Brook Farm

Brook Farm

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Title: Brook Farm
Author: John Thomas Codman
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7932] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 2, 2003]
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BROOK
FARM ***

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Proofreading Team.

BROOK FARM
HISTORIC AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS
BY
JOHN THOMAS CODMAN

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BROOK FARM MOVEMENT
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.

CHAPTER II.
THE SECOND DEVELOPMENT
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.

CHAPTER III.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND DESCRIPTIONS
Departure from Boston, and Arrival at the Farm--Description of the
Place--Attica--Personal Occupations, etc.--The Wild Flowers.

CHAPTER IV.
THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD
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.

CHAPTER V.
THE RUSH AND HUM OF LIFE AND WORK
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.

CHAPTER VI.
THE "HARBINGER," AND VARIOUS SUBJECTS
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.

CHAPTER VII.
MY SECOND SPRING
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.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE DRAMA AND IMPORTANT LETTERS
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.

CHAPTER IX.
SOCIAL, AND PARLOR LIFE
Meetings in Boston, etc.--Two Lady Friends--Music at the Eyry--
Consciousness of Self--The Great Snow Storm--C. P. Cranch's
Imitations.

CHAPTER X.
FUN ALIVE
Fun at the Phalanx--Ripley's Quotation--On Punning--The Robbery,

and the Waiting Group.

CHAPTER XI.
THE GREAT CATASTROPHE
The Last Dance, and the Fire--The _Harbinger's_ Account of It--
Feeding the Firemen--The Morning after the Fire.

CHAPTER XII.
SUMMING UP AND REVERIES
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.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE FIRST BREAK
Peter's Departure--Mr. Dwight at the Association Meeting--Practical
Christians--The Solidarity of the Race--Mr. Ripley's Harbinger Article.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE DEPARTURES AND AFTER LIVES OF THE MEMBERS
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.
APPENDIX.

PART I.
STUDENTS' AND INQUIRERS' LETTERS
Student Life--Explanations and Answers to Objections--Letter on
Social Equality--Religious Views.

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 it from his standpoint. None, perhaps, was more interested in
it than he, young as he was, but many were more able to elaborate it
and write it in details, and did he not feel that it was an important duty
neglected by all, these memoirs would have remained unwritten.
The record books of the institution are missing, and are doubtless long
ago destroyed. These chapters have been compiled and written from
few memoranda, at various times,