The Earle family : Ralph Earle and his descendants

Gen.] GENEALOGY. 207
make Worcester county the stronghold of conscientious and determined
political opposition to slavery. It was called the ' banner
county' of the State, in that great conflict of opinion which resulted
in the war of the rebellion and the extermination of chattel bondage
in the United States. "Mr. Earle had few superiors in the country
in editorial ability and experience, and there are few who have
devoted so many years to journalism. In this regard, as well as in
some others, he much resembled his distinguished friend, William
Cullen Bryant."
Among various official positions which he held, aside from his
arduous duties as a journalist, he was Representative to the General
Court in the years 1844, 1845, 1846, 1850, 1851 and 1852, and Sen-
ator in 1858. During his service as member of the Legislature, he
was in the habit of writing the leading editorial articles for the Spy
in the cars on the way to Worcester at night ; frequently pencilling
his criticisms of public men and measures on the blank margin of the
Boston Journal.
He was likewise a member of the Convention for the revision of
the Constitution of the State, which held its meetings in the State
House in Boston, in 1853. In a letter written April 16 of that year,
he says, " The Convention will meet in about two weeks. I shall go
in favor of very radical changes in our system, taking all patronage
from the Governor and other executive officers, and bringing all elec-
tions as near to the people in their primary organizations as possible.
I shall therefore go for representation, in both branches, by election
in single districts, the apportionment thereof based not upon popula-
tion but upon voters, so that the representation shall be, what it pro-
fesses to be, one of the actual sovereignty."
While political journalism was his work during so many years,
conchology, botany and horticulture were his recreation and delight.
As a pomologist, botanist, &c, he had few superiors in this country,
being hardly second even to his friend, the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder,
with whom he was always very intimate. He studied botany, both
theoretically and practically, in his early years, generally carried his
box for flowers with him when riding in the country in the floral
months, and frequently traversed field, meadow and forest in search
of specimens. Hence few were so well acquainted as he with the
flora of Worcester county. He was one of the founders of the
Worcester County Horticultural Society, one of its officers from the