. He would found
cotton-mills, and here New Lanark should bloom again, only on an
increased scale.

Would the Rappites sell?

Yes; they wanted to move back to Pennsylvania, where there were other
groups of similar faith.

Their place, they figured, was worth two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
Owen made an offer of one hundred fifty thousand dollars, which to his
surprise was quietly accepted. It was a quick deal.

The Rappites moved out, and the Owenites moved in.

Just across the Ohio River they founded the town of Owensboro.

Then Owen went back to England and sent over about three hundred of his
people, including his own son, Robert Dale Owen.

Robert Owen had large interests in England, and New Harmony on the
banks of the Wabash was incidental. Robert Dale Owen was then
twenty-five years old. He was a philosopher, not an economist, and since
the place lacked a business head, dissensions arose. Let some one else
tell how quickly a community can evaporate when it lacks the cement of
religious oneness:

For the first few weeks, all entered into the new system with a
will. Service was the order of the day. Men who seldom or never
before labored with their hands devoted themselves to agriculture
and the mechanical arts with a zeal which was at least commendable,
though not always well directed. Ministers of the gospel guided the
plow and called swine to their corn instead of sinners to
repentance, and let patience have her perfect work over an unruly
yoke of oxen. Merchants exchanged the yardstick for the rake or
pitchfork; and all appeared to labor cheerfully for the common
weal. Among the women there was even more apparent self-sacrifice.
Those who had seldom seen the inside of their own kitchens went
into that of the common eating-house (formerly a hotel) and made
themselves useful among pots and kettles. Refined young ladies who
had been waited upon all their lives took turns in waiting upon
others at the table. And several times a week all parties who
chose, mingled in the social dance in the great dining-hall.

But notwithstanding the apparent heartiness and cordiality of this
auspicious opening, it was in the social atmosphere of the
Community that the first cloud arose. Self-love was a spirit which
could not be exorcised. It whispered to the lowly maidens, whose
former position in society had culti