History of American SocialismsNoyes, John Humphrey
History
History of American Socialisms
Noyes, John Humphrey
Communism -- United States; Socialism -- United States
The members numbered about one hundred and thirty, nearly all of whom
were born and bred in the West. Of foreigners there were only two
Englishmen and one German. Most of the members were agriculturists.
Many of them had been Hicksite Quakers. A few were from other sects,
and some from no sect at all. There were but few children.
A few months before the dissolution of this Community Macdonald
visited it, and staid several days. His gossiping report of what he
saw and heard gives as good an inside view of the transitory species
of Associations as any we find in his collections. We quote the most
of it:
_Macdonald's visit at Prairie Home._
"On arriving at West Liberty I inquired eagerly for the
Community; but when very coldly and doubtfully told that it was
somewhere down the Urbana road, and seeing that folks in the
town did not seem to know or care much where it was, my ardor
sensibly abated, and I began to doubt whether it was much of an
affair after all; but I pushed on, anxious at once to see the
place.
"On reaching the spot where I was told I should find the
Community, I turned off from the main road up a lane, and soon
met a gaunt-looking individual, rough but very polite, having
the look of a Quaker, which I afterwards found he was. He spoke
kindly to me, and directed me where to go. There was a two-story
frame house at the entrance of the lane, which belonged to the
Community; also a log cabin at the other corner of the lane.
After walking a short distance I arrived at another two-story
frame house, opposite to which was a large flour-mill on a
little stream, and an old saw-mill, looking very rough. At the
door of the dwelling-house there was a group of women and girls,
picking wool; and as it was just noon, many men came in from
various parts of the farm to take their dinner. At the back of
the house there was a long shed, with a rough table down the
center, and planks for seats on each side, on which thirty or
forty people sat. I was kindly received by them, and invited to
dinner; and a good dinner it was, consisting of coarse brown
bread piled up in broken lumps, dishes of large potatoes
unpeeled, some potato-soup, and a supply of melons for a second
course.
"I sat beside a Dr. Hard, who noticed that I took a little salt
with my potatoes, and remarked to me that if I abstained from
it, I would have my taste much more perfect. There was but
little salt on the table, and I saw no person touch it. There
was no animal food of any kind except milk, which one or two of
them used. They all appeared to eat heartily. The women waited
upon the table, but the variety of dishes being small, each
person so attended to himself that waiting was rendered almost
unnecessary. All displayed a rude politeness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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