y of sixteen, tall, lank,
uncouth, and poor. Word had come to him of Owen's splendid undertaking,
and he had caught something of the enthusiasm of the great dreamer.
Above all, it was said that New Harmony was to be a wonderful center of
learning, that the foremost educators of the world would establish great
schools there, fully equipped with books and all sorts of appliances. To
be a scholar had been the boy's one great ambition, so he yearned
wistfully for an opportunity to join the new community. But his father
forbidding, claiming his services, the boy suffered grievous
disappointment. One wonders what effect residence at New Harmony would
have had upon the life of Abraham Lincoln, and upon the history of
America! And how much, one wonders, was that splendid life influenced by
that boyish interest in the regeneration of the world?

That the influence of New Harmony was felt by Lincoln we know. It was a
child of New Harmony, Robert Dale Owen, son of Robert Owen, who, when
emancipation seemed to hang in the balance, penned his remarkable letter
to President Lincoln, dated September seventeenth, 1862. "Its perusal
thrilled me like a trumpet call," said the great President. Five days
after its receipt the Preliminary Proclamation was issued. "Your letter
to the President had more influence on him than any other document which
reached him on the subject--I think I might say than all others put
together. I speak of that which I know from personal conference with
him," wrote Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury.

New Harmony failed. Other communities established by Owen failed, but
the story of their failure is nevertheless full of inspiration. The
world has long since written the word "Failure" as an epitaph for Robert
Owen. But what a splendid failure that life was! Standing by his grave
one day, in the picturesque little churchyard at Newton, by a bend of
the winding river, not far from the ruins of the ancient castle home of
the famous Deist, Lord Herbert, the writer said to an old Welsh laborer,
"But his life was a failure, was it not?" The old man gazed awhile at
the grave, and then with a voice of unforgettable reverence and love
answered, "I suppose it was, sir, as the world goes; a failure like
Jesus Christ's. But I don't call it failure, sir. He established infant
schools; he founded the great cooeperative movement; he helped to make
the trade unions;[30] he helped to give us the factory acts; he worked
f