The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-10

Esopus. He manages the three and
makes them, on the whole, pay. He Is
no dilettante stranger to the country
playing with agriculture as with toy,
but real farmer who directs the work,
superintends the blowing and, in harv-
est time, goes out in his shirt sleeves
to work with his men in the hay and
sorghum.
careful estimate of Judge Parker's
wealth places the value of his possess
sions at about $50 000 This property
he has acquired mostly by saving and
good business judgment. His farm at
Cortland came to him from his farmer
father. He was born on it, and worked
| along its burrows as a boy.
1t is on the farm at Esopus that
Judge Parker's personality has full
swing. There he writes his most i'm
portant judicial opinions. There, too,
he works in his fields, prunes his trees
and cares for his thirty registered red
poll cattle, his full blooded Poland
China pigs and fine flock of Shropshire
sheep.
Rosemont, for so the farm is called,
is beautiful place, all up and down
hill fronting the Hudson and extending
on either side of the rocky road that
sprawls in from the village of Esopus.
Across the great river is seen one of
the new Vanderbilt houses. In the
other direction are the lovely wooded
mountains leading toward the Cats
kills.
Judge Parker's wife was Miss
Shoemaker of Accord. a woman of
rare refinement and good Dutch Revo-
lutionary blood Their daughter mar
ried the Rev. Charles NJ Hale, rector
of an Episcopal church at Kingston,
which is within easy driving distance
of Esopus. The judges son died two
years ago.
Judge Parker's Home Life.
The judges house is a modest but
comfortable wooden structure, stand
ing on the stone founda tions of a
Dutch house of colonial times. 1t is
set on the side of a hill among shade
trees and fronts the river. 1t is the
abode of hospitality and refinement,
the typical home of an American gem
tleman. The pictures, the books, the
furniture, the wide hall and glowing
fireplace, the sunny library and the din
ingroom, with it's long mahogany ta-
BILE, all show evidences of intelligent
tastes that were not developed in one
generation.
None of his eight farm hands knows
half as much as the judge about the
trees, the crops, the cattle, sheep, pigs,
chickens, turkeys or ducks Whether
in the peach or apple orchard, in the
cow pasture, barn or sty, he is the
master of all in knowledge, as we'll as
in energy. He will ply his pitchfork
or put his shoulder under a heavy load
with the best of them, and it is a good
man who can keep up with him. He
is modest enough, save when he stands
among his great red poll cattle. the
pride of his heart. Then he swells with
conscious comradeship, for they are
like him-big, strong and genuine.
There is no finer sight in that part of
the country than Judge Parker in the
middle of his herd, calling to his great
bulls and laughing as they come to him.
There is a tall silo and a cold-storage
house, built on the judges plans. In
the storage house are apples, pears,
cider and all manner of good things to
eat, mostly the products of Rosemont
Thrift, orderliness and energetic man
agement are everywhere in evidence.
The Judge at Church.
Judge Parker drives his family to his
son-in-law's church. at Kingston,
every Sunday. and sings HEARTILY, so
that strangers in the congregation are
apt to turn their heads. Nor does he
forget to have his domestic servants,
who are Roman Catholics, driven to
their own church regularly.
The Judge is a vestryman in the
Kingston church. and, although a man
| of very moderate means, he is prob
ably the wealthiest man in the con-
gregation. He is the practical pillar
of the church and takes an active in
terest in its charities, its cooking and
sewing and dancing schools, its physi-
cal culture class and it's basketball
games for boys. He is also a coll
tributor to the funds of the local or
phan asylum. and is one of the man
ayers of the Kingston City Hospital.
His daughter, Mrs. Hale, is an ac-
complished musician and used to sing
in a choir at Kingston. The Judge
took her to Germany to study music,
but Mrs. Parker's health failed sud-
denly and her daughter insisted on
returning to the United States. Mrs.
Hale plays the piano for her father
and he occasionally sings. His must
cal tastes are very simple and classical
compositions are apt to bore him.
The Judges neighhorly usefulness is
to be seen on all sides. He is even
the freight agent of a steamboat COM
pany, so that the little private dock
on his farm may be used for the con-
! venience of the community. and there
the fastest steamboats, of the Hudson