They could but try them. And with a faith
for which, during all these succeeding years, they have been, laughed
at by cynical philosophers, they went to work to apply them, as far as
possible, to the actual life they were then leading. All honor to them!
When the resolution was finally taken to join with the movements that
seemed to be, as it were, a new impulse for humanity's sake--an
outpouring of spirit upon the children of men, instanced by the very
great and sudden interest taken by numerous bodies, societies and
individuals along the line of social reform--it was not entirely
palatable to all who had looked on the little Community as their pet
property, their ideal home; for the sainted individualists, for
cultivated book-worms, for theorists who could read Latin and Greek but
whose ideas of labor extended only to planting flowers or washing with
care a few muslins to adorn their beautiful selves; and fearing a loss
of selectness some departed. The motive extended to the school, and,
although many of the former pupils left, their places were soon filled
by others.
The responsible men looked at the matter from another standpoint. They
felt that the labor on the farm had been the least success of anything,
and that to organize and improve it was one thing important, if not
_the_ one thing needful.
Pages:
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68