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Story of the Hutchinsons,  Vol. 1:   Chapter 3, "Singing for Freedom," pp. 70-141.

While we brothers were keeping our grocery and stove stores on Union Street in Lynn, a few rods farther down the street, in a modest building, dwelt Frederick Douglass. A short time before[,] he had come panting up from the South with bloodhounds baying upon his track. My brother Jesse was identified with the very beginnings of the anti-slavery agitation, was in the fullest sympathy with the leaders and cognizant of all the thrilling details of the work going on through public meetings, in the Liberator, the Herald of Freedom and similar publications, to make sentiment in favor of the liberation of the bondmen. Through him we became familiar with the great agitation, which had our fullest approbation. We heard Douglass's story, and the result was an earnest desire to aid him in his work. It was not long before we joined him in many meetings, he telling his story, while we emphasized it with song.

In the preceding chapter the fact is stated that in the autumn of 1842 Sister Abby and I went to Lynn from

As exhaustive as John W. Hutchinson's book may seem  -  Story of the Hutchinsons is over 900 pages in length  -  there's actually a lot of Hutchinson Family history that it touches on only lightly or that it doesn't cover at all. By far the most complete treatment of this pivotal period, from the quartet's 1842 grand start through the 1845-1846 United Kingdom tour, is to be found in Excelsior: Journals of the Hutchinson Family Singers, 1842-1846 (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1989). Excelsior is still in print and is available from the publisher and from Amazon.com. Recommended reading.

"My brother Jesse was identified with the very beginnings":   Evidently Jesse Hutchinson, Jr., became a convert to the antislavery cause after hearing George Thompson speak during his visit to the United States from 1834 to 1835. Other evidence for Jesse's early antislavery sympathies includes the names of two of his sons: James Garrison Hutchinson (1838-1842), and Charles Follen Hutchinson (1840-1842). Charles Follen was an abolitionist and a one-time Harvard professor.

"We heard Douglass's story":   This is radically different from Douglass' experience with certain other white abolitionists. It's probably an important reason why the friendship between Douglass and the Hutchinsons was warm and life-long.

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Boston, while Asa proceeded to Milford to seek for tidings of Judson.

The next morning the news spread about the streets of that town that a flying fugitive from the South was pursued by a slave-holder and had been arrested in Boston. A company of about forty or fifty men resolved to make an effort towards rescuing this person. Brother Jesse and I joined them and were soon at the head of the delegation, marching through Washington Street, Boston, to Marlboro' Chapel, singing as we entered the large church, "Oh, liberate the bondman." I still recall my impression of the contrast between singing before a popular audience two nights before and the somewhat unpopular mission in which I was now engaged. A crowd was in readiness to greet us. While cogitating over plans of action, a man came through the aisle of the chapel, and mounting the platform, shouted out to the crowd, "He's free! he's free!" I can never forget the expression of joy on the face of every citizen present. The slave-holder was induced to manumit his slave, setting the price for his ransom at the low figure of four hundred dollars, which amount was paid over to him by the Rev. Samuel Caldwell, who acted in behalf of some members of the Tremont Temple Baptist Society; and George Latimer, for the first time in his life, was a free man.

If the nation could have followed up this scheme of purchase, like our English cousins, it would have saved a million lives and billions of treasure.

After that Latimer went with us to many anti-slavery meetings in Essex County. George has been a worthy, industrious citizen of Lynn for over fifty years.

After the Latimer incident Sister Abby and I returned to Milford. We found Judson obdurate. No more

"The next morning the news spread":   John's account, given from memory decades later, implies a date for the Marlboro Chapel gathering of Friday, November 18, 1842, while the sequence of events in the Latimer case suggest the day before at the latest.

"The slave-holder was induced to manumit":   I'm no expert on George Latimer and his family; but it seems like a good idea to at least make mention of the fact that Lewis Howard Latimer, son of George and Rebecca Latimer, was an important inventor and a noted poet.

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concerting for him at present; and so our Southern trip was given up.

Rejoiced at finding our family in circumstances of comparative health and prosperity, again surrounded by the familiar scenes of home and the general beauty of our mountain situation, yet saddened by the great disappointment of having to relinquish the mighty work that we had laid out, suited as it was to our ambitions and aspirations, it seemed to me doleful and wearisome in the quietude of our isolated home, for I disregarded the comforts and allurements of love and the warnings of experience. My soul pressed forward and longed to tread that path that was sure to lead to success, and still clung to the idea "Excelsior." But through the long, cold winter, being snow-bound in our New England home, I seemed to feel as Longfellow later expressed it in his great song, and could imagine that like the character represented in his immortal verse, even in death I could cling to this device and proclaim the progress of such aspirations of the soul in a higher sphere.

We held frequent meetings with our whole family gathered at the old homestead. A plan was suggested of giving some mass concerts in the region, and for a double purpose I went to Lowell, having in mind the young lady spoken of previously, and also arranging for some concerts.

Effecting engagements in Lowell, Nashua and Manchester, we went down at the appointed time with our double-sleigh team, thirteen of the family, including the quartet which had been giving concerts, and met with grand success in all of the three places, taking in with us the lady, Miss Fannie B. Patch, who, in the course of four weeks I married, intending to continue in the

1842 Odds and Ends:   Nathaniel Peabody Rogers, perhaps the greatest writer among the antislavery journalists, said in the December 9, 1842, issue of New Hampshire's Herald of Freedom, "Perhaps I am partial to the Hutchinsons  -  for they are Abolitionists.  -  It need not affright them to have it announced. It won't.  -  If it would scare away their listeners, it would not scare themselves.  -  But it won't. Human Nature will go and hearken, and be charmed at their lays  -  and the time is coming, if it has not come already, when the public conscience will feel quieted at the thought of having heard music from the friends of the Slave, and patronized it."   "I wish the Hutchinsons had a series of Anti-Slavery Melodies, to sing at their Concerts.   A Marseilles Anti-Slavery Hymn, for instance, with a Swiss 'Rans de Vasche.'   An English 'Rule Britania,'  -  a Scotch 'Scots wha ha'e.'   An Irish 'Battle of the Boyne,' or a poor American, Anti-Slavery 'Yankee Doodle.'"   Do you think Jesse Hutchinson, Jr., saw Rogers' notice?   In a Herald of Freedom article the very next month, we can read about the Hutchinsons singing Jesse's parodies at an antislavery meeting in Milford. In an August 6, 1874, letter to his brother John, speaking of Nathaniel P Rogers, Joshua Hutchinson said, "[F]rom his dashing pen, fired with the most disinterested love of humanity, did he couple the early history of the anti-slavery cause with the simple melodies of the Hutchinsons. Indeed, 'twas his persuasive power more than anything else that brought the family's influence as musicians to the aid of that cause."

"Rejoiced at finding our family":   Half a century before John Hutchinson wrote this, Henry W. Longfellow, by way of explaining his poem "Excelsior," said, "This Poem represents the continued aspirations of Genius. Its Motto 'Excelsior' (still higher) is a word in an unknown tongue. Disregarding the everyday comforts of life, the allurements of love, and the warnings of experience, it presses forward on its solitary path. Even in death it holds fast its device, and a voice from the air proclaims the progress of the Soul in a higher sphere."

"Effecting engagements in Lowell, Nashua and Manchester":   John W. Hutchinson's introduction to Frances Burnham Patch, his future wife, seems quite abrupt. She was familiarly known as Fanny. John appears to have overestimated how thoroughly he covered her life and career in Story of the Hutchinsons. It seems to me that a full profile of Fanny Hutchinson is yet to be written. A Patch family genealogist is looking for pictures of members of the Patch family. If you have or know of any likenesses, please use the contact link near the bottom of the page to e-mail us.

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pursuit of agriculture. She had been the leading contralto singer in the Freewill Baptist Church of Lowell for many years. Rev. Mr. Davis was the pastor.

[1843]

We were importuned by an agent of the anti-slavery society, Mr. John A. Collins, to be present at the annual meeting of the organization to be held in Faneuil Hall, Boston.

Consenting to this proposition, the quartet, with Jesse, accordingly were present at the opening of the meeting which continued three days, January 25, 26 and 27, 1843. The first song we sung was "Blow ye the Trumpet, Blow!"

We were inspired with the greatness of the issue, finding our hearts in sympathy with those struggling and earnest people. We fully resolved to buckle on the armor, feeling proud to be engaged in such a great work for humanity. We were ready at any time to take up the cross and serve the Master, sympathizing with those in bonds as bound with them, and we sang for the emancipation of the millions of slaves in bondage. "The Negro's Lament," was one of these selections:

As an illustration of the use made of the Hutchinson Family in the anti-slavery conventions of nearly two decades it may be well to quote extracts from the Liberator's report of this famous Faneuil Hall convention of

"We were importuned by an agent":   Hutchinson Family biographer Philip Dillon Jordan treated the singers' participation in these January 1843 antislavery meetings as something of a trial balloon. He thought they postponed the decision as to whether they would become freedom's singers. [Philip D. Jordan, Singin' Yankees (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1946), 53.]

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1843, where the Abolitionists first committed themselves to the doctrine of "peaceful disunion." Without quoting unimportant details, the report says:

The eleventh annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society opened at Faneuil Hall on Wednesday, January 25th, Francis Jackson presiding. A song was sung by the Hutchinson Family, the celebrated vocalists from New Hampshire. Discussion immediately commenced on a resolution offered by Weldell Phillips: "Resolved, That no Abolitionist can consistently demand less than a dissolution of the union between Northern union and Southern slavery as essential to the preservation of the one and the abolition of the other." This was advocated by Phillips in a stirring speech. At the evening session the Hutchinsons sang again, and then the discussion on the resolution relative to the dissolution was continued by Messrs. Jewett of Providence, Douglass of Lynn, and C. L. Remond of Salem. Another song by the Hutchinsons closed the meeting.

On Thursday, after a most inspiring song by the Hutchinsons, the discussion of the resolution was continued by William Lloyd Garrison, Henry C. Wright of England, J. A. Collins and others. At the afternoon session a letter was read by John M. Spear of Weymouth, from Hon. John Quincy Adams. The discussion was continued, interspersed by two appropriate songs by the Hutchinsons. The resolution was amended, on motion of John A. Collins, so as to insert the words, "Between Free States and Slave States," after "Southern slavery," and passed. On Thursday evening there was a meeting in the chamber of the House of Representatives at the State House, with President Jackson in the chair. It was opened by a heart-stirring song by the Hutchinsons, after which Edmund Quincy moved the following resolution: "So long as Massachusetts pledges the physical force of her sons to protect her sister slave-holding States against domestic violence, she is practically a slave State; so long as she throws open her soil as free hunting-ground for the master in pursuit of his fugitive, she is practically a slave State  -  also when she sends back fugitives and requires her executive and legislative officers to swear to support a constitution which in some parts protects the slave system." This was supported by Mr. Quincy, who was followed by Mr. Treadwell against it, and by Frederick Douglass  -  "a chattel personal"  -  in its favor. Then came another song by the "New Hampshire Rainers," to the great gratification of the audience. C. L. Remond, William Lloyd Garrison and N. P. Rogers then spoke, and the discussion was closed by Wendell Phillips in a strain of thrilling eloquence. The resolution

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was adopted, and after another song by the Hutchinsons, the meeting adjourned.

Friday's meeting at Faneuil Hall was opened with a most inspiring song by the Hutchinsons. Rev. Samuel May moved a reconsideration of the resolution on disunion adopted the day before, and the discussion was continued by Seth Sprague, J. A. Collins and the Messrs. Hutchinson (in an appropriate song on the subject). Mr. Garrison then moved a substitute [which afterward became famous], and it was adopted: "Resolved, That the compact which exists between the North and the South is a covenant with death and an agreement with hell  -  involving both parties in atrocious criminality, and should be immediately annulled."

The evening meeting opened with a song from the gifted sons of New Hampshire, which was received with thunders of applause, calling for its repetition, and another song was sung to the great gratification of the immense number assembled. William Lloyd Garrison presented and ably advocated this resolution, which was adopted by acclamation: "Resolved, That anti-slavery has rejoiced, from the beginning, in the aid of Poetry, which is naturally and instinctively on the side of liberty, it being impossible, in the providence of God, that Poetry should ever stoop her wing to the accursed service of slavery; and Humanity exults and rejoices in her other natural ally, Music, so gloriously represented here, in the old Liberty Cradle, by the 'New Hampshire Rainers,' whom Massachusetts abolitionism welcomes here from their White Mountains and thanks them for their free strains, in the name of down-trodden humanity." During the evening's exercises the Hutchinsons sang three other songs.

On February 24th of the same year the Liberator said:

The powerful description of the singing of the wonderfully gifted Hutchinsons at the late anniversary of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in Faneuil Hall, which we have copied from the Herald of Freedom, does not surpass the reality of their charming melodies. The effect on the thousands who listened to them was, in fact, indescribable. They added immensely to the interest of the occasion; and the manner in which they adapted their spirited songs (nearly all of which were original and impromptu) to the subjects that were under discussion displayed equal talent and genius.

The Herald of Freedom's account was, of course, written by N. P. Rogers, who prided himself not a little

"Rev. Samuel May moved a reconsideration":   Reference here to the Hutchinsons' "appropriate song on the subject" of dissolution of the Union is one of two items, on this page, of contemporary evidence for Jesse's gift for writing impromptu verses that were germane to the occasion.

"Resolved, That the compact which exists":   Regarding the idea of peaceful disunion, referred to here, William Lloyd Garrison and his followers were never able to explain to the satisfaction of the American public just how they thought dissolving the union between the North and the South would contribute to the ending of slavery.

"They added immensely to the interest of the occasion":   Notice again that nearly all of the Hutchinsons songs at these meetings were "original and impromptu."

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on his success in enlisting our services for this and similar gatherings. He wrote as follows:

The distinguishing incident of the anniversary was the co-operation of the New Hampshire Hutchinsons, aided by their brother from Lynn. These singers I have several times spoken of, and, as has been thought by those who had not heard them, with exaggeration. None, however, of those who heard their matchless strains at Faneuil Hall would have thought any degree of panegyric exaggeration, that language could bestow upon them. All those who have heard their modest concerts, in suitable sized rooms, and in tolerably clear atmosphere, would have said the people could get no idea of their enchanting powers amid the tumult and depraved air of that great, overgrown hall. But even there, it was a triumph for these "New Hampshire Rainers," as I have styled these unassuming young brothers, though the celebrated Swiss minstrels, who wear that family name and have made it so famous in this country and in Europe, have more occasion to covet for themselves the name of these singers from New Hampshire's Alps. They are not mere vocalists. They have hearts and minds as well as tuneful voices. They are not wandering, mercenary troubadors, who go about selling their strains for bread or for brandy. They are young farmers. They work, indoors as well as out, in the noble kitchen as well as on the farm, and get a sound and substantial living by their useful industry. The more entitled are they to the most generous encouragement of their countrymen when they go forth occasionally to charm the community by their music. That they are Abolitionists may engender prejudice against them in the pro-slavery breast, but their lays will banish the demon from the meanest heart, as David's harp played the devil out of King Saul.

The Hutchinsons were present throughout the meetings, and it is probable contributed considerably to keeping up the unparalleled attendance that thronged the hall. They were not there as mercenaries in an orchestra. They were not hired performers. They were there as Garrison and Boyle were; as Douglass and Phillips, and the rest of us all, "To help the cause along"; and they helped it. They were always in order, too, when they spoke; and it was what they said, as well as how they said it, that sent anti-slavery like electricity to every heart. I never saw such effect on human assemblies as these appeals produced. They made the vast multitudes toss and heave and clamor like the roaring ocean. Orpheus is said to have made the trees dance at his playing. The Hutchinsons made the thousands at Faneuil Hall spring to their feet simultaneously, "as if in a dance," and echo the anti-slavery appeal with a cheering that almost moved the old Revolutionists

"He wrote as follows":   This entire Nathaniel Peabody Rogers article is one of the classics of the literature on the Hutchinson Family.

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from their stations on the wall. On one occasion it was absolutely amazing and sublime. Phillips had been speaking in his happiest vein. It was towards night. The old hall was sombre in the gloaming. It was thronged to its vast extremities. Phillips closed his speech at the highest pitch of his fine genius, and retired from the platform, when the four brothers rushed to his place, and took up the argument where he had left it, on the very heights of poetic declamation, and carried it off heavenwards on one of their boldest flights. Jesse had framed a series of stanzas on the spot, while Phillips was speaking, embodying the leading arguments, and enforcing them, as mere oratory cannot, as music and poetry only can, and they poured them forth with amazing spirit, in one of the maddening Second Advent tunes. The vast multitude sprang to their feet, as one man, and at the close of the first strain, gave vent to their enthusiasm in a thunder of unrestrained cheering. Three cheers, and three times three, and ever so many more  -  for they could not count  -  they sent out, full-hearted and full-toned, till the old roof rang again. And throughout the whole succeeding strains they repeated it, not allowing the singers to complete half the stanza before breaking out upon them in uncontrollable emotion. Oh, it was glorious!

And it was not the rude mobocratic shouting of the blind partisan, or the unearthly glee of the religious maniac; it was Humanity's jubilee cry. And there was music in it. The multitude had caught the spirit and tone of the orator and the minstrel bards, and they exemplified it in their humanized shoutings. There is grand music in this natural, generous uproar of the mighty multitude, when it goes out spontaneously, as God made it to do. "The sound of many waters" is not more harmonious, nor a millionth part so expressive  -  for there is not a soul in the unconscious waters. But I am exceeding my limits. I wish the whole city, and the entire country could have been there  -  even all the people. Slavery would have died of that music and the response of the multitude. If politics had been discountenanced altogether at the meetings  -  or suffered only to have their proportional attention  -  the whole tide of the proceedings would have been as overwhelming as the bugle cries of the Hutchinsons.

The verses of which the writer speaks were improvised by Jesse, as Rogers says, to enforce the oratory of Phillips. They were sung to the tune of "The Old Granite State." I cannot now reproduce the words.

A word regarding the noble, earnest agitators. Among those present were William Lloyd Garrison,

"On one occasion it was absolutely amazing":   This is one of the greatest contemporary testimonials we have to Jesse Jr.'s talent for impromptu writing of occasion-appropriate lyrics.

"I cannot now reproduce the words":   It seems probable that most of the writings of Jesse Hutchinson, Jr., are lost. This antislavery gathering was one of the most important incidents in the Hutchinsons' long career; and though John Hutchinson made a real effort to record the work of his older brother Jesse, he still couldn't put his hands on a copy of Jesse's contributions to this pivotal event.

"Among those present were William Lloyd Garrison":   Harriette Jackson was a close friend of the Hutchinsons. Theodore Parker was a family connection of the Hutchinsons  -  though not necessarily a connection that one might think of as close.

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John A. Collins, Rev. John Pierpont, Wendell Phillips, Frederick Douglass, Mrs. Chapman, Charles Lenox Remond, N. P. Rogers, Parker Pillsbury, Stephen Foster, Theodore Parker, Francis Jackson, chairman of the meeting, and his lovely daughter Harriet. A noble gathering of pioneers.

Such a fold and such a unity was an inspiration to lofty resolutions; and when approached in regard to going with the selected advocate to hold a series of anti-slavery meetings, we most cheerfully acceded. The appointments were made, and our first meeting was announced to take place at Haverhill.

We left Lynn in two single sleighs, took in our family, consisting then of five members, with George Latimer, and joyfully did we make our journey over the well-trodden roads until we reached the Merrimac River.

In safety we crossed the ice to the opposite bank. In my sleigh was Latimer, the recently manumitted slave, whom we had taken in charge under the auspices of the anti-slavery committee. We had reached the top of the bank; looking in the rear we observed that as the second team was coming up the hill, the horse became fractious, and refusing to go forward had upset the sleigh and the company was thrown out, the sleigh capsizing in such a manner as to completely cover my sister Abby. George and I jumped over the back part of the sleigh in haste to help the party, when Jesse, who drove that horse, threw the reins, struck the horse with his whip, which rushed down the bank and upon the ice until he had thrown himself, and at last was captured with no injury to him or to us, excepting the great fright that we all received. We gathered up our belongings and rode to the church, where our meeting

"The appointments were made, and our first meeting":   Actually, the first meeting in the Essex County antislavery campaign would seem to have been one which was held at Lynn, Massachusetts, on Thursday, March 9.

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was just organized and upon entering we were met with the cheers of the audience, and in a few moments we were in their presence upon the platform. We were thankful to Providence that we had escaped injury and were able once more to sing our songs.

The meeting proved a grand success, and many proselytes were gained to the cause of anti-slavery. Lasting friendships were formed, and invitations were extended to us to visit them again; and, in fact, we were always welcome to that good old town in after years. The Essex County campaign was in every way successful, and many souls were won, who ever after adhered to their first love and were helpers in the cause of emancipation.

We accepted many requests to meet notable anti-slavery people west of Boston, in Cambridge and other towns; made the acquaintance of William A. White, a very interesting individual; and also came en rapport with James Russell Lowell, the famous poet.

We joined in their sports with them one day while playing ball. The balls in those days were flexible and not considered dangerous  -  very unlike the modern ball used by expert players which, when thrown with sufficient force and with the catching unsuccessful, would prove a fatal shot. They were quite bulky and soft, wound with woollen yarn, covered with leather; and if they struck a person, it would do them very little harm. Lowell and myself were playing together. He threw the ball, and I returned it with such rapidity that it went past his hands and struck fair upon his forehead. For a moment he winced under the stunning blow, but after passing his hand several times

"The balls in those days were flexible":   It certainly sounds to me as though John W. Hutchinson is describing a baseball.

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across his forehead, made no further complaint. My surprise, mingled with momentary regret, shocked me when I was aware that I had struck him with such force, as I fain would have received the blow myself. Little did I contemplate then that I had wounded a future minister plenipotentiary, for he later became such under the administrations of Presidents Hayes, Garfield and Arthur. He was called to fill one of the most responsible places that any man had occupied since Franklin, and he did the country great honor during the years he occupied that position at the court of St. James. For a long time his "Zekle and Huldy" was one of our most successful songs.

At this time we became interested in the "Brook Farm Experiment." This famous farm was located in West Roxbury, near the Dedham line, and is now occupied as the site of an almshouse. In the years of which I am speaking, however, it was the theatre where famous men and women were seeking to demonstrate not only the feasibility but the superiority of the apostolic mode of living, as a community. Horace Greeley's "North American Phalanx" became famous and the Florence Community was successful after that at Brook Farm was given up. But none of these experiments attracted so many of the class of people who were doing, or preparing to do, a great portion of the brain-work of the country for some decades, as Brook Farm.

The fact is, the Hutchinsons came upon the platform at a transition period, when various new ideas and "isms" were being preached. As this history proceeds, it will be easily seen that it was practically impossible for us to have embraced the anti-slavery reform without being under the influence of and affected by, several

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other related reforms and movements. Perhaps I cannot better illustrate conditions that obtained at the time than by quoting from the Brook Farm chapter of Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson's "Life of Margaret Fuller":

It [Brook Farm] was one of the best  -  probably the best  -  incarnation of the ardent and wide-reaching reformatory spirit of that day. It was a day when it certainly was very pleasant to live, although it is doubtful whether living would have remained as pleasant, had one-half the projects of the period become fulfilled. The eighty-two pestilent heresies that were already reckoned up in Massachusetts before 1638, or the "generation of odd names and natures" which the Earl of Stratford found among the English Roundheads, could hardly surpass those of which Boston was the centre during the interval between the year 1835 and the absorbing political upheaval of 1848. The best single picture of the period is in Emerson's lecture on "New England Reformers," delivered in March, 1844; but it tells only a part of the story, for one very marked trait of the period was that the agitation reached all circles. German theology, as interpreted by Bronson Alcott and Ripley, influenced the more educated class, and the Second Advent excitement equally prepared the way among the more ignorant. The anti-slavery movement was the profoundest moral element, on the whole, but a multitude of special enterprises played their parts. People habitually spoke, in those days, of "the sisterhood of reforms"; and it was in as bad taste for a poor man to have but one hobby in his head as for a rich man to keep but one horse in his stable. Mesmerism was studied; gifted persons gave private sittings for the reading of character through handwriting; phrenology and physiology were ranked together; Alcott preached what Carlyle called a "potato gospel"; Graham denounced bolt flour; Edward Palmer wrote tracts against money. In a paper published in the Dial for July, 1842, on the "convention of the friends of universal reform" in Boston, Emerson says of the gathering: "If the assembly was disorderly, it was picturesque. Mad men, mad women, men with beards, Dunkers, Muggletonians, Come-outers, Groaners, Agrarians, Seventh-Day Baptists, Quakers, Abolitionists, Calvinists, Unitarians and Philosophers, all came successively to the top."

Having myself attended similar meetings soon after, I can certify that this is not an exaggeration, but a plain, unvarnished tale. It is to be remembered, too, that all this stir came upon a society whose previous habit of life was decidedly soberer and better ordered than that of to-day; stricter in observance, more conventional in costume. There

"People habitually spoke, in those days":   Compare the expression, "the sisterhood of reforms," in the Hutchinsons' day with the common phrase, "the movement," in the late 1960s and well into the 1970s.

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could hardly be a better illustration of this fact than when Emerson includes in his enumeration of eccentricities "men with beards"; for I well remember when Charles Burleigh was charged with blasphemy because his flowing locks and handsome untrimmed beard were thought to resemble  -  as very likely he intended  -  the pictures of Jesus Christ; and when Lowell was thought to have formally announced a daring impulse of radicalism, after he, too, had eschewed the razor. The only memorial we retain unchanged from that picturesque period, is in some stray member of the "Hutchinson Family," who still comes before the public with now whitening locks and vast collar that needs no whitening and continues to sing with unchanged sweetness the plaintive melodies that hushed the stormiest meeting, when he and his four or five long-haired brothers stood grouped round their one rose-bud of a sister, like a band of Puritan Bohemians.

Brook Farm contained a gathering of people who represented the best element of all these conditions. It had the sanction of Emerson, Alcott, Theodore Parker and Margaret Fuller. None of these were members of the community, but all were frequent visitors to it and remained so long as to become fully identified with it. Colonel Higginson, then a youth, was another notable visitor. George Ripley was its projector and leading spirit. In the company, either as members or students, were John S. Dwight, for many years after Boston's leading musical writer; Christopher P. Cranch, artist, musician and poet; Charles A. Dana, then just out of college, now editor of the New York Sun and the Nestor of American journalism; Nathaniel Hawthorne, shy, retiring, yet observing, and fully illustrating the Scottish bard's warning, "A chiel's amang ye takin' notes," which were afterwards published in the "Blithedale Romance"; George William Curtis, destined so soon after to take his place as one of the best representatives of American thought in essay, editorial and romantic writing. These, with O. A. Brownson, George P. Bradford and many others, formed a community that

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should have fully demonstrated the blessings of the socialistic idea. It was proclaimed at first to be "a glimpse at Christ's idea of society." It was not until after it had been established some time that the attempt to apply Fourier's ideas was made. In time it was discovered that Nathaniel Hawthorne was designed for something better than milking cows, that Dana had a wider mission than washing dishes. Though pleasant musicales, picnics, "conversations," and like interesting exercises varied the monotony of life, yet the disposition to do the farming and domestic duties by proxy made an expense as well as a perversion of the vital part of [the] scheme, that, with the destruction of one of the community houses by fire, eventually led to the abandonment of the experiment. Then Greeley, who was in full sympathy with the ideas of Ripley, found a place on the Tribune for the man who had hitherto occupied a Unitarian pulpit, and as literary editor of that journal, Ripley was able to utilize the services of Margaret Fuller in a way that edified the public and greatly increased her reputation. Work for Dana and Curtis was also found on the Tribune, and so the abandonment of the experiment was the means of wonderfully enriching journalism. The literature of Brook Farm has in the last decade grown extensive, and perhaps the reader will not expect me to more than outline its story, which is to me, I confess, a most fascinating one. Dana has, as yet, never furnished the public his story of an enterprise in which he was a very important figure. I should like to see him give his version of it before his work is done.

At the time of which I am writing, we visited Brook Farm [on Monday, April 3]. We had looked forward to the event with happy anticipations. The distinguished communists gave us

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a most hearty reception. We understood the company to be formed with the purpose of inaugurating a thorough reform in our civil and social society, building up humanity and establishing such a code of character as to make them true lights and leading stars in the world. Every heart seemed bounding with hope, delightful to the soul; cheerfulness seemed to pervade every individual, man or woman; and they stood around, some fifty or sixty selected intelligent people, all evidently converts to the great idea of human brotherhood: "The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man."

That occasion was one which lingered long in our memories; for with the delights that inspired us at that time, we seemed to catch a foretaste of a realm in which our spirits could bask and grow. All of the principles advocated we fully indorsed. It seemed to be truly the looking backward to the days of those loved ones who gathered around the Nazarene, whose mission when fully adhered to was love sufficient to redeem the race.

Embracing the influences pervading, we could sing the song of the "Right Over Wrong," or "The Good Time Coming":

Finding the pervading sentiments in full accord with our loftiest aspirations, emphasized by our interview with such a nucleus of blessed spirits, we went forth

"Embracing the influences pervading, we could sing":   While no doubt this is true in principle, "Right Over Wrong" wasn't written until 1851.

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filled with hope and a determination to do everything in our power to prove in our family and neighborhood the practicability of this high ideal in human life. We felt that we had struck the chord re-echoing down the centuries from the day of Pentecost and sung by the angels; and we gathered at our home in one group of affection, and more earnestly did we labor, rejoicing in the light of the true gospel.

In the Century for November, 1892, George P. Bradford, now deceased, a survivor of the Brook Farm experiment, wrote as follows of the Hutchinsons' visit to the community. After speaking of the visits of Margaret Fuller, O. A. Brownson, Robert Owen, of Scotland, and others, he says:

"Then there were the Hutchinsons, a family well known at the time, and a marvel for their sweet singing, and this especially in the interest of anti-slavery and temperance. The accord of their voices was very pleasing. A great charm of the singing was a sort of wild freshness as if taught in their native woods and mountains, and their earnest interest in the objects that formed so much of the theme of their songs."

For some time the old home in Milford was a family Brook Farm. Cheerfully did we take up the labor necessary, according to the season of the year and the different departments of the farm work, with one common aim and interest. We met all impediments with a determination to prove to all our surrounding neighbors that we were honest believers in the faith that we had embraced  -  the true community. In the cause of labor and progress we were united, each preferring one another. Our labors were joyous, and we were temporarily prosperous, for we were truly a band of brothers and sisters of one common interest. There were no differences or competitions in trafficking with one another, for we were genuinely interested in the welfare of all.

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Music was the theme that filled our hearts and souls as we went singing forth to the different departments of labor on the home farm, for we earnestly believed in this manner of life.

While we were in Boston we were invited by the anti-slavery people to join with them in their May meetings in New York. We made ready, and were ticketed through by the Norwich route, railroad and steamboat. We were up on deck at early morning excited with curiosity to see Gotham, which we watched with intense interest.

Accompanied by our other friends we went to Apollo Hall, where the meeting was held, and when in full session we were introduced. We met with encouraging words from the anti-slavery people.

A mass temperance meeting was announced to take place at the Broadway Tabernacle. Making the acquaintance of the Rev. William Patton, D.D., later father-in-law of Abby, and other leaders in the convention who were aware of the interest we had taken in the cause of temperance years before, they invited us upon the platform, and Rev. Lyman Beecher, then a leading spirit in the great reform, at an opportune moment, favorably introduced us to an audience of 3,600 people. We little thought then how precious was to be our acquaintance with the great preacher's greater son. We were cheered, and somewhat elated and inspired as we sang our first selection, which took them by storm, and the applause was seemingly universal from men and women comprising that assembly. It was followed up with a like enthusiasm until we had answered the encore, when similar demonstrations were made. Then followed our family song, the "Old Granite State," after which we retreated to the anteroom,

"While we were in Boston we were invited":   No doubt one of the antislavery friends doing the inviting was Rev. William Weston Patton, of the Congregational church at South Boston, with whom the Hutchinsons traveled to New York. Rev. William W. Patton was a close friend of the Hutchinsons; and though many of his contributions to Hutchinson family history were behind the scenes, it's surprising that he isn't mentioned here by name.

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and though importuned, declined to go again upon the stage.

Then came an urgent request from numerous friends to give a public concert, which we did, and followed it up with several popular concerts in the different parts of Brooklyn and New York. With a promise that we would return again in early autumn, we bade farewell to the city and returned to our vocation as farmers at our home in New Hampshire.

Among other distinguished and notable men who showed us courtesies during our stay in New York was Dr. William Beach, an amiable gentleman of English antecedents. He had been present at both the anti-slavery and temperance meetings and had also attended some of our concerts. He had recently introduced a reform system of medicine on botanic principles. Calling upon us at our rooms he expressed his pleasure in listening to a song, "Calomel," which we had recently set to music:

To express his appreciation of our introducing and singing the song he presented to us a large volume of eight hundred pages, called "The Reform Practice of Medicine."

During this season we had the pleasure as guests at our house of that blessed, firm, honest, gifted spirit, William Lloyd Garrison, with his coadjutor, Francis Jackson, from Boston. Later in the season came also that man from the mountains, N. P. Rogers, whose lofty expressions of his true inspirations were poetry in every syllable. He also was in full accord with our

"Then came an urgent request from numerous friends":   We may surmise that Rev. William W. Patton's younger brother, Ludlow Patton, heard the Hutchinsons at the May antislavery anniversary in New York, though his known writing on the subject is a bit hazy on that point. He was much clearer, though, in saying that he attended the Hutchinson Family entertainment at Concert Hall on Saturday evening, May 13. He and the Hutchinsons became life-long friends, and his friendship with Abby Hutchinson snowballed into romance. The lack of any mention of Ludlow here in the main text is a truly remarkable omission.

"Among other distinguished and notable men":   I used to work at an institution, then known as Brattleboro Retreat and now called Retreat Healthcare Inc., for William B. Beach, Jr., MD. Dr. Beach once told me that he was descended from the author of The Reform Practice of Medicine. It was a little hard to tell when he was pulling one's leg; but his name is suggestive enough, and I imagine he was being serious.

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attempt to carry out our effort for "Peace on earth, good-will to men." He was a singer and a lover of the highest order of art and poetry, cultured in the letter of the law, yet more deeply inspired by honest hearts and a purpose to bring liberty to the captive. We believe that these pilgrims, though they sojourned but a very short period, enjoyed our house as much as we did their presence.

Following these notable lights, as leaders in the cause, came also many other dear friends whose hearts were in great sympathy with the anti-slavery work: Parker Pillsbury of Concord, Frederick Douglass, Henry Clapp, Jr., and others. It proved a time of joyous meetings and numerous activities. Important letters came from  P. T. Barnum and others from all sections of the country, also from the great temperance leaders, soliciting engagements for legitimate concert tours. The cares of the farm in its different departments and numerous calls of church and public interest also demanded much of our time.

A special invitation came from an old organization, the New Hampshire Anti-Slavery Society, to join with them in a grand convention to be held at the capital, Concord. We made haste to answer the call, and were entertained at the house of  N. P. Rogers. We heartily joined with them, and sang our songs of freedom, interspersing the selections appropriately between the speakers. Great unanimity of feeling then existed among the Abolitionists. Though differing as to their modes of conducting the great work, there were discussions and questions of policy raised and criticism expressed against the scheme of a third party; but the doctrine of no union with slave-holders, seemed to prevail without question.

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In addition to the five members of our family, a convenient carriage conveyed pleasantly across the country, a number of invited guests, thirty miles to Concord.

At the conclusion of this anti-slavery meeting, many friends expressed a desire that we might remain over one night and gave a concert; but by persuasion and advice of Brother Jesse, as we had a very important concert coming off in Boston on June 17th, at which we had the promise of the presence of the President of the United States and suite, we decided not to remain.

The next day we took in with us as friends and fellow-passengers, Frederick Douglass and Charles Lenox Remond. Singing on our way as we came back through that part of Hillsboro County, we had the pleasure of these gentlemen for a day or two, at our home.

Soon followed the great complimentary concert. The fatigue attending the public receptions of President John Tyler induced his personal absence from the concert, but his representatives and suite honored the occasion by their presence, and in the reserved seats were Mr. and Mrs. Benson, whose friendship we were proud to acknowledge, Robert Tyler and wife, and Mrs. President Tyler and daughter. The concert was given in the old "Millerite" tabernacle, now known as the Howard Atheneum.

A card was issued printed on fine tissue or bank-note paper, representing the bank notes of that day with the exception of the extra border. This was one of our most notable concerts. The warm weather militated somewhat against us in a numerical way. At the conclusion we were introduced to the members of the Tyler family. Subsequently, when we had reached Washington,

"The concert was given in the old Millerite tabernacle":   As I understand it, the Howard Atheneum, where the Hutchinsons sang on this occasion, was the same place as the Old Howard, Boston's famed vaudeville hall.

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came an invitation for us to dine with the President at the White House.

Notes by Alan Lewis