New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-08
"a NEU-ENGL1ND IDYL."
An ENGLISH ESTIMATE OF THE BROOK FARM COM
MUNITY, FOUNDED BY GEORGE RIPLEY.

An ENGLISH ESTIMATE OF THE BROOK FARM COM
MUNITY, FOUNDED BY GEORGE RIPLEY.
From IN. London Standard. Juty %.
The death of George Ripley, at the ripe age
OF weight, brings To mind striking story 10 te
present generation his name is best known az the lnds
rious editor OF an encYcop@ iia. But to those wnosn
memory extends back forty years his decease VIII fecI
the famous experiment with which his name VIII ever
be connected though 1t Is now only faint remnsce.o
TO all save the few who survive It's founder we rTeI ~
the Brook Farm Community II was Socialist atlembt
to make the world better. and II ia ed Ike many WhCh
before IT, aud like most which have succeeded IT,
But Commune which NUMBERED among l.s M ,S w
bers Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, ana NIL az
garet Fuller, could scarcely fail TO leave ls
mark literature the society which IL aneu n.
part I'm it nearly all are dead George Ripley was no
the most eminent member of the group bu he was 'he
cast a fortune which would have saved bin the DE or
TIL when It's loss tntailcd. Brook Farm was a New,
England Iiv Il gathering or Rreathehfteu
deaiss, fun of life and enthusiasm and 1t has me ais
tnctIOn of being almost tue only SGclalslc eXpetlmn
on which the historian can look back with anlhinG IKE
pleasure. The members were doubtless crochety trans
cendcntal and radical. But their rddcaisn was OF
sober hue compared win that Of day, and iher
transccndcnalsm was, ept perhaps as dlspayrd ny
Emerson and Margaret Fuller, OF such an lnnocu0ns 2e
after studying the few notices OF their NE Wh en-
oes baif inclined 70 believe that the Brook Farmers
upon the whole affair as an elaborate pro
longcd picnic with some philosophy 10 sublnht, tuc
carfnc.s Of plJughng fields ana milking cows. Above
all. Brook Farm was innocent community. The
wOrldliugs outSide the rafcnces or the YANKEE
Paradise laughed prOfincy ~ the good people J. sde
whose costumes and lives suggested the shepherds ana
shrIherdcs>e5 on Chelsea china. or the strerhons
aud Cnloes Of the seventeenth century poets
Buf the breath Of scandal never touched George
Rp.cP's Community. Everyone did "a seemed good ln
ms or her own eyes. The Commune WIS hampcred
neither 10Y doemas nor doctrines but, Ike sober New
Eneludcr., they were. ono uf thcir historians re-
aft.rward and wore not an ctcd with the Gallc pas
SION for completeness OF theory such was IN" society
which George Ripley founded, hui almost the on'y tan,
giolr memorials Of II now are the Jotrg' scattered
throughout the biographies or some OF It's memners,
who in after days attained celebrity IN ner Nalhs 81
me- aud rs iGcaiizauOn IN Inc Blthedaic Romance
About me wear 1910 there was a Kind Of fcrmcn heat
in the Old World and the New. The Americans had got
their first burst OF woldy patriotic ardor ara were
heapin- up dollars and singing " Yankee Doodle" In
Europe the tefrors and the suerngs OF the long wars
mad passed away, and ifetd rom tue ichi oi foreign
inyasiOns, the prope were growing dssatish cd WIN
their lot They began 10 dream dreams aud seek on
-ecrs; when they found that philosophers were Dul
broken reeds, they set themselves 10 sc "ht c"d oe
made out Of Princes But the Year of Revolution had
NOT yet come ana ior inc une peIg le 1olgn'lu,
toers and the working theorists wore eXpatating on
Eapi.s the shaking Quakers on Pato's Republic More-
Utopia" and Campanelias CITY or tho sun In
times Of MabY and Merely. the "PTOpTtGe CfStt U)P
Of DE Warvle and Proudhon. aud me attempt TO re-
conspiracy of BabGul, saint Simon Fourier Bazafd
and Eniantu mad ri-d 10 show hungry men how there
while Owcnism Harmony Hal, Orbiston and the Labor
notes were names expressive OF things That th9n looked
ica eso ht idcatsis Who cxn@cted 70
find IN the model Republic the best OF all pos
>Ibe Governments were disappointed at discovering
one not much better than that from which they had
ard The reaction naturally landed them in searches
after UtOpi&, such those Of Fourier and owen IL Is
communities prOsprred the members not com
posed OF the more educated and wetO-do classes The
life OF toll IN which the individual was expected 10 sink
his works and his labor for the good OF the community
al first charmed the dfeamers who, ike hawthorne,
we're weary OF the heat society and mad sought the
cool shade OF solitGde. But when the novelty wore
away their SOCastc enthusiasm also evaporated With
the oppressed German peasant the case was dt
ferent. What suferably TksOme to the educated,
refued and wealthy, by contrast almost parHdisa,
Cal the unletcred rude and poyertysttcHen Hence
the success Of the Shakers the Economists the Amana
Community and even OF the less commendtble Oneida
Parfeconists whose views regarding the relations OF
the are IN their way even more ODecuOnaDle tan
praclsed by the celbate communities Hence,
$50 the failure of such societies the Rel Bank Amer
lean Phaanx. In when liora - Greeley was for mo
concerned and the BROOK Farm commune, which t,
OF It's ashes.
Brook Farm was, however. pleasant enough affair
The members chopped wood and talked of the Infinite
peeled apples and reconstructed the universe aud after
ZenObia Priscilla, and Miles Coverdae mad sold fat pigs
TO- prosaic Boston butchers. they returned to read
Goethe and discuss the natural man" The younger
membersfor though all enthusiastic, there
degrees in their EN- husasm-Nomenes weaFied OF the
mOnOtOuy OF Their gfegdrOus existence ana were only
put IL in n letter TO his future vile. leading " a
righteous and Heaven-bessed way of life" Brook |
Farm was IN after years looked BACK upon by
many OF the members ~ pleasant OASIS In n
dreary desert. Mr.. Ripley had. however some
difficulty with his recruits ard Hawthorne bas left IL
on record that "a transceudenth heller belonging TO
Miss Margaret Fuller" gave HIM sore trouble In the |
righteous Veemeucc. that IN the space OF fen MINUTES
broke the machine. Then brought wood ana re- |
penisned the fires, and finally went down to breakfast
and ate up q huge mound OF buckwheat cakes. After
breakfast MIR. Ripley put fOur-prongcd instrument |
into my hands. winch he gave me TO understand wac
called pItchfurd, and he and Mr. Farley being armed
with similar weapons, al three commenced gal |
liant attack upon heap of manure shall make an |
excehant husbandman," the novelist concludes |
jOcularly-thOugI. perhaps, he was serious as |
the majority of the Brook Farmers-'I feel III G |
original Adam reviving within me-" After this hard |
work PLAIN living, they took to high thinking. BY
moonlight they played classical music, Old ballads
or juined Mourc's operate Au original
poe N or essay would be rerted, play OF Snake
pee pie from Boston the spectacle and
turned telling how h"y found The young women OF the
Hive singing while they washed the dishes, and the |
youthful yeOmen in checked blOu>es, broad collars
ana leathcrn belts. drying the crockery, aud |
flirting IN decorOns, transcendenta, pbiO- |
sophlcal way. OF COURSE Brook Farm failed II |
too good for the imperfect nineteenth century. It's
founders left OF account that important factor called
Human Nature. The COnmunlsts' aim was noble and
praiseworthy They did not. like the P7Oetariatc
sitting Congress IN Pans, or the Wild redcapped
lep,e VINO prne nonsense under the name, talk
about saving society" dividing other peOp.es'
They only Tried TO lead better life and return
a simpler state OF society. which they fOndly fanced
he that OF tle natural man.. But the melancholy
truth is that the natural MAI" docs not love bis
broi hpr-he eats biln and In such society Brook
Farm, social progress impossible. though George
Rpley and his faithful followers would never allow
they went forth into stony, jeer1Dg world,
poor sorrowful, but unc0nvinccd.
|