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]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII, with a few ISO-8859-1 characters
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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, very often after the arduous duties of days of professional life, and with a desire only to present the subject truthfully, faithfully and simply; and also, not wholly to gratify curiosity, or to record the doings of the noble men and women who were wise before their time, but to whisper courage to those who, like their predecessors, are seeking some solution of the social problems that involves neither the too sudden surrender of acquired rights, the reckless abandon of old ideas