The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-10

afterwards eminent as a muslcal crltlc,
There is your accomplished trleno; ne
would hoe corn all Sunday II would
let him, but all Massachusetts could not
make him do it on Monday" Rumor
adds that Parker replied, 1T is good 10
know that he wants to hoe corn any day
in the week" The question is not now
far these details were based on fact or
were the fruit of fancy, but the Immediate
point is that they materially aided in
keeping up the spirits of the unbelieving
world outside.
TRANSCENDENTAL JOKES.
For the unbelieving world outside, 1t
must be remembered, the Trancendental
movement at least contributed some such
sunshine through the very sarcasms II
excited; as when Mrs. Russell, Father
Taylor's brilliant daughter, did not f11nch
from defining the Transcendentallsts as
"a race who drove into the lnhnlte,
scared into the illimitable and never paid
cash." or when Carlyle described Ripley,
who had called on him IN England, as
"a Socinian minister who had lett tie
pulpit to reform the world by cultivatirg
cnions." Emerson compared Brook Farm
to "a French Revolution in smalP' and
a certain meeting of the Transcendental
Club to going to heaven, in swing. ,"
All the peculiarities of Brook Farm, we
may be sure, were reported without dim
mutton in the gossip of Boston Society
even the jokes OF the young peopl made
upon themselves being taken seriously
in the world outside; as when they asked
at the dinner table rs the butter within
10 Influence
posed that pie should be cut from the
centre to the periphery" There being
more young men than young women at
first, an unusual share of household du-
ties, moreover, fell upon the stronger
sex. They helped in the laundry, brought
water from the pump, prepared vegeta-
bles in the barn. The graceful George
william Curtis trimmed lamps and the
manly and eminently practical Charles
Dana organized a band of ''griddle cake
servitors" composed of -four of the most
elegant youths of the community"
GEORGE RIPLEY.
George Ripley was the single consuln-
mate type, during that period, OF that
rarest OF combinations, the natural
scholar and the CHEEKY good fellow. Evil
dence of the former quality might be
found, had 1t only been preserved, in the
catalogue of his library sold In aid oil
the organization of Brook Farm, and uni
versally recognized as the best German
library then to be found in America;
while the best tribute to the other trait
was the universal regret said to have
been felt among his clerical brethren
at the loss of the gayest companion and
best story teller in their ranks. He Is
was who with Emerson, Hedge, and
George Putnam called together the first
meeting Of what was named in derision
Transcendental Club, as Hedge writes,
and he it was who resigned his clerical
charge in 1910, with view to applying
to some form of action the newer and
ampler views of life.
Even DR.. Claiming, then the intellectual
leader of Boston, had some conference
with Ripley as to whether it would be
possible to bring cultivated and thought
full people together and make society
that deserved the name. Mr.. Swift in
his admirable book On Brook Farm re-
minds us that there was consultation
on this subject at the house of DR.. John
c. Warren, then the leading physician
of Boston, which ended with an oyster
supper, crowned by excellent wines" I'm
doubtedly, on that occasion, Geoge Rip
ley told his best stories and laughed
his heartiest laugh. But We may be sure
that his jubilant cheeriness was no less
when he turned his back on all this and
left the feshpots of Egypt for a dinner
of herbs at Brook Farm.
If a father is able to start his son in
business with ten thousand dollars, what
business is so safe as farming? Given
a young man with thorough education,
good habits, willingness to work, and a
desire to make himself useful, where can
he fare better than on farm? He can
apply his brains to the enriching of the
soil, to the Investigation of his crops,
and to the Improvement of his stock, and
at the same time give reasonable indul
gence to his taste for reading and study.
He will have all that contributes to
health of body, vigor of mind and to cul-
tivation of the heart. What occupation
or profession can offer him richer re-
wards? This is really the text of William
jennings Bryan's article on Farming
as Profession for the young man in the
January Cosmopolitan
There are two James Lane Aliens. One
is the author of ''The Choir Invisible, -
and the other is his cousin, a Chicago
real estate dealer. The other day it was
announced that James Lane Allen had
made $2,000,00O In a Texas oil land deal,
and the author began to receive congratu-
lations. Previous to that time the land
agent had read and laughed over sun
dry criticisms of ''his' book. 1t was the
real estate Allen who made the lucky
strike in oil, but the author Allen says