ed with the appealing
words: "What is life without prayer?" I have never before or since
observed an audience so completely under the sway of an orator, as it
seemed to me that there was not a person in the room who at the moment
would not have been willing to acquiesce in whatever demands or appeals
he might present. Kossuth's countenance suggested such profound
depression that one could readily credit the assertion he made during
his remarks, "I have been trained to grief." He wore during the delivery
of his address the picturesque costume of the Magyars of his country.

New York had an unusually large coterie of _litterateurs_, many of whom
it was my good fortune to know. Some of these had only recently returned
from Brook Farm "sadder but wiser" and, at all events, with more
practical views concerning "the world's broad field of battle." Brook
Farm had its origin in 1841, and completely collapsed in 1847. It was
chiefly intended to be the fulfillment of a dream of the Rev. Dr.
William Henry Channing of "an association in which the members, instead
of preying upon one another and seeking to put one another down, after
the fashion of this world, should live together as brothers, seeking one
another's elevation and spiritual growth." It was essentially
socialistic in its conception and execution and, although professedly
altruistic in its nature, was in reality a visionary scheme which
reflected but little credit upon the judgment of either its originators
or its patrons. Its company was composed of "members" and "scholars," to
whom may be added a celebrated list of those who sojourned at the Farm
for brief periods and were known as "visitors." The whole scheme was
without doubt one of the most visionary expressions of New England
transcendentalism, and it failed because in the nature of things no such
ventures ever have succeeded and, until human nature is essentially
revolutionized, probably never can. Among its most distinguished members
were Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles A. Dana, later the brilliant and
accomplished editor of _The New York Sun_, and George Ripley. George
William Curtis was one of its scholars, and among its visitors were the
Rev. William Henry Channing, Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Amos
Bronson Alcott, Orestes Augustus Bronson, Theodore Parker and Elizabeth
P. Peabody--forming together one of the most brilliant intellectual
galaxies that were ever associated in a single enterprise.

Of thi