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Show " JOHN BROWN'8 FARM. Kate Field's Desire to Prove That There 1m Poetle Justice In the Nineteenth Century. The mills of tha gods grind Blowly, bat they grind. The time had come to carry ont tbe dream of my girlhood, when, through Mr. Isaac H. Bailey, I appealed to the present owners of John Brown's farm to help me save it from auction. Owing to the generous response of one woman and 18 men, the farm of 240 acres was bought, a good tenant secured, se-cured, and when I visited the Adiron-dacks Adiron-dacks in 1892 our property had trebled in value. The house wa8 in good repair, and John Brown's grave was the Mecca of tourists. The subscribers to the John Brown fund were Mrs. R. C. Watterson, Boston, and Messrs. Isaao H. Bailey, John E. Williams, William H. Lee, George A Bobbins, George Cabot Ward, Henry Clews. D. Randolph Martin, Le Grand B. Cannon, Cbarle9 S. Smith, S. B. Chittenden, Isaac Sherman, Jackson S. Schnltz, Elliott C. Cowdin, Thomas Murphy, Charles C. Judson, Salem H. Wales, Sinclair Tousey and fl. B. Claf-lin, Claf-lin, all of New York city. Of our 20 subscribers nine have already al-ready joined John Brown in his march of eternity. The last to go was Jackson S. Schultz, with whom I had eerious talks about the disposition of the farm a few mouths before bis death. Sinclair Tousey, long our faithful secretary, wrote letters of warning when he felt the angel of death approaching. Both friends realized the necessity of putting this historic farm in such condition legally le-gally as to fulfill the original intention. Being the first subscriber, I had a defined de-fined idea of what I wanted. My desire was that the farm should be held as Bacred ground, to prove that even in the nineteenth century there is poetic justice. jus-tice. I wanted it to be the center of a great state park. Nature made the Adi-rondacks Adi-rondacks the sanitarium of New York no less than the storehouse of its waters. With more faith than ever in the ultimate ul-timate destiny of the north woods, I am more anxious than ever that John Brown's farm should be given to the state, to be held forever as a park for the people, every care being taken to preserve th house intact. I know that Mr. Schulti, Mr. Tousey, Mr. Chitten-! Chitten-! den and Mr. Cowdin would advocate immediate action could they speak from beyond the tomb. Mrs. Watterson has assigned to rue her interest in the property. prop-erty. Mr. liailey, Mr. Charles Stewart Smith, our secretary, Mr. Salem H. Wales and Colonel Le Grand B. Cannon cordially indorse the proposition of state ownership, the last named subscriber suggesting that a tablet be placed near the grave of John Brown to bear the names of thi purchasers of the farm and the donors ro the state of New York. Mr. Henry Clews, who as trustee holds the deed of the estate, is ready to do our bidding. I therefore ask my colleagues col-leagues or their representatives to give him the authority needed to accomplish the purpose for which John Brown 'a farm was saved from auction. Kata Field. |