Kitabı oku: «Travels Through North America, During the Years 1825 and 1826. v. 1-2», sayfa 30
CHAPTER XXI
Travels from St. Louis to New Harmony. – Mr. Owen’s System and Experiment
On the 10th of April at seven o’clock, P. M. we left St. Louis, in the Mexico, a neat boat with a low pressure engine. We went down the stream so rapidly, that we advanced fourteen and fifteen miles per hour. We received an unpleasant shock during the night from a snag. It gave the vessel such a violent blow, that all were roused from sleep, and sprang out of bed: I thought that the boat was going down. Happily we were only scared this time. Towards morning we hastened past Cape Girardeau, and all the places which we had seen a few days before. It was agreeable for us again to come something more southerly, and recognize traces of vegetation. We reached the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi about twelve o’clock in the day. We then quitted the Mississippi, and steered into the Ohio.
At the period when the French extended their posts from Canada to New Orleans, the Ohio was known to them under the name of “La Belle Riviere;” Mr. Choteau, Senr. used this appellation constantly in speaking of it, while conversing with me. The water of the Ohio is much clearer and purer than that of the Mississippi, which is evidently very foul from the confluence of the Missouri. At the union with the Ohio, this difference in the colour of the streams is striking, when you pass from the turbid waters of the Mississippi into the purer current of the Ohio. They are divided from each other by a perceptible line, disturbed cloudings being visible on each side of this line.
I took a solemn leave of the majestic father of rivers, the Mississippi; but, with God’s permission, not an eternal one.
The banks of the Ohio are at first very low, and exposed to inundations. Upon the right bank, eleven miles above the mouth, lies a small place, consisting of a few wooden houses, called America. It is built upon a bank raised several feet above the highest water-mark. It is only three miles hence across to the Mississippi. A project, therefore has been agitated, and a company formed with a capital of ten thousand dollars, to cut through this narrow piece of land, to unite the rivers sooner, and gain an easier navigation. Since the bank is not exposed to overflow at this point, as I have remarked before, a town may be established here, in process of time, when this design is carried into effect, that will be extremely important and wealthy.
About six miles from the mouth, stand a tavern and warehouses, on the right bank, which is called Trinity. In this vicinity there are several rocks concealed under the water, that must be very dangerous at a low stage of the river. Some miles higher, thirty-seven and a half miles from the mouth, fourteen hundred miles from New Orleans, and three hundred and thirty-four and a half from Louisville, is Fort Massac, situated on an eminence on the right bank. The remains of a stockade, two block-houses, and barracks, are what is left of this fort, which gains its name from the massacre of the French garrison by the Indians. As long as the western military posts of the United States were kept up, an infantry company remained here in garrison. This fort has been abandoned for a long time. Nine miles higher up on the left bank, the Tennessee river flows into the Ohio, upon which the Western Navigator makes the following remarks: “This river is the largest branch of the Ohio, and is navigable for large boats more than six hundred miles. It rises in the north western part of Virginia, and runs through the whole breadth of East Tennessee, in a south-westerly direction. Afterwards it enters at the north-east corner of Alabama, through the breadth of which it runs, then turning in a northern direction, nearly in a direct line with the western boundary of that state, it flows through Tennessee and a part of Kentucky, in which it discharges itself into the Ohio.” The right bank of the river on which we were now sailing, belongs to the state of Illinois, and the left to Kentucky. Both shores are thickly covered with woods. Although our course up the stream did not equal the speed with which we had descended the Mississippi, yet we made handsome progress.
On the second night we went on, in spite of the snags, and without accident. On the third day, 12th of April, we were delighted with the prospect of the beautiful banks of the Ohio, thickly covered with wood. The right shore especially is rocky, and occupied by neat dwellings and little settlements. During the night we had passed the mouth of the Cumberland, an eastern tributary river to the Ohio. This is one of the largest rivers in Kentucky. It rises in the Cumberland mountains, in the vicinity of the heads of Clinch and Kentucky rivers, flows in a westerly direction more than two hundred miles, enters the state of Tennessee, reaching Nashville, after meandering through that state one hundred and twenty miles, in the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude, or thereabouts, flows then one hundred and twenty miles in a north-west course, and discharges itself into the Ohio.
This mouth of Cumberland is eight hundred and ninety-four miles from Pittsburgh, and ten hundred and thirty-five from New Orleans. On the right shore we saw the little town of Golconda, afterwards the Cave in Rock, where a considerable cavern runs into the rock. It reaches one hundred and fifty feet deep under the hill, and was used by a robber in former days for a place of residence, whence he sallied out and plundered the passing flat-boats and smaller craft.
Towards noon we reached Shawnee town, on the right bank, ten hundred and ninety-five miles from New Orleans, and eight hundred and thirty-four from Pittsburgh. The Western Navigator says, “Shawnee town was formerly a village which belonged to the Shawnee Indian nation, and bore its name. It is at present a handsomely situated town, in Gallatin county, state of Illinois. It contains a post-office, a land-office, and a bank, called the Great Bank of Illinois, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars. Although it is subject to be overflowed, yet it is nevertheless a considerable place, since it is the centre of the emigrants going to Kaskaskias, St. Louis, &c.” It appeared to me safe from inundation, as it lies upon a tolerably elevated bank. The houses, of which many contain stores, are mostly of wood, yet I observed many of brick. It may contain eight hundred inhabitants, mostly white persons. The states of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, lying between the Mississippi and Ohio, hold no slaves; a slave coming here from other states is free: and yet these states are only divided by the Mississippi from Missouri, and by the Ohio from Kentucky and Virginia, in which three states, slavery still exists.
Ten miles above Shawnee town we passed the mouth of the Wabash, a western tributary of the Ohio.
The Wabash, a very beautiful river, rises not far from the sources of the Miami of the Lakes, and meanders through one of the most fertile districts of the west. At its mouth, it is about two hundred and fifty yards broad, and is navigable about four hundred miles. The Wabash forms the boundary between the states of Illinois and Indiana, the right bank belongs to the former, the left to the latter state. About evening, the steam-boat landed Mr. Huygens and myself on the right bank at Mount Vernon, a place established about two years ago, whence we proposed to go by land to New Harmony. Mr. Hottinguer left us, as he pursued his voyage in the steam-boat; I parted very reluctantly from this esteemed fellow traveller, who possessed many good qualities, above all others, one seldom found in his countrymen, great modesty.
Mount Vernon lies upon a high bank, one hundred and twenty-six miles from New Orleans, and eight hundred and three from Pittsburgh. It is a favourable situation for trade, laid out on an extensive plan, but has only frame houses, and at most three hundred inhabitants. It is the new capital of Posey county. A prison was finished for the use of the county; a court-house was about to be built. We formed an acquaintance with a physician established here, and a travelling merchant. The roots of the felled trees remained yet in the streets of the town, the woods began close behind the houses; nay, the latest built were encircled by them.
On the following morning, 15th of April, we hired a two-horse wagon, to carry us to the village of New Harmony, which is sixteen miles distant from Mount Vernon, and lies on the left shore of the Wabash. The road passed through a hilly country, thickly grown with green-leaved trees. The way was made very bad by former rains, and the most miry places were mended with logs, forming a grievous causeway;51 over a little stream, called Big creek, we crossed a tolerable wooden bridge. About half way is Springfield, at first made the capital of Posey county, which, however, afterwards was changed to Mount Vernon, as I have mentioned before. In Springfield the county gaol still remains, also a brick court-house, and about ten wooden houses, two of them are taverns. As the road was very bad, and the horses went very slow, I walked at least ten miles, and arrived at New Harmony, before the carriage. As soon as you clear the woods, you have a very handsome view of the place. It lies in a valley, not far from the Wabash. The woody and low banks of this river, were at present, in the neighbourhood of New Harmony, overflowed. From the roots of trees still remaining, it was visible, that this country had been covered with wood but a short time back.
In fact, it is but eleven years since Mr. Rapp with his society, after they had disposed of Harmony in Pennsylvania, moved here, and felled the first tree to found New Harmony in a country inhabited only by wolves, Indians, bears, rattlesnakes, &c. The hills immediately next to the place, are already cleared of timber of the larger kind; they are converted into vineyards, and partly into orchards. Farther off are meadows and fields to the right, and to the left fruit and vegetable gardens, carefully enclosed by palisades. New Harmony itself, has broad unpaved streets, in which good brick houses appear alternately, with framed cabins and log houses: the streets are regular, running at right angles. We took up our quarters in the only tavern there, belonging to the community; it was passable.
Rapp’s society, called from their former residence, the Harmonites, consisted of Wurtemburgers. Their early history is known, and perhaps, when I visit this society from Pittsburgh in their new establishment, “Economy,” I may find an opportunity to say more concerning them. Rapp sold New Harmony in the year 1825, to the Englishman, Robert Owen, and left there with his people on the 5th of May, to go up the Ohio to Economy. Mr. Owen was originally engaged in manufactures, and possessed a large cotton factory at New Lanark, on the Falls of Clyde, ten miles from Glasgow in Scotland, where he had, by the adoption of a new system of education and formation of character, changed a collection of one thousand rude labourers into a community of industrious beings. His system, and his ideas upon the situation of human society, as well as the improvements that are capable of being made, he has divulged in a series of essays, which are collected, and appear in print under the name of a new view of society. They conclude with the project of a constitution for a community formed on his system.
Mr. Owen is an enemy to all sects, the spirit of which has generated so much evil under the imposing name of religion. He allows each person liberty to believe in what he may consider to be good; so that a pure Deism is the peculiar religion of his adherents. On this account he was very obnoxious to the prevailing sects in Great Britain, and accordingly his system could not extend itself there. He was therefore induced to turn his attention to the United States, and particularly to the western part of the Union, where, as he says, there is less hypocrisy of religion prevailing than to the east. He then purchased New Harmony from Mr. Rapp, and commenced his establishment in the month of May last. As he laid the foundation of it entirely on perfect equality and community of property, many enthusiasts in these principles from various parts of the Union joined themselves to him; and also a number of vagabonds and lazy worthless persons, from all parts of the world, that would willingly live well at the public expense, who had drank away the little money, if they brought any at all, at the tavern, and who would not work, but desired to say a great deal. Mr. Owen had gone to England on account of business in the month of July, and during his absence, a complete anarchy had been introduced into the new community. At the end of October he arrived from England at New York on his return, gave lectures there, in Philadelphia, and in Washington, upon his system, made some proselytes in Philadelphia, and came back to New Harmony. He lamented over his people, and brought the situation of anarchy in which they had fallen before their eyes so plainly, with the consequences resulting therefrom, that they invested him with dictatorial authority for one year.
In the eastern states there is a general dislike to him. It was thought unadvised that he issued a proclamation to the Americans on his last arrival in New York, in which he told them, that among many virtues they possessed great faults, among which he alluded to an ill-directed propensity to religious feelings, and proposed himself as their reformer in this respect. I heard at that time unfavourable expressions from persons in the highest public offices against him; and one of them gave Mr. Owen to understand very plainly, that he considered his intellects rather deranged.52 In one family alone, where theory took place of experimental knowledge, did I hear conversation turn to his advantage.
After all this, I came with the utmost expectation to New Harmony, curious to become acquainted with a man of such extraordinary sentiments. In the tavern, I accosted a man very plainly dressed, about fifty years of age, rather of low stature, who entered into a conversation with me, concerning the situation of the place, and the disordered state in which I would find every thing, where all was newly established, &c. When I asked this man how long before Mr. Owen would be there, he announced himself, to my no small surprize, as Mr. Owen, was glad at my visit, and offered himself to show every thing, and explain to me whatever remained without explanation. As the arrangement calculated for Rapp’s society was not adapted to his, of course many alterations would naturally be made. All the log houses still standing in the place, he intended to remove, and only brick and framed edifices should be permitted to remain. Also all enclosures about particular gardens, as well as all the enclosures within the place itself, he would take away, and only allow the public highways leading through the settlement to be enclosed. The whole should bear a resemblance to a park, in which the separate houses should be scattered about.
In the first place, Mr. Owen carried me to the quondam church of Rapp’s society; a simple wooden building, with a steeple of the same materials, provided with a clock. This church was at present appropriated to joiner’s and shoemaker’s shops, in which the boys are instructed in these mechanic arts.
Behind the church stands a large brick edifice, built in the form of a cross, and furnished with a species of cupola, the purpose of which is unknown. Rapp, they say, had dreamed three times that this building should be erected, and therefore he had it done; but it is thought, and I believe correctly, that he only did this to keep his society in constant employment, so that they could have no leisure to reflect upon their situation, and dependence upon him. His power over them actually extended so far, that to prevent his society from too great an increase, he forbid the husbands from associating with their wives. I also heard here a report which I had already been apprised of in Germany, that he had himself castrated a son who had transgressed this law, for the sake of example, and that the son had died under the operation. Over one of the entrances of this problematical edifice, stands the date of the year 1822, hewed in stone; under it is a gilt rose, and under this is placed the inscription Micah 4. v. 8. The interior of the house forms a large hall, in form of a cross, the ceiling is supported by wooden pillars. Mr. Owen has devoted the hall to the purposes of dancing, music, and meetings for philosophical discussions. He told me that he intended to have the ends of the cross, both of the grand saloon as well as those of the hall under the roof, divided off by partitions, so as to use them for school-rooms, for a library, for a cabinet of natural history, of physical objects, &c.
Mr. Owen then conducted me to Rapp’s former dwelling, a large, well-built brick house, with two lightning rods. The man of God, it appeared, took especial good care of himself; his house was by far the best in the place, surrounded by a garden, with a flight of stone steps, and the only one furnished with lightning rods. Mr. Owen, on the contrary, contented himself with a small apartment in the same tavern where I lodged. At present, the offices, and the residence of Mr. M‘Clure, the associate of Mr. Owen, are in Rapp’s house.53
Mr. M‘Clure is a man distinguished for learning, who has published a geological chart of the United States. He told me that he was in Germany in the year 1802, and also at Weimar, where he had become acquainted with the literati residing there: I was introduced by him to a native of Alsace, of the name of Neef, a rather aged man, who had the superintendence of the boys. Mr. Owen’s two eldest sons were also here shown to me, pupils of Fellenberg, who is greatly respected. Afterwards Mr. Owen made me acquainted with Mr. Lewis, secretary of the society, from Virginia, and a relation of the great Washington. He was already pretty far advanced in years, and appeared to have united himself to the society from liberal principles, as far as I could judge from our short conversation. Another acquaintance that I made, was with a Mr. Jennings, from Philadelphia, a young man, who was educated as a clergyman, but had quitted that profession to follow this course of life, and had united himself to Mr. Owen. He intended, nevertheless, to leave this place again, and return back to Philadelphia. Many other members have the same design, and I can hardly believe that this society will have a long duration.54 Enthusiasm, which abandons its subjects but too soon, as well as the itch for novelty, had contributed much to the formation of this society. In spite of the principles of equality which they recognise, it shocks the feelings of people of education, to live on the same footing with every one indiscriminately, and eat with them at the same table.
The society consisted, as I was informed, of about one thousand members; at a distance of two miles are founded two new communities. Till a general table shall be instituted, according to the fundamental constitution of the society, the members are placed in four boarding-houses, where they must live very frugally. Several of the most turbulent, with an Irishman who wore a long beard, at their head, wished to leave the society immediately to go to Mexico, there to settle themselves, but where their subsistence will be procured with as much difficulty.
In the evening Mr. Owen conducted me to a concert in the non-descript building. Most of the members of the society were present. The orchestra was not numerous, it consisted at first only of one violin, one violoncello, one clarionet and two flutes. Nevertheless the concert was surprisingly good, especially as the musicians have not been together a year. The clarionet player performed particularly well, and afterwards let us hear him on the bugle. Several good male and female vocalists then took a part, they sang among other things a trio accompanied by the clarionet only. Declamation was interspersed among the musical performances, Lord Byron’s stanzas to his wife after their separation were extremely well recited. Between the two parts of the concert the music played a march, each gentleman gave a lady his arm, and a promenade took place, resembling a Polonaise with pretty figures, sometimes in two couples, sometimes in four; two ladies in the middle, the gentlemen separated from the ladies, then again all together. The concert closed with a lively cotillion. I was, on the whole, much amused; and Mr. Huygens took an active share in the dancing. This general evening amusement takes place often in the week; besides, on Tuesday, there is a general ball. There is a particular costume adopted for the society. That for the men consists of wide pantaloons buttoned over a boy’s jacket, made of light material, without a collar; that of the women of a coat reaching to the knee and pantaloons, such as little girls wear among us. These dresses are not universally adopted, but they have a good appearance. An elderly French lady, who presides over the department of young mothers, and the nursing of all the very small children, stuck by my side during a large portion of the evening, and tormented me with her philosophical views. All the men did not take a share in the dance, i. e. the lower class, but read newspapers, which were scattered over the side-tables.
The public house in which we lived was conducted on account of the society. General Evans was looked for, who was to keep the house; in the mean time it was directed by the physician of the society, Dr. M‘Namee, from Vincennes. Among the public buildings I remarked two of which the lower part was strongly built with rough stone, and provided with loop-holes. The larger of these was the granary, and it was reasonably thought that Rapp had this built as a defensive redoubt for his own people. At the first period of his establishment in this country he not only had the Indians, but also the rude people known under the general title of backwoodsmen, who not only saw the establishment of such a society with jealous eyes, which they knew would be wealthy in a short time, but also entertained a grudge against Rapp’s unnatural rules of chastity.
On the morning of the 14th of April, I strolled about the place to look round me. I visited Mr. Neef, but found his wife only at home, a native of Memmingen, in Swabia. Her husband was in the act of leading the boys out to labour. Military exercises form a part of the instruction of the children. I saw the boys divided into two ranks, and parted into detachments marching to labour, and on the way they performed various wheelings and evolutions. All the boys and girls have a very healthy look, are cheerful and lively, and by no means bashful. The boys labour in the field and garden, and were now occupied with new fencing. The girls learn female employments; they were as little oppressed as the boys with labour and teaching; these happy and interesting children were much more employed in making their youth pass as pleasantly as possible. Madam Neef showed the school-house, in which she dwelt, and in which the places for sleeping were arranged for the boys. Each boy slept on a cot frame, upon a straw bed.
We went next to Rapp’s distillery: it will be removed altogether. Mr. Owen has forbidden distilling also, as well as the use of ardent spirits. Notwithstanding this, the Irishmen here find opportunities of getting whiskey and fuddling themselves from the flat boats that stop here, &c. We saw also a dye-house and a mill set in motion by a steam-engine of ten horse-power. The engine was old and not in good order, Mr. Owen said however, he hoped to introduce steam-mills here in time from England. From the mills we went to the vineyard, which was enclosed and kept in very good order. I spoke to an old French vine-dresser here. He assured me that Rapp’s people had not understood the art of making wine; that he would in time make more and much better wine, than had been done heretofore. The wine stocks are imported from the Cape of Good Hope, and the wine has an entirely singular and strange taste, which reminds one of the common Spanish wines.
We went again to the quondam church, or workshop for the boys, who are intended for joiners and shoemakers. These boys sleep upon the floor above the church in cribs, three in a row, and thus have their sleeping place and place of instruction close together. We also saw the shops of the shoemakers, tailors and saddlers, also the smiths, of which six were under one roof, and the pottery, in which were two rather large furnaces. A porcelain earth has been discovered on the banks of the Mississippi, in the state of Illinois, not far from St. Louis. Two experienced members of the society, went in that direction, to bring some of the earth to try experiments with, in burning. The greater part of the young girls, whom we chanced to meet at home, we found employed in plaiting straw hats. I became acquainted with a Madam F – , a native of St. Petersburg. She married an American merchant, settled there, and had the misfortune to lose her husband three days after marriage. She then joined her husband’s family at Philadelphia, and as she was somewhat eccentric and sentimental, quickly became enthusiastically attached to Mr. Owen’s system. She told me, however, in German, that she found herself egregiously deceived; that the highly vaunted equality was not altogether to her taste; that some of the society were too low, and the table was below all criticism. The good lady appeared to be about to run from one extreme to the other; for she added, that in the summer, she would enter a Shaker establishment near Vincennes.55
I renewed acquaintance here with Mr. Say, a distinguished naturalist from Philadelphia, whom I had been introduced to, at the Wistar Party there; unfortunately he had found himself embarrassed in his fortune, and was obliged to come here as a friend of Mr. M‘Clure. This gentleman appeared quite comical in the costume of the society, before described, with his hands full of hard lumps and blisters, occasioned by the unusual labour he was obliged to undertake in the garden.
In the evening I went to walk in the streets, and met with several of the ladies of the society, who rested from the labours of the day. Madam F – was among them, whose complaints of disappointed expectations I had listened to. I feared still more from all that I saw and heard, that the society would have but a brief existence. I accompanied the ladies to a dancing assembly, which was held in the kitchen of one of the boarding-houses. I observed that this was only an hour of instruction to the unpractised in dancing, and that there was some restraint on account of my presence, from politeness I went away, and remained at home the remainder of the evening. About ten o’clock, an alarm of fire was suddenly raised. An old log building used as a wash-house was in flames, immediately the fire-engine kept in a distinct house, was brought and served by persons appointed to that duty. They threw the stream of water through the many apertures of the log-house, and quickly put a stop to the fire. In a quarter of an hour, all was over. Since the houses in the place all stand separately, there is nothing to fear from the extension of fire, unless in a strong wind. The houses, however, are all covered with shingles.
On the 15th of April, I went into the garden back of Rapp’s house to see a plate or block of stone, which is remarkable as it bears the impression of two human feet. This piece of stone was hewed out of a rock near St. Louis, and sold to Mr. Rapp. Schoolcraft speaks of it in his travels, and I insert his remarks, as I have found them correct. “The impressions are to all appearance those of a man standing upright, the left foot a little forwards, the heels turned inwards. The distance between the heels by an exact measurement was six and a quarter inches, and thirteen and a half between the extremities of the great toes. By an accurate examination, it however will be ascertained, that they are not the impression of feet, accustomed to the use of European shoes, for the toes are pressed out, and the foot is flat, as is observed in persons who walk barefoot. The probability that they were caused by the pressure of an individual, that belonged to an unknown race of men, ignorant of the art of tanning hides, and that this took place in a much earlier age than the traditions of the present Indians extend to, this probability I say, is strengthened by the extraordinary size of the feet here given. In another respect, the impressions are strikingly natural, since the muscles of the feet are represented with the greatest exactness and truth. This circumstance weakens very much the hypothesis, that they are possibly evidences of the ancient sculpture of a race of men living in the remote ages of this continent. Neither history nor tradition, gives us the slightest information of such a people. For it must be kept in mind, that we have no proof that the people who erected our surprising western tumuli, ever had a knowledge of masonry, even much less of sculpture, or that they had invented the chisel, the knife, or the axe, those excepted made from porphyry, hornstone or obsidian. The medium length of the human male foot can be taken at ten inches. The length of the foot stamp here described, amounts to ten and a quarter inches, the breadth measured over the toes, in a right angle with the first line is four inches, but the greatest spread of the toes is four and a half inches, which breadth diminishes at the heels to two and a half inches. Directly before these impressions is a well inserted and deep mark, similar to a scroll of which the greatest length is two feet seven inches, and the greatest breadth twelve and a half inches. The rock which contains these interesting traces, is a compact limestone of a bluish-gray colour.”
