A Little Harmony is All I Need : Articles, Short Stories and Essays

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Owen always tried to spread his ideas to wider communities. First of all, he started publishing his ideas in newspapers. Owen then sent these newspapers to parliamentarians, politicians all over the country, and other important people. The first negative reactions to his ideas appeared after these newspaper articles were published.

William Hone claimed that Owen saw people as unravelled plants from his roots, and that he wanted to plant them into rectangles. Another spokesman accused Owen of wanting to imprison people in workshops like barracks and eradicate their personal independence. Owen believed that, unless a change can be made in the character of the individuals and the environment in which they live, these people will be hostile to those around them.

As long as such a social order is perpetuated, the positive aspects of Christianity can never be put into practice. Owen also considered it necessary to give people more freedom in order to improve the situation of the poor and working classes. Unless people are better educated, unless they gain more useful information and have permanent employment, they are a danger to the security of the state when given more freedom than the British Constitution of the time.

Without having to make any changes in the national institutions, he believed that even merely reorganizing the working classes would result in great benefits. Owen was thus opposed to the views of radicals who wanted to bring about a change in the public's mentality through the expansion of voting rights. To test the viability of his ideas for self-sufficient working communities, Owen began experiments in communal living in America in Among the most famous of these was the one established at New Harmony , Indiana.

New Harmony was Owen's earliest and most ambitious experiment. Owen and his son, William, sailed to America in October to establish an experimental community in Indiana. In George Rapp 's Harmony Society , the religious group that owned the property and had founded the communal village of Harmony or Harmonie on the site in , decided to relocate to Pennsylvania. Owen renamed it New Harmony and established the village as his preliminary model for a utopian community. Owen attempted to gain support for his socialist vision among American thinkers, reformers, intellectuals, and public statesmen.

On 25 February and 7 March , Owen delivered addresses in the U. House of Representatives to the U. Congress and others in the U. Owenism , among the first socialist ideologies active in the United States, is considered the starting-point of the modern Socialist movement in the United States. Owen convinced William Maclure , a wealthy scientist, philanthropist, and Scot who was living in Philadelphia to join him at New Harmony. Maclure became Owen's financial partner. Maclure's involvement in the project subsequently attracted scientists, educators, and artists such as Thomas Say , Charles-Alexandre Lesueur , and Madame Marie Duclos Fretageot , among others.

These individuals helped to establish the utopian community at New Harmony as a centre for educational reform, scientific research, and artistic expression. Although he intended to build a "Village of Unity and Mutual Cooperation" south of town, his grand plan was never fully realised, and Owen returned to Britain to continue his work.

During his long absences from New Harmony, Owen left the experiment under the day-to-day management of his sons, Robert Dale Owen and William Owen, and his business partner, Maclure. The New Harmony communal experiment proved to be an economic failure, lasting about two years, but it attracted more than a thousand residents by the end of its first year. The socialistic society was dissolved in ; however, many of the town's scientists, educators, and artists, and other inhabitants, including Owen's four sons, Robert Dale, William, David Dale, and Richard Dale Owen, and his daughter, Jane Dale Owen Fauntleroy, resided at New Harmony after the social experiment ended.

Nearly all of these experiments ended before New Harmony was dissolved in April Owen's utopian communities attracted a mix of people, many of whom had the highest aims; however, their members also included vagrants, adventurers, and crotchety, and other reform-minded enthusiasts.

In the words of Owen's son, David Dale Owen, the communities attracted "a heterogeneous collection of Radicals", "enthusiastic devotees to principle," and "honest latitudinarians , and lazy theorists," with "a sprinkling of unprincipled sharpers thrown in. Josiah Warren , one of the participants at New Harmony, asserted that community was doomed to failure due to a lack of individual sovereignty and personal property.

In describing the Owenite community, Warren explained: It appeared that it was nature's own inherent law of diversity that had conquered us Social experiments also began in Scotland in , when Abram Combe , an Owenite disciple, attempted the development of a utopian experiment at Orbiston , near Glasgow, but the project failed after a trial of about two years. The most important of these were that at Ralahine , established in in County Clare , Ireland, and at Tytherley , begun in in Hampshire , England.

The former proved a remarkable success for three-and-a-half years until the proprietor, having ruined himself by gambling, had to sell his interest in the enterprise. Although Owen made brief visits to the United States, London became his permanent home and the centre of his activities in After an extended period of friction with William Allen and some of his other business partners, Owen relinquished all of connections to New Lanark.

In addition, he delivered lectures in Europe and published a weekly newspaper to gain support for his ideas. In Owen opened the National Equitable Labour Exchange system, [9] [52] a time-based currency in which the exchange of goods was effected by means of labour notes; this system superseded the usual means of exchange and middlemen.

The London exchange continued until ; a Birmingham branch operated for only a few months until July Socialism first became current in British terminology in the discussions of the Association of all Classes of all Nations , which Owen formed in [54] and served as its initial leader.

A Little Harmony Is All I Need : George L Allen :

In , Owen publicly claimed that all religions were false. Hayden , the American medium who is credited with introducing spiritualism to England. Owen made a public profession of his new faith in his publication The Rational Quarterly Review and in The future of the Human race; or great glorious and future revolution to be effected through the agency of departed spirits of good and superior men and women , a pamphlet that he also wrote. Owen claimed to have had mediumistic contact with the spirits of Benjamin Franklin , Thomas Jefferson , and others.

He explained that the purpose of these communications was to change "the present, false, disunited and miserable state of human existence, for a true, united and happy state Spiritualists have claimed that after Owen's death his spirit dictated to the medium Emma Hardinge Britten in the " Seven Principles of Spiritualism ," which the Spiritualists' National Union used as "the basis of its religious philosoply.

As Owen grew older and more radical in his views, his influence began to decline. Although he had spent the majority of his life in England and Scotland, Owen returned to his native village of Newtown at the end of his life. He died at Newtown on 17 November , and was buried there on 21 November. With the exception of an annual income drawn from a trust established by his sons in , Owen died penniless.

Owen was a reformer, philanthropist, community builder, and spiritualist who spent his adult life seeking to improve the lives of others. An advocate of the working class, he improved working conditions of factory workers, which he successfully demonstrated at New Lanark, Scotland; became a leader in trade unionism; promoted social equality through his experimental utopian communities; and supported passage of child labour laws and free education for children. Owen was ahead of his time as a social reformer.

He offered his vision for a communal society that others could consider and apply as they wished. Owen's agitation for social change and the Owenites whose work he inspired, including the efforts of his own children, helped to establish and promote long-lasting social reforms in the area of women's and workers' rights; the establishment of free public libraries and museums; childcare and public, co-educational schools; pre-Marxian communism; and the development of the cooperative and the trade union movement. New Harmony, Indiana, and New Lanark, Scotland, the two towns with which he is most closely associated, remain as lasting reminders of his efforts.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other people named Robert Owen, see Robert Owen disambiguation. Owen, aged about 50, by William Henry Brooke. Newtown , Montgomeryshire , Wales. Retrieved 8 September Indiana Magazine of History. Retrieved August 29, Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 August See "Owen Blue Plaque".

Retrieved 29 August Retrieved 30 Aug New York and London: Carleton and Company; Trubner and Company. Scotland , Indiana The Archives of Purdue, no.

Robert Owen

Indiana Department of Administration. Retrieved September 15, Robert Owen's American Legacy: Proceedings of the Robert Owen Bicentennial Conference. University of Central Lancashire. A web of English History. Three Great Community Experiments". Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Gugin and James E. Indiana Historical Society Press. New Harmony's Naturalistic Legacy". Robert Dale Owen, A Biography.

George Rapp's Harmony Society — University of Pennsylvania Press. The Growth of Economic Thought. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Manifesto of Robert Owen: University of California Press. Bryden and Connie A. Heather Baldus Spring New Harmony's Artistic Legacy". Branigin, "Robert Owen's New Harmony: See National Park Service National Register of Historic Places.

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Pioneer of Social Reforms. The First American Anarchist". Co-operation and the Owenite Socialist Communities in Britain, Retrieved 13 July Robert Owen and the Commencement of the Millennium. London and Westminster Review.

Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Boyd Smith published by University of New Mexico Press , a edition with an introduction by Edward Abbey published as part of the Penguin Nature Library by Penguin Books , and a edition published with an introduction by Terry Tempest Williams , also published by Penguin Books, and a edition with photography by Mojave Desert photographer Walter Feller , publisher by Counterpoint Press.

The Land of Little Rain is a collection of short stories and essays detailing the landscape and inhabitants of the American Southwest. A message of environmental conservation and a philosophy of cultural and sociopolitical regionalism [3] loosely links the stories together. The image created of the land at the beginning of the story is one of almost unbearable heat and dryness, punctuated by violent storms. Despite the description of how inhospitable the landscape is, at the end Austin proposes that the costs the land imposes upon a man are worth it because it provides man with peace of mind and body that cannot be achieved any other way.

The section's title refers to the trails made by wild animals moving towards sources of water. The essay provides descriptions of the many animals that travel along the trails, including coyotes, rabbits, and quails. Their ability to find water where there seems to be none is extolled by Austin, a skill which she believes no human is able to match.

This essay describes the various animals that live in the desert that feed upon carrion —most notably, the buzzards and the carrion crows. This scavenging is portrayed as a natural part of the desert, with a multitude of the scavengers working together to find food. The end of the story criticizes the actions of man with regard to the desert.

The unnatural trash he leaves cannot used by the scavengers in the story, and as such serves as a stark contrast to the desert's natural processes for recycling waste. A pocket hunter is a type of miner who hunts for pockets of ore deposits. In the story, the pocket hunter described by Mary Austin lives off of the land with minimal interactions with the civilized world. This harmony with nature, Austin argues, is essential to the pocket hunter's simple happiness. Despite Austin's muted praise, the pocket hunter wants to strike it rich in order to move to Europe and mingle with the landed elite, a goal he accomplishes.

However, by the end of the story, the pocket hunter returns to the desert since it is his "destiny". The story initially revolves around Winnenap', but quickly changes to a detailed description of the environment and wildlife of Shoshone Land to form an intimate tie between Winnenap' and the land he formerly inhabited. In the beginning of the section, Jimville is touted as a better source of inspiration for Bret Harte than he found during his own travels.

Jimville's inhabitants are likened to the fictional characters that were present in some of Harte's short stories. Austin portrays Jimville as a small town set in a harsh environment and inhabited by simple yet endearing toughs. Although the inhabitants endure many hardships, Austin claims that there is an almost unexplainable pull which keeps them in town and encourages new travelers to stay. The story is about a plot of land which changes hands many times—Austin characterizes this plot of land as an ideal field. She criticizes the owners of the field, the Indians and shepherds , because their habits and lifestyle scar the land.

At the end of the episode, it is revealed that the field is destined to develop into an urban area. Austin claims that while the field may at that point serve a greater human use, it will not be better for the land and all life. This section describes one of the trails that runs through the American Southwest. It contains several passages detailing the damage human activity has done to the land.

She criticizes the "unsightly scars" left by the Paiute Indians in the form of abandoned campoodies and the damaged plant life left by domesticated animals such as sheep. This story follows the life of Seyavi, a Paiute Indian who loses her mate, lives alone with her child, and sells baskets she weaves in order to survive. Austin claims that the Paiutes make the land itself their home, with the natural ridges of mountains as walls and the wild almond bloom as their furnishings.

It is because of this that Austin argues that the Paiutes will always be homesick when in homes built by man, as man cannot replicate nature's walls and furnishings. This essay consists of long description of mountains and their respective trails. The section characterizes the beauty of the mountains and their inhabitants. The story also contains critiques people who dwell in man-made houses.

The comfort provided by such houses, Austin argues, results in people not being able to truly understand the beauty and divinity of the mountains.

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The essay revolves around the streams and lakes that can be found in the mountains, generally formed from the melting snow higher in the mountains. The particular mountain in the story is Oppapago, a mountain within the Sierras in a forest reserve. Austin contrasts the mountain landscape to a meadow outside a forest reserve, which lacks color and beauty because it is damaged by the grazing of sheep.

The story begins with a depiction of a squabble between several locals over an irrigation ditch filled by water from the mountains. This is followed by a series of descriptions of the variety of plants that the irrigation ditch allows to thrive. Found within these depictions of plant life is Austin's lament of the complexities of civilization. Austin implies that with the advent of cities and manufactured objects people have lost an innate ability to know what natural remedies may be beneficial or detrimental to one's health.

The "nurslings of the sky" are storms, formed in the hills and given almost human characteristics by Austin.

A Little Harmony Is All I Need : Articles, Short Stories and Essays

The beginning of the story contains an account of the destruction of a town by floods and snow. The blame for the events is not placed on nature, but rather the people whose poorly placed town was destroyed. The story continues with descriptions of storms and their effects upon the wildlife of the area, pausing to explain how the land teaches people things.

The story uses the example of a group of Native Americans who learn the use of smoke signals by observing the dust pillars formed by desert winds at the edges of mesas. The end of the story expresses Austin's discontent at how people have dealt with the weather by determining the best seasons to plant crops rather than by musing about the "eternal meanings of the skies".

With houses made of mud, homemade wine, and gardens to provide the fruits, vegetables, and herbs, the townspeople live a simple life without the complex notions of wealth and class that Austin feels have corrupted much of society. Austin describes the lives of the people living in the town, lives which consist of little more than planting, harvesting, eating, making music, raising children, and dancing. The end of the story is a call back to the simple life exemplified in "The Little Town of the Grape Vines," criticizing those people who are overly obsessed with their own perceived importance in a world where their actions truly matter little.

The Land of Little Rain is characterized as both "local color" and non-fiction, scientific writing. The book attempts to engage the reader by including direct, second person along with first and third person point of views. Common stereotypical images and ideas about the desert are presented and contrasted to the narrator's past experiences. Specific and intimate experiences with nature in the desert are reproduced in the present tense for the reader's benefit.

The language is elevated and formal but made more conversational with informal colloquial language and jargon of the Southwest. The long and involved sentences often link abstractions to concrete images and description of the desert.

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