Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1844-10-08
From the American Freeman.
CE r ESCO ASSOCIATION
FOND Du LAC COUNTY. WISCONSIN

ton which was organized at Southport las,
winter, on the plan originated and recon-
mended by Charles Fourier.
The domain Of this Association is situr,ed
ia the County Of Fond du Lack, at the dis I
lance of FIVE miles from the Green Lake
Post Office. twenty-four miles from Fox
Lake, and about thirty miles from Fond du
Lack. Tho domain is to consist Of five |
thousand seven hundred and eighty acres,
lying IN an exact square Of three miles long |
and broad. Eleven hundred acres arc al |
ready entered, covering the location for the |
domain buildings, the mill site, and the wa
ler-power, and good supply Of timber.
The domain, and the country in its imme-
date neighborhood are not surpassed BY
any we are acquainted with, in respect to
qualities Of soil and water. advantages Of
water-power. fair proportions ofprairie and
timber, facilities for excellent roads, health
fulness Of situation, and charming scenery.
And we cannot nationally doubt that the en-
terprise of the people of Wisconsin will at
no very distant day. by a system Of interna.
improvements, bring i, into close neghbor-
hood with Lake Michigan and The Mssisp-
pi.
The improvements, thus far, are three
framed buildings, for Temporary use, and
saw-mill one hundred acres Of fall whea,
sowed, and crops Of summer vegetables -
vi livestock there are now on the domain
fourteen pairs Of oxen, fourteen cows, hor.
ses, &c. The opportunity for doing bust
ness and wool-growing is superb, and will
DOUBTLESS shortly be improved on great
scale. Farming. gardening, fruit cultivation,
and the rearing OF live stock will chiefly
engage the attention Of the Association at
the onset; the various mechanic occupations
will be prosecuted so far as the wants Of
the Association muy require. and manufac-
turing, including that Of cloth, will, we pre-
sumo, be introduced as soon as practicable.
There are now on the domain, as resi-
dent members, seventeen families, and
some thirty laboring men without families,
making. in all, eighty-two persons. Pub
lie worship is attended on Sunday, conduc-
ted by clergyman Of the Baptist denom-
ination, and by layman Of the Episcopal
dsnomination-both resident members
A system is adopted and practised upon
for tho intellectual and social improvement
Of tho members. by reading, sc. and
schools, suited to the capasi:y and wants Of
children Of every age, will be instituted as
earlp rs practicable. A wsll-furnished reu-
ding room and library, and able lee
turps upon a great variety Of interesting
topics will, nj an early period. bs part Of
the advantages enjoyed by this little com
munity. We do not ssy this on the grounc
Of conjecture; for we have personal knowl
edge Of scientific, literary, and profe ssonal
ability, Of high order, possessed BY those
who are now members Of the Association
and to an extent fully sufficient to answer
every purpose which We have spoken OF
above.
We have long entertained highly favo-
rablc opinion of the system of Fourier, and
have anticipated great and happy results to
follow from its adoption. We were person
ally acquainted with considerable part oil
the members of the Association of which
we are speaking, and from what we knew
Of their character tor intelligence, sobriety,
industry, enterprise, and moral worth, we
had formed high expectations in regard to
the result Of their organization. But we
were, by no means, prepared for what met
our own observation, Oh visiting the place,
in company with friend few weeks
since. We had supposed that our friends
who went from Southport last May, and
from Milwaukee and other places more re-
Gently, would have had their ardor, if not
their confidence, somewhat abated by an
almost bivouac soJourn, in region des,i-
tute of Improvements, and almost destitute
OF inhabitants; giving themselves up to the
endurance Of severe toll and a multitude
of privations and that in one of the wors,
summers, in respect 10 the state of the
weather: which we have ever known. Our
female friends, especially, we expected to
find prepared to speak of tho inconvenience
and hardship of living, five or six families
fee of moderate size, and denied most Of
the conveniences and comforts which they
had formerly been accustomed. But no in
dication of repining, or distrust, or despon-
dency, did we witness. On the contrary.
we were assured that evory individual was
occupied with feelings of very opposite
character. We were certified that sangInu
expectation had matured into complete as
surancc of success /; that hope bad bccn
succeeded by exultation; that i. was the
feeling of all that tire time of their entering
the Association was mos, suspicious era
in their personal history. We were not al
all disposed to regard these feelings az the
offspring of childish or baseless fancy.
We could comprehend in some degree, the
! fact. that the consciousness Of having esca,
ped, entirely and forever, from the rapaci,y.
the chcanery, the decei,fulness, the jealous
les and strfes, inseparable from the isolaied
system of society, should inpart an unwon-
ted buoyancy and cbeerfulncss TO the spir-
its, and vastly more than compensate for pre-
sent hardshIps and privations. A crowded
state of living, in the case of a society OF
warm and confdng and sympa'hzing hearts
we are eonndent is next to impossible
Enemies, the jealous, suspicious, selfish,
cold-hearted. may be in uncemfortably close
proximity TO each other; but warm-hcarted
and coniding friends can hardly be placed
too near each other. The soothing nflu-
ence of the spirit of unity, of confidence,
and mutual goodwill, was already more,
far more, than compromising for all tina, had
been left behind; and for all the little incon-
veniences Of their present Outward cond-