History of American SocialismsNoyes, John Humphrey
History
History of American Socialisms
Noyes, John Humphrey
Communism -- United States; Socialism -- United States
"_Prairie Home, Sunday, August 26._--In the morning, there was a
social meeting of all the members. The weather was too wet and
cold for them to meet on the hills, as was intended; so they
adjourned to the flour-mill, and seated themselves as best they
could, on chairs and planks, men and women all together. Such a
meeting as this was quite a novel sight for me. There was no
chairman, no secretary and no constitution or by-laws to
preserve order. Yet I never saw a more orderly meeting. The
discussions seemed chiefly relating to agricultural matters. One
man rose and stated that there was certain plowing to be done on
the following day, and if it was thought best by the brothers
and sisters, he would do it. Another rose and said he would
volunteer to do the plowing if the first one pleased, and he
might do something else. There appeared to be some competition
in respect to what each should do, and yet a strong
non-resistant principle was manifest, which seemed to smooth
over any difficulty. There was some talk about money and the
lease of the property, and several persons spoke, both male and
female, apparently just as the spirit moved them. At the close
of the meeting some singing was attempted, but it was very poor
indeed. The folks scattered to the houses for dinner, and as
usual took a pretty good supply of the potatoes, potato-soup,
brown bread, apples and apple butter, together with large
quantities of melons of various kinds.
"Owing to the cold weather the people were all huddled together
inside the houses. The rooms were too small, and many of the
young men were compelled to sleep in the mill. Altogether there
were too many persons brought together for the scanty
accommodations of the place.
"_Monday, August 27._--The wind blew hard, and threw down a
large stack of hay. It was interesting to see the rapidity with
which a group of volunteers put it in order again. The party
seemed to act with perfect union.
"Several persons arrived to join the Community; among the rest a
farmer and his family in a large wagon, with a lot of household
stuff.
"I watched several men at work in different places, and to one
party I could not help expressing myself thus: 'If you fail, I
will give it up; for never did I see men work so well or so
brotherly with each other.' But all were not thus industrious;
for I saw some who merely crawled about (probably sick), just
looking on like myself, at any thing which fell in their way.
There was evident disorder, showing a transition state toward
either harmony or anarchy. I am sorry to say, it too soon proved
to be the latter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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