He went into Boston, about ten miles distant, to talk with Brownson, and to Concord to see Emerson.

He entered into the working life at the Farm, but always, as it seemed to me, with the same reserve and attitude of observation.

He was the dove floating in the air, not yet finding the spot on which his foot might rest.
"The impression that I gathered from my intercourse with him, which was boyishly intimate and affectionate, was that of all 'the apostles of the newness,' as they were gayly called, whose counsel he sought, Brownson was the most satisfactory to him.

I thought then that this was due to the authority of Brownson's masterful tone, the definiteness of his views, the force of his 'understanding,' as the word was then philosophically used in distinction from the reason.
Brownson's mental vigor and positiveness were very agreeable to a candid mind which was speculatively adrift and experimenting, and, as it seemed to me, which was more emotional than logical.

Brownson, after his life of varied theological and controversial activity, was drawing toward the Catholic Church, and his virile force fascinated the more delicate and sensitive temper of the young man, and, I have always supposed, was the chief influence which at that time affected Hecker's views, although he did not then enter the Catholic Church.
"He was a general favorite at Brook Farm, always equable and playful, wholly simple and frank in manner.