XXVII. Prairie Home Community

AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. CHAPTER XXVII. PRAIRIE HOME COMMUNITY. '[HIS Association (another indigenous production) with several like attempts, originated with Mr. John O. Wattles, Valentine Nicholson and others, who, after attending a socialistic convention in New York in 1843, lectured on Association at various places on their way back to the \-Vest. Orson S. Murray, the editor of the Regenerator, was also interested in this Community, and was on his way with his printing establishment to join it and publish his paper under its auspices, when he was wrecked on Lake Erie, and lost nearly every thing but his life. Prairie Home is a beautiful location near West Liberty in Logan County, Ohio. The domain consisted of over five hundred acres; half of which on the hills was well tim bered, and the remainder was in fine rich fields stretching across the prairie. 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 agricul turists. Many of thenl had been Hicksite Quakers. A few were from other sects, and some from no sect at all.

There were but few.children.

PRAIRIE HOME. A few months before the dissolution of this Corn Inunity 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 Communi~y; but when very coldly and doubtfully told that it was sOlnewhere 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 pusheq 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, \vhich I after wards 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 10ng shed, with a rough table do'wn the cen ter, and planks for seats on each side, on which thiity or forty people sat. I was kindly received by them, and 318 AMERICAN •SOCIALISMS.

invited to dinner; and a good dinner it \vas, 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 cQurse. "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. " After dinner I fell in \vith a cabinet-maker, a you~g man from Bond street, London, and-had quite a chat with him; also an elderly man from England,' john Wood by name, who was acquainted with the socialistic movement in that country. I then went to see the man work the saw-mill, and was much pleased with his apparent interest and industry.

" Not finding the acquaintance I was in search of at this place, and hearing that he was at another Com munity or branch of Prairie Home, about nine miles distant in a northerly direction (which they called the Upper Domain or Highland Home or Zanesfield), I determined to see him that night, and after obtaining necessary infonnation I started on my journey. "The walk was long, and it was dark before I reached the Community farm. At length the friendly bow-wow of a dog told of the habitable dwelling, and soon I was in the comfortable and pretty looking farm house at PRAIRIE HOME. Highland Home. This Community consisted of only ten or twelve persons. Here I found my frie!1d, and after a wholesome Grahamite supper of corn-bread, apple-pie and milk, I had a long conversation with him and others on Community matters. I put many ques tions to them, all of which were answered satisfactorily.

Here is a specimen of our dialogue: "Do you make laws? No. Does the majority govern the minority? No. Have you any delegated power? No. Any kind of government? No. Do you express opinions and principles as a body? No. Have you any form of society or test for admission of members? No. Do you assist runaway slaves? Yes. Must you be Grahamites? No. Do you· object to religionists? No. What are the terms of admission? The land is free to all; let those who want, come and use it. Any particular trades? No. Can persons take their earn ings away with theln when they leave? Yes. "Their leading principle, they repeatedly told me, was to endeavor to practice the golden rule, 'Do as you would be done by.' "The next morning I took a walk round the farm. It was a nice place, and appeared to have been well kept fornlerly, but now there was some disorder. The work men appeared to be without clear ideas of the duties they were to perform. It seemed as if they had not made up their mind~ what they could do, or what they intended to do. Some of them were feeble-looking men, and in conversation with them I ascertained that several, both here and at Prairie Home, had adopted the present mode of Grahamite living to improve their health.

"Phrenology seemed to be pretty generally under320 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. stood, and I was surprised to hear rude-looking men, almost ragged, ploughing, fence-making, and in like employments, converse so freely upon Phrenology, Physiology, Magnetism, Hydropathy, &c. The PhreJlo.,. logical Journal was taken by several of them. "I visited a neighboring farm, said to belong to the Community, the residence, I believe, of Horton Brown, with whom I had an interesting conversation on religion and Community matters. He said they took the golden rule as their guide, 'Do unto others as ye would have others do unto you.' I reminded him that even the golden rule was subject to individual interpretation, and might be misinterpreted. "Saturday, AU,-{{ust 25, 1844.-1 noticed severa] per sons here were sick \vith various complaints, and those who were not sick labored very leisurely. During the day four men arrived from Indiana to see the place and 'join the Community;' but there were no accommoda tions for them. They reported quite a stir in Indiana in regard to the Community.

" I n the afternoon my friend was ready to return to Cincinnati, whither he was going to try and induce his family to come to Zanesfield. We walked to Prairie Home that evening. At night we were directed to sleep at the two-story frame house at the entrance of the lane. At that place there seemed to be much confusion; too many people and too many idlers among them. The young women were most industrious, attending to the supper tahIe and the provisions in a very steady, business-like manner; but the young men were mostly lounging ahout doing nothing. .l\t bed-time there were too many persons for each to be accommodated with a bed; so the females all went up stairs and slept as they PRAIRIE HOME. 321 could; and the males slept below, all spread out in rows upon the floor. This was unpleasant, and as the sequel proved, could not long be endured. " Prairie Home, Sunday, August 26.-1n the morning, there was a social Ineeting 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 relat ing to agricultural matters. One man rose and stated that there was certain plowing to be done on the follow ing 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 SOUle 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 hud dled together inside the houses. The rooms were too 322 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. small, and many of the young men were compelled to sleep in the mill. Altogether there were too many per sons 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 f~rmer 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 disorqer, showing a transition state toward either harmony or anarchy. I am sorry to say, it too soon proved to be the latter.

" After dinner some one suggested having a meeting to talk about a plow. With some little exertion they managed to get ten or twelve men together. Then they sat down and reasoned with each other at great length. But it was very uneconomical, I thought, to bring so luan y persons together from their work, to talk so much about so small a matter. A plow had to be repaired; some one must and did volunteer to go to the town with it; he wanted money to pay for it; there was no money; he must take a bag of corn or wheat, and trade that off PRAIRIE HOME. 32 3 to pay for the repairs; a wagon had to be got out; two horses put to it, and a journey of some miles _made, and nearly a day of time expended about such a trifling job. " I went to see the saw-mill at work; found one or two men engaged at it. They were 'Workingfor custom ers, and got a certain portion of the lumber for what they sawed. I then went into an old log cabin and found my acquaintance, the cabinet-maker. On my in:...

guiring how he liked Community, he told me the follow ing story: He came from London to find friends in Indiana, and brought with him a -fine chest of tools. On his arriyal, he found his friends about to start for C?mmunity; so he came with them. He brought his tools with him, but left them at Zanesfield, and came down here. The folks at Zanesfield, wanting a plane, a saw and chisels, and knowing that his box was there, having no key, actually broke open-the box, and under the influence of the common-property idea, helped themselves to the tools, and spoiled them by using them on rough work. He had got his chest away from there. H.e said he had no objection to their using the tools, if they knew how and did not spoil them. I saw one or two large chisels with pieces chipped out of them and planes nicked by nails, all innocently and i'gnorantly done by the brothers, who scarcely saw any wrong· in it.

's It was interesting to see the groups of unshaven men. There were men between forty and fifty years of age, who had shaved all their lives before, but now they let their beards grow, and looked ferocious. The young men looked well, and some of them rather handsome, with their soft beards and hair uncut; but the elderly ones did certainly look ugly. There was a German of a thin, gaunt figure, about fifty years of age, with a AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. large, stubby, gray beard, and an ill-tempered coun tenance. " John Wood, the Englishman, a pretty good specimen, blunt, open-hearted and independent, had got three pigs in a pen, which he fed and took care o£ They were the only animals on the place, except the horses. But exercising his rights, he said, 'If the· rest of them did not want meat, he did-for he liked a bit o'meat.' "I was informed that all the animals on the place, when the Community took possession of the domain, were allowed to go where they pleased; or those who wanted them were free to take them.

"Before the meeting on Sunday, groups of men stood round the house talking; some two or three of them, including John Wood and the Dutchman (as he was called) were cleaning themselves up a bit; and John had blackened and polished his boots; after which he carefully put the blacking and brushes away. Out came the Dutchman and looked round for the same utensils. Not seeing them, he asked the Englishman for the' prushes.' So John brings them out and hands them to him. Whereupon the Dutchman nlarches to' the front of the porch, and in wrathful style, with the brushes uplifted in his hand, he addresses the assembled crowd: 'He-ar! lookee he-ar! Do you call dis Com munity? Is dis common property? See he-ar! I ask him for de prushes to placken mine poots, and he give me de prushes, and not give me de flacking!' This was said with great excitement. 'He never saw such community as dat; he could not understand; he tought every ting was to be common to all !' But John Wood good-humoredly explained that he had bought a box of blacking for himself, and if he gave it to everyone who PRAIRIE HOME.

wanted to black boots, he would very soon be without any; so he shut it up for his own use, and those who wanted blacking must buy it for themselves. it I noticed there was SaIne carelessness with the farm tools. There was a small shed in which all the scythes, hoes, axes, &C., were supposed to be deposited when not in use. But they were not always returned there. It appeared that these tools were used indiscriminately by anyone and everyone, so that one day a man would have one ax or scythe, and the next day another. This was evidently not agreeable in practice; for every working-man well knows that he forms attachments for certain tools, as much as he does for frieIlds, and his hand and heart get used to them, as it were, so that he can use them better than he can strange ones. " With these fe\v notices of failings, I must say I never saw a better-hearted or more industrious set of fellows.

They appeared to struggle hard to effect something, yet it seemed evident that something was lacking among them to make things work well. It might have been organized laws, or government of SOUle kind; it might have been a definite bond of union, or a prominent leader. It is certain there was some power or influence needed, to direct the force mustered there, and make it work economically and harmoniously. "People kept coming and going, and were ready to do something; but there was nobody to tell them what to do, and they did not know what to do themselves. They had to eat, drink and sleep; and they expected to obtain the means of doing so; but they seemed not to reflect who was going to supply these means, or where they were to come from. Some seenled greedy and reckless, eating all the time,cutting melons out of the garden and 326 AMERICAN SOCIALISMS. from among the corn, eating them and throwing the peels and seeds about the foot-paths and doorways.

" There was an abundance of fine corn on the domain, abundance of melons of all kinds, and, I believe, plenty of apples at the upper Community. Much provision had been brought and sent there by farmers who had entered into the spirit of the cause. For instance there were some wagon-loads of potatoes and apples sent, as well as quantities of unbolted wheat meal, of which the bread was made. "On my asking about the idlers, the reply w~s, 'Oh! they will· not stop here long; it is uncongenial to lazy people to be among industrious ones; and for their living, it do'nt cost much more than fifty cents per week, and they can surely earn that.' " At the Sunday meeting before luentioned, theenthu siasm of some was great. One man said he left his home in Indiana; he had a house there, which he thought at first to reserve in case of accident; but he finally concluded that if he had any thing to fall back upon, he could not give his heart and soul to the cause as he wanted to; so he gave up every thing he pos sessed, and put it into Community. Others did the same, while some had reserved property to fall back upon. Some said they had lands which they would put into the Community, if they could get rid of them; but the times were so hard that there was much scarcity of money, and the lands would not sell.

"From all I saw I . judged that the Community was too loosely put together, and that they had not entire confidence in each other; and I left them with fore bodings. "The experiment lasted scarcely a year. On the 25th PRAIRIE HOME. of October, about two months after my visit, they had a meeting to talk over their affairs. More than three thousand dollars had been paid on the property; but the land owner was pressed with a mortgage, and so pressed them. One man sold his farm and got part of the re quired sum ready to pay. Others who owned farms could not sell them; and the consequence was, that according to agreement they were obliged to give up the papers; so they surrendered the domain and all upon it, into the' hands of the original proprietor. H The members then scattered in various directions. Several were considerable losers by the attempt, while many had nothing to lose. At the present time I learn that there are men and women of that Community who are still ready with hands and means to try the good work again. The cause of failure assigned by the Com munists was their not owning the land they settled upon; but I think it very doubtful whether they could have kept together if the land had been free; for as I have before said, there was something else wanted to make harmony in labor."