When I came back a Redemptorist from Europe, I went to
see him at the _Tribune_ office. He asked me, 'Can you do all that
any Catholic priest can do?' 'Yes.' 'Then I will send for you when I
am drawing towards my end.'

"Indeed, if one could have gone to Ripley, at any time in his later
years, and said, 'You will never return again to the society of men,'
and persuaded him it was true, he would have said at once, 'Send for
Father Hecker or some other Catholic priest.' I am persuaded that the
fear of facing his friends hindered George Ripley from becoming a
Catholic. He sent for me when taken down by his last illness, but his
message was not delivered. As soon as I heard that he was ill I
hastened to his bedside, but his mind was gone and I could do nothing
for him."

And now, having given so fully such of his own impressions as remain
of the persons and places which helped to shape Father Hecker in
early manhood, we will terminate the record of this period with two
letters, one from each community, which were written him soon after
his return to New York. No words of our own could show so well the
hearty affection and implicit trust which he awakened and returned:

"Brook Farm, September 18, 1843.--MY DEAR FRIEND: I was rejoiced to
hear from you, though you wrote too short a letter. Your beautiful
fruit, enough to convert the direst sceptic to Grahamism, together
with the pearled wheat, arrived safely, although a few days too late
to be in perfectly good order. We distributed them to all and
singular, men, women, and children, who discussed them with great
interest, I assure you; many, no doubt, with silent wishes that no
good or beautiful thing might ever be wanting to you. I am glad to
learn that you are so happy in New York, that you find so much in
your own mind to compensate for the evils of a city environment, and
that your aspirations are not quenched by the sight of the huge
disorders that daily surround you. I hardly dare to think that my own
faith or hope would be strong enough to reconcile me to a return to
common society. I should pine like an imprisoned bird, and I fear I
should grow blind to the visions of loveliness and glory which the
future promises to humanity. I long for action which shall realize
the prophecies, fulfil the Apocalypse, bring the new Jerusalem down
from heaven to earth, and collect the faithful into a true and holy
brotherhood. To attain this consummation so devoutly to be wished, I