Chapter XLII: The End of Brook Farm

It only remains to tell what we know of the causes that brought the Brook Farm Phalanx to its end.

Within a year from the time when it assumed the task of propagating Fourierism, i.e. on the 3d of March, 1846, a disastrous fire prostrated the energies and hopes of the Association. We copy from the _Harbinger_ (March 14) the entire article reporting it:

"FIRE AT BROOK FARM.--Our readers have no doubt been informed
before this, of the severe calamity with which the Brook Farm
Association has been visited, by the destruction of the large
unitary edifice which it has been for some time erecting on its
domain. Just as our last paper was going through the press, on
Tuesday evening the 3d inst., the alarm of fire was given at
about a quarter before nine, and it was found to proceed from
the 'Phalanstery;' in a few minutes the flames were bursting
through the doors and windows of the second story; the fire
spread with almost incredible rapidity throughout the building;
and in about an hour and a-half the whole edifice was burned to
the ground. The members of the Association were on the spot in a
few moments, and made some attempts to save a quantity of lumber
that was in the basement story; but so rapid was the progress
of the fire, that this was found to be impossible, and they
succeeded only in rescuing a couple of tool-chests that had been
in use by the carpenters.

"The neighboring dwelling-house called the 'Eyry,' was in
imminent danger while the fire was at its height, and nothing
but the stillness of the night, and the vigilance and activity
of those who were stationed on its roof, preserved it from
destruction. The vigorous efforts of our nearest neighbors, Mr.
T.J. Orange, and Messrs. Thomas and George Palmer, were of great
service in protecting this building, as a part of our force were
engaged in another direction, watching the work-shop, barn, and
principal dwelling-house.

"In a short time our neighbors from the village of West Roxbury,
a mile and a-half distant, arrived in great numbers with their
engine, which together with the engines from Jamaica Plain,
Newton, and Brookline, rendered valuable assistance in subduing
the flaming ruins, although it was impossible to check the
progress of the fire, until the building was completely
destroyed. We are under the deepest obligations to the fire
companies which came, some of them five or six miles, through
deep snow on cross roads, and did every thing in the power of
skill or energy, to preserve our other buildings from ruin. Many
of the engines from Boston came four or five miles from the
city, but finding the fire going down, returned without reaching
the spot. The engines from Dedham, we understand, made an
unsuccessful attempt to come to our aid, but were obliged to
turn back on account of the condition of the roads. No efforts,
however, would have probably been successful in arresting the
progress of the flames. The building was divided into nearly a
hundred rooms in the upper stories, most of which had been
lathed for several months, without plaster, and being almost as
dry as tinder, the fire flashed through them with terrific
rapidity.

"There had been no work performed on this building during the
winter months, and arrangements had just been made to complete
four out of the fourteen distinct suites of apartments into
which it was divided, by the first of May. It was hoped that the
remainder would be finished during the summer, and that by the
first of October, the edifice would be prepared for the
reception of a hundred and fifty persons, with ample
accommodations for families, and spacious and convenient public
halls and saloons. A portion of the second story had been set
apart for a church or chapel, which was to be finished, in a
style of simplicity and elegance, by private subscription, and
in which it was expected that religious services would be
performed by our friend William H. Channing, whose presence with
us, until obliged to retire on account of ill health, has been a
source of unmingled satisfaction and benefit.

"On the Saturday previous to the fire, a stove was put in the
basement story for the accommodation of the carpenters, who were
to work on the inside; a fire was kindled in it on Tuesday
morning which burned till four o'clock in the afternoon; at half
past eight in the evening, the building was visited by the
night-watch, who found every thing apparently safe; and at a
quarter before nine, a faint light was discovered in the second
story, which was supposed at first to have proceeded from the
lamp, but, on entering to ascertain the fact, the smoke at once
showed that the interior was on fire. The alarm was immediately
given, but almost before the people had time to assemble, the
whole edifice was wrapped in flames. From a defect in the
construction of the chimney, a spark from the stove-pipe had
probably communicated with the surrounding wood-work; and from
the combustible nature of the materials, the flames spread with
a celerity that made every effort to arrest their violence
without effect.

"This edifice was commenced in the summer of 1844, and has been
in progress from that time until November last, when the work
was suspended for the winter, and resumed, as before stated, on
the day in which it was consumed. It was built of wood, one
hundred and seventy-five feet long, three stories high, with
attics divided into pleasant and convenient rooms for single
persons. The second and third stories were divided into fourteen
houses independent of each other, with a parlor and three
sleeping-rooms in each, connected by piazzas which ran the whole
length of the building on both stories. The basement contained a
large and commodious kitchen, a dining-hall capable of seating
from three to four hundred persons, two public saloons, and a
spacious hall or lecture-room. Although by no means a model for
the Phalanstery or unitary edifice of a Phalanx, it was well
adapted for our purposes at present, situated on a delightful
eminence, which commanded a most extensive and picturesque view,
and affording accommodations and conveniences in the combined
order, which in many respects would gratify even a fastidious
taste. The actual expenditure upon the building, including the
labor performed by the Association, amounted to about $7,000;
and $3,000 more, it was estimated, would be sufficient for its
completion. As it was not yet in use by the Association, and
until the day of its destruction, not exposed to fire, no
insurance had been effected. It was built by investments in our
loan-stock, and the loss falls upon the holders of
partnership-stock and the members of the Association.

"It is some alleviation of the great calamity which we have
sustained, that it came upon us at this time rather than at a
later period. The house was not endeared to us by any grateful
recollections; the tender and hallowed associations of home had
not yet begun to cluster around it; and although we looked upon
it with joy and hope, as destined to occupy an important sphere
in the social movement to which it was consecrated, its
destruction does not rend asunder those sacred ties which bind
us to the dwellings that have thus far been the scene of our
toils and of our satisfactions. We could not part with either of
the houses in which we have lived at Brook Farm, without a
sadness like that which we should feel at the departure of a
bosom friend. The destruction of our edifice makes no essential
change in our pursuits. It leaves no family destitute of a home;
it disturbs no domestic arrangements; it puts us to no immediate
inconvenience. The morning after the disaster, if a stranger had
not seen the smoking pile of ruins, he would not have suspected
that any thing extraordinary had taken place. Our schools were
attended as usual; our industry in full operation; and not a
look or expression of despondency could have been perceived. The
calamity is felt to be great; we do not attempt to conceal from
ourselves its consequences: but it has been met with a calmness
and high trust, which gives us a new proof of the power of
associated life to quicken the best elements of character, and
to prepare men for every emergency.

"We shall be pardoned for entering into these almost personal
details, for we know that the numerous friends of Association in
every part of our land, will feel our misfortune as if it were a
private grief of their own. We have received nothing but
expressions of the most generous sympathy from every quarter,
even from those who might be supposed to take the least interest
in our purposes; and we are sure that our friends in the cause
of social unity will share with us the affliction that has
visited a branch of their own fraternity.

"We have no wish to keep out of sight the magnitude of our loss.
In our present infant state, it is a severe trial of our
strength. We can not now calculate its ultimate effect. It may
prove more than we are able to bear; or like other previous
calamities, it may serve to bind us more closely to each other,
and to the holy cause to which we are devoted. We await the
result with calm hope, sustained by our faith in the universal
Providence, whose social laws we have endeavored to ascertain
and embody in our daily lives.

"It may not be improper to state, as we are speaking of our own
affairs more fully than we have felt at liberty to do before in
the columns of our paper, that, whatever be our trials of an
external character, we have every reason to rejoice in the
internal condition of our Association. For the last few months
it has more nearly than ever approached the idea of a true
social order. The greatest harmony prevails among us; not a
discordant note is heard; a spirit of friendship, of brotherly
kindness, of charity, dwells with us and blesses us; our social
resources have been greatly multiplied; and our devotion to the
cause which has brought us together, receives new strength every
day. Whatever may be in reserve for us, we have an infinite
satisfaction in the true relations which have united us, and
the assurance that our enterprise has sprung from a desire to
obey the Divine law. We feel assured that no outward
disappointment or calamity can chill our zeal for the
realization of a Divine order of society, or abate our effort in
the sphere which may be pointed out by our best judgment as most
favorable to the cause which we have at heart."

In the next number of the _Harbinger_ (March 21), an editorial addressed to the friends of Brook Farm, indicated some depression and uncertainty. The following are extracts from it:

"We do not altogether agree with our friends, in the importance
which they attach to the special movement at Brook Farm; we have
never professed to be able to represent the idea of Association
with the scanty resources at our command; nor would the
discontinuance of our establishment or of any of the partial
attempts which are now in progress, in the slightest degree
weaken our faith in the associative system, or our conviction
that it will sooner or later be adopted as the only form of
society suited to the nature of man and in accordance with the
Divine will. We have never attempted any thing more than to
prepare the way for Association, by demonstrating some of the
leading ideas on which the theory is founded; in this we have
had the most gratifying success; but we have always regarded
ourselves only as the humble pioneers in the work, which would
be carried on by others to its magnificent consummation, and
have been content to wait and toil for the development of the
cause and the completion of our hope.

"Still we have established a center of influence here for the
associative movement, which we shall spare no effort to sustain.
We are fully aware of the importance of this; and nothing but
the most inexorable necessity, will withdraw the congenial
spirits that are gathered in social union here, from the work
which has always called forth their most earnest devotedness and
enthusiasm. Since our disaster occurred, there has not been an
expression or symptom of despondency among our number; all are
resolute and calm; determined to stand by each other and by the
cause; ready to encounter still greater sacrifices than have as
yet been demanded of them; and desirous only to adopt the course
which may be presented by the clearest dictates of duty. The
loss which we have sustained occasions us no immediate
inconvenience, does not interfere with any of our present
operations; although it is a total destruction of resources on
which we had confidently relied, and must inevitably derange our
plans for the enlargement of the Association and the extension
of our industry. We have a firm and cheerful hope, however, of
being able to do much for the illustration of the cause with the
materials that remain. They are far too valuable to be
dispersed, or applied to any other object; and with favorable
circumstances will be able to accomplish much for the
realization of social unity."

This fire was a disaster from which Brook Farm never recovered. The organization lingered, and the _Harbinger_ continued to be published there, till October 1847; but the hope of becoming a model Phalanx died out long before that time. The _Harbinger_ is very reticent in relation to the details of the dissolution. We can only give the reader the following scraps hinting at the end:

[From the New York _Tribune_ (August, 1847), in answer to an
allegation in the New York _Observer_ that "the Brook Farm
Association, which was near Boston, had wound up its affairs
some time since."]

"The Brook Farm Association not only was, but is near Boston,
and the _Harbinger_ is still published from its press. But,
having been started without capital, experience or industrial
capacity, without reference to or knowledge of Fourier's or any
other systematic plan of Association, on a most unfavorable
locality, bought at a high price, and constantly under mortgage,
this Association is about to dissolve, when the paper will be
removed to this city, with the master-spirits of Brook Farm as
editors. The Observer will have ample opportunity to judge how
far experience has modified their convictions or impaired their
energies."

[From a report of a Boston Convention of Associationists, in the
_Harbinger_, October 23, 1847.]

"The breaking up of the life at Brook Farm was frequently
alluded to, especially by Mr. Ripley, who, on the eve of
entering a new sphere of labor for the same great cause,
appeared in all his indomitable strength and cheerfulness,
triumphant amid outward failure. The owls and bats and other
birds of ill omen which utter their oracles in leading political
and sectarian religious journals, and which are busily croaking
and screeching of the downfall of Association, had they been
present at this meeting, could their weak eyes have borne so
much light, would never again have coupled failure with the
thought of such men, nor entertained a feeling other than of
envy of experience like theirs."

The next number of the _Harbinger_ (October 30, 1847) announced that that paper would in future be published in New York under the editorial charge of Parke Godwin, assisted by George Ripley and Charles A. Dana in New York, and William H. Channing and John S. Dwight in Boston. This of course implied the dispersion of the Brook Farmers, and the dissolution of the Association; and this is all we know about it.

The years 1846 and 1847 were fatal to most of the Fourier experiments. Horace Greeley, under date of July 1847, wrote to the _People's Journal_ the following account of what may be called,

_Fourierism reduced to a Forlorn Hope._

"As to the Associationists (by their adversaries termed
'Fourierites'), with whom I am proud to be numbered, their
beginnings are yet too recent to justify me in asking for their
history any considerable space in your columns. Briefly,
however, the first that was heard in this country of Fourier and
his views (beyond a little circle of perhaps a hundred persons
in two or three of our large cities, who had picked up some
notion of them in France or from French writings), was in 1840,
when Albert Brisbane published his first synopsis of Fourier's
theory of industrial and household Association. Since then, the
subject has been considerably discussed, and several attempts of
some sort have been made to actualize Fourier's ideas, generally
by men destitute alike of capacity, public confidence, energy
and means. In only one instance that I have heard of was the
land paid for on which the enterprise commenced; not one of
these vaunted 'Fourier Associations' ever had the means of
erecting a proper dwelling for so many as three hundred people,
even if the land had been given them. Of course, the time for
paying the first installment on the mortgage covering their land
has generally witnessed the dissipation of their sanguine
dreams. Yet there are at least three of these embryo
Associations still in existence; and, as each of these is in its
third or fourth year, they may be supposed to give some promise
of vitality. They are the North American Phalanx, near
Leedsville, New Jersey; the Trumbull Phalanx, near Braceville,
Ohio; and the Wisconsin Phalanx, Ceresco, Wisconsin. Each of
these has a considerable domain nearly or wholly paid for, is
improving the soil, increasing its annual products, and
establishing some branches of manufactures. Each, though far
enough from being a perfect Association, is animated with the
hope of becoming one, as rapidly as experience, time and means
will allow."

Of the three Phalanxes thus mentioned as the rear-guard of Fourierism, one--the Trumbull--disappeared about four months afterward (very nearly at the time of the dispersion of Brook Farm), and another--the Wisconsin--lasted only a year longer, leaving the North American alone for the last four years of its existence.

Brook Farm in its function of propagandist (which is always expensive and exhausting at the best), must have been sadly depressed by the failures that crowded upon it in its last days; and it is not to be wondered that it died with its children and kindred.

If we might suggest a transcendental reason for the failure of Brook Farm, we should say that it had naturally a _delicate constitution_, that was liable to be shattered by disasters and sympathies; and the causes of this weakness must be sought for in the character of the afflatus that organized it. The transcendental afflatus, like that of Pentecost, had in it two elements, viz., Communism, and "the gift of tongues;" or in other words, the tendency to religious and social unity, represented by Channing and Ripley; and the tendency to literature, represented by Emerson and Margaret Fuller. But the proportion of these elements was different from that of Pentecost. _The tendency to utterance was the strongest._ Emerson prevailed over Channing even in Brook Farm; nay, in Channing himself, and in Ripley, Dana and all the rest of the Brook Farm leaders. In fact they went over from practical Communism to literary utterance when they assumed the propagandism of Fourierism; and utterance has been their vocation ever since. A similar phenomenon occurred in the history of the great literary trio of England, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Southey. Their original afflatus carried them to the verge of Communism; but "their gift of tongues" prevailed and spoiled them. And the tendency to literature, as represented by Emerson, is the farthest opposite of Communism, finding its _summum bonum_ in individualism and incoherent instead of organic inspiration.

The end of Brook Farm was virtually the end of Fourierism. One or two Phalanxes lingered afterward, and the _Harbinger_, was continued a year or two in New York; but the enthusiasm of victory and hope was gone; and the Brook Farm leaders, as soon as a proper transition could be effected, passed into the service of the _Tribune_.

During the fatal year following the fire at Brook Farm, the famous controversy between Greeley and Raymond took place, which we have mentioned as Greeley's last battle in defense of retreating Fourierism. It commenced on the 20th of November, 1846, and ended on the 20th of May, 1847, each of the combatants delivering twelve well-shotted articles in their respective papers, the _Tribune_ and the _Courier and Enquirer_, which were afterward published together in pamphlet-form by the Harpers. Parton, in his biography of Greeley, says at the beginning of his report of that discussion, "It _finished_ Fourierism in the United States;" and again at the close--"Thus ended Fourierism. Thenceforth the _Tribune_ alluded to the subject occasionally, but only in reply to those who sought to make political or personal capital by reviving it."