on: "We propose to take a small tract of
land, which, under skilful husbandry, uniting the garden and the farm,
will be adequate to the subsistence of the families; and to connect with
this a school or college in which the most complete instruction shall be
given, from the first rudiments to the highest culture." Ripley himself
assumed the responsibility for the management and success of the
undertaking, and about the middle of April, 1841, he took possession
with his wife and sister and some fifteen others, including Hawthorne,
of the farmhouse, which, with a large barn, was already on the estate.

The first six months were spent in "getting started," especially in the
matter of the school, of which Mrs. Ripley was largely in charge, and it
was not until early fall--September 29--that the Brook Farm Institute of
Agriculture and Education was organised as a kind of joint stock
company, not incorporated.

A seeker after country quiet and beauty might easily be as much
attracted to-day by the undulating acres of Brook Farm as were those who
sought it sixty years ago as a refuge from social discouragement. The
brook still babbles cheerily as it threads its way through the meadows,
and there are still pleasant pastures and shady groves on the large
estate. The only one of the community buildings which is still standing,
however, is that now known as the Martin Luther Orphan Home. This
house was built at the very start of the community life by Mrs. A. G.
Alford, one of the members of the colony.

[Illustration: BROOK FARM, WEST ROXBURY, MASS.]

The building was in the form of a Maltese cross with four gables, the
central space being taken by the staircase. It contained only about half
a dozen rooms, and probably could not have accommodated more than that
number of residents. It is said to have been the prettiest and best
furnished house on the place, but an examination of its simple
construction will confirm the memory of one of its occupants, who
remarked that contact with nature was here always admirably close and
unaffected. From the rough dwelling, which resembled an inexpensive
beach cottage, to out-doors was hardly a transition, it is chronicled,
and at all seasons the external and internal temperatures closely
corresponded. Until lately the cottage wore its original dark-brown
colour; and it is still the best visible remnant of the early days, and
gives a pleasant impression of what the daily life of the associatio