imagination. He also felt the want of that external refinement which a
nature like Hawthorne's requires as a fulfilment of its internal
condition. The lack of nicety in the housekeeping became continually
more and more unpleasant to him. The expenditures at the end of the
first year were largely in excess of the receipts; in fact the inmates
had eaten up nearly everything that the farm produced. His friend
Franklin Pierce, who was just beginning to be prominent in politics,
asked him the salutary question, "What are you gaining by this peculiar
mode of life?"

His experience there served as a foundation for the "Blithedale
Romance," and caused no further injury than the loss of his money. It
would have required a Thackeray to have realized and described the
humorous side of it--the highly practical joke of so many well-educated
and cultivated people making life unnecessarily hard for themselves.

In the autumn of 1841 a reverend gentleman, the brother of Mrs. L. Maria
Child, went to visit his friend at Brook Farm accompanied by his niece,
who is one of the few persons now living who have a distinct memory of
the place. On calling at the "Hive" they learned that only a few members
of the association were present at that moment, but Mr. Ripley himself
could be found in the turnip field, where they soon discovered him with
two others, throwing turnips into a cart. On the approach of his
friends, Mr. Ripley came forward and said, "Dr. Francis, this is really
kind of you, to come such a distance to see an old fellow. You perceive
I am occupied with the philosophy of 'de cart.'" This referred to some
writings he had lately published on Descartes' philosophy, and made his
audience laugh heartily.

Mr. Dwight then appeared and gave an interesting account of a flock of