Maclure of New Harmony: Scientist, Progressive Educator, Radical Philanthropist

17 Crippling Losses of Madame Fretageot and Thomas Say

261 Crippling Losses of Madame Fretageot and Thomas Say To the casual eye, New Harmony appeared serene, a small town in a charmingpastoralsettingontheWabashRiver,itsremarkableinhabitants busyingthemselveswithvariouscrafts,farming,teaching,publishing,and studying nature. But New Harmony’s reputation was tarnished, a failure foundedonvisionarynotions,andalmostdestroyedbyincompetentpractice . New Harmony had been denounced as a hotbed of sin and socialism and as a threat to Christianity, morality, and American capitalism. Closerinspectionrevealsatownfilledwithratherunhappypeoplewho were recuperating from the pandemonium of recurrent crises, trapped in a venture that had failed to realize its utopian aims and, even now, struggling tosupportitself.Therhetoricended,animportantsegmentofthetownwas managedinthenameofitsabsenteeowner,WilliamMaclure,whogavethe town purpose and financial support. For whatever reasons, he refused to returnfromMexicotoresolvethemanyconflictsthatbesetthecommunity, and so a malaise weighed heavily on the community. By 1831, when Robert Dale Owen returned to New Harmony to join his youngest brother, Richard , the town itself had taken on a sad, shabby appearance. As the great and small problems within New Harmony multiplied, Maclure’s manager, Madame Fretageot, was tested beyond endurance, Seventeen • 262 · Maclure of New Harmony and by November of 1831 she had decided to leave—for a period of time.1 She had not fully recovered from a recent illness lasting two months in which she was delirious with fever. Even Say, a tender reed (“as timorous as a mouse”), under the influence of his wife, Lucy, who was at odds with Madame at the time, had not been helpful, nor had Say been attentive to the business of the town; as Madame wrote, they “wished her dead.” Thoroughly depressed and aggravated by an unreliable communication with Maclure (due to tampering of the mail by the local assistant postmaster),2 she precipitately informed Maclure that she was returning to France, leaving Say in charge. Like everyone else, she admired Say, and she assured Maclure that he could take over from her, but in fact she knew hewasneitherablenorwillingtomanagethiskindofenterprise.Madame was fleeing from an intolerable situation, but the professed reason for her departure was that she was returning to France to claim a modest legacy of 800 francs per year, left to her by a friend, a claim that had to be made in person.AnothermattercompelledhertovisitFrance:shewantedtomake suitable arrangements for her ailing husband with money inherited from her father. Surprisingly, her letter to Maclure was cordial, businesslike, without reproach or recrimination, and in return his letters continued as if nothing unusual had happened—she was merely taking a short, welldeserved vacation. Indeed, except for an increasingly tender appreciation of her in his letters, there seemed to be no discernable change in the temper of their communications. They were soul mates. Later from Paris, in high spirits, she wrote “My dear friend, I am yours until my last . . . your affectionate . . .” Madame was soon in Philadelphia on her way to Paris, surprised and heartenedbytheloveandhighesteemofherformerPhiladelphiastudents (now young women), and in this environment, where she was fussed over and every need was taken care of, her health improved. With increased energy, her thoughts turned to New Harmony and its needs. More than anyone, she knew what was lacking, and so she began purchasing various goods for the store and items requested by Say.3 By Christmas she was in Paris, warmly greeted and enjoying the food and the society. She was taken up by her old friends Mesdames Couture and d’Aubigny, solid people of wealth and breeding. No doubt they were fascinated by Madame’s adventurous life in the wilderness of the American frontier, surely the stuff of Romance in the age of Chateaubriand, but Crippling Losses of Madame Fretageot and Thomas Say · 263 in fact they were the very people who roused the suspicions of Maclure.4 Madame Couture insisted that Madame Fretageot live in her home, and from time to time she vacationed at their country estate in Normandy. Joining the circle was another good friend, M. Zédé, who had a particular interest in Madame’s son, Achille Fretageot, because he was probably the boy’s biological father.5 All insisted that Achille should live in France for a few years, while Maclure, a surrogate father, generous with advice, had plans to have Achille learn the printing trade and the Spanish language and become his secretary in Mexico, where he could edit liberal Spanish publications.6 Whatever happened, Madame wanted her son to be looked after—preferably to be adopted by Maclure. Madame Fretageot was thriving. She slept well, lost excess weight, no longer suffered from periodic fevers...