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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brook Farm, by John Thomas Codman
+
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+Title: Brook Farm
+
+Author: John Thomas Codman
+
+Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7932]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on June 2, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII, with a few ISO-8859-1 characters
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BROOK FARM ***
+
+
+
+
+Tiffany Vergon, Joshua Hutchinson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+BROOK FARM
+
+HISTORIC AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS
+
+BY
+
+JOHN THOMAS CODMAN
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BROOK FARM MOVEMENT
+
+Transcendentalism; Explained by Mr. Ripley,--The Proposition,--Members
+of the Transcendental Club--The first Persons at the Community--
+Constitution and Laws; Articles of Agreement--Description of Mr.
+Ripley, Mr. Pratt, Mr. Dwight, Mrs. Ripley, Mr. Dana, Mr. Bradford,
+Hawthorne and Others.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE SECOND DEVELOPMENT
+
+Thoughts on Reorganization--Fourier on Social Code--Mr. Ripley's
+Action--Progress of Society--Theories by Fourier, etc.--Closing of the
+Transcendental Period--Reorganization, and the Industrial Period.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND DESCRIPTIONS
+
+Departure from Boston, and Arrival at the Farm--Description of the
+Place--Attica--Personal Occupations, etc.--The Wild Flowers.
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
+
+Descriptions of Members: The "General,"; Ryckman, Blake, Drew, Orvis,
+Cheevers--William H. Charming, and Albert Brisbane,--S. Margaret
+Fuller--Ralph W. Emerson--Theodore Parker and Mr. Ripley's Joke.
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE RUSH AND HUM OF LIFE AND WORK
+
+Many Visitors--An Odd Visitor--The Groups and Series, etc.--The
+Workshop--My first Spring--Death and Funeral--The Amusement Group,
+Dances, Walks and first Summer.
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE "HARBINGER," AND VARIOUS SUBJECTS
+
+The _Harbinger_ Published; Editors and Contributors, Its
+Characteristics and Effect--The Industrial Phalanx--The Phalanstery--A
+Financial Report--The Grahamites, and their Table--John Allen and Boy--
+The Visitation of Small-pox.
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+MY SECOND SPRING
+
+Resumption of Building--The Crowded Conditions--Gardener's Department--
+Prince Albert--Jumping the Brook--Retrenchment--The Doves--The
+Gardener--The Position of Woman in Association--The Right to Vote--The
+Wedding--Lizzie Curson--Our Young Folks.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE DRAMA AND IMPORTANT LETTERS
+
+The Play in the Shop--The Associative Movement--Rev. Adin Ballou's
+Letter--Mr. Brisbane's, and Mr. Ripley's Letters--Mr. Pratt's
+Departure--The Great Party--Cyclops.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SOCIAL, AND PARLOR LIFE
+
+Meetings in Boston, etc.--Two Lady Friends--Music at the Eyry--
+Consciousness of Self--The Great Snow Storm--C. P. Cranch's Imitations.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+FUN ALIVE
+
+Fun at the Phalanx--Ripley's Quotation--On Punning--The Robbery, and
+the Waiting Group.
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE GREAT CATASTROPHE
+
+The Last Dance, and the Fire--The _Harbinger's_ Account of It--
+Feeding the Firemen--The Morning after the Fire.
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+SUMMING UP AND REVERIES
+
+The Bearings of the Association and its Occupations--Slanders of the
+New York Press--Definition of the Associationists Position toward
+Fourier--Forebodings at the Farm--Personal Reveries.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE FIRST BREAK
+
+Peter's Departure--Mr. Dwight at the Association Meeting--Practical
+Christians--The Solidarity of the Race--Mr. Ripley's _Harbinger_
+Article.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE DEPARTURES AND AFTER LIVES OF THE MEMBERS
+
+Breaking up--Ripley's Poverty, after Life and Death--Mr. Pratt; Mr.
+Dana; Mr. Dwight, and various Persons--William H. Charming--A.
+Brisbane--C. Fourier--Letters of Approval.
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+PART I.
+
+STUDENTS' AND INQUIRERS' LETTERS
+
+Student Life--Explanations and Answers to Objections--Letter on Social
+Equality--Religious Views.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+There were two distinct phases in the Associated life at Brook Farm.
+The first was inaugurated by the pioneers, who introduced a school, and
+combined it with farm and household labors. The second phase began with
+an attempt to introduce methods of social science and to add mechanical
+and other industries to those already commenced. These different phases
+have been called the Transcendental and the Industrial periods.
+
+Each individual had his special experiences of the life. The writer
+chronicles it from his standpoint. None, perhaps, was more interested
+in it than he, young as he was, but many were more able to elaborate it
+and write it in details, and did he not feel that it was an important
+duty neglected by all, these memoirs would have remained unwritten.
+
+The record books of the institution are missing, and are doubtless long
+ago destroyed. These chapters have been compiled and written from few
+memoranda, at various times, very often after the arduous duties of
+days of professional life, and with a desire only to present the
+subject truthfully, faithfully and simply; and also, not wholly to
+gratify curiosity, or to record the doings of the noble men and women
+who were wise before their time, but to whisper courage to those who,
+like their predecessors, are seeking some solution of the social
+problems that involves neither the too sudden surrender of acquired
+rights, the reckless abandon of old ideas to untried and crude
+radicalism, or the more to-be-dreaded feuds between classes, that mean
+desperation on one side and war on the other; but to aid, if possible,
+in inspiring a belief that a peaceful adjustment of our surroundings
+will, in time, bring order out of chaos and harmony out of discord.
+
+The reader will have observed long before he lays down this book, that
+the Brook Farm life and ideals were purely coöperative and
+philosophical, that all the elements of true society were recognized,
+and that the attempt was for the better adjustment of them to the
+changing and changed relations of their fellow-men, brought about by
+the pervading moral, scientific and social growth of the past and
+present centuries.
+
+The nation is older, richer and wiser, since the Brook Farm experiment
+began. It is more tolerant of one another's opinions, more
+enterprising, progressive and liberal, and surely a few weak trials
+made half a century ago, are not enough to solve the majestic problem
+of right living and how to shape the outward forms of society, so that
+within their environments all interests may be harmonized, and the
+golden rule begin to be, in a practical way, the measure of all human
+lives.
+
+The author, in closing, will confide to his readers the wish of his
+heart, that this sketch of his early days may inspire some who can
+command influence and means with an interest to continue the
+experiments in social science, along lines laid out with more or less
+clearness by the Brook Farmers.
+
+  J. T. C.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BROOK FARM MOVEMENT.
+
+
+Early in the present century, New England was the centre of progressive
+religious thought in America. A morbid theology had reigned supreme,
+but its forms were too cold, harsh and forbidding to attract or even
+retain the liberal-minded, educated and philosophic students of the
+rising generation, or hold in check the ardent humanitarian spirit,
+that embodied itself in ideals that were greater than the existing
+creeds.
+
+Yet nowhere prevailed a more religious spirit. It showed itself in
+tender care of masses of the people, in public schools and seminaries,
+in lectures, sermons, libraries and in acts of general benevolence.
+
+From these conditions developed the idea of greater freedom from social
+trammels; from African slavery, which had not then been abolished; from
+domestic slavery, which still exists; from the exploitations of trade
+and commerce; from the vicious round of unpaid labor, vice and
+brutality. Protestations were heard against all of these evils, not
+always coming from the poor and unlearned, but oftener from the
+educated and refined, who had pride that the republic should stand
+foremost among the nations for justice, culture and righteousness.
+
+The old theology was crumbling. A new church was springing from its
+vitals based on freer thought, in which the intellect and heart had
+more share in determining righteousness. The fatherhood of God and the
+brotherhood of man became the themes of discourse, oftener than those
+of the vengeance of an offended Deity; and pity and forgiveness,
+oftener than those on everlasting punishment.
+
+In truth, the new departure which had begun, soon attracted to itself
+the most cultivated persons of the time, some of whom, Sept. 19, 1836,
+formed a club that met at one another's houses and discussed all the
+important social and religious topics of the day. They were mostly
+young people, college-bred, learned, artistic and thoughtful, and of
+high ideals in intellectual acquirement, religion and social life. They
+were all agreed that there were many evils to be eradicated from
+society; in what way--individualistic, governmental or socialistic, or
+by a combination of ways--few were agreed.
+
+The problem was an open one. The theories proposed and the discussions
+were extremely interesting, but no record of them is at hand, except a
+few essays published in the _Dial_, a quarterly magazine which was
+edited by members of the organization, which finally took the name of
+"The Transcendental Club." One of the _Dial_ editors, as well as
+one of the founders of the Club, and at whose house it had its first
+meeting, was Rev. George Ripley, a Unitarian minister who was born at
+Greenfield, Mass., in the beautiful valley of the Connecticut River. He
+was of good farmer stock and had a fine physical presence, though of
+medium stature. He was a lover of books, a graduate of Harvard college,
+and a well trained and religious scholar. He was then settled over a
+Unitarian church worshipping on Purchase Street, in Boston, and
+faithfully fulfilled his duties. Above all things his head and heart
+sought righteousness for all men. He believed in the justice of God and
+the divine nature of man His best creation. He believed man to be
+involved in an intricate and un-Christian social labyrinth, and with
+deep earnestness of purpose and thorough convictions of his personal
+duty in the case, set himself at work to evolve a way to extricate at
+least some of humanity from their vicious surroundings; and finally
+proposed to the Club a plan which he urged with his customary vigor and
+eloquence.
+
+This plan was, in short, to locate on a farm where agriculture and
+education should be made the foundation of a new system of social life.
+Labor should be honored. All would take part in it. There should be no
+religious creeds adopted. The old, feeble and sick were to be cared
+for, the strong and able bearing the greater burden of the labor. There
+would be no rank, to entitle the owner of it to superior considerations
+because of the rank; and truth, justice and order were to be the
+governing principles of the society.
+
+The theologians and philosophers of Europe, with whose writings and
+logic Mr. Ripley was well acquainted, had impressed him with the truth
+of the divinity of man's nature, or had convinced him more thoroughly
+that his own ideas of it were right. He had wrestled with progressively
+conservative giants, professors of colleges--notably Andrews Norton--
+and had won well-earned laurels. Norton was professor of sacred
+literature at Harvard, one of his own professors, sixteen years his
+senior, and made a point that the miracles of Christ and the writings
+of the gospel were the only sure proofs existing of spiritual truths.
+
+The Transcendental philosophy to which Mr. Ripley had become a convert,
+claimed that there was in human nature an intuitive faculty which
+clearly discerned spiritual truths, which idea was in contradistinction
+to the beliefs of the day, which declared that spiritual knowledge came
+by special grace, and was proven by the divine miracles; this latter
+belief being largely joined to the doctrine of the innate depravity of
+man. Mr. Ripley's own words to his church on Purchase Street, declared
+that
+
+
+"There is a class of persons who desire a reform in the prevailing
+philosophy of the day. These are called Transcendentalists, because
+they believe in an order of truth that transcends the sphere of the
+external senses. Their leading idea is the supremacy of mind over
+matter. Hence they maintain that the truth of religion does not depend
+on tradition nor historical facts, but has an unswerving witness in the
+soul. There is a light, they believe, which enlighteneth every man who
+cometh into the world. There is a faculty in all--the most degraded,
+the most ignorant, the most obscure--to perceive spiritual truth when
+distinctly presented; and the ultimate appeal on all moral questions is
+not to a jury of scholars, a hierarchy of divines or the prescriptions
+of a creed, but to the common sense of the human race.
+
+"There is another class of persons who are devoted to the removal of
+the abuses that prevail in modern society. They witness the oppressions
+done under the sun and they cannot keep silence. They have faith that
+God governs man; they believe in a better future than the past; their
+daily prayer is for the coming of the kingdom of righteousness, truth
+and love; they look forward to a more pure, more lovely, more divine
+state of society than was ever realized on earth. With these views I
+rejoice to say I strongly and entirely sympathize."
+
+
+The prevailing tone of New England life was Calvinistic. Its doctrines
+may be said to have entered every household, penetrated every sanctuary
+and influenced all the leaders of society. The new departure was not a
+going away from religious thought, but it joined intellect and heart.
+It ignored unreasonable extravagances of statement wherever found. It
+ignored faith alone. It did not believe that faith stood above works.
+It pointed always towards action. It summed up the lesson and meaning
+of all good doctrines, that man should _lead a better life here_,
+where the duties to our fellows should not be passed by as now, but
+fulfilled. It was a newer way of thinking, to be logical with religion
+and put it to the test of every-day life. If the new departure meant
+anything then, if it means anything to-day, its object is to accomplish
+a better life here on this earth. In his soul, penetrated by divine
+aspirations, Mr. Ripley heard these words ringing out: "A truer life, a
+more honest life, a juster life--accomplish it!"
+
+It was at the Club that he again urged the realization of his plan.
+There gathered together were the brightest intellects, the highest
+minded, the most sympathetic, thoughtful and talented young men that
+New England contained. Preaching was good, but more than preaching was
+wanted--the Christian life; could it not be commenced? Could they not
+educate the young in practical duties as well as in books, and by their
+own good example so surround them that the interior life could be
+awakened--the soul's inward goodness and the power to discern the true
+destiny of man?
+
+Encouraged by the sympathy of his wife, sister and a few earnest
+spirits, Mr. Ripley started on his project. He was in his fortieth
+year. He was neither too young nor too old. A few years of life he
+could possibly spare for the experiment. He would then be only in his
+prime. He had no children to embarrass his movements. He could give all
+his strength of body and mind to it. He loved the country life. It was
+to be the fulfilling of what he had preached so long and what is, alas,
+still preached to-day with not much attempt to realize it--the
+Christian life. People would laugh at him! I doubt if that gave him one
+disturbing thought. It _was right_; as it was right he would do
+it. But maybe in his secret heart he thought that more of those who
+seemed to have been awakened, as he had been, to the divine call, would
+follow and join with him than did; for, singularly enough, not one of
+the members of the Transcendental Club, who first met together, joined
+Mr. Ripley's movement. They were all radical to the prevailing
+theology, stiff, rigid as it was, and never, in America, was there a
+group assembled who aimed higher, or did more, first and last, to
+elevate humanity; for the Club contained a galaxy of mental talent.
+
+Mr. Ripley led them all in practical endeavor to form the Christian
+commonwealth that many of them had preached.
+
+William Ellery Channing, in whose veins ran the blood of one of the
+signers of the Declaration of American Independence, a beloved
+preacher, was there, full of earnestness, tenderness, faith and love.
+With vigor he poured out his eloquence to awaken thoughts for an
+enlarged theology, and with a sympathizing heart criticised chattel
+slavery, social slavery and domestic servitude, and afterward became
+one of the acknowledged leaders of liberal Christendom.
+
+Young Ralph Waldo Emerson was there, very late from the ministry, known
+better as poet, philosopher and essayist; and James Freeman Clarke,
+talented writer and preacher; and faithful and independent Rev. Cyrus
+A. Bartol. Rev. Theodore Parker, son of a Lexington hero, doughty, bold
+and brave, on whose head fell the anathemas of the orthodox and the
+curses of the slaveholders at a later day, showed his ever calm,
+pleasant and earnest face at the board.
+
+Rev. F. H. Hedge, Convers Francis, Thomas H. Stone, Samuel D. Robbins,
+Samuel J. May and another Channing--William Henry--were there;
+Christopher P. Cranch, divinity graduate, but now well known as
+painter, poet and story teller; and beloved John S. Dwight, famed
+mostly as writer on music, and musical critic; and Orestes A. Brownson,
+prominent essayist, who was, by turns, a Radical, Unitarian,
+Universalist, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic.
+
+All these above named persons were attached to the clergy. There were
+others who, like A. Bronson Alcott, were teachers, and sometimes
+lecturers. There was Henry D. Thoreau, a charming writer who spent two
+years in a hut in Walden woods; and Nathaniel Hawthorne, the writer of
+many familiar romances; also George Bancroft, the historian, Dr.
+Charles T. Follen, Samuel G. Ward, Caleb Stetson, William Russell,
+Jones Very, Robert Bartlett and S. V. Clevenger, sculptor. As an
+innovation in clubs there were lady members, among whom were Elizabeth
+P. Peabody, and her sister Sophia, who became the wife of Hawthorne;
+Miss S. Margaret Fuller, remarkable for her intellectual capacity, and
+who became the wife of Count D'Ossoli, of Italy; Miss Marianne Ripley,
+sister, and Mrs. Sophia Ripley, wife, of Rev. George Ripley.
+
+Or if those persons were not all members of the Club, of which there
+seems to be no list extant, nearly every one was, and they can all be
+classed as belonging to the coterie or Transcendental circle; all at
+times attended the meetings, participated in the discussions, and wrote
+articles for the _Dial_ and for what in those days were called the
+radical journals and magazines.
+
+The winter of 1840 had been the time of talk. Early in the spring of
+the year 1841 it was announced that a location was chosen at Brook
+Farm, West Roxbury, nine miles from Boston, Mass. Mr. Ripley selected
+it. He and his wife had boarded there the former summer. It was retired
+and pretty. Mr. Ellis owned it; Mr. Parker, Mr. Russell and Mr. Shaw
+lived not far away, and a small amount of cash paid down would secure
+the place for an immediate commencement of the effort. The party who
+went earliest to settle at Brook Farm consisted of Mr. George Ripley;
+Sophia Willard Ripley, his wife; Miss Marianne Ripley, his elder
+sister; Mr. George P. Bradford, Mr. Warren Burton, Mrs. Minot Pratt
+with three children, Mr. Nathaniel Hawthorne and several others. Mr.
+William Allen acted as head farmer. There were in all about twenty
+persons. Doubtless there were blisters on the palms and aching bones,
+in the first raw days of labor, and the poetry of life was often lost
+in the fatigue of the body.
+
+Of the men of the Transcendental Club only Hawthorne and Dwight joined
+what was called "Mr. Ripley's community"; and though Mr. Emerson talked
+favorably of it he finally declined to join when asked to do so by Mr.
+Ripley.
+
+The farmhouse, the only dwelling there was on the place, must have
+resounded with remarkable echoes as the pioneers of the new social
+order alighted on its threshold. They were of cultivated families, and
+were nearly all from the city and neighborhood of Boston. Their hearts
+were open to the tender influence of buds and blossoms, the fresh
+springing grass and the bubbling brook. They watched the birds of
+various plumage; the oriole, who hung his basket nest from the pendant
+branches of the elm, the robin redbreast who built close in the thick
+branches of the firs, and the sparrow who was contented with a less
+prominent nest, as he picked up hairs from the stable or from
+underneath the windows.
+
+They were fond of cows, pigs and poultry. There was a flower garden to
+work in. There was a plenty of wild flowers in the fields and in the
+woods near by. There was delightful solitude and delightful society,
+and there was a wonderful novelty in all. There were contrasts of
+character, deep, strong natures to reason with, cheerful hearts to talk
+with, and great hopes everywhere. What wonder that they laughed,
+frolicked and sang, and got up little parties and masquerades to
+entertain the wonderful, wonderstruck and remarkable visitors who came
+to see them? The place was a "milk farm" when the "Transcendentalists,"
+as they were often called, entered on it. The surroundings were
+picturesque. Some one of the party started at an early hour in the
+morning with the milk for Boston, nine miles away.
+
+All was new and had to be done by many for the first time. There was
+much hard work for the women, as it was not a well-proportioned family;
+pupils and visitors added to the labor, but poetry and enthusiasm
+changed plain names into elegance, as Deborah into "Ora," and
+beautified the laundry and kitchen with hopes and glories.
+
+Immediately the school was set in operation. There were some promising
+pupils. The young and talented Dwight, whose heart was too full to
+preach what he might better practise in this ideal society, soon left
+his pastorate in Northampton, Mass., and joined as instructor, and was
+shortly followed by the capable Dana, who gained power for himself as
+well as gave it to the Association.
+
+The following persons were nominated for positions in the Brook Farm
+School, fall term, 1842:--
+
+  George Ripley, Instructor in Intellectual and Natural Philosophy and
+                 Mathematics.
+  George P. Bradford, Instructor in Belles Lettres.
+  John S. Dwight, Instructor in Latin and Music.
+  Charles A. Dana, Instructor in Greek and German.
+  John S. Brown, Instructor in Theosophical and Practical Agriculture.
+  Sophia W. Ripley, Instructor in History and Modern Languages.
+  Marianne Ripley, Teacher of Primary School.
+  Abigail Morton, Teacher of Infant School.
+  Georgiana Bruce, Teacher of Infant School.
+  Hannah B. Ripley, Instructor in Drawing.
+
+The infant school was for children under six years of age; the primary
+school, for children under ten; the preparatory school for pupils over
+ten years of age, intending to pursue the higher branches of study in
+the institution.
+
+A six years' course prepared a young man to enter college. A three
+years' course in theoretical and practical agriculture was also laid
+out. The studies were elective, and pupils could enter any department
+for which they were qualified.
+
+There were various other details, the most striking of which was that
+every pupil was expected to spend from one to two hours daily in manual
+labor.
+
+Before the Association started from Boston, a constitution was drawn
+up. The following is a copy of the original:--
+
+_Articles of Agreement and Association between the members of the
+Institute for Agriculture and Education._
+
+In order more effectually to promote the great purposes of human
+culture; to establish the external relations of life on a basis of
+wisdom and purity; to apply the principles of justice and love to our
+social organization in accordance with the laws of Divine Providence;
+to substitute a system of brotherly cooperation for one of selfish
+competition; to secure to our children, and to those who may be
+entrusted to our care, the benefits of the highest physical,
+intellectual and moral education in the present state of human
+knowledge, the resources at our command will permit; to institute an
+attractive, efficient and productive system of industry; to prevent the
+exercise of worldly anxiety by the competent supply of our necessary
+wants; to diminish the desire of excessive accumulation by making the
+acquisition of individual property subservient to upright and
+disinterested uses; to guarantee to each other the means of physical
+support and of spiritual progress, and thus to impart a greater
+freedom, simplicity, truthfulness, refinement and moral dignity to our
+mode of life,--
+
+We, the undersigned, do unite in a Voluntary Association, to wit:--
+
+ARTICLE 1. The name and style of the Association shall be "(The Brook
+Farm) Institute of Agriculture and Education." All persons who shall
+hold one or more shares in the stock of the Association, and shall sign
+the articles of agreement, or who shall hereafter be admitted by the
+pleasure of the Association, shall be members thereof.
+
+ART. 2. No religious test shall ever be required of any member of the
+Association; no authority assumed over individual freedom of opinion by
+the Association, nor by any member over another; nor shall anyone be
+held accountable to the Association except for such acts as violate
+rights of the members, and the essential principles on which the
+Association is founded; and in such cases the relation of any member
+may be suspended, or discontinued, at the pleasure of the Association.
+
+ART. 3. The members of this Association shall own and manage such real
+and personal estate, in joint stock proprietorship, as may, from time
+to time, be agreed on, and establish such branches of industry as may
+be deemed expedient and desirable.
+
+ART. 4. The Association shall provide such employment for all of its
+members as shall be adapted to their capacities, habits and tastes, and
+each member shall select and perform such operation of labor, whether
+corporal or mental, as he shall deem best suited to his own endowments,
+and the benefit of the Association.
+
+ART. 5. The members of this Association shall be paid for all labor
+performed under its direction and for its advantage, at a fixed and
+equal rate, both for men and women. This rate shall not exceed one
+dollar per day, nor shall more than ten hours in the day be paid for as
+a day's labor.
+
+ART. 6. The Association shall furnish to all its members, their
+children and family dependents, house-rent, fuel, food and clothing,
+and all other comforts and advantages possible, at the actual cost, as
+nearly as the same can be ascertained; but no charge shall be made for
+education, medical or nursing attendance, or the use of the library,
+public rooms or baths to the members; nor shall any charge be paid for
+food, rent or fuel by those deprived of labor by sickness, nor for food
+of children under ten years of age, nor for anything on members over
+seventy years of age, unless at the special request of the individual
+by whom the charges are paid, or unless the credits in his favor
+exceed, or equal, the amount of such charges.
+
+ART. 7. All labor performed for the Association shall be duly credited,
+and all articles furnished shall be charged, and a full settlement made
+with every member once every year.
+
+ART. 8. Every child over ten years of age shall be charged for food,
+clothing, and articles furnished at cost, and shall be credited for his
+labor, not exceeding fifty cents per day, and on the completion of his
+education in the Association at the age of twenty, shall be entitled to
+a certificate of stock, to the amount of credits in his favor, and may
+be admitted a member of the Association.
+
+ART. 9. Every share-holder in the joint-stock proprietorship of the
+Association, shall be paid on such stock, at the rate of five per cent,
+annually.
+
+ART. 10. The net profits of the Association remaining in the treasury
+after the payments of all demands for interest on stock, labor
+performed, and necessary repairs, and improvements, shall be divided
+into a number of shares corresponding with the number of days' labor,
+and every member shall be entitled to one share for every day's labor
+performed by him.
+
+ART. 11. All payments may be made in certificates of stock at the
+option of the Association; but in any case of need, to be decided by
+himself, every member may be permitted to draw on the funds of the
+treasury to an amount not exceeding the credits in his favor.
+
+ART. 12. The Association shall hold an annual meeting for the choice of
+officers, and such other necessary business as shall come before them.
+
+ART. 13. The officers of the Association shall be twelve directors,
+divided into four departments, as follows: first, General Direction;
+second, Direction of Agriculture; third, Direction of Education;
+fourth, Direction of Finance; consisting of three persons each,
+provided that the same persons may be a member of each Direction at the
+pleasure of the Association.
+
+ART. 14. The Chairman of the General Direction shall be presiding
+officer in the Association, and together with the Direction of Finance,
+shall constitute a Board of Trustees, by whom the property of the
+Association shall be managed.
+
+ART. 15. The General Direction shall oversee and manage the affairs of
+the Association so that every department shall be carried on in an
+orderly and efficient manner. Each department shall be under the
+general supervision of its own Direction, which shall select, and, in
+accordance with the General Direction, shall appoint, all such
+overseers, directors and agents, as shall be necessary to the complete
+and systematic organization of the department, and shall have full
+authority to appoint such persons to these stations as they shall judge
+best qualified for the same.
+
+ART. 16. No Directors shall be deemed to possess any rank superior to
+the other members of the Association, nor shall be chosen in reference
+to any other consideration than their capacity to serve the
+Association; nor shall they be paid for their official service except
+at the rate of one dollar for ten hours in a day, actually employed in
+official duties.
+
+ART. 17. The Association may, from time to time, adopt such rules and
+regulations, not inconsistent with the spirit and purpose of the
+Articles of Agreement, as shall be found expedient and necessary.
+
+[_This was signed by_]
+
+GEO. RIPLEY, WARREN BURTON, SOPHIA W. RIPLEY, MINOT PRATT, SAML. D.
+ROBBINS, MARIA J. PRATT, D. MACK, GEO. C. LEACH, NATH. HAWTHORNE,
+MARIANNE RIPLEY, LEML. CAPEN, MARY ROBBINS.
+
+Not all who signed this document entered on the work. Mr. David Mack,
+whose name is attached, for some reason did not, neither did Mr. and
+Mrs. Samuel D. Robbins. Mr. Mack afterward founded the Northampton
+Association at Northampton, Mass.
+
+It would be interesting to give a history of and describe all the
+persons who signed this original document, but room will not permit it.
+Mr. Ripley's biography is published; I refer the reader to that book
+for particulars of his life, but cannot refrain from selecting one pen-
+picture of him by the author, Rev. O. B. Frothingham, who writes:--
+
+"He was no unbeliever, no sceptic, no innovator in matters of opinion
+or observance, but a quiet student, a scholar, a man of books, a calm,
+bright-minded, whole-souled thinker, believing, hopeful, social, sunny,
+but absorbed in philosophical pursuits. Well does the writer of these
+lines recall the vision of a slender figure wearing in summer the
+flowing silk robe, in winter the long, dark blue cloak of the
+profession, walking with measured step from his residence in Rowe
+Street towards the meeting house in Purchase Street. The face was
+shaven clean, the brown hair curled in close, crisp ringlets; the face
+was pale as if in thought; the gold-rimmed spectacles concealed black
+eyes; the head was alternately bent and raised. No one could have
+guessed that the man had in him the fund of humor in which his friends
+delighted, or the heroism in social reform which a few years later
+amazed the community. He seemed a sober, devoted minister of the
+gospel, formal, punctilious, ascetic, a trifle forbidding to the
+stranger. But even then the new thoughts of the age were at work within
+him."
+
+Minot Pratt was at one time foreman printer at the office of the
+_Christian Register_--a finely formed, large, graceful-featured,
+modest man. His voice was low, soft and calm. His presence inspired
+confidence and respect. Whatever he touched was well done. He was
+faithful and dignified, and the serenity of his nature welled up in
+genial smiles. In farm work he was Mr. Ripley's right hand. He was not
+far from him in age. They agreed in practical matters; indeed, Mr.
+Ripley deferred to him. His wife was an earnest, strong, faithful
+worker. They entered into the scheme with fervor, and it was often said
+of him that he was first to give Mr. Ripley the hand of fellowship in
+the practical work of organizing the society.
+
+John Sullivan Dwight was born in Boston, and was keenly sensitive to
+harmony of all kinds; amiable, thoughtful, kind. Touched with the
+divine desire to do good to all, he entered into the work with his
+whole earnest soul. Modest to a fault, but singularly persistent in
+what he felt to be his duty, he never flinched or failed to act when
+occasion required it. His tastes were of the most refined order. He
+shrank from coarse contact with an unusual degree of sensitiveness, but
+his great heart embraced all mankind in brotherhood. He graduated at
+Harvard College, and rumor says that he had more than ordinarily the
+goodwill of his classmates. He studied and made some fine translations
+from French and German authors, and was ordained to the ministry. He
+soon left the pulpit, feeling that it was better to try to actualize a
+Christian life, preaching it by deeds himself, than to preach it by
+words to others. He was supremely musical, though his musical feeling
+sometimes showed itself in verse, and he stamped Brook Farm with his
+musical influence. Short in stature, delicate in physical organization,
+the school claimed the major part of his services.
+
+Mrs. Ripley was born under favorable stars and had superior mental
+talent and training, with hosts of friends and relatives. Her devotion
+to the "Community" caused a great flutter in her social circle. Her
+relatives were noted for their position, their personal dignity, and
+generally for a haughtiness of manner unknown in these days. In person
+she was tall, slender and graceful, with rather light, smooth hair,
+worn in the plain style of the day. Being near-sighted she was obliged
+to use a glass when looking at a distant person or thing. Her manner
+was vivacious and she was a good conversationalist. Mr. Ripley had
+changed since the description given of his appearance in earlier days,
+and had grown stouter; had lost his pallor and gained a good, healthy
+color. He had allowed a vigorous beard to grow, and shaved only his
+upper lip.
+
+A young man of education, culture and marked ability was Charles
+Anderson Dana when from Harvard College he presented himself at the
+farm. He was strong of purpose and lithe of frame, and it was not long
+before Mr. Ripley found it out and gave him a place at the front. He
+was about four and twenty years of age, and he took to books, language
+and literature. Social, good-natured and animated, he readily pleased
+all with whom he came in contact. He was above medium height; his
+complexion was light, and his beard, which he wore full but well
+trimmed, was vigorous and of auburn hue, and his thick head of hair was
+well cut to moderate shortness. His features were quite regular; his
+forehead high and full, and his head large. His face was pleasant and
+animated, and he had a genial smile and greeting for all. His voice was
+musical and clear, and his language remarkably correct. He loved to
+spend a portion of his time in work on the farm and in the tree
+nursery, and you might be sure of finding him there when not otherwise
+occupied. Enjoying fun and social life, there was always a dignity
+remaining which gave him influence and commanded respect. If you looked
+into his room you saw pleasant volumes in various languages peeping at
+you from the table, chair, bookcase, and even from the floor, and they
+gave one the impression that for so young a person he was remarkably
+studious and well informed.
+
+George P. Bradford had the department of Belle Lettres. Of him, after
+his decease, his former friend and pupil, George William Curtis, wrote
+as follows in _Harper's Monthly_ for May, 1890:--
+
+"The recollection of George Bradford is that of a long life as serene
+and happy as it was blameless and delightful to others. It was a life
+of affection and many interests and friendly devotion; but it was not
+that of a recluse scholar like Edward Fitzgerald, with the pensive
+consciousness of something desired but undone. George Bradford was in
+full sympathy with the best spirit of his time. He had all the
+distinctive American interest in public affairs. His conscience was as
+sensitive to public wrongs and perilous tendencies as to private and
+personal conduct. He voted with strong convictions, and wondered
+sometimes that the course so plain to him was not equally plain to
+others.
+
+"It was a life with nothing of what we call achievement, and yet a life
+beneficent to every other life that it touched, like a summer wind
+laden with a thousand invisible seeds that, dropping everywhere, spring
+up into flowers and fruit. It is a name which to most readers of these
+words is wholly unknown, and which will not be written, like that of so
+many of the friends of him who bore it, in our literature and upon the
+memory of his countrymen. But to those who knew him well, and who
+therefore loved him, it recalls the most essential human worth and
+purest charm of character, the truest manhood, the most affectionate
+fidelity. To those who hear of him now, and perhaps never again, these
+words may suggest that the personal influences which most envelop and
+sweeten life may escape fame, but live immortal in the best part of
+other lives."
+
+Among the signers was also Nathaniel Hawthorne, the writer, and it may
+not be out of place to make here a few comments on his relation to the
+Brook Farm life, so often alluded to by writers.
+
+Hawthorne was an idealist in its broad sense. The idea of a juster and
+more rational social state pleased him. He felt himself honored, and
+was very grateful for the appreciation of the men and women by whom he
+was surrounded in the literary circle of the Transcendental Club, but
+he never surrendered the well-matured plan of his youth, to be a writer
+of stories.
+
+When, he went to Brook Farm he thought that his manual labors might in
+a small way do a trifle towards aiding the formation of the ideal
+state, and evidently felt that in his leisure hours he could compose,
+write for magazines, and the like; but the hard, unwonted though self-
+imposed labor, the peculiar surroundings, the buzz and hum of the large
+family in which he could not fail to take an interest, distracted him
+from his purpose. James T. Fields, the publisher, said of him, "He was
+a man who had, so to speak, a physical affinity with solitude." He
+could not put his mind to his special work. The seclusion in which he
+had worked before, he could not find, and though "no one intruded on
+him," as he says, yet he was not in his best element.
+
+Had he stayed longer, this newness of situation would doubtless have
+worn off, and he would have found a seclusion little dreamed of at
+first acquaintance with the life. He was in haste to be at his writing;
+so after a few months of manual labor, bidding adieu to the farm, he
+found himself back in Boston. There were other interests that carried
+him there, for we find that in the next year he married Sophia Peabody
+of Salem, Mass. Critics have said that the Brook Farm life was hurtful
+to his genius. He never once intimated it, but said afterwards to
+Emerson that he was "almost sorry he did not stay with the Brook
+Farmers and see it out to the finish."
+
+The most ingenuous, the most simple-minded of all men in matters of
+ordinary business, in relative values and exchanges, and unwilling to
+act as teacher, he could only be counted as an ordinary day-laborer,
+except where he could use the twin gifts of intellect and imagination
+with which he was so highly endowed. His allusion to his "having had
+the good fortune, for a time, to be personally connected with it," and
+"his old and affectionately remembered home at Brook Farm" speak
+volumes, as does also this little passage from "Blithedale Romance":--
+
+"Often in these years that are darkening around me, I remember our
+beautiful scheme of a noble and unselfish life, and how fair in that
+first summer appeared the prospect that it might endure for
+generations, and be perfected, as the ages rolled by, into the system
+of a people and a world. Were my former associates now there--were
+there only three or four of those true-hearted men still laboring in
+the sun--I sometimes fancy that I should direct my world-weary
+footsteps thitherward, and entreat them to receive me for old
+friendship's sake. More and more I feel we struck upon what ought to be
+a truth. Posterity may dig it up and profit by it."
+
+In "Years of Experience" the writer, Georgiana (Bruce) Kirby, one of
+the early associates, says:--
+
+"Hawthorne, after spending a year at the Community, had now left. No
+one could have been more out of place than he in a mixed company, no
+matter how cultivated, worthy and individualized each member of it
+might be. He was morbidly shy and reserved, needing to be shielded from
+his fellows, and obtaining the fruits of observation at second-hand. He
+was therefore not amenable to the democratic influences at the
+Community which enriched the others, and made them declare, in after
+years, that the years or months spent there had been the most valuable
+ones in their lives."
+
+Messrs. W. B. Allen, Minot Pratt, Warren Burton, Charles Hosmer, Isaac
+Hecker and George C. Leach, with Mr. Hawthorne, devoted most of their
+time to outdoor farm work.
+
+Many of the pupils became interested in the new life with which they
+came in contact. It influenced them for good, and in after years they
+were full of gratitude and praise for the help and moral tone it
+imparted to them. An extract from a letter from Mr. Richard F. Fuller,
+the father of Margaret Fuller, to Mr. Ripley at this time reads as
+follows:--
+
+"A lady asked me not long since where she should send her daughter to
+school. I said at once, to the _Community_, for there she would
+learn for the first time, perhaps, that all these matters of creed and
+morals are not quite so well settled as to make thinking nowadays a
+piece of supererogation, and would learn to distinguish between truth
+and the 'sense sublime,' and the dead dogmas of the past. This is the
+great benefit I believe you confer upon the young."
+
+The pupil who became most prominent was George William Curtis, who
+always acknowledged the beneficial effect it had upon all his future
+career.
+
+New England and New York sent in their share of pupils until the
+accommodations were crowded. The school flourished. It was not large,
+but select. It was necessary to have more room, and a neighbor's
+cottage was hired. Enthusiasts wished to build on the place. Plans of
+procedure for the Association were indefinite. The central idea of
+justice to all men and women was ever uppermost. Mrs. Olvord, a lady of
+means, built a small gabled cottage of wood, which, owing to ill
+health, she was able to occupy but a short time. At the highest point
+of the domain, on a ledge of "pudding-stone," the Association erected a
+small, square, wooden building which was named "the Eyrie," and at
+another period a large double or twin house was built to be conjointly
+occupied by two brothers from Plymouth, Mass., of the name of Morton;
+it was called "the Pilgrim House." The original farmhouse was
+christened "the Hive." The cultivation of the farm proceeded, and some
+ornamentation in the shape of flower-beds was done around the houses.
+It was soon found that much milk was needed at home, and the sale of it
+was discontinued.
+
+A few individuals making a common family on a farm near a city, would
+seem to be too unimportant a matter to excite much comment now, even
+though the people who did it were superior in attainments, of high
+purpose, and above criticism in their moral and social standing; but at
+this date of our country's history, all thoughtful people in New
+England seemed to be gaping at them with curiosity and wonder, and
+comments were unlimited. As they were neither dogmatists, nor active
+fanatics who brandished anathemas of terror and destruction at those
+who followed not in their ways, but simply and unostentatiously
+attended to their own business, and seemed to care very little for what
+anyone said derogatory to their proceedings, the conditions appeared so
+unique, that interest in their doings increased day by day.
+
+Mr. Ripley wrote of it a few months after its commencement: "We are now
+in full operation as a family of workers, teachers and students. We
+feel the deepest convictions that, for us, our mode of life is the true
+one, and no attraction would tempt any one of us to exchange it for
+that we have quitted lately." And it would be an impertinence now to
+penetrate into its private circles and bring its members and doings to
+the gaze of an investigating and curious public, were it not that its
+doings and its members have become, from their relation to social
+science, a part of public history.
+
+The pressure of life was off at Brook Farm, for the nonce. What anyone
+did that was out of the common, might cause smiles and laughter but no
+frowns or scoldings. Each felt and believed in the demonstration of his
+or her own individuality, and, as a first consequence, there was
+something that was often mistaken, by strangers, for rudeness and want
+of order. Some forgot that it was especially work they came for, and
+were anxious to have their theories discussed. Independence in dress
+was universal. The Mrs. Grandys were all away, and if the young ladies
+thought it was prettier to exhibit the grace of flowing tresses than to
+bind them up in "pugs" behind their heads, who should, who could,
+object?
+
+Prim Margaret Fuller, who was a visitor--and never a member of the
+community as has often been stated--professed herself disturbed, at
+first, by the easy and perhaps indifferent manner in which they
+listened to her long conversations, as they sat on the floor or on
+crickets; but on a later visit, she expressed herself as better
+pleased. Doubtless some of the individual angularities had been rubbed
+off, by this time, by the pleasant but close contact of the Community
+life--and some of hers as well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+THE SECOND DEVELOPMENT.
+
+
+Two years of the experimental and "idyllic" life, ran rapidly away, and
+the Community had gained something of position and name in the outward
+world. Personal contact had modified the extreme views of many of the
+founders. Changes had taken place in the Individuals composing it; some
+had departed. Six of the original stockholders remained. The number had
+increased to about seventy, including some thirty who were pupils. The
+financial success had not been all that was desired. Everything else
+was getting more settled. The social life was charming. Improvements in
+material matters, in comforts, in discipline and in grace of manners
+were visible. But what was to be developed next among all the things
+desirable? Was it to push the school still further in progress, to
+attach mechanical industries to the organization, to work up the farm
+life into more prominence, or what?
+
+It could not be expected that this large number of persons, whose early
+surroundings and ideas had been so varied, could at once agree as to
+what next steps were necessary to take, or to what definite end the
+Community should be shaped. There was need, certainly, of some central
+purpose strong enough for all to unite upon to inspire permanence.
+
+Neither Mr. Ripley nor any of his co-workers had heard of Charles
+Fourier--the French exponent of industrial association--or his
+doctrines, unless in a most casual way, and certainly they had not
+studied them when they started the Community. They were independent
+workers in a field of social science; but when they became acquainted
+with his ideas, especially his ideas of industry made attractive by
+organized labor, and its relation to the higher standard of work and
+liberal belief they had adopted and maintained thus far, their
+enthusiasm was awakened for them and they resolved to graft some of his
+formulas on their institution. The little Community, with its bright,
+cheerful school and its happy members, was not paying its way. There
+were philosophers enough in it. There were plenty of sweet, charming
+characters and amateur workmen in it, but the hard-fisted toilers and
+the brave financiers were absent.
+
+Still, it was not entirely absence of financial success that led the
+responsible men of the Community to make the change in the organization
+that they did, but truly because the grand and reasonable ideas of the
+distinguished Frenchman bore such internal evidences of harmony with
+human nature and with God's providence and laws that they carried
+conviction to the great and sympathetic minds of Brook Farm. Fourier
+argued that there was a sublime destiny for mankind on this earth, that
+the Creator was infinitely good, that all the instincts of our nature,
+when not subverted by bad conditions, pointed towards that destiny, and
+that humanity was on its way upward--that the past progress argued what
+the future might be.
+
+I give as illustrations, a few extracts from "The Social Destiny of
+Man," by Albert Brisbane, page 269:--"Four societies have existed on
+the earth--the savage, patriarchal, barbarian and civilized. Under
+these general heads may be classed the various social forms through
+which man has progressed up to the present day. _If four have existed
+may not a fifth, or even a sixth, be discovered and organized?_
+Common sense would dictate that there could, although the world has
+entertained a different opinion."
+
+Page 293: "If the barbarian asserts that the lash is the only means of
+forcing the slave to labor, the civilized is not far behind him in his
+reasoning, for he will assert with equal confidence that necessity and
+want are necessary stimulants to industry. The barbarian is as ignorant
+of the levers which civilization puts in play as is the civilized of
+the powerful incentives to action which the groups and series will call
+forth."
+
+Page 464: "If He [God] has not known how or has not wished to give us a
+social code productive of justice, industrial attraction and passional
+harmony;--_if he has not known how_, how could he have supposed
+our weak reason would succeed in a task in which he himself doubted of
+success? _If he has not wished_, how can our legislators hope to
+organize a society which would lead to the results above mentioned, and
+of which he wished to deprive us.... What motive could he have had to
+refuse us such a code? Six views may be taken on the subject of this
+omission.
+
+"_First--either he has not known how_ to give us a social code
+guaranteeing truth, justice and industrial attraction; in this case why
+create in us the want of it, without having the means of satisfying
+that want which he satisfies in creatures inferior to us, to which he
+assigns a mode of existence adapted to their attractions and instincts:
+
+"Second--_or he has not wished_ to give us this code; which thus
+supposes the Creator to be the persecutor of mankind, creating in us
+wants which it is impossible to satisfy, inasmuch as none of our codes
+can extirpate our permanent scourges:
+
+"Third--_or he has known how and has not wished_; in which case
+the Creator becomes a malignant being, knowing how to do good, but
+preferring the reign of evil:
+
+"Fourth--_or he has wished and has not known how_; in this case he
+is incapable of governing us, knowing and wishing the good which he
+cannot realize, and which we still less can attain:
+
+"Fifth--_or he has neither wished nor known how_; and we must
+attribute to him both want of genius and evil intention:
+
+"Sixth--_or he has known how and has wished_; in this case the
+code exists, and he must have provided a mode for its revelation--for
+of what use would it be if it were to remain hidden from men for whom
+it is destined?"
+
+Page 468: "If the human race were at the commencement of their social
+career--in the first ages of civilization--they would perhaps be
+excusable for founding some hope of social good upon human science,
+upon the legislation of man; but long experience has proved the
+impotency of human legislation, and shown clearly that the world has
+nothing to hope from human laws and civilized constitutions."
+
+Page 260: "Either the passions _are_ bad or the social mechanism
+_is false_, for evil prevails, and to a melancholy extent. If the
+former be true, then there is no hope of a better state of things, for
+every means of repression and constraint that human ingenuity could
+invent has been applied to regulate their action; but all in vain--they
+have remained unchanged, and in the eyes of the moralist as perverse as
+ever. If, however, the latter be true--that is, if the social mechanism
+be false--then there is a chance for a better future; for our
+incoherent and absurd societies are changing more or less with every
+century. They are at the mercy or whim of a tyrant, or of a revolution
+of the mass; they may therefore be reformed or done away with
+entirely."
+
+These grand words and this powerful logic, if even too strong for some
+of the readers of this book, were not so for the brave hearts of the
+leaders of Brook Farm, and for Mr. Ripley in particular. The tentative
+feeling, the search for science to back up the social impulses, seemed
+at last to have found something solid in a society conceived by the
+Creator; the man created by him, fitted to it by him; the society
+fitted to the man; the one the counterpart of the other. Albert
+Brisbane, Parke Godwin and Horace Greeley, with the _Tribune_,
+were arousing the thinkers in New York; Gerritt Smith was agitating the
+land question and giving away to actual settlers vast tracts of land
+owned by him. The works of the communist Owen and others were read.
+Antislavery, anti-war and non-resistance societies were vigorously
+prosecuting their claims. It was an era of great social activity.
+Thousands were aroused. "Communities," "Associations" and "Phalanxes"
+were springing up in various quarters. It seemed that the tide of
+change from social chaos to order was fast rising. A great wave of
+reform was sweeping over the land. Should the Community moor itself
+where it was, or be borne on with the flood?
+
+This was the question of moment; and while the young danced or played,
+acted in charade or masquerade, and the youths wove garlands of green
+around their straw hats, and amused themselves by wearing long tresses
+and tunics, the sedater heads were solving this important question. And
+they must decide it, but first of all Mr. Ripley's wishes must be
+consulted: the key to the situation was in his hands. What would he do?
+Would he, and should they, take among them men and women endowed only
+with practical, everyday talents, able to be honest and make shoes and
+sew garments; to strike with a sledge and a blacksmith's arm; to be
+adepts, maybe, in all the cares for the outward wants of the body, but
+who had never read Goethe or Schiller, and, possibly, neither
+Shakespeare, Scott nor Robert Burns; and might not care to read or
+study Latin, French, German or philosophy! It was for Mr. Ripley to
+decide.
+
+Did he then think of the little church in Purchase Street, and of what
+he had solemnly said to the listening congregation? Had he not told
+them that in every soul was a divine fire that aspired to the right no
+matter how deeply it had been covered from sight or buried by the
+troubling cares and surroundings that environed it: that there was a
+divine equality of spirit at the base of all human lives?
+
+Did he not hear reverberating in his soul the sublime passage, "If I be
+lifted up, I will lift all others up to me"? Had he not been lifted up?
+Had he not been supremely blest with health, strength, education,
+talent, friends, companionship with the great and his cup filled full
+of the sweet and sublime accords of the Christian faith? Had he not
+been lifted up, not in crucifixion, but by myriads of silent blessings,
+and was it not Christ-like to aid in lifting all others up also?
+
+Alas for those who speak of Mr. Ripley's action at this time as
+"Ripley's fall"! These were the moments when he achieved his glory,
+when the greatness of his character arose, almost without exception,
+above all others of the Transcendental School, who hovered around, and
+wished to claim him as a bright example of a man separated from the
+common herd of humanity, as a leader of a select group of men and
+women, cultivated intellectually and socially. Then, as before, when he
+saw what he deemed right, or, rather, when the intuitions of his soul
+told him his duty, he did not hesitate.
+
+Soon he was practically deserted by Emerson and his coterie, by some of
+the associates and pupils of the school, and boarders, who were scared
+out of their propriety by the fear of losing social caste, and they
+showed their disfavor by leaving him alone; but, intrenched as he was,
+and surrounded by a multitude of friends, new and old, and many
+secretly admiring his intrepid spirit, they could only vent their
+disfavor in sly sneers and hints that Mr. Ripley, and, of course, his
+followers with him, had fallen from their high estate. Yes, they who
+sat near by on the fences and crowed reform the loudest--they who had
+never soiled their ink-stained fingers with the grass-green sod of old
+Brook Farm in practical example of work--found most fault with him,
+because he chose to remain and risk his social standing still more than
+he had already done, in his magnificent work and experiment.
+
+In order to show more clearly some of the philosophy under which the
+leaders of Brook Farm based the changes in their theories and
+organization, let us pause a few moments to give a slight sketch of the
+growth of human society from its primitive formation to the present
+time, trusting that the time spent on it may not be unworthily used,
+and the patience of those to whom these ideas are old is asked for the
+benefit of others to whom they are new.
+
+It is evident that, at some time, there was a beginning of social life.
+To those who have full faith in the Mosaic record it was in the Garden
+of Eden; but that may be considered as before society, as such, was
+fairly begun. It was the very dawn of the childhood of our race. To
+those who recognize the fact that the primitive man was a weak,
+unskilled, uncultivated savage, the conclusion must come that the first
+social life of the race was very crude; that men lived in trees or in
+caves and rude huts, and that they formed societies or hordes for
+protection from the huge and formidable wild animals that roamed the
+uncultivated earth.
+
+Upon the slain beasts, wild fruits and grains they existed. They hunted
+and fished, and although the passions of friendship, love and ambition
+implanted in their souls by their Creator shone out at times, at other
+times they quarrelled like the brutes they slaughtered. This state of
+crude society is named _savagism_.
+
+But as the beasts became less formidable foes, and were much diminished
+in numbers by being slain and possibly from other causes, it is
+probable that at times the race suffered hunger, and finding that the
+ground readily produced from seed, the primitive race or races began to
+plant, and finding also that they had slain so many of the wild animals
+that they could keep herds of cattle without great danger of their
+destruction by them, the life of the herdsman began. But as the herds
+began to be numerous, it was found necessary to travel with them in
+order to give them new pasturage, and then the nomadic or wandering
+life was fully installed.
+
+With their cattle and their wives, and their limited knowledge of
+cultivation, the patriarchal tribe moved from place to place; sometimes
+to find water, sometimes to find pasture for their horses and cattle,
+and at harvest time they returned to their fields to harvest the grain
+which had been planted for all. This, as you see, describes crudely the
+second state of society, which is the "_patriarchal_" state.
+
+As population increased, the difficulty of constantly changing the
+place of residence was more and more apparent; and as some arts had
+sprung up, such as the manufacture of pottery, farming implements and
+defensive weapons, which could not be equally well carried on in all
+places, towns, and afterwards cities, sprang up, where the artisans
+resided; and being often liable to marauders, especially when the
+outside population or tribes were wandering away from them, they
+enclosed them with walls. By industry some wealth was acquired; some
+luxury and comparative splendor were introduced. Prominent and
+naturally ambitious individuals and families raised themselves into
+power, and, placing themselves at the head of armies, with the newest
+weapons of war, made by their own hands, went forth to conquer. Thus
+the third, or what is called the "_barbaric_" state was
+established.
+
+Still moving on in the same direction, a great variety of class
+distinction was made. Woman arose steadily from a condition of almost
+hopeless slavery to be the one companion of man, and direct slavery of
+man to man was abolished. Invention was stimulated, and means of
+dissemination of knowledge, such as the printing press and the
+university, came to light. Kings and princes reign by law, which is
+fully established, and commerce and trade flourish. These things
+inaugurate the advent of civilization; but perhaps the most marked
+types of civilization are the _independence of the individual,
+monogamic marriage_ and _free competition_. Thus was established
+the fourth societary condition.
+
+Society having progressed so far, and gone through so many changes, is
+it reasonable that it must now stop at what we call
+"_civilization_" as the _ultimatum_ of its progress? With a
+little thought it will be seen how surely man has, through all these
+changes, emancipated himself from physical surroundings until he stands
+forth free and independent, but without, however, any positive relation
+or duty binding him to maintain the independence of all the human
+brotherhood. His independence is for himself alone, and in that
+relation he is forced by _conditions of his surroundings_ to
+neglect and trespass on the rights of his fellow-man to keep his
+individual supremacy, and to develop various promptings of his soul,
+which are ofttimes good, great and noble.
+
+In the early days of civilization, free competition develops the
+resources of man. The prospect of wealth, and the power it brings with
+it, encourages trade to seek the ends of the earth, and from its
+products vast enterprises are built up. As every fruit has in it that
+which causes its final dissolution, and within it also the germs of a
+future and higher life, so civilized society carries in it the germs of
+its decay and dissolution, society being a natural product, as fruit
+is, of God's providence. _Free competition_ is the destructive
+agent, or one of the most important agents in its dissolution. Observe
+that the power which ripens a natural fruit causes, in the end, its
+destruction. Observe also that free competition, which in the early
+stages of civilization glorifies and typifies it, by continuing at its
+work will finally destroy it.
+
+There is another element which is called capital. In savage life there
+is hardly anything which can be called capital. The amount of capital
+depends on the wealth of the community. As society advances, wealth
+increases; from savagism to civilization, from early civilization to
+the present time. This wealth, this capital comes from the reserved
+products of labor; "dried labor," it has been called, for labor is its
+only source of production. This wealth belongs to the community that
+has earned it, saved it and inherited it. It is the grand moving power
+of society as it now stands, and without it we would return to the
+savage state. Society can never be too wealthy, any more than it can be
+too powerful, and the one is the synonym, to a great extent, of the
+other.
+
+But capital with interest, as the agent and assistant of competition,
+is destructive. Capital joined with labor builds manufactories,
+railroads, towns, and is the great moving power of civilization; but in
+the growth of civilization vast amounts of it have accumulated, and
+being unevenly distributed, there are those who are constantly seeking
+its use to help them to business and to elevation, and have been ready
+to pay a royalty, which we call interest, for the use of it. This has
+made capital a commodity.
+
+The progress of arts and inventions has been, in modern days, in such
+increased ratio to the increase of capital that it has created so great
+a demand that a monopoly has been made of it; more is paid for the use
+of it than its real worth, so that wealth, even in this democratic
+country, is piling up in colossal fortunes by being drawn from the
+great body of society. Consequently, classes of people grow relatively
+poorer as fast as other bodies of people or individuals grow richer;
+the extremes of riches and poverty constantly increasing.
+
+Every advance in the producing capacity of machinery gives organized
+capital a better hold on labor, because capital owns the machinery,
+and, in homely phrase, labor "is the under dog in the fight" all of the
+time. It makes no practical difference to it whether the laborer
+becomes capitalist or no, for the moment he becomes so he is engaged in
+the same crusade. He is no better nor worse than the one whom we called
+capitalist yesterday. It is the _unnatural position_ or
+_relation_ of _capital and labor_ that makes him what he is.
+To change this relation to a more just one was among the grandest ideas
+of the Brook Farmers, and the only way it could possibly be done, in
+their estimation, was by reorganizing society on a new basis; by
+combining the capital of the workers and others interested and using it
+so as finally to control machinery for the benefit of labor, and to
+reduce its hours of toil so that the laborer could have time for self-
+improvement.
+
+Having traced the progress of society from its earliest forms to our
+present civilization, it can be easily shown how the supreme or
+governing power is first in the hands of the most powerful physically;
+then passes to the one most able by prowess to sway a tribe or people;
+then passes into the hierarchy of the church, that rules by swaying
+mental terrors; next into the hierarchy of the state, that rules by
+both mental and physical terrors; and, in our present civilization, has
+passed or is passing rapidly into the hands of a moneyed class ruling
+with powers according to the amount of capital swayed; and it can be
+proved that these changes are but the natural result of forces that are
+as sure and constant as sunlight and electricity.
+
+This present form of social power, it is argued, is transient, and like
+the others, will pass away and be replaced, and can only be replaced by
+anarchy, or by a hierarchy of organized talent arranged in serial order
+from the most talented down to the humblest laborer, and this was
+another of the grand ideas of the Brook Farmers. From the seeds of this
+civilization will spring--is springing--a higher order. It is an order
+that the teacher Fourier called "_guaranteeism_." It is an order
+in which the _governing power_ passes from the moneyed aristocracy
+into the hands of _organized bodies_. It is an order in which the
+spiritual and material truths are incorporated into organic societies
+and governments which guarantee to everyone support in sickness and
+protection from dangers of various sorts; an order which, in fact,
+abounds in mutual guarantees covering by degrees all the numerous
+necessities and wants of life--hence its name; and finally, in the
+process of time, placing all the material wants of the people under
+protective guarantees.
+
+This fifth condition of society must pass into the sixth order, which
+is the _associative order_, or the coöperative phase of society in
+which it will be proven by practical works that, by adherence to
+principles and proper organizations, we may avoid a large share of the
+miseries we have in the past so unsparingly laid to the charge of the
+Deity as discipline for us, but which are the results of our own
+ignorance. The "_harmonic order_" is associated life of a high
+type, and includes association of families, economy of means, unity of
+interests, labor made attractive, equitable distribution of profits,
+integral justice, etc., in such a way as to bring about very great
+happiness among _all_ people, thus deserving its grand name. From
+the commencement of the age of harmony, which is a higher octave of
+life, society begins a new era, the beauties and accords of which no
+one can do more than speculate upon.
+
+This sketch of the progress of the human race may seem trite to many
+readers. It may have a familiar sound, but it is necessary to our
+narrative. It was promulgated many years before our modern writers came
+into the field with their evolutionary theories, and it is at least a
+theoretic base for social scientists to build their hopes of present
+and future progress on. To the Brook Farm leaders it was new; it was
+sensible; it was reasonable. Communism they did not favor, for their
+motto was, "Community of property is the grave of individual liberty."
+Instinctively they rebelled against it.
+
+The organized communities held everything in common--houses, lands,
+moneys and goods; even prescribing what garments should be worn, and
+also electing a religious creed for their members. It was not
+compatible with the greater ideas of freedom held at Brook Farm. It was
+not a free life and it could not be a true life, for they all believed
+in the motto, "The _truth_ shall make you _free_," and
+instead of freedom, the "Communities" used mental constraint and
+tyranny to hold themselves together.
+
+The Brook Farmers believed that the laborer owned the value of his
+labor; if it was used, it was credited to him, and a part of the
+increased value of the domain belonged to him. It never belonged to the
+organization;--that is, the value of it--but by mutual consent might be
+retained, invested and added to the laborer's stock. Theoretically the
+result would show that the person who was the most capable, active and
+industrious would in time own the most accrued capital. This the Brook
+Farmers claimed was right and according to nature, and, combined with
+_yearly diminishing interest_, could not be destructive, as
+capital is now.
+
+They had fallen unwittingly, it may be said, on ideas that coincided
+with those of Charles Fourier. There was an agreement between them,
+unknown at the start. Their idea that certain mutual guarantees were to
+be in the constitution, such as immunity from labor in extreme age and
+youth, care in sickness--a certain "minimum" of rights according to the
+prosperity or wealth of the institution--and that an "integral
+education" was a duty of the Association--an education not of the mind
+alone, but of the hands, heart and affections--coincided exactly with
+Fourier, and it was easy to adopt his motto of "_coöperative
+labor_," for they had already adopted the principle; also
+"_association of families_," for that had been agreed on. It was
+easy to adopt his formula of "_honors according to usefulness_";
+they believed in it.
+
+Usefulness, not wealth, station or any artificial distinction, was to
+receive the highest rank and the greatest honors and favors from the
+body politic. It might be an invention of the mind; it might be some
+Herculean or disagreeable labor of the body, or it might be some
+enthusiasm imparted from some brilliant soul, that would win the honor;
+but it could be given to none except those who had won it by superior
+usefulness, whether that usefulness came from doing the work in the
+"sacred legion"--who were a body of persons who did unattractive work
+from a sense of duty--or in any other body or group.
+
+It was easy to adopt "_attractive industry_," another of Fourier's
+mottoes, for were they not trying mind and body to make it so? And
+finally, it was easy to adopt the aphorism that the attractions of life
+in the universe are in proportion to the destinies they assist in
+accomplishing--"_attractions are proportionate to destinies_," as
+it is translated. Certainly it was simple and easy to grasp and
+believe, when explained so well as it had been by Fourier, and by
+Brisbane and Godwin, his American translators. And lastly, if all these
+things were true, why not say so and adopt them? They were outside and
+free from modern society. They had one of their own. They were happy in
+it. They had adopted truth as their guide--truth as they saw it, and
+whenever and wherever they saw it.
+
+Thus closed the first chapter in the history of this little society.
+They had gathered together without any idea of scientific organization,
+but from profound convictions of the present wrong relations of the
+human brotherhood, from religious convictions of duty, and in the
+belief that they would increase in love to one another, and draw to
+themselves by their example the good and wise; believing also that if
+they planted the seeds of truth and unity they would be watered with
+deeds of faith, and by degrees overtop and destroy the evil undergrowth
+that abounded in the so-called civilization all around them.
+
+Now came to the leaders a new revelation! It was of science applied to
+society. Mr. Ripley had great faith in scientific agriculture. Was
+there to be science applied to society? Was it true that the actual
+laws applicable to social life had been discovered? Were they immutable
+as the laws of earthly bodies--of the sun, the stars and the universe?
+And did they actually agree with the laws of music, color and
+mathematics? It seemed so. They could but try them. And with a faith
+for which, during all these succeeding years, they have been, laughed
+at by cynical philosophers, they went to work to apply them, as far as
+possible, to the actual life they were then leading. All honor to them!
+
+When the resolution was finally taken to join with the movements that
+seemed to be, as it were, a new impulse for humanity's sake--an
+outpouring of spirit upon the children of men, instanced by the very
+great and sudden interest taken by numerous bodies, societies and
+individuals along the line of social reform--it was not entirely
+palatable to all who had looked on the little Community as their pet
+property, their ideal home; for the sainted individualists, for
+cultivated book-worms, for theorists who could read Latin and Greek but
+whose ideas of labor extended only to planting flowers or washing with
+care a few muslins to adorn their beautiful selves; and fearing a loss
+of selectness some departed. The motive extended to the school, and,
+although many of the former pupils left, their places were soon filled
+by others.
+
+The responsible men looked at the matter from another standpoint. They
+felt that the labor on the farm had been the least success of anything,
+and that to organize and improve it was one thing important, if not
+_the_ one thing needful. Many good men stood at the outer gates
+waiting for entrance. The members of the "Direction" were firm, and
+brave. They felt that the experience of the first two years was a
+permanent advantage to them, and they reorganized under the same name
+as before. With the new constitution was published a preliminary
+statement from which the following is extracted:--
+
+"All persons who are not familiar with the purposes of Association,
+will understand from this document that we propose a radical and
+universal reform rather than to redress any particular wrong, or to
+remove the sufferings of any single class of human beings. We do this
+in the light of universal principles in which all differences, whether
+of religion, or politics, or philosophy, are reconciled, and the
+dearest and most private hope of every man has the promise of
+fulfilment. Herein, let it be understood, we would remove nothing that
+is truly beautiful or venerable; we reverence the religious sentiment
+in all its forms, the family and whatever else has its foundation
+either in human nature or Divine Providence. The work we are engaged in
+is not destruction, but true conservation; it is not a mere resolution,
+but, as we are assured, a necessary step in the progress which no one
+can be blind enough to think has yet reached its limit.
+
+"We believe that humanity, trained by these long centuries of suffering
+and struggle, led on by so many saints and heroes and sages, is at
+length prepared to enter into that universal order toward which it has
+perpetually moved. Thus we recognize the worth of the whole past, and
+of every doctrine and institution it has bequeathed us; thus also we
+perceive that the present has its own high mission, and we shall only
+say what is beginning to be seen by all sincere thinkers, when we
+declare that the imperative duty of this time and this country, nay,
+more, that its only salvation and the salvation of civilized countries,
+lies in the reorganization of society according to the unchanging laws
+of human nature, and of universal harmony.
+
+"We look, then, to the generous and helpful of all classes for
+sympathy, for encouragement and for actual aid; not to ourselves only,
+but to all who are engaged in this great work. And whatever may be the
+result of any special efforts, we can never doubt that the object we
+have in view will be finally attained; that human life shall yet be
+developed, not in discord and misery, but in harmony and joy, and that
+the perfected earth shall at last bear on her bosom a race of men
+worthy of the name."
+
+[_Signed by the Directors_.] GEORGE RIPLEY. MINOT PRATT. CHARLES
+A. DANA.
+
+Brook Farm, Mass., Jan. 18, 1844.
+
+This constitution was largely like the first one, but varied from it in
+the following particulars:--
+
+"The department of Industry shall be managed in groups and series as
+far as is practicable, and shall consist of three primary series, to
+wit: Agricultural, Mechanical and Domestic Industry. The chief of each
+group to be elected weekly, and the chief of each series once in two
+months by the members thereof, subject to the approval of the General
+Direction."
+
+"Persons wishing to become members must first reside on the place as
+applicants for one month."
+
+"Applicants who have passed acceptably through their term may become
+candidates, and remain in this new relation a month more, when they may
+be admitted as Associates."
+
+"Personal property may be received as stock by the Direction of Finance
+when it shall be deemed advantageous to the Association."
+
+"Persons shall, on becoming residents on the domain, deliver an exact
+inventory of all the furniture and implements which they may retain as
+private property, to be filed for reference in the office of the
+Direction."
+
+"New groups and series may be formed from time to time for the
+prosecution of different and new branches of industry."
+
+"Three hundred days shall be considered a year's labor. The hours of
+labor shall be from the first of October to the first of April at least
+eight hours daily, and from the first of April to the first of October
+at least ten hours daily, and no person shall be credited for labor
+beyond that time."
+
+"No debt shall be contracted in behalf of the Association by any person
+whatever."
+
+"Articles furnished to the Associates shall be charged at cost as
+nearly as the same can be ascertained."
+
+"The period of education shall extend from birth to the age of twenty
+years, and shall be divided into three stages: Infancy to six years,
+Pupilage from six to sixteen years, and Probation from sixteen to
+twenty. The education during probation shall be in the practical duties
+of Associates."
+
+"No public meeting for business or amusement shall be protracted beyond
+the hour of ten P. M."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Many persons who have heard of the Community life at Brook Farm have
+idealized it into a little coterie of choice spirits who sat around the
+study lamp at early eve, after the light toil of the day had ceased,
+and discussed the intellectual problems of the German philosophers who
+had given much of the impulse to the Transcendental Club, and brought
+so many young men forward as leaders of thought; but this was only
+partially true.
+
+Mr. Ripley at first endeavored to instruct the assembly and impart to
+them some of his own intellectual enthusiasm. Evening classes were
+formed; readings took place from some of the prominent poets--Goethe,
+Schiller, Shakespeare; from Carlyle and Cousin as well as Emanuel Kant;
+but when the industrial period began, he had more than his hands full,
+and he laid his books on the shelf. They were his tools--they were the
+ladders on which he had mounted to his high estate. Why should he
+worship them? They had taught him, as had the Hebrew writers, faith in
+the Creator; faith in His best creation, man; faith in reason, faith in
+right, faith, in a magnificent human destiny. Why should he spend his
+life in singing praises of them? To work! To begin to shape society to
+higher ends! That was indeed the worthiest end in life, and his
+worthiest homage to the writers and their books.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND DESCRIPTIONS.
+
+
+It was a pleasant afternoon in March, 1843, when I left Boston, in a
+small omnibus, that started from Brattle Street for West Roxbury
+Village and Brook Farm. My father's family of three had preceded me, he
+remaining behind to close his business; it was a question of but a few
+days when we should be all embarked in the new and untried life to
+which we were looking forward with pleasurable emotions.
+
+The nine miles of interval was passed, riding through an undulating
+country, by pleasant farms surrounded with the stone walls so common in
+Massachusetts and the eastern states, and by pretty white houses, with
+green window blinds and little front flower gardens, with fruit and
+shade trees standing sentinels on their borders. Here and there a ledge
+of "pudding-stone" cropped out, and the scenery grew more primitive as
+we neared the vicinity of the farm. Slowly we rode on, leaving
+passengers and parcels by the way until it showed signs of deepening
+twilight, when we reached by a slight acclivity the door of the
+farmhouse that was at the entrance of the place, where I was soon
+joined by my relatives who took me in charge and made me presentable
+for supper; but I was too late to join with the family, and took my
+first meal with them the following day.
+
+Looking out of the window the next morning, I found it overlooked the
+farm-yard and the broad meadow that lay south of the house. What
+awakened me was the sound of a trumpet or horn, blown by some one for
+rising or breakfast. I dressed leisurely, as I found it was the first
+or "rising horn," and went out of the front door for a survey. Before
+me was the driveway. A wooden fence, and a row of mulberry and spruce
+trees stood guarding the two embankments that were terraced down to the
+brook and meadow. On the embankments were shrubs and flower beds. A
+couple of rods to the right stood a graceful elm, beside a gateway that
+opened on a pathway to the garden and fields.
+
+Passing by the front of the house I found that two wings had been added
+to it in the rear, leaving shed and carriage room beneath. Directly in
+front of me, and facing due east, was a large barn raised upon stone
+posts, which was open on the south side to the large barnyard, and
+between the barn and house was a driveway or road, leading over the
+premises.
+
+In the kitchen, which was directly in the rear of the dining room,
+there was a clatter of dishes, and a few persons were going from place
+to place outside.
+
+Some one was in the barn attending to the cattle. He had on a tarpaulin
+straw hat, and a farmer's frock of blue mixture that hung down below
+the tops of his cowhide boots. I looked sharply at the man, and found
+it was Mr. George Ripley. The "second horn" sounded; it aroused the
+dog, who howled pitifully or musically--in bad unison with it. Soon the
+persons from the other houses came to breakfast, strolling leisurely
+along.
+
+I found that all the people, unless ill, took their meals at the
+farmhouse dining room. A little quaintness of dress, some picturesque
+costumes--such as the blue tunics with black belts of leather, that the
+men wore; the full beards, that were not common then as now; the broad
+hats and graceful, flowing hair of the young ladies; the varied style
+of garments of the students and the boarders--all interested me.
+
+The long, low dining room had rows of tables, some six in number,
+seating on an average fourteen persons each. White painted benches
+supplied the place of chairs. The tables were neatly set in white ware;
+white mugs served for both cups and drinking glasses. There were white
+linen table cloths, and everything was scrupulously neat.
+
+At the farther end of the room sat Mr. Ripley. The garments of the
+husbandman and farmer had all been laid aside, and, neatly dressed, he
+was smiling and laughing, his gleaming eyes seeming to reflect their
+brilliancy on the golden bows of his spectacles. At his right sat his
+wife, and near by his sister, who poured the morning libation of tea or
+coffee. Most of the pupils were at this table. Mrs. Ripley, tall,
+graceful and slim, was, like her husband, near-sighted, but only on
+occasions would she raise a gold-bowed eye-glass to look at some
+distant object or person. The fare at the table was plain; good bread,
+butter and milk from the farm were present. It is hardly necessary to
+say that I looked around with peculiar interest on those who were to be
+my new friends and companions. It was not a dismal or sober meal. There
+was a happy buzz that indicated to me a probability of great future
+happiness.
+
+How well do I remember the old dining-room with its familiar forms and
+faces--too many to describe now! There were the young and pretty Misses
+Foord; the one a dimpled blonde, lovely, rosy-complexioned, with large,
+wonderful blue eyes; and her sister with her clear skin and dark hair
+and eyebrows, both wearing their contrasted and unbound tresses flowing
+over their graceful shoulders. And hark! 'tis Dolly, dear Dolly Hosmer,
+with her rollicking, noisy laugh. And pretty Mary Donnelly--oh, how
+pretty! with the dimples and the peach-bloom on her face, her white
+teeth and coal-black hair--ever pretty whether she was smiling at you
+or peeling potatoes. And Charles Newcomb, the mysterious and profound,
+with his long, dark, straight locks of hair, one of which was
+continually being brushed away from his forehead as it continually
+fell; with his gold-bowed eye-glass, his large nose and peculiar blue
+eyes, his spasmodic expressions of nervous horror, and his
+cachinnatious laugh. There were sturdy Teel, and heavy Eaton, and
+frisky Burnham, and bluff Rykman, with round-eyed Fanny Dwight and
+another graceful Fanny, and oh! so many more men and women, friends and
+workers striving for a sublime idea. I could describe very many of them
+and the minute details of all the houses and surroundings, but it would
+unwisely overcrowd these pages.
+
+Mounting the central and highest portion of the farm I found it was
+beautifully situated in an amphitheatre surrounded by hills on all
+sides, and formed a charming picture. There was a young orchard of
+apple trees, and here and there stood a few shade trees by the walls
+and roadside. There were fields, or rather patches, where corn and
+vegetables were grown for family use. Some of them were exposed on the
+southern faces of the hills, and some were in the hollows. In front was
+the broad, meadow, like a pleasant sea of green, stretching far away.
+
+From the first house, the old farmhouse called now "the Hive"--a pretty
+and well-chosen name--the driveway led to the other houses. It
+descended nearly to the level of the meadow, and did not rise again
+until it neared the "Pilgrim House," the most distant one. From that it
+turned on itself on the high ground toward the "Cottage" and "Eyry,"
+the remaining houses.
+
+The "Pilgrim House," an oblong double house, occupying a commanding
+position, was plain and white, without ornamentation, and squarely
+built like most of the New England country houses of its date. There
+were no trees around it, and it was the least attractive house on the
+place.
+
+The "Cottage" had four gables, and was also plain and unpretending; it
+had only some half-a-dozen rooms and was painted a dark brown color. It
+was situated on a little knoll, with flower beds in the rear, and
+greensward all around it.
+
+Beyond and nearer to the "Hive," in the centre of the domain, was the
+"Eyry" (this is the way Mr. Ripley spelled it; some spelled it "Eyrie"
+and some "Aerie"). It had for its base a ledge of Roxbury conglomerate
+called "pudding-stone," and it was banked up with two greensward
+terraces. It had the highest and finest location, with a background of
+oak and maple woods, and looked out on the orchard, commanding a fine
+view. It was a square, smooth, wooden structure painted a light gray,
+sandstone color. It was made of smooth, matched boards, and had a
+large, flat cornice or flange that surrounded it near the top, which
+saved it from extreme plainness. Yet it was pleasing to the eye, and it
+had low, French windows that open like doors out on to the upper
+terrace.
+
+As I looked in it for the first time I saw that a few pictures adorned
+the walls: pressed fern leaves filled the mantel vases, and the bright
+remnants of last autumn's foliage were in some places fastened to the
+walls. There was also a piano, over which hung an oil painting, and in
+the opposite room was a large array of Mr. Ripley's books. It was "the
+library," and many of the works were in German. In particular, there
+was a set of fourteen volumes, "Specimens of Foreign Literature,"
+edited by Mr. Ripley, that attracted my attention.
+
+At the Cottage were the school-rooms principally for the younger
+children; and the Pilgrim House was used mostly for family lodgings.
+
+For a time my sleeping apartment was with others in the upper room of
+the rear wing of the farmhouse, dignified by the name "Attica." My
+companions were all single men; good, reliable fellows who were working
+for a principle and would ordinarily have declined such a lodging-
+place, but under the circumstances were not apt to grumble, but made
+the best of it. It was like camping out, and all its mischances were
+turned into fun. My roommates were called "the Admiral," "the
+Dutchman," "the General" and "the Parson,"--nicknames given each one of
+them for some personal peculiarity.
+
+There were advantages as well as disadvantages in living in "Attica."
+It was nearest the centre of the life and business of the place. In the
+winter mornings there was no long walk to meals, as those had who lived
+at the other houses. We were near the warm kitchen; and when the house
+was still and work suspended--all save the baking of bread, which often
+proceeded in the evening in the range ovens--a group would gather
+around the fire and talk and gossip--for we were not beyond the last;
+speculation, theory and argument went pleasantly on until bed-time.
+
+No, Attica! I have not forgotten the days spent inside thy walls, thy
+strange inhabitants, or the mysteries that surrounded thee on my first
+entrance into thy domain! I have not forgotten the long, low roof and
+projecting beams, or the half dozen bedsteads that were standing
+around; the two large chimneys that arose in the centre and the number
+of stove-pipes that came from below and entered them; or the skylights
+that were thy only means of illumination save the window at "the
+Parson's" end, which looked out on the pleasant fields and the houses
+beyond; or the plain, uncarpeted floor, the washstands by the chimneys
+and the clothing hung up around.
+
+Neither have I forgotten the nights when lying in bed I have heard the
+rain pouring and pattering above thee and me; or when I saw by the dim
+light of a single oil lamp, as I lifted myself on my elbow in bed, one
+of the occupants moving his cot bedstead from some gentle leak that was
+getting too familiar with his bedclothes; or when in the dreary winter
+the Storm King howled around and bore some fleecy flakes on his windy
+gusts through a stray hole in the roof, and morning showed us a
+miniature white mountain on the floor.
+
+No, to this day a vision of the "Parson" (Capen) comes to me, reading
+by the light of an oil lamp placed on a shelf at the head of his
+bedstead, long after others were asleep; lying in bed at the
+furthermost portion of thy space; now chuckling to himself, then
+drowsily reading on and on, with his spectacles dropped down on to the
+point of his long nose--as the passage was either witty or dry; or
+visions of the early risers, waking betimes and disturbing the dreams
+of the later ones by the preparations of the toilet; or the sound of
+the morning horn as it rose from beneath us on the clear air!
+
+I was seventeen years of age, and having passed the time when I could
+have been by right a pupil in the day school, was assigned to manual
+labor. You will see by the Constitution that I was a "Probationer." It
+was fortunate that I loved the grass and trees, and the routine of farm
+life. My youth excused and deprived me of the council meetings and the
+right to vote, so that many hours spent by some, though but a little
+older than myself, in meetings, were absolutely mine to rove in, or to
+use as I liked. Though born to city life and work I dearly loved the
+country and a farm, but did not know its duties, nor had I the strength
+for heavy labor, so I assisted in work in and about the houses in the
+early hours of the day, and in some of the lighter farming, as
+planting, hoeing, weeding and driving the oxen, horses and cows; in
+fact, taking a lad's place in the farm and house employments.
+
+Owing to the amount of labor and the disproportion of female help, some
+of the young men under age oftentimes assisted after meals in wiping
+dishes and supplying hot and cold water. It was a matter of rivalry
+between parties to see which could beat in a match, the washer or
+wipers. Two lads of near my own age supplied dishes and hot water as
+fast as it was needed, and one young lady washed the plates, saucers,
+mugs and the like, the same young men doing the wiping.
+
+There was plenty of plain crockery piled up and it was rushed into a
+capacious receptacle and washed with great dexterity. Then wipe, young
+men, wipe! Will you allow a young lady to wash faster than two can
+wipe? _Never_, _boys_, never! and with incredible speed the
+surface of the plates and dishes was changed into mirrors. There was
+one young lady who was hard to beat; often when the parties thought
+they had nearly succeeded she would cry out for "hot water"! and one
+would have to supply her with it, and by that time his partner would be
+overwhelmed with a stock of unwiped crockery. Need I say that at times
+I was one of those boys?
+
+There were none of the modern conveniences for water, and the pump had
+to do its share of work. The rooms were supplied daily by a water
+carrier who went from house to house filling the pails and pitchers in
+the rooms and halls.
+
+I was willing and tractable. The fresh air, the simple diet and the
+free life began at once to tone up my organization. I soon found that
+the Eyry steps and the Eyry embankments were where the air was freshest
+of an evening, and the tones of the piano presided over by the "poet's
+sister," Fanny Dwight, attracted me more and more. The pupils and those
+of their ages grouped naturally together. I did not care to go among
+the arguers and the disputants who talked anti-this and anti-that, the
+new sciences of medicine--the water cure and homoeopathy; who disputed
+the doctrines of community of property, western lands, politics,
+approaching war with Mexico, etc., etc. Nor did I care to group with
+the few who played euchre and smoked "conchas," and the book of nature
+had very often more charms for me than any other.
+
+Our family rooms were small, and as stated I was sandwiched in with
+others, in rather unpromising quarters. But I almost only slept there.
+My interested parents often spent the evenings as well as the days in
+domestic duties, so I was much alone. I cared not. I could thoughtfully
+contemplate the climbing constellations, and sometimes one of the many
+who grew friendly to me would point out the planets and name the stars
+for me, and I would watch the moon rise slowly above the horizon. The
+beautiful meadow was below me, and above and around the whole eastern
+hemisphere of sky. Or I would wander around the houses to see what was
+going on, meeting groups of promenaders by the way. At the cottage the
+piano would be playing, and likely as not Lucas and José or Willard and
+Charles were waltzing with Anna and Abbie or Katie and Agnes to
+Louisa's playing. Or it was singing school, and all joined it; or Mrs.
+Ripley was going to read "Margaret"; or the "Professor" (Dana) wanted
+me in his German class; or it was full moon and we would walk a mile or
+two down the highway, or make a moonlight visit to the pines. Otherwise
+I was dreaming day-dreams to Fanny's piano playing.
+
+Ah! do you think I was indolent? Not so! In my meditations I was
+working out social problems and solving theories of life and religion.
+I was nursing kindliness of heart, love to all men. I was awakening a
+crushed nature, and absorbing influences that made the mottoes of
+"Unity of man with man," "Unity of man with God," "Unity of man with
+the universe," seem like real, tangible things. But who can say how
+much was also due to the low, soothing harmonies that floated out of
+those graceful windows with parting sashes that opened like doors down
+to the windowsills?
+
+In time I explored every cranny and hollow of ground. I wandered in the
+woods, found every wild flower, knew every tree; knew where the
+trailing evergreens grew; could go to the spot where I could find what
+I wanted for bouquets, and surprised the Community with their ample
+size and beauty. I came in with wreaths and garlands; gathered
+varieties of grasses untold; picked rhodoras in early spring, saracenas
+and orchids in summer, asters and gentians in the late fall, and
+innumerable flowers in various places of a neighborhood wonderfully
+rich in botanical specimens.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD.
+
+
+When I arrived, Hawthorne, Bradford, Hosmer, Hecker, Burton, Leach and
+Allen had gone; as had also the Curtis brothers, George and Burrill,
+the Bancroft boys, sons of the historian, and Barlow (since General
+Barlow)--all pupils; as well as some of the ladies--Miss Dora Gannett,
+niece of Rev. Ezra S. Gannett, Miss Georgianna Bruce, (afterwards Mrs.
+Kirby), Miss Allen, Miss Sarah Stearns; and the phase of the Brook Farm
+life jocosely or seriously alluded to by the after-comers as the
+"Transcendental Days" or "Community Times," gave place to the
+"Associative or Industrial Period."
+
+In the place of the Transcendentalists came other men and women, new
+and untried, with not so much of Greek and Latin, not so much suavity
+of manners, not so much "cultivation," but warm of heart and brave of
+purpose. The magnificent idea was a revelation of truth to some but
+also a great temptation for many shivering poor and impatient
+outsiders. They could thrive on it. They felt it was their right, their
+destiny, having failed in the civilized fight for bread and butter and
+comfort, to have from some source food, shelter and protection; and it
+struck them that Brook Farm was just the place to go for it. So the
+Association was inundated with applications of all kinds by person and
+by letter.
+
+It is my fortune to possess the originals of a number of these
+interesting letters, specimens of which may be found in the appendix.
+The replies by Mr. Ripley were drafts of the letters sent; they are all
+in his fine handwriting and _bona fide_ documents which the writer
+personally secured at Brook Farm many years ago, after the organization
+had broken up.
+
+The Directors used discretionary power, and if there was any
+probability that the applicant would be useful, his case was presented
+for action at a general meeting of the Association.
+
+I was not long on the farm before I became acquainted with many of the
+Associates besides those before mentioned--those who belonged entirely
+to the Associative period; and among the unique figures there was no
+one that struck my young fancy more than that of Peter, or, in familiar
+talk, "the General."
+
+Peter M. Baldwin was about his work when I was introduced to him, and
+as he put forth his hand I saw that his arms extended no little way
+through the sleeves of a common green baize jacket; and that his large
+feet, which were encased in an old pair of slippers, had descended some
+six inches below a pair of blue overalls before they touched the
+ground. If he had been inclined to corpulency, his frame was ample to
+build upon for a man of Websterian proportions, but he was not so
+inclined; on the contrary, he simulated other great men in his
+personality--Jackson, or our modern Abraham Lincoln. He was spare,
+bony, nervous. His heavy eyebrows, his dark hair well sprinkled with
+gray, which arose straight upward from his high, indented forehead, and
+his large, half Roman nose, prominent cheek-bones and thin cheeks
+reminded one so forcibly of the pictures of General Jackson that he was
+by unanimous consent nicknamed "the General."
+
+He shook me by the hand warmly and asked me a few questions, and it was
+not until after this first interview that I discovered he had an
+impediment in his speech. A rapid talker, he would rattle on in
+conversation and then stop as suddenly as though you had put your hand
+over his mouth. You would look up in astonishment, and then find by the
+contortions of his face that he was trying to speak some troublesome
+word but could not. The word once recovered, his speech flowed on as
+before and perhaps for a long while, until he stumbled upon another
+fence-like one; when he would dismount, take down the bars, or jump it,
+and proceed as before.
+
+This impediment, strange to say, never troubled the General when he had
+prepared a piece for recitation, for he would then speak with dignity
+and precision, and made the very beau ideal of "the lean and hungry
+Cassius."
+
+He was a universal favorite, on account of the kindness and benevolence
+of his disposition. This generosity was superabundant, for if any of
+the younger portion of the family wished for the sweets of the
+storeroom, over which he presided, they had only "to coax the General"
+to succeed in obtaining their wishes.
+
+"The General" was the baker and made the bread, cake and some of the
+pastry. He also assisted the "kitchen group" in domestic cookery.
+Beyond this he was particularly fond of three things--disputation, the
+newspapers and a cigar. He was thoroughly devoted to the doctrines of
+"United industry" and to Brook Farm. He was among the first up in the
+morning and last at night, attending to his ovens and his bread.
+
+Peter's room was at first in Attica with others, where I saw him often,
+and his favorite pastime was a game of euchre, which had not then
+worked itself into general favor. I did not care to play it then, or
+any cards; I was too much charmed with the life of the place, with the
+society of the young, with social games under the inspiration of the
+hostess, with love of dance and music and the ever-changing face of
+nature, to care for such dull solace as the pasteboard games.
+
+But the General did; he conversed, he smoked, he read the newspapers,
+he argued, stuttered and talked the "water cure," and one day I was
+surprised on going into the room to find him fully embarked for the
+cure of a desperate headache. What had he done? Why, taken the wash-
+bowl and filled it with water, placed it on the floor, stretched
+himself out at full length on the floor also, and, with a pillow at his
+shoulders, laid the back of his head into the wash-bowl. But being of
+an active temperament he could not be quiet and idle long, so, calling
+for a newspaper and lighting a cigar, he gently puffed the weed and
+read the news, lying still in position while the "cure" was
+progressing. It was a funny sight!
+
+My attention was soon drawn to a large, portly gentleman who carried
+his head erect and had an easy, familiar way about him; for he was
+acting as host, being charged with the reception of guests and
+strangers who came to visit or to look about the place. He walked with
+the grandeur of a Falstaff and the dignity of a sachem. His capacious
+gray coat and broad-brimmed hat might suggest to a stranger that he had
+been at some time a member of a Shaker community, but his closely cut
+gray hair and his heavy, o'erhanging eyebrows and brave visage gave the
+lie to any such suggestion. Aye, aye, every hair that stood bristling
+up on that front of his seemed to stand in rebellion against such a
+charge, seemed saying, and growing more bristly every moment, "I, a
+Shaker? Not I!" A large mouth was an appropriate companion to a
+ponderous throat and chin, which were daily shaven with scrupulous
+adherence to the first principles of warm water, soap and a sharp
+razor, and a practice of thirty years gave a polish to his face unknown
+to those less adept in the art.
+
+On one occasion, some of the members fled from the tyranny of the
+brutal blade and let their beards grow in uncut stubble, not, however,
+without criticism from our host, who said in answer to their argument
+that it was natural for the beard to grow, "Art is the perfection of
+nature! Look at this garden!" It was after dinner, and some were taking
+a few moments' rest in front of the Hive, lounging on the fence and
+looking down the terrace into what was called "her majesty's garden"
+and toward the bubbling brook. "What would it be without its walks,
+flower-beds and arrangement?" he continued. "And these fields--what
+would they be without the art of cultivation? You see it is art that
+perfects nature."
+
+Then some wag suggested that he was trying to cultivate "the field of
+his face," but nothing could disturb the imperturbable gravity of his
+composition. Gravity, solid gravity, was one of the basic elements of
+his nature. When, however, he lighted his enthusiastic lamp, and his
+warm heart gushed forth in song or story--I think I hear him singing
+now, "A man's a man for a' that!"--he carried his audience with him.
+
+The "Omniarch," as Mr. Ryckman was called, was a man of family, his
+short, sprightly, nervous little wife acting as hostess and attending
+to the lady visitors.
+
+Many visitors asked the question of him, "Mr. Ryckman, do the Brook
+Farmers hold all their property in common?"
+
+With a bland smile he would say to them: "Certainly not; the idea of a
+Community, as it is generally understood, is a society that owns or
+holds all the property or capital of its members as its own, in its own
+corporate right--that no one can remove, but everyone can use portions
+of at will, or in turn. If the ideas of the first projectors were not
+all definite on this point, we now stand boldly as champions of
+individual property. It is one of our watchwords. For what is property?
+It is but the extension of the individual; wings to fly with; hands to
+work with; dried labor; labor's product laid away for future use, to
+bless oneself with. It is the bottom and foundation of material
+society, for none exists without it, and the greater the amount,
+distributed fairly and justly, the greater the power and strength of
+the society that holds it. We take human nature as it is--as God made
+it. We do not propose to remake it; that is the folly of reformers and
+theorists, and more especially moralists in and out of the church. The
+desire, the personal desire, to acquire property is a fundamental trait
+of character more or less strong in every individual. If a society
+cannot be adjusted to that trait it will fail. We think one can be. We
+think ours is so, as fairly as the nature of our transitory conditions
+will allow. We want capital here. That we can make it here in time,
+there is no doubt, but we must labor long to secure a plus of labor
+that we can dry and store for future use. Meanwhile we want to build a
+suitable unitary building, which is almost an absolute necessity;
+farming implements and various appliances are wanted to suit the new
+conditions under which we live, and many things for comfort, too
+numerous to mention."
+
+The host was not sparing of his words, especially when stimulated by
+charming questioners, in ways like these: "Tell me more, Mr. Ryckman."
+"What are you living here for?" "Can you expect anything from this
+life?"
+
+"Yes, madam, we expect a great deal. The theory of our life is that a
+great saving can be made over ordinary ways of living. It now takes one
+hundred houses for one hundred families, and one hundred housekeepers,
+and probably, on the average, one hundred servants, one hundred
+kitchens, one hundred fires, and as many cooking stoves or ranges, and
+everything in proportion. Now by combining together the saving on the
+cost of all these houses and cooks, kitchens, coal and wood, dispensing
+with all unnecessary servants and labor, a house of magnificent
+proportions adapted to the wants of the combined families could be
+built, with elegant parlors for lectures, assemblies and music; dining-
+rooms, kitchens and laundries which would not cost as much as the
+separate households full of inconvenience and discomfort.
+
+"This economic side of our life is easily seen, but there are many
+other sides or phases that are not as readily comprehended. We are here
+as a protest to the unnatural life of our crowded cities. We are here
+to build society anew on juster principles, believing that if we once
+get a fair foothold, the institution will be self-supporting, and so
+attractive that we shall have no need to seek for true, earnest
+workers; they will seek us, rather than we seek them, and we shall be
+able to choose of the best material for an eternal city where all will
+be rich in the fulness of the surrounding life, and the children will
+be educated from the start to industry, goodness and justice."
+
+Among the pleasant pictures of memory is that of Thomas Blake as he
+appeared after he had changed his civilized clothes for a Brook Farm
+tunic of blue plaid, a "tarpaulin" straw hat and a neat broad rolling
+shirt collar of large dimensions that gracefully tended towards his
+square shoulders. I see again his dark, manly countenance lighted up by
+his keen brown eyes; his Roman features; his closely curling hair; his
+intellectual forehead and pleasant smile, and his very neat, "trig"
+appearance. The new life seemed to fill him full of pleasure, and he
+was always ready for his share of work, study or enjoyment. His short,
+nautical figure and his name, Blake, soon earned him the complimentary
+title, which with one accord we gave him, "the Admiral." A nearness of
+age brought us together, and a strong sympathy of tastes cemented our
+friendship. We worked, played, danced and sung together, and wandered
+up and down the paths and roads discussing social problems and all
+sorts of subjects, ever returning in our talks to our home life, its
+pleasures, aims and duties.
+
+I thought that there was a little of the dapper look about John Glover
+Drew who arrived the same day with the Admiral, as I met him for the
+first time near the corner of the Hive. He seemed stiff and formal in
+dress and manner, and his face had in it the cool, matter-of-fact
+element which did not attract me; in fact he looked too "civilized."
+His clothes were of fine materials; dress coat, silk vest and dark
+pantaloons. His stylish and plump person filled them out thoroughly. A
+tall silk hat set a trifle back on his head exposed his large forehead;
+a fob and seal that hung below his vest, in contrast to the Brook Farm
+dress, made an added conspicuousness to his appearance. I can see him
+now, in my mind's eye, lift his watch out of its secret enclosure and
+examine it to secure promptness of his engagements.
+
+His large head was covered with dark, slightly curling hair. His smooth
+face, toned by a delicate beard and fine arching eyebrows, reminded one
+of the portraits of Shakespeare. His nose was short and round and his
+nostrils dilated when in animated conversation. The muscles of his firm
+mouth were ever on the play and gave life to his countenance, which
+when in repose assumed a heavy and somewhat stern appearance. The union
+between his head and body was made, apparently, by a high, stiff, black
+neck-stock.
+
+He was fully of medium height, and healthy, but if one in his presence
+tried the blowing of a flute or the tuning of a violin it would set him
+in agonies, and the of his wrath was not forthcoming. He was wholly
+alive. There was not a point where you could touch him and not
+appreciate that the nerves of sensation vibrated and quivered. Droll
+and jocose in manner, he was constantly quoting from Shakespeare or the
+poets, of whom he had been a constant reader. He was witty, too, and
+did not disdain a pun, or repartee.
+
+He had the elements of a good mercantile training, and was therefore
+just the man needed in the young Association, and soon arose from one
+position to another, winning the meaner laurels of "chief of group" and
+"head of series," and in time became the "commercial agent" and member
+of the "Industrial Council." Thenceforth and ever after, he was more
+bustling than before, both in and out of doors; hovering around the
+barn with its horses and wagons; ever tackling up teams and starting
+for the city; unpacking boxes, bales and barrels; ever in conference
+with the chiefs, inquiring what was needed--anyone could see that
+almost everything was needed--and showing by his exterior the busy
+brain that worked within. Mr. Drew was an especial admirer of some of
+Byron's poems, and it was rumored around that the corners of newspapers
+had occasionally been garnished with the fruits of his pen.
+
+Here let me say that first impressions in this case gave no index to
+the manly, brave spirit that was in him, which, true as steel, bore to
+the end witness to his belief in the truth and the divinity of the
+associative and coöperative ideas.
+
+There was in the farming group a healthy-looking young man, of ruddy
+countenance and fair skin, with brown hair and beard that grew
+luxuriantly, who soon made himself conspicuous by his individuality,
+his good nature and cheerfulness. There was a positive side to his
+character; he was in earnest, and he put himself by his earnestness
+into a positive way that to the superficial seemed to savor of the
+important, so that Irish John nicknamed him "John Almighty," and it
+stuck to him, as an old simile says, "like a burdock to a boy's
+trousers." His devotion was rewarded by chances to lecture. He became
+one of the faithful, and faithful he has always remained. Amid all the
+changes of life that have come to him since, and notwithstanding the
+many persons indoctrinated with Fourier's ideas, he has been for years
+almost the only man among them broadly advocating them and directly
+working for the laboring man by endeavoring to organize societies and
+industrial unions of various sorts for their benefit. I sincerely honor
+the devotion of John Orvis, continued through so many years of his
+life.
+
+But what would be the use in sketching the characters that throng
+around me by the hundreds, who were associated with this new life?
+Good-natured, full-faced Frederick Cabot, of Boston, whose capacities
+were devoted to the bookkeeping department and who was clerk of the
+corporation, who was in the vigor of young manhood, unique of face and
+beard, with stout neck and low, rolling collar, when beards were absent
+and collars high; and plain, unpretending Buckley Hastings, who could
+work like a Trojan--were of them; and the corps of farmers and workers,
+male and female, who made the body politic, all were interesting, but
+they must be left out of this narrative, along with the great number of
+kind and sympathetic persons whose dear hearts encouraged, and whose
+dearer presence stimulated the Association in its labor.
+
+But it will hardly do to leave out John Cheevers from the list of
+strange characters on the farm, because, though he did not belong there
+as member and was as a barnacle on the body politic, he was so quaint
+and queer. He was Irish and came to America as valet to Sir John
+Caldwell, who died very suddenly at the Tremont House in Boston. Pity,
+compassion or the like induced Mr. Ripley to befriend him, and being
+introduced to the life he became, as may be said, omnipresent. His
+education, his refined tastes, seemed to spring from a crude and
+vigorous soil. Travel and contact with high and low made his
+conversation interesting, and the mystery of a supposed relationship
+with Sir John added a romance to his life.
+
+His affection for many of the residents was very great. He was
+introduced into associative life in "Transcendental days," and many a
+tale he told of the departed ones, often alluding to them as "extinct
+volcanoes of Transcendental nonsense and humbuggery."
+
+Like many of his countrymen, he carried things to extremes. Extremes in
+language were the most common, for he had all the oiliness and glibness
+of an Emeraldic tongue, and in conversation, when a little excited, the
+words tumbled out with headlong velocity or flowed like molten brass
+into the mould of the founder, and, to carry the simile farther, some
+would sputter over. He had in his storehouse of language, many queer
+phrases and sayings that he brought out to embellish his conversation,
+some of which were only used as a _corps de reserve_, or brought
+into action when all others failed in argument.
+
+He prophesied that all people, no matter how high they might carry
+their heads, would sooner or later "find their level." He believed in
+the practical. All "folly" and "nonsense" were eschewed by him, and yet
+no one was more fond of a joke than he, excepting when it was played on
+himself. John professed great love for the mother church if you
+attacked it; but if anyone spoke earnestly in its favor he was equally
+persuaded by him not to believe in such "Jesuitical nonsense and
+folly." His tunic dress, instead of being a blue one like what most of
+the men wore, was made of green plaid, but on Sundays, a dark blue
+"swallowtail" coat with brass buttons made its appearance, and with
+shoes newly polished he was ready for church.
+
+Unlike the majority of the men, who wore the hair moderately long, his
+was cut short to his pate, not a straggling hair protruding itself
+beyond the others. In deference to the seventh day, he exchanged his
+shirt of blue cotton for a white, well-starched linen one, and donned a
+high black lasting neck-stock and dark vest, and shaved his face so
+clean that it reflected his own sunshine if not the solar ray. In
+person he was of medium height, with a head of thick, dark, almost
+black hair, slightly sprinkled with gray, and his small dark eyebrows
+were high above his full eyes which were set almost flush with his
+forehead. The muscles of his face were prominent, and deep lines were
+marked around his large mouth with its long under lip, which half the
+time was on a broad grin.
+
+He walked with a headlong sort of gait, his body slightly bent forward,
+deriving its motion from the lower portion of his frame, without that
+swaying of arms and chest so common, and which gives grace to motion.
+He was ever moving, bustling about; ever inquiring--now for this one,
+then for another; occasionally taking from his pocket a small paper
+parcel into which he thrust finger and thumb mysteriously and
+guardedly, and turning half away from you would make the cabalistic
+motions common to imbibers of "old Rappee"; and having satisfied the
+desire of that extraordinary pug nose of his, would be off in a
+twinkling to some distant part of the farm, where you may be sure that
+he was edifying his hearers with a specimen of good-nature, and the
+peculiar intonations of a mellow voice flavored with genuine brogue.
+
+There are two friends of the movement who cannot be left out, who were
+often on the farm, whose characters were very unlike and almost at
+antipodes; yet both were impressed with the associative theories. One
+of them viewed them from a Christian and moral side, believing that
+Christianity favored them, that they were productive of the earthly end
+toward which the sublime doctrines of Christianity pointed; and the
+other believed that scientific social organization alone would act so
+powerfully as a stimulant and teacher to humanity, that mankind and
+human nature would gravitate to their own sublime places at once if an
+organization was presented suitable to their needs. They were Albert
+Brisbane and William Henry Channing.
+
+Among the devoted friends there was no one for whom we had greater
+admiration and esteem than Rev. William Henry Channing. He was a
+Unitarian minister and a nephew of the celebrated Rev. William Ellery
+Channing. His figure was tall and stately, though rather slender. He
+carried himself finely, and walked with head erect. His features were
+sharp cut, clean and regular. His hair was dark and curling, and worn a
+trifle long for these days. His forehead was high and slightly
+retreating. His eyes were sharp and piercing, deeply set, with delicate
+dark eyebrows. His complexion was warm and brilliant, his beard closely
+shaven. He had a pleasant smile which, when it deepened, showed a fine
+set of white teeth. All of these physical signs were in his favor, but
+there was about his face, so handsome at times, an earnestness that
+seemed almost painful, when, devoted to the cause, he spoke with the
+burning, eloquent words he so often uttered.
+
+In social life he was charming. His voice was soft and melodious; his
+education and talents were of the finest order. He was a firm believer
+in the mission of Jesus Christ to bring peace, order and justice out of
+our social chaos. He was an Associationist from the Christian side, if
+I may so speak. His belief in Christ was so thorough that it made him
+think all things possible that were Christlike, and he believed that
+associated life contained more of the spirit of Christ in it than any
+other form of society, ancient or modern.
+
+He desired to join the organization with his wife and young children,
+but Mrs. Channing did not, and we were deprived of his union with us,
+as well as of the company of a charming woman and her family. But he
+was around us like a protecting spirit. He spoke on social occasions to
+us. He was full of inspiration and full of hope, though his education
+was not of a practical sort after a worldly standard. He couldn't
+calculate market values. Neither could he organize a workshop or build
+a barn. His thoughts were for greater things; for everything that
+elevated large numbers of people--education, morals, faith, peace,
+anti-slavery and the good government of his country.
+
+One Sabbath afternoon we were invited to meet with him in the near-by
+beautiful pine woods, for religious services; and like the Pilgrims and
+reformers of old, we there raised our voices in hymns of praise, and
+listened to a sermon of hopefulness from his eloquent lips. Would we
+had a picture of that marked company as they were seated around on the
+pine leaves that covered the ground, following their "attractions" by
+joining in groups with those they most admired or most sympathized
+with--young and fair, bright and cheerful, as they mostly were, with
+the warm sunlight glinting through the sighing pines; hearts and eyes
+illuminated with great thoughts; hands and faces browned with working
+for great, world-wide ideas. Memory is the only photograph of it, and
+be assured the picture is a beautiful one.
+
+The church was Channing's first love, but he found it bound with
+creeds, and not broad enough to cover all humanity, as his great
+bounding heart did. After music and an inspiring address under the
+trees, and the arches of Nature's temple, looking heavenward, he said,
+"Let us all join hands and make a circle, the symbol of universal
+unity, and of the _at-one-ment_ of all men and women, and here
+form the Church of Humanity that shall cover the men and women of every
+nation and every clime."
+
+Who shall say that it was not so?--that then and there was not formed
+one of the impulses of life, one of the branches of the spiritual
+church that shall live forever! Their daily toil, the thousand and one
+annoyances they had to submit to from uncomfortable surroundings and
+private discords--for no one need think that all the persons and those
+connected with them who came to Brook Farm were equally inspired and
+interested--and the risk of personal losses, were part of their pledge
+and baptism of earnestness.
+
+Mr. Albert Brisbane, of New York, was equally tall with Mr. Channing,
+but of a type of features that was ordinarily less pleasing; wearing a
+full beard closely trimmed, intellectual in forehead and face, with a
+voice one could hardly call musical; a rapid, earnest talker; the
+travelled son of a wealthy man, who had spent some years abroad and in
+France, where he became acquainted personally with Fourier and with his
+doctrines of association, which had deeply impressed him. On his return
+to America he advocated them in the New York _Tribune_, and by the
+publication of two or more volumes, by active interest in a society,
+and by various writings for papers and magazines.
+
+I do not know whether Mr. Brisbane owned stock in the Brook Farm
+Association or not. Certainly he never gained any dividend by his labor
+there, but was an interested observer who boarded at the farm at
+intervals, sometimes passing a few days only, and finally residing some
+months, occupied in the study and translation of Fourier's works.
+
+He was an enthusiast, but his over enthusiastic moods influenced the
+Brook Farmers, it seemed to me, often-times unwisely. He saw the full-
+blown phalanstery coming like a comet and expected every moment. We
+shortly would be in a blaze of glory! He loved to talk of the good
+things to be--of social problems worked out by science and by harmonic
+modes; to flatter himself that without great self-sacrifice, devotion
+and untiring industry, the world was to be regenerated. It seemed to
+his mind, that it could be done all at once by organization and
+enthusiasm, and it was only necessary to create enough of them to carry
+everything before them as in a bayonet charge.
+
+He labored hard with the society to change its name to Phalanx, and to
+push the movement as far as possible into the formulas and organization
+described by Fourier, which did not advance it a single step in
+material or spiritual progress, and acted, as in the case of the
+constitution, as a dead weight, owing to the burdensomeness of its
+details, which called for too much labor to keep the accounts of so
+complex an organization.
+
+Having described a few of the many persons who were members of the
+Association, I must speak of three noted persons who are very often
+accredited as belonging to the West Roxbury Community; they are Miss
+Margaret Fuller (afterwards Countess D'Ossoli), Ralph Waldo Emerson and
+Theodore Parker. They were all personal friends of Mr. and Mrs. Ripley,
+and belonged to the Transcendental Club. In the first period of the
+experiment the two former made lengthy visits at the farm, but during
+the Industrial Period only one of them, Mr. Parker, that I remember
+visited the place. I must except a single visit from Miss Fuller, whom
+I recall as plain-looking, and plainly to old-fashionedly dressed, with
+a crane-like neck and a long gold chain around it, which reached to her
+waist. She talked quite easily and freely, and the impression of the
+blue-stocking was left perhaps unfortunately on my mind.
+
+Rev. Ralph Waldo Emerson--for he had been an ordained minister--wrote
+for the _Dial_, furnished it with queer poems, wrote articles on
+the wrongs of labor, and agreed fully with Mr. Ripley on so many points
+that he has been mistaken many times for a Brook Farmer.
+
+Concord, Massachusetts, Mr. Emerson's home, contained a marked radical
+centre, and some of the Concord people were affiliated by kinship and
+by sympathy with the Brook Farm people from first to last during the
+entire experiment. Mr. Ripley invited Mr. Emerson to join it, but he
+declined in a letter which may be found in Mr. Frothingham's "Life of
+George Ripley," Appendix, page 315. I make the following extract:--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"My Dear Sir: It is quite time that I made an answer to your
+proposition that I should venture into your new community. The design
+appears to me noble and generous, proceeding as I plainly see, from
+nothing covert or selfish or ambitious, but from a manly heart and
+mind. So it makes all men its friends and debtors. It becomes a matter
+to entertain it in a friendly spirit, and examine what it has for us.
+
+"I have decided not to join it, yet very slowly, and I may almost say
+with penitence. I am greatly relieved by learning that your coadjutors
+are now so many that you will no longer attach that importance to the
+defection of individuals which you hinted, in your letter to me, I or
+others might possess--the painful power, I mean, of preventing the
+execution of the plan."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Rev. Theodore Parker, the noted liberal Unitarian preacher, of whose
+close personal relations with Mr. Ripley much might be said, lived two
+miles away, at West Roxbury, where he preached in the village church,
+and his afternoon walk every few days was over to the Farm and back for
+exercise, and to meet and converse with Mr. Ripley at the Eyry. At the
+close of their chat you would see them coming down the hill together
+towards the barn, where Mr. Ripley's duties as milkman took him at that
+time of day, when they would part--Mr. Parker for his long walk home.
+
+One afternoon they were seen as usual coming down the hill. Theodore
+Parker had not then become famous, but preached in a little square,
+wooden church, to his small country congregation, and once on a time,
+being on a visit to a friend at a distance (we will call the friend's
+name Smith, for convenience sake), Mr. Smith asked Mr. Parker how Mr.
+Ripley was getting along with his "Community." "Oh," said the faithless
+Parker, "Mr. Ripley reminds me, in that connection, of a new and
+splendid locomotive dragging along a train of mud-cars."
+
+Soon after Mr. Ripley heard what Mr. Parker had said of him, and
+resolved to pay him in his own coin. So he held him that day in
+pleasant, lively conversation until he reached the farmyard by the barn
+at the Hive, and the unsprung joke was running all around the pleasant
+lines of his face and twinkling in the corners of his brilliant eyes.
+Towards the close of the conversation, as Mr. Parker was about to
+leave, Mr. Ripley casually said that he had met Mr. Smith, and he had
+spoken of Mr. Parker and his church.
+
+"Indeed," said Mr. Parker, "and what did he say of me?"
+
+"Well, if you must know," Mr. Ripley replied, "he said that you and
+your little country church over there in West Roxbury, with its few
+dozen of farmers, reminded him of a new and splendid locomotive
+dragging along a train of mud-cars."
+
+It would have been worth a month of an ordinary lifetime to be there
+when Mr. Ripley exploded his joke, to hear his merry peal of laughter,
+whilst his sides shook again, and his reverend friend stood confounded.
+
+But such little jokes did nothing towards rupturing the sincere
+confidence and friendship of these two brave men, and soon after this
+Mr. Parker was writing pleasant notes to the "Archon," as Mr. Ripley
+was often called. By good fortune, I am the possessor of one of them,
+and as it shows the playful side of a great man, the side often
+withheld from the public, I give it here. It is charming. It is without
+date and reads:--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Archonite Illustrissimo: I have just received a letter from the
+Secretary of the Navy, who informs me that he has jurisdiction over the
+_waters_ of the U. S. A., and accordingly over _Brook_ Farm.
+He therefore requests me to investigate your proceedings and report to
+the department. He thinks of appointing yourself to the command of the
+fleet destined against Texas, and wishes me to _Sound_ you on that
+point. (How would Little John do for California?)
+
+"I am to come over tomorrow P. M. and make investigations, so have the
+chips picked up, and the pigs shut up in the library. Now hold yourself
+in readiness to receive _Blanco_ White, who thinks you were one of
+the greatest men who had appeared since Balaam the son of Beor. Pray
+reward him for the honor he has done you.
+
+     "Yours, T."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE RUSH AND HUM OF LIFE AND WORK.
+
+
+The departure from the ordinary mode of living initiated at the farm
+seemed to stir up every curious, investigating and odd mortal, from one
+end of the country to the other, and they all wanted to visit the
+place. At first they were made welcome to the table, and to what there
+was to spare of the members' time, but when their name was "legion" the
+Board of Government found it necessary to exact a fee for meals. This
+did not diminish them; the cry was "Still they come!" Men, women and
+children were passing from Hive to Eyry on every pleasant day from May
+to November, and over the farm, back to the Hive, where they took
+private carriage or public coach for their departure. Among these
+people were some of the oddest of the odd; those who rode every
+conceivable hobby; some of all religions; bond and free; transcendental
+and occidental; antislavery and proslavery; come-outers, communists,
+fruitists and flutists; dreamers and schemers of all sorts.
+
+The number of notable persons who visited the farm at this period was
+large. I was too young to appreciate the positions they held, in
+literature, the church or the nation, but append a list of names,
+selected almost at random, mostly of distinguished persons who were
+occasional visitors. Horace Greeley, Parke Godwin, Henry James, Freeman
+Hunt, Charles Kraitsir, Henry Giles, S. P. Andrews, all of New York;
+Rev. O. A. Brownson, Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Rev. Henry A. Miles,
+Rev. Edward E. Hale, Rev. Samuel Osgood, Rev. Frederick T. Gray, Rev.
+A. B. Green, Rev. C. A. Greenleaf, Hon. John G. Palfrey, Hon. E.
+Rockwood Hoar, Hon. George H. Calvert, of Newport, R. I.; Hon. Charles
+Sumner, Judge Ellis Gray Loring, Judge Wells, Dr. W. F. Channing, R. H.
+Dana, A. Bronson Alcott, George B. Emerson, Samuel G. Ward,--Marcus
+Spring and Edmund Tweedy, of New York; James A. Kay, of Philadelphia.
+W. W. Story, C. P. Cranch, E. Hicks, Joseph and Thomas Carew, John
+Sartain, John A. Ordway and Benjamin Champney, were among the many
+artists who came; the major portion of all the above named persons were
+from New England.
+
+It will not do to forget young and curly-headed John A. Andrew, who
+became the war governor of Massachusetts, or Robert Owen, the English
+communist, well known for his social experiments at New Harmony, Ind.,
+who, at this time, was a ruddy-faced, almost white-haired person, with
+a large nose, and carrying well his seventy years on a vigorous frame.
+
+George R. Russell, Francis G. Shaw and Theodore Parker, with their
+wives and members of their families, were very friendly visitors.
+
+There were numerous ladies, also, who came. I remember Miss A. P.
+Peabody, Pauline Wright, Mary Gove and sweet Lydia Maria Child, of New
+York.
+
+The old record book that lay in the reception room at the Hive would
+reveal a list of four thousand names, registered in one year, to select
+from, but alas! it is lost forever.
+
+A. Bronson Alcott came one day and brought his friend Lane, who was
+anxious to visit the "Community," but Lane was opposed to eating
+anything that was killed or had died, so he ate neither fish nor flesh.
+Neither would he wear wool, because it was an animal product, for he
+did not like animal products. Neither would he wear cotton nor use
+sugar nor rice, because they were the products of slave labor. And
+finally, he walked from Boston in a linen suit, because he would avoid
+using a horse, for his argument was that the value of time spent in
+providing food, lodging and care of animals, was not returned to the
+owners for the outlay. Lane came from England, and was not a "Yankee
+crank," as some might possibly think.
+
+Miss Louisa M. Alcott wrote of him in connection with her father and
+herself, in an article entitled "A Journey to Fruitlands." Judging from
+my remembrance of all the characters, the picture is faithfully drawn.
+
+Among the odd visitors the climax was reached, when a man came to pass
+a day and a night, who announced, that he had no need of sleep and had
+not slept for a year. The statement was passed by as a mere whim, we
+thinking of course that when night came he would not refuse a bed, but
+he did. After spending the evening at the Eyry, where the visitors were
+more especially entertained, he was notified that an attendant would
+show him to his bed, but he politely declined one, and as there seemed
+to be no other way, he was allowed to remain in an easy chair, with a
+lamp burning, after the household had retired.
+
+It was late when Irish John Cheevers, _our_ odd genius, prowling
+about the premises on his way to his room at the Cottage, saw the light
+in the Eyry parlor, and supposing some of the household were awake,
+went softly up and looked in at the window. There sat the visitor in
+the chair, _asleep_. He then went in, but his noise aroused the
+sleeper, and as John couldn't possibly keep his tongue still a minute,
+he said, "I beg your pardon, sir, I did not intend to disturb your
+sleep--not in the least, sir," in his palavering way, at which the
+stranger protested strongly that he hadn't been disturbed, as he had
+been awake all the time.
+
+In the morning the stranger was there, still sitting in his chair, and
+declared he had passed the night pleasantly, but had not been asleep.
+Of course the improbability of the thing made, as the newspapers say, a
+"sensation." "By gad," said John, "I caught him asleep in the Eyry
+parlor. I did, upon my word; I did, my very self."
+
+John wasn't inclined to be profane, but when anyone pretended to be
+what they were not, it aroused his combative spirit, and it was the
+"blank humbuggery of the thing" that mightily displeased him. But the
+time came when the laugh was against him. He had been in bed and slept
+some hours one summer night; it was the time of the full moon, when its
+transcendent beauty led the young folks to wander over the farm from
+house to house, to sit a while on the doorsteps or on the knoll at the
+Hive; to sing "_Das Klinket_" or such part songs as "Row gently
+here, my gondolier," or "The lone starry hours give me Love, when calm
+is the beautiful night," or anything else to let out the joyousness of
+their hearts. They were not wild, for they labored enough to take away
+the wildness that indolence brings, and to sober them down to the
+cheerful mood; and cheerily would talk to one another of the people
+around them, and of the hundred little excitements the novel life led
+them into, that were wanting elsewhere, and often it was an hour or two
+later than the usual time for rest, before they were in bed.
+
+John had been to his couch, and when he awoke it was broad daylight. He
+dressed and went down to the Hive, and as some one was going away early
+to Boston, concluded to get the wagon ready. But first he looked into
+the kitchen; the door was unlocked, as it always was, day and night;
+there was no one there, and it was surely time some one should be up.
+He drew out the light wagon from under the shed, and went for the
+harness. All the time the universal stillness surprised him. Where
+could all the people be? He thought he would see how high the sun was,
+and looking up into the sky, beheld the full face of the most beautiful
+moon that ever shone on God's fair acres, when a new thought struck
+him, that he had mistaken moonshine for daylight. He wheeled the wagon
+into the shed, and then went for another long nap; but some of the
+young men, who hadn't been in bed a great while, overheard the
+movements, and had their laugh and fun out of it!
+
+During the first spring and summer of my stay my hours were largely
+spent in the Farming Series, working in the various groups. I assisted
+at planting, hoeing and driving or leading the horses at the plough. I
+also helped the gardener, who arrived with plants, in the care of them
+and in the ornamentation of the place.
+
+According to the science of Fourier, everything is naturally arranged
+in groups and series. A group consists of three or more individuals or
+things, and a number of similar groups together make a series. To have
+harmony in society requires the application of this law or arrangement
+to all the relations of daily life; or in other words, it is natural to
+be thus arranged in industrial and social life. The Brook Farmers,
+being ambitious to introduce a resemblance to such an organization--for
+it could be but very faintly shadowed by their few members--and also
+desirous to indoctrinate all into the idea of this natural arrangement,
+organized "groups and series" in the following manner as proposed in
+the new constitution. "Three or more persons combined for some object
+or labor" made a group; harmonic numbers for groups--three, five,
+seven, twelve, etc. A series consisted of three or more groups for a
+similar object, joined under one head or chief.
+
+To illustrate the system we will suppose it to be the spring of the
+year. The Farming Series will then consist of the following groups:
+First, a Cattle Group, Which attends to the feeding, grooming and
+general care of the cattle--horses, cows, oxen, pigs, etc. It may
+include the milking of the cows, or that may be a group in itself under
+the name of the Milking Group. Second, a Plowing Group, who attend to
+the plowing of the fields. Third, a Nursery Group, who have the care of
+the young trees, grafting, budding, etc. Fourth, a Planting Group,
+which may later in the season change into a Hoeing Group, or into a
+Weeding Group, or into a Haying Group, or a separate organization for
+each may continue till the end of the season. Each chief of a group
+recorded the hours expended in labor in his group, so that it was
+possible to tell, at the end of a season, how many hours had been spent
+in a given occupation, as hoeing, weeding, planting, etc. These groups,
+each having a chief, formed the aforenamed series, and the heads, or
+"chiefs" of all the groups together elected the head of the series, who
+kept a record and had general charge of the work done under his
+management.
+
+The Mechanical Series, consisting of shoemaking, carpentering, sash and
+blind-makers' groups, were usually the same persons the year around.
+If, however, the shoemaker was tired of his group, and could be spared,
+he took his hoe and rake, and went into some group in the Farming
+Series for a change of occupation; the hours he spent there were put to
+his credit on the book of the group in which he labored in that series.
+
+The Domestic Series had care of the houses and all domestic work, and
+was divided into Consistory, Dormitory and Kitchen Groups. There were
+also Washing, Ironing and Mending Groups, and perhaps some others. The
+beds, rooms, halls and lamps had to be attended to every day, water and
+towels provided, and the "Dormitory" and "Consistory Groups," situated
+as the Brook Farmers were, were obliged to go from house to house to
+attend to these duties.
+
+There were independent groups on the farm, not connected with any
+series, as the Teachers' Group, and the Miscellaneous Group, who did a
+variety of miscellaneous work; and there was a Commercial Agent who
+bought and sold goods for the Association. There was also a group
+called "The Sacred Legion," who did exceptionally disagreeable labors,
+not from the love of them but from the sacred principle of duty. Only
+occasionally some repugnant task had to be undertaken, and be it to the
+honor of the leaders, not one of them, even the most fastidious or
+cultivated, shirked the responsibility of it.
+
+The industrial system of Fourier has often been objected to as a
+mechanical arrangement, by which persons were fixed, automaton-like,
+and expected to work where they were placed, and has been opposed with
+the criticism that human beings are not automatic--that they have the
+restlessness of human nature and will constantly rebel at such
+conditions.
+
+Another and a greater criticism has been that the levelling tendency,
+as is supposed, of the Fourieristic doctrines, is inimical to every-day
+experience, and that the natural differences of characters, ambitions
+and mental conditions were not recognized in the system, consequently
+there would be no place for all these varied human attributes to work
+and progress in.
+
+These are very great errors, and are entirely attributable to the
+superficial knowledge of the man and his works. If ever there was a man
+in this universe who had faith in the Supreme Power, Fourier was that
+man. His theology covered the _absolute wisdom_ and _absolute
+goodness_ of God. Starting from these two fixed standpoints, he
+believed that the Creator wisely planned the universe and laid out the
+destiny of the human race from its inception, as a wise and beneficent
+being, fixing its beginning and its end and all of the intermediate
+stages between them as parts of the plan. Creating man as a social
+being, he must, therefore, have created from the first the form of
+society under which he should, finally, as a race, pass the greatest
+portion of his sojourn here, and, being an _absolutely good_
+Creator, he must have created absolutely good social conditions as the
+destiny towards which all mankind is now tending, and which will
+finally be reached.
+
+Having also created man with many varied talents, the society or the
+social order in which he intends him to live, must have room in it for
+the use and development of the variety he has created: a place for the
+strong, a place for the weak; a place for the proud, a place for the
+lowly; a place for the penurious, a place for the lavish; a place for
+the sober and a place for the gay. Moreover, if the Creator is wise, he
+has created just the number and variety of mental and physical
+personages to fill the otherwise empty places, and no others; for, if
+he has created a surplus of them, he is unwise, and they must be in
+discord with the rest. If the movements of the heavenly bodies are not
+left to chance, neither is the destiny nor the place of any human being
+in creation left to chance, either here or hereafter.
+
+Far from any levelling tendency in Fourier's system, far from any
+communism, it contains, in itself, room for the completest aristocracy
+there ever was, the natural and the true aristocracy, ordained by the
+logical mind of the Creator, implanted in our natures, and which we
+intuitively admit and admire. But having given man freedom of will, not
+having made him to associate automatically, as he has, apparently, made
+the honey-bee, the beaver, the ant, and various social creatures, it is
+necessary for him to go through a period of ignorance, and,
+consequently, of some suffering, whilst he is learning by experience to
+find his powers and his position in creation, even as the little child
+does, who reaches out its hand for the moon, and stumbles over trifles
+lying in its way that were easily removed, could it, in its undeveloped
+condition, have sense enough to do it. But the two conditions are not
+possible, together. Both ignorance and knowledge of a subject cannot
+dwell in one person at the same time; therefore it is only slowly and
+painfully that we find, by degrees, our wonderful powers, the bountiful
+provision for happiness, and the grand destiny that so peacefully lies
+in the arms of the future, awaiting our embrace and caress.
+
+Fourier discovered the arrangement in nature of the "Serial Order" or
+the law of the Groups and Series, which on paper seems formal, but is
+simply one of the mathematical rules of society, and which, under right
+conditions, does not intrude itself, any more than the rules of
+arithmetic do when we are buying a few apples, but are nevertheless
+ever present. The writer does not wish to impose a dissertation on his
+readers, but felt impelled to answer, in this place, these objections
+made by many worthy people.
+
+The workshop, which was being built at the time of my arrival, was two
+stories in height, sixty by forty feet in size, with a pitched roof;
+well lighted with windows, and situated some three hundred yards behind
+the Hive, in a northwesterly direction. At its further end, in the
+cellar, was placed a horse-mill, afterwards exchanged for a steam-
+engine, that carried the machinery for all the departments of labor.
+Our engineer, Jean M. Pallisse, a worthy Swiss, a very intelligent man,
+had a calm face that fitted well with the quiet wreaths of smoke he
+sent up on the air, from his almost ever-present cigar. It was our
+delight to coax him to bring out his violin on dance nights, and give
+us a charming waltz or two. You would hardly associate his intelligent
+and pleasant face with the dull work of an engine room, but he was
+there day by day, faithful and regular as a clock, for he was in
+earnest. He had the sublime faith in him, and in later years held a
+responsible position in a wealthy importing house in New York City.
+
+The shop was partitioned off, according to the needs of business, and
+in the time of our greatest numbers, when crowded with members and
+visitors, no other place being found to stow people in, beds were
+placed in its upper story.
+
+The general impression of my first summer at Brook Farm is that it was
+one of great activity and great hopes. Everywhere the ambition was to
+enlarge--to increase the number of members, to increase the
+occupations, to increase the tillage by turning over the grass-grown
+meadows and "laying down" more land; to increase the nursery for young
+trees and plants, to increase the hay crop by clearing the brushwood
+and mowing the stubble close. Everywhere were busy people with ploughs
+and cultivators, hoes and rakes, and I was with them wherever there was
+work to be done.
+
+The glory of the summer was the hay field. On the fair meadows we
+turned and gathered the hay. It was a large crop; although the hay was
+not all of the best, it was mostly of fair quality. And when the
+hoeing, weeding and haying were done, the farmers dug meadow-muck for
+compost.
+
+Ready and willing as I was to try my hand at whatever came along, I
+went into the meadow and followed the plough with a bogging hoe, and
+one day tried digging muck but the chief of the group thought the labor
+was too heavy for me; I would have to wait until I grew stronger.
+
+Coming home one day I was told that one of our number had passed away.
+She had been sick at the Hive a long while before my arrival. I could
+scarcely be called acquainted with her, though I had been into her room
+and called with others. In health she had been a brave worker, and in
+sickness bore her severe suffering patiently. Messrs. Chiswell and
+Tirrell of the Carpenters' Group were called on for their help, whilst
+Mrs. Pratt and others prepared the body for its final sleep. Members of
+the Direction selected a lovely spot in a little pine grove beyond the
+Pilgrim House for a grave, and we gathered for a last service.
+
+I expected to hear Mr. Ripley speak, but true to a sensitive instinct
+of propriety he did not, for though he was at the head of the
+Association, she had her own faith and creed which he deemed sacred.
+She was an Episcopalian, and after the service was read by one of our
+number a solemn procession was formed which followed her body, borne on
+our light wagon, to the grave, where, singing a hymn, we left her
+quietly in peace.
+
+Soon after the gardener planted some young evergreens, and placed
+flowering shrubs and a little fence around the sacred spot. If one must
+die, must surrender life, oh, where can it be done better than under
+such circumstances? From first to last no stranger's hand had aught to
+do with this sister either in life or in death. No idle or curiously
+intrusive person came near, and all the surroundings, though simple,
+were in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion. There was no pomp
+or rivalry of show, no gaudy deckings, that we in our hearts despise,
+but which an unhallowed custom forces upon us; but all was done
+decently, lovingly, peacefully and well. It was a simple name she bore--
+Mary Ann Williams.
+
+There was an amusement group, the members of which did not receive
+pecuniary compensation. Its duty was to provide amusement for the
+people and the scholars, as often as could be afforded, without
+trespassing on school and daily duties.
+
+Miss Amelia Russell, a little, plump woman, with a pleasant smile,
+dimpled cheeks, round, laughing eyes, cultivated and easy manners, was
+chief of this group for a long period. Her title was "the mistress of
+the revels." Under her direction there were various plays, games,
+dances and tableaux.
+
+Besides the walks in the fields and woods there was an occasional
+"children's festival," in the grove of pines, in which a large portion
+of the elders joined. There were plenty of amusements, for although the
+amusement group took general charge of them, there was nothing to
+prevent any person or number of persons from amusing themselves to any
+extent, and in any way, not interfering with the business of the place.
+
+Being among the minors, the pleasures of dancing and roaming over the
+diversified country, were most attractive to me; for the young people
+danced without expense--as we were, anywhere, any time, for five or ten
+minutes, an hour or an evening, and it never became a dissipation; it
+was too natural and common to be a dissipation. There were never late
+hours. There was no dancing for show, or to display handsome clothes,
+but simply for the love of it, its harmony and love of one another's
+society and companionship.
+
+When the cares and lessons of the day were laid aside, and the evening
+meal was over, we sauntered up the hill to the Eyry, and passing near
+the Cottage, would perhaps find some one at the piano in the music
+room, and if we numbered four or five, would waltz or dance to one or
+the other's playing, the players and dancers taking turns until it was
+time to stop. It might be there was a class in history or in reading at
+eight, or maybe singing school would soon commence. If so, that
+terminated the matter. Perhaps there was to be music at the Eyry,--
+there was no formality, we went without ceremony to hear it.
+
+There were times when there was a regular "dance at the Hive." The
+mistress of the revels was kind enough to assist young or old, whose
+"education had been neglected," and who had never been taught their
+"steps," by forming a dancing class and including all in it; and it
+would have done your heart good to see the old fogies try for the first
+time in their lives to put on grace. Grace it was, but often of the
+oddest kind. Imagine the tall, spare figure of "the General," turned of
+forty, full six feet in height and stooping in the shoulders, all legs
+and arms--who could sit in a chair and wind his legs around each other
+until the feet changed places, and sit comfortably so--as pupil of the
+plump, little woman, straight as an arrow, and only (at a guess) four
+feet six in height, and looking shorter for her plumpness, taking his
+"one, two, three," and "forward and back steps."
+
+Imagine, also, all hands seated at the supper tables, with the rattle
+of knives, forks, mugs and plates, and the full buzz of conversation;
+waiters crowding up and down, supplying the fast vanishing food, and
+everything cheerful, when a rapping on one of the tables arrests the
+attention of all. One of the gentlemen, arising, announces, "There will
+be a dance in this hall this evening, at eight o'clock, to which all
+are invited." This is received with applause by the young people.
+Perhaps it is a surprise to them; for some of the pupils who have a
+little pocket money, have gained permission of the authorities, and
+have sent for the Dedham "feedler," as our Dane used to call him, to
+play the violin and call the dances.
+
+As for music, our orchestra was not very large. I am almost ashamed to
+say that one violin, solitary and alone, or a piano brought down from
+the Cottage, was often the only solace and cheer. But then the room was
+not large, and certainly it was not high, so that nothing was lost in
+its expanse, and truly the young man played very well, and I remember
+there were some brass instruments used on an especial occasion.
+
+You should have been standing outside, looking in at the window just
+the time that supper was over. Wouldn't you have seen some busy young
+folks, clearing the tables and washing the dining-room ware! And you
+would have seen the clean, white mugs and plates put up in huge piles
+in the dining-room closet. Wouldn't the benches and tables disappear
+quickly, and the floor be swept, and the lamps lighted, and everything
+put in "apple-pie order"! And then the young women workers would
+disappear, and in a few minutes reappear dressed in their best, like
+magic pictures of youth and beauty, adorned in simple garments, with a
+rose bud or a wreath of partridge vine (Mitchella) with its bright red
+berries, woven into their tresses, or with some simple adornments; and
+then for an hour or two of enjoyment!
+
+The dance would commence. One by one, after the young persons were in
+the midst of the revelry, the older persons would come in, and the non-
+dancers would range around as spectators; and now and then you would
+distinguish our leader by the curly locks, the gleaming eyes and gold-
+bowed spectacles, his glowing face expressing satisfaction in our
+enjoyment.
+
+At ten o'clock, the dance ceased; immediately the tables and dishes
+would reappear, as if by enchantment, and in a twinkling the dining
+room was arranged for the morning. We had had our pleasure, and were
+ready to pay for it by restoring things to immediate order. Besides,
+what young man could leave the young ladies to set the tables alone,
+after having danced with them all the evening? After this there were
+hours enough left for sound sleep, and there were no headaches in the
+morning. The result was, all the young people grew strong, graceful and
+healthy.
+
+My peculiar temperament and strong love of nature made the walks and
+wanderings in the fields dear to me. I recall them with the greatest
+pleasure, and think that some others among the living must do the same.
+There were no stated, regular hours for walking. The teachers went when
+their classes for the day were over; the young folks when their tasks
+were completed, or at twilight, in the long summer days, and often the
+larger parties were on Sunday afternoons, for then there was greater
+freedom from care. Some went to West Roxbury to church in the morning,
+some, maybe, to the Eyry to read Swedenborg or other writers, and
+unless Mr. Channing or some other minister who desired to preach was
+present, there were no set services; and even if there were, a walk
+might be arranged for a later hour in the summer afternoons.
+
+The tall, slim figure of the wife of our president, wearing a Leghorn
+shade hat, with one or two graceful lady pupils by her side, was often
+present and leading the procession; then perhaps the manly form of our
+head farmer, and his stout wife, and his boys and girl; our "poet,"
+always beside some fair maiden, in cheerful conversation; a visitor and
+the visited; groups of young people together, with muslin dresses, blue
+tunics and straw hats intermingled; children; and maybe the stately
+form of William Henry Channing, with his regular profile, and his head
+carried high, looking upward and off, as into far, pleasant and dreamy
+distances, walking beside a tall, black haired woman, with a spiritual
+face of high type,--in all some thirty to forty in number, making a
+delightfully picturesque group.
+
+Such parties would generally make the large and beautiful pine woods
+that were near us the _ultimatum_ of their walk. Others would take
+a longer walk, to the thicker woods of "Cow Island" (now covered with
+houses), or to the Charles River. Leaving the farm they dived into the
+young oak woods, by a small path in the rear of the Cottage, and
+entering the magnificent grove of pines after a short walk, found a
+grassy wood path that led a long distance through them. Soon the party
+would begin to straggle and divide, some to gather wild flowers and
+berries, and more to find materials for wreaths, or ferns and mosses
+for decorations.
+
+The walks ended where walks do that have no definite plan--anywhere in
+the woods, sitting on the boulders or the pine leaves, or in some shady
+nook where a topic would be found for discussion, or a pleasant book
+would be read. When the supper horn sounded, you found the absent ones
+together again, with bright, rosy faces and good appetites; and only a
+few of the younger folks would be late, who had strayed farther or
+walked slower, to enjoy the companionship of those of the same age; to
+listen to their sweet voices, and to linger, as only young folks love
+to linger.
+
+The summer came on with joy and beauty. I recall the long waves of
+nodding grass, that swayed in the June wind and were chasing each
+other, fugue-like on the broad meadows. How beautiful it was, tipped
+with its various hues of green, yellow, red and purple, bending and
+rising as each breath of wind passed over it! The crops looked well,
+and the table was supplied with varieties of garden produce.
+
+If you approached the farm in the middle of the forenoon, you wondered
+where all the people were, but at the sound of the first horn, half an
+hour before dinner, "from bush and briar and greensward shade" they
+would begin to start out like Robin Hood's men, and when the second
+horn was sounding, the daily, the tri-daily procession was fairly on
+the move, approaching the Hive from all sides. It was a very pretty and
+novel sight.
+
+The men had been in the field planting, hoeing or weeding--the farmer's
+triad of duties in the vegetable field--and as they worked side by
+side, the questions of the day were discussed with freedom and with
+partisanship, but with good nature. The one who had a bias for art
+brought forward his art hobbies; the dress reformer aired his and the
+vegetarian argued his cause. Personal questions often came to the
+front--as how Smith probably voted in the Association meeting in the
+case of the admission of some mooted person; he was so sly you could
+not find out! And they quizzed one another, and they laughed and
+rivalled one another in speed of work, which they did faithfully and
+interestedly. It was a good school of human nature, and sooner or later
+each one was sized up with a deal of exactness. With the sounding of
+the horn the hoes were left in the field or put on the shoulder for the
+march to the barn, where, in its little room, the toilet for meals was
+made.
+
+When I think under what disadvantages these toilers worked for five
+years, I wonder at their patience and firmness. What would our city
+families say to all going out from their apartments, male and female,
+young and old, and walking from an eighth to a quarter of a mile--often
+making their own path through the deep snow of our severe New England
+winters--three times each day, for the simple meals we had there to
+eat? What would they say to living in crowded rooms, without private
+parlors, and the public one at the Hive not much better than an office
+in a back country hotel, and the other disadvantages heretofore named
+and many more, simply for the principle of the thing?
+
+Of course there was enthusiasm, and that sweetens many dull dishes; but
+for those used to home comforts, to be sandwiched in with comparative
+strangers--squeezed down, as it were, into a press--oftentimes having
+the family separated into various and disunited parts of the mansion or
+into different houses, was decidedly uncomfortable to bear.
+
+These disadvantages could not but make the Association quite early
+decide that the one thing above all others needed was a new building
+with suites of rooms, where families could have the comforts and
+privacy of homes, which with a large kitchen, bakery, dining rooms,
+parlors, etc., would make a "unitary dwelling"; approximating to an
+apartment house of more modern days in many of its details, and
+improving on it as regards unitary cooking, dining and social
+conveniences.
+
+The autumn fled rapidly away, and things had to be hurried up and put
+into shape for the winter. The gardener had no greenhouse, and was
+growling for fear the early frost might take a fancy to his plants. So
+the Association built him a temporary one in the "sand bank" by the
+side of the farm road, and the plan was to bend their energies towards
+getting the new dwelling started as early as possible in the spring,
+and to build a permanent greenhouse near it.
+
+I do not know what passed in the General Direction during the winter.
+They were undoubtedly busy in endeavoring to obtain money for
+constructing the new building, preparing plans for its interior
+arrangement, and personally lecturing in various places, to aid in
+awakening the public to the new ideas, hoping also that some benefit
+might accrue to their organization, as well as to the cause, from their
+efforts.
+
+The winter was mild, and it passed rapidly. There were coasting parties
+of young and old, but it was not often that the snow was favorable.
+There were literary societies, and we admired "the General" when he
+recited the part of the lean and hungry Cassius. He didn't stammer
+then, and he received the additional title of "Shakespeare's hero."
+These things, with reading, dancing and singing classes, an occasional
+"social" at the Hive, with private gatherings and chats around the
+kitchen fire by "Hiveites" (i.e., those living at the Hive), found us
+with spring at hand before we could realize it.
+
+Among other matters in progress in the spring was the garden. The
+gardener was urging upon the Association the usefulness and
+profitableness of the growth and sale of garden and greenhouse plants
+and flowers; the great benefit they would be in adding attractiveness
+to the place, and also the importance of starting plants so that they
+might be growing into sizable shrubs, to return an early profit for
+their outlay. These facts decided the Association to commence a flower
+garden, and they located it on a partially level piece of ground behind
+the Cottage, covering perhaps a half acre, with a chance of future
+extension by cutting the wood adjoining and cultivating the untilled
+ground.
+
+There was much labor put on this piece of land, as it was first reduced
+to a level by removing the soil and subsoil, and levelling the gravelly
+bottom; then returning the subsoil and soil to the top. Walks were next
+laid out with great care, and flower beds made. A border was also dug
+for the expected new greenhouse, and filled with rich soil and compost,
+and the end of the summer saw it erected.
+
+But the most important step taken in the spring was the establishment
+of a journal devoted to the interests of Association and Associative
+life.
+
+It is easy to see how naturally, independent of the need of an organ
+for a new movement, the Brook Farmers took to the idea of publishing a
+journal. In the first place there were at hand men who were abundant in
+talent; who were used to writing, and well up in literature and fine
+arts, to whom the idea was grateful as water to young ducks, And,
+second, there were at least two or three printers and compositors
+residing on the farm, who were as able in their department as the first
+named were in theirs. There was in this connection, also, the
+possibility at some future time of obtaining printing for the Printers'
+Group, should that branch of labor be well established.
+
+The scheme cannot be better introduced than by giving here the
+prospectus of the _Harbinger_, the beautiful name of the new
+weekly paper. You will find in its brave words some of the ideas that
+the leaders of this movement developed, but more particularly the broad
+faith they had in human nature and in great principles applied to
+social life, and the greater trust they had that the Providence under
+which we live had ordained man for a sublime destiny.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE "HARBINGER" AND VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
+
+
+The following is the prospectus of
+
+THE "HARBINGER."
+
+Devoted to the Social and Political progress. Published simultaneously
+at New York and Boston, by the Brook Farm Phalanx. "All things, at the
+present day, stand provided and prepared, and await the light."
+
+Under this title it is proposed to publish a weekly newspaper, for the
+examination, and discussion of the great questions in social science,
+politics, literature and the arts, which command the attention of all
+believers in the progress and elevation of humanity.
+
+In politics, the _Harbinger_ will be democratic in its principles
+and tendencies; cherishing the deepest interest in the advancement and
+happiness of the masses; warring against all exclusive privilege in
+legislation, political arrangements and social customs; and striving
+with the zeal of earnest conviction, to promote the triumph of the high
+democratic faith, which is the chief mission of the nineteenth century
+to realize in society.
+
+Our devotion to the democratic principle will lead us to take the
+ground of fearless and absolute independence in regard to all political
+parties, whether professing attachment to that principle or hostility
+to it. We know that fidelity to an idea can never be reassured by
+adherence to a name; and hence we shall criticise all parties with
+equal severity, though we trust that the sternness of truth will always
+be blended with the temperance of impartial candor. With tolerance for
+all opinions, we have no patience with hypocrisy and pretense; least of
+all with that specious fraud which would make a glorious principle the
+apology for personal ends. It will therefore be a leading object of the
+_Harbinger_ to strip the disguise from the prevailing parties, to
+show them in their true light, to give them due honor, to tender them
+our grateful reverence whenever we see them true to a noble principle;
+but at all times, and on every occasion, to expose false professions,
+to hold up hollow-heartedness and duplicity to just indignation, to
+warn the people against the demagogue, who would cajole them by honeyed
+flatteries, no less than against the devotee of mammon who would make
+them his slaves.
+
+The _Harbinger_ will be devoted to the cause of a radical, organic
+social reform, as essential to the highest development of man's nature,
+to the production of those elevated and beautiful forms of character of
+which he is capable, and to the diffusion of happiness, excellence and
+universal harmony upon the earth. The principles of universal unity as
+taught by Charles Fourier, in their application to society, we believe
+are at the foundation of all genuine social progress, and it will ever
+be our aim to discuss and defend these principles, without any
+sectarian bigotry, and in the catholic and comprehensive spirit of
+their great discoverer. While we bow to no man as an authoritative,
+infallible master, we revere the genius of Fourier too highly not to
+accept, with joyful welcome, the light which he has shed on the most
+intricate problems of human destiny. The social reform of whose advent
+the signs are everywhere visible, comprehends all others, and in
+laboring for its speedy accomplishment, we are conscious that we are
+devoting our best ability to the removal of oppression and injustice
+among men, to the complete emancipation of the enslaved, to the
+promotion of genuine temperance, and to the elevation of the toiling
+and down-trodden masses to the inborn rights of humanity.
+
+In literature the _Harbinger_ will exercise a firm and impartial
+criticism, without respect of persons or parties. It will be made a
+vehicle for the freest thought, though not of random speculations; and
+with a generous appreciation of the various forms of truth and beauty,
+it will not fail to expose such instances of false sentiment, perverted
+taste and erroneous opinion, as may tend to vitiate the public mind or
+degrade the individual character. Nor will the literary department of
+the _Harbinger_ be limited to criticism alone. It will receive
+contributions from various pens, in different spheres of thought, and,
+free from dogmatic exclusiveness, will accept all that in any way
+indicates the unity of man with man, with nature, and with God.
+Consequently all true science, all poetry and arts, all sincere
+literature, all religion that is from the soul, all wise analyses of
+mind and character, will come within its province.
+
+We appeal for aid in our enterprise to the earnest and hopeful spirits
+in all classes of society. We appeal to all who, suffering from a
+resistless discontent in the present order of things, with faith in man
+and trust in God are striving for the establishment of universal
+justice, harmony and love. We appeal to the thoughtful, the aspiring,
+the generous everywhere, who wish to see the reign of heavenly truth
+triumphant, by supplanting the infernal discords and falsehoods on
+which modern society is built--for their sympathy, friendship and
+practical cooperation in the undertaking which we announce to-day.
+
+The _Harbinger_ was launched, and it weathered the, storm for four
+years, until its editors sought other and wider fields for their
+genius. Besides the motto on the prospectus, they took the following
+from Rev. William Ellery Channing: "Of modern civilization, the natural
+fruits are, contempt for others' rights, fraud, oppression, a gambling
+spirit in trade, reckless adventure and commercial convulsions, all
+tending to impoverish the laborer and render every condition insecure.
+Relief is to come, and can only come from the new application of
+Christian principles, of universal justice and universal love, to
+social institutions, to commerce, to business, to active life."
+
+It was printed in quarto form, sixteen pages to every number, with
+clear type and in excellent style. The index of the first volume bears
+a list of twenty-two names as contributors, and it contains many worthy
+ones. The New York names were as follows:--
+
+Albert Brisbane. William Henry Channing. Christopher P. Cranch. George
+William Curtis. George G. Foster. Parke Godwin. Horace Greeley. Osborne
+MacDaniel.
+
+The New England names were:--
+
+Otis Clapp, Boston, Mass. William W. Story, Boston, Mass. T. Wentworth
+Higginson, Boston, Mass. James Russell Lowell, Cambridge, Mass. J. A.
+Saxton, Deerfield, Mass. Francis George Shaw, West Roxbury, Mass. John
+G. Whittier, Amesbury, Mass.
+
+Other contributors were:--
+
+E. P. Grant of Ohio. A. J. H. Duganne of Philadelphia.
+
+The Brook Farm writers were:--
+
+George Ripley. John S. Dwight. Charles A. Dana. Lewis K. Ryckman.
+
+In the second volume are two more of the Channing family as
+contributors, Dr. William F. and Walter, and also the name of James
+Freeman Clarke, of Boston, with an additional writer from Brook Farm--
+John Orvis.
+
+Mr. Ripley and Mr. Dana wrote most of the editorial Associative
+articles. Mr. Dana was the principal reviewer, and noticed the new
+books. Mr. Dwight wrote an occasional article on Association, reviewed,
+and attended to the musical and poetical department. He also earnestly
+advocated the doctrines of social and industrial life suggested by
+Fourier. Translations in prose and poetry were common. Parke Godwin and
+W. H. Channing assisted in translations or selections from Fourier's
+writings. George William Curtis wrote the musical correspondence from
+New York, and among the poetical contributions in the first volume, is
+one from J. G. Whittier, "To My Friend on the Death of His Sister," and
+five poems by Cranch, Higginson, Story, Lowell and Duganne; also poetic
+translations from the German by Dwight and Dana, as well as original
+poems by them.
+
+The paper was not local. It aimed high as a purely literary and
+critical as well as progressive journal, and I must ever consider it a
+fault that it did not chronicle more of Brook Farm life. We look almost
+in vain through its pages for one word of its situation, finding none
+except in some allusions to it in the correspondence from abroad.
+Occasionally the school was advertised in a corner, but for the rest it
+might as well have been published elsewhere as at Brook Farm. The
+leaders, feeling that the life there was an experiment, and perhaps a
+doubtful one, were not disposed to gratify a curiosity which they
+probably considered morbid, by yielding to it. This was a mistake. It
+was a mistake, as much as it would be for us to leave out of our
+letters to our friends the petty incidents of daily life, and describe
+only grand principles and outside events. It is only to those loved
+most by us that we recite the trivial things, for we know that those
+trivialities link us closer than anything else, filling all the chinks
+in our friendship or love. It was a disappointment to those who desired
+to know often of the spirit of the workers, and of the little events
+that happened there, not to find more notices of them.
+
+In many other respects the _Harbinger_ was a grand success. In all
+that pertained to music, criticism, poetry and progress no journal
+stood higher. I cannot tell of its pecuniary success for I do not find
+any memorandum of its finances. The first number commenced with a story
+translated from the French of George Sand (Madame Dudevant) entitled
+"Consuelo"--in some respects the sweetest story she ever wrote. It was
+translated by our neighbor, Mr. Francis G. Shaw, who would oftentimes
+mount his horse, and, with his little boy, a tiny fellow, on a pony by
+his side, gallop over to see us. How hard it is for me to realize that
+afterward the same little fellow, as Col. Robert G. Shaw, led his
+colored regiment through fire and smoke and the whizzing bullets up to
+the cannon's mouth of bloody Fort Wagner, and there laid down his life
+for his country.
+
+Francis George Shaw was of a Boston family and a gentleman of means. He
+took great interest in our experiment and its hoped-for results. I have
+not words to praise his kindness, and his gentlemanly manner and
+bearing towards us all. He looked on life from a high standpoint.
+Wealth did not corrupt him. He was a Christian in large heartedness and
+philanthropy. He recognized his Maker's image in all men; the garment
+he saw through; the color he saw through; and he desired above all
+things the education, progress and culture of all the human family.
+
+Appended is an additional list of all the advertised contributors of
+the _Harbinger_, during its publication at Brook Farm, not
+including those already mentioned:--
+
+John Allen, Brook Farm. Jean M. Pallisse, Brook Farm. S. P. Andrews,
+New York, N. Y. William Ellery Channing, Concord, Mass. Joseph J.
+Cooke, Providence, R. I. Fred. Henry Hedge, Bangor, Me. Mark E.
+Lazarus, Wilmington, N. C. E. W. Parkman, Boston, Mass. J. H. Pulte,
+Cincinnati, Ohio. Samuel D. Robbins, Chelsea, Mass. Miss E. H. Starr,
+Deerfield, Mass. C. Neidhart, Philadelphia, Pa.
+
+The presence of a weekly journal on the farm, with its varieties of
+current literature, poetry and music, could not but awaken in many of
+the colaborers most pleasurable emotions. Prose articles and poetry
+from it were discussed by daylight and by the fireside, by the
+roadside, in the shops, on the farm--in fact, everywhere. The "Admiral"
+was wild over Hood's "Bridge of Sighs." It was so quaint; the rhythm
+was so unique; it was so full of sentiment; it was so tender; it
+displayed so touchingly the sorrows of a young heart, and was so in
+harmony with the humanitarian sentiment of our lives, that he and
+others could but repeat it over and over, and the poet's rhymes kept
+ringing both in our physical and mental ears. The lines--
+
+
+  "One more unfortunate,
+  Rashly importunate
+  Gone to her death.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Take her up tenderly,
+  Fashioned so slenderly
+  Young and so fair."
+
+were repeated times without number. Cranch's, Story's and Duganne's
+poems were favorably criticised, the authors being friendly to the
+Association, and the verses of our own members touched tender spots.
+
+When Mr. Emerson's poems were published, there was quite a desire to
+know what his sonnet to our friend William H. Channing was like. The
+disappointment was great when, instead of a grand, glowing sonnet to a
+great-souled man, it took up only an exceptional point of feeling in
+his mind on the Abolition question, on which they were not quite
+agreed. Quite a little discussion took place between two young persons
+as to the propriety of the lines,
+
+  "What boots thy zeal, O glowing friend,
+  That would indignant rend
+  The Northland from the South?"
+
+The one party contended that "boots" was entirely inadmissible in
+poetic phrase. "What boots? Cowhides or patent leathers?" said he,
+whilst the other contended that the whole scope of the meaning made the
+poetry. But still the first stuck to his point, that a grand sentiment
+needed grand words as well as grand ideas, and "boots" was a homely and
+inadmissible word with which to express a high sentiment.
+
+Among the many volumes noticed, "Festus," by Philip James Bailey, was a
+constant source of admiration and criticism in some of our circles, and
+we had many varied ones. Listen to what Mr. Dwight said of it at the
+time in the _Harbinger_: "There are more original and magnificent
+images on a single page of Festus than would endow a dozen of the
+handsome volumes most in vogue. The conclusion you come to as you read
+on, is that his wealth of imagination is illimitable, and that you
+might as well cut a cloud out of the purple sunset atmosphere, as a
+figure from the boundless atmospheric beauty of this poem."
+
+"Festus" still retains its charm for me.
+
+The _Harbinger_, as may be seen, was to be published by the Brook
+Farm _Phalanx_, not _Association_. The reason why the name
+was changed was because "Association" was not a definite one, conveying
+distinct impressions to the public mind, like "Community"; and the name
+"Phalanx," although to American ears, new in its connection, was
+expressive, and was also adopted by a number of social experiments just
+starting, and it was desirable to have them all associated in name as
+well as in general doctrine. The name "Community" was rejected because
+all the societies organized under that name held their property in
+common, which the "Association" distinctly did not.
+
+There were other changes made at this time, more important in idea than
+in practice. The name "Areopagus" was applied to an enlarged general
+council, and our leader got in this connection, without warrant, the
+name of "the Archon."
+
+"Come!" said jocose Drew to him one day, as he sat on the wagon-seat
+ready to start for the city, "we are waiting for you!"
+
+"Ah!" was Mr. Ripley's reply, "I see you have the _wag_-on, and
+are now waiting for the Archon!"
+
+The government was vested in a General Council consisting of four
+branches: First, a Council of Industry, composed of five members;
+second, a Council of Finance, of four members; third, a Council of
+Science, of three members, and fourth a President, who, with the
+chairmen of the other three councils, constituted a "Central Council."
+The Council of Industry was appointed by the chiefs of the several
+series devoted to manual industry; the Council of Finance, by the
+stockholders; the Council of Science, by chiefs of the series devoted
+to educational, literary and scientific matters, and the President by
+the concurrent vote of the three series.
+
+The Areopagus, whose duty was advisory, consisted of the General
+Council; the chiefs of the several groups and series; stockholders
+holding stock to the amount of one thousand dollars or more; all
+members of the Phalanx over the age of forty-five who had resided on
+the place for two years or longer; and of such other persons as might
+be elected by this Council on account of their superior wisdom, merit
+or devotion to the interests of the Association; no person voting who
+was not a member of the Phalanx.
+
+There was a curious and interesting addition to the constitution in the
+"Council of Arbiters," which was to consist of seven persons, "the
+majority of whom shall be women." To this council individuals and
+departments were to bring all complaints, charges and grievances not
+provided for in other ways. They were to take cognizance of all matters
+relating to morals and manners, and to report to the General Council
+all cases wherein their decision was not complied with. The reader can
+judge by this that there were men and women who understood "woman's
+sphere," and were ready to assist her to it quietly and naturally, long
+years ago in this little band.
+
+A considerable number of arrangements were made to secure what was
+considered justice in the relation of capital to the Phalanx, its
+members and its stockholders. The capital stock was divided into three
+classes, namely: loan stock, or that which received a fixed percentage
+for use; partnership stock, depending on the general product of the
+Phalanx for its dividend; and labor stock, that represented the
+dividend to labor.
+
+The arrangements for the dividends on stock of the several kinds were
+quite complicated, and, under the light of after events, seem farcical;
+but the constitution makers believed they were arranging matters not
+only for the Brook Farm experiment, but for all who might adopt the
+social life of the Phalanxes, present and future. Looking at it in this
+light, the constitution might deserve more thought than can be given to
+it now.
+
+There was a preliminary article, written and signed by George Ripley,
+President, from which the following extracts are made:--
+
+"At the last session of the Legislature of Massachusetts, our
+Association was incorporated under the name which it now assumes, with
+the right to hold real estate to the amount of one hundred thousand
+dollars. This confers upon us all the usual powers and privileges of
+chartered companies. We have introduced several branches of profitable
+industry, and established a market for their products; and finally, in
+the constitution which follows, we have applied the principles of
+social justice to the distribution of profits in such a manner that the
+best results are to be expected.
+
+"Nothing is now necessary to the greatest possible measure of success
+but capital to furnish sufficient means to enable us to develop every
+department to advantage. This capital we can now apply profitably and
+without danger of loss. We are well aware that there must be risk in
+investing money in an infant association as well as in any other
+untried business, but with the labors of nearly four years, we have
+arrived at a point where this risk hardly exists. Not that we have
+surmounted all the difficulties of the enterprise; these are still
+sufficiently abundant. But we have, by no means with ease, laid the
+foundation, and now stand ready to do our part in rearing a
+superstructure, which approaches more nearly to the ideal of human
+society than any that has as yet existed--a society which shall
+establish justice between all interests and all men; which shall
+guarantee education, the right to labor, and the rights of property to
+all, and which by actual demonstration of a state of things every way
+better and more advantageous, will put an end to the great evils which
+at present burden even the most fortunate classes.
+
+"What we have already been able to accomplish ought to give weight to
+our words. We speak not from abstract conviction, but from experience;
+not as mere enthusiasts, but as men of practical common sense, holding
+in our hands the means of escape from the present condition of society,
+and from that still more frightful state to which in all civilized
+countries it is hurrying.
+
+"Accordingly, we calmly and earnestly invite the aid of those who
+perceive how little security existing institutions offer against the
+growth of commercial feudalism on the one hand, and pauperism on the
+other--of those whose sympathies are with the unfortunate and
+uneducated masses; of those who long for the establishment of more true
+and genial conditions of life, as well as of those who are made
+restless and fiery-souled by the universal necessities of reform.
+
+"But by the increasing number, whose most ardent desire is to see the
+experiment of Association fairly tried, we are confident that the
+appeal we now make will not be received without the most generous
+response in their power. As far as their means and their utmost
+exertions can go, they will not suffer so favorable an opportunity for
+the realization of their hopes to pass unimproved."
+
+I cannot say that I think all parties in the Association were pleased
+with the changes in the constitution. They were not simple enough to be
+easily applied and quickly comprehended, and were too weighty and
+cumbersome for the little society.
+
+Early in the second spring (1844) of my sojourn at the farm it was
+decided to build a large unitary building on the high ground, almost
+directly in front of the Eyry, though at some distance from it, on the
+eastern verge of the slope facing the meadow, and nearly in line with
+the distant town road. It was late when the preparations were concluded
+and the work was commenced. There was not money enough in the treasury
+to pay for it, but it was thought that means would come. The result of
+the season's work was that the foundation walls were laid, the first
+floor was boarded, and thus it was left for the winter.
+
+It was to be an oblong, wooden building, with an entrance on a level
+with the earth terrace. The lower floor was divided into some five or
+six apartments, with parlors, a reading room, reception rooms, large
+dining hall, with an adjoining kitchen and bakery. From the main hall
+or entry, which was on the left of the centre of the building, arose a
+flight of stairs which led out on to a corridor or piazza which
+extended across the whole front of the building. This corridor was
+duplicated by one above it, and the roof jutted out to a line with the
+lower story and covered them both. Pillars supported the roof, and were
+attached to and supported the corridors. On the lower corridor or
+piazza were the entrances to the suites. There were seven doorways that
+entered seven houses, as distinct as any other seven houses, except in
+being connected by the corridors and being under one roof, each house
+containing two suites. Thus could privacy be maintained and sociability
+increased.
+
+The building would add wonderfully to the advantages of the
+Association, and being near the centre of the domain, would diminish
+the travel which consumed a great deal of time. It would give room for
+increased numbers; would furnish a suitable assembly room, and more
+especially would it give to the larger families a chance to place their
+members together in the natural family order. It would also allow the
+other buildings to be used exclusively for family purposes, and if
+success increased the resources of the Association, the main building
+would be enlarged by adding wings to it.
+
+The proportion of unmarried persons in the Association was large, and
+young men predominated. They had, in a general sense, a good home in
+the Association, but there was lacking the family circle to draw around
+at night, and a good deal of motherly care and sympathy. They were
+reliable young men, and many of the families would not have objected to
+having them joined to their evening circles, had they not been crowded
+themselves; to having a sympathizing care over them, and to looking
+after many of those trifling things that make the difference between
+comfort and discomfort.
+
+It was a theory that all should have a home--that the Association, as a
+general home, should not take the place of the private family; and it
+was also considered a duty by many to join to their family circles one
+or more of these single persons. It was proposed in the apportionment
+of the rooms in the new building, to place a family in each house and
+proportionately distribute the young men, when desirable to do so,
+among them. This would give all a more equal chance, and not doom the
+young and productive members to reside in attics, or in groups in any
+place convenient for the Association, in its crowded state, to put
+them.
+
+Extracts from the Financial Report to the Association.
+
+"The Direction of Finance respectfully submit their annual report for
+the year ending Oct. 31, 1844:--
+
+   The income of the Association during the year from
+    all sources whatever has been . . . . . . .$11,854.41
+    and its expenditures for all purposes,
+    including interest, losses by bad debts,
+    and damage of buildings, tools and
+    furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,409.14
+
+    leaving a balance of . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,445.27
+    from which deducting the amount of
+    doubtful debts contracted this year . . . .    284.43
+                                                --------
+    we have . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,160.84
+
+which is to be divided according to the Constitution.
+
+"By the last yearly report of this Direction it appears that the
+Association has been a loser up to November 1, 1843, to the amount of
+$2,748.83. In this amount was included sundry debts against associates
+amounting to $924.38 which should not have been included. There were
+also some small discrepancies which were afterwards discovered, so that
+on settling the books, the entire deficit appeared to be $1,837.00.
+
+"To this amount should be added the proportion of the damage done to
+the tools, furniture and general fixtures and depreciation in the live
+stock, by the use of the two years which the Association has been in
+operation previous to that time. The whole damage of this property by
+the use of these years has been ascertained by inventory to be $365.54,
+according to the estimates and statements prepared by Messrs. Ryckman
+and Hastings, which are herewith submitted.
+
+"Of this sum, $365.54, we have charged one third, $121.85, to the
+account of the current year, and two thirds, $243.69, to the account of
+the two preceding years. To the same amount should also be added sundry
+debts which have since proved to be bad, amounting in all to $678.08,
+and also an error in favor of I. Morton amounting to $17.74, which has
+since been discovered in his account, so that the total deficit of the
+preceding years will appear to be as follows:--
+
+  Deficit on settling the books..... $1,837.00
+  Damage on furniture and fixtures..... 243.69
+  Bad debts, including debts of
+  associates considered doubtful....... 678.08
+  I. Morton............................  17.74
+
+  Total.............................. $2,776.51
+
+"From this amount is to be deducted the value of the farm produce
+consisting of hay, roots, manures, etc., on hand November 1, 1843,
+which was not taken into the amount of last year, but which has been
+ascertained to be $762.50, as well as the value, $49.13, of the family
+stores which were on hand at the same time, but were also omitted from
+the amount.
+
+"Deducting these two amounts ($762.50+$49.13= $811.63) from the deficit
+as above stated we have:
+
+  Deficit.......... $2,776.51
+  Farm produce and
+  family stores....... 811.63
+
+  Real deficit for
+  1842 and 1843.... $1,964.88
+
+"It was the opinion of a majority at least of this Board that this sum
+must be chargeable upon the future industry of the Association, and
+that no dividend could be declared until it had been made up.
+Accordingly the quarterly statement for the quarter ending August 1,
+1844, was based upon this opinion, and a deficit of $526.78 declared to
+exist at that time. It is but justice to say that that statement was
+made up in the absence of one of the members of the Direction, Mr.
+Ryckman, who on seeing it objected entirely to the principle which it
+embodied. Subsequent consideration has convinced the Direction that the
+statement was in that respect erroneous, and that the transactions of
+previous years ought not to affect the operations of this, in the way
+proposed in the statement. It should be borne in mind that the deficit
+before spoken of is not a debt in itself, but is the difference between
+the amount of our debts and our joint stock, and the nominal value of
+our assets. The Association is not bound to pay the sum or to make it
+good in any way. It pays interest upon it, but can never be called on
+to pay the principal. The sum total of the actual liabilities of the
+Association, that is, of debts and obligations which it is bound at
+some time or other to pay, is much exceeded by the cost value of its
+property. Its joint stock, which it is not bound to pay, much exceeds
+the deficit we are speaking of, so that clearly the deficit is not to
+be paid, but only the interest upon it, that is, five per cent per
+annum forever. So that it is evident that the principal is by no means
+chargeable upon the industry of the present or of future years, but
+only the interest. And even if the said deficit were a debt to be paid
+it would still, as we conceive, be perfectly just and legitimate to
+issue stock for its amount to those members by whose labors it was made
+up. Because in that case we should merely, in consideration of such
+labor, bind the Association to the yearly payment of the interest
+aforesaid according to the terms of our joint stock compact.
+
+"This is, as we are persuaded, the only way whereby labor can receive
+justice. If a hundred dollars in money is invested in our stock, we
+issue certificates for that amount, and why must we not do the same
+with an investment of a hundred dollars' worth of labor? The claim in
+the latter case seems to us even more imperative than in the former.
+The dividend of each year ought, as we are convinced, to be made with
+reference solely to the difference between its gains on the one hand,
+and its expenditures and losses on the other.
+
+"The earlier losses of the establishment must be regarded as the price
+of much valuable experience, and as inevitable in starting such an
+institution. Almost every business fails to pay its expenses at the
+commencement--it always costs something to set the wheels in operation;
+this is not, however, to be regarded as absolute loss. This is the view
+which is to be taken of the condition of the Association at the
+beginning of the present year.
+
+"The true value of any property is precisely the sum on which, in the
+use for which it was designed or which it may be put to, it pays the
+requisite interest. The price of railroad stock, for example, is not
+regulated, either by its original cost or by the present intrinsic
+worth of the property it represents, but by the dividend it pays and by
+the condition and durability of the railroad. For any other use than as
+a railroad the property of the road is of course comparatively
+worthless, but that consideration has no effect upon its value.
+
+"The case is entirely the same with the property of this Association. As
+long as it is able, in the use and under the management of the
+Association, to pay the stipulated interest--five per cent per annum--
+upon the stock shares by which it is represented, so long those stock
+shares will be worth par, whatever may be the nominal cost of the
+property, or its value for any other purposes than those of the
+Association.
+
+"In accordance with these views and for other considerations which we
+shall hereafter allude to, this Direction is altogether of opinion that
+the results of this year's industry ought to be divided irrespective of
+the results of former years, and certificates of stock issued to those
+persons who are entitled to such dividends.
+
+"To some persons it may perhaps seem remarkable that a dividend should
+be declared when the Association is so much in want of ready money as
+at present, but a little reflection will show anyone that it is a
+perfectly legitimate proceeding. A very large part of our industry has
+been engaged in the production of permanent property such as the shop,
+the Phalanstery and the improvements upon the farm. These are of even
+more value to the Association than so much money, and a dividend may as
+justly be based upon them as upon cash in the treasury.
+
+"As soon as the Phalanstery shall be completed it will become necessary
+to establish different rates of room rent. It is a matter of doubt
+whether such an arrangement is not already desirable. In our present
+crowded condition, indeed, the general inconveniences are distributed
+with tolerable equality, but still it is impossible to avoid some
+exceptions, and it might contribute to the harmony of the Association
+if a just graduation of rates for different apartments should now be
+established. As far as possible no member should be the recipient of
+peculiar favors, but when all are charged at an equal rate for unequal
+accommodations, this is unavoidable. For the same reason a difference
+should be made between the price of board at the Graham tables, and
+those which are furnished with a different kind of food. It is only by
+this means that justice can be done and differences prevented.
+
+  "C. A. D."
+
+
+The first thought that will arrest the attention of some in reading
+this report is the smallness of the figures. It does not appear to-day
+that the corporation was much of a financial affair, for there are
+thousands of persons in our land now who could easily sustain such an
+institution and pocket its yearly losses; but we must bear in mind that
+the intervening years have changed the value of money, and its relation
+to property. A fair price for a mechanic's labor then was a dollar for
+a day of ten to twelve hours; the same persons would now receive three
+to four times as much for less hours. We should remember also that the
+colossal fortunes of to-day were not in existence then. The means at
+the command of the Association were very small, and the wonder is that
+with so little money capital the enterprise should have attracted the
+wide notice it did.
+
+In this report was an allusion to the Graham table. In the dining room
+there was always, at the time of which I write, one table of
+vegetarians--those who used no flesh meats, and generally no tea or
+coffee. They passed under the name of "Grahamities," from the founder
+of the vegetarian system in America, Dr. Sylvester Graham, whose name
+is still connected with bread made of unbolted wheat because it was by
+him considered the very perfection of human food. These persons were of
+both sexes, different ages and occupations. They worked on the farms,
+in the schools, the houses and the shops. They had the diet of the
+place, minus the meat and sometimes the tea and coffee. Little
+attention was paid at first to this departure from common habits, but
+by degrees the numbers increased until they began to be a power. Their
+constancy, their earnest belief, soon swept away all ridicule, and the
+proof that they could do their share of daily work was not wanting.
+Among the number were many very devoted and cheerful persons.
+
+Dispensing with meat, with the restricted diet, led some to say: "Our
+table does not cost as much as the others, for we eat no meat, saving
+the expense of it to the Association, and we drink no tea or coffee,
+saving that cost also. Let us have the money we have economized, spent
+for us in things that we want, in additional fruit and vegetables, or
+in some articles of diet that we need to replace the food we do not
+use." The answer to it was that the Association furnished certain
+things, and if the members did not eat them it was their loss, as it
+could not be expected that the Association could cater to individual
+tastes. But after a while the injustice was made apparent, and it led
+to the notice we have just read in the report.
+
+I have been requested to give my personal testimony as to the effect of
+a vegetarian diet as seen at Brook Farm. I willingly do so. For two or
+three years the farmers, mechanics and others worked side by side, and
+no one could conscientiously say that in ability to work in any field
+of labor, physical or mental, the vegetarians were out-matched by their
+companions. Their health was fully maintained and their mental
+cheerfulness was surpassed by none.
+
+From this report it can easily be learned that no important financial
+progress had been made at Brook Farm, and that any accumulation of
+wealth was yet in the future. The Brook Farmers were working in hope.
+It was still an experiment, and as an experiment it will be necessary
+for me to point out by-and-by the defects which will answer the often
+asked question, "Why did Brook Farm fail?" But it is well to bear in
+mind the starting point. Most men of business go into trade with a
+capital, some reserved fund, but the Brook Farmers had none, and as
+they progressed, the want of it was more and more felt. "It is the
+first step that costs," as the French proverb says, and the Brook
+Farmers had a great many first steps to take, steps that no others had
+taken, and inevitable costs and losses must occur. But we pass on into
+the second spring of my Brook Farm life.
+
+And here another character came into our circle, and joined in work on
+the farm. He was very enthusiastic. His wife had lately died, and he
+brought her body to Brook Farm as to Holy Land and buried it in the
+little grove by the side of our first and only grave, so that there
+were now two mounds that the gardener ornamented with sods, shrubbery
+and flowers.
+
+I do not think this new friend had a fine face. His features were not
+large, and, if we except the full forehead, not very attractive. His
+mouth was small, and his dark brown hair asserted its rights in spite
+of brush and comb, and would not lie gracefully down over his brow, and
+it added to the look of determination there was in the little man's
+countenance, shown by the lines in his face and the rigid and spare
+muscles, a "hold on" expression which so well coincided with his
+character.
+
+New England at this time put its fingers in its ears and stifled the
+beatings of its heart that kept time with justice, in order that the
+peace of our country should not be disturbed by men who thought slavery
+a curse, and proclaimed it so. Rev. John Allen was then in a pulpit,
+and dared to speak his mind to his people, at which they rebelled and
+would not hearken. "Speak I must; speak I will," said he, "or we part!
+Let me but preach a sermon once a quarter on the subject of slavery!"
+But the church said, "No." "Let me then but preach once in six months,"
+and the church said, "No." Finally he said he would continue with them
+if they would allow him to preach one sermon a year on the subject--I
+doubt not that that _one_ would have carried flint and steel
+enough to set fire to all the tinder in the congregation--but the
+church would not listen, and they parted.
+
+He had one little child, an infant a year or two old, who, deprived of
+his mother, was brought to the farm and had a great deal of attention
+and pity bestowed upon it. This little boy brought a misfortune which
+threatened the lives of the members, the business and life of the
+Association. He was the pet of his father, who took him to Boston on
+his lecture tours and brought him back, for Mr. Allen was engaged to
+lecture for the cause. The child had never been vaccinated, and being
+ill at the Hive, it was discovered that he had symptoms of small-pox,
+which disease he had taken somewhere in the city. Imagine the commotion
+among the persons who had handled and fondled the young darling, and in
+the Association in general! But the bravery of men and women who had
+dared to leave their homes and share the fortune and fate of this young
+Community was everywhere displayed.
+
+The child was isolated and cared for, but in due time backaches and
+headaches foretold the coming of the dreaded disease, and preparations
+were made for anticipated results. The Cottage was vacated, and the
+sick were conveyed thither. The disease took a variety of forms. There
+were those who had nothing but the symptoms, or a pustule or two; some
+had a few dozen on them, scattered from head to foot; they were almost
+absolutely well; they refused to be made invalids of; they kept at work
+on the farm or were only disabled for a day or two when the disease was
+at its height. The lighter cases increased in number, and finally the
+Direction saw it was useless to try to isolate all, and that the
+disease must have its run, and they must trust to fate for final
+results. The worst cases were in the improvised hospital, under the
+care of kindly nurses. "Hired," say you? No; not a bit of it! but dear,
+kind women and men volunteered to attend to this sacred duty, and after
+weeks of imprisonment, came out with the glory of having protected
+every life, and the Associated family lost not a member. There were
+more than thirty cases. The simple diet, the pure air and the healthy
+mental stimulus of cheerful lives, with the knowledge that they were
+something more than in name a united body, must have had its effect,
+for the whole trouble passed away like a summer shower, and left no
+permanent impression on the society. There were three or four extreme
+cases, but only one or two persons who bore scars that were
+defacements, and there was no panic in our midst. The members took the
+whole matter with wonderful coolness.
+
+Like a shower it wiped out the army of visitors! When any persons came,
+an attendant warned them of our condition ere they reached the Hive
+door, and they precipitately retreated. Occasionally only, a carriage
+or a few persons travelled the accustomed ways. Not until the epidemic
+had passed did the interminable throng resume its accustomed walk, or
+strange faces appear at the "visitors' table," and our many constant
+and cheerful friends greet us again as of yore. The labor of the
+Association was much disarranged, and there was loss in many ways, but
+it was truly to be congratulated that it escaped from such an unusual
+danger as comfortably as it did. From the first days of the Community
+until its close, there was only one death on the farm, and that of the
+person described in a former chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+MY SECOND SPRING.
+
+
+All through the spring the talk was of the new building, the
+"Phalanstery," as we called it. Everybody was thinking what great
+progress could be made when we should live in it. One day, passing by,
+I found the carpenters had resumed work, and from thenceforth it
+progressed until it assumed the resemblance of a mammoth house.
+
+The round of daily life this season was little varied from that of the
+past, but there was more activity and more crowding. A great many
+makeshifts were had to enable persons who wished to visit the place to
+get even lodging for a night, for no one knew who or how many were
+coming before the evening coach arrived. Oftentimes it came full, when
+it seemed there was not a sleeping place to be found on the domain. The
+Association buildings overflowed, and a neighboring house was leased
+and occupied just across the road, by the Hive. It was sometimes called
+the "Nest," and had been hired in the first days of the "Community."
+Even then every corner was filled.
+
+There was some income from this crowd of visitors, and at the same time
+the work and system of the place were much retarded, for as carriage
+after carriage and vehicle after vehicle came, each one would require
+an attendant, who was taken from labor, and when the regular attendants
+were all occupied the horn would be sounded to see if anyone of the
+shoemakers or printers or farmers or teachers would leave his work and
+volunteer for this duty.
+
+Frequently all these visitors would leave as suddenly as they came, and
+would only give their thanks, not even being of a single cent's
+immediate value to the place for the outlay of time taken from
+productive labor. Sometimes a growl would be heard because a trifle was
+taken for the expense of meals, or about the absence of feathers in the
+beds, by some visitor who intruded himself uninvited. I pitied the
+Dormitory Group, running from house to house at edge of evening to find
+a stray corner to lodge a guest; seeking out the rooms of absent
+members, and hunting up towels, furnishings and fittings, through all
+the pleasant summer weather. But this was cheerfully done for "the
+cause," and much more had to be done.
+
+Our lecturers were wanted--men who were in practical associative life,
+and they were taken from remunerative work to speak to the public. Thus
+we entered into the summer, and the beautiful grass waved again on the
+meadow; the pleasant lights gleamed again from the Eyry windows; the
+pure moon looked down on the summer fields; the merry voices of the
+young and happy folks were heard as the farmers came up from the
+fields, and the horn sounded its "_toot-toot_" as a signal for all
+to join at meals.
+
+I was in the gardener's department, assisting him in the care of the
+greenhouse plants and making flower beds, but our especial work was
+laying out and planting a large garden which should be a permanent
+addition to the beauty of the place, and a future source of income. On
+the farm was a fine imported bull who did not seem to be doing his
+share of work in our very industrious place, so a ring was put in his
+nose and he was my especial charge in the way of a team. It appears
+cruel to one who for the first time sees a bull led by the nose, but
+there seems to be no reason why a bull should complain, when there are
+so many humans continually led through life in the same fashion.
+
+In fact the bull throve and had in some ways considerable sense. He was
+harnessed into a tipcart and we made him work for us. He was a strong,
+powerful fellow, and has carried his eighty loads of gravel a day, from
+one part of the garden to the other. At noon I would relieve him of his
+harness and mount his back for a ride to the barn. I would then be the
+"observed of all observers." Sometimes, for the frolic, I would load my
+cart with young misses and dump them at the Hive door, backing up to it
+in the most approved style of an old "gee-haw" farmer.
+
+"Prince Albert," the bull, was a gem. He worked admirably. He never
+gave me any trouble, or anyone else human, but when stalled near the
+oxen he had a peculiar fancy to poke his horns into them. Early one
+morning, by some mischance, he got loose in the barn, and "going" for
+one of them frightened him so much that he also broke loose, and in
+trying to make his escape from the bull, backed into the barn-room.
+There was a large trap door in it, and the ox ventured on it, breaking
+it, and fell through. The bull was so close behind that he could not
+escape, and they dropped together into the little room below, the door
+of which was open. The ox escaped into the yard, and ran for dear life
+around the front of the Hive, pursued by the bull. Whether the jar of
+the fall, his escape, or his quiet disposition sobered him I know not,
+but he soon fell into a jog-trot pursuit, and was caught and returned
+by a neighboring farmer.
+
+There was great roaring and noise in the fracas, which was of short
+duration, but long enough to bring out the men from the Hive to witness
+the affair. The General, who had been sleeping a little late--probably
+he had been baking bread the night before--made his appearance from his
+little room on the ground floor, with boot on one foot and shoe on the
+other, just as it was all over, with the impatient inquiry, "W-w-what
+is it all about?" On an explanation of the affair being made, the next
+question he asked, in all earnestness, soberness and simplicity, was
+"W-h-o-i-c-h came out ahead?" The personal appearance and manner of the
+General, and the absurd question, uttered in a vehement and stammering
+way, touched a ludicrous spot in the minds of the spectators so
+permanently that should you ask one of them to-day, "Which came out
+ahead?" he will smile or give you a shout of laughter in return.
+
+It took but little to amuse, sometimes, for on one of the beautiful
+summer days at nooning time, a group of men were resting in the shade
+of the arbor that was on an island artificially made in the brook below
+the terraces in front of the Hive, breathing the pure, balmy air of
+outdoors instead of the indoor air of the workshop, reclining on the
+thick greensward, when some two or three essayed the not very difficult
+feat of jumping the merrily running brook, from embankment to
+embankment, and dared Tirrell, one of the number, to follow. He was the
+oldest and a little less supple than the others; and in trying the jump
+deliberately landed about three inches short of the opposite bank, knee
+deep in the water. It was, as the young people say, "too funny for
+anything," but equally funny to the lookers-on to see the amused
+Chiswell, one of his mates, roll over and over on the greensward in
+repeated convulsions of side-splitting laughter, whilst the others,
+standing up, had hard work to keep their perpendicular and writhed in
+awful shapes as they joined in chorus with him, as Tirrell was slowly
+wading out of the water up the embankment.
+
+Trouble in financial affairs still existed. Cash in large amount was
+not received, and it was perilous times with the Direction. When the
+fall of the year came, it was announced that we must retrench our
+meagre diet, to enable us to go on until our labor could pay us better--
+until we could improve our employments and enlarge the institution so
+that there could be more producers--and it was submitted to without
+much complaint.
+
+The work on the new building ceased, so that all hope of entering into
+it before the coming spring was abandoned. There was one motto,
+"Retrenchment," and it was echoed from all sides with all manner of fun
+and mock solemnity; but those who were in the inner circle doubtless
+felt, more than the youngsters did, the seriousness of matters. A more
+strict account of everything was kept; indeed it seemed that the time
+spent in keeping all the various items, was out of proportion to the
+work done. I shall not soon forget, in this connection, the joke of
+"the Parson," E. Capen, who, holding up a pair of pantaloons that he
+had just received from the Mending Group, said sharply, "I have just
+gotten a _reseat in full_ for these pantaloons!"
+
+It will not be necessary to go into details of changes made to secure
+more prosperity. I was undisturbed by them. I could go with crust of
+good bread all day and be satisfied, growing strong and healthy. I
+could endure the cold and heat without trouble, and have often braved
+the winter wind, taking no pains to keep it from being blown on my bare
+chest, and without discomfort.
+
+The new greenhouse was built in the autumn, just in time to save the
+plants from frost. It was situated back of the cottage and garden,
+almost parallel with our boundary wall, and about fifteen feet from it.
+There was a little sleeping room connected with it, where I lodged
+summer and winter. Above me in the gable, a variety of beautiful doves,
+consisting of Pouters, Tumblers, Ruffs, Carriers and Fantails, was
+installed. They were very tame, and were much admired by our family and
+visitors. They came at my call, alighted on my hands, head and
+shoulders, and picked corn from out my hands and from between my lips.
+
+We planted grape vines that bore promises, but were too young for
+fruit, and we made bouquets and sold them to Boston and West Roxbury
+parties.
+
+Peter N. Klienstrup, the gardener, was under the spell of the powerful
+weed, tobacco, and he tried time and again to break from the habit of
+using it, but as often returned to its enchantment and its witchery.
+
+"Dis is my last piece," I have heard him say many times, showing me the
+fragment of a "hand," and when that was gone and for some two or three
+weeks afterwards everything soured him. He was as cross as a bear, but
+after that time his nerves would gradually become calmer and his
+complexion clearer.
+
+The gardener would persevere in the disuse of tobacco until the
+enchanter's spell seemed broken, when some disturbing thing would upset
+him, and he would turn his pockets inside out, and fumble with his
+thumb and finger in their extreme corners for the least particle of the
+"luxury." "John, I _must_ have some tobacco," he would say, and in
+a day or two would be again under the full influence of the weed. I
+pitied the old man, as I do the thousands of younger men who are to-day
+under the same enchantment.
+
+Swept into this little nook in the industries of the place, I left the
+Farming Group forever.
+
+It is often stated that the home circle is the sphere of women, but at
+times it is a very narrow circle--a very narrowing circle to its
+occupants. There are thousands who enter it as brilliant young ladies,
+and come from it at the end of a few years morbid, harassed, depressed;
+sunk in all the graces and powers that make a woman's life beautiful
+and distinct from a man's. The circle in many cases is so narrow that
+there is no room for growth. The humdrum toils, the petty cares and
+rude contact with hired help, sink many a charming woman into a
+domestic drudge and scold.
+
+It has been asserted that Associations and Communities may do well for
+men, but that women can never get along in them. The experience of
+Brook Farm testifies against the assertion. If ever there was a clear
+record of faithfulness and devotion, of sacrifice, of love of
+principle, and earnest, unselfish work for unselfish ends, the women
+toilers of Brook Farm can claim it and secure it without cavil. Morning
+and evening, in season and out of season, in heat and cold, they were
+ever at their posts. And the self-imposed toil made them grow great. It
+opened their hearts as they daily saw the devotion of others.
+
+It was for the meanest a life above humdrum, and for the greatest
+something far, infinitely far beyond. They looked into the gates of
+life and saw beyond charming visions, and hopes springing up for all.
+They saw protection for all, even to the meanest of God's creatures; a
+life beyond cold charity, up among the attributes of the Creator's
+justice; an even garment for all, protecting the weak children of life
+against the strong, the strong against the machinations of the weak.
+How could they grow otherwise than great?
+
+Wherever woman's hands were wanted to work, wherever woman's head was
+wanted to plan, and wherever woman's care and sympathy were needed,
+they were always forthcoming. Some were witty, too. One of our ladies,
+with her hands full of apple blossoms and her eyes bright as stars, was
+met by Mr. Ripley, who said to her, "You have been foraging, I see!"
+"Oh, no," she said, with an arch smile, "I do not go _foraging_."
+
+The pupils of the school took the infection of labor. At first often
+haughty and distant, they soon mellowed, and were ready to assist the
+young associative friends, with whom they became acquainted, in various
+little works, and enjoyed the labor. The prevailing tone was health.
+Sickness was a rarity to either sex. The pupils mingled with the games
+and sporty, walks, rides and parties, and many seemed as devoted as
+though belonging to the body, and when they returned from vacations, it
+was with happy greetings to all and from all, and like returning home,
+rather than to tasks.
+
+Separate and distinct from the school was a room for the young at the
+Hive, where mothers could leave their children in the care of the
+Nursery Group whilst they were engaged in industrial work, or as a
+kindly relief to themselves when fatigued by the care of them; for a
+primary doctrine was "alternation of employments." It was believed that
+more and better work could be done by not being confined to one
+employment all the day of labor; that it was better for the mental as
+well as the physical system to have a change--in theory as often as
+once in two hours. In practice, under the conditions which governed our
+life, an attempt only could be made to alternate labor and to relieve
+the mothers from the excess of burden that the care of young children
+often is. Some very sweet and choice ladies attended to this
+employment, choosing it from their attraction towards it; thus
+inaugurating the day nursery system, now coming into vogue in our large
+cities.
+
+In the matter of dress, the women who chose, had made for themselves a
+short gown with an under garment, bound at the ankles and of the same
+material. With this dress they could walk well and work well. It was
+somewhat similar to the dress worn by Mrs. Bloomer and called by her
+name years after this date.
+
+The question of the "right to vote" for women was not one that troubled
+the politicians of Brook Farm. At all of the meetings for the
+acceptance or rejection of applicants and other purposes, women cast
+their votes without criticism, for were they not mutually interested?
+And now, nearly half a century since, we are asked to form a party to
+secure similar rights. Why, men and women, the party was formed when a
+majority of persons now living was not born; only it was a very small
+party, and, need I add--select!
+
+Only once did we have a wedding ceremony at the farm, though the
+friendships commenced outlasted the Association. The financial
+conditions for marriage were not inviting. One pleasant evening, later
+than this date as I remember it, we were all invited to the Pilgrim
+House to a wedding of one of Mr. Dwight's sisters. Our friend Rev. W.
+H. Channing officiated.
+
+It was a homelike affair, and after the ceremony "the Poet" (J. S.
+Dwight) was invited to speak to us; but no, he was not in the mood. He
+was urged--for all liked to hear his kindly voice, and we thought this
+a particularly pleasant subject--so he at last arose from his seat and
+commenced with these words: "I like this making one." It seemed to
+touch various chords in the minds of the hearers, for the applause and
+laughter that followed silenced the rest of the speech and it was never
+finished. Then some one proposed that all should join hands and make a
+circle, as the symbol of universal unity, and a pledge to one another
+that all were united in effort to continue and carry on the great work
+of harmonizing society on a true and just basis of unity of interests,
+attractive industry, mutual guarantees, etc.
+
+  "Come, let us join hands! let our two flames mingle
+    In one more pure;
+  Since there is truth in nothing that is single
+    Be love, love's cure,"
+
+sang our Poet after this time in the _Harbinger_, and some said
+with double meaning. I have a list of names of fourteen married couples
+whose mutual friendship was begun or continued through Brook Farm life,
+and I have yet to know of an unhappy marriage among them all.
+
+The question was often debated whether such a life as was led in
+Association would have a tendency to favor early marriages or not, but
+like a great many other questions of importance, it was debated without
+settlement. One party claimed that from the freedom of social
+intercourse and facility of acquaintance, an intimacy would spring up
+that would result in early marriages; and the other party maintained
+that with the certainty of true friendship from woman, and pleasant
+social relations, marriages would not be hurried, but delayed until the
+parties' thoughts and temperaments were well harmonized and all proper
+and natural arrangements of support and comfort thoroughly secured.
+
+There was with us a variety of female characters. We had our Marthas
+who were troubled with much serving, and our Marys who loved to sit at
+our leader's feet and hear the glad tidings and the new doctrines; and
+now and then we had an uncomfortable woman, fully out of place and
+consequently unhappy. Such an one was usually the wife of some man
+whose whole energies were devoted to his work and who was happy in
+himself, on his half shell, and was to be pitied that his other half
+lived not in his shadow, but cast a shadow on him.
+
+All Brook Farmers recollect with pleasure, among special cases of
+devotion, the little, straight, light-haired, smiling woman, who was so
+long chief of the Dormitory Group, who was at nightfall wandering about
+with stray towels, sheets and pillows, always making arrangements in
+the shifting population for every one who came; hunting places for
+stray visitors, when we were crowded; puzzled and wearied oft--for no
+one knew at what hour of the day or evening visitors might come and we
+had oftentimes almost to make a Box and Cox affair of it, for there was
+no hotel within a long distance. This little woman was at her post
+again in the morning doing dormitory work, never tired, going from
+house to house, ever with a smile on her face; and this position she
+voluntarily occupied more than two years. Sweet Lizzie Curson!
+
+Then the young folks--the young misses--were full of devotion. Commend
+me to the young for unselfish work, or was it that the life awoke in
+them a devoted spirit? This I know, that the sympathy and friendship
+which sprung up in those days has lasted all these years, and will
+remain as long as life. But it was not personal beauty that held me in
+sway, and still holds me after so many long years--years that have
+transformed most of those beautiful girls into old matrons and weeping
+widows, plain and homely--but because it seems to me that there never
+was a more gentle, kind, amiable, trusting, self-respecting, loving set
+of young folks anywhere assembled.
+
+And oh, how they learned! How they grew in grace and in education, both
+of the practical and the ornamental! How fine in health and figure,
+from the free life, from the grace learned in dancing, the repose at
+early hours, the simple diet and the mind filled every day with
+pleasant thoughts and ideas. I do not know of any one who was not in
+fine, robust health. They all, without exception, developed into
+healthy men and women; or, to be a little more exact, as long as they
+remained on the farm they continued to develop in health, strength,
+grace and beauty.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE DRAMA, AND IMPORTANT LETTERS.
+
+
+The need of especial amusements was not particularly felt at the farm,
+but sometimes a set, inspired by an active mind, would venture out of
+the common course and try to do a "big thing," which, like many big
+things, would prove a failure. There was no hall for performances
+except the dining hall, and it could not be taken possession of until
+after supper; consequently, for a dramatic performance where it was
+important to have the hall prepared before hand, it was useless, and so
+the Amusement Group secured the lower floor of the shop for a special
+occasion, and Chiswell, the carpenter, made a portable stage which
+could be arranged for rehearsals and taken down easily, and all hands
+went to work, some to learn their parts and others to make dresses,
+properties and scenery.
+
+The influence of a strong, active mind and persuasive tongue like that
+of Drew, was felt on this occasion, for he induced the Amusement Group
+to allow a portion of his favorite poem, Byron's "Corsair," to be
+acted. With pencil and scissors he went to work, cutting and slashing
+the "Corsair" with these ungodly weapons until I fear he could not, had
+he been in the flesh, have fought a brave fight.
+
+I cannot at this late day describe the dresses worn on the occasion;
+but Glover was the corsair, and burnt cork had to suffer, and I know
+that there was quite a pretty Miss whom he had no especial objection to
+embracing as Medora. When he said, "My own Medora!" it was quite
+pathetic--enough to cause a titter among the younger portion of the
+audience.
+
+_Apropos_ of the audience, it was noised abroad that there was to
+be a performance at the farm, and there was more than the usual number
+of outsiders present. Even the Reverend Theodore, who never ventured
+out in our vicinity in the evening, was tempted to come over for this
+"great occasion." Some round-faced, pretty daughters of a well-to-do
+neighboring farmer from "Spring Street" were there also, and with
+friends and neighbors, the shop was full; for us a large audience.
+
+Well, the "Corsair," clipped as it was, dragged its slow length along
+to an end. We then ventured to start our great drama, "Pizarro," or the
+death of Rolla. But here again I am foiled in my remembrance. I know it
+took the "whole strength of the company" to fill out the many
+characters needed. Carpenters, shoemakers and farmers were turned into
+Spanish chieftains and Peruvians; our young maidens were changed into
+sun-worshippers, and our musical man adapted a portion of one of
+Mozart's masses, to sing to these words, "The _sun_ is in his holy
+temple," etc., at which some of our people cavilled; but which portion,
+sung by the maidens, in white, was perhaps the best of all the
+performance.
+
+I remember, however, that "the Admiral," or some one else, was
+stationed behind the scenes with a gun to fire at Holla when he runs
+away with Alonzo's child; that one of the great points made was, "By
+Heaven, it is Alonzo's child!" and that rushing over scenic rocks he
+should in imagination be shot; but the pesky gun behind the scenes
+would not go off until many desperate attempts were made--no report
+being heard until the play had further progressed, when all of a sudden
+the gun was fired, and frightened individuals had the temerity to ask
+"what that gun was for."
+
+I remember this also, that long before the play was ended, the Reverend
+Theodore and others of the visitors had departed, thinking their own
+thoughts, and that the curative effects of that performance lasted so
+long the like was never attempted again; and although some were a
+trifle disheartened by the failure to reach the summit of their hopes,
+yet it was a source of merriment to others, and there are those whose
+eyes may meet these pages, who will still smile if you quote these
+lines to them: "O'er the glad waters of the deep, blue sea." "List,
+'tis the bugle!" (I can vouch that it was nothing but the old trumpet
+we blew for dinner.) "Ha! it sure cannot be day! What star, what sun is
+bursting on the bay?" (It was only the barn lantern that was raised
+outside the window, and an awful poor light at that!).
+
+"Well, how was Drew's play?" said one wag. "All blood and thunder, eh?"
+
+"No; all thud and blunder," was the rejoinder.
+
+The associative movement had now touched thousands of hearts in this
+country. The Brook Farm Community, at its formation, was the only
+community founded in America on the principle of freedom in religion
+and social life--all others being founded on special religious creeds.
+The agitation of social questions, the doctrines of Fourier and others,
+brought many societies into existence; but like enthusiasts in other
+schemes, the founders of them preached unity, but did not unite. The
+leaders of Brook Farm urged upon the prominent men in the social
+belief, to take part with them in their already established society,
+with all the power they could command; but Mr. Greeley and the New York
+men joined hands with the North American Phalanx, an association
+founded at Red Bank, New Jersey, and lent their influence and means to
+its development. Mr. Greeley thought the land at Brook Farm was of too
+poor quality; that the debts of the organization were heavier than they
+should be for a beginning, and that by starting anew, a better chance
+for thrift could be had--especially if a location could be selected
+with an excellent soil--and he desired it should be located near the
+great market of New York. This departure from a true idea--the idea of
+concentration--was certainly a great mistake, and the end proved that
+the young societies, with little means, and needing much, should all
+have joined together for financial success.
+
+At a very early date in the movement, there was a Community formed at
+Hopedale, Milford, Massachusetts, under the leadership of Rev. Adin
+Ballou, a man of considerable ability, whose tenets were those of peace
+in absolute distinction to those of war. The Community was pledged by
+its members not to enter into any hostile act, and to use its influence
+for universal peace, they being all of a sect called "Non-Resistants."
+Our leader, wisely, I think, made overtures to them to unite with the
+West Roxbury Community, but the proposition was declined in the
+following letter:--
+
+"MENDON, MASS., Nov. 3, 1842.
+
+"DEAR BROTHER RIPLEY: Since our last interview I have met our brethren
+and had a full consultation with them on the points of difficulty on
+which we are at issue with your friends. We are unanimous in the solemn
+conviction that we could not enlist for the formation of a community
+not based on the distinguishing principles of the standard of Practical
+Christianity so called, especially _non-resistance_, etc. We trust
+you will do us the justice to think that we are conscientious and not
+_bigoted_. The temptation is strong to severe, but we dare not
+hazard the cause we have espoused by yielding our scruples.
+
+"We love you all, and shall be happy to see you go on and prosper,
+though we fear the final issue. We are few and poor, and therefore you
+can do without us better than we without you--your means and your
+learning! But we shall try to do something in our humble way if God
+favor us. We beseech you and your friends not to think us unkind or
+unfriendly on account of our stiff notions, as they may seem, and to
+regard us always as ready to rejoice in your good success. Let me hear
+from you occasionally, and believe me and those for whom I speak,
+sincerely your brethren in every good work.
+
+"Affectionately yours,
+
+"ADIN BALLOU."
+
+I remember that the Association, through its leaders, urged upon all
+the principal men who came within their sphere, with considerable zeal,
+to unite in their movement. This is a matter of record that should be
+placed to their credit.
+
+A little later than this I find a letter from Mr. Brisbane, who showed
+his characteristics so well in it, that I present all its important
+parts for reading:--
+
+"NEW YORK, the 9th December, 1845.
+
+"MY DEAR RIPLEY:--Yours of the 3d just received, the 5th came to hand
+yesterday. I note all its contents in relation to your views upon the
+necessity of developing Brook Farm. The reason why I have spoken in
+some of my last letters of the best means of bringing Brook Farm to a
+close, and making preparations for a trial under more favorable
+circumstances, is this. In the middle of November I received a letter
+from Charles in which, in speaking of the varioloid, he stated the
+difficulties you have to contend with, and expressed fears for the
+future in such a way that I decided you had made up your minds to bring
+things to a close. I feared that Morton might be foreclosing his
+mortgage, which would be a most serious affair. This is the cause of my
+adverting to a possible dissolution and the necessity of looking ahead
+to meet in the best and most proper manner such a contingency.
+
+"As to any opinion of what is to be done, it is easily explained.
+
+"First, we must raise a sufficient amount of capital, and the amount
+must not be small.
+
+"Second, when that is secured we must prepare and work out a plan of
+scientific organization sufficiently complete in its details to serve
+as a guide in organizing an Association. For my own part, I feel no
+capability whatever of directing an Association by discipline, by ideas
+of duty, moral suasion and any other similar means. I want
+organization; I want a mechanism suited and adapted to human nature, so
+that human nature can follow its laws and attractions and go rightly,
+and be its own guide. I might do something in directing such an
+organization, but would be useless in any other way. As we all like to
+be active, I would like exceedingly to take part in and help construct
+a scientific organization.
+
+"How can we raise the capital necessary to do something effectual? I
+see but two ways. The first is for C. and I--and if he will not do it,
+then for you and I, if you would possibly engage in it--to lecture
+patiently and perseveringly in various parts of the country, having the
+translation of Fourier with us, _and continue at the work_ until
+we have enlisted and interested men enough who will subscribe each a
+certain sum sufficient to form the fund we deem necessary. Patience and
+perseverance would do this. One hundred men who would subscribe one
+thousand dollars cash, would give us a fine capital. Something
+effectual, I think, might be done with such an amount; less than that
+would, I fear, be patchwork.
+
+"Second, if C. or you cannot engage in this enterprise, then I shall
+see what I can do alone. I shall make first the trial of the steel
+business--that will now soon be determined, probably in a few weeks.
+There are chances that it may be a great thing; if that turns out
+nothing, then I shall take Fourier's work and do something of what I
+propose you or C. and I should do together.
+
+"If the capital can be had, where shall we organize, you will ask? That
+is a thing to be carefully considered, and which we cannot decide at
+present.
+
+"Placed under the circumstances you are, all these speculations will
+appear foreign to the subject that interests you, and useless. You want
+capital, and immediately, for Brook Farm. Now it seems to me a problem
+as perplexing to get fifteen thousand dollars for Brook Farm as it does
+to raise one hundred thousand dollars. Where can it be had? The New
+Yorkers who have money, G., T., S., etc., are all interested in and
+pledged to raise ten thousand dollars for the North American Phalanx,
+to pay off its mortgage. You might as well undertake to raise dead men,
+as to attain any considerable amount of capital from the people here; I
+have tried it so often that I know the difficulties.
+
+"The fact is, we have a great work to accomplish, that of organizing an
+Association, and to do it we must have the means adequate to the task,
+and to get these means we must make the most persevering and Herculean
+efforts. We must go at the thing in earnest, and labor until we have
+secured the means. I really see no other way or avenue to success; if
+you do, I should be glad to hear your explanation of it. Fifteen
+thousand dollars might do a great deal at Brook Farm, but would it do
+the thing effectually--would it make a trial that would impress the
+public? And for anything short of that, none of us, I suppose, would
+labor.
+
+"We are surrounded by great difficulties. I see no immediate chance of
+obtaining a capital sufficient for a good experiment, and until we have
+the capital to organize upon quite a complete scale, I should say that
+it would be a very great misfortune to dissolve Brook Farm. No
+uncertain prospects should exercise any influence; the means must be
+had in hand before we made any decisive movement towards a removal or
+organizing in a more favorable location, even if you were perfectly
+willing to leave New England and the neighborhood of Boston. As I said
+I spoke of it, and should be urged to make at once the greatest efforts
+to obtain capital only under the fear that circumstances might force a
+crisis upon you.
+
+"I have touched merely upon generalities to-day; after further
+correspondence I will write you more in detail. I will also come on and
+see you if you deem it advisable. The other experiment keeps me here at
+present; I think that next week I shall test it. I am greatly rejoiced
+to hear that you are getting on well with the translation.
+
+"A. BRISBANE."
+
+I present in contrast, the draft of a letter by Mr. Ripley, showing the
+difference in the ideas of the two men. Among the social organizations
+at this date, was the Community founded by Mr. John A. Collins, at
+Skaneateles, New York, to whose friend the letter was addressed. This
+movement was based on "community of property" which was denounced by
+the school of Fourier as a fallacy. I commend the letter to careful
+perusal. It is beautiful in language; its spirit is transcendent.
+
+"BROOK FARM, MASS.
+
+"MY DEAR SIR:--I thank you for sending me the circular, calling a
+convention at Skaneateles for the promotion of the community movement.
+
+"I had just enjoyed a short visit from Mr. Collins, who explained to me
+very fully the purposes of the enterprise, and described the advantages
+of the situation which had been selected as the scene of the initiatory
+experiment. I hardly need to say that the movers in this noble effort
+have my warmest sympathy, and that if circumstances permitted, I could
+not deprive myself of the privilege of being present at their
+deliberations. I am, however, just now so involved in cares and labors
+that I could not be absent for so long a time without neglect of duty.
+
+"Although my present strong convictions are in, favor of cooperative
+Association rather than of communities of property, I look with an
+indescribable interest on every attempt to redeem society from its
+corruptions, and establish the intercourse of men on a basis of love
+instead of competition. The evils arising from trade and money, it
+appears to me, grow out of the defects of our social organization, not
+an intrinsic vice in themselves; and the abolition of private property,
+I fear, would so far destroy the independence of the individual, as to
+interfere with the great object of all social reform, namely, the
+development of humanity, the substitution of a race of free, noble,
+holy men and women, instead of the dwarfish and mutilated specimens
+which now cover the earth.
+
+"The great problem is to guarantee individualism against the masses, on
+the one hand, and the masses against the individual, on the other. In
+society as now organized, the many are slaves to a few favored
+individuals in a community. I should dread the bondage of individuals
+to the power of the mass, while Association, by identifying the
+interests of the many and the few--the less gifted and the highly
+gifted--secures the sacred personality of all, gives to each individual
+the largest liberty of the children of God.
+
+"Such are my present views, subject to any modification which farther
+light may produce. Still I consider the great question of the means of
+human regeneration still open, indeed, hardly touched as yet, and
+Heaven forbid that I should not at least give you my best wishes for
+the success of your important enterprise.
+
+"In our own little Association we practically adopt many community
+elements. We are eclectics and learners, but day by day increases our
+faith and joy in the principle of combined industry and of bearing each
+other's burdens, instead of seeking every man his own.
+
+"It will give me great pleasure to hear from you whenever you have
+anything to communicate interesting to the general movement. I feel
+that all who are seeking the emancipation of man are brothers, though
+differing in the measures which they may adopt for that purpose; and
+from our different points of view it is not, perhaps, presumptuous to
+hope that we may aid each other, by faithfully reporting the aspects of
+earth and sky as they pass before our field of vision.
+
+"One danger, of which no doubt you are aware, proceeds from the growing
+interest in the subject, and that is the crowds of converts who desire
+to help themselves rather than to help the movement. It is as true now
+as it was of old, that he who follows this new Messiah must deny
+himself and take up his cross daily, or he cannot enter the promised
+kingdom. The path of transition is always covered with thorns and
+marked with the bleeding feet of the faithful. This truth must not be
+covered up in describing the paradise for which we hope. We must drink
+the waters of Marah in the desert, that others may feed on the grapes
+of Eshcol. We must depend on the power of self-sacrifice in man, not on
+appeals to his selfish nature, for the success of our efforts. We
+should hardly be willing to accept of men or money for this enterprise,
+unless called forth by earnest conviction that they are summoned by a
+divine voice. I wish to hear less said to capitalists about a
+profitable investment of their funds, as if the holy cause of humanity
+were to be speeded onward by the same force which conducts railroads
+and ships of war. Rather preach to the rich, 'Sell all that you have
+and give to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven.'
+
+"GEORGE RIPLEY."
+
+Although the working condition of the Association was never better than
+now; although its organization was complete as it could well be under
+its disadvantages, it was with sorrow that the Direction heard that one
+of the earliest members with his family--our head farmer--had decided
+to leave the Brook Farm life. It was true that he could be spared, that
+his three children were unproductive and that there was talent enough
+on the farm to run the Farming Series well; but it seemed a break in
+the established order, showing, perhaps, that things were not as
+successful as they appeared to be, and that maybe the event was a
+raindrop predicting a storm.
+
+I think no one blamed him, but all were sorry to part with one whom
+they loved so well. That his interest in the cause and the Association
+had not waned is apparent from the following letter, April 3, 1845:--
+
+"Dear Sir:--In withdrawing from the Association I cannot believe it
+necessary for me to say to you that I do not cease to feel an interest,
+a very deep interest, in the success of the cause in which I have in my
+humble way labored with you for the last few years. The final success
+of this attempt to live out the great and holy idea of association for
+brotherly cooperation, will be to me a greater cause for joy than any
+merely personal benefit to myself could be.
+
+"I wished, but could not do it, to say to you and others how much I
+love and esteem you, and how painful it is for me to leave those to
+whom I am so much indebted for personal kindnesses. You know me well
+enough to believe that I feel, more deeply than I can express, pained
+by this separation. God bless you. God bless and prosper the
+Association individually and collectively.
+
+"Yours truly,
+
+"MINOT PRATT."
+
+It was about this time that a "party" was given by the "Great Apostle,"
+as Mr. Brisbane was called by us. I made a memorandum of it at the
+time, which aids my memory in presenting it.
+
+The day had been pleasant; it was one of the last in March. The farm
+work had progressed as usual. Old Kate was at the plough and Cyclops at
+the wagon. Who was Cyclops? She was a large, raw-boned, gray-white
+mare, whose feeding did not show well; the more oats and meal and hay
+she had, the more ribs we counted in her sides--you have seen such an
+animal! But she was wonderful, because she stepped longer, than any
+other of the horses; worked harder without showing fatigue, and made
+the nine miles to Boston in a practical if not a graceful way.
+
+She had a fault, and horsemen had to admit it (you know they seldom
+admit a fault but what is very visible). This was a visible fault, and
+yet at the same time it was a want of visibility. She had but one eye.
+And so Glover it was, I am quite sure, named her Cyclops.
+
+By the by, she had one other fault that I had almost forgotten, and
+that was of elevating her heels against the dashers of wagons, when she
+had an ugly fit, which took place semi-occasionally, and the
+peculiarity of it was that she was not particular as to time or place
+where she made her exhibitions. It might be in Dock Square or State
+Street, or it might be on the farm, just as all were starting out. It
+was not over pleasant to be near her when she flung those long hind
+legs some six feet in air, and the dash-board was flying in pieces.
+
+The "General," with some others, was about to take a ride one day, when
+she put a hind foot over the dasher, which caused him to dismount
+precipitately. "For," he said he, when speaking of it, "I thought if
+she was g-going to _g-get_ in, it was time for _me_ to get
+out!"
+
+The horn, as usual, rang out its cheerful tones for meals. There were
+but few notes of preparation shown outside the rooms, for the event of
+the evening. Up in the greenhouse the gardener and myself were busy
+picking out choice flowering plants, and clipping off a stray dead leaf
+or twig, and scouring the pots until they shone; and as the other teams
+were busy, I harnessed my "Prince" to his cart and carried them to the
+Hive where we made the best display of them we could in the dining
+room.
+
+We had some mottoes on the walls, as "The Series distribute the
+Harmonics of the Universe," "Attractive Industry," "Universal Unity,"
+etc.
+
+At half past eight o'clock everything was in order. Side tables were
+spread with a simple repast, and around the room were flowering plants,
+azaleas, camellias, heaths, geraniums, etc. When the company had
+assembled, the choir sang some glees, after which Mr. Brisbane made a
+speech, and gave as a sentiment, "Unity of the Passions." Let me here
+explain a little of what is meant by this sentiment. The twelve
+passions are what are generally called "the human feelings or
+sentiments." They are divided into the intellectual ones, the social
+ones and the sensitive ones or those pertaining to the five senses.
+
+There are three intellectual ones, viz., Analysis, Synthesis and the
+Composite. These exhaust the powers of the intellect; or, in other
+words, the mind separates things, puts things together and compounds
+things, and that is all that it can do in its primary intellectual
+capacity.
+
+There are four social "passions," viz., Friendship, Love, Familism (i.
+e., the family sentiment) and Ambition; and all our social life is
+based on one or more of these four sentiments.
+
+Then there are five sensitive passions, which are aids and attendants
+of the body--"sight, smelling, hearing, touch and taste."
+
+"The five sensitive passions tend to material riches, refinement and
+harmonies. The four affective passions govern social relations and
+those of individuals. Friendship tends to social equality and to the
+levelling of ranks. Love regulates the relations of the sexes,
+Paternity those of ages and generations; Ambition produces hierarchy of
+ranks and distinctions among individuals; it establishes in society
+gradations of all kinds based upon skill, merit, talent, etc.; it is
+opposite in its effects from friendship."--"Social Destiny of Man,"
+page 453.
+
+The four social passions correspond to the four primary prismatic
+colors of the Newtonian system, to the common chord in music and to
+various other natural things. The three intellectual passions
+correspond to the other three notes of the musical scale and to three
+other prismatic colors; and the five sensitive passions correspond to
+the five semi-tones, and also to five intermediate colors of the prism.
+Now this at first sight looks very much like a scheme or a notion, but
+the founder of this doctrine lays his claim to a higher judgment. He
+says practically, "These are facts founded in nature by God himself."
+Let me give you his own words, often reiterated: "I give no theory of
+my own, I deduce. If I have deduced erroneously let others establish
+the true deduction." Can words be more simple or more modest?
+
+These "passions," or "faculties," if you like the last word better, as
+taught in the general schools of theology, are all at war with one
+another, but as taught by the school of Fourier will all work
+harmoniously together when right material conditions exist. Or in other
+words, there is no inherent discord among these twelve sister faculties
+residing in the nature of man. It is the duty of man on this earth, and
+his destiny also, to bring them into harmonious relations, first by
+organizing industry, and bringing man into right relation with nature
+and his fellows, so that they can commence their natural action; and
+this is what is meant by the "Unity of the Passions," and is the first
+step towards universal happiness. Let me give a quotation from the same
+author:--
+
+"The impulses (passions) have a right and a wrong development. The
+right development produces harmony, good, justice, unity. The wrong
+development produces selfishness, injustice, duplicity."
+
+I have no memorandum of what was said by the speaker, but I remember he
+was enthusiastic beyond bounds, and that he went in fancy from this
+earth up into the starry vault of spheres that he fancied were peopled
+by living beings----Jupiter and Saturn being in harmony--and in his
+enthusiasm cried out, "I _love_ those great worlds up there!"
+looking upwards with outstretched arms and uplifted hands; and it was
+telling, for he was eloquent as well as enthusiastic.
+
+After this warm gush of rapture came quiet Dwight in one of those
+sweet, calm, choice, dignified, exact speeches for which he was noted,
+and gave as a sentiment, "The marriage of love and wisdom," the idea
+being that present society, however much it may be filled with love--
+love for the poor, the needy, the slave and the outcast--can never
+avail much towards universal happiness until it marries itself to
+wisdom: wisdom to do justice, to adapt means to ends, to exchange
+charity, which is a curse to him that gives and him that takes, for
+even-handed justice, divine law and social order; so that pauperism and
+its kindred vices may be done away with forever, and in its place the
+reign of peace and harmony prevail.
+
+Mr. Dwight was an admirer of Swedenborg's poetic fancies. He thought
+many of them more than fancies. He believed that he gained through
+unknown sources some glimpses of a higher life; and some of his
+doctrines, as that of "correspondences" bore so strong a resemblance to
+Fourier's "universal analogy" that it was quite striking; but his
+claims to special theological inspiration, he did not admit. I speak of
+this because some one might accuse him of plagiarism, the phrase of Mr.
+Dwight's sentiment being similar to Swedenborg's words. Pardon this
+digression, and we will return to our party.
+
+Mr. Ripley followed in his free and graceful style, and brought things
+slowly down to our own door with pleasant word and wit (Ripley was a
+punster with the rest; one of our wags one day called him a Pumpkin--
+Pun-King--a paraphrase on New England pronunciation of the word), and
+in conclusion gave us a sentiment: "The Hive! May it be a hive, full of
+working bees, who make a little noise, a great deal of honey, and sting
+not at all."
+
+Mr. Dana, the youngest of the four, then followed with a glowing
+speech, in earnest, clear and chosen words. Not as fluent as either of
+the other speakers, he yet commanded full attention, and we all knew he
+meant what he said; there was no doubt about it--the frank manner, the
+natural gesture, the glowing face, proved it. He gave as a sentiment,
+"Ambition, the greatest of the four social passions!" He admired it! It
+was that which carried life onward and made youth able and strong; the
+ambition for higher things, for higher life and higher opportunities.
+It was that which brought this little band together--an ambition to
+better social life; and it was this passion that would lead them
+onwards through discords into a higher unity and harmony. But in the
+present social order a misplaced ambition led men to do a thousand
+wrongs; it produced war, misery and discord, but when placed on the
+side of humanity it tended upwards towards God and the heavenly
+accords. True ambition was the unsatisfied thing that never ends except
+in something higher, nobler, grander.
+
+Here let me explain again. The four social passions before named
+correspond to the common, chord in music, but ambition corresponds to
+the seventh note on which no music ever ends. It is always incomplete
+without the eighth note, the first of the octave above; it runs into
+it; it is restless, it must never be left alone, but always has an
+object--the higher unity. Such is true ambition, and such are its
+results in the natural order.
+
+Applause followed Mr. Dana's speech, and after his remarks the
+sentiment of the evening turned towards, home life. The orators spoke
+of the earnest endeavors of the men and women by whom they were
+surrounded; of their constant daily labor to produce harmony and higher
+social development, and more particularly of their years of personal
+toil and devotion, and of their own earnest affection for one another,
+until tears started in some eyes.
+
+Mr. Ripley spoke of the devotion of the persons about to leave the
+Association to found "a little colony of their own," for whom he had
+the highest personal esteem, cemented by years of friendship, counsel
+and labor together; his sorrow for their departure; his good wishes for
+them, and his hopes for their present and future welfare, and closed
+with a sentiment, "The late chief of the Farming Series, Minot Pratt
+and his family--they can not remain long in _Concord_ without
+returning to _harmony_" (Concord, Massachusetts, was where our
+farmer was going), for which the modest gentleman returned thanks for
+himself and wife in a few kind and earnest words.
+
+One after another joined in pleasant remarks, and the simple feast, the
+music and the conversation were kept up. The ever-present fun and
+frolic abounded in some corners, but the joke of the evening was
+perhaps that of the Parson--him of the sharp face and nose, who read so
+late by the light of the lamp in "Attica"--who commenced his remarks by
+saying that he desired to offer a sentiment, and must be pardoned if it
+was of a personal nature. Now the reason why this gentleman got the
+title of "the Parson" was not from his reading, his gravity or want of
+gravity, but from the fact of his having been educated for the
+ministry, which in those days required a great deal more preaching
+damnation to sinners than now. His unwillingness to do so was the means
+of his leaving the pulpit, and this gave the pith of the toast or
+sentiment offered.
+
+Parson Capen's speech was sharp. He did not spill over on every
+occasion. He had no little spurts of wit like a spatter of water on a
+hot stove, but when he let out his joke it went off like a percussion
+cap. The attention of the company being secured, he alluded to his
+present position as a change, he believed, for the better--from his
+former relation to society when he was preaching against, to the
+present time when he was working for, humanity; and gave as a toast,
+"Ephraim Capen--_thrust into_ the pulpit to _damn_ mankind,
+_thrust out_ of the pulpit to _bless_ mankind."
+
+Laughter followed this sharp witticism, and the hours passed quickly on
+until it was near midnight, when it was suggested that "Old Hundred" be
+sung, and all joined in the anthem. As the last note died away, the
+stroke of the clock announced the hour of twelve, and all departed to
+their houses to sleep, and dream of the pleasant time they had enjoyed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+SOCIAL AND PARLOR LIFE.
+
+
+We now pass over some months of the life with few words. I have tried
+to portray it on the farm as it appeared to me, and leave you to think
+that it continues on and on, ever in the same general current, through
+the long, clear days and moonlight nights of summer, and the cooler
+days and misty evenings of the later season, to the time when the
+warning comes to the farmer to gather in the ripened products of his
+labor.
+
+I pass over the later autumn--when the fields are cleared of all but
+the remains of vegetation, and we hear no more the songs of the
+crickets and the multitudinous insect life that fills the air of the
+August and September nights, as the full moon looks down on the fields
+and meadow rich in foliage--to the time when the thought of the farmer
+is for wood for the winter, for the preservation of the farming
+implements, for making all things "taut and trig" about the barn and
+houses to secure their warmth for the coming cold weather and snow;
+past the day of the New England Thanksgiving, along to Christmas time,
+saying only in passing that the leaders were much engaged in lecturing,
+as well as with other duties.
+
+One evening in autumn a party from the farm, myself the youngest of
+them, started for Boston to hear one of a course of lectures. Mr.
+Ripley was the chairman, and the ever bounteous joyousness of his
+nature sparkled out in wit and mirth. These meetings were free, and
+discussion was invited, but there was present an excitable woman who
+had a habit of rising at any moment, no matter who was speaking, to
+make odd remarks and inquiries. She was considered a great nuisance,
+especially at the meetings of the antislavery societies, where she was
+often found, and I more than once saw her "suppressed" by police
+officers. On this occasion, whilst Mr. Brisbane was speaking, she arose
+to propound questions.
+
+Immediate excitement was visible in the audience, and cries of "Put her
+out," arose. Mr. Ripley was on his feet in an instant. He declared the
+meeting to be a free one, and that it was ever the faith and duty of
+those engaged in this liberal movement to give the largest liberty to
+all inquirers; he appealed to all to be quiet and hear what the lady
+had to say, for she would, as well as all others, give them credit for
+having paid respectful attention to whoever wished to make inquiries,
+and whenever Miss F. had spoken, she could not but acknowledge that
+they had always and at all times listened to her with the utmost--and
+he hesitated as if seeking carefully for the exact word, which he
+uttered slowly and with the utmost gravity--_patience_. At this
+queer termination the audience laughed loudly, and gave her a hearing,
+and shortly, pleased at her conquest, she sat down, and disturbed no
+future meeting of the Associationists.
+
+Again during the discussion Mr. Ripley announced that a contribution
+would be taken to defray expenses, "but as the speaking was to be
+continued during the time the box was passing round," the audience was
+requested to _"put in as many bills as possible so as not to disturb
+the speaker by the rattling of small change."_ After the meeting
+closed, the wagon in which we rode to town was deserted by some half
+dozen of its male passengers who, with the speed of Indian runners,
+started for the farm on foot. Being slight of build and not over
+strong, I would have been left behind, had it not been for the
+friendship of the Admiral, who awaited my movements, but we still sped
+on with rapidity, overtaking some, and neared the farm in time to hear
+the bark of our dog Carlo announce the arrival of the team only a few
+minutes before us.
+
+The autumn and early winter were very mild. The ground was not frozen
+on the twenty-fourth day of December, and the gardener had many crocus
+bulbs unplanted, owing to too much labor in and around the new
+greenhouse and garden, and being desirous of saving them, commenced to
+plant them on the Hive terraces in "her majesty's garden." There were
+hundreds of them. In the morning we prepared our beds and dug our holes
+for planting. The sky was lowery, and it was afternoon when we
+commenced to plant.
+
+Shortly the raindrops began to fall, but we continued our work. It
+rained harder and harder. I had on only ordinary woollen clothing,
+cotton shirt, no undershirt, and wore over it only an old green baize
+jacket. Wet to the skin; the rain ran off of me in streams. With my wet
+hands I assorted and handed the bulbs, four or five at a time, to the
+gardener, and as they touched the ground or his fingers, the earth
+stuck to them and mixed mud and plants together. The rain began to grow
+colder and colder, and our work was not done, but as the shades of
+night began to fall we finished it. Chilled and cold we wended our way
+towards the greenhouse, where I changed wet clothes for dry ones. The
+night came on cold; the wind howled; the rain turned into snow and on
+Christmas morning the ground was covered with a rough, hard
+conglomerate of snow and ice.
+
+But the next day neither chill nor cold resulted from the long
+exposure. Was it because our lives were more in harmony with nature
+than is usual?
+
+At the Eyry all through the winter, in its cosy little parlor, reigned
+our queens and kings of art and music. I was partial to the room and
+the company, yet neither felt nor understood the deep music. It is true
+that I sang songs of my own and made my own harmonies as I wandered
+over the fields and meadows. The mystic measure of the sunny waltz
+haunted me happily at times, and my heart kept time to its rhythm even
+as my feet had kept time in the merry dance; but it seemed to me as
+though there was a lack of sense in the jingle, and a depth of feeling
+untouched in me that the music of the parlor had not or could not
+reach--I did not appreciate it.
+
+It was a pleasure for Mr. Dwight to secure a quartette of singers from
+the city. I could mention names, but I forbear, yet there are two faces
+so indelibly linked with those most happy hours, that I must, in order
+to be true to this sketch of Brook Farm life, twine them into my
+narrative.
+
+The first face was serene, charming and dignified. Its cheeks were
+round and gracefully full, and colored with delicious pink, and a
+dimple rounded in them when the kindly face smiled. Above them reigned
+a queenly forehead, and over the brown eyes a fine brow. The nose was
+straight, the upper lip short, and the features were regular. The owner
+of this face was tall and graceful, and her dark, glossy hair was
+combed plainly back. She was ever neatly dressed, and her favorite
+decoration was a wreath of the wild partridge vine, rich with its red
+berries, which added to her graceful presence. It was her sweet voice,
+soft and low, that chimed in, in our quartette. She came and went and
+seemed one of us, as in spirit she was, though in fact only a friendly
+visitor.
+
+The other face was different and not as pretty, yet it grew upon you
+more and more.
+
+There was no blue like those eyes of blue, if they were delicately
+small, and if there was a little drooping expression as though the sun
+above was a trifle too powerful for them. This was no detriment,
+however; it lent them a mildness, a soft haze, like that we so much
+admire in a landscape, and made them more in keeping with the mild,
+tranquil countenance.
+
+The eyebrows were softly penciled--not bold, not prominent--and were
+not much arched, and the nose, that was Grecian, was full between the
+eyes. The lips were of good size as well as the mouth, and the upper
+lip long enough to indicate strength of character. The chin was finely
+drawn, and the throat rather large and full. About the mouth, even in
+repose, seemed to rest the faint semblance of a smile, as though it
+could not leave its pleasant dwelling place; as though it was akin to
+the features themselves, as the color of the eyes or hair. The forehead
+was pure, womanly; intellectual enough, full enough, high enough, but
+toned down to the sweet, womanly features. It was a fine face; a
+vigorous, womanly one, unmarked with a single manly symptom, but
+independent, pure and serene.
+
+And what could set off this face better than that soft, light, blonde
+hair, that wound into full, large ringlets, looped up in Grecian style?
+In vain it is for me to describe the tints of it. It seemed as though
+the Divine Artist had taken the beautiful colors from his palette and
+mixed them for this especial head. There was a touch of sunshine in it
+also, and it seems but yesterday that I saw the old gardener take a
+stray one from the sleeve of his baize jacket, where by chance it had
+strayed and caught--for the fair owner liked to visit the greenhouse--
+and hold it admiringly and enthusiastically up in the morning sunlight,
+and I remember the golden shimmer it had in it, for he called my
+attention to it. A French writer's words seem to meet its description
+better than my own: "Non pas rouges--Mais blonde avec des reflets
+dorés, on delicatement se jouait la lumière du soleil."
+
+In distinction to the lady named before, the present one was short, of
+fairly full figure, and not above the average grace. You might even say
+that the large head was carried a little too far forward for elegance.
+In distinction also to the calm, quiet manner of the other, she was
+vivacious, quick and spritely; was fond of conversation, but no matter
+how trivial the subject of discourse, it grew into earnestness in her
+mind unless she was wholly playful. But her chief distinction was her
+love and talent for music, and in the capacity of beautiful singer she
+was first introduced to us.
+
+I cannot tell how this pure soul first took to the sublime idea of
+society founded on justice to all, the Christianity of the idea, and
+the truths of industry, or how the idea came to her that in this one
+way and only in this one way could the kingdom of God prayed for for
+eighteen centuries, come to us on earth; but I think it was born in her
+as jewels are born in the earth, and sparkle when they come to the sun.
+But this I know, that when they took possession of her she could not
+withstand their power, more than Saint Paul could the heavenly
+influences that brought his Jewish heart to love all, and live and die
+for all the races of God's humanity. Friends, relatives, companions,
+were opposed to her visits among the Brook Farmers. It was intimated to
+her that there were suspicious persons residing there. She bravely
+pinned her informers to facts; she made searching inquiries, and,
+convincing herself, boldly stood by the idea and the Brook Farmers as
+living symbols of a better and more Christian life, and triumphed over
+all in her sublime truthfulness and dignity.
+
+How willing and ready she was to acknowledge her trivial failures! How
+ready to do for all such kindness as came in her sphere to do, and how
+quick she was to comprehend great truths. Untied from the dead letter
+that killeth, she was overflowing with its pure spirit that gave its
+abundant life, rich, full and charming, to all around her.
+
+One of the young poets of the farm many years ago paid this graceful
+tribute to her charms:--
+
+  OF MARY BULLARD.
+
+  Dearly love I to be near her--
+  Though thought of her is not dearer
+    Than friendship may say.
+  Yet around will I hover;
+  Bringing joy like a lover,
+    To brighten her day.
+
+  Ever am I lingering near her--
+  Her whole soul seems to me clearer
+    Than others that are.
+  And her love-lighted blue eye,
+  When an aching heart is nigh,
+    Beams forth like a star.
+  It's good for me to be near her--
+  Should she e'er sorrow, to cheer her
+    Out of her sad moods;
+  Her dark path to make lighter,
+  And behold it grow brighter
+    Like sunlight through woods.
+
+  Still stay I lovingly near her,
+  Enraptured--sometimes I fear her
+    Soul is on its wings--
+  And ask will it yet return?--
+  Seems it so pure, so lost and gone,
+    Whenever she sings.
+
+  Lingering and waiting near her--
+  The words that she speaks are dearer
+    Than birds' songs in May.
+  With sweet thoughts will I surround her,
+  As on the day I first found her,
+    Forever--for aye.
+
+I have been particular in my description of this lady and friend,
+because they became the encouragers of the later movement in Boston,
+where those who remained true to the Brook Farm ideas formed themselves
+into a society of zealots to propagate the faith, she giving her
+splendid talents and her warm enthusiasm freely to the movement, and
+because they were as truly united with us as if enrolled as members on
+the farm.
+
+It was in the latter part of the month of January that we had the
+fulfilment of a promise of a long visit from the fair singer. The
+winter had grown cold and stormy; the white snow covered the fields,
+and at times we gleefully slid down the hills over its frozen crust on
+sleds and improvised vehicles. And there were days of transcendent
+beauty. I remember especially, a solitary visit to the pine woods after
+a deep snow storm, and the lifelong impression of it remains.
+
+The evergreens were bowed heavily with the weight of the snow, and
+across the wood path birches and various trees bent as if in prayer,
+obstructing the way. The clear air, which was not very cold--for it was
+one of those subdued days of winter, when the glare of the sun was
+obstructed by a cloudy mantle--the intense quiet, the strong contrasts
+of the dark trunks of trees with the heavy evergreens, and the
+immaculate purity of whiteness laid on by the greatest and sublimest
+painter were so marked and so lovely that I seemed to be drinking the
+nectar of the god of beauty, and was soul-subdued.
+
+Up to the Eyry in the evening, I went with others to hear the singing,
+when Mary, "the nightingale,"--as we sometimes called her--came. I went
+often and stayed long. Some were at the Hive, reading; some were,
+perhaps, engaged in Shakespeare; some in their rooms with their
+families; some at the Cottage practising the piano, and all "following
+their attractions," to use our common phrase, in their own little
+sphere--whether it was reading the papers and journals of the day in
+the improvised reading-room at the Hive, or commenting on the last
+articles in the _Harbinger,_ or doing a little work out of hours
+for amusement or profit, or attending one of the interminable number of
+meetings for consultation and arrangement held almost nightly.
+
+There the quartette sang the "Kyrie," and "Gloria in Excelsis" from the
+masses of Mozart and Haydn. An edition had just been published and
+forwarded from London, and by degrees they became familiar to us as
+household words. Did it not seem strange, you may ask, that these
+radical thinkers and "come-outers" from ordinary forms of society,
+should turn with pleasure to the emanations of a profoundly
+conservative church? I answer that, having freed their minds from
+sectarian prejudices, they recognized beauty and genius wherever found,
+and did not care what church or creed they had served, so that they
+found the gift of beauty from the infinite Father to man in them. With
+one glorious soprano voice and boundless talent, how much of joy was
+added to the circle! How we revelled in the choice creations of the
+masters of harmony, and how, slowly but surely, the missing link that
+was wanting in my mind to realize that music could cover the void that
+separated sound from feeling, came to its place--I am tempted to tell.
+
+The sweet songstress was asked to sing. Did she make excuses? Of course
+she would do so to follow traditional usage. She must have a slight
+cold, she must think she won't, must be coaxed, and then--why, do it
+with a grace. But here was a woman so touched with the divine fire of
+genius and truth, that no excuse came from her lips. She was always
+ready if you desired it. In her I first learned that music was not a
+put-on art, an accomplishment, but the outpouring of soul.
+
+One evening when our little party was being filled with music, and the
+quartette had bravely sung Rossini's "Prayer in Egypt," with the grand
+vigor and expression that the soprano put into it, she exclaimed with
+feeling, "How beautiful that is!" From that moment I understood what
+music meant. She had translated it for me. But instead of inspiring me
+with joy, it made me sad. It aroused that terrible feeling,
+"consciousness of self." It waked me to new ideas of duty and destiny,
+to wondrous thoughts and aspirations; and they would not down at my
+bidding. Over and over again I tried to banish them, but the inward and
+spiritual ear was open, and the sad strains of Schubert's "Elegy of
+Tears," and "The Wanderer," and the "Ave Maria," seemed my sorrow, my
+wanderings and my prayers. Sadness was not my nature; I was as cheerful
+as the bird that sings, save a mighty something which clung to me and
+overshadowed me like the enormous wings of a terrible genius.
+
+One day it began again to snow; a million feathers from the frost
+king's fleece were flying in the air. It snowed all day, and in the
+evening it snowed and whirled and blew around the Eyry, with its little
+party of choice spirits in its cosy parlor making merry and singing.
+Perhaps it was the "Wood Robin," or the "Skylark," or one of Colcott's
+glees, or one of Mendelssohn's two-part songs, or Schubert's
+"Serenade," or Beethoven's "Adelaide"; or maybe an interlude of piano,
+one of Mozart's Sonatas, or "Der Freyschutz," and then a Kyrie, Dona
+Nobis, Gloria, or Agnus Dei, one or all, until it was time to retire.
+And still it snowed and snowed.
+
+From the Eyry parlor I would go to my quarters in the greenhouse, and
+there the old man would be anxious for the flowers, that the fire be
+neither too hot nor too cold, and with a long story to tell me of
+manners and customs of his youth in Denmark--some of them quaint and
+strange enough--would slowly finish out the evening, and it was often
+midnight before we retired.
+
+All the next day it snowed, and piled up its pure whiteness over every
+projecting thing, whirling and tossing its feathers about, unlike
+anything else in nature, and at night it snowed still. It snowed
+steadily for three days and nights, but when the fourth morning broke,
+it was on one of the clearest and most beautiful days ever known and to
+my surprise I awoke full of renewed cheerfulness and physically like my
+former self. The youthful storm of my life was over.
+
+But the "Ego" had changed. I was living in a poetic atmosphere and
+imbibing its qualities and its stimulants. Born with artistic tastes, I
+had imagined an artistic future; but as the procession of realistic
+lives passed before me, I seemed to see the inward side of the real and
+the ideal. An artistic life!--a triumph after long years of labor,
+awarded by the hand-clapping of a few admirers, most of whom had no
+appreciation of the work, and no sympathy with its higher motives.
+Would it not be cold? Would it not slowly freeze my heart to the warm
+love of human beings, with every one of whom I had now something in
+common? A real life, taking part in active work, in plain, daily toil;
+touching the great, full, seething heart of humanity on its warm side;
+working for them; working with them; being one with many--one with her.
+Which was best? Which was the supremest ideal? I think the latter.
+
+There were other visitors who came, attracted by the little group of
+singers. There was a young lady, Miss Graubtner from Boston, who
+touched the piano with the grace of a master. Her German name indicated
+the stock from whence she sprung, and the training she received from
+her musical father. There were tenors and basses who were attracted
+also, but they came and went; the sweetest songstress remained, and the
+cold days of winter were beginning to give way to the warm March sun
+when the visit was completed, and we reluctantly gave her back to
+"civilization."
+
+Among the pleasant occasional visitors was a gentleman who joined in
+the circle with his flute, who had the reputation, well deserved, of
+having written some fine verses--some of them are in the
+_Harbinger_--and who was in very friendly sympathy with our music
+man, as an old and, I think, college acquaintance. His accomplishments
+were varied. He had graced a pulpit, and afterwards made his mark with
+his pen, pallet and brush. He had a very pleasant gift of imitation,
+and, with his modest and gentlemanly bearing, made quite an impression
+on me.
+
+I fancy I see him now, with his tall, graceful, upright figure, his
+wealth of dark, curling hair, and his young manhood, with his sober,
+dignified face and large forehead, just retiring from our crowded Eyry
+parlor to the hall, where under cover, he can more readily introduce
+his menagerie--menagerie or barnyard you certainly would think it was;
+for from behind the door comes the imitation of the cow with its young
+calf; a sow and its pigs are squealing; the lambs and sheep are
+bleating; the rooster begins to crow, and near by the house dog is
+heard; soon all is still except his persistent, hoarse bark; then from
+a distance we hear the bark of another dog awakened by the first; soon
+another, nearer still, wakes up and tunes his note; presently we hear
+all the dogs of the village who are now awake. Then the sound of the
+starting up of the locomotive drowns all other noises, and when it has
+passed away we hear nothing but far in the dim distance some one
+solitary dog still barking. The frogs begin to peep, and the turtles
+whistle, and the doves coo, until you are carried away from the circle,
+its lights and its pleasant, laughing faces into the bosom of nature.
+It is needless to say that all these sounds came from the throat of
+Christopher P. Cranch, the poet-artist, and were clever imitations
+which were hugely appreciated by the young folks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+FUN ALIVE.
+
+
+A lady said to me not long since, knowing it from experience, "There
+was a great deal of fun at Brook Farm." This was true, and I deem it
+worthy of particular mention, as I can scarce believe that there ever
+was in New England a body of men and women who for so long a time,
+maintained such friendly and intimate relations, and yet kept up such
+an interminable fire of small fun and joke, puns and _bon-mots,_
+inoffensively shooting them off right and left at all times and places.
+Being of an evanescent nature they have mostly vanished from my mind,
+but the spirit of them remains.
+
+There were "All-Fool's" day tricks played by the young people on such
+smart, independent geniuses as Irish John; the sending of a letter to
+him from a supposable lady friend, with a post-mark painted on it by
+one of the young ladies; putting parsnip ends into his study lamp for
+wicks, etc. But these are not to be classed with the fun that was
+present of the genuine sort. There were a few live wits who were Tom
+Hoods on a small scale, seeing everything with a double meaning, and
+"double-enders" (_double entendres_) were for breakfast, dinner
+and supper every day in the week.
+
+Some little children were chasing one another one very warm day. "Why,"
+queried one, "are those children like native Africans?" "Because they
+belong to the 'hot' and 'tot' race!"
+
+"Is Mr. ---- much of a carpenter?" "Not a bit of one, that's
+_plain_," was the reply.
+
+"What sort of a man is that long-haired fellow opposite?" said one. "He
+is good in the _main_," replied the other.
+
+"These Grahamites will never make their ends _meet_," said one.
+"You may _stake_ your reputation on that," said the other.
+
+"Mrs. ---- is a regular steamboat," said A. "Yes, I know it; she goes by
+steam----_self 'steam_," said B.----which was smart, but cutting!
+
+If, for instance, Miss Kettell was to be married, one would ask if she
+was a "_tin_" kettle, and another would "_go bail_" she was,
+and the next would say that "the larger the kettle the more tin it
+would have." "And the more _iron in (g)_, too!" some one would
+ejaculate. Then another would say that "after she was married there
+would be none of the _Kettle_ left," and the next wit would say,
+"And none of the '_tin_' either," and so the badinage would pass
+about.
+
+It made no difference what the subject was, it was always suggestive.
+If it was a dog, they would ask, "What kind of a _bark_ he had on
+him?" If it was a pump, "Is it _well_ with it?" If it was a
+shepherd, they would like to inquire "if he was not a _baa_-
+keeper?" and the first would reply that he would have to "ruminate" on
+it before he made his answer; and the second would hope his reply would
+be "_spirited_; if not he had better be _punched_ up."
+
+"Have you seen my umbrella?" asked one. "What sort of an umbrella was
+it?" was the inquiry. "It had a hooked end," said number one. "I have
+not seen it," was the reply, "but _I_ had a nice one once, and the
+end was _exactly_ like yours; it was _hooked!_"
+
+Passing a rosy-cheeked, unkempt boy, Miss--remarked to her friend,
+"Isn't he a little honey?" "Yes," she replied, struck by his traits,
+"honey without a _comb!_"
+
+"Do you not think Miss B. is beautiful? She bows to perfection." "Yes;
+but she hasn't bowed to me. Has she to _you?_"
+
+"Who are those girls out in the boat with the old man?" (The name of
+the boat was "the Dart.") "Why, his _darters_, of course," was the
+reply.
+
+And how could any one do differently when the great Archon himself was
+first and foremost in the fray, poking fun at all? "Don't do that," he
+said one day to me when I put something unusual in the swine's mess,
+"the hogs will all _die_ after it!" with a most serious look on
+his pleasant face. In my seat at the table, looking down the hall to
+where the Archon was, I saw him full of frolic, and oftentimes wondered
+what he could joke so much about.
+
+There was one occasion when he quoted Watts in a comical way to an
+offending member which brought him to terms. It was at the Eyry. There
+was a meeting of the Industrial Council. It was necessary to have a
+quorum to pass certain important votes, and one of the members, being a
+trifle weary of business, had stepped out to converse with a friend in
+the vestibule. After a while, hearing some one coming, he slipped
+behind the vestibule door. It was the "Archon," who came for the member
+to make a quorum. Presently, discovering his retreat, he hailed him--as
+he remembered it--thus:--
+
+  "'And are you there, you sinner d--d,
+  And do you fare so well!
+  Were it not for redeeming grace
+  You'd long since been in hell.'"
+
+The unworthy member succumbed and returned to the meeting, wondering
+whether the verse was an impromptu or whether it was part of one of the
+inspiring Sunday hymns our grandfathers sang in their cheerless,
+unwarmed meeting-houses. In a version of Watts' Hymns this verse is
+found:--
+
+  "And are we wretches still alive,
+  And do we yet rebel?
+  'Tis boundless, 'tis amazing love
+  That bears us up from hell."
+
+It might have been the one Mr. Ripley quoted.
+
+I have heard it said that a prominent literary man "could not
+understand the condition of mind it required to make a pun." It would
+be out of place here to try to explain that condition to him or to any
+one else. It is certainly not an unhappy frame of mind, and I am not
+aware that it indicates any depraved condition. I don't know of any
+very bad men who make puns, but I have known of many good men who make
+bad puns. It is not an avaricious state of the mind, for who ever heard
+of "puns for sale or manufactured to order," or of a man getting rich
+in the wholesale or retail pun trade!
+
+In fact, a pun is like an egg--the moment you crack it the meat is out.
+Some men carry things to extremes; I wouldn't myself like to be a
+punster _in toto_, but only now and then to have a finger in one.
+But really, the condition of mind seems to be the same as that of some
+of our criminals who profess they committed the deed because they
+"couldn't help it," or the boy who was asked angrily "why he whistled?"
+"He didn't," he replied, "it whistled itself." I imagine our literary
+friend thinks that a punster draws the steel blade of his intellect,
+discovers some close-mouthed, hard-fisted sort of a word or sentence
+doubled up like an oyster and deliberately splits it apart, one shell
+on one side, one on the other and the soft thing drops out between. I
+could only despise the sort of brain that would do such a deed.
+
+A pun is a part of the sunshine of words. It gives a sparkle and a glow
+to language. It is a big pendulum that swings from torrid to frigid
+zone quicker than a telegram goes. If you hold on to it, you will find
+yourself in both places in a jiffy, and back again to the spot where
+you start from without being hurt, and the jog to your intellect, if
+you happen to have any, is only of an agreeable nature.
+
+But it was not alone in puns and conundrums that the social life of
+Brook Farm was rich. It was rich in cheerful buzz. The bumble-bees had
+no more melodious hum than the Brook Farmers. They had thrown aside the
+forms that bind outside humanity. They were sailing on a voyage of
+discovery, seeking a modern El Dorado, but they did not carry with them
+the lust for gold. They were seeking something which, had they found
+the realization of, would have carried peace to troubled hearts,
+contentment and joy to all conditions and classes. They were builders,
+not destroyers. They proposed to begin again the social structure with
+new foundations. They were at war with none personally; as high-toned,
+large-souled men and women they were ready with their expressions of
+hatred and contempt for the unchristian social life of our generation,
+but they were never ranters.
+
+In general little was said on the farm of these matters, except in
+private discussions; all were too busy with the active work. We felt
+that we had put our ears down to the earth and heard nature's
+whisperings of harmony; that we had gone back from the uncertain and
+flimsy foundations of present society, and placed our corner stone on
+the eternal rock of science and justice; that the social laws God
+ordained from the beginning had been discovered; there could be no
+possibility of a mistake, and therefore, we felt that our feet were on
+eternal foundations, and our souls growing more and more in harmony
+with man and God.
+
+Imagine, indifferent reader of my story, the state of mind you would be
+in if you could feel that you were placed in a position of positive
+harmony with all your race; that you carried with you a balm that could
+heal every earthly wound; an earthly gospel, even as the church thinks
+it has a heavenly gospel--a remedy for poverty, crime, outrage and
+over-taxed hand, heart and brain. And every night as you laid your head
+on your pillow, you could say: "I have this day wronged no man. I have
+this day worked for my race, I have let all my little plans go and have
+worked on the grand plan that the Eternal Father has intended shall
+sometime be completed. I feel that I am in harmony with Him. Now I know
+He _is_ truly our Father. With an unending list of crimes and
+social wrongs staring me in the face I doubted, and my heart was cast
+down. Now the light is given me by which I see the way through the
+labyrinth! It is our Father's beautiful garden in which we are. I have
+learned that all is intended for order and beauty, but as children we
+cannot yet walk so as not to stumble. Natural science has explained a
+thousand mysteries. Social science--understand the word; not schemes,
+plans or guessing, but genuine science, as far from guess or scheme as
+astronomy or chemistry is--will reveal to us as many truths and
+beauties as ever any other science has done. I now see clearly! Blessed
+be God for the light!"
+
+And after sound sleep, waking in the rosy morning, with the fresh air
+from balmy fields blowing into your window, penetrated still with the
+afflatus of last night's thoughts and reveries, wouldn't you be
+cheerful? Wouldn't the unity of all things come to you, and wouldn't
+you chirrup like a bird, and buzz like a bee, and turn imaginary
+somersaults and dance and sing, and feel like cutting up "didoes," and
+talk a little high strung, and be chipper with the lowliest and level
+with the highest? Wouldn't your heart flow over with ever so much love
+and gratitude? Wouldn't it infuse so much spirit into your poor, weak
+life that your words would sparkle with cheeriness, frolic and wit? I
+believe so! I know so!
+
+Such was to me the secret of the fun, wit and frolic of the Brook
+Farmers. The jokes were, it is true, largely superficial, but they were
+inseparable from the position. The bottom fact was, _the associates
+there were leading a just life_, and could go to their labor, hard
+beds and simple fare--down to plain bread and sometimes mythical
+butter--with cheerfulness just in proportion as they were penetrated by
+these great ideas. They could make merry with their friends over a cup
+of coffee, and sought not the stimulants that college days and college
+habits might have allowed.
+
+It was with one of our little social groups of friends, that Mr. Dwight
+gave the toast, "Here's to the coffeepot! If it is not
+_spiritual_, it's not _material_!"
+
+There was a gentleman who resided with us who had promised, on a
+certain day, to assist a department of our industry with a loan of
+cash, and had taken the light wagon to Boston for the purpose of
+securing the funds and bringing them home for use. Somewhere about nine
+o'clock in the evening the dwellers at the "Hive" were disturbed by the
+approach of a team and the groans of a person. Going out, they
+discovered that it was our team, and our member, who had apparently
+fallen into the back part of the wagon in a helpless state. They
+assisted him out and conveyed him to his chamber.
+
+He did not seem to be much hurt; but he stated that in passing through
+the little patch of woods on the "back road," some one came out and
+knocked him off his seat and then robbed him. He had lain in the wagon,
+unable to rise, and the horse had come home of his own accord. This is
+the outline of the story. Parties went out on the road with lanterns,
+but found no lost pocket-book. The news of the robbery spread. It was
+the common talk the next day. There were suspicious circumstances. It
+might have been a _ruse_ to cover a personal loss of the money, or
+to deceive us in the pretended loan. Who could tell?
+
+A few days later a stranger called at the Hive door. He had an
+announcement to make; he had seen a mystery--doubtless it had something
+to do with the robbery. He had been travelling that morning through
+Muddy Pond woods, in a thick part of which he had seen--what? Why, a
+shirt hanging on the bushes to dry; and had heard voices in the woods
+near. He had no doubt marauders were encamped there. We might find
+there the man who committed the assault and robbery. His manner was
+excited, but he seemed to believe his own story.
+
+It was Sunday. Work would not prevent us. We would hunt for the
+robbers. We would go to Muddy Pond woods and investigate. We were not
+over sanguine, but there was mystery in it, and we were bound to solve
+it. I don't think anyone of us thought there was any danger in the
+affair. A party of volunteers, consisting of some six or eight, was
+formed, and the valuable Glover placed himself at our head. "By the
+by," said he, as we were about to start, "I'll go and borrow Mr. Shaw's
+pistols." What insane idea entered his head at that moment who can
+tell. Did he have the thousandth part of an idea that he was going to
+put a bullet into a man's body? I don't think he had! Returning soon
+with the pistols, we started on our way.
+
+It would be worth a thousand dollars now if we had a picture of that
+party on their tramp. As I remember it, there were some four of us who
+were of the "young group" and had not quite attained our legal
+majority.
+
+"The Admiral" and "the Hero," with "Glover," made the older portion of
+the party, and as we strayed along with our clear, sun-browned, young
+faces, our classic locks and natural beards--those who had any--with
+our unique tunics or blouses, with a certain regular quaintness running
+through them, were picturesque enough. The idea of arming ourselves,
+suggested by Glover's pistols, soon developed into the improvising of
+canes and walking sticks from the wayside.
+
+"Glover" paired off with the curly headed Hero, I with the curly headed
+Admiral, for Glover loved the Hero, and I admired the Admiral's honest,
+sincere, pleasant ways and heart. The city life we all had tasted, had
+given new zest to country life. We straggled by the roadside; we sought
+wild berries; we observed the varieties of foliage and flower, and
+conversation never flagged. Glover and Hero were ever in earnest talk.
+There was with them a never-ending story, and I am reminded of the
+everlasting confidences of school girls when I recall their being
+together, excepting only that they did not put their arms around each
+other's waists.
+
+The Admiral's heart was full of music. He could talk of music, poetry
+and love, and there was a tender spot in him that I did not venture on,
+although I knew it was there. He was also a deep admirer of nature.
+Truly we could sing together, "A life in the woods for me!"
+
+It was three miles to the robbers' rendezvous, but what cared we? We
+dwelt in the bosom of nature, and three miles was but a pastime. We
+only wanted an excuse of the most feeble kind to start on a tramp, day
+or night. All along the way we breathed health and vitality; the air
+was full of singing birds, and our hearts were crying out, "What is so
+rare as a day in June?" In fact, our June days lasted longer than they
+did elsewhere--they ran into September, October and November. It is the
+harmony of our hearts that makes the force of poetry, and not the mere
+words; and the June feeling may be present in December.
+
+The entrance to Muddy Pond woods was on high ground, and as we
+approached it we were a little cautious, for near by was the appointed
+place to find the haunt of the robbers. Filing along singly, we peered
+into the underbush. Lo, and behold, I see it! It is a white thing
+hanging on a bush! Yes! And listen, I hear voices! It is the robbers!
+Why, no, these are only children's voices! They are picking berries,
+the dear things. Poor children! Don't you know that you may be robbed
+and murdered by some of these infernal rascals who beat innocent men,
+take their money and come out here into this wilderness and wash the
+blood off their garments and hang them on these berry bushes to dry?
+
+Slowly we approached the white garment. Why, this is only an old white
+rag that has hung here for months, all mildewed and half rotten. Come,
+boys, we are sold! What an old goose that fellow was to get us out here
+for such a thing as this! I am going home! I am hungry! Feelings of
+disgust and mirth took possession of us. Were these the robbers, and
+was this the bloody raiment? Ha! ha!
+
+There was no use of going further. The exciting problem was solved, and
+we turned our feet homeward over the hills, across the fields and by
+stone walls; shying a stone now and then into some gnarled apple tree,
+just to knock down a wild apple or two, to try if they contained, as
+Emerson has said of one of them, "a pint of cider and a barrel of
+wind"; whipping off the heads of the wild daisies with our canes and
+switches; pulling sprigs of sweet fern and bayberry; mocking the crows
+and the cat-birds; finding choice flowers, and trying to fill the
+aching void within us with blackberries and whortleberries, and
+reaching the farm after the dinner was over.
+
+All but one corner of the dining-room was deserted, and there a
+solitary waiter was placing plates for the "Waiting Group," who had not
+been served with dinner. The "Waiting Group" was one of the most
+cheerful, lively, witty and jolly groups on the place. In fact it
+contained some of the most eminent persons in our midst, and at dinner
+the waiters were of the masculine gender solely.
+
+We found there would be room for us to join their table, and that our
+company was welcome. Alas! alas! How can I describe the dinner? I do
+not mean the things we had to eat--fine eating was of little
+consequence if we could satisfy hunger; but the merry cheer was
+indescribable. It was the Professor (Dana) who sat at the head of the
+board. It was the brilliant and witty "Timekeeper" (Cabot) who was at
+one side, and when our party was added to them--"the Hero"
+(Butterfield), with his full, hearty and musical laugh; Glover (Drew)
+with his funny and apt quotations, and with the other four to six
+clear-headed fellows, not a dull one among them--the gamut of merriment
+ran to its highest notes.
+
+Of course the Professor couldn't help making a few remarks about the
+"object of our journey" and inquiries about the "success of the
+enterprise," and of course our party didn't answer in parliamentary
+language, but parried wit with wit, fun with fun, joke with joke. The
+story had to be told and embellished. The shirt, it was nothing but a
+rag, and the children were probably ragamuffins, and hot muffins at
+that! The robber, where could he be! Probably dead, for there was
+_berrying_ going on, and the children were continually _turning
+pail_.
+
+But the borrowing of the pistols was the occasion of the most
+absurdities. Was Glover _half cocked_ when he borrowed them? Did
+he _bear-ill_ against any man? Was he going to _brace_ up his
+courage? He wanted a little more _stock_ in hand, eh? It was the
+only way he had of getting a little "_pop_"! And if he had
+"popped" the robber would there have been any _pop-bier_ (beer)
+there? "If I had killed him," he said, "there wouldn't have been any
+_sham pain_." Pooh, pooh, you could only have _hocked_ him!
+"I would have made him _whine_ anyhow." You might have made him
+whine but--"_Wine butt_," did you say? (Interrupting). "Glover
+didn't intend to make any excitement, for where he took the pistols he
+left the _wholestir_ behind." "But when he took them," another
+said, "he thought he was going to _Needham_ (need 'um)." "Ah, no,"
+said another, "when he took them he felt sure he was going to
+_Dedham_" (dead 'um).
+
+You will appreciate the difficulty I have in making any one realize the
+snap, the vivacity and the quickness of the repartees. Things that seem
+frivolous when written down----separate from all their connections,
+with the personality dropped out of them----with the connection
+unbroken; with youth, friendship and love to join them together, and
+all the surroundings in keeping, were lively and bright, and added a
+glow to the toil that made all the difficult surroundings easier to
+bear. The affair acted over to-day in sober earnest would hardly
+provoke a smile, but there most trivial incidents were worked up and
+the result was an increase of happiness for all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE GREAT CATASTROPHE.
+
+
+Things were looking up in the Phalanx at this time, for money was
+coming from some sources to finish a portion of the "Phalanstery." Not
+that it resembled one, but more out of deference to the idea of one did
+it receive its name. This would admit of additional membership, as
+well-to-do and able families were to embark in the enterprise, who
+could not and would not join it in the crowded state of the houses. The
+feeling among all was particularly hopeful and cheerful at the
+prospect, as we knew it was the cramped condition of the finances that
+had prevented the finishing of the building before this time.
+
+Monday, March 2, 1846, was the day of recommencement of labor on it. On
+the Saturday previous carpenters had put a stove into the building for
+the purpose of drying it, as it had gathered dampness all through the
+severe winter. It was now Tuesday, the day after our sweet singer left
+us, and as we were all cheerful in our new hopes, it was proposed that
+we should celebrate our good luck with a social dance at the Hive. I
+shall call on my imagination to people the hall with those who were
+Brook Farmers, though not all of them were there in person on that
+occasion, in order to give the effective picture of such an assembly;
+the realization of it to the mind, rather than the absolute facts.
+
+The first usually to occupy the hall were the young folks living at the
+Hive, whose labors ended early. The dance commenced without ceremony
+when one or two sets were ready. The pupils of the school from the Eyry
+soon arrived, with the young Spanish boys and the well-dressed maidens.
+Then the "Pilgrims" came, and the few who resided at the Cottage
+completed the assembly. It was later when the members of the Direction
+were seen looking in the room. They had been to some of the
+interminable meetings.
+
+The cotillion was the ruling dance; the plain waltz and hop waltz came
+in for their share of favor. The polka was new, and hardly yet danced.
+What fun, what pleasure was there then in that old dining hall among
+the blue tunics! There the General loomed above the rest, not in tunic,
+however, but staggering about with his new acquirement, interested and
+ungraceful; and the old gardener entertained us with a Danish waltz
+with his fair-haired, plump, round-shouldered daughter. Now they cling
+together, then swing apart, holding each other by the fingers' ends;
+now they whirl and twirl in and out, and then come together and waltz
+around the hall, as all gaze and wonder at the old man's suppleness.
+Now the spirit of fun takes possession of all as we see Irish John
+sitting quietly conversing with "Dora," and he must dance a jig! By
+some chance there may be a girl of his nationality on the place to
+dance with him; if not, he goes it alone--forward and back, shuffling
+backward and around; then dancing up as to his partner, and having gone
+through all the varied motions in grand heel-and-toe style, sits down
+again or rushes out of the hall door with his giggling laugh, and a
+loud round of applause for his reward.
+
+I might go on painting various characters and personages, but could not
+paint the enthusiasm that was catching--how one after another of the
+older ones put on again the youthful habit long since laid off. There
+was no selfishness either, in the dancing, because there was plenty of
+it, and when one of the older persons essayed the graces of youth,
+instead of its being looked on as an intrusion, it was applauded. I
+have seen five men whose education was for the ministry enjoying
+themselves on that small floor at one time.
+
+It was the old courtliness over again. It was the spirit of chivalry
+revived under a new form, and it was chivalry with interior pride
+instead of exterior pride--pride of character instead of pride of
+birth. Did any of these accomplished men and women deem that they
+lowered themselves by dancing with those who did manual labor? If they
+had, they would not have been there to do it. And did the "producers of
+wealth" think that there were those who danced in their company as a
+favor to them? If they had, it would have been a favor they would not
+have accepted. The atmosphere was that of mutual respect and mutual
+good-will.
+
+There was no dancing of clothes-pins from the pockets of the dancers,
+as Emerson has said, or if it once happened it was probably the
+intentional freak of a happy schoolboy--a bit of farcical fun, too
+unworthy even to be mentioned by the "Sage of Concord" in his "Historic
+Notes." It was poor history and undignified in its connection.
+
+But the reader wishes to know if certain men whose names he has seen
+and whose reputations he knows took part in these amusements! He may be
+sure that the "Professor" (Dana) was there, for those charming black
+eyes and raven hair, and the quick, nervous, volatile, lovely owner of
+them, with her southern accent, was there to charm him. And he may be
+sure that the "Poet" (Dwight) was there, for the man of music and song
+could not despise the poetry of motion, neither could his social soul
+neglect the opportunity of seeing so much enjoyment, and feasting his
+eyes on those developing buds of womanhood, those fair-haired, clear-
+eyed, joyous young girls who were present. And the curly-headed, witty
+"Time-Keeper" (Cabot) was there because he enjoyed dancing and fun. And
+the tall, manly, handsome-faced, clear-complexioned "Hero"
+(Butterfield), whose curls more than rivalled the other, looking for a
+dark-eyed girl who afterwards became his faithful and loving wife. And
+the little, thin-faced shoemaker (Colson), with his amiable spouse was
+there, as also that other one, with head and forehead large enough for
+Daniel Webster (Hosmer), with his wife.
+
+And that quiet man, whose near-sightedness obliged him to wear glasses,
+and whose very soul was penetrated with a joke, if you could judge from
+the internal convulsions and the mounting of the red blood to his face
+at every good one--"Grandpa" (Treadwell) so different from his light-
+complexioned wife, who smiled all over her face and indulged in a merry
+laugh so easily. And John (Orvis) was there--surnamed "the Almighty"--
+for certain eyes projected their glances on him, which was not
+unpleasing to his senses. And Chiswell, the man who desired to be chief
+of the Amusement Group, was there, of course; and Miss Ripley, "her
+perpendicular Majesty," came to look on because she enjoyed doing so;
+and the "Mistress of the Revels" (Miss Russell) was looking after her
+young nieces, the Misses Foord, who, with all the other young misses,
+were there. And stout "Old Solidarity" (Eaton) was there, and "Monday
+(Munday) the tailor's wife"; Jean (Pallisse) with his "Madame," "Homer
+the Sweet" (Doucet), "Chrysalis" (Christopher List), "Chorles" and
+Stella (Salisbury), John and Mary (Sawyer), and all the titled nobility
+of the place; with Edgar and Martin, Harry and George, Dan and Willard,
+John and Charles--all lads of an age to drink deep of the fountain of
+life and pleasure.
+
+But stop! On this occasion the dance was not fairly under way; it was
+yet quite early in the evening, and though in the "full tide of
+successful experiment," to quote an old expression, it had not worked
+itself up to high pitch, when an unexpected interruption took place.
+Ah, fatal hour! Why was it not delayed? Why did it ever come? It was
+this: one of the older members came in and announced, "The Phalanstery
+is on fire!" I remember the loud, derisive laugh that came from the
+announcement, and was echoed through the room. I knew better than all
+from the sober face and earnest look of the person who said it--for he
+was one of my kin--that the statement must be correct, and I
+immediately said, "This is no joke, it is true!"
+
+A thing so easily verified needed not argument, and all rushed for the
+doors. I hastily changed slippers for boots and ran out. The barn hid
+the "Phalanstery" from sight. Passing to the other side of it I saw the
+flames pouring out of the front, surmounted by a heavy cloud of black
+smoke. Without definiteness of purpose we all started for the building,
+and all saw that there was no chance of saving it. Ere long the flames
+were chasing one another in mad riot over the structure; running across
+the long corridors and up and down the supporting columns of wood,
+until the huge edifice was a mass of firework, every part painted in
+glowing, living color, yet retaining its distinctive form.
+
+It was a grand and magnificent sight! The whole heaven was illuminated
+with its rosy light, and the earth was as red as the sky, for the
+fields, deep covered with white snow from the long storm, were
+brilliant from the reflection of the fire. Miles and miles away was the
+illumination seen. Men in Boston thought it was near by, it was so
+bright, and one man came from the city across the fields, thinking at
+every moment he would reach the object of his search, finding it and
+himself at last nine miles in the country.
+
+There was a pile of lumber near the building that we worked hard to
+save, but the flames were so hot we had to desist, and some cried out
+"Save the Eyry!" Turning on my heel I went to the greenhouse for water
+buckets, and entering saw the flowers lighted up with a heavenly glow
+of color, and so startlingly beautiful that in spite of my haste I
+lingered a moment to look at them. Roses and camellias, heaths and
+azaleas--whatever flowers there were in bloom looked superbly glorified
+in the transcendent light, and I uttered an exclamation of surprise at
+the lovely display.
+
+A moment after, armed with buckets, I started for the Eyry, and at the
+post of duty worked with a will to forward water to those above who
+were wetting the front of the house and roof to preserve it from the
+heat. It was not long before it was seen that danger to that building
+was past, and I returned to watch the fire fiend eat up the remains of
+our great edifice.
+
+Engines with firemen slowly arrived, but the building was entirely
+burned, for there was a difficulty in getting any water, as three feet
+of snow covered the ground, and little was done but to extinguish some
+of the embers of the burning, blackened main timbers that had fallen
+into the cellar.
+
+I pause here to give the account of the fire published in the
+_Harbinger_ of March 14, 1846. There is little to add to the clear
+statement there made:--
+
+"FIRE AT BROOK FARM.
+
+"Our readers have no doubt been informed before this of the severe
+calamity with which the Brook Farm Association has been visited, by the
+destruction of the large unitary edifice which it has been for some
+time erecting on its domain. Just as our last paper was going through
+the press, on Tuesday evening the 3d inst., the alarm of fire was given
+at about a quarter before nine, and it was found to proceed from the
+'Phalanstery.' In a few minutes the flames were bursting through the
+doors and windows of the second story; the fire spread with almost
+incredible rapidity throughout the building, and in about an hour and a
+half the whole edifice was burned to the ground. The members of the
+Association were on the spot in a few moments, and made some attempts
+to save a quantity of lumber that was in the basement story; but so
+rapid was the progress of the fire, that this was found to be
+impossible and they succeeded only in rescuing a couple of tool chests
+that had been in use by the carpenters.
+
+"The neighboring dwelling house, called the 'Eyry,' was in imminent
+danger while the fire was at its height, and nothing but the stillness
+of the night and the vigilance and activity of those who were stationed
+on its roof, preserved it from destruction. The vigorous efforts of our
+nearest neighbors, Mr. T. J. Orange and Messrs. Thomas and George
+Palmer, were of great service in protecting this building, as a part of
+our force were engaged in another direction, watching the workshops,
+barn and principal dwelling house.
+
+"In a short time our neighbors from the village of West Roxbury, a mile
+and a half distant, arrived in great numbers with their engine, which
+together with the engines from Jamaica Plain, Newton and Brookline,
+rendered valuable assistance in subduing the flaming ruins, although it
+was impossible to check the progress of the fire until the building was
+completely destroyed. We are under the deepest obligations to the fire
+companies which came, some of them five or six miles, through deep
+snow, on cross roads, and did everything in the power of skill or
+energy to preserve our other buildings from ruin. Many of the engines
+from Boston came four or five miles from the city, but finding the fire
+going down, returned without reaching the spot. The engines from
+Dedham, we understood, made an unsuccessful attempt to come to our aid,
+but were obliged to turn back on account of the condition of the roads.
+No efforts, however, would have probably been successful in arresting
+the progress of the flames. The building was divided into nearly a
+hundred rooms in the upper stories, most of which had been lathed for
+several months without plaster, and being almost as dry as tinder, the
+fire flashed through them with terrific rapidity.
+
+"There had been no work performed on the building during the winter
+months, and arrangements had just been made to complete four out of the
+fourteen distinct suites of apartments into which it was divided, by
+the first of May. It was hoped that the remainder would be finished
+during the summer, and that by the first of October the edifice would
+be prepared for the reception of a hundred and fifty persons, with
+ample accommodations for families, and spacious and convenient public
+halls and saloons. A portion of the second story had been set apart for
+a church or chapel, which was to be finished in a style of simplicity
+and elegance, by private subscription, and in which it was expected
+that religious services would be performed by our friend William H.
+Channing, whose presence with us, until obliged to retire on account of
+ill health, had been a source of unmingled satisfaction and benefit.
+
+"On the Saturday previous to the fire, a stove was put up in the
+basement story, for the accommodation of the carpenters, who were to
+work on the outside; a fire was kindled in it on Tuesday morning, which
+burned till four o'clock in the afternoon; at half past eight in the
+evening the building was visited by the night watch, who found
+everything apparently safe, and at about a quarter before nine a faint
+light was discovered in the second story, which was supposed at first
+to have proceeded from a lamp, but on entering, to ascertain the fact,
+the smoke at once showed that the interior was on fire. The alarm was
+immediately given, but almost before the people had time to assemble,
+the whole edifice was wrapped in flames. From a defect in the
+construction of the chimney, a spark from the stovepipe had probably
+communicated with the surrounding wood work, and from the combustible
+nature of the materials, the flames spread with a celerity that made
+every effort to arrest their violence without effect.
+
+"This edifice was commenced in the summer of 1844, and has been in
+progress from that time until November last, when the work was
+suspended for the winter, and resumed, as before stated, on the day in
+which it was consumed. It was built of wood; one hundred and seventy-
+five feet long, three stories high, with spacious attics, divided into
+pleasant and convenient roams for single persons. The second and third
+stories were divided into fourteen houses, independent of each other,
+with a parlor and three sleeping rooms in each, connected by piazzas
+which ran the whole length of the building on both stories. The
+basement contained a large and commodious kitchen, a dining hall
+capable of seating from three to four hundred persons, two public
+saloons, and a spacious hall and lecture room. Although by no means a
+model for the Phalanstery, or unitary edifice of a Phalanx, it was well
+adapted for our purposes at present, situated on a delightful eminence
+which commanded a most extensive and picturesque view, and affording
+accommodations and conveniences in the combined order, which in many
+respects would gratify even a fastidious taste. The actual expenditures
+upon the building, including the labor performed by the Associates,
+amounted to about seven thousand dollars, and three thousand dollars
+more, it was estimated, would be sufficient for its completion. As it
+was not yet in use by the Association, and, until the day of its
+destruction, not exposed to fire, no insurance had been effected. It
+was built by investments in our loan stock, and the loss falls upon the
+holders of partnership stock and the members of the Association.
+
+"It is some alleviation of the great calamity which we have sustained that
+it came upon us at this time, rather than at a later period. The house was
+not endeared to us by any grateful recollections; the tender and
+hallowed associations of home had not yet begun to cluster around it,
+and although we looked upon it with joy and hope as destined to occupy
+an important sphere in the social movement to which it was consecrated,
+its destruction does not rend asunder those sacred ties which bind us
+to the dwellings that have thus far been the scene of our toils and of
+our satisfactions. We could not part with either of the houses in which
+we have lived at Brook Farm, without a sadness like that which we
+should feel at the departure of a bosom friend. The destruction of our
+edifice makes no essential change in our pursuits. It leaves no family
+destitute of a home; it disturbs no domestic arrangements; it puts us
+to no immediate inconvenience. The morning after the disaster, if a
+stranger had not seen the smoking pile of ruins, he would not have
+suspected that anything extraordinary had taken place. Our schools were
+attended as usual, our industry in full operation, and not a look or
+expression of despondency could have been perceived. The calamity is
+felt to be great; we do not attempt to conceal from ourselves its
+consequences, but it has been met with a calmness and high trust, which
+gives us a new proof of the power of associated life to quicken the
+best elements of character, and to prepare men for every emergency.
+
+"We shall be pardoned for entering into these almost personal details,
+for we know that the numerous friends of Association, in every part of
+our land, will feel our misfortune as if it were a private grief of
+their own. We have received nothing but expressions of the most
+generous sympathy from every quarter, even from those who might be
+supposed to take the least interest in our purposes; and we are sure
+that our friends in the cause of social unity will share with us the
+affliction that has visited a branch of their own fraternity.
+
+"We have no wish to keep out of sight the magnitude of our loss. In our
+present infant state it is a severe trial of our strength. We cannot
+now calculate its ultimate effect. It may prove more than we are able
+to bear; or like other previous calamities, it may serve to bind us
+more closely to each other, and to the holy cause to which we are
+devoted. We await the result with calm hope, sustained by our faith in
+the Universal Providence, whose social laws we have endeavored to
+ascertain and embody in our daily lives.
+
+"It may not be improper to state, as we are speaking of our own affairs
+more fully than we have felt at liberty to do before in the columns of
+our paper, that, whatever be our trials of an external character, we
+have every reason to rejoice in the internal condition of our
+Association. For the few last months it has more nearly than ever
+approached the idea of a true social order. The greatest harmony
+prevails among us; not a discordant note is heard; a spirit of
+friendship, of brotherly kindness, of charity, dwells with us and
+blesses us; our social resources have been greatly multiplied, and our
+devotion to the cause which has brought us together receives new
+strength every day. Whatever may be in reserve for us, we have an
+infinite satisfaction in the true relations which have united us, and
+the assurance that our enterprise has sprung from a desire to obey the
+divine law. We feel assured that no outward disappointment or calamity
+can chill our zeal for the realization of a divine order of society, or
+abate our efforts in the sphere which may be pointed out by our best
+judgment as most favorable to the cause which we have at heart."
+
+There was no wind. The building was entirely consumed; and the hungry
+firemen, on their homeward way, were invited to lunch at the Hive.
+Peter, the baker, had just turned out from the oven a fine batch of
+bread. We made coffee for them. The bread was for our morrow's
+breakfast; they ate it all, and Peter worked all night to supply the
+deficiency. In the midst of the lunch Mr. Ripley mounted a bench and
+spoke a few pleasant words of thanks to them, and you would not have
+guessed that a great misfortune had fallen on our scheme from the
+serene, cheerful look on his fine face. He thanked the firemen kindly
+for coming to our aid. Their visit, he said, "was _very
+unexpected_ to us," but he was glad to give them the poor
+hospitality we had. "But had we _known_," he said, in that bright,
+pleasant way of his, "or even _suspected_ you were coming, we
+would have been better prepared to receive you, and given you worthier,
+if not a _warmer_ reception." "Good enough, good enough!" shouted
+the firemen.
+
+This calamity did not affect any belief that the Brook Farmers had in
+social science, and it did not break up the Association. Certainly no
+one departed from the place at once in fear of disorganization. It
+called forth kindly letters from all parts of the country, and our
+immediate friends gathered around us as if to shield us from further
+harm. The sweet singer returned to pass a few days with us, and our
+noble friend Channing spoke earnest words to all.
+
+It was Sunday; the Direction broke its rule and decided to call the
+Association together in the evening to talk over everything connected
+with its prospects. There was one reason for doing so, and that was,
+one of our prominent members was going next day to New York to deliver
+a course of lectures on music, and they desired he should be present at
+the consultation. I do not remember that the meeting talked facts and
+figures, but that it was a meeting of goodwill and resolution, where
+all expressed their sympathies or convictions regarding the life then
+and there led; their desire for its continuance, and their hopes and
+wishes for the future prosperity of the little band.
+
+I make an extract from an article written by our president, as showing
+the state of feeling among the leaders at this time. After speaking of
+the various letters received, he says he has selected one for
+publication for its practical suggestions, and continues:--
+
+"We do not altogether agree with the writer in the importance which he
+attaches to the special movement at Brook Farm. We have never professed
+to be able to represent the idea of Association with the scanty
+resources at our command; nor would the discontinuance of our
+establishment, or of any of the partial attempts now in progress, in
+the slightest degree weaken our faith in the associative system or our
+conviction that it will sooner or later be adopted as the only form of
+society suited to the nature of man, and in accordance with the divine
+will. We have never attempted anything more than to prepare the way for
+Association by demonstrating some of the leading ideas on which the
+theory is founded. In this we have had the most gratifying success; but
+we have regarded ourselves only as the humble pioneers in a work which
+would be carried on by others to its magnificent consummation, and have
+been content to wait and toil for the development of the cause and the
+completion of our hope.
+
+"Still we have established a centre of influence here for the
+associative movement which we shall spare no effort to sustain; we are
+fully aware of the importance of this; and nothing but the most
+inexorable necessity will withdraw the congenial spirits that are
+gathered in social union here, from the work which has always called
+forth their most earnest devotedness and enthusiasm. Since our disaster
+occurred there has not been an expression or symptom of despondency
+among our number. All are resolute and calm; determined to stand by
+each other and the cause; ready to encounter still greater sacrifices
+than have yet been demanded of them, and desirous only to adopt the
+course which may be presented by the clearest dictates of duty. The
+loss we have sustained occasions us no immediate inconvenience; does
+not interfere with any of our present operations, although it is a
+total destruction of resources on which we had confidently relied, and
+must inevitably derange our plans for the enlargement of the
+Association and the extension of our industry. We have a firm and
+cheerful hope, however, of being able to do much for the illustration
+of the cause, with the materials that remain. They are far too valuable
+to be dispersed or applied to any other object, and with favorable
+circumstances will be able to accomplish much for the realization of
+social unity.
+
+"We are not so blind as to lose sight of the fact that this enterprise,
+as well as all others that leave the beaten path of custom and
+tradition, must experience more or less misrepresentation and
+consequent hostility. But we rejoice to say that in Boston and its
+vicinity, where our institution and its members are the best known, we
+have met with nothing since the occurrence of our disaster but the most
+cordial and almost enthusiastic sympathy. Our labors for five year's
+have not been in vain in disarming reproach and winning esteem. A
+universal desire is expressed for the continuance of our establishment,
+and the success of our experiment; the most friendly hands have been
+extended to us from all quarters; and if the expression of respect for
+ourselves and wishes for our prosperity could be of any avail, we might
+regard our future welfare as certain. If there has been any exception
+to these remarks it has not come to our knowledge. The truth is, our
+wisest and best men are deeply sensible, under the pressure of existing
+evils, of the need of social reform, and they cannot but welcome those
+whose perseverance and devotion in this work prove them to be in
+earnest."
+
+These words of our leader expressed clearly the general feeling and
+hope of the Association, and are worthy of close attention. I will not
+copy the letter referred to, but put in its place the following shorter
+one, the writer of whom was an entire stranger to our people:--
+
+"NEW YORK, March 17, 1846.
+
+"GENTLEMEN:--With the greatest sorrow I heard of the destruction of a
+building of the Brook Farm Association by fire. As an expression of my
+sympathy please accept the trifle enclosed towards its reconstruction.
+I am rejoiced at the spirit with which you met this calamity, and think
+it augurs most favorably for the successful result of your great
+enterprise.
+
+"The light which some knowledge of the science of Association has
+poured upon my mind has changed despondency into hope, gloom into
+cheerfulness. My religious feelings I trust have been purified. I can
+more intelligently and confidently trust in God, and the reflection
+that we are all 'members of one another' excites benevolent feelings in
+my heart. I trust I may live to do something towards spreading the
+knowledge of this divine science, and that when I die the condition and
+prospects of the human race may be greatly improved.  E."
+
+This great disaster stirred the little commonwealth to its centre. In
+the hearts of the dwellers were sad spots, were serious thoughts. They
+felt a deep disappointment, and when the fun and the _bon-mot_
+were off, that ever sparkled at Brook Farm on the surface of its life
+of toil and devotion, they met each other in frank, plain talk. I have
+a great admiration for the simple, straightforward, honest way in which
+the people, male and female, spoke to each other. There was no beating
+of the bush; there was no need of it; there was a common interest that
+united them--a unity, as far as it went--not perfect, it is true, but
+much higher than I have ever seen it elsewhere.
+
+As we met the morning after the fire at breakfast, which was later than
+usual, and all through the following days, the talk was about the
+catastrophe. Each one had his story to tell. Some had been watching the
+other houses, fearing chance sparks might reach them, but the night was
+so quiet they did not scatter much. Our Englishman with a spicy name
+(Peppercorn), cheerful, lively fellow as he was, is said to have
+observed that "many hanxious heyes were fixed hon that 'ole in the barn
+when hour 'ouse was hon fire." (It was a square place left open in the
+gable for ventilation.) Little knots of people gathered together to
+talk over and over again the same important subject, and foremost among
+them, tallest among them, was the General, with his disputatious tongue
+and his occasional unfortunate stammer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+SUMMING UP AND REVERIES.
+
+
+Brook Farm was in an exceptionally good position when the associative
+movement broke out, like a fever, all over the country. It was no new
+organization. It had started two or three years before the rest. It had
+fixed itself in the minds of the thinking part of the community as a
+gathering of able, upright, conscientious men and women. There were no
+slurs on their moral characters. There were no vices at which to point
+the finger of scorn. They were not driven or urged forward by poverty
+to take the position they did, and the "Community" or Association, had
+sprung up so silently and in such a natural manner, that it seemed a
+vital outgrowth from the tree of society. Notices appeared in various
+prints pleasantly alluding to it.
+
+It was a curious and unique life. It deserved to be kindly noticed, and
+not until after the "Fourierite" doctrines were preached and accepted
+did there appear anything in the journals of a defamatory character
+relating to it. Truth compels me to say that Brook Farm and its
+Associates were singularly free from the rude comments and public
+assaults that reformers of all kinds are apt to receive. But while
+Brook Farm was thus free, it had to bear its share in the general
+assaults upon the doctrines of associative life and "Fourierism" that
+were made elsewhere.
+
+Mr. Greeley, in the _Tribune_, had gone into the work manfully,
+striking heavy blows for the organization of labor; announcing himself
+as an advocate of the doctrines of Associated Industry, with the
+freedom of manner and boldness of pen and purpose for which he was
+noted. The _Tribune_ was the leading journal of the country as
+well as of the Whig party, and the associative idea came into immediate
+prominence. Mr. Greeley was a man who was not ruled by any party. He
+had too much of genuine independence to allow himself to follow strict
+party lines. He was ambitious. He had political enemies ready to strike
+him in any way that they could to reduce his political power, who did
+not dare to attack him or his party openly, and they went about seeking
+flaws in his honest coat of mail, into which they could thrust their
+lances, caring not how envenomed they were if they could but wound him,
+thinking by this means to reduce his hold on his party and the public.
+
+I am satisfied that this was the reason of the commencement of the
+principal attacks on the associative doctrines; but having commenced
+them, many may finally have believed they were doing justice to society
+by continuing in their unjust course. The principal ground of attack
+was that the "Fourierites" were "disorganizers," that they were
+unsettling the foundations of society and that they wished to make
+their Associations entering wedges to disrupt the marriage relation and
+produce promiscuity and general anarchy. Their opponents even went so
+far as to call the leaders infidels, and made other outrageous and
+absurd charges against them. The New York _Express_ was early in
+the field. The _Courier and Enquirer_ and the Buffalo
+_Advertiser_ soon made themselves conspicuous, and finally the New
+York _Observer_, "a religious newspaper of the Calvinistic school,
+of large circulation and great influence, actuated in the present case,
+as must be hoped, by other motives than those that envenomed its
+associates," says a writer in the _Harbinger_, "added its ability
+and its power to crush the social reformers."
+
+These attacks, long continued, created great distrust and produced
+strong suspicions in the public mind derogatory to the morality of the
+movement.
+
+The Associationists on their part denied that they were Fourierists, or
+that they had advocated or proposed any change in the marriage
+relation; they were united for the organization of industry, and had
+nothing to do or propose in relation to the marriage system. This
+denial was not enough for their opponents. They declared that the
+doctrines of Association led to certain results, and in proof of it
+cited Fourier's speculations on the subject, which had about as much to
+do with the social objects of the Associationists as his cosmogony, his
+speculations about the Arabian deserts, or his ocean of "lemonade" that
+had amused so many. In the study of human nature, Fourier believed he
+discovered inherently inconstant natures, exceptional men and women,
+who cannot be constant to one idea, one hope or one love; and believing
+that this inconstancy was a normal trait of character with some
+persons, who are the exceptions to the general rule, simply and
+honestly acknowledged the fact, and speculated on the result and the
+position such persons would have in the future ideal societies.
+
+Fourier said, "The man has no claim as discoverer, or to the confidence
+of the world, who advocates such absurdities as community of property,
+absence of divine worship and rash abolition of marriage."
+
+The Associationists of America made no proposal of any change in the
+marriage relation. They had no occasion to do so. They considered it
+one of the best and purest arrangements of present society, and that if
+there were in that relation oftentimes grave mistakes and errors, there
+were other greater and more glaring evils and universal wrongs to set
+right.
+
+"Accordingly our position is that the existing institution is to be
+maintained in its greatest possible dignity and purity. We believe that
+with the establishment of _truth_ and _justice_ in the
+practical affairs of society; with the guarantee of pecuniary
+independence to all persons, the most fatal temptations to debase and
+profane this relation will be removed.... But to purer and nobler
+generations more upright, honorable and generous, we leave all
+legislation on this subject. It is for us to maintain the institution
+inviolable."
+
+The above quoted words are taken from a statement made by all the
+officers of the "American Union of Associationists," for at this time
+an outside movement of that name had commenced, whose object was to
+propagate doctrines, and stimulate the various organizations that were
+forming, to actualize the new social order in various parts of the
+country.
+
+At a convention in Boston, held May 27,1846, where the American Union
+of Associationists was formed, this resolution was passed:--"Resolved,
+That we hold it our duty, as seekers of the practical unity of the
+race, to accept every light afforded by the providential men whom God
+has raised up, without committing ourselves blindly to the guidance of
+any _one_, or speaking or acting in the name of any man; that we
+recognize the invaluable worth of the discoveries of Charles Fourier in
+the science of society, the harmony of that science with all the vital
+truths of Christianity, and the promise it holds out of a material
+condition of life wherein alone the spirit of Christ can dwell in all
+its fulness; but _Fourierists_ we are not and cannot consent to be
+called, because Fourier is only _one_ among the great teachers of
+mankind; because many of his assertions are concerning spheres of
+thought which exceed our present ability to test, and of which it would
+be presumption for us to affirm with confidence; and because we regard
+this as a holy and providential movement, independent of every merely
+_individual_ influence or guidance, the sure and gradual evolving
+of man's great unitary destiny in the ages."
+
+After the excitement of the fire and after the enthusiastic meeting for
+the holy cause, the voice of reason, pure and cold, went forth in
+whispers over the face of Brook Farm. Inquiries began to be made about
+prospects. It was considered a great piece of good fortune to have been
+enabled to commence the first "Phalanstery." Would any one invest in a
+second one, and was there prospect enough for the success of the
+industry on the place to secure a livelihood? If not, what must be
+done? These were important questions. Retrenchment had gone far. The
+table was too poor to attract visitors; too poor, some thought, for
+health, but I observed that all kept well.
+
+I am not sure in my details of all the industry on the place just at
+this time, but I believe that Britannia ware was made by one or two
+workmen, principally oil hand lamps and teapots; but sales were
+limited, the market being dull or glutted, and the Brook Farmers had
+not the capital to manufacture and keep on hand a supply of goods for
+better times.
+
+Some six to ten were engaged in making shoes and pots. There goods were
+sold at fair profit, though it was not a particularly remunerative
+business, and sometimes the group was not full of orders.
+
+There was also the "sash and blind" business, which included the making
+of doors. I believe that this business could have been made profitable,
+but here again the inevitable want was capital. In order to make these
+articles of good quality, it is of the first importance that all stock
+in them shall be well seasoned, for if it is not, changes of
+temperature will produce shrinkage and warping. The wood should be
+either kiln-dried--a novelty then--or dried by long keeping in sheds,
+and it was important to buy largely when there was a good source, and
+store for future use. These things the Brook Farmers could not do, and
+consequently some of the doors and sashes shrank, much to the disgust
+of everybody.
+
+The _Harbinger_ was the principal work done in the printing line as
+no outside business, such as job or book work, was secured. I have not
+found out whether the _Harbinger_ paid its expenses or not, but it
+was considered that it aided Brook Farm by advertising the work in its
+columns. Certainly there was not much profit in it, for it is well
+known that the expense of issuing a few copies of a publication is
+nearly as large as when the number is doubled.
+
+And the farming! Was it paying? A little, of course. Great labor and
+devotion are needed on a farm at special seasons: I am of the opinion
+it was a mistaken idea that no day's labor should consist of more than
+ten hours. Our kind-hearted leader, who had not known the necessity for
+great personal, physical toil, long-continued, in order to produce
+special results, frowned on long hours, and did not lend his magnetism
+to induce persons to toil out of regular time, except possibly in the
+haying field; and therefore the days were clipped to stated hours, when
+it would have been better to have extended them occasionally beyond the
+regular time.
+
+A large crop was hay. Near the main farm was a lot of some fifteen
+acres of grass land that was a part of the original purchase, but
+entirely independent of contact, and at some distance towards West
+Roxbury village. It was called the "Keith Lot" and was the best hay
+field. All the meadows grew heavy crops of grass; it was not all
+"herd's grass," but consisted of a variety of species, and went under
+the name of "meadow hay," which was considered second in quality.
+
+There were the mistakes of beginners made. Some crops were lost that
+might have been saved and made profitable. Of apples there were not
+many. The farm could not supply the Association's wants, and we had at
+times to buy both fruits and vegetables. Besides the cows a few swine
+were kept. Occasionally a "beef critter" would be killed for home use,
+either by our stout neighbor with a fruitful name (Orange), or by our
+little Englishman.
+
+Our practical neighbor's advice and assistance were of use to us. His
+occupation was especially farming, but he had a "slant" towards killing
+animals, really liking the business. He could do the butchering of a
+hog with the best of grace, and had killed, first and last, so many,
+that I imagine he could tell the number of squeals, or wrigglings of
+the porcine tail it took to terminate the life of the animal, after he
+had given it the _coup de grace_. Once, when remonstrated with by
+a lady for his cruel position towards the race of swine, the
+"professional" love of his occupation arose above all other
+considerations.
+
+"Where do you expect to go when you die," said she to him, "if you are
+so cruel to animals?"
+
+"Well, I don't know," he replied, "but I hope I shall go where there
+are _plenty of hogs!_"
+
+In the progress of the institution much work was done to increase the
+amount of grass land and tillage, and where the meadows bordered on the
+bush and stubble, the bush scythe was freely used. Muck was dug and
+spread in quantities. Mr. Ripley rather prided himself on the knowledge
+of the composition and improvement of soils, and when the experiment
+ceased, the farm had improved in amount of tillable surface and
+capacity of production. This progress was, much of it, to the
+Association's cost, and added but little to the immediate income.
+
+I have alluded to the tree-nursery. There were thousands of young trees
+bought and transplanted for a nursery, and seedlings raised that had to
+be budded or grafted, and this was faithfully and carefully done by an
+experienced man, assisted by the Professor and other native talent, and
+the grounds kept continually in order. There was no immediate return
+for this outlay, which needed a year or two more of growth and
+investment, to bring back the first cost and make a profit from the
+business.
+
+Let me here call attention to the nature of the various occupations
+started. They contained in general, I am satisfied, as good chances for
+profitable return as most occupations, and with time, and a market not
+overstocked, would finally have paid well. Once only were we caught
+with the _ignis fatuus_ of genius, a washing machine--patented, of
+course--that came to an untimely end with a few gasps.
+
+The greenhouse business was an outgo from first to last. It was a
+business in prospective. It took two persons from other and more
+productive labor, and quantities of fuel were consumed through the long
+winter days and nights with a very meagre return. It had its bright
+side--it was attractive--and if persevered in would have paid in the
+end. The garden was still more of an outgo than the greenhouse. The
+soil was very poor, and the manure for high culture was not
+forthcoming, for it was all needed on the farm.
+
+The large number of visitors did at times return more than the cash
+outlay, but in reckoning the incomes of the Association this must be
+left out, or set down as uncertain. Some boarders were almost always on
+the place; either interested parties, or members' friends, but this
+income also was slight, as the table was meagre and the price in
+proportion. What, then, was there beside these occupations to support
+and increase the organization? Three things: Income from new members
+who came with property; income from regular investors, who took stock
+in the Association, and income from the school.
+
+There was a prospective income from persons who were expected to come
+and try the new mode of life. There were those who had been promised an
+opportunity to join us. They were selected from a mass of applicants,
+and one object in the selection was to secure persons of good standing
+and means. Such persons represented a desirable class. But now the
+"Phalanstery" was burned that hope was destroyed, for all the available
+rooms were occupied with those living on the domain; and if there was
+to be no progress in material things, who would wish to invest in stock
+that had not paid a cent and in which there was but a slight chance of
+profitable return--nay, more, which stood ten chances to one of being
+entirely lost? Of course no one unless he had money to give away. The
+persuasive eloquence of the gifted leaders could not secure investors
+for the reasons I have given, and for other reasons of which I shall
+speak.
+
+The "Associationists" were not united. The centre of the movement was
+at New York, and from there great stories of the advancement of the
+North American Phalanx at Red Bank, New Jersey, went forth. It was
+Greeley's pet. It was the favorite at the centre and mostly with the
+_doctrinaires_. It was an excellent domain, with water power,
+splendid fruit-growing land, sufficiently near New York market for an
+undoubted sale of all its products. Greeley admired the talent and the
+social life at Brook Farm, but he thought that the leaders engaged at
+the North American Phalanx had a more practical turn, and their soil
+was wonderfully better fitted for farming, which always seems to be the
+hobby of reformers. It was near to him; he could visit it often, and he
+invested money in it.
+
+It was intimated that the Brook Farm experiment had better stop, and
+that all the material that was good should be transferred to the North
+American. But it is easily seen that this was impossible, and that the
+experiment must go on. The leaders and members had pledged themselves
+too faithfully to carry out the Association's ideas, and none among
+them would be bold enough to announce such a project. It would seem
+like selling out to another organization. Who would dare to propose to
+break into the charmed circle by such discordant words? And so it went
+on.
+
+Much talent was used in the school. As the Association took to itself a
+variety of industries; as it added shoemakers, carpenters and farmers
+to its original stock of intellectual workers, a change took place in
+the selectness of its society. Although the members were chosen by the
+organization, yet "practical" farmers, and "practical" shoemakers, with
+their wives and children, are not supposed to have the easy grace of
+manners, the elegant language and the fluency and charm of cultivated
+and scholarly men and women. The little, scarcely organized Community
+had increased into a goodly number, so that its dining room was like a
+small hotel; and it was no longer held by the "Transcendentalists," but
+had become a portion of a large and increasing body of men who followed
+the wild ideas of a Frenchman named Fourier, and called itself the
+Brook Farm Phalanx.
+
+And who was this Fourier? It was just at this time; it was just as this
+question was asked by anxious mothers, that the slanders of the New
+York Press, copied into other papers, far and wide, worked mischief to
+the Brook Farm School. I never knew a pupil who was not pleased and
+delighted with the school; but the mother who sends a child away from
+home to an educational institution, especially if the child is a girl,
+will send it where there are no intimations connected with it of the
+character of those brought so prominently forward by the New York
+newspapers. It matters not so much to her that she believes the stories
+are slanders; her duty seems plain to take no risks.
+
+The "Association" or "Phalanx" now overlapped the school, and it could
+no longer have the prominence as an industry that it did at first. The
+school, from being so intimately connected with the Association, began
+to lose caste. Although conducted with as much talent as ever, and with
+as much devotion on the part of its teachers, from the fact of the
+unfortunate odium cast on it, and its peculiar surroundings, was
+declining, and the high talent, the culture and the knowledge of its
+teachers, could not retain it in its proud position.
+
+Thus I have gathered together, as in a bouquet, the sources of all the
+income of the once famous "Brook Farm." How slight they were!
+
+It has often been stated that Brook Farm was a well chosen location for
+the experiment made there. It was nine miles from Boston. There were no
+surrounding industries. There was no water power at hand, the little
+brook being too small for any purpose but ornament. There was no
+available railroad station--the nearest was four miles away. This
+necessitated the teaming of lumber, fertilizers, coal, family stores
+and all stock for manufacturing purposes, from Boston, as it was not
+practical to send part way by rail and transfer it to teams. A portion
+of the time we were obliged to go to the city by the way of West
+Roxbury Village, as the nearest way--over the hills--was blocked by
+snow during our long New England winters, and this increased the
+distance. One or two teams, with men, were ever on the road. This was
+expensive and tedious.
+
+After the manufacturing stock had been teamed thus far into the
+country, it was carted back in the shape of goods over the same road. I
+must praise the men who were engaged in this business, for they were
+not only teamsters, but errand boys--expressmen we would call them now--
+as well as purchasers of provender and general commercial agents of
+the Association; and their combined tasks were hard and difficult.
+Busy, driving Glover Drew and Buckley Hastings filled this office
+faithfully and long.
+
+For the original purpose of an industrial school the farm was
+attractive, but for an experiment such as was foreshadowed by the name
+Phalanx, the place was not at all fitted, and the good sense of Mr.
+Greeley saw that the domain of the North American Phalanx was vastly
+superior.
+
+In this connection I am reminded that there was but little machinery
+invented and employed on farms at the date of my narrative; and
+although our agriculturists, in spite of the stale jokes that have been
+fathered on them, were in the advance in this department as in others,
+it was only in the third or fourth year of their occupancy of the farm
+that they deemed it wise or prudent to purchase a horse rake, and I
+recall no other modern implement used, unless it was a seed drill,
+taken on trial. It was the same in the domestic department; there was
+not even a dish washer or a clothes wringer, and the most extensive and
+valuable aid in the laundry was a pounding barrel in which the soiled
+clothes were placed and put under discipline.
+
+There was enough reason and brave common sense among the people to
+ponder on the condition of things as I have presented them to you. The
+outlook was not encouraging. I cannot remember the order in which some
+of the events came to pass which I am to narrate, but the order is
+unimportant. Certainly there were Association meetings in which
+prospects were talked over and counsel was demanded and taken from one
+and another. Unfortunately for this story I was not at them. Doubtless
+I was in the quiet of the Eyry, dreaming daylight dreams, musing and
+listening to Fanny Dwight's deft piano playing, while she was filling
+me with the mysteries of Schubert and Mendelssohn and Beethoven, or
+else wandering about the farm, with no special aim but to find rest and
+enjoyment in my leisure hours. These meetings were serious, grave and
+often protracted. There were some who thought matters could be better
+managed. This is not strange, for it is always so. There were those who
+thought that some, particularly among the earlier members, though not
+absolutely non-producers, should be turned off or made more productive;
+but this was difficult to do. Expansion was the only true policy, and
+the fates seemed to be against it. Outside of the meetings and in daily
+life all seemed to be in harmony.
+
+I had now lived more than two years at the farm. I, the pale city lad,
+had grown brown under the sun's warm kisses. I fancy I was not rosy,
+but the bright eyes and the clear complexion, free from speck or
+blemish, gave the certain indications of health. I had tasted of the
+actual farm work. I had planted beans, potatoes and melons. I had hoed
+corn, and on my knees weeded, in the broiling sun, the young onions. I
+had driven horse to plough, and side by side with others, trying to hoe
+my row with them, disputed, discussed social questions and ideas, and
+chaffed one another on our personal gifts and peculiarities while
+working together in the different groups. I had not hewed wood, but I
+had chopped brush. I had yoked and driven the oxen, and the first time
+had a difficulty with them because I tried to yoke the off ox on the
+nigh side; and when I graduated into the greenhouse group I learned all
+the mysteries of the care of plants, potting, transplanting, making
+leaf-mould and doing spade and rake work to perfection; and in the
+laying out of beds and walks did a full share of shovel-work on the
+sandy and gravelly soil, and drove the dump-cart.
+
+Oh, the independence of it! To be able to do everything, and with love
+of it, knowing no high or low of work--all of it honor, and no shame in
+any of it! It is the surroundings that develop the manhood. Was I
+working for myself? Was I working for any other man or person? No, it
+was for all of us that I did it. Did I and we not have the example of
+great minds and greater hearts? We did. One day whilst the shop was
+erecting, our mason, who was on the roof building the chimney, was
+waiting for his helper, who had not returned from his dinner or had
+been called away; and as he wanted bricks very much, I carried some
+hodsful up the ladder to him in the genuine Emeraldic fashion.
+
+(Arise not from shades profound, to frown on me, Abraham, thou honest
+"_Rail Splitter_!" Arise not, warlike, Ulysses, thou
+"_Tanner_." Hide thyself away! Shake not thy cottony locks at me,
+thou pale-faced "_Bobbin Boy_!" Be not too jealous of your unique
+titles. I shall never aspire to so glorious a one as "_Hod
+Carrier_." I have not earned it. I did it but once, and shall never
+do it again! Rest easy!)
+
+And now, at eventide, whilst the Solons of the little commonwealth were
+making laws, solving problems and building defences against the common
+enemy--the wolf of penury and hunger--I was sitting on the steps or on
+the low window-sills at the Eyry, meditating and thinking ever of the
+beautiful things with which I was surrounded; thinking of the glowworms
+I found in the path to Cow Island, their wonderful beauty, and how like
+illuminated pearls were their tiny lamps, and when I touched them how
+they rolled themselves into a coil that resembled the pin of pearls my
+mother wore on her bosom, only they were more beautiful; thinking that
+their lights translated into words were even more beautiful than their
+phosphorescent hues, for they said, "Come to me, my love!"
+
+I was thinking of the bobolinks that twittered and sung, and seemed to
+tumble upward as well as downward in the air over the waving grass on
+the meadow; or I heard behind in the dim oak woods the whip-lash sound
+of the notes of the whippoorwill, repeated a hundred times on the air,
+while the round face of the moon looked down and made the shadows of
+the trees and the forest grow deeper and darker. Now and then I heard,
+when all was still, from his nesting-place, the brave yet delicate
+notes of the song sparrow, singing in his dreams from out a happy,
+overflowing heart. Dear little fluff of feathers!
+
+I was thinking of the brood of young partridges I scared in the woods,
+and how like a flash, mysteriously and totally, they disappeared in the
+underbrush. I was thinking of the tiny newts and wonderful creatures I
+found in the shallow water in the meadow ditch. I was thinking that if
+the saracenas were in bloom I would go to find some of them on the
+morrow; or if the brilliant cardinals were, I would hunt for them at
+the brookside; or if there were any yellow violets to be had I wanted
+to find them, as I had found many varieties.
+
+Then I turned my head and listened more earnestly to the music or to
+the conversation in the parlor, of inspired men and women, talking in
+low, conversational tones, with now and then a spice of wit, on art,
+religion, science or the lives of great painters, musicians, artists
+and reformers. Or I was looking to see if the "Northern Cross" had
+appeared among the constellations above the horizon. Or maybe I heard
+George W. Curtis, who had come to visit his old teachers, singing the
+"Erl King" or "Good-night to Julia" or plaintive "Kathleen Mavourneen"
+in his inimitable way. Perhaps I was deep in social science or
+restudyiug some of Fourier's pleasant fancies, such as the rivalries of
+groups of nice children with his little hordes of brats and "rushers"--
+to use a modern word--and how in nature's scheme their different
+talents so balanced one another as to make complete harmony.
+
+I was thinking of the big boulders that join and make a hole we called
+"the cave," over which Hawthorne's fancy made the apostle Eliot preach
+to the Indians, giving it the name of "Eliot's Pulpit," and describing
+it afterward so prettily in his "Blithedale Romance"; a book of which
+Emerson speaks, and truly, as "that disagreeable story," and of some of
+the sketches in it as "quite unworthy of his genius." And I was
+thinking of the retired little dell in the far "Wisconsin Lot," where
+doubtless he and others have taken their volumes and note-books,
+writing and reading to the music of the hum of the bees, the sighing
+pines and the redbreasts.
+
+I was thinking of the unfortunate humanity who lived outside of our
+charmed circle, and how little they knew of the magnificent future the
+infinite Father has prepared for them and their descendants, and how
+from the beginning the plan has been coördinate with man's help to his
+brother man and his sister woman; and my whole soul was penetrated,
+even as it is now, with pity for the blindness, mental and physical,
+that cannot see how to use the gifts the Infinite holds out, patiently
+waiting for us to take from his indulgent hands. I was thinking how
+much, how very much, of all our suffering comes from human ignorance
+only.
+
+I heard all the songs of nature beside the birds. In the spring I heard
+the toads and frogs and turtles making merriment in their little
+sitting-rooms in the pools of water in low places. In the summer I
+heard the locusts sing and the lazy croak of bullfrog, bearing the
+relation of trombone in the orchestra of nature to the other musicians,
+whilst the fireflies were dancing in mid-air all around him--he winking
+at them with those wondrous projecting eyes. In the autumn the cricket
+was my favorite, and he was kind enough at times to come into our
+musical parlor to rival Mary and Jennie and Helen. But in the winter it
+was only the kindly birds that came to us--sweet chickadee and the
+talkative crows. None of us injured the birds. I do not remember ever
+seeing a gun on the place. Thus went the seasons--spring, summer,
+autumn, winter.
+
+I loved the daily round of life. All were kind to me. I was well
+mentally and physically. I was in the bud of youth. I was like the pink
+rhodoras in spring, callow of leaf or fruit but brightly covered with
+promising blossoms. There remained one thing for me--to know I was
+happy. Did I know it? Yes, I did. I realized it then as now. I was not
+a victim of unconscious joy, to awaken to it at some future period. It
+was not to me a dream. The cup was full! I was truly happy!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE FIRST BREAK.
+
+
+I do not know when or where it was first announced, but the
+announcement came like a clap of thunder from a clear sky. Some one was
+going to leave us! Who? Was it the "Archon" or the "Professor"?
+Certainly this was not expected; but would it be strange if some of the
+leaders, feeling too much the pressure and the burden of the financial
+and executive business of the society, should grow weary, depart, and
+leave their places unfilled forever? Was it any one of the grumblers or
+the known discontented or disconcerted ones? No, it was no less than
+Peter, the "General"! Why, if the elm tree in the yard of the Hive had
+walked off in the night it would not have caused more talk or greater
+consternation. Could it be possible?
+
+From that day to this I have wondered how that man could have had such
+a hold on our hearts. There was not a handsome feature in him. He had a
+large but uneven forehead. His eyes were small, grayish-blue and
+deepset. His nose was homely, his teeth were discolored, and he was
+ungainly and awkward. His best feature was his height, but he stooped
+in his shoulders, and his dress when about his work was of the plainest
+description. His baize jacket and slipshod shoes did not become him.
+
+Ever since then I have believed in the effect of virtue and kindness.
+He was a living sermon--nay, a hundred sermons to me. He was "patient,
+long-suffering and kind."
+
+A spontaneous regret came from all. Some of the women, who certainly
+could not be accused of any amatory love for him, shed tears to think
+that he should go, for he was full of kindness to them. Constantly in
+contact with their department, he was as gentle as a child, never
+complaining and yet full of work. Industrious as the day was long, he
+seemed so like a portion of the very atmosphere of the house, and of
+the life, that it did not seem that he could be away and the
+Association be as it was.
+
+The _morale_ to the fact of the General's departure also disturbed
+our people. He was discouraged at the attempt at realization of the new
+order at Brook Farm. As long as all clung together there seemed to be
+hope; but the first break was dangerous to our well-being, dangerous to
+our existence.
+
+Mr. Dwight had gone to New York to deliver lectures on music. When he
+went away all was enthusiasm, all was harmony. The great loss by fire
+had shaken no one's faith in the principles or the organization, and as
+yet the balance of probabilities had not been made or adjusted in men's
+minds. The word was then to go on at all cost. When he returned he
+found discussion of means, doubts and fears, uppermost everywhere. As a
+truth the Association had not prospered financially. Beginning with no
+real capital, and mortgaged to the debts of the former "Community," it
+had come to a point where without more means or more money in ready
+cash it was very difficult to see how it could go on.
+
+The change of social atmosphere in so short a time grated on the
+sensitive soul of the man of music, and it was my fortune to be present
+at a general meeting of all the Association where I heard his remarks.
+He began by stating, as I have done, that when he went away all was
+harmony and peace. All seemed united by bonds deep and strong; by a
+common purpose and for a common end. We were all striving for a worthy
+object, a higher, nobler life than that which surrounded us.
+
+He had been away from this quiet, cheerful, peaceful and just life,
+among the noise, dust and discord of a great, unwieldy city, and when
+there he had looked forward to his coming home to this devoted little
+band with the greatest possible pleasure. He had expected to find them
+as harmonious and as united as when he left. He trod the precious soil
+and found all external things glowing in beauty. He mounted the hill,
+and there came two beautiful white doves flying close to him as he
+walked on, circling around and around his head and seeming to rejoice
+in his coming. He regarded it as a symbol of the unity and peace that
+were with us, as well as a token of welcome.
+
+But when he came to talk with the members, all was doubt, all was
+distrust. What could it mean? It filled his heart with sad forebodings!
+Why could we not be as before? Why doubt? why distrust? why not push
+on? Certainly there would be a way opened for us! It could not be that
+the years of devotion to one another and to this just cause and just
+life could end thus! And in pleading tones born out of the depths of
+his heart, and living sentences to which I can do no manner of justice,
+he waxed eloquent, and all could not but be touched and moved with his
+words.
+
+How beautiful it is in looking back to this time, when coming events
+were casting their sad shadows before them, to think that no one took
+the opposite side, and that none among all the number argued before us
+that we had met with a miserable failure; that no one was ready with a
+rude word to break the bonds of friendship and to use his eloquence to
+destroy our habit of life, our trust in one another, our faith in God
+and the eternal justice of His providence, or to hasten in any way the
+disruption of the institution; and that in those trying hours the
+strong ties of friendship, love and daily communion were uppermost. All
+felt that we wished to keep on with our labor, and that Mr. Dwight only
+spoke the wishes of all hearts. But the inevitable mathematics of
+finance were against us.
+
+The "Poet," as the young folks called Mr. Dwight, wished that we could
+manage it somehow, in some manner. He himself would go away. He would
+go where his services could command higher fees. He would give them to
+the Association for the privilege only of being sometimes on the
+domain, and finding there others whom he loved, working still for their
+sublime purposes.
+
+These well-expressed desires, though availing nothing in the way of
+adding money to the treasury, stimulated the hearts anew to good
+fellowship, and helped to keep up the activity of the place to the
+last. It seems a wonder to me that, in spite of all the changes that
+took place after this time, as one and another departed, the industry
+of the place was still kept in decent working order.
+
+It was on the third of March that the fire took place, and the spring
+and summer were fast passing away; the beautiful summer--beautiful ever
+with its fields of waving grass and its wild flowers, its sunlight and
+moonlight glow, its varied charms of growth and verdure; especially
+beautiful to us, the young, who watched one another's countenances
+glowing with health, innocence and pleasure; who clasped hands together
+and danced with nimble feet; and saw the lithe young forms grow fairer
+and more womanly and more manly. With the frank outpourings of
+friendship and confidence; with the lavishness of mutual praise in
+youth, we enjoyed and joined in merry badinage, in miffs and flattery.
+The starry nights echoed our young voices singing in the clear air.
+There was a burden of care taken from us, for was not the Association
+our god-father? Had it not also taken from our parents the dread
+anxieties that fall to most of common lot? And while we were there we
+would be happy, and when the Association broke up, if it ever did,
+would we not unite somewhere again?
+
+Certainly I never heard any one of us doubt, whether young or old, gray
+of beard or smooth of face, that associated life and doctrines would
+succeed: of this I am sure. We reasoned that if Brook Farm Association
+failed, some other would not. Some new ones would be formed. The
+partings were all temporary; and when we parted, it was with cheerful
+hearts. It was like the going forth of a family in the morning to meet
+again in the evening; no sad farewells, no heart-breakings.
+
+In a few years all of those engaged in this most interesting experiment
+will be gathered to their fathers. No one may ever write as consecutive
+a story of the farm life as I have done; and, with the much that is
+superficial in my narrative, let me add my convictions of the leading
+men and women in this movement. They were, in the highest sense,
+Christians--not technically bound to creeds, but their hearts and
+intellects were filled to overflowing with the good precepts that are
+proclaimed as the foundation, aside from technical beliefs, of the
+Christian doctrine; to love their neighbors as themselves; to do good
+to all; to seek first righteousness in life; to uphold honesty and
+honest dealing in _all_ earthly relations; to do unto others as we
+would they should do unto us; to teach honor to parents; to make all
+men love one another; to inspire a trust in God as a provident Father
+who stands ready to reconcile all conflicts, with the way open and
+plain for us, thus doing away with infidelity, unbelief, narrowness of
+mind and spirit.
+
+The doctrine they taught above all others was the _solidarity of the
+race_. This was ever repeated. It was their religion that the human
+race was one creation, bound together by indissoluble ties, links
+stronger than iron and unbreakable. It was one body. It should be of
+one heart, one brain, one purpose. Whenever one of its members suffered
+all suffered. When there was a criminal all had part in his crime; when
+there was a debauchee, all partook in his debasement; when there was
+one diseased all were affected by it; when one was poor, all bore some
+of the sting of his poverty. If any one took shelter behind his
+possessions, wretchedness, poverty and disease found him out.
+
+Ever is Lazarus at the king's gate haunting him, and he cannot avoid
+it. At his banquets the ghosts of the wronged appear to him. Hollow-
+eyed women and children point the finger of scorn at him, and phantoms
+in his dreams shriek out at him, "Where is thy brother?" And he has no
+excuse but the cowardly question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" His
+children inherit the emanations from his cowardly soul and will not
+rise up to call him blessed. His mind is not at ease, because the
+atmosphere of envy is all around him; he knows _he_ is the cause
+of evil thoughts, and that he holds his position by keeping comfort
+away from many around him, and his fine surroundings become to him as
+tinsel and dross. Dyspepsia, _ennui_ and weariness of spirit claim
+him. He is a poverty-haunted coward, ashamed that he is so; and,
+saddest of all, he is not a Christian. He does not believe that if he
+seeks the kingdom of God, which means only to do aright, all things of
+material beauty will be added to him, purifying, comforting, sustaining
+him, strengthening him, glorifying him beyond his present power to
+dream of.
+
+But the Brook Farmers did. They believed that the Infinite Power
+ordained social laws so universal and equitable that the fulfilment of
+them would make all unqualifiedly happy, and that it is the mission of
+this race of beings to be attached to this earth, to this universe,
+until their happy human destiny is accomplished, which destiny must be
+for _all_, otherwise the Infinite would be partially and not
+wholly good and just.
+
+I do not say that all men are conscious of this as I have pictured it;
+but the burdens are lying heavily on their souls and bodies, and they
+can be truly happy only when they are taken off from them. Human nature
+is too buoyant, too elastic, to be conscious of their pressure all of
+the time; but often, in every soul, is the keen perception that there
+must be an accounting somewhere, sometime, for all the injustice and
+wrong done to any one and to every one, and it brings the "dread
+hereafter" uncomfortably close to their daily lives.
+
+It is too early yet to judge of the result of the work of the Brook
+Farm socialists. They were progressively ahead of their race. They
+lived before their time. They existed in the future as well as in the
+present and the future will be their judge; but these are my
+conclusions justified by actual contact, seeing these men and women
+under every variety of circumstances of daily life, for the full two
+and a half years of my actual sojourn at the Farm. The high ideal they
+carried as their standard lifted them over many of the littlenesses and
+annoyances of daily life without a disturbing thought.
+
+I find in the _Harbinger_ of December 20, 1845, one of the very
+few special allusions to Brook Farm life, and it is so much to the
+point that I copy it entire:--
+
+"We speak no less for the whole associative movement in this country
+than for ourselves when we beseech our friends who are looking upon our
+operations not to judge of our principles or our purposes by any
+immediate results which they may have witnessed. The question is often
+asked of us whether our present mode of life answers our expectations--
+whether Association is found to be valuable in practice as it seems to
+be correct in theory, and the like. But all such inquiries betray an
+ignorance of the actual condition of the enterprise. They suppose the
+organizations which have gone into effect in different parts of the
+country are true specimens of the plans of Association. This is far
+from being the case. We do not profess to be able to present a true
+picture of associative life. We cannot give the remotest idea of the
+advantages which the combined order possesses over the ordinary
+arrangements of society.
+
+"The benefits we now actually enjoy are of another character. The life
+we now lead, though, to a hasty and superficial observer surrounded
+with so great imperfections and embarrassments, is far superior to what
+we have been able to attain under the most favorable circumstances in
+civilization. There is a freedom from the frivolities of fashion, from
+arbitrary restrictions, and from the frenzy of competition: we meet our
+fellow-men in more hearty, sincere and genial relations; kindred
+spirits are not separated by artificial conventional barriers; there is
+more personal independence and a wider sphere for its exercise; the
+soul is warmed in the sunshine of a true social equality; we are not
+brought into the rough and disgusting contact with uncongenial persons
+which is such a genuine source of misery in the common intercourse of
+society; there is a greater variety, of employment, a more constant
+demand for the exertion of all the faculties, and a more exquisite
+pleasure in effort, from the consciousness that we are not working for
+personal ends, but for a holy principle.
+
+"And even the external sacrifices, which the pioneers in every
+enterprise are obliged to make, are not without a sort of romantic
+charm, which effectually prevents us from enjoying the luxuries of
+Egypt, though we should be blessed with neither the manna nor the
+quails which once cheered a table in the desert So that for ourselves
+we have reason to be content. We are conscious of a happiness we never
+knew until we embarked in this career. A new strength is given to our
+arms, a new fire enkindles our souls.
+
+"But great as may be our satisfactions of this nature, they do not
+proceed from the actual application of associative principles to
+outward arrangements. The time has not yet come for that. The means
+have not been brought together to attempt the realization of the
+associative theory, even on the humblest scale. At present, then, we
+are only preparing the way for a better order; we are gathering
+materials that we hope one day we may use with effect; if otherwise,
+they will not be lost; they will help those who come after us, and
+accomplish what they were intended for in the designs of Providence. No
+association as yet has the number of persons, or the amount of capital,
+to make a fair experiment of the principles of attractive industry.
+They are all deficient in material resources, in edifices, in
+machinery, and, above all, in floating capital; and although in their
+present state they may prove a blessing to the individuals concerned in
+them, such as the whole earth has not to give, they are not prepared to
+exhibit that demonstration of the superior benefits of associative life
+which will at once introduce a new era and install humanity in the
+position for which it was created.
+
+"But, brothers, patience and hope! We know what we are working for, we
+know that the truth of God is on our side, that he has no attributes
+that can favor the existing order of fraud, oppression, carnage and
+consequent wretchedness. We may be sure of the triumph of our cause.
+The grass may grow over our graves before it will be accomplished; but
+as certain as God reigns, will the dominion of justice and truth be
+established in the order of society. Every plant which the Heavenly
+Father has not planted will be plucked up, and the earth will yet
+rejoice in the greenness and beauty of the garden of God."
+
+These are George Ripley's words. Could any one add a word to improve
+these splendid paragraphs!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE DEPARTURES, AND AFTER LIVES OF MEMBERS.
+
+
+I am now to chronicle the last scene in our history, and I know not how
+to do it, for of all the events of the life it is to me the most dreamy
+and unreal. The figures of our drama flit before me like shadows. It
+was like a knotted skein slowly unravelling. It was as the ice becomes
+water, and runs silently away. It was as the gorgeous, roseate cloud
+lifts itself up, and then changes in color and hides beyond the
+horizon. It was as a carriage and traveller fade from sight on the
+distant road. It was like the coming of sundown and twilight in a clear
+day. It was like the apple blossoms dropping from the trees. It was as
+the herds wind out to pasture. It was like a thousand and one changing
+and fading things in nature.
+
+"It was not discord, it was music stopped."
+
+Who was next to break away from the charm of the life I know not; but
+when the autumnal season came I was summoned to a family council and
+advised that I should begin a new occupation where I could at least
+earn my subsistence. As in duty bound, I acquiesced, and in a few days
+bade farewell to the Brook Farm life.
+
+I saw no tears shed when I left, but I was sorry to leave my blue tunic
+behind, it was so comfortable. I left, but it was only my outward self
+that was gone, not my sympathies or hopes. Behind were family and
+devoted friends. It was still my home to return to, as it would be for
+an indefinite period.
+
+For two years and a half I had worn the tunic of the community, and the
+"swallow tail" and "civilized rig" I put on for my departure transposed
+my appearance so much that some of the society did not at first know
+me. With my parents' blessing, I entered on the rudiments of the
+professional life I have ever since followed, and took the West Roxbury
+omnibus for Boston, the same I had taken two years and a half before to
+go to the farm.
+
+The succeeding Saturday night found me at home again. How pleasant the
+greeting from Willard, Katie and Louise; from Charlie, Abby and Edgar;
+from Anna and Dolly--from all, old and young! The "Archon" almost
+screamed when he saw me, I was so "stunning" in his eyes, and poked
+some of his fun at me. No marked change had taken place. The
+_Harbinger_ was printed as usual, and only one or two persons had
+gone.
+
+Every Saturday night I returned to the "Phalanx," but soon the
+shoemakers found occupation elsewhere and their seats were empty. Then
+the printers went, as the _Harbinger_ was transferred to New York.
+At last the shop was closed, the cattle were sold, and all the industry
+ceased. I came and went but did not see the actors go, and am glad I
+did not see the "Archon"'. take his leave, or the many bright faces I
+had loved so well.
+
+The Poet lingered near. In Boston he started the _Journal of
+Music_, and at the Eyry lingered for a while a sweet enchantress,
+and the spirits of song and music held their revels there. So, also,
+lingered at "the Hive" some sweet faces and loving hearts besides those
+of my kin. The greenhouse, where I had spent so much of my time, was
+closed--the plants all gone. Up the rafters ran the vines I helped to
+plant, but when the winter came, drear and cold, only a few persons
+remained on the domain. The dining hall echoed to my voice in its
+emptiness, and the little reading room at the Hive was where we now
+assembled at meals.
+
+I wandered around and looked into the empty rooms. I cannot say I felt
+as sad as I would to-day. Every spot was connected with some little
+event, but the events were usually of such a cheerful and pleasant
+nature that I could not be depressed, and a large portion of my
+intimates were still near me in the city or neighborhood. We could
+muster a goodly number at call and we tried to keep alive the good work
+for the "cause" with meetings, social and theoretical. But no longer
+the stage brought its loads of visitors to the Hive door. Over the
+hills and the meadows no more resounded the morning horn echoing far
+and far away, or Miss Ripley's high voice calling "Alfred! Alfred!" who
+acted as major-domo in the absent General's place.
+
+No more came down from the distant houses school lads and lasses, and
+the long, tridaily procession of young and old had ceased forever. The
+din of the kitchen was stopped, and the merry brogue of Irish John was
+silenced. No more rushed the blue tunics for the mail when the coach
+came in--alas, it came no more! The fields remained as when last
+cropped, and if we went to the Cottage no merry sound of music came
+from the school room. We mounted the stairs without meeting the classic
+face or the elastic step and figure of the Professor or his fair
+sister, and in vain did we look for the concourse of books where once
+he wielded his modest pen and translated his German "_lieder_"
+
+No more mounted in air the beautiful doves that circled and tumbled in
+their flight--_my_ doves, that would come at my call and alight
+on my hands, head and shoulders, and scramble for the corn I held out
+to them in my palms. Sunday after Sunday, week after week, I spent in
+the Hive. I looked out of the window but ventured not to go to the
+Eyry, for there the music had finally ceased; or if the spirits sang
+their dirges in those classic walls, my dim ears did not hear them.
+
+Mr. Ripley's books had gone to swell Rev. Theodore Parker's library.
+Were they surrendered without a pang? I will tell you. "Fanny," said
+Mr. Ripley, seeing his valued books departing, "I can now understand
+how a man would feel if he could attend his own funeral." They have
+been placed in the Boston City Library by the death and last testament
+of the later proprietor. The flowers I had watered and tended passed
+into the hands and greenhouse of the translator of "Consuelo." Those
+who owned any private effects or furniture took them away.
+
+The Pilgrim House, never beautiful, and barren in its immediate
+surroundings, was entirely deserted. The Hive was my home; and when the
+warm sun, looking through the barren grape vine into the dining room
+window, melted the light snow of early spring, and awoke the tender
+grass into new growth and verdancy, and the remaining poultry warmed
+themselves by its rays, nestling together by the doorways, as the
+melting snow dripped drop by drop from the house top--the farm looked
+beautiful still.
+
+In some of our young hearts, with the coming of early summer, awoke a
+yearning for one more meeting at the old place; and so we gathered the
+young people from far and near for one more good time, for one more
+communion. With what pleasure I recall those few hours. How happy we
+were! How social and loving and dear we were to one another! In the
+many years passed since then, there is no red-letter day like that one.
+We were about twenty in number. There were fourteen of us between the
+ages of fifteen and twenty-one years. The remainder were older. We
+filled a table in the reading room. Little we cared if we sat crowded
+close together, for we chose our mates. Some were pupils of the school,
+the rest were youths of the Association.
+
+In the afternoon we wandered once more in the beautiful pine woods. We
+sang once more the "Silver Moon" together as we roved about, or sat on
+the big boulder on the knoll at the foot of the lightning-struck tree.
+We recounted old times and seasons; we cracked our merry jokes and ate
+our simple treat, and then parted. In a few days the wide world was
+between us, and forever. Some went East, and some West, one to Port-au-
+Prince, and others to different villages and towns in New England. Of
+the number, four remained in Boston; I was one of them.
+
+Reader, my reminiscences are told, but not all told! They are like the
+sultan's story that was to last a thousand years. To all but the one
+interested there was an unending sameness in it, but to that one, it
+was his life.
+
+It is natural to wish to know of the writer what became of the persons
+who formed this little band of devotees. I can but give a meagre sketch
+in reply, for want of room.
+
+When Mr. Ripley left Brook Farm he was poor. The experiment had cost
+him money, years of toil and made debts for which he felt responsible.
+He determined to pay them. As yet the way was not open. The
+_Harbinger_ was changed in form and lived less than two years in
+its new location, and during a temporary illness of the editor its
+publication was suspended. Mr. Ripley and wife taught school at
+Flatbush, L.I.
+
+At the termination of the _Harbinger_ he immediately commenced
+writing for the New York _Tribune_. Its pay roll indicates what he
+received May 5, 1849; it was $5 for the previous week's work. In July,
+same year, he was paid $10 per week; April 6, 1850, $15; Sept. 21,
+1851, $25 per week. He wrote articles on all the living topics of the
+day, from the arrival of the last new singer to the death of the last
+criminal. Things trivial and non-important, grave and gay, of lasting
+import and the most ephemeral, all came under his pen.
+
+He also wrote, either occasionally or regularly, for a dozen other
+periodicals. He was an early contributor to _Putnam's_ and from
+its commencement wrote for _Harper's New Monthly_. As editor
+associated with Mr. C.A. Dana he gave his time and best thought to the
+New American Cyclopedia, and the first two or three volumes of the
+series were edited solely by them. In 1871 his salary was raised to $75
+per week. When the Cyclopedia was revised he was paid $250 per month
+for extra work on it. More than a million four hundred and sixty
+thousand volumes of the two editions have been sold, and a small
+royalty secured to the editors on each volume.
+
+With prosperity Mr. Ripley never forgot his obligations. The old score
+of debt was wiped out and paid. He was free, and as a man of letters
+revelled in that which had been his youthful ideal.
+
+When a student at Harvard College he wrote to his father, "I know that
+my peculiar habits of mind, imperfect as they are, strongly impel me to
+the path of intellectual effort; and if I am to be at any time of use
+to society or a satisfaction to myself or my friends, it will be in the
+way of some retired literary situation where a fondness for books will
+be more requisite than the busy, calculating mind of a man in the
+business part of the community." Thus was one of his youthful dreams
+fulfilled. His capacity for work seemed unbounded. "He gave all his
+time and all his energy to literary criticism, and spending on it, too,
+the full resources of a richly furnished mind and infusing into it the
+spirit of a broad and noble training."
+
+He passed away July 4, 1880. A great concourse of people attended the
+obsequies. Distinguished men, divines, critics, scholars, editors,
+architects, scientists, journalists, publicists, artists and men of
+affairs were in the assembly. The pall-bearers were the president of
+Columbia College, the editor of _Harper's Weekly_, an Italian
+professor, the editor of the _Popular Science Monthly_, the editor
+of the New York _Observer_, an eminent German lawyer, a
+distinguished college professor, a popular poet and the editor of the
+_Tribune_.
+
+His wife Sophia passed from this life nineteen years before him. The
+story of his romantic after marriage, and many details of his career
+from birth to death, will be found in Mr. O. B. Frothingham's "Life of
+George Ripley," told by his kindly biographer.
+
+Deeply interested in his daily toil, thoroughly immersed in it body and
+brain, yet cheerfully responding to all calls on his unbounded stock of
+information and good nature, no one knows how often his mind wandered
+over the intervening distance and saw the old farm with its mingled
+incidents of pathos, philosophy and heroism, or what regrets were
+covered up; but the joking allusions he sometimes made to it when
+speaking of it to those who came to quiz him, were more than repaid to
+his few intimate friends when he opened his heart to them, and the
+earnestness of his spirit and the solemnity of his faith in the
+brotherhood of humanity shone forth. He unveiled to them that he did
+with undying faith still see in its ideas the elements of the true and
+heavenly society; that he carried deep down in his bosom intense love
+for those who were associated with him, and that if it had been founded
+at this later period, so much has the interest in, social problems
+increased, all the financial support needed would have been freely
+given.
+
+His friend William Henry Channing urged him to write the story of Brook
+Farm, saying, "When _will_ you tell it?"
+
+His joking reply was, "When I reach my years of indiscretion!" He knew
+that the life wrote its own story.
+
+Of the many dear ones I have known whose lives have added to my life
+faith and trust in the Divine Father and his plans for the good future
+of the human race; after years of thought and years of life, I give to
+Mr. Ripley--the leader, the daring man, the brave Christian heart, the
+torch bearer, himself the harbinger of the bright future of social
+justice--the first place, the highest seat, the noblest position among
+them all.
+
+Mr. Ripley paid off the debts of the Community. I do not know all of
+them. There was an amount due to Hawthorne at one time, probably his
+original investment, which he growled about, and there was another due
+to one of the Brothers Morton, who built the Pilgrim House. I am
+indebted to his daughter, Miss Morton, for the statement that her
+father received from Mr. Ripley a check in payment of the Community
+debt to him. Calling her to his side and showing it to her, he said,
+"There, Hannah, there is an honest man!"
+
+After the institution was incorporated the debts and responsibilities
+were shared by the incorporators and stock holders.
+
+It has often been stated that it was the influence of Rev. William
+Ellery Channing that started the West Roxbury Community. His nephew,
+William Henry Channing, alluding to this in a letter to Rev. J. H..
+Noyes, author of the "History of American Socialisms," contradicts the
+statement as follows:--
+
+"Of course my uncle deeply sympathized with his younger friend's heroic
+effort, and wished all success to the movement, but he did not
+encourage it, so far as I can understand, for in his judgment he
+distrusted the prudence of the enterprise," etc. "But it was George
+Ripley, aided by his noble wife Sophia--it was George Ripley, and
+Ripley alone, who truly originated Brook Farm; and his should be the
+honor through all time. And a very high honor it will be sooner or
+later."
+
+The head farmer, with his wife and family, who were so early in the
+experiment, spent many years in the quiet town of Concord,
+Massachusetts. It was he who gave Mr. Ripley courage in his work. He
+was practical, honest, brave, and had enough of poetry in his
+composition to take the dry edge off of his daily routine of toil. When
+ploughing the fields it was with regret he turned under the lovely wild
+flowers and the wild-rose bushes, and it often struck his fancy to
+transplant them from the fields to the roadside where they blessed the
+eyes of the wayfarer. Finally the heavenly voice called him and he went
+thitherward, deeply loved, honored and respected by all. Minot Pratt's
+name was a synonym of all that was pure, good and lovely. His wife
+survived him many years, but in May, 1891, she passed away at an
+advanced age, the last of the signers to the original agreement.
+
+The ambitious "Professor" lives. The trenchant blade of his intellect
+is still keen. Sometimes it seems that to overcome obstacles is all
+with him. His wife was one of the "dear girls" of the Association.
+Method in business and masterly activity have wrung from fate a
+fortune, and the editorial and governmental offices he has held have
+been more than ably filled. Blessed with a charming family, deeply
+immersed in political as well as other writing, it would almost seem as
+if the olden days were forgotten by him, were it not that now and then
+he writes as he did shortly after Mr. Ripley's decease, as follows:--
+
+"It is not too much to say that every person who was at Brook Farm for
+any length of time has ever since looked back to it with a feeling of
+satisfaction. The healthy mixture of manual and intellectual labor, the
+kindly and unaffected social relations, the absence of everything like
+assumptions or servility, the amusements, the discussions, the
+friendships, the ideal and poetical atmosphere which gave a charm to
+life--all these continue to create a picture toward which the mind
+turns back with pleasure as to something distant and beautiful not
+elsewhere met with amid the routine of this world."
+
+Whatever may be said of the tone of the articles that come from his
+pen, their ability is unquestioned, and it is not a secret that in Mr.
+Ripley's judgment Charles A. Dana, of the New York _Sun_, was the
+ablest editor in the world.
+
+The "Poet," as we called him, as editor of Dwight's _Journal of
+Music_, and also as critic, was deserving of especial credit for his
+services in musical culture. Earnest, refined, always endeavoring to do
+right, but strict in his pleasant criticisms, he pointed upward to
+higher ideals. Living alone in his latter years like a bachelor, he
+sought solace in his refined tastes with cultivated people. Married to
+Mary Bullard, the sweet singer of my story, kindred sympathies united
+them more firmly than marriage vows, but her early death deprived the
+world of one of the noblest and choicest of womanhood, and his life of
+its sweetest charm. He went abroad for a short trip, leaving her in
+full health and beauty; he returned--she had passed from mortal sight.
+
+A number of the members, male and female, joined the Association in New
+Jersey near Red Bank--the North American Phalanx. There they renewed
+the social life and experiment, with such result as some other pen can
+tell.
+
+It was about the time of the closing of the Brook Farm experiment that
+the "California fever" broke out, or the rush for the gold mines. Some
+of our theorists argued that the country was too poor for the
+establishment of the social organizations proposed, and that more
+wealth was needed. A number of the Brook Farmers went to the new
+country for gold. The gardener, Peter Klienstrup, was one. I am sorry
+to say that disappointment awaited him. A foreigner, and sensitive,
+partly deaf and past middle life, he was not the man for the country or
+the life. He died there poor. His charming, tuneful daughter, with the
+beautiful complexion and lovely rounded shoulders, did not long survive
+him. His wife survived, but one day I stood with only a few who knew
+her, at the door of an open tomb, and a strange thrill passed over me
+when one by my side said, as her body was placed within, "This is the
+last of her race--the family is extinct!"
+
+The good, kind-hearted "General" sleeps within sound of the Pacific
+waves, for he, too, was one of the early Californians. And the Admiral,
+the pure-hearted, high-minded and keen-eyed Admiral, has long since
+laid down his burdens and his aspirations. And so also with many, too
+many for me here to recount. The two sisters that I have described with
+flowing hair, grew in loveliness to full womanly beauty and then passed
+to the angelic world.
+
+Mr. Ryckman, surnamed the "Omniarch," reigns no more in this sphere.
+Peace to his memory.
+
+The downfall of the Association was the wrecking of Irish John. He
+seemed homeless and aimless. The constant smiles on that remarkable
+face gave way to soberness profound. Old habits crept back upon him. He
+had a friend, one of our number, who took a kindly interest in him, but
+could not follow all his waywardness. He departed for New York,
+ostensibly for business. Not long after this his friend received a note
+from there in John's handwriting, saying that if he would send to a
+certain number and street he would find something for him. It was a
+trunk, and appeared to contain all of John's effects except the suit of
+clothes he had on. What end he made no one knows.
+
+How grand it would be if the social fabric could keep and guard all its
+weak ones, surround them by influences that could prevent them from
+falling into evil ways, and bear them up until the end comes peacefully
+and naturally!
+
+Marianne Ripley, Mr. Ripley's sister, the devoted soul who reigned over
+the Kitchen Group and cultivated the flowers on the terraces, spent her
+later hours in the West, and passed away at Madison, Wisconsin. John
+Allen, the firm preacher, has gone also. His little boy, who conveyed
+the small-pox to the farm, grew to manhood, and at an early age fought
+with Grant at Vicksburg, where he received the wound that caused his
+death.
+
+The dear girl with the loud laugh is still here, but tears and sorrow
+have been in her cup. Her kind husband, one of our number, and some
+children are with the shadows; and the dimpled face of the black-haired
+girl with the Irish name, whose beauty took my young fancy, long ago
+joined the larger realm of beauty.
+
+The house dog, Carlo, whom everybody knew, grew rapidly old when the
+Association broke up. I never saw such a change. It seemed as though
+regretful remembrances of former times clung to him. There was no more
+the _music_ of "the sounding horn" to awaken him from his drowse,
+and he passed much of his time under the woodshed. But he was not the
+sleek and canny dog of yore. He grew thin and weak. Long locks of
+indifferent colored brown hair grew out of his sides, and hung loosely
+down. His gait was slow and feeble, and it was not pleasant to look at
+him. Finally, one cold day, at least a year after the general
+departure, he was missing, and I could find nothing of him. Inquiries
+were in vain. It was in the following spring that his bones were found
+where either he himself had dug a burrow, or the hand of charity had
+laid him. Good Carlo!
+
+Some very happy marriages sprang from the acquaintance at Brook Farm.
+There, in a few weeks or months, a better knowledge could be formed, a
+truer and more absolute and certain estimate of character, than by
+years of fashionable flirtation. And here let me add, that the women
+were always well dressed: there were no party dresses, all shine, lace
+and glitter, and household wrappers all slouched, torn and drabbled.
+The situation of woman was such as to stimulate her ever to neatness in
+personal appearance, even if the material was but a "ninepenny" calico;
+and the same may be said to a marked extent of the men.
+
+And many others who stood shoulder to shoulder in the ranks have shared
+the common lot. Scattered through the country, in city, town and
+hamlet, those who survive are doing their humble duties, and filling
+their stations honorably. There are those among them who have gained
+wealth, and none whom I know that are in poverty. In the circles they
+occupy, their influence has been felt towards a liberal judgment in all
+matters pertaining to government, religion and society.
+
+Our friend Rev. William Henry Channing spent the major portion of his
+after life abroad. The war brought him back to America. He was at one
+time chaplain of the House of Representatives of the United States, and
+served the country at the front; but he returned to Liverpool, England,
+where he preached and educated his family, passing away beloved by
+members of all the prominent churches both conservative and radical.
+
+There were some four and possibly more, who joined the Catholic Church.
+This created at the time many remarks, but it is only an episode for a
+class of minds to find themselves at the other end, at the opposite
+side, at the bottom instead of the top when they have swung themselves,
+pendulum-like, far away from ordinary moorings. The "Community" people
+were at the extreme of society, unorganized, without creeds, without
+science, and only morality and faith to guide them, and having given
+the lie to ordinary social forms; having lost their faith and trust in
+society as it was, is it strange that some should swing to the extreme
+of conservatism, that they should try a new departure when met by
+seeming failure in their radical moves?
+
+But why continue the list? The very boys have become gray-haired men,
+but proud to say, each one of them, "I was one of the Brook Farmers."
+
+In closing this picturesque drama, it would not be strange if someone
+should ask if this is all that is left of the life. Has it been only a
+failure and a dream that I have chronicled, or has it resulted in
+something worthy of the aspiration that preceded it? Has it added
+strength to the lives of individuals, and has it done something for
+society? As chronicler, I stand in the shade and let my readers judge;
+but the few words of comment that follow, from well-known individuals,
+bear strong testimony to an effect that must have been duplicated in a
+great many other instances: and, indeed, if its influence had gone no
+farther than to a few persons, that alone would justify the laudable
+attempt of this "venture in philanthropy." My conviction is that it
+reached farther than to single individuals, and that it still reaches
+into and influences more or less all the deep undercurrents of society.
+
+I am confirmed in this opinion by the following statement made by Mr.
+George P. Bradford in the _Century Magazine_ for May, 1892:--
+
+"I cannot but think that the brief and imperfect experiment, with the
+theory and discussion that grew out of it, had no small influence in
+teaching more impressively the relation of universal brotherhood and
+the ties that bind us to all; a deeper feeling of the rights and claims
+of others, and so in diffusing, enlarging, deepening and giving
+emphasis to the growing spirit of true democracy."
+
+But if I were to leave my position as narrator, and speak from my
+individual standpoint, I would say Brook Farm and what it stood for was
+to world-benighted travellers, seeking for sustenance, like a city set
+on a hill. It was a small, glimmering light of social truth, shining
+amid universal darkness. It was a dim foregleam of the great sun of
+social life and science, that will yet rise and shine gloriously on our
+earth. It was a spark of that divine justice that, like electricity,
+has been stored for humanity from the beginning of things--abundant in
+quantity and power to bless all men--stowed away by the hand of God for
+us, awaiting only our awakening from the sleep of ignorance and
+childishness, to use and cherish it. It was an example of trust, a
+tribute to faith. It was a realization of poetry. It was in touch with
+the wishes, hopes and prayers of millions of humanity; of untold
+numbers of saints and martyrs of all nations and climes, and its
+mission was the highest on earth--universal justice to all mankind.
+
+Albert Brisbane, the _doctrinaire_, has departed also. Although
+allusion has been made to him in the former pages of this book somewhat
+in contrast with Mr. Ripley's spiritual gifts, let no person think that
+I underestimate the mission he undertook or the work he accomplished in
+his devotion to the master, Fourier. Certainly he deserves very great
+credit, and there are those who, deep in their hearts, cherish most
+profound gratitude to him and his memory.
+
+Whatever any one may believe of the feasibility of the carrying out of
+Fourier's doctrines of united industry or the practicality of any of
+his theories, they must stand amazed at the bold and often extremely
+beautiful conceptions of his brain; such as the actual forecasting of
+the development theory before Darwin, Spencer and Huxley were born--
+though not exactly in detail with them; his bolder conception still of
+the destiny of man, and his Cosmogony; of the progress of present
+civilization towards an oligarchy of capital, foretold so exactly,--as
+is now seen by thinking minds, three quarters of a century ago; his
+profound analysis of the human springs of action; his discovery of the
+divine laws applicable to the future as well as to the present wants of
+the human race. For the presentation of all this to the American
+people; for all these things and more, we are first indebted to Albert
+Brisbane, and it is a great debt which the future will certainly
+appreciate and pay.
+
+My work would not be finished without alluding more fully to the
+wonderful genius whose works and life made such an impression on the
+Brook Farmers as to induce them to brave all the misconception, sarcasm
+and obloquy that they must have felt would be heaped on them when they
+concluded to follow his formulas, and bowed their intellects to him in
+acknowledgment of his leadership in the field of social science.
+
+The reader will decide, if I have portrayed truly the men and the
+principles actuating them, that whoever they thus acknowledged as
+worthy of that sublime place must have been endowed with intellectual,
+moral and spiritual capacities, and intuitions of the highest order.
+Should it have been the fortune of any one to come across an occasional
+allusion to Fourier, it will be apt to be of such a forbidding nature
+that there will be no strong temptation to follow the subject further;
+and all through the literature of our country, in the writings of men
+whose reading, if not their knowledge, should have taught them better,
+will be found intimations that "Fourierism" was a system of life based
+on a plane hardly worthy of being rated higher than mere sensualism.
+
+Against this accusation I place the record of the man whom especially
+spiritual minded and liberally educated men like George Ripley, John S.
+Dwight, William Henry Channing and many others delighted to know and to
+honor.
+
+Charles Fourier was born at Bezancon, France, April 7, 1772. The son of
+a merchant, he had a collegiate education, and took prizes for French
+and Latin themes and verses. He was found of geography but more fond of
+cultivating flowers, and of music. At eighteen years he entered into
+commercial pursuits. By the siege of Lyons he lost the fortune his
+father left him, and was forced into the army, where he served two
+years. This portion of his life was involved in the romance of war and
+revolution, during which he was doomed to death, but made a fortunate
+escape from it.
+
+He was always noted for the avidity with which he sought knowledge, and
+his honesty was outraged at an early age, being punished by his father
+for telling the truth of goods on sale, thereby losing a purchaser.
+Again his soul revolted when at Marseilles in 1799, where he was
+employed, for he was selected to superintend a body of men who secretly
+cast an immense quantity of rice into the sea, which monopolists had
+allowed to spoil in a time of famine rather than to sell at a
+reasonable profit. This last action was to him a crime of so deep a
+nature that he entered with more enthusiasm on his studies for
+preventing the like.
+
+In capacity of agent he travelled in France, Belgium, Germany, Holland
+and Switzerland. He had a prodigious memory, and in his journeys when a
+building struck his attention, he took the measurement of it with his
+walking stick, which was notched off in feet and inches; and, one of
+his biographers says:--
+
+"He was profoundly acquainted with every branch of science,
+particularly the exact sciences. For forty years he labored with
+patience and perseverance at the Herculean task of discovering and
+developing the theory and practical details of the system which he has
+given to the world."
+
+Says a writer in the London _Phalanx_:--
+
+"The principal features of Fourier's private character were morality
+and the love of truth. He had a character both grave and dignified,
+religious and poetic, friendly and polite, indulgent and sincere, which
+never allowed truth to be profaned by libertine frivolity, nor faith to
+be confounded with austere duplicity. He was a man of dignified
+simplicity, a child of Heaven, loving God with all his heart, all his
+soul, and all his mind, also loving as himself his neighbor--the whole
+human family."
+
+Fourier's own words translated read:--
+
+"God sees in the human race only one family, all the members of which
+have a right to his favors. He designs that they shall all be happy
+together, or else no one people shall enjoy happiness. . . . The love
+of God will become in this new order the most ardent love among men."
+
+The closing words of an exhaustive review of Fourier's writings, by Mr.
+John S. Dwight, in the _Harbinger_, are these:--"There is a
+Titanic strength in all the workings of that wonderful intellect. He
+walks as one who knows his ground. His step is firm, his eye is clear
+and unflinching, and he is acknowledged where he passes, for there is
+no littleness or weakness, no halting or duplicity, in his movement. He
+is in earnest; he has taken up his cross to fulfil a mighty mission. He
+doubts not, desponds not; he speaks always with certainty, and though
+he suffers from impatience of postponement, yet he ceases not to insist
+upon the truth. He expostulates, perhaps, with deceived and degraded
+humanity in too much bitterness of sarcasm; but how profound his
+reverence for Christ and for humanity, how pure his love for man, and
+how sublime his contemplation of the destiny of man in the scale of
+higher and higher beings up to God!"
+
+Fourier passed from earth in 1837. His body was buried at Pere la
+Chaise Cemetery, Paris, France.
+
+The idea of living in combined families is no new thing. From the
+earliest times to the present, it has cropped out under various
+circumstances and with various changes. Ever with dawning of new light
+and the increase of universal education comes the desire--sometimes in
+great waves--for more united interests, and a truer, more Christian
+brotherhood; for closer unity in life and for the enlargement of home
+with all the joy, comfort and peace that word contains.
+
+In this country various outgrowths from the social body have taken
+positions on this plane. The masses of our people are not now in
+sympathy with them. They believe that these little social homes or
+"communities" are dull and monotonous, and are bound so tightly by
+creeds as to be obnoxious to freedom of life and ideas. My belief is
+that the creeds adopted and thrown around them, though often adding to
+their financial protection, and possibly often being their only
+safeguards from fraud and knavery, have covered from the public the
+great dignity, worthiness and beauty of this mode of life; when,
+therefore, Mr. Ripley formed his society free from any pledges or
+creeds, it touched a deeper bottom in men's hearts than any like
+organization had ever sounded.
+
+Whatever of failure there was in their actualization, Brook Farm ideas
+remain. They charm philosophers, poets and statesmen. They work
+quietly, leavening the social mass. One must be in sympathy with them
+to know how potent is their action and how with a touch of the old
+enthusiasm they will be found breaking out again in larger and larger
+circles of humanity, for in view of the progress of mechanism, science
+and art in the last fifty years, to form the phalanstery in its
+material shape would be an easy task.
+
+Rev. William Henry Channing expressed himself in this wise to his
+mother, years after the breaking up of the Association:--
+
+"My dearest mother, I assure you that did I see my way clear to an
+honorable independence for my family, so as to be just, while kind to
+them, I should joyfully die in attesting my fixed faith in Association,
+and I predict that when, years hence, we meet in the spiritual world,
+you will smilingly bless me and say, 'My son, your personal limitations
+excepted, you were right.' You will feel proud of my seeming earthly
+failures then; at least I humbly hope so. If this is all romance it is
+of that earnest, living strain which I trust ever more and more to be
+quickened by."
+
+At a final visit to Brook Farm he said: "Most beautiful was that last
+day and all its memories; and never did I feel so calmly, humbly,
+devoutly thankful that it had been my privilege to fail in this
+grandest, sublimest, surest of all human movements. Were Thermopylae
+and Bunker Hill considered successes in their day and generation?"
+
+Lying before me is a letter not intended for publication, showing how
+one member of the Association affectionately regarded his old home. It
+is as follows:--
+
+PROVIDENCE, R. I., 1871.
+
+"My Dear Friend:--I herewith return the letters you so kindly sent me.
+I have derived much pleasure in their perusal, and have looked on them
+with affectionate regard as a mode of greeting from old friends from
+whom I have been separated for more than a quarter of a century. I do
+not think any one who was at Brook Farm has that deep and sincere
+affection for it and its memory that I have. It was my mother by
+adoption, and what little I have of education, refinement, or culture
+and taste for matters above things material, I owe to her and the
+heroic and self-sacrificing men and women who composed its body, social
+and scholastic. I was but a cipher there, among them by accident, and I
+was much the gainer even if they were not the losers. What I saw there,
+and what I learned there, have been of great value to me, and if I have
+made any progress in material matters or have attained any social
+position, I am frank enough to confess that I owe it all to dear old
+Brook Farm. God bless its memory. What I have, and what I am, is the
+outgrowth of a two years' life at my first real home. . . .
+
+"When I commenced this I intended to write but a half dozen lines,
+simply making my acknowledgment of your kindness, but my purpose soon
+changed, and I now find that I have not enough room on this sheet to
+say one tithe of what comes rushing in my mind 'as a river' about Brook
+Farm, and I can now only say that I wish you to convey my kindest
+regards to all of our dear old acquaintances whenever you see them or
+write to them. All Brook Farmers are to me as brothers and sisters, and
+I so esteem them.
+
+  "WILLIAM H. TEEL."
+
+I am tempted also to add the following extract from a letter written
+years ago by a friend of the movement in his eightieth year to his
+son:--
+
+"To many, Brook Farm may have been a dream that ended with the
+scattering of that little band of workers. That special form of the
+dream vanished, but the seed was planted, and my confidence in the
+dream is vivid still. In the past these ideas have been the crude
+visions of the few, but now they are the absorbing subjects of
+speculation of the many, and all our best literature is full of them.
+The highest problems of man and society are the common subjects of
+discussion. So will it continue to be, by the tiller of the soil, the
+workman at the bench, as well as the poet and philosopher, until order
+and harmony are evolved out of this chaos. The good time is surely
+coming. 'The world,' as Whittier wrote, 'is gray with its dawning
+light.'
+
+  "J. A. SAXTON.
+
+  "Deerfield, Mass."
+
+Well, the Brook Farm experiment died! There can be only one reason why
+its friends should rejoice, and it is the same that touched the great
+mind of Saint Paul, nearly two thousand years ago, when he said, "Thou
+fool! that which thou sowest is not _quickened_ except it
+_die!_"
+
+FINIS.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+  I. Students' and Inquirers' Letters
+  II. Applicants' Letters and Mr. Ripley's Replies
+  III. An Outside View of Brook Farm Associative Articles
+
+
+
+
+STUDENTS' AND INQUIRERS' LETTERS.
+
+
+_Student Life_.
+
+BROOK FARM, MASS., Oct. 27, 1842.
+
+My Dear Friend:--Pardon my delay in writing you in reply to yours of
+the 15th ult., but there have been matters of interest that have
+occupied my leisure, and so much so that only now do I find myself free
+to exchange good wishes with you and to answer the important questions
+you put to me as to what I think of, and how I like, the Brook Farm
+life.
+
+To reply to these questions I might write a long dissertation
+explaining what I like and what I do not like, or I could answer them
+by a few brief words; but my inclination is to do neither, and to give
+you in place of both a little sketch of the proceedings here and make
+you the judge of what my feelings would be likely to be under the
+circumstances that I shall narrate.
+
+I am still a student, and most of my time has been spent in studies of
+various sorts; the languages--ancient and modern--attracting me a great
+deal, but the German and the French the most. I do not "burn the
+midnight oil," and yet I think I am progressing well. Our teachers are
+all very approachable men and really seem in dead earnest. You might
+suppose from rumors that reach you that they would be very notional
+people, but they are not so, or, to say the least, if they are they
+keep their notions to themselves. Mr. Dana, Mr. Bradford and Mr. Dwight
+are particularly kind to me, and all the teachers go out of the way to
+explain points that come up in the lessons.
+
+After hours, we have had many interesting conversations, class
+readings, dramatic readings, etc., and visitors come who entertain us
+in various ways. Miss Frances Ostenelli, for one, who has a wonderful
+soprano voice, and Miss S. Margaret Fuller from Concord--there is no
+end to her talk--and also Mr. Emerson from Concord, to whom a good many
+pay deference.
+
+Whilst he was here there was a masquerading wood party. It was quite a
+bright idea. Miss Amelia Russell was one of the persons who planned it.
+Her father has been minister to Sweden and was one of the commissioners
+who signed the Treaty of Ghent. It was an open-air masquerade in the
+pine woods, and the affair was worked up splendidly. Masquerades have
+been, in New England, of a private nature and held indoors. To hold one
+out "in the garish light of day" was a new sensation, and attracted
+some of the friends of the Community. The day was lovely and in the
+woods the privacy was complete. Barring one or two friendly neighbors
+of farmer stock who looked on, it was truly a select party. One of the
+ladies personated Diana, and any one entering her wooded precincts was
+liable to be shot with one of her arrows. Further in the woods a gipsy,
+personated by Miss 'Ora Gannett, niece to Rev. Ezra Gannett, was ready
+to tell your fortune. Miss "Georgie" Bruce was an Indian squaw, and
+"George William" Curtis, a young man, carried off the palm as "Fanny
+Elssler" the dancer. There was a mixed variety of characters that made
+up the _tout ensemble_--a Tyrolean songster, sailors, Africans,
+lackeys, backwoodsmen and the like. The children enjoyed the day much.
+A large portion of the dresses were home-made. Dances and conversation
+by the elders filled the day and evening.
+
+Sometimes we have the serious business. Some of the singular persons
+here affect vagaries and discuss pruderies or church matters, ethics
+and the like. Or we have some of the Concord people who give us parlor
+talks. Once in a while they arouse the gifted brothers, and then we
+have a genuine treat; Mr. Dwight and Mr. Bradford, Mr. Ripley, Mr.
+Capen, Burton and all hands get dragged in, and in the earnest
+discussion that follows one cannot but be edified and often very much
+instructed. Subjects relating to a more rational life and education for
+the poor and unlearned interest me and arouse my enthusiasm. There are
+some fine lady as well as gentlemen readers, who show their ability in
+poetry and prose, and, for the amusement of the young people, some
+devote their talents on occasions to tableaux, which are delightful and
+display fine historic scenes and characters.
+
+I rise in the morning at six to half-past; breakfast at seven; chat
+with the people; get to my studies at eight; work an hour in the
+garden; recite; dine at noon; take an hour in the afternoon on the
+farm; drive team; cut hay in the barn; study or recite; walk; dress up
+for tea at six. In long days the sunsets and twilights are delightful
+and pass pleasantly with a set of us who chum together. I am so near
+Boston that I go to concerts and lectures with others, or to the
+theatres, or to the conventions, the antislavery ones being most
+exciting. In summer I join the hay-makers. In winter we coast, boys and
+girls, down the steep though not high hills, in the afternoons, or by
+moonlight, or by the light of the clear sky and the bright stars; or we
+drive one of the horses for a ride, or we skate on the frozen meadow or
+brook to the Charles River where its broad surface gives plenty of
+room.
+
+One thing I like here--everything but in my lessons I have perfect
+freedom to come or go and to join in and be one with the good people or
+not. I am not hampered. I go to church or not, as I desire, and I can
+do anything that does not violate the rules of good breeding; but I am
+expected to be in my room at a seasonable hour at night--ten o'clock,
+sure.
+
+Thus have I given you my programme. Can you think I would do better
+elsewhere? I might have more style, a better table, and more room to
+see my friends in, though the parlors here are good enough, but where
+could I have more genuine comfort? I expect to go home by New Year's,
+returning, if I can, by March, and am so in love with the life I may
+try to attach myself to it permanently. In the meantime I will see you,
+and hope to enjoy with you many hours of conversation after the oldtime
+way at our house. As ever,
+
+Your student brother,
+
+CHARLES.
+
+
+_Explanations and Answers to Objections._
+
+BROOK FARM, MASS., Dec. 11, 1845.
+
+FRIEND HARRIS:--As you are a stranger to the associative ideas, and
+have but little knowledge of our life here, no doubt many questions
+arise in your mind that you wish answered, and might be answered by me
+if I knew what they were; but knowing what questions usually appear
+most prominent to the average mind, I will try my hand at a few of them
+as they present themselves to me. Number one is, What were my first
+impressions of the idea of associative life; that is, did the idea
+strike me pleasantly or not? I frankly reply to this that the idea was
+decidedly unpleasant. It so connected itself in my mind with some sort
+of an "institution," as a great hospital or infirmary or "Dotheboys"
+school, where Smikes or incipient Smikes went daily to a restricted
+routine, and thrice daily, with the rest of imprisoned souls, to the
+special amount of grub and rations provided by some personal or
+impersonal Squeers, that I could not but at once reply to the person
+speaking of it that I should not like any such institution.
+
+The next question is, How did my mind change on this subject? I answer,
+by reflection and continued conversation with those who were intimate
+with the ideas. Mark this: _There is nothing so absurd as the first
+presentation of great facts to the mind;_ the greater the fact, the
+greater its apparent absurdity, and the greater will be our hate or
+want of welcome to it if it runs contrary to our preconceived ideas.
+
+Every visible thing is presented to the retina of the eye, the looking-
+glass of the brain, upside down, and it is by study that begins at
+birth, and is finished ere remembrance commences, that the child of God
+and man is able to detect the true relation of material things to
+himself. We have not yet learned the importance or significance of this
+arrangement, but why may not we find in future investigations that the
+mental vision is governed by the same law, and that thoughts strike the
+brain or mental sensorium in the same inverted way? So universally do
+law and life differ from their semblances, that it appears to me to be
+one of our _supreme duties_ to learn to _reverse primitive
+ideas._
+
+A question also comes to you in this wise: How could one make up his
+mind to associate with all sorts of people that they might meet in one
+of these "Communities"? A man in the ordinary chances of life has to
+meet all sorts of persons, does he not? Ignorant dependents are in your
+house, sleeping under your roof. Your tradesmen may be rude, unkind and
+unlettered. Passing from your door you jostle, it may be, the murderer
+and highwayman on the street; you enter a car, and the driver's breath
+is perhaps reeking from his last night's debauch; you sit, possibly,
+between the pickpocket on one side and the patient yet uncured from
+some epidemic on the other. You pass to your business through a street
+full of roughs, and in your own store are men wishing you to die that
+they may take your place, seeking every opportunity to overreach you;
+and then wonder if I smile when you ask me how _I_ could "mix up."
+
+In reply to me, you may say that the relation is different; that you do
+not take these persons to your table and associate with them as one is
+obliged to in one of your "Associations." It is true that you may not
+sit at meat with these especial persons; but how many live at hotels
+where the next neighbor at table, to whom, if you are a gentleman, you
+show politeness, is entirely unknown to you, and may be a swindler,
+cheat or knave. But you associate with him only as much as it is
+_necessary_ for you to do; and that is just as much as you are
+obliged to do in an Association, and no more. It does not follow
+because I sit at meat here at Brook Farm with a hundred, I have
+intimate social relations with all of them. On the contrary, there are
+those to whom I seldom speak unless to give them a passing salutation,
+and some who are civilly disposed, who do no more, or as much, to me.
+
+In a society of which you might be a member, with a full privilege to
+assist in its organization, you will be better able to choose those of
+congenial qualities for associates than you ever can in your present
+position, so that your life, after a while, may be select in its chosen
+companions, and a great deal more so in its general social features
+than now.
+
+Since I came here I find my ideas all changed in relation to this
+subject. Instead of the yoke that I felt would be on me, I find
+freedom--freedom to speak, to act, and a truly self-imposed government.
+The yoke I expected to find _is_ very easy and the burden is
+light. I enjoy my life and home. We have not much of worldly goods, but
+we are united and we look high up--some say to cloud-land; but I assure
+you that on the average there is nowhere a clearer-headed set of
+persons on social questions than here, and association is now to me the
+most beautiful thing on earth. The life and ideas are all one with
+harmony. Surely is it not better for me to begin life this way than
+with doubt and distrust of my fellows? Doubt begets doubt; faith begets
+faith; action begets action. If we can get enough persons to follow us,
+we can prove whether our ideas are true or not. Surely the dull,
+monotonous life of "religious communities" like the Moravians, Shakers,
+Rappites and others find followers; why not this bright, happy,
+cheering, frank life of ours?
+
+We are expecting a visit from Horace Greeley soon; I have never seen
+him, but we have heaps of strangers coming every day, some quite
+distinguished and some plain folks, but the average are wide-awake
+people.
+
+Truly your friend,
+
+JOHN C. FOSTER.
+
+
+_Letter on Social Equality._
+
+BROOK FARM, MASS., Sept. 9, 1845.
+
+MY DEAR SISTER: Do not think that the great minds here teach _social
+equality_, as many seem to think they do. To hear outsiders talk one
+would imagine that the leaders want that all should be of the same
+pattern; that the tall geniuses should be cut down to an average, and
+the dwarfs set up on stilts to make them of the same height as the
+others. How far from it!
+
+Added to this indignity, outsiders appear to think that rations are
+served as in the army, and that it is an absolute necessity in order to
+fulfil some absurd law, that every man, woman and child should sit down
+together at the same exact time, and eat the aforesaid rations
+together; and also, there being some good and able men here, that they
+court connection with weak people of any complexion so as to make a
+fair average: and they feel that such conditions, to say the least, are
+unnatural; and so would I, if there was truth in the position, but
+there is not a particle. It oftentimes seems to me that people take a
+sort of pleasure in misrepresenting facts, or seem to have a
+satisfaction in thinking that they know about as much as the average
+person, and that it would be a sin to know a little more. They are
+pardoned for their ignorance because nearly, if not all, the social
+organizations that have departed from the common customs of society and
+have formed "communities" have striven for equality of property rights
+and society rights, and often for sameness in dress and religious
+ceremonies. This is the nut that all persons who look superficially at
+us and at the community system, find hard to crack. They feel that if a
+person has an ambition to be more than another, to desire more, to
+desire to wear a different garment and pray differently or worship
+differently, they should have the inherent right to do so.
+
+And this is the feeling that these common-sense people, these
+intelligent people of Brook Farm who organized this society, have and
+believe in, and they have tried to arrange all their laws and customs
+to conform to these evident truths. And also, they never would have
+adopted any of the formulas or ideas of Fourier, had they not believed
+his Industrial Phalanxes allowed all the variety of social conditions
+that make a true society or social order. No attempts ever undertaken
+had the sanction of Fourier, because they had not the proper number of
+persons to make a start with. "By no means," said Fourier, "attempt to
+organize a phalanx with less than four hundred persons; that is the
+very least number you can have and have a sufficient number of
+characters to produce anything like harmony." His idea was, that from
+fifteen to eighteen hundred persons would be the true number.
+
+The Brook Farmers have never preached social _equality_, but
+social _rights_. Social _equality_ is a thing that comes
+from individual ability, and is never positively fixed, but relative,
+because there are talents superior and inferior mingled in each human
+being, and the king may wonder how the cook put the apples in the
+dumplings. With the larger number of individuals stated, a greater
+chance is given to find "mates" and "chums," and the less likelihood
+there would be in the imperfectly organized societies of rude contact--
+for who could doubt that all such societies, even the very best, would
+be imperfect for generations to come?
+
+I take it that this is the gist of the reason why the so-called social
+equality is so repulsive to theorists who have not comprehended the
+great difference between social _equality_ and social
+_rights_. Once and for all, I do not believe, we do not believe,
+in social equality; but we do believe that societies can be established
+in such a manner as to secure in a large degree the rights of all, and
+be perfectly practicable, and that in time they will develop into true
+harmony.
+
+As ever your sincere
+
+BROTHER CHARLIE.
+
+
+
+
+_Religious Views._
+
+BROOK FARM, MASS., June 9, 1845.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:--In reply to your question as to what the religious
+views of the Brook Farmers are, I might, if I wished to be curt, say
+that they are such as you see by their lives. I am aware, however, that
+such a reply will not exactly suit you, and that you really mean what
+are their creeds, as, are they all Baptists, Trinitarians, Unitarians,
+or what not? And I answer you that I find here those who were brought
+up in every kind of belief; some who are from the Roman Catholic
+Church; some from the Jewish; some Trinitarians; some Unitarians; some
+from the Swedenborgian Church; some who are Liberals; some who are
+called "Come-Outers," and Mr. P., who professes to be, and is more like
+an infidel than any other man I ever saw.
+
+They call some of the residents here "Transcendentalists." You may
+judge from the name that they must be either very good or very bad
+people, but they represent people of education who are a little "high
+stilted" in their religious views, and do not take in all the wonderful
+Mosaic traditions. At least, this is as near as I can explain it to
+you. It is the fashion to call every one who has any independent
+notions a Transcendentalist, but I do not know who invented the name or
+first applied it.
+
+The people here do not dispute on religious creeds; they are too busy.
+They work together, dine and sup together year in and year out in
+intimate social relation, and do not either have angry disputes, or
+quarrels about creeds or anything else. On the contrary, I am much
+surprised at the earnest inquiry that is often made into the beliefs of
+others, or rather into the groundwork or foundation from which the
+churches sprung which have different tenets from their own.
+
+But the majority are Unitarian in their belief. Mr. Ripley, Mr. Dwight,
+Mr. Dana and Mr. Cabot, with a majority of the ladies, lean that way.
+Dr. Lazarus and his handsome sister are of or from the Jewish faith,
+whilst Mr. Hastings leans towards Romanism and Jean Pallisse is
+Catholic; and by the way, I never until I came here had any sympathy
+with the symbols of that church, but the intelligent persons by whom I
+have been surrounded have explained the great beauty of them to me--
+persons who are not and never can be Romanists any more than myself.
+Dr. Lazarus has posted me on the Jewish symbols, and Fanny M. and her
+mother have brought forward the great beauty of the Swedenborgian
+doctrines.
+
+All Mr. Ripleys's writings on social subjects breathe a religious air.
+It is true they are not creedal, but his idea is that every act of life
+should be from a true and earnest spirit, and that this is the
+substance of all creeds; and strange to say to you, who believe that
+Associations like ours have a levelling effect, those who have their
+faiths fixed, say, "I think more of the symbols of my church than ever,
+since I came here."
+
+"I am a Jew, but a liberal, understanding Jew," says one.
+
+"I am a Catholic, but I am a liberalized Catholic," says another.
+
+"I am a Swedenborgian, but my belief liberates me from the crudities of
+Swedenborg," say others.
+
+"I look from the centre outward as never before. We all see how the
+forms of our churches were intended for good, and we all see how many
+of them have been prostituted. When I go from here I shall respect your
+forms and ceremonies because you have taught me the meanings of them."
+
+Is this definite enough for a hasty answer? The lesson I have most
+taken to heart is that by examining with respect the many different
+faiths, we gain a higher idea of a Being who has an exhaustless variety
+in his attributes.
+
+As ever yours,
+
+C. J. THOMAS.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+PART II.
+
+
+APPLICANTS' LETTERS AND MR. RIPLEY'S REPLIES.
+
+[Copies of some of these letters and other documents from the originals
+were used by permission, in preparing the "Life of George Ripley."]
+
+_From a Theological Student._.
+
+LONGMEADOW, Feb. 25, 1845.
+
+_Rev. George Ripley,_
+
+DEAR SIR: Probably you have forgotten the Andover student who spent
+Thanksgiving with you a year ago, and who made you a short call last
+September. But he has not forgotten Brook Farm. I write now for the
+purpose of asking a single question. Are you so full that it will be
+impossible for you to take one more in the course of a few weeks?
+
+I recollect you asked me last fall if I intended to go to preaching
+against sin in the church. I agree with you, sir, that there is
+emphatically sin in the church that ought to be preached against, if
+anywhere. But the truth is I do not see as much sin either in the
+church or out of it as my theological teachers have endeavored to
+persuade me there is. Besides, I think that preaching against it has
+been proved to be a very ineffectual way of rooting out what sin there
+is. Indeed, from the very nature of the case, it seems to me that
+telling men once a week, at arm's length, that they are doing very
+wrong and will be eternally punished unless they do differently, is not
+quite what is needed for improving their character and condition. For
+this reason, and because my faith in other respects also is not
+sufficiently orthodox, I have braced myself as well as I could against
+the urgent importunities of my friends, and refused to take a license.
+
+My strongest sympathies are with the cause in which you are laboring,
+and I am not wholly without hope that I shall yet find something to do
+in it. I am utterly alone here. I think often of what Carlyle says,
+"Invisible yet impenetrable walls as of enchantment divided me from all
+living."
+
+Will you do me the kindness, sir, to answer the inquiry I have made of
+you as soon as convenient?
+
+Yours most respectfully,
+
+D. B. COLTON.
+
+
+_Letter from a Young Man._
+
+COLCHESTER, CT., Nov. 1, 1843.
+
+_Rev. George Ripley,_
+
+SIR: My ideas of the principles of Industrial Association have been
+obtained by reading the New York _Tribune_. I am convinced that
+these principles are the elements out of which may be constructed that
+true social order which shall develop man's physical well-being, and
+call forth the mental and moral faculties of the soul.
+
+My intention is to join some association of the kind now forming or
+already in operation. Your Community has been spoken of as one of the
+first and best in the country. My object in writing to you is to
+ascertain the peculiar nature of this organization and management, the
+terms of membership--the amount of capital required, or whether one
+without capital would be received--and whether a young man of the
+following description would find opportunity to _work_ and receive
+a _fair_ remuneration for his labor.
+
+What I can _do_ you can judge. I am twenty-five years of age, have
+lived eight years in New York, six years in one of the best wholesale
+dry goods houses there. Brought up at this place a mechanic and farmer,
+and am now engaged in wagon making and blacksmithing, for which I don't
+get a red cent beyond a good living.
+
+The capital that I intended to invest in Association gone to Davy
+Jones' locker in the wreck of the commercial world.
+
+An answer to these few inquiries would much oblige
+
+Your obedient servant,
+
+HORATIO N. OTIS.
+
+
+_Reply to Preceding Letter._
+
+[The preceding letter has the following draft of a reply to it on a
+letter sheet in the handwriting of Mr. Ripley.]
+
+MY DEAR SIR: Yours of the 1st inst. is this day received. I dare say
+that you have received a correct impression of our establishment from
+the article in the _Tribune_. We are laboring with cheerfulness
+and hope, in the midst of great obstacles, for the organization of
+society and the benefit of man. Whoever wishes to join us must be
+willing to make great sacrifices; to endure severe toil patiently; to
+live in comparative poverty; to suffer many deprivations for the sake
+of realizing justice and charity in the social state.
+
+We are at present on a small scale, but we are making arrangements to
+enlarge our number and our branches of industry. We should like to
+establish your branch of business, and could do so to advantage with an
+efficient and skilful workman and a small increase of capital. An
+answer to the following questions will decide whether we can have any
+further negotiations with you:----
+
+1. Are you ready from an interest in the cause of Association to endure
+the sacrifices which all persons must suffer?
+
+2. Could you by yourself, or your friends, command a few hundred
+dollars sufficient to start your business?
+
+3. Could you, without help, make and iron off ox carts, horse carts,
+one horse wagons, etc., in a style that would ensure their sale in the
+neighborhood of Boston? Can you shoe horses and oxen?
+
+4. Are you single or married?
+
+5. In fine, have you confidence that by your manual labor in the
+branches you have mentioned, you could do more than earn your living in
+Association?
+
+I shall be happy to hear from you as soon as convenient. I am
+
+Yours truly,
+
+GEORGE RIPLEY.
+
+
+_A Model Questioner--a Woman._
+
+UTICA, Jan. 18, 1844. SIR: I have the happiness of being acquainted
+with a lady who has some knowledge of you; from whose representations I
+am encouraged to hope that you will not only excuse the liberty I
+(being a stranger) thus take in addressing you, but will also kindly
+answer a number of questions I am desirous of being informed upon
+relative to the society for social reform to which you belong.
+
+I have a daughter (having five children) who, with her husband, much
+wishes to join a society of this kind. They have had thoughts of
+engaging with a society now forming in Rochester, but their friends
+advise them to go to one that has been some time in operation, because
+those connected with it will be able to speak with certainty as to
+whether the working of the system in any way realizes the theory. The
+first question I would put is,----
+
+1. Have you room in your association to admit the above family?
+
+2. And if so, upon what terms would they be received?
+
+3. Would a piano-forte, which two years ago cost three hundred and
+fifty dollars, be taken at its present value in payment for shares?
+
+4. Would any household furniture be taken in the same way?
+
+5. Do you carry out Mr. Fourier's idea of diversity of employment?
+
+6. How many members have you at this time?
+
+7. Do the people (generally speaking) appear happy?
+
+8. Does the system work well with the children?
+
+9. Would a young man (mechanic of unexceptionable character) be
+received having no capital?
+
+10. Have you more than one church, and if so what are its tenets?
+
+11. Have parties opportunities of enjoying any other religion?
+
+12. What number of hours generally employed in labor?
+
+13. What chance for study?
+
+14. Do you meet with society suitable to _your taste?_
+
+Although my questions are so numerous that I fear tiring you, yet I
+still feel that I may have omitted some inquiry of importance. If so
+will you do me the favor to _supply the deficiency?_
+
+Please to answer my questions by number, as they are put.
+
+Hoping you will write as soon as possible, and do me the kindness I
+ask,
+
+I remain,
+
+Yours respectfully,
+
+A. HUDSON.
+
+
+_From a Minister._
+
+NORTH BRAMFORD, CONN., June 1, 1843.
+
+_Mr. G. Ripley,_
+
+DEAR SIR:--I have an earnest and well matured desire to join your
+community, with my family, if I can do it under satisfactory
+circumstances--I mean satisfactory to all parties.
+
+I am pastor of the First Congregational Church in this town. My
+congregation is quiet, and in many respects very pleasant; but I have
+felt that my views of late are not sufficiently in accordance with the
+forms under which I have undertaken to conduct the ministry of
+Christian truth. This want of accordance increases, and I feel that a
+crisis is at hand. I must follow the light that guides me, or renounce
+it to become false and dead. The latter I cannot do.
+
+I have thought of joining your association ever since its commencement.
+Is it possible for me to do so under satisfactory circumstances? I have
+deep and, I believe, an intelligent sympathy with your idea. I have a
+wife and four children--the oldest ten, the youngest seven years old.
+Our habits of life are very simple, very independent of slavery to the
+common forms of "gig-manity," and our bodies have not been made to
+waste and pine by the fashionable follies of this generation. It is our
+creed that life is greater than all forms, and that the soul's life is
+diviner than _convenances_ of fashion.
+
+As to property, we can bring you little more than ourselves. But we can
+bring a hearty good-will to work, and in work we have some skill. I
+have unimpaired health, and an amount of muscular strength beyond what
+ordinarily falls to the lot of mortals. In the early part of my life I
+labored on a farm, filling up my leisure time with study, until I
+entered my present profession. My hands have some skill for many
+things, and if I join you I wish to live a true life.
+
+My selfish aims are two: first, I wish to be under circumstances where
+I may live truly; and second, and chiefly, I wish to do the best thing
+I can for my children.
+
+Be so good as to reply to this at your earliest convenience.
+
+Yours sincerely,
+
+JOHN D. BALDWIN.
+
+_From an Ohioan._
+
+CHEVIOT, HAMILTON CO., O., SEPT. 23,1845.
+
+_Mr. Ripley_,
+
+MY DEAR SIR:--I have been looking somewhat into your plan of
+Association, and have read carefully Godwin's "Popular View of the
+Doctrines of Charles Fourier." I see much that I admire and some things
+that I disapprove in Fourier's views. His views on marriage and his
+ideas of a future state may do harm to his system of Association:
+first, in exciting prejudice against it, and so preventing a fair
+experiment; and secondly, in being adopted by friends of Association in
+their admiration of their great master.
+
+His views in respect to love are, to my mind, exceedingly
+exceptionable, and the idea of making provision in Association for
+those whose love is inconstant, _appears to me contrary to all sound
+philosophy._ A vicious constitution ought never to be fostered by
+indulgence. But I really hope that your Association, which I presume
+will be the model one for this country, will be careful to reject the
+exceptionable morality of the French teacher, and while you adopt his
+practical scheme in its worthy features, will also make it manifest
+that you esteem Jesus Christ as the true Master.
+
+I may say that the more I compare the principles of Association adopted
+by you, with the general state of society, the more I admire the former
+and become dissatisfied with the latter. I feel great anxiety for your
+success. I feel deeply anxious that the friends of Association should
+be students of the gospel of Christ, that care might be taken to carry
+out the glorious doctrines of the Son of God. I do not mean
+sectarianism. I mean that religion, that pure morality, that
+spirituality which Jesus Christ exhibited in his own life; not the
+religion of the _ascetic_, but the social, the benevolent, the
+philanthropic, the Godward aspirations of the spiritual man.
+
+My wife and myself often converse about the propriety of uniting with
+you. We become disgusted with the social arrangements with which we are
+connected. In worldly society we mourn over the outbreaking vices not
+only of the low, but of those who are highest in rank; and when we seek
+satisfaction of mind and heart in the church, lo! even there
+selfishness rules supreme, and a profession of religion covers up the
+meanest propensities of the sanctimonious worshipper. I cry out, "Help,
+Lord! for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the
+children of men."
+
+We desire to know through your own candid view of your prospects, as
+well as present condition, whether we may be justified in so disposing
+our affairs as to ultimately join your Association. At present I am
+laboring on my farm, near Cincinnati, having no definite plan of future
+action.
+
+Please write me definitely upon what terms we may join you, how much I
+must put into the Association to secure the support of my family and
+myself--it being understood that we take hold as the rest of you do.
+Besides my wife I have a son sixteen years of age, another eleven, a
+third seven and a daughter four. We are all healthy, and I believe are
+about as well disposed as most families to live by our own personal
+exertions.
+
+Yours very respectfully,
+
+WILLIAM H. BRISBANE.
+
+_Verbatim Letter._
+
+BOSTON MASS. Feb. 23 1844.
+
+_Mr. Ripley_ DIR SIR I was requsted to pit the following on paper
+for the consideration of your society. R. H. wife and four children the
+oldest ten the youngest thre the two eldest boys, the two youngest
+girles. Furniture wile consist of thre beds and bedding one bedstead
+one tabel and workstand six or eight chairs crockery ware &c. Tooles
+and machinery as follows 1 planing machine 1 upright boaring machine 1
+circular saw, irons for an upright saw morticing machine 1 turning
+lathe and belting 1 doz of hand screws 1 copper pot to make varnish in,
+two dimejons 3-5 gls. each for varnish and oil tooles for cutting bench
+screws &c likewise 1 cow 3 cosset sheep 1 yew & 2 wethers the cow 11
+years old and little lame in one foot otherways a veryry good cow, also
+a verry light handcart. There are other articles not mentioned perhaps
+that might be usful to the Association that would be thrown in for the
+benefit of all.
+
+The Association can consider the above articles and select wat articles
+would be usful or beneficial and let me know their action thereon at
+the next meeting of the Association If I should be called to visit my
+family before the next meeting you will pleas direct a line to me.
+
+Yours--
+
+ROBERT DAY.
+
+The Brook Farm wits would say that the writer of the above letter
+should go to college "for a _spell_."
+
+_Seeking Success in Life._
+
+LOCKPORT, Oct. 28, 1842.
+
+DEAR FRIENDS, if I may so call you: I read in the New York
+_Tribune_ a piece taken from the _Dial_, headed "The West
+Roxbury Community." Now what I want to know is, can I and my children
+be admitted into your society, _and be better off than we are
+here?_ I have enough of the plainest kind to eat and wear. I have no
+_home_ but what we hire from year to year. I have _no
+property_ but movables, and not a cent to spare when the year comes
+round. I have _three children_, two boys and one girl: the oldest
+fourteen, the youngest nine. Now I want to educate them. How shall I do
+it in the country? There is no chance but ordinary schools. To move
+into the village I could not bring the year round, and the danger they
+would be exposed to without a father to restrain their wanderings,
+would be an undertaking more than I dare attempt.
+
+Now if you should presume to let me come, where can I live? Can our
+industry and economy clothe us for the year? Can I keep a cow? How can
+I be supplied with fire in that _dear place?_ How can I _pay my
+school bills?_ How can I find all the necessary requisites for my
+children to advance in learning? If I should wish to leave in two or
+three or five years, could I and mine, if I paid my way whilst there?
+If you should let me come, and I _think best to go, how shall I get
+there?_ What would be my _best and cheapest route?_
+
+How should I proceed with what I have here, sell all off or bring a
+part? I have three beds and bedding, one cow and ordinary things enough
+to keep house. My children are all called tolerable scholars. My
+daughter is the youngest; _the neighbors call her an interesting
+child._ I have no pretensions to make; my only object is to _enjoy
+the good of the society_ and have my children _educated and
+accomplished._
+
+Am I to send my boys off to work alone, or will they have a _kind
+person_ to say, "_Come boys_," and _relieve me from the heavy
+task of bringing up my boys_ with nothing to _do it with?_
+
+If your religion has a name I should like well enough to know it; if
+not, and the substance is love to God and good-will to men, my mind is
+well enough satisfied. I have reflected on this subject ever since I
+read the article alluded to, and now I want you to write me _every
+particular;_ then if you and I think best, in the spring I will come
+to you. We are none of us what may be called weakly. I am forty-six
+years old; able to do as much every day as to spin what is called a
+day's work--not that I expect you spin much there, only that is the
+amount of my strength as it now holds out.
+
+I should wish to seek _intelligence_, as you must know 1 lack
+greatly, and I _cannot endure the thought_ my children must lack
+as greatly, whilst multitudes are going so far in advance, no better
+qualified by nature than they. I want you to _send me quite a number
+of names of your leading characters_. If it should seem strange to
+you that I make the demand, I will explain it to you when I get there.
+I want you to answer _every item_ of this letter and as much more
+as _can have any bearing on my mind_, either way, whether you
+accept this letter _kindly or not_. I want you to write an answer
+without delay! Are there meetings for _us to attend?_ Do you have
+singing schools?
+
+I do thus far feel friendly to your society.
+
+Direct your letter to, etc.
+
+M. R. JOHNSON.
+
+_A Southern Applicant._
+
+ALEXANDRIA, BENTON CO., ALA., July 13, 1845.
+
+_Mr. G. Ripley,_
+
+DEAR SIR: Will you step aside for a moment from the many duties, the
+interesting cares and soul-stirring pleasures of your enviable
+situation, and read a few lines from a stranger? They come to you, not
+from the cold and sterile regions of the North, nor from the luxuriant
+yet untamed wilds of the West, but from the bright and sunny land where
+cotton flowers bloom, where nature has placed her signet of beauty and
+fertility. Yes, sir; the science that the immortal Fourier brought to
+light has reached the far South, and I trust has warmed many hearts,
+and interested many minds; but of ours alone will I write.
+
+It is to me the dawn of a brighter day than has ever yet risen upon the
+world--a day when man shall be redeemed from his more than "Egyptian
+bondage" and stand erect in moral, intellectual and physical beauty.
+
+I have lived forty years in the world, and divided that time between
+the eastern, middle and southern states--have seen life as exhibited,
+in city and country, have mingled with the most intelligent and with
+the unlettered rustic--have marked society in a variety of phases, and
+find, amid all, that selfishness has warped the judgment, chilled the
+affections and blunted all the finer feelings of the soul. I am weary
+and worn with the heartless folly, the wicked vanity and shameless
+iniquity which the civilized world everywhere presents. Long have I
+sighed for something higher, nobler, holier than aught found in this
+world, and have sometimes longed to lay my body down where the weary
+rest, that my spirit might dwell in perfect harmony. But since the
+beautiful science of unity has dawned upon my mind, my heart has loved
+to cherish the bright anticipations of hope, and I see in the dim
+distance the realization of all my wishes. I see a generation coming on
+the arena of action bearing on their brows the impress of their noble
+origin, and cultivating in their hearts the pure and exalted feelings
+that should ever distinguish those who bear the image of their Maker.
+Association is destined to do much for poor, suffering humanity--to
+elevate, refine, redeem the race and restore the purity and love that
+made the bowers of Eden so surpassingly beautiful. You, sir, and your
+associates are pioneers in a noble reform. May the blessing of God
+attend you.
+
+I am anxious to be with you for various reasons. The first is: I have
+two little daughters whom I wish to bring up amid healthful influences,
+with healthful and untrammelled bodies, pure minds and all their young
+affections and sympathies clustering around their hearts. I never wish
+their minds to be under the influence of the god of this generation--
+fashion--nor their hearts to become callous to the sufferings of their
+fellows. I never wish them to regard labor as degrading, nor poverty as
+a crime. Situated as I am I cannot rear them in health and purity, and,
+therefore, I am anxious to remove them from the baneful influences that
+surround them. Again: I look upon labor as a blessing, and feel that
+every man and woman should spend some portion of each day in healthful
+employment. It is absolutely necessary to health, and is also a source
+of enjoyment, even in isolation; how much would that pleasure be
+increased could I have several kindred spirits around me with whom I
+could interchange thought, and whose feelings and desires flow in the
+same channel as my own! O, sir! I must live, labor and _die_ in
+Association.
+
+Again: my heart is pained with the woes of my fellows--with the
+distressing poverty and excessive labor which are bearing to the grave
+a portion of the human family. Gladly would I bear my part in raising
+them to a higher and happier condition; and how can I better do this
+than by uniting myself with the noble reformers of Brook Farm, where
+caste is thrown aside, and rich and poor constitute one family. I have
+not a large fortune, but sufficient to live comfortable anywhere. A
+large part of it is now invested in houses and lands in Georgia. Such
+is the low price of cotton that real estate cannot be sold at this time
+without a serious sacrifice. Most of my Georgia property rents for more
+than the interest of its cost at 8 per cent. I have also houses and
+land in this state, but cannot for the above named reason find a
+purchaser. Therefore, if I go into Association I shall be obliged to
+leave some of my possessions unsold, and be content to receive the rent
+until I can effect a sale.
+
+I have no negroes--thank God. Now if you are not full at Brook Farm,
+and do not object to myself, wife and two daughters, one four years and
+the other six months old, presenting ourselves as candidates for
+admission, and $2500 or $3000 will be sufficient for an initiation fee,
+I shall, as soon as I can arrange my affairs, be with you.
+
+I will thank you to write to me, informing me with how much ready cash,
+with an income of $500 or $600 per year, I can be received. Mrs. Clarke
+and myself will wish to engage daily in labor. We both labored in our
+youth--we wish to resume it again.
+
+Very respectfully,
+
+John Clarke.
+
+
+The following letter is in manuscript without date and is
+
+_One of Mr. Ripley's Replies_.
+
+Dear Sir:--It gives me the most sincere pleasure to reply to the
+inquiries proposed in your favor of the 3d inst. I welcome the extended
+and increasing interest which is manifested in our apparently humble
+enterprise, as a proof that it is founded in nature and truth, and as a
+cheering omen of its ultimate success. Like yourself, we are seekers of
+universal truth. We worship only reality. We are striving to establish
+a mode of life which shall combine the enchantments of poetry with the
+facts of daily experience. This we believe can be done by a rigid
+adherence to justice, by fidelity to human rights, by loving and
+honoring man as man, and rejecting all arbitrary, factitious
+distinctions.
+
+We are not in the interest of any sect, party or coterie; we have faith
+in the soul of man, in the universal soul of things, and trusting to
+the might of a benignant Providence which is over all, we are here
+sowing in weakness a seed which will be raised in power. But I need not
+dwell on these general considerations with which you are doubtless
+familiar.
+
+In regard to the connection of a family with us, our arrangements are
+liberal and comprehensive. We are not bound by fixed rules which apply
+to all cases. The general principle we are obliged to adhere to rigidly
+is not to receive any persons who would increase the expenses more than
+the revenue of the establishment. Within the limits of this principle
+we can make any arrangement which shall suit particular cases.
+
+A family with resources sufficient for self-support, independent of the
+exertion of its members, would find a favorable situation with us for
+the education of its children, and for social enjoyment. An annual
+payment of $1000 would probably cover the expenses of board and
+instruction, supposing that no services were rendered to diminish the
+expense. An investment of $5000 would more than meet the original
+outlay required for a family of eight persons; but in that case an
+additional appropriation would be needed, either of productive labor or
+cash, to meet the current expenditures. I forward you herewith a copy
+of our Prospectus, from which you will perceive that the whole expense
+of a pupil, without including board in vacations, is $250 per annum;
+but in case of one or more pupils remaining with us for a term of
+years, and assisting in the labor of the establishment, a deduction of
+$1 or $2 per week would be made, according to the services rendered,
+until such time as their education being so far completed, they might
+defray all their expenses by their labor.
+
+In the case of your son fifteen years of age, it would be necessary for
+him to reside with us for three months at least, and if at the end of
+that time his services should be found useful, he might continue by
+paying $150 or $200 per annum, according to the value of his labor, and
+if he should prove to have a gift for active industry, in process of
+time, he might defray his whole expenses, complete his education and be
+fitted for practical life.
+
+With the intelligent zeal which you manifest in our enterprise, I need
+not say that we highly value your sympathy. I should rejoice in any
+arrangement which might bring us into closer relations. It is only from
+the faith and love of those whose hearts are filled with the hopes of a
+better future for humanity, that we look for the building up of our
+"City of God." So far we have been prospered in our highest
+expectations. We are more and more convinced of the beauty and justice
+of our mode of life. We love to breathe this pure, healthy atmosphere;
+we feel that we are living in the bosom of nature, and all things seem
+to expand under the freedom and truth which we worship in our hearts.
+
+I should regret to think that this was to be our last communication
+with each other. May I not hope to hear from you again--and with the
+sincere wish that your views of the philosophy of life may bring you
+still nearer to us, I am, with great respect,
+
+Sincerely your friend,
+
+Geo. Ripley.
+
+
+_From a Lady Teacher_.
+
+New York, March 18, 1843.
+
+Dear Sir: For the last ten years I have been employed as a teacher in a
+boarding school in this city. A year ago the lady with whom I was
+associated died, and though I do not love business as such, there were
+many and weighty reasons why it seemed right for me to commence a
+school of my own. I have had during the winter past a school of twenty-
+three pupils consisting of children and youth. My success hitherto in
+teaching, in my own judgment, has been dependent on an earnestness of
+manner, a sincere love of knowledge and a deep interest in the welfare
+of the young. I know how to work and would not fear to undertake any
+kind of household occupation which devolves upon woman.
+
+Early in life I embraced a religious faith, and, seeking to obey God
+according to my light, connected myself with a church. Years have
+passed away; experience, reflection and light from other minds have
+produced a radical change in my views. I stand in the eye of the world
+as one of a sect, but my spirit does not recognize the union. I am,
+from my position, subject to painful restraints. I cannot be just to
+the truth which is in me. The alternative, I need not say, with me is
+to hold fast to the popular faith or give up my bread.
+
+I am much interested in those ideas which your Association is
+attempting to find a realization of. The state of things resulting from
+a full expansion of the principles upon which your society is based
+would seem to meet many spiritual wants. I can understand that so high
+an aim can be reached only through lowliness of life. The prospect of
+becoming one day a co-worker in your cause is very agreeable to me. I
+should like to know that I may be permitted to cherish the idea.
+
+With much respect,
+
+R. Prentiss.
+
+
+_Application for an Unfortunate_.
+
+[The person who indited the following was a friend of the organization,
+and probably saw as well as anyone the absurdity of making a
+reformatory institution of the great experiment, but from kindly and
+personal considerations put the question and the best face on the
+matter that he could.]
+
+
+New York, Sept. 14, 1845.
+
+My Dear Friend: I have been applied to by a very respectable widow lady
+of this city, at the instance of Dr. ---- (who it seems is fast getting
+over his want of sympathy for Fourier and his disciples), to see
+whether you will not convert Brook Farm into a sort of hospital for the
+cure of young men who won't mind their mothers. But, as the case is a
+serious one, I must treat it seriously as it deserves.
+
+The lady is a Mrs. ----, who is connected with one or two of our
+wealthiest families, and who has a son about twenty-five years of age
+whom she desires to get a place with you.
+
+He is said to be a person of the most kind and amiable disposition, and
+willing to do the hardest kind of work, but unfortunately he is
+surrounded by evil companions in this city, who draw him into bad
+habits. His mother is exceedingly distressed by his weakness, and has
+been counselled to send him to sea, but Dr. ---- has advised her to come
+to me and ask whether he could not be taken on trial at Brook Farm, in
+order to ascertain what might be the effect of good influences. The
+young man is well educated, a good accountant, has worked considerably
+on a farm, and is exceedingly anxious to escape from his present
+position, where his _infirmity of will_ betrays him under
+temptation. His general disposition and deportment are excellent, and
+under proper circumstances would make an estimable member of society.
+
+If you have room for him, and are willing to undertake his case, his
+mother can contribute a few dollars a week toward paying his board,
+until it shall have been determined whether his longer stay would be
+mutually satisfactory. Should he be able to stay, no doubt his friends
+here would raise an amount of capital for him which might be an object
+worth considering.
+
+Very sincerely yours,
+
+P. Godwin.
+
+
+_Wanted to Speak against Slavery_.
+
+Collinsville, CT., March 22, 1844.
+
+Friends: I call all people friends who have for their object the
+elevation of the human race and are opposed to all oppression in any
+form, who do not wish to build up one class at the expense of the
+other.
+
+I have been reading on the subject of Association for the last six
+months all the publications I could find, which has pleased me much. I
+think it is just such a system that is wanted. Massachusetts being my
+native state, and also being acquainted with the vicinity of Roxbury,
+which I think is a delightful place, especially in the summer, I
+thought that I would write you to inquire if you have an opening for
+any more this spring providing I can bring recommendations to your
+satisfaction.
+
+I was brought up a farmer; the last twelve years I have been to work in
+a scythe shop. I have a wife--no children. My wife is a tailoress,
+makes all kinds of men's clothing and is acquainted with all kinds of
+housework. We are both forty-two years of age. I shall want to buy four
+hundred dollars' worth of stock and pay for it when I join. If I am
+rightly informed of your system, it does not interfere with anyone's
+religion or his politics. Being an abolitionist, I shall want the
+privilege of voting and speaking against slavery in every respect.
+Please write me as soon as you receive this and inform me what
+recommendations will be required and all other particulars.
+
+Respectfully yours, James C. Smith.
+
+
+_From a Wesleyan_.
+
+Trinity, Newfoundland, June 30, 1845.
+
+Sir: Having been informed by Mr. Brisbane that an establishment on the
+united interest principle has been commenced near Boston, I hasten to
+address you to inform you that for some years I have felt impressed
+with its superiority to the individual system; and have been, and still
+am, anxious to engage heart and soul in so good a cause. I have been in
+this country between four and five years, and have a comfortable
+situation; but feeling confident of the ultimate advantage of an
+Association, and feeling assured that I could render myself valuable in
+such an establishment, I prefer casting my lot with those who feel
+desirous of acting for the restoration of man.
+
+I have to inform you that from my youth I have chiefly engaged in the
+dry goods business, ironmongery, grocery, etc., and have a general
+knowledge of trade. I am of industrious habits and with an active turn
+of mind, and together with my wife, I may justly say, few will be found
+more useful and desirous of acting for the general good. I am about
+forty-two years of age, and my wife is a little older; my son is
+fourteen, and we are fully prepared for active life. I have no
+knowledge of any mechanical trade, but am fond of it as well as
+agriculture and gardening; I possess a fair share of health; am fond of
+writing and bookkeeping; only occasionally disposed to gaiety, but
+rather for scientific relaxation; not fanatical in religion, but a
+regarder of the great commandments and charitable for the feelings and
+the convictions of others.
+
+I have, sir, given you an unvarnished statement with regard to myself,
+and I should feel obliged by your informing me at your earliest
+convenience if myself, wife and son can be admitted by my investing two
+hundred dollars for the furnishing of the apartment assigned to us. Are
+there any Wesleyans with you, and what is the distance to the Wesleyan
+chapel?--as my wife is a member of that body. From what I have learned
+from Mr. Brisbane's letter and newspaper he was kind enough to send me,
+I should judge your establishment to be such as we could safely and
+comfortably join, and I trust you will give me in your answer
+additional reason to think so.
+
+I remain, sir,
+
+Your obedient servant,
+
+H. Gawler.
+
+
+_From a Printer_.
+
+Bangor, ME., Jan. 1, 1845.
+
+_Mr. George Ripley_,
+
+Dear Sir: While on a visit to Brook Farm Association last August, it
+was intimated to me that it was probable, on the completion of the
+arrangements then in progress for the accommodation of an additional
+number of members, that a printing press might be introduced, a weekly
+paper published and something done at the printing business generally;
+further, that though there were two or three practical printers in the
+Association, yet others in all likelihood would also be required; in
+which case, a selection from the number of candidates would be made.
+Should it be the intention to adopt the plan, which was then in doubt,
+I beg most respectfully to present myself as a candidate for the
+acceptance of the Association.
+
+I am at present situated as foreman of a daily paper in Bangor, and
+previous to this time, have had a somewhat varied experience in other
+branches of the business. Though now rather favorably located, in the
+ordinary acceptation of the term, yet I would prefer a thousand times
+mingling even in the struggles of an infant Association, founded upon
+what I deem to be substantial principles, than the most desirable
+possession in an overgrown and distorted civilization.
+
+Touching the requisite of character, I believe I can make out a case in
+my favor; but with respect to capital--when I say I am a
+_printer_, I say also that I am in the predicament of the most of
+my profession, with nothing to recommend us but a willing heart and a
+ready hand; albeit, if the taking of one share of a hundred dollars
+will entitle me to membership, the amount may be forthcoming.
+
+With sentiment of great respect, I have the honor to be, sir, Yours
+most obediently, etc.,
+
+George Bayne, Jr.
+
+
+_A Wife's Eloquent Appeal._
+
+Kingston, Sept. 5, 1845.
+
+_Mr. George Ripley_,
+
+Sir: After taking the _Phalanx_ and the _Harbinger_ and
+visiting Brook Farm, our attachment and love for associated life has
+become so strong, and the idea of our present life so cold and to a
+benevolent mind so difficult, that I very much doubt of remaining any
+longer happy in our present state. For these reasons I write to inform
+you that we wish to make an application to be received as members of--
+so it looks to us--your happy Association; and, "delays being
+dangerous," we would ask an answer soon to it, as, living on a farm, it
+is necessary to know whether we shall dispose of our crops, cattle,
+etc., in the market, or store them in barn and cellar for another
+_lonely_ winter--so my husband expresses it; though I assure you
+it is not lonely for lack of numbers, but he is doubtless expressing
+the feeling many of us have experienced of solitude in the midst of a
+crowd of uncongenial spirits.
+
+As it is a busy time--we have to work from 5 A.M. until late at night,
+with scarce a moment to rest our weary limbs--it is not convenient to
+visit you personally; we wish you to return us a written letter stating
+whether we can have any encouragement and what are the requirements.
+Being strangers to you we would probably need recommendation.
+
+Thus far I have acted as amanuensis for my husband. Hoping that it may
+not offend, I now address you of and from myself.
+
+Elizabeth Brewster, _for Elisha Brewster._
+
+
+_Mr. Ripley,_
+
+Dear Sir: In the cause my husband urges I would plead. Had I skill I
+would do so with all the eloquence ascribed to woman's tongue; nay,
+more, had I an angel's tongue tipped with burning eloquence, I would
+exert its utmost efforts to urge my husband's suit. I feel deeply that
+his present and future earthly happiness depends on what answer may be
+received from you. That is saying much, but I believe it is strictly
+true. And if his happiness depends on it, surely that of the rest must,
+for what happiness does a woman desire but that of those connected with
+her? Husband has been for three years a devoted associationist; his
+whole heart and mind have been with them and he has ardently desired
+the associative life.
+
+Not so myself. I was willing, it is true, to go anywhere he desired and
+would be happy where he was happy, but I dreaded to leave such a
+beautiful home, for the place we would leave is no ordinary one. The
+prospect from it is considered as almost without a parallel. We have
+plenty of fruit, flowers, fine grove and shade trees, in fact
+everything to make rural life agreeable and we know how to appreciate a
+beautiful location and prospect. Then I have had a fear of being a
+pioneer, lest there should be too heavy work or duties imposed or
+required of me. Such ideas combined, prevented me from seeing unitary
+life as one ought who knows that it is in the form of a heavenly
+society, and that as we desire perfection here on earth we must imitate
+the heavenly model.
+
+Since visiting you my fears have given place to an ardent desire to
+become one of your Community, not to come as an alien and a stranger
+but as a sister in full communion, with a heart full of love and
+affection and with a strong desire to act my part fully and to do all
+required of me.
+
+You will find I have great skill and ingenuity in work, understanding
+almost all kinds, and have, I am told, a good faculty to plan and
+perform it, so I hope that I shall be of real use to you. You will not
+think I am trying to flatter you or myself. Husband's idea is this: he
+says when people trade they place their commodities in the best light
+and speak of their desirable qualities, and this is so much like
+trading ourselves off that we have a right to give some idea of
+ourselves as an offset for what we expect to receive.
+
+Mr. Brewster has sound, unbroken health, untiring strength and great
+skill and ability to work. He often says he would not go where he could
+not work--but he would like more time to read than he gets here. He has
+great power and skill in doing heavy work and great patience and
+industry in doing small and light work; talents not often combined in
+one individual. He is just as handy and skilful in planting and weeding
+and planning a flower garden, or in potting plants and tending them, as
+in doing the heaviest work. He loves birds and flowers, but _bees_
+are his _hobby_; he loves them as a mother loves her children. If
+he comes among you, you must let him have a hive of bees or I fear he
+would tire of Association. Ah! a new thought just strikes me. Bees are
+_associationists_ and that accounts for his great love of them.
+
+I cannot believe that you will ever regret the possession of such a
+working man. Furthermore, you will rarely find two united with more
+willing hearts and hands and more cheerful tempers. We have never been,
+so far, either of us unhappy in any situation. Our family is not large;
+it consists of three daughters, one of eleven, one eight and the last
+three years of age, twenty-fifth of May last--they all have one
+birthday. We shall probably bring with us, if you make no objection, a
+girl who is bound to us, and there remains three years of unexpired
+service--a very stout, strong girl, who loves coarse work and who is
+Mr. Brewster's mesmeric subject.
+
+Mr. Brewster is a lineal descendant of old Elder Brewster, of the fifth
+generation on the paternal side and a lateral descendant on the
+maternal side. He thinks that accounts for his being so ardent an
+associationist, as Elder Brewster started his colony on that plan and
+failed--and perhaps this E. Brewster will do the same thing. But
+seriously, because the first failed it is no reason that the second
+should, for the world was not as well prepared for unitary life then as
+now. Mr. Brewster thinks he would rather help you provide for winter
+than to be doing the same here.
+
+May the blessing of Heaven attend you all at Brook Farm.
+
+E. B. B. BREWSTER.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+PART III.
+
+
+AN OUTSIDE VIEW OF BROOK FARM.
+
+_From the Dial of January, 1844._
+
+Wherever we recognize the principle of progress our sympathies and
+affections are engaged. However small may be the innovation, however
+limited the effort towards the attainment of pure good, that effort is
+worthy of our best encouragement and succor. The institution at Brook
+Farm, West Roxbury, though sufficiently extensive in respect to number
+of persons, perhaps is not to be considered an experiment of large
+intent. Its aims are moderate; too humble, indeed, to satisfy the
+extreme demands of the age; yet for that reason, probably, the effort
+is more valuable, as likely to exhibit a larger share of actual
+success.
+
+Though familiarly designated a "Community," it is only so in the
+process of eating in commons; a practice at least as antiquated as the
+collegiate halls of old England, where it still continues without
+producing, as far as we can learn, any of the Spartan virtues. A
+residence at Brook Farm does not involve either a community of money,
+of opinions or of sympathy. The motives which bring individuals there,
+may be as various as their numbers. In fact, the present residents are
+divisible into three distinct classes; and if the majority in numbers
+were considered, it is possible that a vote in favor of self-sacrifice
+for the common good would not be very strongly carried.
+
+The leading portion of the adult inmates, they whose presence imparts
+the greatest peculiarity and the fraternal tone to the household,
+believe that an improved state of existence would be developed in
+Association, and are therefore anxious to promote it. Another class
+consists of those who join with the view of bettering their condition,
+by being exempt from some portion of worldly strife. The third portion
+comprises those who have their own development or education for their
+principal object.
+
+Practically, too, the institution manifests a threefold improvement
+over the world at large, corresponding to these three motives. In
+consequence of the first, the companionship, the personal intercourse,
+the social bearing, are of a marked and very superior character. There
+may possibly to some minds, long accustomed to other modes, appear a
+want of homeness and of the private fireside; but all observers must
+acknowledge a brotherly and softening condition, highly conducive to
+the permanent and pleasant growth of all the better human qualities. If
+the life is not of a deeply religious cast, it is at least not inferior
+to that which is exemplified elsewhere, and there is the advantage of
+an entire absence of assumption and pretence. The moral atmosphere, so
+far, is pure; and there is found a strong desire to walk ever on the
+mountain tops of life; though taste, rather than piety, is the aspect
+presented to the eye.
+
+In the second class of motives we have enumerated there is a strong
+tendency to an important improvement in meeting the terrestrial
+necessities of humanity. The banishment of servitude, the renouncement
+of hireling labor and the elevation of all unavoidable work to its true
+station, are problems whose solution seems to be charged upon
+Association; for the dissociate systems have in vain sought remedies
+for this unfavorable portion of human condition. It is impossible to
+introduce into separate families even one half of the economies which
+the present state of science furnishes to man. In that particular, it
+is probable that even the feudal system is superior to the civic; for
+its combinations permit many domestic arrangements of an economic
+character, which are impracticable in small households. In order to
+economize labor, and dignify the laborer, it is absolutely necessary
+that men should cease to work in the present isolated, competitive
+mode, and adopt that of coöperative union or Association. It is as
+false and as ruinous to call any man "master," in secular business, as
+it is in theological opinion. Those persons, therefore, who congregate
+for the purpose, as it is called, of bettering their outward relations,
+on principles so high and universal as we have endeavored to describe,
+are not engaged in a petty design, bounded by their own selfish or
+temporary improvement. Everyone who is here found giving up the usual
+chances of individual aggrandizement, may not be thus influenced; but
+whether it be so or not, the outward demonstration will probably be
+equally certain.
+
+In education Brook Farm appears to present greater mental freedom than
+most other institutions. The tuition being more heart-rendered, is in
+its effects more heart-stirring. The younger pupils, as well as the
+more advanced students, are held mostly, if not wholly, by the power of
+love. In this particular, Brook Farm is a much improved model for the
+oft-praised schools of New England. It is time that the imitative and
+book-learned systems of the latter should be superseded or liberalized,
+by some plan better calculated to excite originality of thought and the
+native energies of the mind. The deeper, kindly sympathies of the
+heart, too, should not be forgotten; but the germination of these must
+be despaired of under a rigid hireling system. Hence Brook Farm, with
+its spontaneous teachers, presents the unusual and cheering condition
+of a really "free school."
+
+By watchful and diligent economy, there can be no doubt that a
+community would attain greater pecuniary success than is within the
+hope of honest individuals working separately. But Brook Farm is not a
+community, and in the variety of motives with which persons associate
+there, a double diligence and a watchfulness perhaps, too costly will
+be needful to preserve financial prosperity. While, however, this
+security is an essential element in success, riches would, on the other
+hand, be as fatal as poverty, to the true progress of such an
+institution. Even in the case of those foundations which have assumed a
+religious character, all history proves the fatality of wealth. The
+just and happy mean between riches and poverty is, indeed, more likely
+to be attained when, as in this instance, all thought of acquiring
+great wealth in a brief time is necessarily abandoned, as a condition
+of membership. On the other hand, the presence of many persons, who
+congregate merely for the attainment of some individual end, must weigh
+heavily and unfairly upon those whose hearts are really expanded to
+universal results.
+
+As a whole, even the initiative powers of Brook Farm have, as is found
+almost everywhere, the design of a life much too objective, too much
+derived from objects in the exterior world. The subjective life, that
+in which the soul finds the living source and the true communion within
+itself, is not sufficiently prevalent to impart to the establishment
+the permanent and sedate character it should enjoy. Undeniably, many
+devoted individuals are there; several who have, as generously as
+wisely, relinquished what are considered great social and pecuniary
+advantages, and, by throwing their skill and energies into a course of
+the most ordinary labors, at once prove their disinterestedness, and
+lay the foundation for industrial nobility.
+
+An assemblage of persons, not brought together by the principles of
+community, will necessarily be subject to many of the inconveniences of
+ordinary life, as well as to burdens peculiar to such a condition. Now
+Brook Farm is at present such an institution. It is not a community; it
+is not truly an association; it is merely an aggregation of persons,
+and lacks that oneness of spirit, which is probably needful to make it
+of deep and lasting value to mankind. It seems, after three years'
+continuance, uncertain whether it is to be resolved more into an
+educational or an industrial institution, or into one combined of both.
+
+Placed so near a large city, and in a populous neighborhood, the
+original liability for land, etc., was so large as still to leave a
+considerable burden of debt. This state of things seems fairly to
+entitle the establishment to re-draw from the old world in fees for
+education, or in the sale of produce, sufficient to pay the annual
+interest of such liabilities. Hence the necessity for a more intimate
+intercourse with the trading world, and a deeper involvement in money
+affairs than would have attended a more retired effort of the like
+kind. To enter into the corrupting modes of the world, with the view of
+diminishing or destroying them, is a delusive hope. It will,
+notwithstanding, be a labor of no little worth, to induce improvements
+in the two grand departments of industry and education. We say
+_improvement_ as distinct from _progress_; for with any
+association short of community, we do not see how it is possible for an
+institution to stand so high above the present world as to conduct its
+affairs on principles entirely different from those which now influence
+men in general.
+
+There are other considerations also suggested by a glance at Brook
+Farm, which are worthy the attention of the many minds now attracted by
+the deeply interesting subject of human association. We are gratified
+by observing several external improvements during the past year; such
+as a larger and more convenient dining room, a labor saving cooking
+apparatus, a purer diet, a more orderly and quiet attendance at the
+refections, superior arrangements for industry, and generally an
+increased seriousness in respect to the value of the example which
+those who are there assembled may constitute to their fellow beings.
+
+Of about seventy persons now assembled there, about thirty are
+children, sent thither for education; some adult persons also place
+themselves there chiefly for mental assistance; and in the society
+there are only four married couples. With such materials it is almost
+certain that the sensitive and vital points of communication cannot
+well be tested. A joint-stock company, working with some of its own
+members and with others as agents, cannot bring to issue the great
+question whether the existence of the individual family is compatible
+with the universal family, which the term "Community" signifies. This
+is now the grand problem. By mothers it has ever been felt to be so.
+The maternal instinct, as hitherto educated, has declared itself so
+strongly in favor of the separate fireside, that the association, which
+appears so beautiful to the young and unattached soul, has yet
+accomplished little progress in the affections of that important
+section of the human race--the mothers. With fathers, the feeling in
+favor of the separate family is certainly less strong; but there is an
+undefinable tie, a sort of magnetic _rapport_, an invisible,
+inseverable umbilical cord between the mother and child, which in most
+cases circumscribes her desires and ambition to her own immediate
+family.
+
+All the accepted adages and wise saws of society, all the precepts of
+morality, all the sanctions of theology, have for ages been employed to
+confirm this feeling. This is the chief corner stone of present
+society; and to this maternal instinct have, till very lately, our most
+heartfelt appeals been made for the progress of the human race, by
+means of a deeper and more vital education. Pestalozzi and his most
+enlightened disciples are distinguished by this sentiment. And are we
+all at once to abandon, to deny, to destroy this supposed stronghold of
+virtue? Is it questioned whether the family arrangement of mankind is
+to be preserved? Is it discovered that the sanctuary, till now deemed
+the holiest on earth, is to be invaded by intermeddling scepticism, and
+its altars sacrilegiously destroyed by the rude hands of innovating
+progress?
+
+Here "social science" must be brought to issue. The question of
+Association and marriage are one. If, as we have been popularly led to
+believe, the individual or separate family is the true order of
+Providence, then the associate life is a false effort. If the associate
+life is true, then is the separate family a false arrangement. By the
+maternal feeling it appears to be decided that the coëxistence of both
+is incompatible--is impossible. So also say some religious sects.
+Social science ventures to assert their harmony. This is the grand
+problem now remaining to be solved, for at least the enlightening, if
+not for the vital elevation, of humanity. That the affections can be
+divided, or bent with equal ardor on two objects so opposed as
+universal and individual love, may at least be rationally doubted.
+History has not yet exhibited such phenomena in an associate body, and
+scarcely, perhaps, in any individual.
+
+The monasteries and convents, which have existed in all ages, have been
+maintained solely by the annihilation of that peculiar affection on
+which the separate family is based. The Shaker families, in which the
+two sexes are not entirely dissociated, can yet only maintain their
+union by forbidding and preventing the growth of personal affection
+other than that of a spiritual character. And this, in fact, is not
+personal in the sense of individual, but ever a manifestation of
+universal affection. Spite of the speculations of hopeful bachelors and
+aesthetic spinsters, there is somewhat in the marriage bond which is
+found to counteract the universal nature of the affections to a degree
+tending at least to make considerable pause, before they can be blended
+into one harmony.
+
+The general condition of married persons at this time is some evidence
+of the existence of such doubt in their minds. Were they as convinced
+as the unmarried of the beauty and truth of associate life, the
+demonstration would be now presented. But might it not be enforced that
+the two family ideas really neutralize one another? It is not quite
+certain that the human heart cannot be set in two places; that man
+cannot worship at two altars? It is only the determination to do what
+parents consider the best for themselves and their families, which
+renders the o'er populous world such a wilderness of selfhood as it is.
+Destroy this feeling, they say, and you prohibit every motive for
+exertion. Much truth is there in this affirmation. For to them no other
+motive remains, nor indeed to any one else, save that of the universal
+good, which does not permit the building up of supposed self-good, and,
+therefore, forecloses all possibility of an individual family.
+
+These observations, of course, equally apply to all the associative
+attempts, now attracting so much public attention; and perhaps most
+especially to such as have more of Fourier's designs than are
+observable at Brook Farm. The slight allusion in all the writers of the
+"Phalansterian" class, to the subject of marriage, is rather
+remarkable. They are acute and eloquent in deploring woman's oppressed
+and degraded position in past and present times, but are almost silent
+as to the future. In the meanwhile, it is gratifying to observe the
+success which in some departments attend every effort, and that Brook
+Farm is likely to become comparatively eminent in the highly important
+and praiseworthy attempts to render labor of the hands more dignified
+and noble, and mental education more free and loveful. C. L.
+
+
+ASSOCIATIVE ARTICLES.
+
+_"Association the Body of Christianity" by John S. Dwight._
+
+The world has been divided between infidels and bigots. In Association
+there will be neither, for it will remove their causes. The framework
+of society is false which drives to such extremities. For most
+assuredly these opposites proceeded from one common centre, and will
+most gladly gravitate back again to that, so soon as the general order
+becomes just and genial to the real character and purpose of each
+individual soul.
+
+Unbelief is torment, as much as any obstinate refusing of food, and no
+one courts it because he will, but only accepts it because he must. On
+the other hand, exclusive religionism has too much consciousness of
+secret sympathy with its avowed antipodes, to enjoy itself much better.
+They are only opposite forms of the same denial; opposite feelings from
+the same great central wrong. They seem to hate each other; it is only
+because they are not permitted to embrace: let them transfer their hate
+to that which separates them. And what is that?
+
+It is the want of unity and of all recognition of unity in the material
+interests of men. If the material interest of each harmonized with the
+material interest of all, as fully as their spiritual interests do, the
+immediate result would be that the material and spiritual would
+harmonize with one another. Then religion would not have to renounce
+the world to save its very life; nor would the believer in natural
+reason and the lover of justice cry, "Away with all religion, since it
+leaves the world so bad!"
+
+There are certain instincts and convictions in every human soul which
+call for love and truth and justice. There is a revelation from God
+which confirms them all. One noble life was all made up of these high
+qualities, a present incarnation of these seemingly almost unattainable
+ideals, and freely gave itself for man. Some say it was very God; all
+acknowledge that such virtue is the divinest thing known, that such
+love stands for the Most High, and that to reverence and obey it, is to
+obey the very saving principle of human nature; that such obedience, in
+fact, is perfect freedom. So that, leaving intellectual dogmas and
+theories out of the question, the essence of what is called
+Christianity is the natural faith of the human heart, and all men do in
+their heart of hearts long to have a Christian spirit and to have that
+prevail throughout the world.
+
+But while the spirit of Christ is unity, the material interests of men
+are without unity. In the whole body politic of life, the unity of the
+human race is not at all implied. On the contrary, everything
+contradicts the idea. Every man in seeking his material interests
+becomes the rival and antagonist of every other man. To gain his bread
+he must sacrifice friendship, generosity and even honor. He must keep
+his convictions of nobleness and justice for a beautiful and holiday
+idea; he must consign them to the keeping of religion; and she, like
+the gentle wife at home, has careful instructions not to show her
+beautiful face in the market place. It is hard; since in the market
+place mankind are doomed to spend the most part of their life; and very
+many men and women and children _all_ their life, except what
+nature claims for sleep.
+
+If there be no way, then, of realizing the unity of man with man, of
+growing into the beauty of Christian love and fellowship, by the very
+act which earns us bread; if there be no reconciling of religion with
+this worldliness; if there be no possibility of raising in the very
+market place the song, "The Lord is in his temple"; if religion calls
+us one way and necessity another; if business is to be based on
+principles which render ineffectual every prayer for the spirit of love
+and charity; if work is the dissevering of all the bonds which thought
+and speech and sentiment and blessed dreams and holy influences, with
+all the help, too, of God's Holy Spirit, strive to weave;--then is
+Christianity impotent, a heavenly voice that mocks mankind.
+
+But no! As surely as Christ taught the love of God and of the neighbor,
+so surely did his prediction imply a change in the material
+organization of society which should fit it to be the container of this
+heavenly spirit. Did he think to "put new wine into old bottles"? Must
+not the spirit of Christianity create unto itself a _body_? It is
+a fruitless abstraction until it does. And this, if we read the signs
+aright, is the demand of this age. This is the tendency of all social
+movements. The material basis of our life, our social and industrial
+system, is entirely incompatible with the moral conviction and duties
+of this age. Our social economy all represents and preaches
+selfishness; but the idea of Christian love, the vision of unity and
+brotherhood, is born in the mind, and makes terrible and unendurable
+contrast with this state of things. The world is nearly ripe for the
+kingdom of heaven--the organization of society precludes it.
+
+ASSOCIATION is the word that solves the problem. The earnest and
+believing hearts of this day everywhere have certain hopeful lookings
+towards that; and at this providential moment science comes and offers
+us the key which shall unlock the whole sphere of material interests to
+its true lord, the spirit of religious love and unity. The organization
+of attractive industry will be the reconciliation of spirit and matter,
+of religion and the world; it will be the admission of Christ into all
+our spheres; it will make all nature holy, and clothe religion in the
+garb of nature.
+
+_Extract from a lecture on Association in its Connection with
+Religion, by Charles A. Dana._
+
+It is now more than eighteen hundred years since that annunciation of
+the coming of peace on earth and good-will to men, at which the world
+might well have trembled with a new and mighty hope. The Divine Infant,
+whose birth the celestial choirs thus celebrated, grew up to man's
+estate, still bearing within him that blessed promise; he went about on
+earth, imparting new life to the broken-hearted and forlorn, and
+uttering words of such heavenly significance, that to this day there is
+nothing that thrills the hearts of men with so true a power. At last he
+gave his life a testimony to those eternal truths, and died in great
+bodily agony, still publishing the prophecy that welcomed his birth,
+still announcing the kingdom of peace and love, the kingdom of God on
+earth.
+
+His followers have since grown to cover great continents; whole nations
+acknowledge those few words of his as their most sacred possession;
+great temples are built in which his life and death are solemnly
+commemorated, and men gladly yield their hard-won treasure to carry his
+history to distant regions that his name has never reached. And yet, my
+friends, where is that kingdom of peace and love; where, where in the
+whole wide world is the will of God done as it is in heaven? Is it even
+thought of as anything but a dream, an impossibility? Does not a
+sceptical smile steal over the faces of men, when an earnest and
+enthusiastic person speaks of it as a thing yet actually to be?
+
+And yet it is only what Christ taught us to hope for and pray for. We
+are not deceived; no one of us is mistaken in the vision that in
+innocent and blessed moments visits us all. No man who utters that
+sacred petition prays in vain. For the kingdom of God, the reign of
+peace and good-will among men, shall surely come. Not in mystical
+raptures, not in feverish trances, not in imagination, but in reality--
+in actual outward peace and beauty, and in the abiding spirit of love,
+filling humanity and sanctifying the earth to be the worthy temple of
+so divine a presence.
+
+And yet, who that beholds only the present condition of the Christian
+church, to which these sacred ideas have been especially entrusted; who
+that sees the body of Christ thus torn and discordant, would imagine
+that a consummation of this imperishable hope was any longer possible?
+Might we not despair, seeing these centuries of terror, of revolution,
+of injustice and of perpetual hatred, and seeing that the very
+disciples of the spirit of love have lost the memory of their Master--
+might we not despair, and cry out with them, that the earth was given
+over to evil, and that the kingdom of God would never come?
+
+No, my friends, we may not so despair, we cannot if we would. That old
+prophecy, however long delayed, still finds an involuntary echo in our
+souls. And now, in this hope of a true and brotherly society, its
+fulfilment seems at hand. Say it is enthusiasm, say it is a mistake,
+say it is irreligion, if you will, and still I reply that the time is
+not distant. It is in the combined order, where men are held together
+by inward laws only, and not by outward constraint and outward
+necessities, that the kingdom of God is to come down and possess the
+earth.
+
+It is in Association, then, that the promise of Christianity is to be
+fulfilled--fulfilled by making the incarnation of the great law of love
+an actual and universal fact. Hitherto Christianity has been in the
+world a spirit pining and dying for want of a body. She has wandered up
+and down on the earth, possessing here and there an individual, but
+never obtaining her birthright, which is the whole of humanity, never
+able to exercise her prerogative, which is to bathe the earth in the
+aroma of harmony and peace. The forms of selfish and egoistical
+society, the forms of society here in Boston, and throughout the
+civilized world, are not of Christianity, but of the primeval curse,
+which they perpetuate. Into them Christianity cannot fully enter, any
+more than light can dwell in the midst of darkness.
+
+The relations which Christianity seeks to establish between man and
+man, are indicated in these words, "Love one another." But how is this
+possible in a competitive society, where the interests of all are
+hostile? How can vital and true love operate between me and my
+neighbor, when his misfortune is my advantage, and my loss is his gain?
+What does it avail that on Sundays the better spirit is feebly
+awakened; what does it avail that then I aspire and long to love all
+men, if on the other six days in the week my hand is of necessity set
+against them all?
+
+Do you tell me that if my love is deep and pure enough, it will modify
+my whole life, and of itself, without hindrance from circumstances,
+appear perfectly in all my actions and relations? This is the old
+heresy, this is the error of the individualism and egoism which has
+hindered us so long. Let us meet it fully and fairly.
+
+In all results there are two elements, namely, that which acts and that
+which is acted upon. The character of the individual never does and
+never can form his circumstances, but can only modify them. No man is
+an artist or a poet by virtue of inward genius alone. No matter how
+great his gifts, unless he find a congenial atmosphere and favorable
+conditions, his high office is not fulfilled. Precisely so is it with
+that sacred energy which we call love. It can act entirely and
+sincerely only in circumstances that harmonize and correspond with
+itself. In order to carry Christianity into my daily life, the forms of
+my daily life, all my relations to others, my household and my
+business, must be in harmony with it.
+
+If these forms are contrary to Christianity, the first thing for me, as
+a Christian, to do, is to change them, to put them off, to be free from
+them at whatever cost. If I am indeed filled and impelled by that
+divine injunction, "Love one another," I cannot rest, I shall give
+myself no peace, until it be possible for me to do so, not in my inward
+spirit only, but in all my outward actions also. But how is this to be
+done? How are the ultimate forms of my life to be brought into
+correspondence with its central impulse? Plainly not by any spontaneous
+and unconscious power, but by intellectual inquiry and voluntary
+action. _Inspiration can discharge its whole mission only by the aid
+of science._
+
+Besides, the end of Christianity is not the salvation of individuals,
+but the transfiguration of humanity; it cannot be accomplished in you
+and me, but only in the whole race. It promises the kingdom of peace
+and love, not to a few solitary souls, but to man. He is indeed a
+servant of Christianity, who has learned its universal purpose and
+labors therefor; who does not so much seek to be saved himself, as to
+bring salvation to all the world, who sees that his own private life
+and development are forever involved in the universal progress. He is
+ignorant of the true idea of Christianity, who has not understood that
+it demands not so much that one should be careful about his own
+spiritual perfection, that he should watch himself, and by private
+remorse and tears seek a far-off heaven, as by a generous self-
+forgetfulness and self-devotion, seek to build up the kingdom of peace
+and love among men, and make heaven a reality here, and not the hope
+only of a distant future and a different sphere of existence.
+
+It is time, my friends, that this long divorce between the natural and
+spiritual worlds should be broken off, and that we should know that
+even now we may breathe the celestial ether, and have our common life
+transformed and illumined by infinite spiritual glories.
+
+We have said that the end of Christianity is not the salvation of
+individuals; but do not let it be thought that we overlook the worth of
+individual character. For heroism and holiness we have an unspeakable
+reverence. The saints and poets and sages of all time are the choicest
+gifts of God. The virtue, the beauty and the devotion that now shine in
+the lives of private men and women, still assure us that all is not and
+cannot be a failure. The ultimate result of the life of humanity will
+doubtless be found in symmetrical and harmonious individuals; and in a
+perfect Christianity we shall look to see an angelic love radiant from
+every face. But while there is disease and imperfection in any part of
+the human body, there cannot be perfect health in any other part; just
+so while there is disease and imperfection in humanity, of which the
+human body is an image, there cannot be perfect health in any
+individual. Perfect men and women are possible only in a perfect
+society.
+
+Finally, the sum of our remarks on the relation of Association to
+Christianity, is briefly this: Association fulfils the promise of
+Christianity; it shows the means whereby peace on earth and goodwill
+among men are to be realized. It harmonizes the forms and relations of
+society with the spirit of Christianity; in a word, it makes them forms
+and relations of brotherly love, and not of selfishness and discord,
+and thereby renders possible the accomplishment of the final aim of
+Christianity, which is the salvation and spiritual life of universal
+humanity.
+
+
+THE TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS, FROM THE HARBINGER, BY WILLIAM HENRY
+CHANNING.
+
+A prophecy in the spirit of this age announces that a new era in
+humanity is opening, and sounds forth more fully than ever before the
+venerable yet new gospel, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
+
+Doubtless, in all generations, the seers and the seekers--who are
+usually one and the same--have felt that their times were the
+culminating points of history, the mountain of vision, the border
+overlooking the promised land. Doubtless, the great of all nations and
+ages have felt that they were a peculiar people, called to a peculiar
+work, inspired and led by divine guidance to sublime ends. No age, no
+people, have wholly wanted such signs of providential commission.
+
+And doubtless, too, the works, bravely attempted from such high
+promptings, have always in actual results seemed fruitless. Yes!
+compared with his vision, the gains of the martyr's labors seem
+tantalizing--a dropping shower upon the droughty earth. Always the
+ideal entering the soul of man, like a god descending to the embrace of
+a mortal, seems to engender a son but half divine. Yet this
+disappointment is a delusion of the moment.
+
+Quite opposite are the facts. No man yet upon earth ever boldly
+aspired, and faithfully obeyed his clear convictions of good without
+transmitting through his race an all but omnipotent energy. Winds waft,
+streams scatter, birds of the air carry in their beaks, each seed that
+drops in ripeness from the tree of life. The failures of man have been
+from infidelity to his faith. Infinitely grander consequences than the
+doer could estimate, have followed every executed purpose of heroism
+and humanity and holy hope. Each age has been right in feeling that its
+mission was all-important. Each prophet has chanted, as if for very
+life, his warning and cheering, for God spoke through him in the
+language of his land and era.
+
+The Infinite Being, who through generation upon generation,
+progressively incarnates himself in the human race, and so manifests
+his glory upon earth, calls this age to its heavenly mission, and
+speaks through it with an eloquent longing, that cannot be uttered, his
+welcome and promise. The word whispers through the nations: "Man made
+One; a World at Peace; Humanity, the Earth round." At the nativity of
+this great hope, of this present Immanuel, the angels of our highest
+aspirations bend from their cloudy thrones,--
+
+"Harping in loud and solemn choir, With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's
+newborn heir."
+
+And the burden of the song that interprets their symphony is this:--
+
+  "Justice and Truth again Shall down return to men.
+  Orb'd in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing,
+  Mercy will sit between,
+  Throned in celestial sheen,
+  With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering,
+  And Heaven, as at some festival,
+  Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall."
+
+The hope of universal unity has been born, cradled in the rude manger
+of labor; nurtured by charity, ever virgin; worshipped by shepherds,
+guarding humble, humane thoughts, like flocks in the fold of their
+hearts; it has sat with the doctors in the temple, unsullied by
+timidity and prudence, and has astonished them at its profound doctrine
+of unbounded love; it has grown in favor with God and man, and answered
+to its half doubting, half hoping parents of the church and state,
+"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" and now is it
+driven away into the wilderness of poverty and hard toil, of loneliness
+and mortification, to be tempted of the devil.
+
+Let us first consider awhile these temptations; then review the forty
+days' meditation upon the divine mission of this principle of perfect
+love; and so be ready to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
+at hand."
+
+To the scattered band who, few and weak, are here and there withdrawn
+from the thoroughfares of life, to commune together and to cöoperate in
+the grand movement of the age, the world comes in with scarce
+dissembled sneer, and ironically says, "_If_ Association is really
+this Messiah to the ages, this pledge of universal prosperity, of
+overflowing wealth, then let it make these barren fields into gardens,
+these thick growing woods into palaces, these stones into bread."
+
+And all the while the shrewd, the rosy, sleek and full-fed world, with
+title deeds in pocket and scrip and stock in hand, thinks of its
+factories on rapid streams; its warehouses of three thousand dollars'
+rent; its dividends at seven per cent half yearly; its iron-limbed and
+tireless steeds, hurrying with the spoils of myriads of acres; its
+carpeted, curtained, glowing, shining, pictured, sculptured, perfumed
+homes. The victorious world, so confident and easy and jocular, so
+beautiful in its own right, so wrapped about in kingly purple--how
+strangely is it metamorphosed to the eyes of the child of God! Its
+factories change into brothels; its rents to distress warrants; its
+railroads to mighty fetters, binding industry in an inextricable net of
+feudalism; from under the showy robes of its success, flutter the
+unseemly rags of an ever-growing beggary; from garret and cellar of its
+luxurious habitations, stare out the gaunt forms of haggard want; the
+lash of the jailer, the gleam of swords, the glitter of bayonets, are
+its garters and stars of nobility.
+
+If Association has been elated by the thought of its miraculous power,
+or meditated to use it for selfish ends, it deserves the taunt of the
+yet more selfish world. And it is reason for great rejoicing, that the
+difficulties of transition from the isolated to the harmonic mode of
+life are so great. God thus _sifts_ his people. None are worthy to
+enter upon this work who are not _dusted_. We need to hunger. We
+need to feel dependence, in order that we may judge competition in
+contrast. We need to know actually how pinching is necessity; how deep
+it ploughs its furrows into brow and brain; how tight it knots up the
+muscles and cramps back and limbs, by exhausting toil.
+
+Association must be in its very essence disinterested; holding power as
+something given from above, to be used not for self alone, or chiefly,
+but for universal good; consecrating itself as a servant. And its
+answer to the boasting world is, "Man liveth not by bread alone, but by
+every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." We are learning,
+in these trial times, the beauty of reciprocation, the wealth of
+sharing all; we are studying experimentally the law of cooperation; we
+are estimating the value of justice by its practical application; above
+all, are we opening our hearts to the glad conviction that it is
+possible, ay, easy, for men to grow more kindly by adversity, and to
+love each other better for each other's wants.
+
+The word which is proceeding out of the mouth of God to Associationists
+now, to all the true-hearted and brave and devoted and hopeful of them
+is, "Union with fellow beings by usefulness is the very life of life."
+Let patience have its perfect work. Let no man be so mean as to
+emphasize the "If thou be," etc. Let no doubt enter from present
+humiliation. Association is the divine form of humanity. So ends in
+piety the first temptation.
+
+Then the Satan of selfishness takes counsel of his cunning, and subtly
+states a new suggestion. If Association is this glorious truth to
+renovate the nations, then glorious should be its announcement; loud,
+wide, startling, should be its call; sudden, as from the skies, its
+appearing. Here on the pinnacle of the temple of peace (or of Salem),
+shalt thou stand, and cast thyself down among the multitudes like an
+angel. Some splendid boldness should introduce thy reign. Take no heed
+of care and caution; count not the cost; risk all in a providential
+career. Surely thou shalt be guided safe. God's angels will bear thee
+up, that thou dash not thy foot against a stone.
+
+O bragging, advertising, placarding, circular-scattering, auctioneering,
+humbuging world! And you would thus prove Association to be also
+a windbag and a lie! Just in so far as Association has been rash
+and precipitate, and swollen with promises and dizzy in its towering
+pretensions, it has been truly carried to the pinnacle.
+
+The child of God waits for opportunities. There will be occasions soon
+enough for manifestation. According to the hour is the duty; and the
+duty now is performance. Calm, wise, large and balanced plans,
+discriminate selection of persons, discreet preparations of industry, a
+sober estimate of the greatness of the undertaking, and a summoning of
+all energies to its fulfilment, is the vocation just now of
+Association. Enough for the day it is, honestly, honorably, humanely,
+to lay the foundation in the earth unseen for the glorious fabric which
+the future shall rear in light.
+
+In so far as the inculcation of principles, the instruction of the
+national mind, the calling out of enthusiasm and courage, of hope and
+heroism, demand publicity, of course Association must not be backward.
+It must no more be behind than before the time. But the special call
+to-day is, in practical endeavor to prepare the way for a future gospel
+preaching. We need complete science, clear understanding, solid
+judgment. We need to solve innumerable problems, to comprehend
+principles exactly by their detailed development in practice. We need
+inward concentration, to gain singleness and unity of purpose.
+
+"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God," either by anticipation or by
+tardiness. If Association is the salvation of mankind, there will be
+time enough to let mankind know it. Meanwhile, let us give ourselves
+wholly up to God, to be filled with his love, inspired with his wisdom,
+strengthened with his might, and so made ready for the sublime work of
+manifesting man made one in a perfect society. We will humbly wait the
+opening of opportunities by Providence. And so ends the second
+temptation in patience.
+
+Thus baffled twice, the Prince of this world gathers up his routed
+forces for the final charge:--
+
+"Surely the power of united effect is irresistible. What has it not
+already accomplished?--tunnelling mountains, bridging oceans with
+boats, wringing from the gnomes of the mines their wealth long buried
+in sparry palaces of salt and diamond, of gold and silver,--preparing
+to sever the bond that unites twin continents, summoning storms and
+staying them, making the desert yield an hundred fold, using the
+lightning for post boy, giving iron weavers coal for bread and fire for
+drink, that they may spin garments for the nations,--prodigious power
+of combined effort, what may it not do!
+
+"We will appeal to the rich and mighty. We will show them how they can
+multiply their means seventy times seven. We will unite the race in one
+grand effort of prolific production and unlimited voluptuousness. We
+will be kings upon earth. All these things that thou seest from this
+high mountain of exceeding enterprise, all these kingdoms and their
+glory shall be thine, if thou wilt but give thyself up, O Association!
+body, soul, spirit, to the worship of worldly power and splendor and
+enjoyment."
+
+Ah, Satan! that was thy wiliest web. What! no poor, all nobles, all
+fat, all glittering in court raiment, all surfeited with sweets, all
+bathing in Johannisberg and champagne, all tended by houries, all
+pillowed on orange-scented beds, and covered with gauze or eider down,
+according to the season? Charming Satan! Selfishness made universal
+will be selfishness no more. Thou art an angel of light!
+
+Just in so far as Association, using the tact of worldly training, has
+in its plannings and pleadings, lowered itself to exaltation of the
+outward, by merging the inward, it has permitted the magic of sin to
+dazzle its vision.
+
+It is indeed a splendid prospect, this of a world reclaimed, of
+overflowing plenty. And it shall be realized. Perfect beauty shall one
+day enwreath this earth with its clustering vines. The long folded
+petals of this little planet flower on the tree of the sun, shall open
+and distil sweetness; its gorgeous fruit of consummate joy shall swell
+and ripen. Far more than all the voluptuaries of all ages have dreamed
+of shall exist, heightened by a purity they could not conceive of.
+
+Yes! O devil, the kingdoms and the glory of them are there before us.
+But know this--they do not belong unto thee to give. Thou poor devil,
+always mocked and always mocking. Have not six thousand years taught
+thee yet, that self-love is always a suicide? Thou wilt give the
+kingdoms of the world as thou always hast, first by stealing them for
+thy slaves, and then stealing them from thy slaves? No! thou forlorn
+devil, thy rule is ended, thy sceptre snapped into shivers; henceforth
+thou art so wholly accursed, that God and man will heartily forgive
+thee, whenever thou canst forgive thyself.
+
+"_Duty of Associationists to the Cause," by Horace Grreeley. From the
+Harbinger of Oct. 25, 1845._
+
+Through the last four or five years, the doctrine of Association has
+been widely disseminated through the country. The labors of its ardent
+advocates, few but faithful, have been ably seconded by some portion of
+the press, and both have been immensely aided by the course of events.
+The great themes of political discussion in our day--the tariff and the
+currency--lead directly to a consideration of the conditions of labor,
+of the relations between producers and products, of mutual rights and
+respective interests of employers and employed. The existence of
+extreme destitution and consequent misery in the midst of general
+prosperity and plenty, of willing hands vainly seeking employment amid
+unsurpassed industrial activity and thrift, cannot have escaped
+attention. The disasters resulting from industrial anarchy, from
+"strikes" of operatives for higher wages or fewer hours of labor, the
+stoppage of work by combinations if not by outright violence, arrest
+general attention.
+
+Truly the remedy for these errors and evils has yet been perceived and
+embraced by comparatively few, but the conviction that the present
+organization of industry cannot be advantageously maintained, and some
+radical change is at hand, must have already forced itself upon very
+many intelligent and candid minds. The readjustment of the relations of
+capital and labor on a basis of harmony and mutual advantage, is
+manifestly the great problem of the age. But that a change is at hand
+is evident: the practical question regards not its probability or
+certainty, but its character.
+
+The more intelligent and wealthy class have it in their power so to
+mould this change as to render it peaceful, gradual and universally
+beneficent; or they can turn a deaf ear to the calls of humanity, and
+let the demagogue, the envious, the selfishly discontented, pervert it
+into an engine of convulsion, destruction and desolation. As in the
+days of King John, the barons laid the foundations of English political
+liberty, so in our day the intellectual and philanthropic may guide the
+car of progress, and in establishing industrial harmony may secure to
+all but the stubbornly vicious or incurably afflicted, true
+independence and ample means of subsistence and development; or they
+can indolently leave all to the benighted and malignant, and see
+reproduced a war of classes, different indeed in its weapons and its
+physical aspects, but not different in its essential character from the
+ravages of France by the _Jacquerie_ or the butcheries of the
+reign of terror.
+
+In this crisis of events, with an industrial war plainly threatened and
+partially commenced, the doctrine of Association appears as a mediator
+and reconciler. Its bow of promise shines broadly in the lurid sky; it
+irradiates the murky visage of the gathering, muttering tempest. It
+awakens a hope, and the only well grounded hope, of averting the
+miseries of an insane struggle between those who ought to be the
+closest allies, to see which can the more injure the other. Need I urge
+that in this crisis the friends of Association ought to be most earnest
+and untiring in the promulgation and advocacy of their faith; that they
+ought to improve the opportunities which are daily presented of
+commending the truth to others whose minds are but newly prepared to
+receive it? What Associationist so dull that he cannot improve every
+"strike," every collision respecting the hours or the wages of labor,
+to the advancement of the good cause?
+
+To do this with effect, we must be, in the true sense of an abused
+term, catholic. We must not suffer Association to be merged in mere
+partisanship for any class or calling, or blind hostility to any abuse
+or oppression. We are not the champions of the slave or the hired
+servant, the factory girl or the housemaid, the seamstress or the
+washerwoman. We are not the advocates merely of labor against capital,
+of the employers as opposed to the employed. Ours is the cause of all
+classes and vocations, and our success is the triumph of all. We are in
+danger of becoming partial and one-sided; let us take special care to
+overcome it.
+
+But it is not enough that we give our testimony in behalf of this
+benign truth; it behooves us to be doers of the work as well as hearers
+and commenders. Friends of Association! scattered over the face of our
+wide country! do you realize this? Do you feel that your works ought to
+justify and fortify your words? We are surrounded by a world full of
+want, vice and misery, which Association realized would greatly modify
+and ultimately cure. But those who know nothing of this truth will
+never cause it to be realized; it would be absurd to expect anything of
+the kind. The work must be accomplished by us, and by those whom our
+acts rather than words shall win over to a knowledge of the truth. Is
+not the work of sufficient importance to incite you to embark heartily
+in its furtherance?
+
+But, says one, how can I engage practically in realizing Association?
+My family and friends are vehemently adverse to it; I am engrossed by
+responsibilities and duties of various kinds which I cannot uprightly
+escape, and which confine me where I am. I am not yet prepared, if I
+ever should be, to embark in Association.
+
+Very well, you are not required to embark in it in the way your
+objection contemplates. You are urged only to contribute to the great
+work according to your ability and in a mode not inconsistent with the
+proper discharge of all your duties. But many who cannot personally
+enlist in the pioneer groups who for the next ten years will be engaged
+in preparing the ground on which Associations are ultimately to arise,
+are yet able to contribute something of their time and means to the
+cause of humanity's emancipation from brutal drudgery.
+
+And this something is eminently needed by that cause. The great work of
+disseminating and defending the principles of social science needs
+pecuniary aid; who will offer it? The secondary work of founding and
+sustaining pioneer Associations also languishes for want of means.
+Ought it to do so? I say founding, not that I would encourage the
+commencement of any new undertaking, but because I consider no
+Association founded as yet. We have a few beginning to clear the ground
+for the work, and that is all.
+
+But in this work noble men and women are engaged; to it they have
+consecrated their energies; for it they suffer hardship and privations,
+and are willing to suffer. But they cannot make their labor truly
+effective without a large increase of capital, in every instance within
+my knowledge. They commenced with little means, in no case sufficient
+to pay for their land and buildings, and generally not half enough.
+They were in need of everything, even of experience and skill to render
+their labor effective, and for a long time two out of every three blows
+they strike are ill-directed or render no immediate return. Thus they
+toil on, needing machinery, power, buildings, everything, to give them
+a chance for rapid progress; and even Associationists stand ready to
+wonder at their snail-paced advance, or reproach their occasional
+failures!
+
+As one Associationist who has given his efforts and means freely to the
+cause, I feel that I have a right to speak frankly. I know that the
+great number of our believers are far from wealthy; yet I know that
+there is wealth enough in our ranks, if it were but devoted to it, to
+give an instant and resistless influence to the cause. A few thousand
+dollars subscribed to the stock of each existing Association would in
+most cases extinguish the mortgages on its property, provide it with
+machinery and materials, and render its industry immediately productive
+and profitable. Then manufacturing invention and skill would fearlessly
+take up their abode with our infant colonies; labor and thrift would
+flow thither, and a new and brighter era would dawn upon them.
+
+Fellow Associationists! I shall do whatever I can for the promotion of
+our common cause; to it whatever I have or may hereafter acquire of
+pecuniary ability is devoted; may I not hope for a like devotion from
+you?
+
+  _A Prophecy. From the Introduction to Fourier's
+  "Theory of Social Organization" translated
+  by Albert Brisbane._
+
+"Among the influences tending to restrict man's industrial rights, I
+will mention the formation of privileged corporations which,
+monopolizing a given branch of industry, arbitrarily close the doors of
+labor against whomsoever they please. These corporations will become
+dangerous, and lead to new convulsions on being extended to the whole
+industrial and commercial system. This event is not far distant and it
+will be brought about all the more easily as it is not apprehended. The
+greatest evils have often sprung from imperceptible germs, as for
+instance, Jacobism, and if our civilization has engendered this and so
+many other calamities, may it not engender others which we do not now
+foresee? The most imminent of these is the birth of a commercial
+feudalism or the monopoly of commerce and industry by joint-stock
+companies, leagued together for the purpose of usurping and controlling
+all branches of industrial organizations. Extremes meet, and the
+greater the extent to which anarchical competition is carried, the
+nearer is the approach to _universal monopoly_, which is the
+opposite excess. Circumstances are tending towards the organization of
+the commercial and industrial classes into federal companies or
+affiliated monopolies, which, operating in conjunction with the great
+landed interest, will reduce the middle and laboring classes to a state
+of commercial vassalage, and by the influence of combined action become
+the masters of the productive industry of entire nations. The small
+operators will be reduced to the position of mere agents working for
+the mercantile coalition. We shall then see the reappearance of
+feudalism in an inverse order, founded on mercantile leagues and
+answering to the baronial leagues of the middle ages.
+
+"Everything is concurring to produce this result. The spirit of
+commercial speculation and financial monopoly has extended to all
+classes. Public opinion prostrates itself before the bankers and
+financiers who share authority with the governments and devise every
+day new means for the monopoly and control of industry.
+
+"We are marching with rapid strides towards a commercial feudalism and
+to the fourth phase of our civilization. The economists accustomed to
+reverence everything which comes in the name and under the sanction of
+commerce, will see this new order spring up without alarm, and will
+consecrate their servile pens to the celebration of its praises. Its
+_debut_ will be one of brilliant promise, but the result will be
+an industrial inquisition, subordinating the whole people to the
+interests of the affiliated monopolists."
+
+Albert Brisbane prefaces this wonderful prophecy by these remarks: "In
+1805 or 6, amid the preoccupation of war and military politics, he
+[Fourier] foresaw and described with accuracy the future formation of
+vast joint-stock companies destined to monopolize and control all
+branches of industry, commerce and finance, and establish what he
+called 'An industrial or commercial feudalism'--a feudalism that would
+control society by the power of capital, as did the old baronial or
+military feudalism by the power of the sword, and as despotically.
+Under the dominion of the great barons who leagued together to control
+the social world there was a monopoly of the then existing wealth,
+namely, the land and the laboring classes. Now, society having passed
+out of the military _regime_, and entered the industrial and
+commercial, it is threatened with another vast system of monopoly."
+
+He concludes as follows: "This was written seventy years ago [it is now
+almost ninety years] when public attention was absorbed in military
+conquests and glory. To-day advanced thinkers on social questions are
+beginning to see the conquest of the industrial and commercial worlds
+by the power of associated capital. To-day the new feudalism has more
+than half entangled society in its meshes, and its complete
+establishment stares us in the face. What perspicuity to have foreseen
+so clearly what is now being realized! If prescience is a test of
+science--if the foretelling of future events is a test of the laws that
+govern them and from which they are deducible, then Fourier must have
+discovered at least some of the laws which govern social evolution.
+
+"A vague opinion prevails among men that society is moving onward to
+its appointed state by what is variously termed the 'force of
+circumstances,' 'the instinct of the race,' 'the general law of
+progress,' 'Divine guidance.' These loose opinions are speculative
+fancies adopted in the absence of real knowledge; whereas the fact is,
+that society can only reach its true state by the conscious and
+calculated efforts of human reason under the direction of an exact
+social science. Men act on this principle when they try to organize any
+part of the social system. When, from necessity, they are forced to
+frame political institutions and organize governments, as they often
+are after revolutions, they do so by conscious calculation and
+reasoning. True, being without a scientific guide, their institutions
+are imperfect and arbitrary; yet these efforts show that man recognizes
+the necessity of calculation and thought in one branch, at least, of
+the social organism. He knows that to have a government, he must think,
+plan and devise; but he does not know that the other branches of the
+social organism are subject to the same conditions, and can only be
+normally constituted by the exercise of conscious reason guided by
+scientific principles. Construction and organization--the same in
+principle in all departments of creation--can only be the work of mind,
+conscious of its operations, planning with forethought; analyzing,
+comparing and combining; adapting means to ends and calculating the
+relations of cause and effect. Instinct cannot organize; Divine
+Providence does not interfere to do the work of reason; no science is
+revealed to man; no constructions or other means are furnished him by
+nature.
+
+"When the human mind shall rise to the conception of the possibility of
+a scientific organization of society, it will at once undertake, as the
+work of paramount importance, the elaboration of a system of exact
+social science. First, however, the laws on which the science is to be
+based must be discovered and combined into a system that will enable
+the mind clearly to comprehend and apply them."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brook Farm, by John Thomas Codman
+
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