" My conviction is that it
reached farther than to single individuals, and that it still reaches
into and influences more or less all the deep undercurrents of society.
I am confirmed in this opinion by the following statement made by Mr.
George P. Bradford in the _Century Magazine_ for May, 1892:--
"I cannot but think that the brief and imperfect experiment, with the
theory and discussion that grew out of it, had no small influence in
teaching more impressively the relation of universal brotherhood and
the ties that bind us to all; a deeper feeling of the rights and claims
of others, and so in diffusing, enlarging, deepening and giving
emphasis to the growing spirit of true democracy."
But if I were to leave my position as narrator, and speak from my
individual standpoint, I would say Brook Farm and what it stood for was
to world-benighted travellers, seeking for sustenance, like a city set
on a hill. It was a small, glimmering light of social truth, shining
amid universal darkness. It was a dim foregleam of the great sun of
social life and science, that will yet rise and shine gloriously on our
earth. It was a spark of that divine justice that, like electricity,
has been stored for humanity from the beginning of things--abundant in
quantity and power to bless all men--stowed away by the hand of God for
us, awaiting only our awakening from the sleep of ignorance and
childishness, to use and cherish it.
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