A great deal of
individual liberty was allowed. People could eat in private or public;
and it has been said by those who were there that the unconventional
life permitted absolute privacy at any time. Every one was quite
unfettered, too, in the sphere of religious worship. When a member
wished to be absent, another would generally contrive to take his work
for the interval; and a general good-will seems to have prevailed.
Still, I imagine there must have been a temporary and uncertain air
about the enterprise, much of the time; and the more intimate unions of
some among the members who were congenial, gave rise to intermittent
jealousies in those who found no special circle. "In this way it was
very much like any small town of the same number of inhabitants," says
one of my informants. Indeed, though every one who shared in the Brook
Farm attempt seems grateful for what it taught of the dignity and the
real fellowship of labor, I find a general belief in such persons that
it could not long have continued at its best. The system of compensating
all kinds of service, skilled or otherwise, according to the time used,
excited--as some have thought--much dissatisfaction even among the
generous and enlightened people who made up the society. "I thought I
could see some incipient difficulties working in the system," writes a
lady who was there in 1841. "Questions already arose as to how much
individual freedom could be allowed, if it conflicted with the best
interests of the whole.
Pages:
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219