Appendix: Brook Farm — an address delivered at the University of Michigan on Thursday, January 21, 1895:
Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen,
Let me begin by saying that this is intended rather for a conversation than for a regular discourse, and I shall be very much obliged to any one of you who will interrupt me to ask any question or clear up any point that occurs to him. It is almost a subject of ancient history that we are going to consider.
Few persons who are here can be familiar with the outlines of it, and there will naturally be a good many things that may be obscure.
Let these be made plain, if possible, as we go along.
About fifty years ago this country was the scene of an intellectual agitation that I do not think can be quite matched in history.
It began with the antislavery movement, an attack upon an institution fortified by the Constitution of the United States, and connected with the great commercial interests of the country, amounting in pecuniary value to I know not how many thousands of millions of dollars; and it naturally inflamed the passions of the people, particularly in the Southern States, where slaves were held.
This agitation was carried on with great intensity and fierceness of feeling on both sides, and with a terrible disturbance of the mind in almost the whole population of the country.
To be called an abolitionist was, in many places, almost the greatest stigma that could be put upon a man. He was accused of attempting to destroy the foundations of the republic; he was launching 