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.