of q woman-the most beautiful
woman have ever seen. joy to the eye, an
inspiration to the mind. and benediction
upon any soul that looks into her face.
She Is superb in figure radiant with health,
vital in every line of her form and glowing
with life In the wonderful coloring of her
skin and the clearness of her eyes. But like
veil over the abundance Of physical life
she manifests. there is an atmosphere about
her which believe the grossest materialist
among you would admit to be SPIRITUAL
subtitle charm that tinctures with religion
the admiration she compels. Gushing, am
/? Well, thank heaven am not like some
women. incapable of gushing because the
OCCASION for doing happens to be an
other woman.
Then. her clothes-ah, For the first time
in my life | have seen woman'S dress as
lovely. as eternally fit, and just as littl.
bottle: to the wearer as the pristine vir-
tue that constituted Ewes sole wardrobe
before the fall. Ever since poor Eve
Il
fig leaf women have worn clothes to con-
ceal beauty or to expose ito mortify the
loneliness of their flesh with choker stays
and swaddling skirts or degrade the spirit
OF loveliness. parading in a dress half
naked. To express beauty-clothes that
define womans charm as words define
an 1dea-thats charm of dress. isn't it?
And that,very properly,is precisely the dress
OF my dream woman. Her fine figure is
clad in soft gray gown that follows the
curves of her body in unbroken lines from
throat to hem: in front, folds of white lace
that finish the neck cross and closed
on the bosom with silver pin of quaint
design, surmounting her dark hair which
parts Madonna-wse over her fine brow
she wears a cioSe-htting gray bonnet, the
sort a woman wears in mourning. and
draped over this bonnet is a gray veil
which falls like mourning veil both sides
of her face to the shoulders, not shrouding
her IN gloom. but perfecting the harmony
of her whole garb. which somehow shapes
ner TO the eye in the spirit and colors her
with the light of everlasting peace. Yer
lily. our clothes do tailorize and demoraI-
ize us. wrote Carlyle. Verify. too. my
dream woman has shown that clothes NAV
WHY ana apOtheOSiZe US.
Founded school of PhflOsOnbx
And who Is my dream-woman? That /
must tell you now. She is Miss Sarah
Farmer. the foundress of the Green Acre
School of Philosophy at Eliot, Me.
Not since Margaret Fuller has this coun-
try produced a woman Of individuality, in
terest and power equal to Sarah Farmer
and not since hun,anitys dream of bet
ter life sought realization In the Brooke
Farm community has there been any move
ment in this country that appeals to men
who are liberal in thought. earnest in pur-
pose and strong in hope as does the Green
acre School Of Philosophy.
Essentially day dream and yet a fact"
is the way Hawthorne charac terized the
romantic reality of Brooke Farm and the
words aptly define the paradox that exist
at Green Acre.
For two or three years past at rare inter-
vals, a figure has fitted across my horizon,
or an incomplete message through some
unfamiliar medium has come to me- con-
veying elusive intelligence of Paradise re-
gained in a corner of Maine about an hour
and half from Boston. l have had tantal-
lzlng, vague visions of a wonderful green
spot on the banks of a broad river, across
the waters of which the sun sets aslant
every evening and rises again every morn
ing from the fragrant deepS of pine forests
that hem in this end of-the-century Para
disc from the wicked world, even Boston
just outside. l have seen through a glass
darkly" quantity simple inn. and scatter
ed dwelling houses near questionable as
Whittier's poetry, the mere structures
somehow reverent in their architecture and
of an odd, other-worldly aspect Then
banking high and white against the dark
green background of the pines / have seen
81 tt-IL iiSiHs, lopDtu ny Il nag OF no
country, an emblem of spirit land. Il white
| flag inscribed with the word Peace" and
within the tent have seen assembled Chris
| tians. Jews. Hindoos Lazarus and Dives:
Madam Midas and the weird cantatrice who
| has sung the Song of the Shirt''-'.stitch
| stitch. stltch"-unti her breath Is well-nigh
spent: scholars from the east and the west.
| and the farmer with moist brow just come
| from ploughing in the field of the world
| outside.
Strange Mixture.
| Among all these strangely united ILL
| assorted people. 1 have heard the voice of
| truth proceeding from the mouths of wide
| ly different men, as though one only spoke
| in all. and 1 have heard sounds of music
| rising that was one with the utterance of
| the speakers. and with the whispering of
| the pines. and with the murmuring of the
waters of the river. Then. when the great
| tent was empty. l have seen here. there
| everywhere-stretched on the ground. stroll
! ing over the green grass. In and out among
the houses and the small tent-homeS that
| cluster at one point en- the rivers bank
! | have seen. most unreal of all the visions
| that have Knocked my longing soul. have
| seen men and women at rest. That above
| everything else Impossible is Green Acre
| an actual earthly abode of rest.
| And it does not cost you cent.
| That is not all
| 1, does not cost any ybcdy q cent.
! hen,e mber. l told you at the start this
| is d dream-a dream that has come true
| but still dream. If you doubt my repro
| duction of it. you may ask the truth oi
| Carroll D.. Wright. of Rev. Frank Sewan
| of Judge E. c. Robinson, of DIR. Arthur
| Mcdonald, of Edward Everett Hale, and
| scores of others you know to be reliable
| | might name, who have lectured and lived
| at Green Acre
When / asked Miss Farmer to tell me
| about her school she said she would bt
| happy to do SO. because. while everybody
| cannot come to Green Acre. on the Pts
| cataqua, every one may. by knowing how
| pre- pare a Green Acre for himself at home. '
| Continuing. Miss Farmer said Il dom
| know of any better way to broadly state
the aim and accomplishment of Green Aero
than TO tell you that it seems to be the
beginning of an answer to q prayer Rus
kin once made He prayed that the time
| would come wher mems hearts would bt
so filled with love and their minds SO filleo
with truth that in every community ther,
would be set aside a God s-acre' for the
| living as invariably We row find
| God s-acre' for the dead. That Is wha
Green Acre aims to be-a beautiful spot
consecrated to life not death: to peace ano
JOY not pain and sorrow. The idea came
| to me one day a number Of years ago as
| sat midsummer afternoon i'll q crowded
hot lecture hall in Boston listening to N,
words of a speaker who was giving IN.
l uonderful ha I'm for my heart and on