The organization which began on that Sunday afternoon in October, 1845,
continued to exist at Brook Farm until January, 1847, when "The Religious
Union of Associationists" was organized in Boston, with Channing as the
minister. For a few years it was successful, and it gave union and purpose
to the Associationist movement in Boston and the vicinity. A considerable
number of the members of Brook Farm were connected with it actively--as
officers, members of the choir, or regular attendants.

The organization effected in the pine woods in so informal a manner was
quite in harmony with the Brook Farm spirit and methods. Formalism of
every kind was dreaded, but yet there was a deeply religious interest
pervading the whole life of the community. At all the meetings held by the
Farmers, even at little social gatherings, the conversation was likely to
run on high themes. While there was present the utmost freedom of opinion
and expression, and while there was the greatest effort to avoid cant and
conventional phraseology, yet there was in the community a very strong
religious feeling; and nearly all the members held serious and earnest
convictions, to which they were unusually faithful in their daily living.


III

The relations of Curtis to his teachers at Brook Farm were cordial and
appreciative, but they were especially so with John S. Dwight, with whom
he studied music. When he left the farm, an intimate and confidential
correspondence began between them, and this continued until Curtis went to
Europe. After he returned it was resumed, but the interchange of letters
was not so frequent. They continued to write to each other almost to the
end of Dwight's life, however, and their friendship was always sympathetic