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Chapter VIII: MUSIC

So it is with music; the written notes are not the main
thing, nor is even the heard performance; these are only
evidences of an internal invisible emotion that can be felt
but never fully expressed.

-- SAMUEL BUTLER.


I

ON the elevated land just north of the old Mansion House,
an imposing new Community House of red brick was erected.
The old wooden buildings were removed, and the new home was
surrounded by spacious stretches of lawn and trees. Wings were
added to this dignified building in the seventies, so that a clois-
tered inner quadrangle was eventually formed. Behind the new
home, to the west was erected the "Tontine," named after a
new hotel in Boston. The Tontine housed the kitchens and din-
ing-hall, and was connected with the basement of the main house
by an underground passage, for use in bad weather. This new
house was equipped with all the conveniences that the period
offered. On the second floor, the commodious assembly hall was
fitted with a balcony running around three walls; and a stage,
equipped with a footlight trough, was used for the Community
entertainments-dancing by the children, tableaux, dramatic per-
formances, concerts, and even recitals by celebrated, traveling
virtuosi.

Downstairs, in an office off the main entrance, two members
received callers, for the Community was attracting an ever-increas-
ing number of visitors. In 1870, the Midland Railroad built a line
which extended for more than a mile through the seven hundred
acres comprising the Community domain, and a station named
"Community" was established within a stone's throw of the dwell-
ings. This convenience made it possible for dwellers in neigh-
boring towns and cities to organize excursions to the Community.
All visitors were encouraged to picnic on the lawns, to inspect
gardens and factories, and free concerts were given in the Com-
munity Hall. Trainloads of men, women and children, often from
considerable distances, visited this little Utopia. They roamed
through the new Community House, completed in 1871, enjoy-
ing its comforts and luxuries. Hundreds of the curious wandered
over the six hundred and sixty-four acres of "the best farm and
grazing lands in the State." They were guided in parties through
the vast trap-shops and canning factories. Under courteous super-
vision, they trooped through the substantial farm buildings, pa-

-241-

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Publication Information: Book Title: A Yankee Saint: John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Community. Contributors: Robert Allerton Parker - author. Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 1935. Page Number: 241.
    
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