The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and ObservationNordhoff, Charles
History
The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and Observation
Nordhoff, Charles
Collective settlements -- United States
Finally, they find in practice a strong tendency toward what they call
"selfish love"--that is to say, the attachment of two persons to each
other, and their desire to be true to each other; and there are here and
there in their publications signs that there has been suffering among
their young people on this account. They rebuke this propensity,
however, as selfish and sinful, and break it down rigorously.
III.--DAILY LIFE AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION.
The farm, or domain, as they prefer to call it, of the Oneida Community
forms a part of the old Reservation of the Oneida Indians. It is a
plain, the land naturally good and well watered; and it has been
industriously improved by the communists. It lies four miles from Oneida
on the New York Central Railroad, and the Midland Railroad passes
through it.
The dwelling-house, a large brick building with some architectural
pretensions, but no artistic merit, stands on the middle of a pleasant
lawn, near the main road. It has some extensions in the rear, the chief
of which is a large wing containing the kitchen and dining-room. The
interior of the house is well arranged; the whole is warmed by steam;
and there are baths and other conveniences. There is on the second floor
a large hall, used for the evening gatherings of the community, and
furnished with a stage for musical and dramatic performances, and with a
number of round tables, about which they gather in their meetings. On
the ground floor is a parlor for visitors; and a library-room,
containing files of newspapers, and a miscellaneous library of about
four thousand volumes.
There are two large family rooms, one on each story, around which a
considerable number of sleeping-chambers are built; and the upper of
these large rooms has two ranges of such dormitories, one above the
other, the upper range being reached by a gallery. All the rooms are
plainly furnished, there being neither any attempt at costly or elegant
furnishing, nor a striving for Shaker plainness.
Above the dining-room is the printing-office, where the _Circular_
is printed, and some job printing is done.
Opposite the dwelling, and across the road, are offices, a
school-building, a lecture-room with a chemical laboratory, and a room
for the use of the daguerreotypist of the community; farther on to the
right is a large carpenter's shop, and to the left are barns, stables,
the silk-dye house, and a small factory where the children of the
community at odd hours make boxes for the spool silk produced here.
There is also a large and conveniently arranged laundry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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