'Here I have passed a very pleasant week. The tone of the
society is much sweeter than when I was here a year ago. There
is a pervading spirit of mutual tolerance and gentleness, with
great sincerity. There is no longer a passion for grotesque
freaks of liberty, but a disposition, rather, to study and
enjoy the liberty of law. The great development of mind and
character observable in several instances, persuades me
that this state of things affords a fine studio for the
soul-sculptor. To a casual observer it may seem as if there
was not enough of character here to interest, because there
are no figures sufficiently distinguished to be worth painting
for the crowd; but there is enough of individuality in free
play to yield instruction; and one might have, from a few
months' residence here, enough of the human drama to feed
thought for a long time.'
Thus much for Margaret's impressions of Brook Farm and its inmates.
What influence she in turn exerted on those she met there, may be seen
from the following affectionate tribute, offered by one of the young
girls alluded to in the journal:--
"Would that I might aid even slightly, in doing justice to the
noble-hearted woman whose departure we must all mourn. But I feel
myself wholly powerless to do so; and after I explain what my
relation to her was, you will understand how this can be, without
holding me indolent or unsympathetic.
"When I first met Miss Fuller, I had already cut from my moorings,
and was sailing on the broad sea of experience, conscious that I
possessed unusual powers of endurance, and that I should meet with
sufficient to test their strength. She made no offer of guidance,
and once or twice, in the succeeding year, alluded to the fact
that she 'had never helped me.' This was in a particular sense, of
course, for she helped all who knew her. She was interested in my
rough history, but could not be intimate, in any just sense, with
a soul so unbalanced, so inharmonious as mine then was. For my
part, I reverenced her. She was to me the embodiment of wisdom and
tenderness. I heard her converse, and, in the rich and varied
intonations of her voice, I recognized a being to whom every shade
of sentiment was familiar. She knew, if not by experience then by
no questionable intuition, how to interpret the inner life of
every man and woman; and, by interpreting, she could soothe and
strengthen. To her, psychology was an open book. When she came to
Brook Farm, it was my delight to wait on one so worthy of all
service,--to arrange her late breakfast in some remnants of
ancient China, and to save her, if it might be, some little
fatigue or annoyance, during each day. After a while she seemed to
lose sight of my more prominent and disagreeable peculiarities,
and treated me with affectionate regard."
Being a confirmed Socialist, I often had occasion to discuss with
Margaret the problems involved in the "Combined Order" of life; and
though unmoved by her scepticism, I could not but admire the sagacity,
foresight, comprehensiveness, and catholic sympathy with which she
surveyed this complicated subject. Her objections, to be sure, were of
the usual kind, and turned mainly upon two points,--the difficulty of
so allying labor and capital as to secure the hoped-for coöperation,
and the danger of merging the individual in the mass to such degree
as to paralyze energy, heroism, and genius; but these objections were
urged in a way that brought out her originality and generous hopes.
There was nothing abject, timid, or conventional in her doubts. The
end sought she prized; but the means she questioned. Though pleased
in listening to sanguine visions of the future, she was slow to credit
that an organization by "Groups and Series" would yield due incentive
for personal development, while ensuring equilibrium through exact and
universal justice. She felt, too, that Society was not a machine to be
put together and set in motion, but a living body, whose breath must
be Divine inspiration, and whose healthful growth is only hindered
by forcing. Finally, while longing as earnestly as any Socialist for
"Liberty and Law made one in living union," and assured in faith that
an era was coming of "Attractive Industry" and "Harmony," she
was still for herself inclined to seek sovereign independence in
comparative isolation. Indeed, at this period, Margaret was in spirit
and in thought preëminently a Transcendentalist.
[Footnote A: This was a transitional arrangement only.]