36 chapters
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36 chapters
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
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....
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
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....
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
Departure from Boston, and Arrival at the Farm—Description of the Place—Attica—Personal Occupations, etc.—The Wild Flowers....
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
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....
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
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....
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
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....
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
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....
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
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....
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
Meetings in Boston, etc.—Two Lady Friends—Music at the Eyry—Consciousness of Self—The Great Snow Storm—C. P. Cranch's Imitations....
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
Fun at the Phalanx—Ripley's Quotation—On Punning—The Robbery, and the Waiting Group....
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
The Last Dance, and the Fire—The Harbinger's Account of It—Feeding the Firemen—The Morning after the Fire....
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
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....
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
Peter's Departure—Mr. Dwight at the Association Meeting—Practical Christians—The Solidarity of the Race—Mr. Ripley's Harbinger Article....
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
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....
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APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
Student Life—Explanations and Answers to Objections—Letter on Social Equality—Religious Views....
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INTRODUCTION.
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
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
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
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THE SECOND DEVELOPMENT.
THE SECOND DEVELOPMENT.
Two years of the experimental and "idyllic" life, ran rapidly away, and the Community had gained something of position and name in the outward world. Personal contact had modified the extreme views of many of the founders. Changes had taken place in the Individuals composing it; some had departed. Six of the original stockholders remained. The number had increased to about seventy, including some thirty who were pupils. The financial success had not been all that was desired. Everything else was
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
It was a pleasant afternoon in March, 1843, when I left Boston, in a small omnibus, that started from Brattle Street for West Roxbury Village and Brook Farm. My father's family of three had preceded me, he remaining behind to close his business; it was a question of but a few days when we should be all embarked in the new and untried life to which we were looking forward with pleasurable emotions. The nine miles of interval was passed, riding through an undulating country, by pleasant farms surr
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
When I arrived, Hawthorne, Bradford, Hosmer, Hecker, Burton, Leach and Allen had gone; as had also the Curtis brothers, George and Burrill, the Bancroft boys, sons of the historian, and Barlow (since General Barlow)—all pupils; as well as some of the ladies—Miss Dora Gannett, niece of Rev. Ezra S. Gannett, Miss Georgianna Bruce, (afterwards Mrs. Kirby), Miss Allen, Miss Sarah Stearns; and the phase of the Brook Farm life jocosely or seriously alluded to by the after-comers as the "Transcendental
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
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 we
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
The following is the prospectus of Devoted to the Social and Political progress. Published simultaneously at New York and Boston, by the Brook Farm Phalanx. "All things, at the present day, stand provided and prepared, and await the light." Under this title it is proposed to publish a weekly newspaper, for the examination, and discussion of the great questions in social science, politics, literature and the arts, which command the attention of all believers in the progress and elevation of human
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
All through the spring the talk was of the new building, the "Phalanstery," as we called it. Everybody was thinking what great progress could be made when we should live in it. One day, passing by, I found the carpenters had resumed work, and from thenceforth it progressed until it assumed the resemblance of a mammoth house. The round of daily life this season was little varied from that of the past, but there was more activity and more crowding. A great many makeshifts were had to enable person
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
The need of especial amusements was not particularly felt at the farm, but sometimes a set, inspired by an active mind, would venture out of the common course and try to do a "big thing," which, like many big things, would prove a failure. There was no hall for performances except the dining hall, and it could not be taken possession of until after supper; consequently, for a dramatic performance where it was important to have the hall prepared before hand, it was useless, and so the Amusement G
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
We now pass over some months of the life with few words. I have tried to portray it on the farm as it appeared to me, and leave you to think that it continues on and on, ever in the same general current, through the long, clear days and moonlight nights of summer, and the cooler days and misty evenings of the later season, to the time when the warning comes to the farmer to gather in the ripened products of his labor. I pass over the later autumn—when the fields are cleared of all but the remain
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
A lady said to me not long since, knowing it from experience, "There was a great deal of fun at Brook Farm." This was true, and I deem it worthy of particular mention, as I can scarce believe that there ever was in New England a body of men and women who for so long a time, maintained such friendly and intimate relations, and yet kept up such an interminable fire of small fun and joke, puns and bon-mots, inoffensively shooting them off right and left at all times and places. Being of an evanesce
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
Things were looking up in the Phalanx at this time, for money was coming from some sources to finish a portion of the "Phalanstery." Not that it resembled one, but more out of deference to the idea of one did it receive its name. This would admit of additional membership, as well-to-do and able families were to embark in the enterprise, who could not and would not join it in the crowded state of the houses. The feeling among all was particularly hopeful and cheerful at the prospect, as we knew i
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
Brook Farm was in an exceptionally good position when the associative movement broke out, like a fever, all over the country. It was no new organization. It had started two or three years before the rest. It had fixed itself in the minds of the thinking part of the community as a gathering of able, upright, conscientious men and women. There were no slurs on their moral characters. There were no vices at which to point the finger of scorn. They were not driven or urged forward by poverty to take
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
I do not know when or where it was first announced, but the announcement came like a clap of thunder from a clear sky. Some one was going to leave us! Who? Was it the "Archon" or the "Professor"? Certainly this was not expected; but would it be strange if some of the leaders, feeling too much the pressure and the burden of the financial and executive business of the society, should grow weary, depart, and leave their places unfilled forever? Was it any one of the grumblers or the known disconten
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
I am now to chronicle the last scene in our history, and I know not how to do it, for of all the events of the life it is to me the most dreamy and unreal. The figures of our drama flit before me like shadows. It was like a knotted skein slowly unravelling. It was as the ice becomes water, and runs silently away. It was as the gorgeous, roseate cloud lifts itself up, and then changes in color and hides beyond the horizon. It was as a carriage and traveller fade from sight on the distant road. It
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APPENDIX
APPENDIX
I. Students' and Inquirers' Letters II. Applicants' Letters and Mr. Ripley's Replies III. An Outside View of Brook Farm Associative Articles...
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STUDENTS' AND INQUIRERS' LETTERS.
STUDENTS' AND INQUIRERS' LETTERS.
Student Life . BROOK FARM, MASS., Oct. 27, 1842. My Dear Friend:—Pardon my delay in writing you in reply to yours of the 15th ult., but there have been matters of interest that have occupied my leisure, and so much so that only now do I find myself free to exchange good wishes with you and to answer the important questions you put to me as to what I think of, and how I like, the Brook Farm life. To reply to these questions I might write a long dissertation explaining what I like and what I do no
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APPLICANTS' LETTERS AND MR. RIPLEY'S REPLIES.
APPLICANTS' LETTERS AND MR. RIPLEY'S REPLIES.
[Copies of some of these letters and other documents from the originals were used by permission, in preparing the "Life of George Ripley."] From a Theological Student. . LONGMEADOW, Feb. 25, 1845. Rev. George Ripley, DEAR SIR: Probably you have forgotten the Andover student who spent Thanksgiving with you a year ago, and who made you a short call last September. But he has not forgotten Brook Farm. I write now for the purpose of asking a single question. Are you so full that it will be impossibl
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PART III. AN OUTSIDE VIEW OF BROOK FARM.
PART III. AN OUTSIDE VIEW OF BROOK FARM.
From the Dial of January, 1844. Wherever we recognize the principle of progress our sympathies and affections are engaged. However small may be the innovation, however limited the effort towards the attainment of pure good, that effort is worthy of our best encouragement and succor. The institution at Brook Farm, West Roxbury, though sufficiently extensive in respect to number of persons, perhaps is not to be considered an experiment of large intent. Its aims are moderate; too humble, indeed, to
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ASSOCIATIVE ARTICLES.
ASSOCIATIVE ARTICLES.
"Association the Body of Christianity" by John S. Dwight. The world has been divided between infidels and bigots. In Association there will be neither, for it will remove their causes. The framework of society is false which drives to such extremities. For most assuredly these opposites proceeded from one common centre, and will most gladly gravitate back again to that, so soon as the general order becomes just and genial to the real character and purpose of each individual soul. Unbelief is tor
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THE TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS, FROM THE HARBINGER, BY WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING.
THE TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS, FROM THE HARBINGER, BY WILLIAM HENRY CHANNING.
A prophecy in the spirit of this age announces that a new era in humanity is opening, and sounds forth more fully than ever before the venerable yet new gospel, that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Doubtless, in all generations, the seers and the seekers—who are usually one and the same—have felt that their times were the culminating points of history, the mountain of vision, the border overlooking the promised land. Doubtless, the great of all nations and ages have felt that they were a pecul
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