Early Letters of George William Curtis | Page 9

known in New England as Transcendentalism, I do not know. Probably
he may have heard Mr. Emerson lecture in New York, or he may have
read Brownson's 'Charles Elwood,' which dealt with the questions that
engaged his mind and conscience. But among the many interesting
figures at Brook Farm I recall none more sincerely absorbed than Isaac
Hecker in serious questions. The merely aesthetic aspects of its life, its
gayety and social pleasures, he regarded good-naturedly, with the air of
a spectator who tolerated rather than needed or enjoyed them. There
was nothing ascetic or severe in him, but I have often thought since that
his feeling was probably what he might have afterwards described as a
consciousness that he must be about his Father's business.
I do not remember him as especially studious. Mr. Ripley had classes in
German philosophy and metaphysics, in Kant and Spinoza, and Isaac
used to look in, as he turned wherever he thought he might find
answers to his questions. He went to hear Theodore Parker preach in
the Unitarian Church in the neighboring village of West Roxbury. He
went to Boston, about ten miles distant, to talk with Brownson, and to
Concord to see Emerson. He entered into the working life at the Farm,
but always, as it seemed to me, with the same reserve and attitude of
observation. He was the dove floating in the air, not yet finding the spot
on which his foot might rest.
The impression that I gathered from my intercourse with him, which
was boyishly intimate and affectionate, was that of all 'the apostles of
the newness,' as they were gayly called, whose counsel he sought,
Brownson was the most satisfactory to him. I thought then that this was

due to the authority of Brownson's masterful tone, the definiteness of
his views, the force of his 'understanding,' as the word was then
philosophically used in distinction from the reason. Brownson's mental
vigor and positiveness were very agreeable to a candid mind which was
speculatively adrift and experimenting, and, as it seemed to me, which
was more emotional than logical. Brownson, after his life of varied
theological and controversial activity, was drawing towards the
Catholic Church, and his virile force fascinated the more delicate and
sensitive temper of the young man, and, I have always supposed, was
the chief influence which at that time affected Hecker's views, although
he did not then enter the Catholic Church.
He was a general favorite at Brook Farm, always equable and playful,
wholly simple and frank in manner. He talked readily and easily, but
not controversially. His smile was singularly attractive and sympathetic,
and the earnestness of which I have spoken gave him an unconscious
personal dignity. His temperament was sanguine. The whole air of the
youth was that of goodness. I do not think that the impression made by
him forecast his career, or, in any degree, the leadership which he
afterwards held in his Church. But everybody who knew him at that
time must recall his charming amiability.
I think that he did not remain at Brook Farm for a whole year, and
when later he went to Belgium to study theology at the seminary of
Mons he wrote me many letters, which, I am sorry to say, have
disappeared. I remember that he labored with friendly zeal to draw me
to his Church, and at his request I read some writing of St. Alphonse of
Liguori. Gradually our correspondence declined when I was in Europe,
and was never resumed; nor do I remember seeing him again more than
once, many years ago. There was still in the clerical figure, which was
very strange to me, the old sweetness of smile and address; there was
some talk of the idyllic days, some warm words of hearty good-will,
but our interests were very different, and, parting, we went our separate
ways. For a generation we lived in the same city, yet we never met. But
I do not lose the bright recollection of Ernest the Seeker, nor forget the
frank, ardent, generous, manly youth, Isaac Hecker.
Very truly yours,
George William Curtis."
One of the teachers at Brook Farm was George P. Bradford, who left

there at about the same time Curtis did, and was then a tutor in Concord.
When the account of philosophy in Boston was left uncompleted by
Ripley, Bradford finished it for the "Memorial History of Boston."
While living in the Old Manse in Concord, Hawthorne wrote to
Margaret Fuller: "I have thought of receiving a personal friend, and a
man of delicacy, into my household, and have taken a step towards that
object. But in doing so I was influenced far less by what Mr. Bradford
is than by what he is not; or, rather, his negative qualities