f view,
was, however, in the dark-eyed Italienne's mode of saying farewell. As
she entered her carriage--to which she had been escorted by this little
group--she took from her belt a beautiful bouquet of roses, camellias,
and violets. And as the smart coachman flicked the impatient horses with
his whip, Duse threw the girls the precious flowers. Those who caught a
camellia felt, of course, especially delighted, for it was as the Dame
aux Camellias that Duse had been winning for weeks the plaudits of
admiring Boston. My own share of the largesse consisted of a few fresh,
sweet violets, which I still have tucked away somewhere, together with
one of the great actress's photographs that bears the date of the
pleasant afternoon hour passed with her in the parlour where the
"Brothers and Sisters" met.

THE BROOK FARMERS

One of the weddings noted in our Fay House chapter was that of Sophia
Dana to George Ripley, an event which was celebrated August 22, 1827, in
the stately parlour of the Cambridge mansion, the ceremony being
performed by the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes. The time between the
date of their marriage and the year 1840, when Mr. and Mrs. Ripley
"discovered" the milk-farm in West Roxbury, which was afterward to be
developed through their efforts into the most remarkable socialistic
experiment America has ever known, represented for the young people
joined together in what is now the home of Radcliffe College some dozen
years of quiet parsonage life in Boston.

The later years of George Ripley's life held for him a series of
disappointments before which his courage and ideals never failed. When
the young student left the Harvard Divinity School, he was appointed
minister over a Unitarian parish which was gathered for him at the
corner of Pearl and Purchase Streets, Boston. Here his ministrations
went faithfully on, but inasmuch as his parishioners failed to take any
deep interest in the social questions which seemed to him of most vital
concern, he sent them, in the October of 1840, a letter of resignation,
which they duly accepted, thus leaving Ripley free to enter upon the
experiment so dear to him.

The Ripleys, as has been said, had already discovered Brook Farm, a
pleasant place, varied in contour, with pine woods close at hand, the
Charles River within easy distance, and plenty of land--whether of a
sort to produce paying crops or not they were later to learn. That
winter Ripley wrote to Emers