The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-03
7

The author Is we'll situated To write
such a village history. For half a CEN
fury in, he has never in Atty years
been able 10 become OF. Undertook. II
Is in these remote settlements that VII
lage nationality Is at its strongest. There
have been Dutch Golfers even in Kin
derhook. but this dominic was OF New
England. he cites his ancestors snugly
laid on Burial Ilill in Plymouth. Shortly
before he was called 10 the Dutch Re-
formed pastora;e another New Eng
lander was brought into the village as
schoolmaSter and sought TO exact re-
pairs to make snug the house Which he
was about to rent; he was met by the
response from his landlord that "a
house good enough for the Van Week
family ought TO he good enough for
a Yankee sChoolmaster" II recalls the
fine scorn which James Fenimore
Cooper expressed for the natives OF Con-
necticut. Mellowed through half cep-
fury, this little shred os alOofness re-
moved the dominic from the entangie-
ment OF small village jealous;es--he was
always a bit Of a foreigner and on that
account could always extend and re-
ceive more cordial treatment than one
of the soil. II has given him as an out
lander a little better perspective in this
always delightful record Of charming
but stagnant community.
DR.. Collier was called TO this pas
torate in 1854 in succession to the Rev.
y. Romeyn Berry, who entered upon a
larger career Of usefulness in the Pres
byterlan church IN Montclair and OBJ
! tanned al least a suburban reputation
/ for exceeding saintlness OF thought
combined with an austerity OF doc
tr!ne. DR.. Golfers pastorate endured
: for forty-three years until 1907 and
since that time he has been held in
\honor as pastor emeritus. He has in
! this volume abnegated the personal
| from the record almost the sole word
which he has to give us Of his ministry
| is the note that in fifty years he has
conducted the las services at nearly
! 500 graves OF citizens of Undertook
\ stranger IN a land and at n time
when local distinctions were character
| istic and only slowly Yielding TO the
attritiOn OF intercOmmunlcdtion with
an outside word. the new minister set
| himself 10 learn the manners of hts
people az based in their inheritance OF
custom in their history Of a few inter-
marrying families. How we'll he has
learned the lesson, how much better
he has learned it than any person born
To the community could do is amply sci
forth IN these pages.
Village history is rare product in
our literature. Pride OF race has de-
veloped more or less considerable
library Of documentary history OF
families. and in the earlier and less
locomobile years OF our national life
3 to ri,
for local histories. In the most recent
period we have a still more consld.
erable library. OF so-called place his.
tories. but these are Almost wholly mer,
cenary. the product OF greed and the
monument Of self seeking. or tn,
broader type between these limits W,
have in this country few specimens Of
that place history which means so
much in the record OF the communities
OF Great Britain and OF certain parts
OF the Continent. There Is room fo
more work OF This careful type, ant
this story OF Undertook may well
serve as an example OF one OF III.
ways in which such history is to b,
written. DR. Collier has received III,
inspiration OF the somewhat allen com
munty to which he was called M tn,
beginning OF his professional life. Their
was no item which he could accep, al
would native through the lndo!enc,
OF familiar custom, ,he thought which
he had TO bestow upon tho new matte
} or the unfamiliar manner brought /
about that In all things he discovere,
the. humanity OF the folk to whom h
was ministering, II Is this communt!
> OF humanity which is the most sue
cessful element in his work. Let IL no
be imagined that in this history he 4