SOLARIS FARM.
One year from the time Fillmore Flagg left Fairy Fern Cottage on his
trip to the west, we find him at "Solaris Farm," the title chosen for
the model or experimental co-operative farm. The location was nearly
midway, on one of the through lines of railway which connect St. Louis,
the great central city of the Mississippi valley, with the gulf and
inland cities of the mammoth state of Texas.
The land was beautifully located, the soil was rich and easy to
cultivate. The entire tract was well watered by a fine, clear, swift
flowing stream. In extent, the farm comprised ten sections, laying
compactly together, and making in all, 6,400 acres of choice land. Nine
of the sections formed a perfect square, each of the four sides being
three miles in length. The tenth section joined the west line of the
south-west section in the square, which made the south line of the farm
four miles in length. The railroad passed through the farm near the
north line of the southern tier of sections, touching on the way an
ideal site for the farm village. About four thousand acres of the land
was broad, rolling prairie, combined with a large proportion of
unusually rich river bottom, both well adapted to the growth of a great
variety of crops. The remainder of the farm presented a rough, broken
surface, with a soil not so rich, sometimes quite poor and gravelly, but
being protected by a great bend in the river, was well covered by a
valuable growth of timber. The surface of the roughest ground covered
large deposits of lead, zinc, mica and several varieties of choice clay.
Numerous bold bluffs contained fine quarries of excellent stone for
building purposes, also for an abundant supply of lime and cement. A
number of the ridges offered unlimited quantities of gravel and sand.
Here and there several rich veins of a very good quality of bituminous
coal cropped out.
In making his preliminary examination, the quick eye of Fillmore Flagg
soon discovered that this eighteen-hundred-acre tract, of what the
owners considered their poorest lands, marred and disfigured by a tangle
of undergrowth, a confusion of unsightly rocks, gullies and bluffs; was
in reality a treasure, a vast store of choice material for coming needs.
When the ten sections, including this broken tract, were offered for the
lump sum of thirty two thousand dollars, Fillmore Flagg quickly closed
the bargain. He was confident that at last, after many weeks of patient
searching, a most desirable site for the initial farm had been secured,
at the low average price of five dollars per acre. No wonder he was
elated and proud of his achievement! The remaining lands of the township
were sparsely settled by about fifty families, generally occupying large
ranches.
Acting on Fern Fenwick's advice, as soon as the site of the model farm
was chosen, Fillmore Flagg prepared an advertisement for publication in
three of the leading spiritual papers, setting forth the purposes of
the organization, together with the requirements necessary for
membership. The applications which soon followed were so numerous that
at the end of the first three months he had been able to complete a very
choice selection for the colony. Before the end of the next three
months, he had placed them on the farm, prepared for active work.
In the accomplishment of this remarkable feat in so short a time, he had
the able assistance of his trusted friends, George and Gertrude Gerrish,
who were, from the beginning, most thoroughly in sympathy with him and
eager to join him in the work. Fillmore Flagg had known them from
childhood and had learned to appreciate them as progressive people of
the most pronounced type, who were honest, courageous, and gifted to a
high degree with the power to win the love and confidence of all who
knew them.
George and Gertrude Gerrish were born and reared on Nebraska farms, near
the home of Fillmore Flagg. George was thirty-five; Gertrude, younger by
three years. They had been married fifteen years and were noted as a
handsome couple, being large, tall, straight and finely formed, with
strong, even temperaments. Their only son, Gilbert, was a delicate lad,
in his fourteenth year, handsome, spirituelle and intellectual to a
remarkable degree. He was a real genius, passionately fond of books, art
and music; already an accomplished player on both the piano and violin.
Yet withal, he was very reticent, sensitive and shy, on account of his
small size and deformed body, the result of spinal trouble caused by a
fall while an infant.
The Gerrish family, for the eight years previous, had resided in St.
Louis, where George and Gertrude were employed as teachers. When
Fillmore Flagg made them a visit while on his way west from Newburgh, he
was both surprised and delighted to find them spiritualists.
They at once became interested in his mission, and his plans for the
establishment of a model co-operative farm. At his urgent request, they
promised to move at once to the farm, whenever located, in order to be
prepared to receive the colonists properly as soon as they should
commence to assemble. This promise Fillmore Flagg considered a most
extraordinary piece of good fortune, and so it proved.
As a result of this wisely planned co-operative work, at the end of the
first six months, a carefully selected, most efficient colony, of five
hundred adults and one hundred and fifty children, had been assembled
and organized; the business of the incorporation completed; the stock
all taken; the officers chosen and a general plan of the work prepared.
George Gerrish was chosen as President of the Solaris Farm Company,
Fillmore Flagg was made trustee and general manager. The members of the
company were young and strong, accustomed to farm labor, full of
enthusiasm for pushing forward the work. They were all wide awake and
progressive, quick to perceive and appreciate the importance and
advantage of applying co-operative thought and co-operative work to
systematic farming on a large scale. They were thoroughly in earnest and
equally determined to make the model farm a complete success. With such
an army of vigorous, intelligent workers, it was easy to accomplish
before the close of the first year, the magical changes which had been
effected at the farm.
The land had all been surveyed, examined and tested; the farm carefully
subdivided and platted, with a view to keeping a complete record, which
should include a debit and credit account with each subdivision. The
size and boundaries of these tracts were determined with reference to
the capacity of the soil to best produce certain kinds or crops of
grains, grasses, vegetables, vines, berries, fruits or trees. The crests
of ridges, and all rough, gravelly lands, were set apart for timber,
fruit and vineyard culture; the separate areas to be devoted to these
three classes were carefully calculated, described and marked on the
plat. The number of roads required to connect the various fields and
subdivisions with the village, were laid out and made passable by
building the necessary bridges.
The site selected for the village was quite near to the railroad, and
large enough to give abundant space for future factories, shops, lawns
and ornamental pleasure grounds. The whole was graded, well drained and
artistically laid out around the four sides of a spacious central
square. A large, well constructed freight and passenger station, of
Solaris brick, was built and established at the most convenient point on
the railroad. In this building were the post office, express office and
telegraph office, all in excellent business form and perfect working
order.
The manufacture of brick had been one of the first industries developed
at the farm. An inexhaustable supply of most excellent clay had been
discovered just at the edge of the village site, and speedily connected
with it by a short tramway. From this clay the product of Solaris brick
proved in every way desirable. In form, color, size and design, they
were much superior to ordinary brick. With them, the builder could, in
one half the time, with less cement, construct walls that were thick,
solid and durable, yet presenting beautiful surfaces both inside and
outside. These walls would remain for many years in perfect sanitary
condition, kept free from dampness by the dry air circulation, due to
the constructive design of the brick. The very fine appearance of the
new railroad station, so advertised the beauty and excellence of Solaris
brick, that orders from abroad soon came pouring in. To fill these
orders without delaying the work on the village buildings, it became
necessary to double the size of the brick-making plant; also to increase
the number of workers. The unexpected development of such a large and
profitable allied industry, at almost the first stage of the preparatory
work at the farm, so encouraged Fillmore Flagg and his co-workers, so
stimulated and quickened the spirit of inventive genius, that thereafter
the efficiency and capacity of the machinery kept pace with the steadily
increasing demand for brick, that too without further adding to the
working force or to the size of the plant.
A deeper excavation of the clay beds brought to light a much finer class
of clays, which proved so excellent for the purposes of manufacturing
general pottery, terra cotta ware, drain tiles and sewer pipe, that in
connection with the brick works, a factory for making that kind of
material was at once put in operation. The tramway was extended a half
mile further from the village to reach the newly-opened stone quarries
and coal mines, passing on the way large deposits of sand and gravel. By
means of the tramway, an abundant supply of all kinds of the necessary
materials could be placed on the building site very quickly. The best of
stone for the foundations, quantities of brick, lime, sand and cement
were at hand, waiting for the builder. All this made possible the swift
construction of superior buildings, equipped with all of the modern
improvements, including artistic ornamentation.
As a result, before the expiration of the first six months after the
arrival of the co-operators, the following buildings had been completed
and were ready for use: On the south side of the public square, fronting
north; one large mill for grinding flour and feed; one extensive
building, large enough to be occupied as a saw mill and planing mill,
machine, carpenter, repair and blacksmith shop all combined. On the
north side of the square, fronting south; one large three story and
basement block of apartment houses, sufficiently capacious to
accommodate eight hundred people. The three upper stories were high
enough to afford twelve-foot ceilings between the floors. The rooms were
large, well lighted, well ventilated, and so arranged on each floor as
to offer to every family a parlor, sitting room, dining room, two bed
rooms, one bath room, and a kitchen. The basement of the entire block
was furnished and fitted to be used as a restaurant, with the necessary
dining rooms, kitchens, furnace rooms, store rooms and cellars. The
light frame dwellings, located on one of the rear streets, which had
given a temporary shelter to the people until the completion of the
apartment house, were now utilized as work rooms, seed rooms, assorting
rooms, store rooms, and for dairy and apiary purposes. On the west side
of the square, fronting east, just across the corner from the apartment
house, the well-appointed hall of Education and Amusement was erected.
It was three stories high, seventy five feet wide, and one hundred and
fifty feet long. The upper story was entirely devoted to the library,
assembly and amusement hall, with its large stage, numerous offices and
ante rooms. The lower rooms were arranged to be used for the business
offices of the farm, the spacious school rooms for its one hundred and
fifty children, the printing office and editorial rooms of the press
club, and the eleven additional club rooms reserved for the use of the
adults. On the same side of the square, fronting eastward and separated
from the hall of amusement and education by one hundred feet of space,
was the Solaris company store; four stories high, two hundred feet wide,
two hundred feet long, built around three sides of a beautifully
arranged rose and flower garden. The two lower stories were used to
display a large stock of general merchandise, while the upper stories
were occupied by the force engaged in the manufacture of general
clothing, underwear, and in tailoring and dress making. All of these
fine structures were built of Solaris brick, with cut stone foundations;
the ornamental brick used in the fronts were especially designed for the
purpose and proved wonderfully effective. In every particular the
buildings were a credit to the company, being beautifully planned,
skillfully constructed, and located with due regard for architectural
effect. From the preparation of the stone, the making of the brick, lime
and mortar, to the final completion of the buildings, including the
making and laying of the sewer pipes, nineteen-twentieths of the total
cost was represented by the labor of the co-operators. Of course they
were led and taught by a few skilled workmen, directed by Fillmore
Flagg, who had prepared the plans. The remarkable success achieved,
proved a good lesson in the economics of co-operation, of the utmost
significance and value; a lesson which filled the hearts of the members
of the company with pride and joy, riveted and clinched their devotion
to the model farm and opened their eyes to the possibilities of the
future.
Having finished this first series of buildings for immediate use,
attention was given to the matter of improving the appearance of the
public square. In the center of the broad, smooth green, stood the tall,
straight flag-pole; from its top floated the stars and stripes. Eastward
from the foot of the flag-staff, and slightly raised above the grassy
surface of the smoothly shaven lawn, was spread a living flag in true
colors, red, white and blue. This flag was of magnificent proportions,
twenty-five feet in width by fifty feet in length, and presented such an
effective appearance that it soon became the pride and delight of the
farm children, an object of never failing interest, a beautiful living
motto which expressed their appreciation of patriotism.
While the building operations were being pushed forward, a carefully
selected force of workers had been equally busy in making numerous
agricultural improvements. Two thousand acres of virgin soil had been
broken up and prepared for planting. One hundred acres of the best of
this newly upturned soil, so clean and free from weeds, had been planted
with a well selected series of vegetables, capable of producing a
remunerative crop of assorted garden seeds. The series included all of
the best known varieties with the addition of several new ones. As a
result of skillful culture and favorable conditions, a great many tons
of choice seeds had been grown, gathered and prepared for market. Large
propagating gardens had been fitted and seeded with reference to the
future demands of fruit and forestry culture. An abundant supply of all
kinds of vegetables for farm use had been grown and stored. Goodly crops
of corn, oats and potatoes, grown and harvested. Plenty of hay cut,
cured and housed. Pastures, roomy enough to accommodate large herds of
horses and cattle, securely enclosed, supplied with water and the proper
shelter. Small herds of fine cattle and horses secured and well provided
for. These herds were selected chiefly for breeding purposes, while a
sufficient number of mules were purchased for the needs of the farm
work. The bees in the well stocked apiary had already gathered a fine
supply of honey from the wild flowers of the surrounding prairies. The
extensive yards and buildings prepared for poultry farming on an
unusually large scale, were so well stocked and in such fine condition
as to promise large profits at an early day.
In reviewing the work at the close of the first year, which included
many important items not yet enumerated, the general results were so
satisfactory that the officers and members of the Solaris Farm Company
were very much encouraged. Owing to sales of seeds and brick in such
considerable quantities, together with the manufacture at the farm of
almost every kind of building material, the sum advanced by Fern
Fenwick, the patroness, for farm buildings and equipment was less than
one-half the amount named in Fillmore Flagg's estimate. The amount
required for the coming year would be very much less.
The general plan provided for and embraced the supplementing of
agricultural work by a series of allied manufactures, such as naturally
grew out of the needs of the farm: carpentering, blacksmithing, machine
work and repairing, furniture making, turning, polishing, painting,
staining and general wood working and finishing, pattern making, broom
and brush making, a factory for spinning rope and cordage, basket and
all kinds of osier weaving, brick making, pottery and all kinds of clay
or porcelain work; together with many other things that would suggest
themselves as time passed and the capacity of the farm was increased by
the invention of better machinery and superior methods.
The application of inventive genius on the part of the co-operators to
operations at the brick works and pottery, had already proved equal to
the demands of any emergency which might arise. The great variety of
these added employments would afford a pleasant change from the monotony
and routine of ordinary farm work. They could be pursued sometimes for
weeks together, when legitimate farm work would be out of season, in
this way so greatly increasing the products and profits of the farm,
that the bonanza farm of the capitalist, which depended on wheat growing
alone for profits, could no longer successfully compete.
After much discussion by the board of management and the officers of the
company, it was decided with the unanimous consent of the membership,
that eight hours should be considered a day's work--six hours for the
farm work, with two hours additional to be devoted to such of the
manufacturing works as the member might choose. This course proved
entirely satisfactory; it soon gave to the farm an able corps of skilled
workmen, at the same time augmenting the collective power of the
membership to do more effective co-operative thinking for the
advancement of the best interests and general welfare of all.
In the matter of wages, a uniform price of three dollars per day was
fixed for each member of the company; this amount was diminished by
deducting ten per cent for the sinking fund, five per cent for the
general service fund, and five cents daily from each member for the
special fund. The special fund was for the purposes of education and
amusement. After subtracting these deductions, two dollars and fifty
cents were left as the net per diem pay of each one. The assessments
provided the goodly sum of $54,000 00 annually for the sinking fund,
$27,000 00 for the general service fund, and $9,000 00 for the special
fund.
The Solaris Farm company was incorporated for ninety-nine years, with a
provision for re-incorporation at the expiration of that period. This
provision practically made the company a perpetual institution. The
stock of the company was capitalized at $250,000 00, and divided into
one thousand shares, with a par value of $250 00 each. The number of
share holders or subscribers was limited to five hundred adults, about
two hundred and fifty couples or families; at the end of five years, two
shares of stock were issued to each subscriber, male or female, married
or single. This stock, however, could not be issued until $45,000 00 had
been paid into the sinking fund. With the issue of the stock, the
purchase price of the farm should be paid from the sinking fund to
Fillmore Flagg, the trustee, who would then deed the farm to the
corporation. Thereafter the company was to maintain a sinking fund amply
sufficient to provide such additional farms as the children of its
members might need.
In accordance with his instructions from Fennimore Fenwick, the money
received in this way by Fillmore Flagg, was to be held by him as a
trust for the purchase of other farms. It was further provided that the
Solaris Farm company retained the sole right to purchase all stock which
might be offered for sale.
The general service fund was to be used in defraying the expense of
stocking, equipping and improving the farm.
It was also determined that settlements made with members, who from any
cause might wish to leave the company, should be made on a basis of two
dollars and fifty cents per day for the time they had been co-operators,
with the return of whatever capital they might have invested plus
interest at three per cent per annum; all stock subscribed for to return
to the company's treasury.
The general plan further provided for the erection of separate cottages,
with small gardens adjoining, for the use and occupancy of such families
as might desire them. The apartment house, now completed, had many of
its suites of rooms arranged for independent housekeeping, but so far,
the members of the company preferred to take their meals at the company
restaurant, paying for them the ordinary prices. They also preferred to
patronize the laundry, general clothing, tailoring and dress-making
departments which were connected with the company store. To prevent any
conflict with the commercial interests of the outside world, the
restaurant and the company store sold food and goods at the ruling
market prices for first-class articles, realizing that it was plainly
the policy of the company to keep only the best of everything for
sale--the generous profits from all sales to go as a general
contribution from the entire membership to the insurance fund for the
helpless and the aged. As liberal wages afforded ample means, large
purchases were encouraged, and all tendency toward a miserly hoarding
was discouraged. It was marked that all the members were quick to
appreciate the fact that the more liberal their purchases, the more
generously they swelled the fund that was set apart to provide for the
needs and happiness of declining years. With each passing month it was
observed that this particular feature of insurance continued to grow in
popular favor.
To enable the company to dispense with a great deal of expensive
bookkeeping, to do business with a small amount of actual cash, and at
the same time add another check against the disposition to hoard money;
the payment of wages to the members of the company was made in Solaris
scrip, good at its face value for all purchases made from the company.
Whenever cash was needed by any of the members, an order on the
treasurer drawn by the president and approved by the general manager,
could easily be obtained for reasonable amounts. On presentation of the
order, U. S. legal tenders to the amount specified, would be exchanged
for the scrip, dollar for dollar; the treasurer cancelling this scrip by
stamping across its face the date of the exchange and the name of the
member, retaining the cancelled scrip as his voucher for the
disbursement of the money. When scrip was exchanged at the store for
goods, it was cancelled in the same way by the manager of the store. The
plan seemed to work without friction and gave general satisfaction.
At the beginning of each month an executive committee, composed of three
men and three women, was chosen by the members of the company. This
committee, with the general manager as chairman, made an order of work
for each day and assigned the members to the different kinds of work
named in the order. These assignments were always accepted cheerfully.
The co-operators without exception and without murmur worked steadily
and with zeal for one common result. They were keenly alive to both the
importance and the advantages of this new kind of co-operative work,
which gave them so many hours of leisure for rest and recreation. With
the experience of each passing month, they realized more than ever
before that sixteen hours out of the twenty-four so devoted, soon
stimulated and reinforced the vital energies to such an extent that
active labor seemed really desirable. As a matter of fact, each day they
began to look forward eagerly to the six hours of farm work and the two
hours additional of skilled labor, as opportunities which gave them
refreshing and delightful exercise. Exercise that was necessary to
promote health and happiness--exercise which left them with an added
relish and brighter mental conditions for the enjoyment of the hours of
study and amusement that were to follow. Here again, the wisdom of
nature's law of compensation was demonstrated. A grave question of the
utmost importance to the progress of mankind was for them forever
settled. The discovery had dawned on the minds of these people that
labor, no longer a curse, was in reality nature's richest blessing!
Among the more important improvements on the farm which Fillmore Flagg
had carefully planned, was the necessary preparatory work on the large
propagating gardens, located near the river, not far from the village.
In connection with the construction of the village water works, at the
time of the grading and sewering of the village grounds, these gardens
were furnished with a complete system of irrigating pipes. These,
together with the thousands of pots required at a later period, were
made in the pottery at the brick works--another product of farm labor.
With such a complete control of the necessary moisture, the sprouting
process in the long seed beds proved unusually successful. These beds,
which covered several acres of very rich soil, were thickly planted with
all kinds of fruit and tree-bearing seeds; together with grape cuttings,
mulberries for the silkworm culture, quinces, currants, tea plants, a
great variety of berries, a fine selection of ornamental shrubbery,
dwarf fruit trees, roses, and many other plants besides. The young
plants soon reached a stage of growth where potting became necessary in
order to make them strong, well grown, independent young shoots, ready
at any time to be transplanted without injury into nursery rows, the
vineyard or the berry plots.
To pot the contents of these beds required the labor of many hands,
consequently the task furnished a pleasant, congenial employment for a
major part of the female co-operators. A large, well floored, wide
roofed shed was constructed just at the edge of the gardens nearest the
village. It was wide enough to accommodate two rows of roomy tables, and
of a length sufficient for fifty tables in each row. Adjoining the end
of the potting shed towards the village, was the storehouse, containing
quantities of prepared soil and a large supply of assorted pots. A
double track system of narrow tramways passed between the rows of
tables, on its way from the storehouse to the different seed beds in all
parts of the garden. On this tramway the little cars came from the
storehouse to the tables, laden with supplies of pots and prepared
soil; these they exchanged for trays of potted plants to be returned to
the seed beds. In returning from the gardens on the other track, they
brought cargoes of shallow trays filled with little plantlets just
lifted from the seed beds. This cargo-bearing process, on the part of
the tram cars, continued throughout the day as often as required, making
light work for all concerned. To witness the work under the shed as it
goes bravely on is a pleasing sight. Let us pause a moment to enjoy it.
At each table are two operators, who may sit or stand while they work.
Protected by strong gloves, the deft fingers swiftly fly--the long,
double lines of maidens and matrons are as merry as crickets! The buzz
of musical chatter, song and story, inspires the work, fitting time with
swift pinions and transforming such toil into six hours of fun and
frolic!
This class of work proved so charming that a majority of the women
preferred it to employment in the apiary, dairy, nursery, school,
office, restaurant, or any department of the company store.
With this glimpse of the general development of Solaris Farm, its
improvements and its people, during the first year, we discover that
Fillmore Flagg has been a very busy man; that his skill, inventive
genius, and executive ability have been tried severely; that he has been
able to respond to the demands of every occasion. However, such was his
confidence in the wisdom of Fern Fenwick, that when he found himself
puzzled or in doubt, he relied largely on her advice to suggest some
proper solution for each vexing question. He had, from the beginning,
furnished her with a complete history of every stage of the development
of the farm, along with his weekly reports. At the close of each one he
gave a list of topics on which her opinions were solicited; the
suggestions in her replies led to such a speedy unraveling of the
tangled situations and troublesome questions, that Fillmore Flagg was
impressed more than ever, with her excellent judgment and the brilliancy
of her genius. His admiration grew; his love grew faster! In his
personal letters, transmitting the weekly reports, the expression of
these sentiments of admiration and adoration continued to grow in force
and fervor until he finally gained courage to request permission to
address her as a lover: a lover whose happiness would be largely
increased by every effort he might make to put in words the thoughts
born of his devotion to her--the one adorable woman in the world, for
him.
In her reply, Fern Fenwick frankly stated that she was inclined to
consider his request with some degree of favor. That she had sought
advice from her parents. That in response her father, Fennimore Fenwick,
had expressed himself as convinced of the integrity, honesty, and purity
of Fillmore's love for her; but he could not consent to an engagement
binding his daughter to marriage, until the unqualified success of the
model farm, at the end of the first five years, had demonstrated the
worthiness of Fillmore Flagg. After that event, if both continued to
desire a marriage engagement, his consent might be considered as
assured. Her mother, she said, had repeated and emphasized her father's
advice: this advice she felt in duty bound to heed and respect.
Therefore, on the conditions named, she was willing to accept him as a
lover, with the distinct understanding however, that he must not claim
her hand in marriage until after the achievement of the complete
success of Solaris Farm.
In the postscript at the close of her letter, Fern adroitly, though
perhaps innocently, lighted the torch of hope in the heart of Fillmore
Flagg by archly expressing herself as follows: "Henceforth my personal
interest in the progress and final success of the model farm will, no
doubt, fully equal your own."
This little postscript was a never failing source of comfort and
encouragement to Fillmore Flagg. He read it and re-read it again and
again: in his ecstacy he caught himself kissing it a dozen times the
first week after it reached him. With each reading his hitherto dormant
love nature gathered force and intensity. In the throbbing tide of
joyful emotions, he was suffused with a strange new happiness. He
blushed like a girl as the certainty came home to his heart that at last
his love for this beautiful woman was returned. It may be marked as
noteworthy that this important letter came to Fillmore Flagg just eight
months after his parting with Fern Fenwick at her cottage home on the
Hudson. While meditating and luxuriating under the spell of the happy
significance of this event, as affecting his future life, he thanked his
angel friends for so successfully speeding his wooing. With this
assurance he was confident that at last his star of destiny was dominant
in the sky of love. Calmly serene, he could now await the approach of
whatever trials in life the future might have in store for him. Nothing
could shake him from this fortress of love! Nothing could intervene to
separate his life from the life of his beloved Fern! With a sigh of
contentment, he prepared to devote himself more ambitiously and more
industriously than ever before, to the development of Solaris Farm. He
wooed every inventive thought; he planned night and day to overcome all
obstacles that presented themselves. In his letters to Fern Fenwick,
rejoicing in a freedom to express himself without restraint on the
limitless theme of his great love for her, he filled page after page
with eloquent adoration of his heart's chosen one--his highest ideal of
the glorious perfection of womanhood. The effect on Fillmore Flagg of
this fervent, all-absorbing love, was most excellent; it broadened and
purified his life, eliminating from it all the dross of selfishness. He
took a new interest in the lives of every married couple and every pair
of lovers on the farm. By persevering effort, tact and skill, he
completely won their confidence. He shared their hopes, plans, joys,
sorrows, loves and crosses. In all this he never once failed to increase
their love for him and their devotion to the farm.