Adin Ballou
and the Hopedale Community

 
"For those who knew Mr. Ballou for many years this piece of land has associations not possessed by any other spot in town. Here he lived for nearly half a century; many of us remember his venerable form at the well known seat at his desk in the south window, or possibly occupied in outdoor pursuits, and his genial smile which met us in passing. Every tree upon the premises was planted by his hands."

 
"At twelve I was baptized by immersion. At eighteen I had an extensive spiritual vision, in which I understood myself to be called imperatively by God to preach the gospel. To this I finally yielded, much against my own will and cherished worldly plans; preaching my first discourse, with no human training, at the age of eighteen years and three months."

 
"Mr. Ballou was a born orator and debater. On the platform his inspiration was sufficient to move his hearers to applause and tears."

 
"I committed myself to total abstinence from all war, preparations for war, glorifications of war, commemorations of war and... any resorts whatsoever to deadly force against my fellow-men. I would neither fight, vote, pray for, nor give any approval of any custom, practice or act which contravened the law of perfect love toward God, toward my fellow moral agents or the universal highest good. I would have no deadly weapon on my person or in my habitation Thus I was an unmistakable peace man from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet."

True non-resistance is the one true resistance to evil. It kills and finally destroys the evil sentiment.

"Ballou died in August, 1890, and his obituary ... says that Ballou was a spiritual guide of a community; that he delivered between eight and nine thousand sermons; married one thousand pairs; and wrote about five hundred articles... but not a word is said about the aim to which he devoted all his life -- the word "non-resistance" is not even used."

We have made numerous repairs in and upon our old buildings; erected a new one 32 by 14 feet... The brethren have just commenced a dam and the foundation of a mechanic shop, to be 30 by 40 feet in size, two stories high... designed for various machines to be operated by water power. Our business is multiform and arduous. There is everything to do and small means with which to operate. We print the Practical Christian every fortnight.

Regular meetings for religious instruction and worship are kept up in our own house twice on Sunday, and a conference for social prayer, praise, and exhortation on Thursday evenings. These meetings are free for all our neighbors and friends to attend who choose. They are also free for all the attendants to speak as they feel impressed with a sense of duty."

 
"A few of us had enjoyed personal, social, educational and domestic advantages ... but the larger number had lived and moved on a humbler level. There was naturally a diversity of manners, habits and tastes, in addition to the personal peculiarities of each... Yet we were all domiciled under one roof, lived as one family, stocked a common larder, spread and sat at a common table, organized common activities and constituted to all intents and purposes a Community in fact as well as in name."

 
"The members were men and women drawn together by a common interest... In addition to the vital principles of ultimate salvation for all, temperance, non-resistance, etc., each one brought some fad of his own -- a belief in Spiritualism, or the vegetable diet. Some were non-shavers, and all, I think, were non-smokers. The fads were often discussed in public and made these meetings a 'continuous performance' of vast entertainment."

 

Lucy Hunt Ballou
(1811-1891)

 
"Meanwhile my wife, in her own quiet unpretentious way, led off in the management of domestic affairs, with good Anna T. Draper for her faithful, right hand coadjutor, bringing order out of chaos. And when disquietudes and bickerings at length arose, it was the men and not the women who first proved weak."

I believe in the religion of Jesus Christ, as he taught and exemplified it, according to the Scriptures of the New Testament. I acknowledge myself a bounden subject of all its moral obligations. Especially do I hold myself bound by all its holy requirements:

- never, under any pretext whatsoever, to kill, assault, beat, torture, enslave, rob, oppress, persecute, defraud; corrupt, slander, revile, injure, envy or hate any human being -- even my worst enemy;
- never, in any manner, to violate the dictates of pure chastity;
- never to take or administer an oath;
- never to manufacture, buy, sell, deal out, or use any intoxicating liquor as a beverage;
- never to serve in the army, navy, or militia of any nation, state, or chieftain;
- never to bring an action at law, hold office, vote, join a legal posse, petition a legislature, or ask governmental interposition, in any case involving a final authorized resort to physical violence;
- never to indulge self-will, bigotry, love of pre-eminence, covetousness, deceit, profanity, idleness, or an unruly tongue;
- never to participate in lotteries, games of chance, betting, or pernicious amusements;
- never to resent reproof, or justify myself in a known wrong;
- never to aid, abet, or approve others in any thing sinful; but, through divine assistance, always to recommend and promote, with my entire influence, the holiness and happiness of all mankind.

"I am happy to feel that in the little Commonwealth where I live, all persons have equal rights, in public deliberations. Men and women are alike recognized as having a common interest in public officers and public measures. Hence our annual meetings and elections are quiet and orderly, the business is soon despatched ... and I have never, in the small State of Hopedale, heard of one home being neglected, or one duty less thoroughly attended to by allowing women an equal voice."

 
"Reform extended to dress and many women became wearers of the Bloomer costume, a short skirt reaching to the knees with long trousers like the dress. The abbreviated skirts were convenient about the house, but some wore them abroad ... and were victims of ridicule and amusement in the neighboring towns."

 
"At one time twenty-five women, all clad in bloomers, went in a barge to Worcester, to attend a Women's Rights' Convention. They attracted so much attention that the police were called upon to protect them."

"In 1844 ... the School and Chapel building was completed, having one large room and the two ante-rooms on the main floor with a basement suitable for a small store... . and soon after the room below was stocked with groceries and dry goods for the common convenience by the Community authorities."

 
"All children and youth under eighteen years of age connected with this Community shall be considered pupils, and after leaving the nursery shall be regularly instructed in the useful arts and sciences four hours per day through the year except on Saturdays and Sundays, and excepting also vacations of one week in each quarter... The older pupils shall receive instruction wholly in the forenoon or in the afternoon so as to be regularly employed without interruption during the remaining half day in the industrial organization. It shall also be the duty of the teachers carefully to supervise the morals of the children and youth under their instruction."

 
"Our Mrs. Abbie was a Normal graduate, handsome and loving, with insight, originality and personal power, the ideal teacher. She anticipated so-called modern methods. We were proud of the really remarkable maps with meridians and parallels that we used to put on the board from memory. Our school was known among reformers. A son of Garrison and of Samuel J. May were sent to Hopedale to attend it. Rev. Wm. Fish once said that Mrs. Abbie was, he believed, the best teacher he ever had."

 
"Children had many amusements, simple but enjoyable; among them occasional rides in the large and only boat on the pond; skating and coasting in winter; berrying and picnics in summer; hanging May baskets all through the month; and hunting wild flowers in the field. After a time dancing was allowed for adults and children... hours for dancing from 6 to 9:30 P.M. ... Square and Contra dances, only, were allowed. Hopedale was a music loving community."

"My parents, much worn and weary with their experiences in the Old House, decided to build a home of their own, to live 'under their own vine and fig tree,' and prosecute their labors for the good of mankind. They erected a cottage on Peace Street near by where now stands my father's monument. This was the third house in the village. Their labors were not much diminished, so large a number of visitors was constantly seeking a haven of rest, which they believed Hopedale Community alone could afford. Without money and without price they entertained many such inquirers for several years."

 
"In his work at Hopedale and elsewhere, Adin Ballou depended upon a great deal of support from his family, especially the women. Lucy Ballou ran the Ballou household as a free hotel for Hopedale visitors and prospective residents. She also helped to compose and edit her husband's works. The burdens she bore during the Hopedale period affected her health. She was a semi-invalid in her later years."

 
"[Adin Augustus] was the only son of his mother and myself dwelling with us upon the shores of mortality. Upon him we had lavished the warmest affection of our hearts and built our fondest and sublimest hopes for the future. We had given him the best home training of which we were capable; we had furnished him with such opportunities for attending school as were at our command."

"Fraternity of property was the keystone of our social arch. When that fell out, the arch crumbled. These favored brethren commanded that keystone. It was in their power to preserve or to demolish the structure And if they fell away from a high Christian standard which they had professed to revere, they did so under very seductive and powerful temptations."

 
"The Community had been running seriously behindhand in its industrial departments... Failing to discover where the fault was, it was natural and easy to attribute it to the system and this was the accusation... the lead was taken by George Draper... who had been with us but a short time. He was a man thoroughly honest in his opinions, upright in his dealings... A man, however, of inflexible will, and one not to be turned from his purpose. Hence, when he came to feel that our socialistic undertaking was financially impracticable, that it stood in the way of his success as a business man of the world, and that it therefore must be abandoned... all his energies were directed to the accomplishment of that result. It was his first concern... to win his brother (Ebenezer) to his own way of thinking and secure his co-operation in withdrawing their joint capital from the Community treasury. It was some time before he succeeded in doing this, but at length by argument and appeal urged with unrelenting persistency, his point was gained, and... the destiny of the Community was sealed. The two owned three-fourths of its Joint-Stock."

 
"As soon as I learned that these two men had decided to take the position indicated... a deathlike chill settled upon and almost froze my heart. What I then and for months afterward suffered of disappointment, mortification, and grief, it would be ... difficult and useless to describe.

So that on the first of April, 1856, the new industrial and economical system in our village was fully established, and the Hopedale Community, as a type of a regenerated form of human society, and an attempt to realize the Kingdom of God on earth, for which so many of us had prayed and toiled and sacrificed for so many years, had become a thing of the past. Its glory had departed; its sun had set forever."

"It was our custom at Hopedale, as radical Abolitionists, to celebrate from year to year the Anniversary of the Emancipation of 800,000 slaves in the British West Indies. This was done in a pleasant grove near the southerly borders of our domain, half a mile from the central part of our village."

 
"Annually in August, in a small, pine grove... Hopedale had an Anti-Slavery meeting. I remember many earnest men and women who spoke from that platform. William Lloyd Garrison was always present. Frederick Douglas, a colored man who was an escaped slave, was an interesting speaker. I well remember the black, black man of large stature who was called Henry Box Brown. He was a slave and had come all the way from the South, sent by friends in a dry goods box with holes in the cover, and labeled, 'This side up. With care.'

Many escaped slaves lived in the families of Hopedale. My father had a colored man called John who did some work about the place, but never went alone from the house. Several others there were who lived among us for weeks or months. They were fed, clothed, and sheltered. We knew them and saw them moving in and out, one day here. The next gone."

 
"There was also with us a remarkable colored woman, once a slave in the State of New York, Sojourner Truth, whose impassioned utterances on the occasion were like the fiery outbursts of some ancient prophet of God lifting up his voice like a trumpet and showing the people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins."

"On the 9th of June, 1861, Brother George Draper, one of our most influential associates, sent to the recorder of the Community a letter resigning his membership, 'having become satisfied,' as he says, 'that I am not in spirit or feeling or practice or purpose a Non-resistant.' He did not denounce the principles on which Hopedale was founded... but as 'impracticable under existing circumstances.' ... Several other members shared his sentiments and followed his example... reducing our members to less than fifty persons, who remained faithful to their ideals."

 
"The Civil War wrought a great change in Hopedale. Excitement ran high, and with some the Non-Resistant principles were overcome by the 'Spirit of 76.' ...The battlefield, the Anderson Prison Pen, and disease claimed as victims several who enlisted from Hopedale, and the peaceful life of the village was over for a time."

"An event of much importance in the history of Hopedale in the year 1860 was the erection of a new house of public worship ... on an eligible lot which in early Community days had been set apart for the purpose.

The parish has had no definite creed, declaration of principles, or church covenant. As a parish it professes nothing but what is said or implied in its constitution. It has always been comparatively small -- never numbering over one hundred and twenty voting members, and these entertaining a variety of divergent opinions on religious and ethical subjects... On my part, I was a sort of minister-at-large to a widespread, unorganized parish, to whom I ministered at funerals and on diverse occasions... Happily my supporters were as willing to let me preach and practice my honest convictions as they were determined to follow their own."

"The erection of the superstructure was approaching completion at the time of the owner's unexpected decease in June, 1887.

Appropriate dedicatory services were held in it on the 25th of October. Beautiful floral and other decorations graced the occasion, vocal and instrumental music gave it added interest, prayer was offered, formal addresses were made. The address proper was delivered by Hon. Ex-Gov. John D. Long.

Mr. Ballou sat near the eloquent speaker, and listened with attentive interest ... to the sarcastic criticism of the men and women who had toiled and suffered in the former days for truth, humanity, and God, and who by their labors, had made possible the Hopedale which was now the subject of ornate panegyric. When he arose to address the assembled company, every eye was fixed on him and every ear was eager to hear what he had to say. He knew that Ebenezer D. Draper, the elder brother of George, was president of the Community when its joint stock and unitary interests were dissolved; that he was then a much larger capitalist than his brother and wielded much greater power; that he pronounced the condition of the Community eminently harmonious and prosperous less than two months before they decided to withdraw their capital; that there was really no bankruptcy nor any ... cause for a dissolution of unitary interests, except their withdrawal of three-fourths of the joint stock; and that the plant was taken into the vigorous hands of the two brothers only to be changed into a successful manufacturing establishment managed on the principles of 'enlightened and liberal selfishness.' "