The evening times., 1900-06-02
THE COLONY OF RUSKIN
Story Of an Experiment That
Proved Failure.
Rise and Fail of n Utopian scheme
and Contentment spoiled by the
Charms of Pretty Woman - La
Loutre and Lolittee.

N"aFhis OK fretty w oman - La
Loutre and Lolittee.
Strange enough. the Acadien's name
was La Loutre the same that belonged to
the Jesuit priest who did so much to cause
an everlasting sleep to reign over the
Little France" of Nova Scotia and scatter
the tribe like the children OF Israel Grand
Pre- was the village of the FIRST La Loutre.
The other La Loutre-La Loutre of
Ruskin, which was as nearly Ike Grand
Pre- as ne could make ft-hated the name
OF the Jesuit who stirred the English
against the early Acadians, SO mush did
the memory of the spiritualist despot
rankle in the bosom OF the Acadian La
Loutre that he had thought of surrender
ing his name. But the Jesuit had been
dead century. and forgotten; and Rus
kin, after all. was not Grand Pre-, in Nova
Scotia. but little village in Tennessee.
So Father La Loutre thought 1t over and
was dissuaded- That is to say. he was
persuaded. For there was another who
helped Father La Loutre in his thinking
| and. though he knew il not, decided the
most important questions; one who wanted
the name because il was hers as well az
La Loutre's. and dreamed that perhaps
| some day
We'll, If you give up your name you
give up all there is left she said to him
often. 1T must be as IL Is.'
So the little Lolitte's liege lord and
master looked at her tenderIy and kissed
the dark hair till her eyes twinkled like
the stars
You are my queen and my law" he
would say quietly. 1t shall be as II is"
And Lolitte came 10 be known as the
Queen of Ruskin, because La Loutre made
the laws and was more than half a king
Atterward, II is true, she was given an
other name-''The Rose OF Heu"-but
! this is another story, and does not belong
/ 10 the early history or Ruskin Ruskin,
/ you know, or perhaps you don't know, was
until July 20 last at 10 O'Clock in the
morning, colony Of perhaps 300 people
! and seventy-fve houses, which nestled
back under line OF cliffs in northwestern
Tennessee. After that Il was nothing
/ Yellow Creek, the everlasting brook
which supplied the colony with water.
runs on and on. OF course and the wood
i peckers drum on the dead pines OF the
! hills as IL nothing had happened. But the
end OF the story. as fer as Ruskin is con-
| cernec, was when the great dining room
| ate. was closed and the last passenger
from Ruskin rode 10 the nearest railroad
station in the one-horse wagon which
/ through courtesy, the villagers had re-
/ ferred TO as the Ruskin stage. II is an odd
/ story, this story of the rise and faIl OF this
modern Utopia; yet. withal. it is sad One
! part Of the tale runs like a fairy legend
/ but the end is different
According TO the historian Of Ruskin. the
| village was a social experiment a scheme
| for the amelioration Of the Inequalities of
/ social conditions which produce poverty
/ and discomfort The idea which erystaIIyzad
/ in the formation of the Ruskin Co-cpera i've
Association IN 1884 was borrowed from Ed
| ward Bellamy's Looking Backward g"
Each man and woman was 70 have an equal
/ voice, and every one TO be free IN the
/ broadest sense. so long as the rights Ct
/ others We're not infringed upon The
/ scheme WAS launched by the editor OF an
| Indiana publication. Ole thousand acres
OF land were purchased near Tennessee City
/ and zoe men and women, following a blind
4 instinct of migration, settled themselves
/ IN Ruskin to be happy There were cos
| mopoiitan types among these settlers
men who were surfeited with the world.
/ dreamers seeking solace In an exotic COM
( munion with ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS mixing
/ with laborers. laborers singing with poets
As much as could be there was establish ID
>
I the idea that one mans labor fer one hour
| was equivalent to tina; OF any other man
| for the same length of time. The time OF
/ an Italian professor. for instance who had
spent an average life span in a university
| on the Continent, was rated as of the same
value as that of wOo5chcpper There was
cooperative store. at which certificates
OF labor were exchanged for coff- tobaeeo.
| and the commodities.
so Tor three years travellers who visited
/ Ruskin fourd within the radius of those
| few acres more happiness to the acre
\ than sny cynic had conceived possible
Heather and jessamiDe grew wild over
the thresholds Of the cottages, and how-
| ers seemed to bloom the year round The
| air OF the hills was fresh and pure and
redolent of the lovers of man for man.
| over all there was La Loutre-rugged
! honest, majestic; arbitrating disputes
| with the hHesSe Of a diplomat; sowing
! planting, reaping. Who shall say what
dreams passed through his brain when he
sat alone before his cottage in the quiet
evenings Of summer? Under his strong,
| guiding hand another Acadia was form
| ing, where men OF all rank or opinion
| could come for rest and thought and
! peace, far removed from the turmoil of
the outer world. One might have imag-
ined the pulse Of his ancestors leaping 10 a
new life because the future of his own
Acadia was roSeate with promise
Then came LoIitte: from where no one
knew, no one cared. Born wild she had
| never been tanned, and her life seemed to
Mt into one of the vacant inches of Rus
kin as naturally as the wild flowers
sprang into bloom in the erevices in he
forests. The women looked on her as a
mother regards her child, and the men
worshiped.
Lolitte looked at La Loutre. She saw
! the spirit of the strong youth in an old
mans raiment. She fog got the lines that
| furrowed the broad forehead of Ia I.outre
and the dry withering flesh. ard she
| laughed. There was a spark of fire in Lo-
| litte's eye when she laughed which the
women said was gypsy, but La Loutre rec
| ognized the French and laughed with
Lclitte. Years were nothing to him; there
was elasticity in his STEP and the hot
\ blood of his race beat in his veins
/ 1T was more than two years after I,3-
lite became the Queen of Ruskin,.' the
man who WAS there during the clos ,l.g
scenes told the writer, that the end of the
| last chapter was written. / do net knaw
how Iolitte came to be known as the Rose
OF Pell, but it was IN connection with a
| story that La Loutre used to ten asout a
rare flower that grew at the mouth of A
| volcano in Central America, where he once
I lived When no Hovvor hloor,ed