d the whole period lying between his fourteenth year and his
twenty-first. In the autumn of 1834, when he first made acquaintance
with Orestes Brownson, Isaac Hecker was not yet fifteen, while the
reform lecturer was in his early thirties. But the boy who began at
once, as he has told us, to put philosophical questions, and to seek
a test whereby to determine the validity of his mental processes, was
already well known to the voters of his ward, not merely as an
overgrown and very active lad, always on hand at the polling booths,
and ready for any work which might be entrusted to a boy, but also as
a clear and persuasive speaker on various topics of social and
political reform.

Politics of the kind into which the young Heckers threw themselves so
ardently were not very different in their methods fifty years ago
from what they are to-day. Reform politics are always the reverse of
what are called machine politics. The meetings of which Father Hecker
speaks were spontaneous gatherings of determined and earnest men,
young and old, held sometimes in public halls, sometimes, when
elections were close at hand, in the open street. Often they were
dominated by leaders better able to formulate theories than to bring
about practical remedial measures. The inception of all great parties
has something of this character. It generally happens that principles
are dwelt upon with an exclusive devotion more or less prejudicial to
immediate practical ends. This is why young men, and even striplings,
provided they are energetic and persuasive, will be listened to with
attention at such eras. Men are seeking for enlightenment, and hence
views are taken for what they seem to be worth rather than out of
respect for the source they spring from. Imagine, then, this tall,
fair, strong-faced boy of fourteen, mounted, perhaps, on one of his
own flour-barrels, dogmatizing the principles of social democracy,
posing as a spontaneous political reformer before a crowded street
full of men twice and thrice his years, but bound together with him
by the sympathies common to the wage-earning classes. It is true that
Isaac Hecker and his brothers, of whom the eldest had but recently
attained to the dignity of a voter, although still poor and
hard-working, had already, by virtue of sheer industry and pluck,
passed over to the class of wage-payers. But they were not less
ardent reformers after than before that transition. Isaac at all
events, was consistent