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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.