up to a kind of moral mandate that was hard to refute. âIntense earnestness in whatever he undertook was the characteristic and, one might say, the keynote of his life,â Frederick Kingsbury, another of the five friends, would recall of Brace.
Kingsbury, for his part, was the pragmatist of the group. In the years after the photo was taken, he would become first a lawyer and then a businessman. John Olmsted and Fred Kingsbury had a special wink-wink friendship, rooted partly in observing the excesses of the other two. John would frequently turn to Kingsbury for perspective when his brotherâs idiosyncrasy or Braceâs idealism simply grew too ridiculous.
Last and least, there was Charley Trask. Every odd-numbered group needs someone to fill Traskâs inglorious role: he was the fifth wheel. Even in the old daguerreotypes, he seems aware of his station, standing off to the side. Besides being credited with a genial manner, Trask appears to have made little impression on Olmsted and the others. Maybe he simply acted as a kind of social lightning rod, necessary to disperse the energy created by the other four. âWe are a most uncommon set of common friendsâ is how Brace described this group.
Â
While Olmsted managed to fall in with a vibrant social circle, he did not yet have a profession, or even a fixed address. During visits to New Haven he stayed with his brother John or others in the group, all of whom were several years younger. Olmsted visited so often that they dubbed him an âhonorary member of the Class of â47.â He also served a couple of brief
apprenticeships on nearby Connecticut farms, one run by an uncle, David Brooks, the other by Joseph Welton, a friend of the Kingsbury family. Otherwise, he continued to live at home in Hartfordâdownright bizarre for a man now in his mid-twenties. Olmstedâs lax father accepted the arrangement, reminding himself that at least his son was good-natured and full of enthusiasm. Mary Ann Olmsted gritted her teeth and prayed for her stepson to find his way in the world.
For a brief spell, it looked like that might actually happen. Olmsted decided to enroll in Yale. Certainly, he was spending enough time on campus. Why not take some classes along the way? Despite his spotty academic record, Olmsted was admitted as a âspecial student.â He was allowed to sit in on classes on a kind of audit basis.
Olmsted approached the opportunity in his own quirky fashion. For course work that captured his interest, he proved willing to go to extraordinary lengths. Olmsted was fascinated by a class in chemistry taught by Benjamin Silliman, one of nineteenth century Americaâs most distinguished science professors. The class was lecture only, with no lab work required. On his own initiative, Olmsted spent hours in the lab doing self-directed experiments, even recruited John and his friends into what he dubbed the âInfantile Chemistry Association.â Other subjects such as mineralogy and architecture, strangely enough, failed to capture his interest, and he didnât even bother to do the required reading.
The whole Yale experiment lasted just three months. Then Olmsted withdrew, citing as the reason a concern that he might be suffering from apoplexy. Apoplexy is an arcane medical term for heightened nervous excitement. No doubt, Olmsted was capable of achieving such a mental state, though as a reason for quitting somethingâyet againâit seems like a mere excuse.
Olmsted wrote a letter to Kingsbury summing up his piecemeal schooling: âI have a smattering educationâa little scum, from most everything useful to such a man as Iâlearned as I took a fancy to it. Of Arithmetic, I cipher slow and without accuracy. Grammar I know nothing ofânor the rules of Rhetoric or writing. Geography, I know where I have been. History, nothing but my own country, except what I have got
incidentaly.â Referring
Kingsbury, for his part, was the pragmatist of the group. In the years after the photo was taken, he would become first a lawyer and then a businessman. John Olmsted and Fred Kingsbury had a special wink-wink friendship, rooted partly in observing the excesses of the other two. John would frequently turn to Kingsbury for perspective when his brotherâs idiosyncrasy or Braceâs idealism simply grew too ridiculous.
Last and least, there was Charley Trask. Every odd-numbered group needs someone to fill Traskâs inglorious role: he was the fifth wheel. Even in the old daguerreotypes, he seems aware of his station, standing off to the side. Besides being credited with a genial manner, Trask appears to have made little impression on Olmsted and the others. Maybe he simply acted as a kind of social lightning rod, necessary to disperse the energy created by the other four. âWe are a most uncommon set of common friendsâ is how Brace described this group.
Â
While Olmsted managed to fall in with a vibrant social circle, he did not yet have a profession, or even a fixed address. During visits to New Haven he stayed with his brother John or others in the group, all of whom were several years younger. Olmsted visited so often that they dubbed him an âhonorary member of the Class of â47.â He also served a couple of brief
apprenticeships on nearby Connecticut farms, one run by an uncle, David Brooks, the other by Joseph Welton, a friend of the Kingsbury family. Otherwise, he continued to live at home in Hartfordâdownright bizarre for a man now in his mid-twenties. Olmstedâs lax father accepted the arrangement, reminding himself that at least his son was good-natured and full of enthusiasm. Mary Ann Olmsted gritted her teeth and prayed for her stepson to find his way in the world.
For a brief spell, it looked like that might actually happen. Olmsted decided to enroll in Yale. Certainly, he was spending enough time on campus. Why not take some classes along the way? Despite his spotty academic record, Olmsted was admitted as a âspecial student.â He was allowed to sit in on classes on a kind of audit basis.
Olmsted approached the opportunity in his own quirky fashion. For course work that captured his interest, he proved willing to go to extraordinary lengths. Olmsted was fascinated by a class in chemistry taught by Benjamin Silliman, one of nineteenth century Americaâs most distinguished science professors. The class was lecture only, with no lab work required. On his own initiative, Olmsted spent hours in the lab doing self-directed experiments, even recruited John and his friends into what he dubbed the âInfantile Chemistry Association.â Other subjects such as mineralogy and architecture, strangely enough, failed to capture his interest, and he didnât even bother to do the required reading.
The whole Yale experiment lasted just three months. Then Olmsted withdrew, citing as the reason a concern that he might be suffering from apoplexy. Apoplexy is an arcane medical term for heightened nervous excitement. No doubt, Olmsted was capable of achieving such a mental state, though as a reason for quitting somethingâyet againâit seems like a mere excuse.
Olmsted wrote a letter to Kingsbury summing up his piecemeal schooling: âI have a smattering educationâa little scum, from most everything useful to such a man as Iâlearned as I took a fancy to it. Of Arithmetic, I cipher slow and without accuracy. Grammar I know nothing ofânor the rules of Rhetoric or writing. Geography, I know where I have been. History, nothing but my own country, except what I have got
incidentaly.â Referring
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