TOWARD the end of 1838 the tormented physician found a solution to his problem. He took his clue from Alexander Campbell, who had always run a prosperous farm in connection with his other enterprises. Indeed, it was the Campbell farm that financed many of his ventures, both journalistic and educational. So Robert Richardson also bought a farm.

      Since his visit at Ravens Vale twelve years before, a love for the country and farming had possessed him. His association with Campbell had deepened these attachments. And now, he could indulge his longings on his own account.

      The farm he purchased was small--nothing like the thousands of acres held by Campbell In fact, it was only a little over sixty-seven acres, nestling in the slight depression of a hatlike hill, looking down upon Bethany from across the Buffalo. It was reached by road past Point Breeze on the Bethany-Wheeling turnpike, two miles away from the village. The farm itself was situated back from the road, out of sight from the highway. The depression which formed this farm was exactly the shape of an outdoor amphitheater. Upon the stage of the amphitheater stood a six-room log cabin. Back of the cabin, the stage fell away into a tangled, wooded hillside which tumbled down several hundred feet to the creek. The eye which looked out across this stage to the scenic hills beyond saw no other human habitation and could [89] be seen from none. The farm was truly an "Arcadian retreat."

      Walking from the house up to the ridge to the right, which formed the north wing of the amphitheater, Richardson could look down, across the winding Buffalo, to the village of Bethany and the hills which rose by stages beyond it. The view was clear, and beautiful to the point of enchantment. Such a place could have only one name, for it was "nigh unto Bethany." He would call it "Bethphage." The deed shows that Dr. Richardson bought this farm from Moses and March A. Hedges on March 30, 1839, for the sum of $2,234.17. Of this amount, he was able to raise all but $1,000 in cash. This $1,000 he obtained from Alexander Campbell on a mortgage, to be retired, at regular interest, in four installments, beginning April 1, 1841, and concluding April 1, 1844.

      The Richardson family moved into Bethphage immediately, and the doctor fell to work at once, transforming the farm into an orderly pattern. Robert's father, Nathaniel Richardson, came out from Pittsburgh to superintend the planning of the yard and gardens. This he did in the English style. With its summer house, its rose bower, its shrubs and perennial flowers, this garden would shortly become a wilderness of beauty, attracting visitors from afar.

      About the farm, the doctor saw to it that stone walls were built to serve as retainers for roads and building approaches. One of these was at the spring, just fifty feet north of the house, and served as a means of holding the bank in place. This spring poured forth an abundant stream of cold, pure water. About it the doctor-farmer [90] built a stone springhouse, with basin and milk trough. He planned the second floor of this building as a shop to house the smaller farm tools.

      In time, a weeping willow tree grew by this springhouse. One day early in their life at Bethphage, Rebekah, returning from a horseback ride, took the willow branch which she had been using for a riding whip and thrust it into the ground near the spring. In later years it grew into a weeping willow tree of such giant size that its fame attracted many visitors on its own account.

      By this same spring the doctor planted some English water cress, which he greatly enjoyed in a salad. Gradually, the water cress spread, finally finding its way along a rill all the way dawn to Buffalo Creek. Thence it trailed along the banks for twenty-six miles to the Ohio River, where it spread for several miles downstream.

      The doctor built a bank barn on the farm. The first one of its sort in this vicinity, it was equipped with box stalls for the horses and calves and stanchions for the cows, all located in the basement; wheat and oat bins were installed on the first floor, with the second floor serving as a haymow.

      Busily he superintended the transforming of a commonplace farm into a garden spot. Orange hedges were planted to fence the fields. In the garden, near the house, berry bushes of all kinds were planted. He started an orchard with pears, cherries, plums, and apples of many varieties: Early Harvest, Rambo, Maiden's Blush, Vandevers, Rhode Island Greening, Yellow Belle Flere, and Winesap! Currant bushes and grapevines were also planted. [91]

      In the vegetable garden he raised cabbages, Irish and sweet potatoes, celery, lima beans, and string beans. The doctor believed that proper eating had much to do with health. He taught his family, whose nourishment was to come almost exclusively from this farm, that soil, atmosphere, water, and light are man's great physical friends.

      Richardson also saw to it that his farm was well stocked with domestic animals: riding and farm horses, cows, pigs, and sheep. The first summer, he bought hogs: a sow for $6.00, another sow for $10, and a sow and pigs for $6.00. The following year, he bought a cow and a calf for $13 and ten lambs at $1.50 each. By 1846 he had 104 sheep and thirty-eight lambs, and that year his wool crop amounted to 311 pounds. He valued sheep not only because of the mutton and wool which they provided, but also because they were the "avowed enemies" of weeds and underbrush. He could never tolerate a dock or a thistle on the place. When he came across one on his way into or out of the farm, it was his habit to dismount from his horse and pull up the dock or cut out the thistle and carry the weed into the house to burn it in the fireplace.

      There was a place for poultry, too. He selected chickens and turkeys of pure breeds but left their care to Rebekah and his hired help. He himself could not endure the cackling of hens! To him it was a most hideous noise.

      When he planted his crops it was only after making a chemical analysis of, the soil. He studied farm journals and books to find out which crops were most suitable to [92] his part of the country. He also introduced some new ones, including Fultz wheat. Although this virgin land was so fertile that it would produce fairly well with no attention, he had no intention of mining out its riches and impoverishing the soil. He fertilized the ground and rotated the crops. He had great respect for clover, of which he grew a field every year, but in a different place. In this first year, he invested $10 in limekilns--an indication that he began his farming with a wholesome respect for the soil.

      Robert Richardson's earlier life of affluence in Pittsburgh having accustomed him to the use of servants, he encouraged Rebekah to get a maid to help her with the house and children. She employed "a certain maiden who contracted to help with the work" at 50 cents a week, but in that same summer, 1839, a different young woman had to be employed at 62½ cents a week, the first having resigned. She later returned as a second helper in the house, in 1843, at an increase in wages to 75 cents a week!

      For the farm work itself that first year, the doctor hired a single young man at $12 a month. He proved rather unreliable, however, and the following year his job was given to another young man. The new man began his work in January, with the understanding that he was to receive $9.00 a month and was to pay 50 cents a month for washing and mending. Later the contract was changed so that he received $8.00 a month and washing and was allowed to work for other farmers for two weeks at harvest time and thus earn extra wages. By 1841 the work of the farms had grown to the point where two hired hands were required--"John and Charles." A [93] more stable arrangement was soon effected, however, when the doctor built a tenant house on the place and invited a family to occupy it and help with the manual labor.

      Finally, with the family cozily settled and their plans in order, "R. R." turned once again to his writing desk. On May 10, 1839, he informed Alexander Campbell that he was now installed in a new home and that he had named it Bethphage because it was "nigh unto Bethany."¹ The room in which he wrote was the middle one of three at the front of the house on the second floor. It was a small room, about twelve feet square, having a hewn-beam ceiling and an open grate. "Its walls were lined with books and even the ceiling was loaded with pamphlets and periodicals which were stuffed in between the exposed joists wherever the cross braces would hold them."² On the shelves, "books, papers, sermons, diaries and manuscripts were carefully assorted and labelled . . . Some shelves were marked: 'Inventions, Schools, Medical, Periodical Literature.'"³

      This study was his own--private. He even carried the coal for its grate and did his own housekeeping here, so that nothing would be disturbed. No one ever invaded this room uninvited, not even a member of the family! For a writing stand he had a table with a portable desk. Like a school desk, it was grooved for pens and pencils. He made his own pens, from personally selected goose quills, and also manufactured his own ink. Legal cap paper was his preferred writing material, and black sand served as a blotter. A single window admitted his only [94] light during the day, and a candle illumed his studies at night.

      As he wrote to Alexander Campbell, he reflected with pleasure on the peace of his house. A low room across the hall and under the eaves was his "drying-room," where he prepared his herbs and medicines. The two remaining rooms on that floor, with log walls and beam ceilings, held large four-poster beds. The stairs to the second floor opened at the back of the kitchen, which was at the north end of the house. The kitchen was a log lean-to. Cooking was done at a large open fireplace, on a swinging crane. The large parlor, beneath the study, was wainscoted in black walnut. It was furnished in antique mahogany furniture, most of which his father had given him: a piano, two tables, a couch, a number of comfortable chairs, and a stately bookcase for the general library of the family. On warm evenings his family visited or received friends on the large front porch, running the length of the house.

      The house was heated in the winter by open grates burning coal, which cost 4 cents a bushel. A large, well-appointed cellar under the house was ready for the storing of fruit, potatoes, cabbages, and other vegetables.

      With his eyes recovered from their "amaurosis," and his heart gladdened under a comfortable roof, Robert Richardson unlimbered his quill pen in this year of 1839 to write a few articles for the Millennial Harbinger. There was a series of six on "Sin--A Dialogue," another series of six articles on "The Gospel," and a number of incidental pieces. [95]

      It was also in this first year at Bethphage that the Richardson family rejoiced over the birth of a fourth child, a girl, on October 31, 1839. Robert and Rebekah named her Mary. Nathaniel was now nearly seven, Anne was four and a half, Julia was two, while the father and mother were respectively thirty-three and twenty-three.

      Meantime, another venture was afoot. It, too, would involve Dr. Richardson. In the October number of the Millennial Harbinger, Alexander Campbell published his fourfold plan for "A New Institution."⁴ The Disciples now numbered 40,000, and the movement was advancing! It needed an educated leadership. Mr. Campbell proposed to build a college, and he relied on the doctor to help him do it. [96]

[HTB 89-96]