Show THE HERMIT OF MEREDITH on the return from the new ne hampshire yearly meeting five brethren of us made a short call on mr plummer who has long borne the title of the bermit hermit of Me He ledith iedith found him quietly seated in his hia little hut which is central in a small field enclosure and near to which is another little outbuilding and barn tb s little homestead and field being environed OH on all sides by a pretty dense growth of 0 forest and situated from rom the road we were w ere traveling some eighty ora or a hundred rods mr plummer received us without any special show of cordiality but invited us to walk in and see him a d be te then aho tho k hands bands with us al a 1 we put several questions to him 1 which usually he tie answered very readily to the inquiry if he woud tell ua is hla hia age he be answered 1 I was born the ath hour hou of the day ot of october in 1774 which IE it correct will make maka him now 87 years 9 months to the question how langbe long iong be hod lived here alone be answered 1 I have been ia in this place between thirty two and thirty three years and our impression ia is that he tie had previously possessed another hermitage for several years reports saya that mr P was led to the hermit life on account of disappointed 10 love iove ve oril only onis just think of it lil ill I 1 for a third of a century had this octo octogenarian anarian lived on here boita bolta solitary ry and alone agile while slowly the e multitudes of da days s and nights with ail the r aches and sadness have passed over his bis head still as these moons of thirty three ears yeats eais have waxed and waned these summers and winters with their thi tander inder showers and their shrieking snow storms have rolled on their constant succession by lay day and night all this time the outside world has bustled and anil min mingled led laughed toe her and mourned in company but our te ermit hermit friend has sat his sol tary hours alone and alone met the changes of his singular earthly sojourn the hermit tod us that for much of the last five years his health had bad been po r that sometimes he thought he wished his course was ended he ile reads familiar chapters in the abble B ble bie without much difficulty had read two or three that day never uses glasses arid aid ard says he cannot read the fine printon the newspapers students from new hampton occasionally casio nally take a pe destri n trip to see and converse with the old man min and the travel r oten olten turns aside to see this freak of humanity but we think that the n s are probably not very neighborly as indeed he does not care to have them ahem mr plummer we are told owns much of the immediate wc that surround his hig hi hut 1 and is p worth f ur thon thousand sand dt dillard del dil nari bari but refuses to make any will ve V e judge be he lives poor and very hermit like and the conclusion of our party as we left the premises was that we could not covet an eternity of such existence as the hermit of mere alere lith was enduring Withal with all ail lits its faults and injustice man with ith man we infinitely prefer to live it in I 1 the w world orld orid than outside it in this way man is made for society any man or any lab taB association of men who adopts the hermit but hut but or cloister mis apprehends bib bia owa own constitution ution and gods goda will we are sent into the world as into a vineyard to work for the weal of each other to bless our fellow men enjoy society and thus glorify our maker P S B |