PRAIRIE HOME COMMUNITY.
This Association (another indigenous production) with several like
attempts, originated with Mr. John O. Wattles, Valentine Nicholson and
others, who, after attending a socialistic convention in New York in
1843, lectured on Association at various places on their way back to
the West. Orson S. Murray, the editor of the _Regenerator_, was also
interested in this Community, and was on his way with his printing
establishment to join it and publish his paper under its auspices,
when he was wrecked on Lake Erie, and lost nearly every thing but his
life.
Prairie Home is a beautiful location near West Liberty in Logan
County, Ohio. The domain consisted of over five hundred acres; half of
which on the hills was well-timbered, and the remainder was in fine
rich fields stretching across the prairie.
The members numbered about one hundred and thirty, nearly all of whom
were born and bred in the West. Of foreigners there were only two
Englishmen and one German. Most of the members were agriculturists.
Many of them had been Hicksite Quakers. A few were from other sects,
and some from no sect at all. There were but few children.
A few months before the dissolution of this Community Macdonald
visited it, and staid several days. His gossiping report of what he
saw and heard gives as good an inside view of the transitory species
of Associations as any we find in his collections. We quote the most
of it:
_Macdonald's visit at Prairie Home._
"On arriving at West Liberty I inquired eagerly for the
Community; but when very coldly and doubtfully told that it was
somewhere down the Urbana road, and seeing that folks in the
town did not seem to know or care much where it was, my ardor
sensibly abated, and I began to doubt whether it was much of an
affair after all; but I pushed on, anxious at once to see the
place.
"On reaching the spot where I was told I should find the
Community, I turned off from the main road up a lane, and soon
met a gaunt-looking individual, rough but very polite, having
the look of a Quaker, which I afterwards found he was. He spoke
kindly to me, and directed me where to go. There was a two-story
frame house at the entrance of the lane, which belonged to the
Community; also a log cabin at the other corner of the lane.
After walking a short distance I arrived at another two-story
frame house, opposite to which was a large flour-mill on a
little stream, and an old saw-mill, looking very rough. At the
door of the dwelling-house there was a group of women and girls,
picking wool; and as it was just noon, many men came in from
various parts of the farm to take their dinner. At the back of
the house there was a long shed, with a rough table down the
center, and planks for seats on each side, on which thirty or
forty people sat. I was kindly received by them, and invited to
dinner; and a good dinner it was, consisting of coarse brown
bread piled up in broken lumps, dishes of large potatoes
unpeeled, some potato-soup, and a supply of melons for a second
course.
"I sat beside a Dr. Hard, who noticed that I took a little salt
with my potatoes, and remarked to me that if I abstained from
it, I would have my taste much more perfect. There was but
little salt on the table, and I saw no person touch it. There
was no animal food of any kind except milk, which one or two of
them used. They all appeared to eat heartily. The women waited
upon the table, but the variety of dishes being small, each
person so attended to himself that waiting was rendered almost
unnecessary. All displayed a rude politeness.
"After dinner I fell in with a cabinet-maker, a young man from
Bond street, London, and had quite a chat with him; also an
elderly man from England, John Wood by name, who was acquainted
with the socialistic movement in that country. I then went to
see the man work the saw-mill, and was much pleased with his
apparent interest and industry.
"Not finding the acquaintance I was in search of at this place,
and hearing that he was at another Community or branch of
Prairie Home, about nine miles distant in a northerly direction
(which they called the Upper Domain or Highland Home or
Zanesfield), I determined to see him that night, and after
obtaining necessary information I started on my journey.
"The walk was long, and it was dark before I reached the
Community farm. At length the friendly bow-wow of a dog told of
the habitable dwelling, and soon I was in the comfortable and
pretty looking farm house at Highland Home. This Community
consisted of only ten or twelve persons. Here I found my friend,
and after a wholesome Grahamite supper of corn-bread, apple-pie
and milk, I had a long conversation with him and others on
Community matters. I put many questions to them, all of which
were answered satisfactorily. Here is a specimen of our
dialogue:
"Do you make laws? No. Does the majority govern the minority?
No. Have you any delegated power? No. Any kind of government?
No. Do you express opinions and principles as a body? No. Have
you any form of society or test for admission of members? No. Do
you assist runaway slaves? Yes. Must you be Grahamites? No. Do
you object to religionists? No. What are the terms of admission?
The land is free to all; let those who want, come and use it.
Any particular trades? No. Can persons take their earnings away
with them when they leave? Yes.
"Their leading principle, they repeatedly told me, was to
endeavor to practice the golden rule, 'Do as you would be done
by.'
"The next morning I took a walk round the farm. It was a nice
place, and appeared to have been well kept formerly, but now
there was some disorder. The workmen appeared to be without
clear ideas of the duties they were to perform. It seemed as if
they had not made up their minds what they could do, or what
they intended to do. Some of them were feeble-looking men, and
in conversation with them I ascertained that several, both here
and at Prairie Home, had adopted the present mode of Grahamite
living to improve their health.
"Phrenology seemed to be pretty generally understood, and I was
surprised to hear rude-looking men, almost ragged, ploughing,
fence-making, and in like employments, converse so freely upon
Phrenology, Physiology, Magnetism, Hydropathy, &c. The
_Phrenological Journal_ was taken by several of them.
"I visited a neighboring farm, said to belong to the Community,
the residence, I believe, of Horton Brown, with whom I had an
interesting conversation on religion and Community matters. He
said they took the golden rule as their guide, 'Do unto others
as ye would have others do unto you.' I reminded him that even
the golden rule was subject to individual interpretation, and
might be misinterpreted.
"_Saturday, August 25, 1844._--I noticed several persons here
were sick with various complaints, and those who were not sick
labored very leisurely. During the day four men arrived from
Indiana to see the place and 'join the Community;' but there
were no accommodations for them. They reported quite a stir in
Indiana in regard to the Community.
"In the afternoon my friend was ready to return to Cincinnati,
whither he was going to try and induce his family to come to
Zanesfield. We walked to Prairie Home that evening. At night we
were directed to sleep at the two-story frame house at the
entrance of the lane. At that place there seemed to be much
confusion; too many people and too many idlers among them. The
young women were most industrious, attending to the supper table
and the provisions in a very steady, business-like manner; but
the young men were mostly lounging about doing nothing. At
bed-time there were too many persons for each to be accommodated
with a bed; so the females all went up stairs and slept as they
could; and the males slept below, all spread out in rows upon
the floor. This was unpleasant, and as the sequel proved, could
not long be endured.
"_Prairie Home, Sunday, August 26._--In the morning, there was a
social meeting of all the members. The weather was too wet and
cold for them to meet on the hills, as was intended; so they
adjourned to the flour-mill, and seated themselves as best they
could, on chairs and planks, men and women all together. Such a
meeting as this was quite a novel sight for me. There was no
chairman, no secretary and no constitution or by-laws to
preserve order. Yet I never saw a more orderly meeting. The
discussions seemed chiefly relating to agricultural matters. One
man rose and stated that there was certain plowing to be done on
the following day, and if it was thought best by the brothers
and sisters, he would do it. Another rose and said he would
volunteer to do the plowing if the first one pleased, and he
might do something else. There appeared to be some competition
in respect to what each should do, and yet a strong
non-resistant principle was manifest, which seemed to smooth
over any difficulty. There was some talk about money and the
lease of the property, and several persons spoke, both male and
female, apparently just as the spirit moved them. At the close
of the meeting some singing was attempted, but it was very poor
indeed. The folks scattered to the houses for dinner, and as
usual took a pretty good supply of the potatoes, potato-soup,
brown bread, apples and apple butter, together with large
quantities of melons of various kinds.
"Owing to the cold weather the people were all huddled together
inside the houses. The rooms were too small, and many of the
young men were compelled to sleep in the mill. Altogether there
were too many persons brought together for the scanty
accommodations of the place.
"_Monday, August 27._--The wind blew hard, and threw down a
large stack of hay. It was interesting to see the rapidity with
which a group of volunteers put it in order again. The party
seemed to act with perfect union.
"Several persons arrived to join the Community; among the rest a
farmer and his family in a large wagon, with a lot of household
stuff.
"I watched several men at work in different places, and to one
party I could not help expressing myself thus: 'If you fail, I
will give it up; for never did I see men work so well or so
brotherly with each other.' But all were not thus industrious;
for I saw some who merely crawled about (probably sick), just
looking on like myself, at any thing which fell in their way.
There was evident disorder, showing a transition state toward
either harmony or anarchy. I am sorry to say, it too soon proved
to be the latter.
"After dinner some one suggested having a meeting to talk about
a plow. With some little exertion they managed to get ten or
twelve men together. Then they sat down and reasoned with each
other at great length. But it was very uneconomical, I thought,
to bring so many persons together from their work, to talk so
much about so small a matter. A plow had to be repaired; some
one must and did volunteer to go to the town with it; he wanted
money to pay for it; there was no money; he must take a bag of
corn or wheat, and trade that off to pay for the repairs; a
wagon had to be got out; two horses put to it, and a journey of
some miles made, and nearly a day of time expended about such a
trifling job.
"I went to see the saw-mill at work; found one or two men
engaged at it. They were working for customers, and got a
certain portion of the lumber for what they sawed. I then went
into an old log cabin and found my acquaintance, the
cabinet-maker. On my inquiring how he liked Community, he told
me the following story: He came from London to find friends in
Indiana, and brought with him a fine chest of tools. On his
arrival, he found his friends about to start for Community; so
he came with them. He brought his tools with him, but left them
at Zanesfield, and came down here. The folks at Zanesfield,
wanting a plane, a saw and chisels, and knowing that his box was
there, having no key, actually broke open the box, and under the
influence of the common-property idea, helped themselves to the
tools, and spoiled them by using them on rough work. He had got
his chest away from there. He said he had no objection to their
using the tools, if they knew how and did not spoil them. I saw
one or two large chisels with pieces chipped out of them and
planes nicked by nails, all innocently and ignorantly done by
the brothers, who scarcely saw any wrong in it.
"It was interesting to see the groups of unshaven men. There
were men between forty and fifty years of age, who had shaved
all their lives before, but now they let their beards grow, and
looked ferocious. The young men looked well, and some of them
rather handsome, with their soft beards and hair uncut; but the
elderly ones did certainly look ugly. There was a German of a
thin, gaunt figure, about fifty years of age, with a large,
stubby, gray beard, and an ill-tempered countenance.
"John Wood, the Englishman, a pretty good specimen, blunt,
open-hearted and independent, had got three pigs in a pen, which
he fed and took care of. They were the only animals on the
place, except the horses. But exercising his rights, he said,
'If the rest of them did not want meat, he _did_--for he liked a
bit o'meat.'
"I was informed that all the animals on the place, when the
Community took possession of the domain, were allowed to go
where they pleased; or those who wanted them were free to take
them.
"Before the meeting on Sunday, groups of men stood round the
house talking; some two or three of them, including John Wood
and the Dutchman (as he was called) were cleaning themselves up
a bit; and John had blackened and polished his boots; after
which he carefully put the blacking and brushes away. Out came
the Dutchman and looked round for the same utensils. Not seeing
them, he asked the Englishman for the 'prushes.' So John brings
them out and hands them to him. Whereupon the Dutchman marches
to the front of the porch, and in wrathful style, with the
brushes uplifted in his hand, he addresses the assembled crowd:
'He-ar! lookee he-ar! Do you call dis Community? Is dis common
property? See he-ar! I ask him for de prushes to placken mine
poots, and he give me de prushes, and _not give me de
placking_!' This was said with great excitement. 'He never saw
such community as dat; he could not understand; he tought every
ting was to be common to all!' But John Wood good-humoredly
explained that he had bought a box of blacking for himself, and
if he gave it to every one who wanted to black boots, he would
very soon be without any; so he shut it up for his own use, and
those who wanted blacking must buy it for themselves.
"I noticed there was some carelessness with the farm tools.
There was a small shed in which all the scythes, hoes, axes,
&c., were supposed to be deposited when not in use. But they
were not always returned there. It appeared that these tools
were used indiscriminately by any one and every one, so that one
day a man would have one ax or scythe, and the next day another.
This was evidently not agreeable in practice; for every
working-man well knows that he forms attachments for certain
tools, as much as he does for friends, and his hand and heart
get used to them, as it were, so that he can use them better
than he can strange ones.
"With these few notices of failings, I must say I never saw a
better-hearted or more industrious set of fellows. They appeared
to struggle hard to effect something, yet it seemed evident that
something was lacking among them to make things work well. It
might have been organized laws, or government of some kind; it
might have been a definite bond of union, or a prominent leader.
It is certain there was some power or influence needed, to
direct the force mustered there, and make it work economically
and harmoniously.
"People kept coming and going, and were ready to do something;
but there was nobody to tell them what to do, and they did not
know what to do themselves. They had to eat, drink and sleep;
and they expected to obtain the means of doing so; but they
seemed not to reflect who was going to supply these means, or
where they were to come from. Some seemed greedy and reckless,
eating all the time, cutting melons out of the garden and from
among the corn, eating them and throwing the peels and seeds
about the foot-paths and door-ways.
"There was an abundance of fine corn on the domain, abundance of
melons of all kinds, and, I believe, plenty of apples at the
upper Community. Much provision had been brought and sent there
by farmers who had entered into the spirit of the cause. For
instance there were some wagon-loads of potatoes and apples
sent, as well as quantities of unbolted wheat meal, of which the
bread was made.
"On my asking about the idlers, the reply was, 'Oh! they will
not stop here long; it is uncongenial to lazy people to be among
industrious ones; and for their living, it don't cost much more
than fifty cents per week, and they can surely earn that.'
"At the Sunday meeting before mentioned, the enthusiasm of some
was great. One man said he left his home in Indiana; he had a
house there, which he thought at first to reserve in case of
accident; but he finally concluded that if he had any thing to
fall back upon, he could not give his heart and soul to the
cause as he wanted to; so he gave up every thing he possessed,
and put it into Community. Others did the same, while some had
reserved property to fall back upon. Some said they had lands
which they would put into the Community, if they could get rid
of them; but the times were so hard that there was much scarcity
of money, and the lands would not sell.
"From all I saw I judged that the Community was too loosely put
together, and that they had not entire confidence in each other;
and I left them with forebodings.
"The experiment lasted scarcely a year. On the 25th of October,
about two months after my visit, they had a meeting to talk over
their affairs. More than three thousand dollars had been paid on
the property; but the land owner was pressed with a mortgage,
and so pressed them. One man sold his farm and got part of the
required sum ready to pay. Others who owned farms could not sell
them; and the consequence was, that according to agreement they
were obliged to give up the papers; so they surrendered the
domain and all upon it, into the hands of the original
proprietor.
"The members then scattered in various directions. Several were
considerable losers by the attempt, while many had nothing to
lose. At the present time I learn that there are men and women
of that Community who are still ready with hands and means to
try the good work again. The cause of failure assigned by the
Communists was their not owning the land they settled upon; but
I think it very doubtful whether they could have kept together
if the land had been free; for as I have before said, there was
something else wanted to make harmony in labor."