It seems to me that in these
respects the communes I have visited have failed of their proper and
just development; and I believe this inattention to the higher and
intellectual wants of men to be the main reason of their generally
failing numbers. They keep their lives on the plane of the common
farmer's life out of which most of the older members were gathered--and
their young people leave them, just as the farmers of our country
complain that their boys run off to the cities. The individual farmer or
country mechanic cannot control this; he cannot greatly beautify his
life, or make it intellectually richer. But to the commune, once well
established and prosperous, all needful things are possible, so far as
money cost is concerned; and it is my belief that neither books nor
music, nor eloquence nor flowers, nor finely kept pleasure-grounds nor
good architecture would be dangerous to the success of a commune.
In another respect, the communistic societies fall short of what they
ought to be and do. The permanence of their establishments gives them
extraordinary advantages for observing the phenomena of climate and
nature; and it would add greatly to the interest of their lives did they
busy and interest themselves with observations of temperature, and of
the various natural phenomena which depend upon or denote climate: the
arrival and departure of birds; the first and last frosts; the
blossoming of flowers and trees.
Pages:
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553