The Wabash, a very beautiful river, rises not far from the sources of the Miami of the Lakes, and meanders through one of the most fertile districts of the west. At its mouth, it is about two hundred and fifty yards broad, and is navigable about four hundred miles. The Wabash forms the boundary between the states of Illinois and Indiana, the right bank belongs to the former, the left to the latter state. About evening, the steam-boat landed Mr. Huygens and myself on the right bank at Mount Vernon, a place established about two years ago, whence we proposed to go by land to New Harmony. Mr. Hottinguer left us, as he pursued his voyage in the steam-boat; I parted very reluctantly from this esteemed fellow traveller, who possessed many good qualities, above all others, one seldom found in his countrymen, great modesty.
Mount Vernon lies upon a high bank, one hundred and twenty-six miles from New Orleans, and eight hundred and three from Pittsburgh. It is a favourable situation for trade, laid out on an extensive plan, but has only frame houses, and at most three hundred inhabitants. It is the new capital of Posey county. A prison was finished for the use of the county; a court-house was about to be built. We formed an acquaintance with a physician established here, and a travelling merchant. The roots of the felled trees remained yet in the streets of the town, the woods began close behind the houses; nay, the latest built were encircled by them.
On the following morning, 15th of April, we hired a two-horse wagon, to carry us to the village of New Harmony, which is sixteen miles distant from Mount Vernon, and lies on the left sh.o.r.e of the Wabash. The road pa.s.sed through a hilly country, thickly grown with green-leaved trees.
The way was made very bad by former rains, and the most miry places were mended with logs, forming a grievous causeway;[II-15] over a little stream, called Big creek, we crossed a tolerable wooden bridge. About half way is Springfield, at first made the capital of Posey county, which, however, afterwards was changed to Mount Vernon, as I have mentioned before. In Springfield the county gaol still remains, also a brick court-house, and about ten wooden houses, two of them are taverns.
As the road was very bad, and the horses went very slow, I walked at least ten miles, and arrived at New Harmony, before the carriage. As soon as you clear the woods, you have a very handsome view of the place.
It lies in a valley, not far from the Wabash. The woody and low banks of this river, were at present, in the neighbourhood of New Harmony, overflowed. From the roots of trees still remaining, it was visible, that this country had been covered with wood but a short time back.
[Footnote II-15: [These log turnpikes are better known by the name of "corduroy roads."]--TRANS.]
In fact, it is but eleven years since Mr. Rapp with his society, after they had disposed of Harmony in Pennsylvania, moved here, and felled the first tree to found New Harmony in a country inhabited only by wolves, Indians, bears, rattlesnakes, &c. The hills immediately next to the place, are already cleared of timber of the larger kind; they are converted into vineyards, and partly into orchards. Farther off are meadows and fields to the right, and to the left fruit and vegetable gardens, carefully enclosed by palisades. New Harmony itself, has broad unpaved streets, in which good brick houses appear alternately, with framed cabins and log houses: the streets are regular, running at right angles. We took up our quarters in the only tavern there, belonging to the community; it was pa.s.sable.
Rapp"s society, called from their former residence, the Harmonites, consisted of Wurtemburgers. Their early history is known, and perhaps, when I visit this society from Pittsburgh in their new establishment, "Economy," I may find an opportunity to say more concerning them. Rapp sold New Harmony in the year 1825, to the Englishman, Robert Owen, and left there with his people on the 5th of May, to go up the Ohio to Economy. Mr. Owen was originally engaged in manufactures, and possessed a large cotton factory at New Lanark, on the Falls of Clyde, ten miles from Glasgow in Scotland, where he had, by the adoption of a new system of education and formation of character, changed a collection of one thousand rude labourers into a community of industrious beings. His system, and his ideas upon the situation of human society, as well as the improvements that are capable of being made, he has divulged in a series of essays, which are collected, and appear in print under the name of a new view of society. They conclude with the project of a const.i.tution for a community formed on his system.
Mr. Owen is an enemy to all sects, the spirit of which has generated so much evil under the imposing name of religion. He allows each person liberty to believe in what he may consider to be good; so that a pure Deism is the peculiar religion of his adherents. On this account he was very obnoxious to the prevailing sects in Great Britain, and accordingly his system could not extend itself there. He was therefore induced to turn his attention to the United States, and particularly to the western part of the Union, where, as he says, there is less hypocrisy of religion prevailing than to the east. He then purchased New Harmony from Mr. Rapp, and commenced his establishment in the month of May last. As he laid the foundation of it entirely on perfect equality and community of property, many enthusiasts in these principles from various parts of the Union joined themselves to him; and also a number of vagabonds and lazy worthless persons, from all parts of the world, that would willingly live well at the public expense, who had drank away the little money, if they brought any at all, at the tavern, and who would not work, but desired to say a great deal. Mr. Owen had gone to England on account of business in the month of July, and during his absence, a complete anarchy had been introduced into the new community. At the end of October he arrived from England at New York on his return, gave lectures there, in Philadelphia, and in Washington, upon his system, made some proselytes in Philadelphia, and came back to New Harmony. He lamented over his people, and brought the situation of anarchy in which they had fallen before their eyes so plainly, with the consequences resulting therefrom, that they invested him with dictatorial authority for one year.
In the eastern states there is a general dislike to him. It was thought unadvised that he issued a proclamation to the Americans on his last arrival in New York, in which he told them, that among many virtues they possessed great faults, among which he alluded to an ill-directed propensity to religious feelings, and proposed himself as their reformer in this respect. I heard at that time unfavourable expressions from persons in the highest public offices against him; and one of them gave Mr. Owen to understand very plainly, that he considered his intellects rather deranged.[II-16] In one family alone, where theory took place of experimental knowledge, did I hear conversation turn to his advantage.
[Footnote II-16: [This is, perhaps, the most charitable idea that can be formed of the actions of such reformers, as well as of a "lady" heretofore mentioned, who has uns.e.xed herself, and become so intoxicated with vanity, as enthusiastically to preach up a "reformation" in favour of the promiscuous intercourse of s.e.xes and colours, the downfall of all religion, and the removal of all restraints imposed by virtue and morality!]--TRANS.]
After all this, I came with the utmost expectation to New Harmony, curious to become acquainted with a man of such extraordinary sentiments. In the tavern, I accosted a man very plainly dressed, about fifty years of age, rather of low stature, who entered into a conversation with me, concerning the situation of the place, and the disordered state in which I would find every thing, where all was newly established, &c. When I asked this man how long before Mr. Owen would be there, he announced himself, to my no small surprize, as Mr. Owen, was glad at my visit, and offered himself to show every thing, and explain to me whatever remained without explanation. As the arrangement calculated for Rapp"s society was not adapted to his, of course many alterations would naturally be made. All the log houses still standing in the place, he intended to remove, and only brick and framed edifices should be permitted to remain. Also all enclosures about particular gardens, as well as all the enclosures within the place itself, he would take away, and only allow the public highways leading through the settlement to be enclosed. The whole should bear a resemblance to a park, in which the separate houses should be scattered about.
In the first place, Mr. Owen carried me to the quondam church of Rapp"s society; a simple wooden building, with a steeple of the same materials, provided with a clock. This church was at present appropriated to joiner"s and shoemaker"s shops, in which the boys are instructed in these mechanic arts.
Behind the church stands a large brick edifice, built in the form of a cross, and furnished with a species of cupola, the purpose of which is unknown. Rapp, they say, had dreamed three times that this building should be erected, and therefore he had it done; but it is thought, and I believe correctly, that he only did this to keep his society in constant employment, so that they could have no leisure to reflect upon their situation, and dependence upon him. His power over them actually extended so far, that to prevent his society from too great an increase, he forbid the husbands from a.s.sociating with their wives. I also heard here a report which I had already been apprised of in Germany, that he had himself castrated a son who had transgressed this law, for the sake of example, and that the son had died under the operation. Over one of the entrances of this problematical edifice, stands the date of the year 1822, hewed in stone; under it is a gilt rose, and under this is placed the inscription Micah 4. v. 8. The interior of the house forms a large hall, in form of a cross, the ceiling is supported by wooden pillars.
Mr. Owen has devoted the hall to the purposes of dancing, music, and meetings for philosophical discussions. He told me that he intended to have the ends of the cross, both of the grand saloon as well as those of the hall under the roof, divided off by part.i.tions, so as to use them for school-rooms, for a library, for a cabinet of natural history, of physical objects, &c.
Mr. Owen then conducted me to Rapp"s former dwelling, a large, well-built brick house, with two lightning rods. The man of G.o.d, it appeared, took especial good care of himself; his house was by far the best in the place, surrounded by a garden, with a flight of stone steps, and the only one furnished with lightning rods. Mr. Owen, on the contrary, contented himself with a small apartment in the same tavern where I lodged. At present, the offices, and the residence of Mr.
M"Clure, the a.s.sociate of Mr. Owen, are in Rapp"s house.[II-17]
[Footnote II-17: [It is understood that Mr. M"Clure has long since given up all connexion with the New Harmony bubble.]--TRANS.]
Mr. M"Clure is a man distinguished for learning, who has published a geological chart of the United States. He told me that he was in Germany in the year 1802, and also at Weimar, where he had become acquainted with the literati residing there: I was introduced by him to a native of Alsace, of the name of Neef, a rather aged man, who had the superintendence of the boys. Mr. Owen"s two eldest sons were also here shown to me, pupils of Fellenberg, who is greatly respected. Afterwards Mr. Owen made me acquainted with Mr. Lewis, secretary of the society, from Virginia, and a relation of the great Washington. He was already pretty far advanced in years, and appeared to have united himself to the society from liberal principles, as far as I could judge from our short conversation. Another acquaintance that I made, was with a Mr. Jennings, from Philadelphia, a young man, who was educated as a clergyman, but had quitted that profession to follow this course of life, and had united himself to Mr. Owen. He intended, nevertheless, to leave this place again, and return back to Philadelphia. Many other members have the same design, and I can hardly believe that this society will have a long duration.[II-18] Enthusiasm, which abandons its subjects but too soon, as well as the itch for novelty, had contributed much to the formation of this society. In spite of the principles of equality which they recognise, it shocks the feelings of people of education, to live on the same footing with every one indiscriminately, and eat with them at the same table.
[Footnote II-18: By late newspapers it appears, that the society actually dissolved itself, in the beginning of the year 1827.]
The society consisted, as I was informed, of about one thousand members; at a distance of two miles are founded two new communities. Till a general table shall be inst.i.tuted, according to the fundamental const.i.tution of the society, the members are placed in four boarding-houses, where they must live very frugally. Several of the most turbulent, with an Irishman who wore a long beard, at their head, wished to leave the society immediately to go to Mexico, there to settle themselves, but where their subsistence will be procured with as much difficulty.
In the evening Mr. Owen conducted me to a concert in the non-descript building. Most of the members of the society were present. The orchestra was not numerous, it consisted at first only of one violin, one violoncello, one clarionet and two flutes. Nevertheless the concert was surprisingly good, especially as the musicians have not been together a year. The clarionet player performed particularly well, and afterwards let us hear him on the bugle. Several good male and female vocalists then took a part, they sang among other things a trio accompanied by the clarionet only. Declamation was interspersed among the musical performances, Lord Byron"s stanzas to his wife after their separation were extremely well recited. Between the two parts of the concert the music played a march, each gentleman gave a lady his arm, and a promenade took place, resembling a Polonaise with pretty figures, sometimes in two couples, sometimes in four; two ladies in the middle, the gentlemen separated from the ladies, then again all together. The concert closed with a lively cotillion. I was, on the whole, much amused; and Mr. Huygens took an active share in the dancing. This general evening amus.e.m.e.nt takes place often in the week; besides, on Tuesday, there is a general ball. There is a particular costume adopted for the society. That for the men consists of wide pantaloons b.u.t.toned over a boy"s jacket, made of light material, without a collar; that of the women of a coat reaching to the knee and pantaloons, such as little girls wear among us. These dresses are not universally adopted, but they have a good appearance. An elderly French lady, who presides over the department of young mothers, and the nursing of all the very small children, stuck by my side during a large portion of the evening, and tormented me with her philosophical views. All the men did not take a share in the dance, i. e. the lower cla.s.s, but read newspapers, which were scattered over the side-tables.
The public house in which we lived was conducted on account of the society. General Evans was looked for, who was to keep the house; in the mean time it was directed by the physician of the society, Dr. M"Namee, from Vincennes. Among the public buildings I remarked two of which the lower part was strongly built with rough stone, and provided with loop-holes. The larger of these was the granary, and it was reasonably thought that Rapp had this built as a defensive redoubt for his own people. At the first period of his establishment in this country he not only had the Indians, but also the rude people known under the general t.i.tle of backwoodsmen, who not only saw the establishment of such a society with jealous eyes, which they knew would be wealthy in a short time, but also entertained a grudge against Rapp"s unnatural rules of chast.i.ty.
On the morning of the 14th of April, I strolled about the place to look round me. I visited Mr. Neef, but found his wife only at home, a native of Memmingen, in Swabia. Her husband was in the act of leading the boys out to labour. Military exercises form a part of the instruction of the children. I saw the boys divided into two ranks, and parted into detachments marching to labour, and on the way they performed various wheelings and evolutions. All the boys and girls have a very healthy look, are cheerful and lively, and by no means bashful. The boys labour in the field and garden, and were now occupied with new fencing. The girls learn female employments; they were as little oppressed as the boys with labour and teaching; these happy and interesting children were much more employed in making their youth pa.s.s as pleasantly as possible.
Madam Neef showed the school-house, in which she dwelt, and in which the places for sleeping were arranged for the boys. Each boy slept on a cot frame, upon a straw bed.
We went next to Rapp"s distillery: it will be removed altogether. Mr.
Owen has forbidden distilling also, as well as the use of ardent spirits. Notwithstanding this, the Irishmen here find opportunities of getting whiskey and fuddling themselves from the flat boats that stop here, &c. We saw also a dye-house and a mill set in motion by a steam-engine of ten horse-power. The engine was old and not in good order, Mr. Owen said however, he hoped to introduce steam-mills here in time from England. From the mills we went to the vineyard, which was enclosed and kept in very good order. I spoke to an old French vine-dresser here. He a.s.sured me that Rapp"s people had not understood the art of making wine; that he would in time make more and much better wine, than had been done heretofore. The wine stocks are imported from the Cape of Good Hope, and the wine has an entirely singular and strange taste, which reminds one of the common Spanish wines.
We went again to the quondam church, or workshop for the boys, who are intended for joiners and shoemakers. These boys sleep upon the floor above the church in cribs, three in a row, and thus have their sleeping place and place of instruction close together. We also saw the shops of the shoemakers, tailors and saddlers, also the smiths, of which six were under one roof, and the pottery, in which were two rather large furnaces. A porcelain earth has been discovered on the banks of the Mississippi, in the state of Illinois, not far from St. Louis. Two experienced members of the society, went in that direction, to bring some of the earth to try experiments with, in burning. The greater part of the young girls, whom we chanced to meet at home, we found employed in plaiting straw hats. I became acquainted with a Madam F----, a native of St. Petersburg. She married an American merchant, settled there, and had the misfortune to lose her husband three days after marriage. She then joined her husband"s family at Philadelphia, and as she was somewhat eccentric and sentimental, quickly became enthusiastically attached to Mr. Owen"s system. She told me, however, in German, that she found herself egregiously deceived; that the highly vaunted equality was not altogether to her taste; that some of the society were too low, and the table was below all criticism. The good lady appeared to be about to run from one extreme to the other; for she added, that in the summer, she would enter a Shaker establishment near Vincennes.[II-19]
[Footnote II-19: [According to the report of some females, who were induced to visit New Harmony, and remained there for some time, any situation much above abject wretchedness, was preferable to this vaunted terrestrial paradise.]--TRANS.]
I renewed acquaintance here with Mr. Say, a distinguished naturalist from Philadelphia, whom I had been introduced to, at the Wistar Party there; unfortunately he had found himself embarra.s.sed in his fortune, and was obliged to come here as a friend of Mr. M"Clure. This gentleman appeared quite comical in the costume of the society, before described, with his hands full of hard lumps and blisters, occasioned by the unusual labour he was obliged to undertake in the garden.
In the evening I went to walk in the streets, and met with several of the ladies of the society, who rested from the labours of the day. Madam F---- was among them, whose complaints of disappointed expectations I had listened to. I feared still more from all that I saw and heard, that the society would have but a brief existence. I accompanied the ladies to a dancing a.s.sembly, which was held in the kitchen of one of the boarding-houses. I observed that this was only an hour of instruction to the unpractised in dancing, and that there was some restraint on account of my presence, from politeness I went away, and remained at home the remainder of the evening. About ten o"clock, an alarm of fire was suddenly raised. An old log building used as a wash-house was in flames, immediately the fire-engine kept in a distinct house, was brought and served by persons appointed to that duty. They threw the stream of water through the many apertures of the log-house, and quickly put a stop to the fire. In a quarter of an hour, all was over. Since the houses in the place all stand separately, there is nothing to fear from the extension of fire, unless in a strong wind. The houses, however, are all covered with shingles.
On the 15th of April, I went into the garden back of Rapp"s house to see a plate or block of stone, which is remarkable as it bears the impression of two human feet. This piece of stone was hewed out of a rock near St. Louis, and sold to Mr. Rapp. Schoolcraft speaks of it in his travels, and I insert his remarks, as I have found them correct.
"The impressions are to all appearance those of a man standing upright, the left foot a little forwards, the heels turned inwards. The distance between the heels by an exact measurement was six and a quarter inches, and thirteen and a half between the extremities of the great toes. By an accurate examination, it however will be ascertained, that they are not the impression of feet, accustomed to the use of European shoes, for the toes are pressed out, and the foot is flat, as is observed in persons who walk barefoot. The probability that they were caused by the pressure of an individual, that belonged to an unknown race of men, ignorant of the art of tanning hides, and that this took place in a much earlier age than the traditions of the present Indians extend to, this probability I say, is strengthened by the extraordinary size of the feet here given.
In another respect, the impressions are strikingly natural, since the muscles of the feet are represented with the greatest exactness and truth. This circ.u.mstance weakens very much the hypothesis, that they are possibly evidences of the ancient sculpture of a race of men living in the remote ages of this continent. Neither history nor tradition, gives us the slightest information of such a people. For it must be kept in mind, that we have no proof that the people who erected our surprising western tumuli, ever had a knowledge of masonry, even much less of sculpture, or that they had invented the chisel, the knife, or the axe, those excepted made from porphyry, hornstone or obsidian. The medium length of the human male foot can be taken at ten inches. The length of the foot stamp here described, amounts to ten and a quarter inches, the breadth measured over the toes, in a right angle with the first line is four inches, but the greatest spread of the toes is four and a half inches, which breadth diminishes at the heels to two and a half inches.
Directly before these impressions is a well inserted and deep mark, similar to a scroll of which the greatest length is two feet seven inches, and the greatest breadth twelve and a half inches. The rock which contains these interesting traces, is a compact limestone of a bluish-gray colour."
This rock with the unknown impressions are remembered as long as the country about St. Louis has been known, this table is hewn out of a rock, and indeed out of a perpendicular wall of rock.
The garden of Rapp"s house was the usual flower-garden of a rich German farmer. In it was a green-house, in which several large fig trees, an orange, and lemon tree stood in the earth. Mr. Owen took me into one of the newly-built houses, in which the married members of the society are to dwell. It consisted of two stories, in each two chambers and two alcoves, with the requisite ventilators. The cellar of the house is to contain a heating apparatus, to heat the whole with warm air. When all shall be thoroughly organized, the members will alternately have the charge of heating the apparatus. Each family will have a chamber and an alcove, which will be sufficient, as the little children will be in a nursery, and the larger at school. They will not require kitchens, as all are to eat in common. The unmarried women will live together, as will also the unmarried men, in the manner of the Moravian brethren.
I had an ample conversation with Mr. Owen, relating to his system, and his expectations. He looks forward to nothing less than to remodel the world entirely; to root out all crime; to abolish all punishments; to create similar views and similar wants, and in this manner to avoid all dissension and warfare. When his system of education shall be brought into connection with the great progress made by mechanics, and which is daily increasing, every man can then, as he thought, provide his smaller necessaries for himself, and trade would cease entirely! I expressed a doubt of the practicability of his system in Europe, and even in the United States. He was too unalterably convinced of the results, to admit the slightest room for doubt. It grieved me to see that Mr. Owen should allow himself to be so infatuated by his pa.s.sion for universal improvement, as to believe and to say that he is about to reform the whole world; and yet that almost every member of his society, with whom I have conversed apart, acknowledged that he was deceived in his expectations, and expressed their opinion that Mr. Owen had commenced on too grand a scale, and had admitted too many members, without the requisite selection! The territory of the society may contain twenty five thousand acres. The sum of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars was paid to Rapp for this purchase, and for that consideration he also left both his cattle, and a considerable flock of sheep behind.
I went with the elder Doctor M"Namee, to the two new established communities, one of which is called No. 2, or Macluria; the other lately founded, No. 3. No. 2, lies two miles distant from New Harmony, at the entrance of the forest, which will be cleared to make the land fit for cultivation, and consists of nine log houses, first tenanted about four weeks since, by about eighty persons. They are mostly backwoodsmen with their families, who have separated themselves from the community No. 1, in New Harmony, because _no religion_ is acknowledged there, and these people wish to hold their prayer meetings undisturbed. The fields in the neighbourhood of this community were of course very new. The community No. 3, consisted of English country people, who formed a new a.s.sociation, as the mixture, or perhaps the cosmopolitism of New Harmony did not suit them; they left the colony planted by Mr. Birkbeck, at English Prairie, about twenty miles hence, on the right bank of the Wabash, after the unfortunate death of that gentleman,[II-20] and came here. This is a proof that there are two evils that strike at the root of the young societies; one is a sectarian or intolerant spirit; the other, national prejudice. No. 3, is to be built on a very pretty eminence, as yet there is only a frame building for three families begun.
[Footnote II-20: He was drowned in the Wabash, which he attempted to swim over on horseback.]
After we had returned to New Harmony, I went to the orchard on the Mount Vernon road to walk, and beheld, to my great concern, what ravages the frost had committed on the fruit blossoms, the vines must have been completely killed. The orchards planted by Rapp and his society are large and very handsome, containing mostly apple and peach trees, also some pear and cherry trees. One of the gardens is exclusively devoted to flowers, where, in Rapp"s time, a labyrinth was constructed of beech tree hedges and flowers, in the middle of which stood a pavilion, covered with the tops of trees.
I afterwards visited Mr. Neef, who is still full of the maxims and principles of the French revolution; captivated with the system of equality; talks of the emanc.i.p.ation of the negroes, and openly proclaims himself an ATHEIST. Such people stand by themselves, and fortunately are so very few in number, that they can do little or no injury.
In the evening there was a general meeting in the large hall, it opened with music. Then one of the members, an English architect of talent, who came to the United States with Mr. Owen, whose confidence he appeared to possess, and was here at the head of the arranging and architectural department, read some extracts from the newspapers, upon which Mr. Owen made a very good commentary; for example, upon the extension and improvement of steam-engines, upon their adaptation to navigation, and the advantages resulting therefrom. He lost himself, however, in his theories, when he expatiated on an article which related to the experiments which had been made with Perkins"s steam-gun. During these lectures, I made my observations on the much vaunted equality, as some tatterdemalions stretched themselves on the platform close by Mr. Owen.
The better educated members kept themselves together, and took no notice of the others. I remarked also, that the members belonging to the higher cla.s.s of society had put on the new costume, and made a party by themselves. After the lecture the band played a march, each gentleman took a lady, and marched with her round the room. Lastly, a cotillion was danced: the ladies were then escorted home, and each retired to his own quarters.
I went early on the following morning, (Sunday,) to the a.s.sembly room.
The meeting was opened by music. After this Mr. Owen stated a proposition, in the discussion of which he spoke of the advances made by the society, and of the location of a new community at Valley Forge, in Pennsylvania, and another in the state of New York. A cla.s.sification of the members was spoken of afterwards. They were separated into three cla.s.ses, first, of such as undertook to be security for the sums due Mr.
Owen and Mr. M"Clure, (that is, for the amount paid to Rapp, and so expended as a pledge to be redeemed by the society,) and who, if desirous to leave the society, must give six months previous notice; secondly, of such as after a notice of fourteen days can depart; and, lastly of those who are received only on trial.
After this meeting, I paid Mr. M"Clure a visit, and received from him the French papers. Mr. M"Clure is old, childless, was never married, and intends, as is reported, to leave his property to the society.
Afterwards I went with Mr. Owen, and some ladies of the society, to walk to the cut-off, as it is called, of the Wabash, where this river has formed a new channel, and an island, which contains more than a hundred acres of the best land; at present, however, inundated by water. There is here a substantial grist-mill, erected by Rapp, which was said to contain a very good set of machinery, but where we could not reach it on account of the water. We went some distance along the river, and then returned through the woods over the hills, which, as it was rather warm, and we could discover no pathway, was very laborious to the ladies, who were uncommonly alarmed at the different snakes we chanced to meet. Most of the serpent species here are harmless, and the children catch them for playthings. The poisonous snakes harbouring about here, are rattlesnakes and copperheads; these, however, diminish rapidly in numbers, for it is a common observation, that the poisonous serpents, like the Indians and bears, fly before civilization. The rattlesnakes have a powerful enemy in the numerous hogs, belonging to the settlers, running about the woods, which are very well skilled in catching them by the neck and devouring them.
In the evening I paid visits to some ladies, and witnessed philosophy and the love of equality put to the severest trial with one of them. She is named Virginia, from Philadelphia; is very young and pretty, was delicately brought up, and appears to have taken refuge here on account of an unhappy attachment. While she was singing and playing very well on the piano forte, she was told that the milking of the cows was her duty, and that they were waiting unmilked. Almost in tears, she betook herself to this servile employment, deprecating the new social system, and its so much prized equality.
After the cows were milked, in doing which the poor girl was trod on by one, and daubed by another, I joined an aquatic party with the young ladies and some young philosophers, in a very good boat upon the inundated meadows of the Wabash. The evening was beautiful moonlight, and the air very mild; the beautiful Miss Virginia forgot her _stable_ sufferings, and regaled us with her sweet voice. Somewhat later we collected together in the house No. 2, appointed for a school-house, where all the young ladies and gentlemen of _quality_ a.s.sembled. In spite of the equality so much recommended, this cla.s.s of persons will not mix with the common sort, and I believe that all the well brought up members are disgusted, and will soon abandon the society. We amused ourselves exceedingly during the whole remainder of the evening, dancing cotillions, reels and waltzes, and with such animation as rendered it quite lively. New figures had been introduced among the cotillions, among which is one called the _new social system_. Several of the ladies made objections to dancing on Sunday; we thought however, that in this sanctuary of philosophy, such prejudices should be utterly discarded, and our arguments, as well as the inclination of the ladies, gained the victory.
On the 17th April, a violent storm arose, which collected such clouds of dust together that it was hardly possible to remain in the streets, and I remained at home almost all day. I received a visit from a Mr. Von Schott. This person, a Wurtemburger by birth, and brother of lady Von Mareuil, in Washington, has settled himself seven or eight miles from New Harmony, and lives a real hermit"s life, without a servant or a.s.sistant of any kind. He was formerly an officer in the Wurtemburg cavalry, took his discharge, and went, from pure enthusiasm, and overwrought fanaticism, to Greece, to defend their rights. As he there discovered himself to be deceived in his antic.i.p.ations, he returned to his native country, and delivered himself up to religious superst.i.tion.
To extricate himself, in his opinion, from this world plunged in wretchedness, he accompanied his sister to the United States, came to Indiana, bought a piece of land from Rapp, by whom he a.s.serted he was imposed upon, and had difficulties to undergo, since he knew nothing of agriculture. He lived in this manner in the midst of the forest with a solitary horse. A cruel accident had befallen him the week before, his stable with his trusty horse was burnt. He appeared to be a well-informed man, and spoke well and rationally, only when he touched upon religious topics, his mind appeared to be somewhat deranged. He declared that he supported all possible privations with the greatest patience, only he felt the want of intercourse with a friend in his solitude.
To-day two companies of the New Harmony militia paraded, with drums beating, and exercised morning and afternoon. They were all in uniform, well armed, and presented an imposing front.
I was invited to dinner in the house, No. 4. Some gentlemen had been out hunting, and had brought home a wild turkey, which must be consumed.
This turkey formed the whole dinner. Upon the whole I cannot complain either of an overloaded stomach, or a head-ache from the wine affecting it, in any way. The living was frugal in the strictest sense, and in nowise pleased the elegant ladies with whom I dined. In the evening I visited Mr. M"Clure and Madam Fretageot, living in the same house. She is a Frenchwoman, who formerly kept a boarding-school in Philadelphia, and is called _mother_ by all the young girls here. The handsomest and most polished of the female world here, Miss Lucia Saistare and Miss Virginia, were under her care. The cows were milked this evening when I came in, and therefore we could hear their performance on the piano forte, and their charming voices in peace and quiet. Later in the evening we went to the kitchen of No. 3, where there was a ball. The young ladies of the better cla.s.s kept themselves in a corner under Madam Fretageot"s protection, and formed a little aristocratical club. To prevent all possible partialities, the gentlemen as well as the ladies, drew numbers for the cotillions, and thus apportioned them equitably.
Our young ladies turned up their noses apart at the democratic dancers, who often in this way fell to their lot. Although every one was pleased upon the whole, yet they separated at ten o"clock, as it is necessary to rise early here. I accompanied Madam Fretageot and her two pupils home, and pa.s.sed some time in conversation with Mr. M"Clure on his travels in Europe, which were undertaken with mineralogical views. The architect, Mr. Whitwell, besides showed me to-day the plan of this establishment.
I admired particularly the judicious and economical arrangements for warming and ventilating the buildings, as well as the kitchens and laundries. It would indeed be a desirable thing could a building on this plan once be completed, and Mr. Owen hopes that the whole of New Harmony will thus be arranged.