Early Letters of George Wm. Curtis eBook

The organization which began on that Sunday afternoon in October, 1845, continued to exist at Brook Farm until January, 1847, when “The Religious Union of Associationists” was organized in Boston, with Channing as the minister.  For a few years it was successful, and it gave union and purpose to the Associationist movement in Boston and the vicinity.  A considerable number of the members of Brook Farm were connected with it actively—­as officers, members of the choir, or regular attendants.

The organization effected in the pine woods in so informal a manner was quite in harmony with the Brook Farm spirit and methods.  Formalism of every kind was dreaded, but yet there was a deeply religious interest pervading the whole life of the community.  At all the meetings held by the Farmers, even at little social gatherings, the conversation was likely to run on high themes.  While there was present the utmost freedom of opinion and expression, and while there was the greatest effort to avoid cant and conventional phraseology, yet there was in the community a very strong religious feeling; and nearly all the members held serious and earnest convictions, to which they were unusually faithful in their daily living.

III

The relations of Curtis to his teachers at Brook Farm were cordial and appreciative, but they were especially so with John S. Dwight, with whom he studied music.  When he left the farm, an intimate and confidential correspondence began between them, and this continued until Curtis went to Europe.  After he returned it was resumed, but the interchange of letters was not so frequent.  They continued to write to each other almost to the end of Dwight’s life, however, and their friendship was always sympathetic and confidential.  The letters of Dwight have not been preserved, with two or three exceptions, but those of Curtis still exist in unbroken succession, and are presented to the public in this volume.  In these days, when we complain of the decay of letter-writing, they afford a remarkably good specimen of youthful effort in that kind of literature.

To Dwight there were sent by Curtis several poems, which were printed in the Harbinger, and he also sent two letters from New York on musical topics.  Two of his letters to Dwight from Europe were also printed in the Harbinger.  After he was settled in New York, Curtis did his part in an effort to get Dwight established in that city.  When Dwight began his Journal of Music, Curtis wrote for it frequently over the signature of “Hafiz.”  It is safe to say that these contributions were not paid for, but were the result of a desire to aid his friend in his musical enterprise.  They were of the nature of passing comments on the musical performances of the day, but they were worthy of the pages in which they appeared.

John Sullivan Dwight was born in Court Street, Boston, May 13, 1813, the son of Dr. John Dwight and his wife Mary.  He was educated at the Derne Street Grammar School and the Boston Latin School, from which he entered Harvard College.  As a boy he was a devoted reader of books, studious in his habits, but little inclined to active or practical pursuits.  When about fifteen, he began to take an interest in music, and from his father he received the best instruction in that art.