Ours can hardly claim to be the Golden Age, but of Bronze and Iron
rather. If ideas are in the ascendant, still mind is fettered by
mechanism. We scale the heavens to grade the spaces. Messrs. Capital &
Co. transact our business for us the globe over. Was it in the Empire
News that I read the company's advertisement for supplying mankind
with gas at a penny _per diem_ annually? And then, proceeding to say,
"that considering the old-time monopoly in the heavenly luminary, the
corporation has constructed at fabulous cost their Brazen Cope to shut
down upon the horizon at day-break punctually, and so graduate to each
customer's tube his just allowance, else darkness for delinquents the
year round."
Certainly a splendid conception for distributing sunbeams by the Globe
Corporation if the solar partner consent to the speculation. Had Hesiod
the enterprise in mind when he sung,--
"Seek virtue first, and after virtue, coin"?
Or St. Paul, when writing concerning labor and capital: "For I would
not," he says, "that other men should be eased and you burdened, but
by an equality that now at the time your abundance may be a supply for
their want, that their abundance may also be a supply for your want,
that there may be an equality, as it is written, He that had gathered
much, had nothing over, and he that had gathered little, had no lack.
If any man will not work, neither should he eat."
Any attempt to simplify and supply one's wants by abstinence and
self-help is in the most hopeful direction, and serviceable to the
individual whether his experiment succeed or not, the practice of most,
from the beginning, having been to multiply rather than diminish one's
natural wants, and thus to become poor at the cost of becoming rich.
"Who has the fewest wants," said Socrates, "is most like God."
"Who wishes, wants, and whoso wants is poor."
Our "Fruitlands" was an adventure undertaken in good faith for planting
a Family Order here in New England, in hopes of enjoying a pastoral
life with a few devoted men and women, smitten with sentiments of the
old heroism and love of holiness and of humanity. But none of us were
prepared to actualize practically the ideal life of which we dreamed.
So we fell apart, some returning to the established ways, some soured
by the trial, others postponing the fulfilment of his dream to a more
propitious future.[11]
[Footnote 11: "FRUITLANDS.
"We have received a communication from Messrs. Alcott and Lane, dated
from their farm, _Fruitlands_, in Harvard, Massachusetts, from which we
make the following extract:--
"'We have made an arrangement with the proprietor of an estate of about
a hundred acres, which liberates this tract from human ownership. For
picturesque beauty, both in the near and the distant landscape, the
spot has few rivals. A semicircle of undulating hills stretches from
south to west, among which the Wachusett and Monadnock are conspicuous.
The vale, through which flows a tributary to the Nashua, is esteemed
for its fertility and ease of cultivation, is adorned with groves of
nut trees, maples, and pines, and watered by small streams. Distant not
thirty miles from the metropolis of New England, this reserve lies in a
serene and sequestered dell. No public thoroughfare invades it, but it
is entered by a private road. The nearest hamlet is that of Stillriver,
a field's walk of twenty minutes, and the village of Harvard is reached
by circuitous and hilly roads of nearly three miles.
"'Here we prosecute our effort to initiate a Family in harmony with the
primitive instincts in man. The present buildings being ill placed and
unsightly as well as inconvenient, are to be temporarily used, until
suitable and tasteful buildings in harmony with the natural scene can
be completed. An excellent site offers itself on the skirts of the
nearest wood, affording shade and shelter, and commanding a view of the
lands of the estate, nearly all of which are capable of spade culture.
It is intended to adorn the pastures with orchards, and to supersede
ultimately the labor of the plough and cattle, by the spade and the
pruning-knife.
"'Our planting and other works, both without and within doors, are
already in active progress. The present Family numbers ten individuals,
five being children of the founders. Ordinary secular farming is
not our object. Fruit, grain, pulse, garden plants and herbs, flax
and other vegetable products for food, raiment, and domestic uses,
receiving assiduous attention, afford at once ample manual occupation,
and chaste supplies for the bodily needs. Consecrated to human freedom,
the land awaits the sober culture of devout men.
"'Beginning with small pecuniary means, this enterprise must be rooted
in a reliance on the succors of an ever-bounteous Providence, whose
vital affinities being secured by this union with uncorrupted fields
and unworldly persons, the cares and injuries of a life of gain are
avoided.
"'The inner nature of every member of the Family is at no time
neglected. A constant leaning on the living spirit within the soul
should consecrate every talent to holy uses, cherishing the widest
charities. The choice Library (of which a partial catalogue was given
in Dial No. XII) is accessible to all who are desirous of perusing
these records of piety and wisdom. Our plan contemplates all such
disciplines, cultures, and habits as evidently conduce to the purifying
and edifying of the inmates. Pledged to the Spirit alone, the founders
can anticipate no hasty or numerous accession to their numbers. The
kingdom of peace is entered only through the gates of self-denial and
abandonment; and blessedness is the test and the reward of obedience to
the unswerving law of Love.--_The Dial._
"'JUNE 10, 1843.'"]
I certainly esteem it an inestimable privilege to have been bred to
outdoor labors, the use of tools, and to find myself the owner of a
garden, with the advantage of laboring sometimes besides my faithful
Irishman, and compare views of men and things with him. I think myself
the greater gainer of the two by this intercourse. Unbiassed by books,
and looking at things as they stand related to his senses and simple
needs, I learn naturally what otherwise I should not have known so
well, if at all. The sympathy and sincerity are the best part of it.
One sees the more clearly his social relations and duties; sees the
need of beneficent reforms in the economics of labor and capital by
which the working classes shall have their just claims allowed, the
products of hand and brain be more equitably distributed, a finer
sympathy and wiser humanity prevail in the disposition of affairs. No
true man can be indifferent to that great productive multitude, without
whose industry capitalists would have nothing in which to invest;
the callings and the professions lack bread and occupation alike.
Head and hands best co-operate in this interplay of services. Every
gift, besides enriching its owner, should enrich the whole community,
opportunities be opened for the free exercise of all, the golden rule
stand for something besides an idle text. Every one is entitled to a
competence, provided he employs his gifts for the common good. It seems
but right that the gifted should return to the common treasury in the
ratio of their endowments; be taxed at a higher rate than those to whom
like advantages have been denied. Indeed, it is questionable whether
the man who is poor by no fault of his, should be taxed at all; give
him citizenship rather as an inborn right, as a man, not as a mere
producer. Men are loyal from other considerations than self-interest.
One would not check the spirit of accumulation, but the monopoly of the
gift for the sole benefit of the oppressor. A competence, including
every comfort, and even harmless luxuries, is what all men need, all
desire, all might have, were there a fair distribution of the avails
of labor, opportunities for labor of head or hand for all,--the right
to be educated and virtuous included, as the most important. The poor
man cannot compete, practically, successfully, with the rich man, the
laborer with the capitalist, the ignorant with the instructed,--all are
placed at unequal odds, the victims of circumstances which they did not
create, and which those who do may use to their injury if they choose.
The laborer is broken on the wheel his necessities compel him to drive,
feeling the while the wrong done him by those whom he has enriched by
his toil.
No tradition assigns a beginning to justice, but only to injustice.
Before the Silver, the Brazen, the Iron, comes the Golden Age, when
virtue is current, and man at his highest value. It is when man is
degraded that virtue and justice are dishonored, and labor deemed
disreputable.
Poverty may be the philosopher's ornament. Too rich to need, and
self-respecting to receive benefits, save upon terms which render the
receiver the nobler giver, he revenges upon fortune by possessing a
kingdom superior to mischance and incumbrance.
The gold alone but gold can buy,
Wisdom's the sterling currency.