missing no chance to drop good seed in every furrow upturned by the ploughshare or softened by the rain. In the secluded yet intensely animated circle of these co-workers I frequently met her during several succeeding years, and rejoice to bear testimony to the justice, magnanimity, wisdom, patience, and many-sided goodwill, that governed her every thought and deed. The feelings with which she watched the progress of this experiment are thus exhibited in her journals: —
‘My hopes might lead to Association, too, — an
association, if not of efforts, yet of destinies. In such an
one I live with several already, feeling that each one,
by acting out his own, casts light upon a mutual
destiny, and illustrates the thought of a master mind.
It is a constellation, not a phalanx, to which I would
belong.’
‘Why bind oneself to a central or any doctrine?
How much nobler stands a man entirely unpledged,
unbound! Association may be the great experiment
of the age, still it is only an experiment. It is not
worth while to lay such stress on it; let us try it,
induce others to try it, — that is enough.’
‘It is amusing to see how the solitary characters tend
to outwardness, — to association, — while the social
and sympathetic ones emphasize the value of solitude,
— of concentration, — so that we hear from each the
word which, from his structure, we least expect.’
‘On Friday I came to Brook Farm. The first day or
two here is desolate. You seem to belong to nobody
