Another member of Brook Farm in its earlier period was Minott Pratt, who
had been a printer, and the foreman in the office of the _Christian
Register_, the Unitarian paper published in Boston. Dr. Codman says of him
that he was "a finely formed, large, graceful-featured, modest man. His
voice was low, soft, and calm. His presence inspired confidence and
respect. Whatever he touched was well done. He was faithful and dignified,
and the serenity of his nature welled up in genial smiles. In farm-work he
was Mr. Ripley's right hand. They agreed in practical matters, and Ripley
deferred to his judgment. His wife was an earnest, strong, faithful
worker. They entered into the scheme with fervor." Another Brook Farmer
said of him: "No one can ever forget the entire freedom from fret and fume
and worry he evinced, while he never neglected a duty or failed to
accomplish his full share of work. No one can fail to recall how peaceful
and free from criticism his life was, with what rare fidelity he estimated
his fellows, and how little apparent thought or recognition of self there
was in all his actions. Indeed, the loveliness of his spirit shone through
the bodily vesture, and his smile itself was a blessing which one might
seek to win, and be proud to have gained by one's exertions. His presence,
in all the various spheres of active life and industry, had a wonderful
educational power upon both old and young; and to the influence of several
individuals of similar beauty of character I attribute the harmony and
beauty, in considerable degree, of our Brook Farm life."

Pratt spent the remainder of his life, after the Brook Farm episode, in
Concord, and there he has, even now, the reputation of having been a model
farmer. He was an extremely modest man, very little forthputting, gentle
in manner, and most neighborly in spirit. He wrote many papers for the
Concord Farmers' Club, and some of these were printed in the _Boston
Commonwealth_. In that paper, when Mr. Frank B. Sanborn was the editor, he