Dr. Daniel Drake
As mentioned, no one so stimulated the intellectual life of Cincinnati as Dr. Drake. A great factor was his Social and Literary Reunions. And what a galaxy of characters he brought together under his roof! Mr. Mansfield, in his “Personal Memories,” has described them, and also “The College of Teachers,” from which we quote in an abridged form:
In1883 my friend and relative, Dr. Daniel Drake, instituted a social and literary reunion at his house, which possessed all the charms of information, wit, and kindness. They were really formed for his daughters, then just growing into womanhood. They were small enough to meet in his parlor and conversational, thus avoiding the rigidity of a mere literary party. We met at halt-past seven, when the Doctor called attention by ringing a little bell, which brought them to the topic of the evening, which might be one appointed beforehand and sometimes then selected. Some evenings essays were read; on others nothing. Occasionally a piece of poetry or a story came in to relieve the conversation. These, however, were interludes rather than parts of the general plan, whose main object was the discussion of interesting questions belonging to society, literature, and religion.
The subjects discussed were always of a suggestive and problematical kind; so that the ideas were fresh, the debates animated, and the utterance of opinion frank and spontaneous. There, in that little circle of ladies, I have heard many of the questions which have since occupied the public mind, talked over with an ability and fulness of information which is seldom possessed by larger and more authoritative bodies. These were persons of such minds whose influence spreads over a whole country. They were of such character and talent as seldom meet in one place, and who, going out into the world, have signalized their names in the annals of letters, science, and benevolence.
Dr. Daniel Drake was himself the head of the circle and a man of great genius, whose suggestive mind furnished topics for others, and was ever ready to revive a flagging conversation. He studied medicine with Dr. Goforth, the pioneer physician of Cincinnati, and for thirty years a leader in medical science and education.
From Historical Collections of Ohio by Henry Howee; Pub. 1888