CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 CAYLORO 
 
 IS^J^ 
 
 .l » EPT71 D?a°P-- 
 
 iMMMMnMMIIi »— 
 
 PftlNTCOINU.S J 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924084318025 
 
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES: 
 
 BRIEF SKETCHES 
 
 ECONOIVIY, ZOAE, BETHEL, AUKOEA, AMANA, ICAKIA, 
 
 THE SHAKERS, ONEIDA, WALLINGFORD, AND 
 
 THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE NEW LIFE. 
 
 WILLIAM ALFRED HINDS. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIALIST. 
 ONEIDA, N. Y. 
 
 1H7S. 
 
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 IXTROI) U(J TOR Y. 
 
 I^ROFESSOR HUXLEY, the famed scientist, in closing 
 . his address at the opening of the John Hopkins Univer- 
 sity, on the occasion of his visit to this country in 1.S76, uttered 
 the following memorable words: 
 
 " The territory covered by these United States is as large 
 as Europe, as tUverse in climate as England and Spain, as 
 France and Russia, and you have to see whether, with the 
 diversity of interests, mercantile and other, which arises under 
 these oircunistances. national ties will be stronger than the 
 tendencj' to sej)aration ; and as you grow more people and 
 the pressure of poj^ulation makes itself manifest, the specter 
 of pauperism will stalk among you, <iiid i/ov v^ill he very vv- 
 llke JSiiropf if C")iimu/iiniii. and iSoriiilUni do not chmn to he 
 heard. I cannot imagine that any one should envy you this 
 great destiny — for a great destiny it is to solve these problems 
 some way or other. Great will be your honor, great will be 
 your position, if you solve them righteously and honestly ; 
 great your shame and your misery if you fail." 
 
 The condition of things here predicted as the result of 
 increased population already exists. The specter of pauper- 
 ism stalks in our midst. Himdreds of thousands of men are 
 idle, while their starving families cry for bread. The prob- 
 lems which were to be solved at a distant day are demanding 
 immediate attention. Communism and Socialism have already 
 asserted their claims to be heard; nut alone m destructive ways , 
 
4 ■ AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 — in revolts against established institiitions, that are dreaded 
 by the well-to-do classes as the revolts of the negroes were 
 dreaded by the whites of the Southern States in old ante- 
 helium days ; but also in examples of peaceful industry, 
 general prosperity and happy brotherhood, which at least 
 23romise a "righteous and honest solution" of the great prob- 
 lem presented by our distinguished visitor. Moreover, these 
 examples prove the practicability of forms of society whence 
 shall be excluded pauperism, intemperance and crime, and all 
 class distinctions not based on character itself. They are 
 therefore worthy the careful study, not only of those . who 
 seek to bring the laborer and capitalist into harmonic rela- 
 tions, but of those who believe there are better corner-stones 
 than selfishness and competism on which to build the society 
 of the future. 
 
 If further apology be needed for offering to the public a 
 new work on American Communities — a subject so fully 
 treated by Chaeles Nokdhoff in his '' Communistic Societies 
 of the United States," and by John H. Noyes in his " History 
 of American Socialisms" — it may be found in the fact that 
 thousands who might be glad to acquaint themselves with the 
 results of i^ractioal Communism in this country cannot aft'ord 
 to purchase these large and comparatively expensive works, 
 which are Nevertheless indispensable to a thorough comj^re- 
 hension of American Socialism.? It is not intended that the 
 present work shall take their place ; it is hoped, on the con- 
 trary, that it will stimulate the demand foi' them. 
 
 In describing American Communities the author has not 
 deemed it necessary to commend any one of them as a model. 
 The best of them but imperfectly illustrate the advantages of 
 Communism, and some of them, it may as well be frankly 
 confessed, have many objectionable features ; but Commu- 
 nism, it should be considered, is only a child in years, while 
 
IN TROD UOTOR Y. .7 
 
 the forms of society with which it is brought in comparison 
 are hoary with the frost of centuries. Americans say it is 
 unfair to institute a comparison between their repubUcanism 
 and the monarcliism of Europe, and award the premium to 
 the latter on the ground that it has produced the most jjer- 
 fect results in literature and the arts.P*^"You miist wait," 
 they insist, " a century or two longer before you contrast the 
 fruits of repubhcanism and monarchy. AVe are stUl engaged 
 in pioneer work, and have given little attention to the higher 
 departments of culture." So Communists may well say tO' 
 those who would decry their system because it has not yet 
 outrivaled in certain particulars systems that have existed foi" 
 thou.sands of years: "Do not hurry the comparison. We have 
 thus far lieen mainly occui^ied in rude jjioneer labor — solving 
 problems pertaming to our existence and subsistence — have- 
 been in cii'cumstanees resemljlmg those of the early settlers 
 of this country, who had to build their churches and school- 
 houses while clearing the land and defending themselves from 
 the attacks of their enemies. But give us a fraction of the 
 time for develo2:>ment that other systems have had, and if ours 
 does not then commend itself to all men by its fruits as supe- 
 rior to its competitors, let it pass away." Communism must 
 take its chances under the universal law of ''the sur^dval of 
 the fittest.'^ 
 
 It is jiroper to add that the accounts of the several Com- 
 munities which follow are, with the exception of Aurora and 
 Fountain Grove, based upon the personal observations of the 
 author, he having made a tovu' of the other Communities in 
 the summer of 1876. He would nevertheless acknowledge 
 his indebtedness to those who have traveled the same road 
 before him, as also to many friends in the described Communi- 
 ties, who have rendeiod him invaluable assistance. 
 
Bethel 
 
 Fountain Grove ' 
 
 Salem-on-Erie 
 
 Harmony 
 
 learian 
 
 Oneida 
 
 Wallingford 
 
 Zoar 
 
 Alfred* 
 
 Canterbury 
 
 Enfield 
 
 Enfield 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 iGroveland 
 
 Hancock 
 
 Harvard 
 
 Mt. Lebanon 
 
 North Union 
 
 Pleasant Hill 
 
 Shirley 
 
 .South Union 
 
 Union Village 
 
 Watervliet 
 
 Watei-vliet 
 
 Whitewatei- 
 
 Bethel, Shelby Co., Mo. 
 Santa Rosa, Sonoma Co., Cal. 
 Brocton, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 
 Economy, Beaver Co., Penn. 
 Coming, Adams Co., Iowa. 
 Oneida, Madison Co., N. Y. 
 Wallingford, New Haven Co., Com 
 Zoar, Tuscarawas Co., Ohio. 
 Alfred, York Co., Me. 
 Shaker Village, Merrimack Co., N. 
 Enfield, Grafton Co., N. H. 
 Thompsonville, Hartford Co., Com 
 W. Gloucester, Cumberland Co., I 
 Sonyea, Livingston Co., N. Y. 
 West Pittsfield, Berkshire Co., Ma 
 Ayer, Middlesex Co., Mass. 
 Mt. Lebanon, Columbia Co., N. Y. 
 Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. 
 Pleasant Hill, Mercer Co., Ky. 
 Shirley Village, Middlesex Co., Ma 
 South Union, Logan Co., Ky. 
 Lebanon, Warren Co., Ohio. 
 Shakers, Albany Co., N. Y. 
 Preston, Hamilton Co., Ohio. 
 Dayton, Montgomery Co., Ohio. 
 
 * Alfred aiul the 'Commnini ties following are of Shaker origin. 
 
TlIE IL I RMoXISTS. 
 
 WHEN tlie Duke of Saxe- Weimar visited Economy, half 
 a centuiy ago, it was at its i^oint of greatest pros- 
 peiitj". It had a thousand inhabitants. Every house vi^as 
 occupied, every factorj^ f^^Uy manned. There was a fine 
 museum, costly jjaintings (one of wliicli, " Christ Healing the 
 Sick," by Benjamin West, now ornaments the house built for 
 George Eaj^p), and much attention was given to music. Sixty 
 or seventy girls, the Duke says, collected in one of the factory 
 rooms, and, with their venerated founder seated in their midst, 
 sang their spiritual and other songs in a delightful manner. 
 "'With real emotion did I witness this interesting scene. Their 
 factories and work-shops," he goes on to saj', "were warmed 
 during the winter by means of pipes connected witli the steam- 
 engine ; and all the workmen had very healthy complexions, 
 and moved me deej)ly by the warm-hearted friendliness with 
 which they saluted the elder Rapp. I was also much gratified 
 to see vessels containing fresh, sweet-scented flowers standing 
 on all the machines. The neatness which universally reigned 
 was in every resjoect worthy of praise." 
 
 Neatness still reigns in Economy, but in other respects 
 there have been great changes. Mj,ny of the houses are now 
 unoccupied ; the factories are idle ; neither cotton, woolen nor 
 silk goods are made ; the museum was sold long ago ; their 
 musical organizations are but reminders of those of yore ; 
 and the voices of the singing-girls no longer delight the visitor 
 as they delighted the Duke of S.ixe-Weimar. The thousand 
 members are reduoed to one hundred, and of these but 
 
S AMERICAN COMMUNITIEI^. 
 
 ievT are under sixty ; and many have reached a great ag'e. 
 Their founder set them an example of extreme longevity (liv- 
 ing in the full iDOSsession of his facrdties till he was ninety) 
 which his followers are emulating. Their j^resent leader, 
 Jacob Henrici, is seventy-three, and his associate, Jonathan 
 Lenz, seventy. 
 
 The first imijression made vii^on the visitor at Economy is 
 that both architecture and people are un-Ajnerican. It is 
 the most natm-al thing in the world, as you walk its streets, to 
 imagine yourself in some old town in Germany. But if every 
 thing is foreign and unfamiliar, it is not unpleasing. It is 
 seen at a glance that the village is laid out with regularity. 
 The streets I'un parallel with the course of "the beautiful 
 river" at this jioint or at light angles with it. Their houses 
 are made pleasant to look at l)y the skillful training of grape- 
 vines between the windows of their two stories. The streets, 
 too, are well shaded, and shade-trees have also been carefully 
 planted along the river's bank. Each house has its garden ; 
 and there is also a Community garden or pleasure-groiuid, in 
 the rear of the old EaiDi^ house. Here are beautiful flowers, 
 winding paths, a fountain, arbors and fruit-trees ; and near the 
 center the Grotto, whicli, lilie that at their jirevious home on 
 the Wabash, is 2:)urposely made rough and unattractive in its 
 exterior, while its interior is a beautiful miniature temple — 
 thus symbolizing the fact that men's hearts should be Ijetter 
 than their external ajopearance. A little out of the village 
 still stands the Round House, which formed the center of the 
 Labyrinth — so called because the house was so carefully con- 
 cealed )iy hedges and vines, and there were so many paths 
 crossing and reerossing one another, that the visitor might 
 
 *&* 
 
 lose his way many times and waste hours even, before findino- 
 
 t> 
 
 its entrance. Both the Labyrinth and Rapp's garden -were 
 
THE HARMOXISTS. » 
 
 great objects of pleasure and interest in the days of Econ- 
 omy's greatness. 
 
 The people themselves are now the most i^ictui'esque ob- 
 jects in Economy. j\Iost of the men j-ou meet are old and short 
 and stout, wearing, for week-day dress, bliie " round-abouts,'' 
 like boys' spencers, and jiants of the same color, and broad- 
 brimmed hats ; and as you meet them here and there they im- 
 press you as full of quiet dignity and genuine jooliteness. The 
 women are di'essed quite as oddly as the men, with their short 
 loose gowns, kerchiefs across the shoulders, and caps that run 
 up to the top of a high l>aek-comb. The present dress of the 
 Harmonists I suppose to be such as was worn by Rapp and 
 his associates when they came to tliis countrj', and contimied 
 from choice by them and their successors. 
 
 But however much you may be surprised at their strange 
 and unfashionable attire, the briefest acquaintance with this- 
 peo23le makes you conscious of their sterling -virtues. Econo- 
 my, industry, business integrity,, hospitality, benevolence : these 
 are not the thmgs for which they should be most valued. They 
 have a repose of character, a resignation to God's proAadences., 
 and an unwavering faith in his overrulmg care, in comparison 
 with which their untold millions are as di'oss. I can never 
 forget the impression made upon me by their principal leader, 
 Jacob Henrici, as he told me the story of his connection with 
 the Society — how he first heard of it in Germany when a 
 young man with a good jjosition and fine jirospects — how he 
 prayed to God tr> know whether he should come to America 
 that he might connect himself with it — how he obtained what 
 seemed to him a clear answer in the affii'mative — how, after he 
 had made his preparations for the journey, his friends per- 
 suaded him to reconsider his puri^ose — how he again betook 
 himself to jorayer and the counsel of the godly — how he was 
 clearly convinced for the second time of liis duty to set out — ■ 
 
Ui AMEUICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 liow, after his arrival in America, he first estabhshecl his aged 
 parents in a good home before visiting the Society which had 
 attracted him across the ocean — how deejjly he was impressed 
 lay its hfe and spirit when he made the first visit — how he 
 pledged liimself to Father Rapp to join the Community, and 
 then returned and labored for years to place his parents above 
 the possibility of want, before executing his long-cherished 
 purpose. He concluded his story by saying he had never 
 since doubted that it is possible to get a definite answer to 
 prayer. Mr. Henrici was educated as a teacher — is a lover of 
 music, and shows in many ways the unmistakable evidences of 
 culture ; he strikes you at once as a man of genuine nobility 
 of character. 
 
 The main facts in the history of the Harmonists may be 
 thus succinctly stated: they were Separatists from the estab- 
 lished cliurch in Germany; their migration to this country 
 took place in 1803 and 1804; they first settled in Butler 
 county, Pennsylvania; in 1814 they removed to Indiana and 
 built New Harmony, purchasing 30,000 acres of land; ten 
 years later, to avoid malaria and bad neighbors, they sold out 
 their property to Robert Owen, and returned to Pennsylvania, 
 ■establishing their final home, which they called Economy, on 
 the eastern bank of the Ohio, about twenty miles from Pitts- 
 bui'gh in a northerly direction ; and they have steadily increas- 
 ed in wealth in siDite of all their removals and numerical de- 
 cadence ; and now own, besides their village and estate at 
 Economy, much property in other places, having a large in- 
 terest in coal mines and oil wells and railroads and manufac- 
 tories, and controlling at Beaver Falls the largest cvitlery estab- 
 lishment in the United States. Wherever they have settled 
 they have made the "wilderness blossom as the rose," sur- 
 i-ounding tliemselves with orchards and vineyards and the 
 best cultivated fields. 
 
THE HAHMOXISTS. 11 
 
 They eat five times a day, having three regular meals 
 .■and two Itinches, and do not limit themselves much in respect 
 to kinds of food. One of the best dinners I ever ate vras at 
 their hotel, which was formerly a popular resort for visitors. 
 They are industrious, but no one works hard. The women 
 from choice labor in the gardens. In early times they went 
 with the men to the field. There are a great variety of shojDS, 
 but many of them are manned by hirelings. They have a 
 ■common laundry where steam and machinery nave much labor, 
 and they also have a common bakery, from which bread is dis- 
 tributed twice a week ; milk is carried to every door, and 
 meat is supi^lied to each household according to its numbers : 
 the store supplies other articles ; but their nei-essities are few, 
 for wealth has not spoiled their simplicity. That they are, in 
 short, a healthy, well-fed. well-clothed, happy people, is most 
 tip2)ai'ent. 
 
 Thei^e are a few things in the liistory of the Harmonists 
 which aie desei^ving of special study. 
 
 First, tlie xnpi-rtor abiliti/ of their h-ndcr.-t. George Eapp, 
 theii' founder, had great strength of character, and maintained 
 his position until his decease at four-score and ten, preaching 
 only two weeks before his death. He is represented as of 
 commanding appearance, being six feet high, and well pro- 
 portioned; very industrious, spending his leisure hours in 
 study of the natural sciences; easy of approach, and even 
 witty in conversation ; eloquent in his sermons ; deeply reh- 
 gioiis — "a man before whom no evil could stand;" and very 
 simple in his habits. I take little stock in the stories of his 
 tyranny, though it is quite probable that in the early days 
 his enthusiasm may have carried him to the extreme of 
 fanaticism. 
 
 Second, the rehUlim liefn-n'ii (reorcje llupp and his (ulopt- 
 ed Moi. Frederick ]l<(pp. In tliis duality the elder Rapp was 
 
12 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 the dynamic ; the younger the more conspicuous and expres- 
 sive. The one was predominantly rehgious; the other a 
 great lover of art in all its forms. The one was founder of 
 a new social order ; the other gave to that new order its ap- 
 propriate external expression. Frederick Rapp was, in short, 
 not only the business manager of the new kuigdom, but its 
 architect and beautifier. He it was who laid out their -collages 
 in symmetrical order, and designed their houses, and gave to 
 them whatever ornamental features they possess ; he it was 
 who most fostered their taste for music and art ; he designed 
 the summer-house, made of cut stone, which stands in the 
 Rapp jDleasure-garden ; and he, I have no doubt, was the chief 
 designer of the intricacies of the Labyrinth, both here and at 
 New Harmony on the Walsash. Without George Rapp there 
 would have been no Rapjsite Community, but without Freder- 
 ick Rapp it would have lacked many of its most attractive 
 featui'es. 
 
 Third, Iheir remoroJs. There is notliing in their history 
 which more forcibly illustrates their miity and thorough suli- 
 ordination than these. It is quite an event for a large family 
 to move from one State to another ; but here a hundred 
 families sold their all in their iiist home, and moved off into 
 the wilderness of Indiana, and in ten years built a village, 
 containing over one hundred and fifty houses, covered the hills 
 with vineyards, planted extensive orchards, brought under 
 cultivation three thousand acres of land; and then, at the 
 word of their commander, and at the risk of great pecuniary 
 loss, sold every thing the second time and commenced a new 
 home on the Ohio. 
 
 Fourth, tJu'ir (idopflon of eilihucy. In 1807 a powerful re- 
 vival of earnestness pervaded the Community ; and they were 
 led to make a fuller consecration of themselves to the Lord's 
 service than they had done beft)re. The younger members 
 
THE JIARMOAlsrs. v.: 
 
 took tlie lead in renouncing maiiiage, being told by tlieii' 
 leader and by the apostle Paid that " He that is unmarried 
 oareth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may 
 please the Lord; but he that is married careth for the things 
 of the world, how he may jalease his wife." Since that date 
 cehbacy has been the rule among the Harmonists ; and such 
 earnestness and unanimity were there on the subject that it 
 was not found necessaiy to separate the sexes, nor separate 
 the parents from their children ; and to this day the men and 
 women live together in the same house, relying upon their re- 
 ligious restraints alone to keep them from falling into "tempta^ 
 tion and a snare. " 
 
 Fifth, their (//.s'(/.s7; iif tiilidcra. At the same time that they 
 adopted celibacy they ag'reed to entirely dispense with the use 
 of tobacco. The "vile weed" was thrown out of the Zoar and 
 Oneida Communities by a similar agreement of the membeis. 
 In overcoming such habits as the using of tobacco a Commu- 
 nity unquestionably possesses great advantages. It is easier 
 in such an organization than m common society to create an 
 enthusiasm for some specific reform which shall become 
 general and carry all before it. 
 
 Sixth, thi^ir (jrK(d stci'tisidii. This took place in 1832. The 
 previous year Bernhard Miiller, who called himself Count de 
 Leon, bad joined the Commiuiity with forty disciples, persuad- 
 ing the Harmonists that his views were substantially the same 
 as theirs. But he soon showed himself a veritable parasite ; 
 disseminating his own opinions with such shrewdness that 
 within a few months he had a third of the members on his 
 side, and an actual division of the Community took jjlace — two 
 hundred and fifty withdrawing, and taking with them $105,000 
 of property. They settled at Phillipsburg, not far from Econo- 
 my ; but it was not long before they had wasted their means 
 and broken up theii' organization. The account published by 
 
14 A3IER1CAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Rev. Aaron Williams, D. D., of this secession, shows that 
 Father Rapp exercised little catition in receiving the bogus- 
 Coimt and rehgious impostor. A single letter filled with flat- 
 tering words of praise of Raj^j) and his Community, and exalting 
 the claims of his own mission as the " Ambassador and Anointed 
 of Grod, of the Stem of Judah, of the Root of David," so won the 
 confidence of the founder of Harmony that Leon was received 
 with royal honors uj^on his arrival. Tarrying at Pittsburgh he 
 sent forward two of his disciples to herald his approach. A 
 public reception was arranged for him. "The minds of the 
 people having lieen prepared by Rapp's preaching for the 
 advent of such a personage, it was a time of great expectation 
 with the simple-minded Harmonists. As soon as the coach ap- 
 proached the town it was greeted with a salute of the finest 
 music from the band stationed on the tower of the church. 
 The Count was met at the hotel and escorted to the church, 
 where the whole Community were assembled a-waiting his 
 arrival. He enters in state, attended by his Minister of 
 Justice, in fiiU military garb and sword at his side. He is 
 shown into the pulpit by Mr. Rapp, and all eyes are fixed up- 
 on him and all ears are open. He expresses the belief that 
 this 'meeting is the most important since the ei-eation. and 
 that henceforth all the troubles and sorrows of the Lord's 
 people will cease.'" But Rapp was not long in discovering 
 the true character of Leon. Conferences were held two or 
 thi-ee evenings a week for a month or more between the lead- 
 ing men on both sides. Leon read from his ''golden liook " 
 and exjilained his views ; but the more he explained the more 
 apparent it became that his principles and objects were antago- 
 nistic to those of Rapj) and his earnest disciples. Leon would 
 have lieen obliged to leave immediately vdih his followers but 
 for the inclemency of the season. Permitted to remain 
 through the winter, he employed the time so industrionsly in 
 
THE HARMONISTS. 15 
 
 furthering his own interests that, ere sirring- time came, it was 
 difficult to cietermine who adhered to Rapp and the old order 
 of things, and who were in favor of Leon and his new meas- 
 ures. The heads were finally counted, and five hundred were 
 found for Father Eapjj, and two hundred and fifty for the 
 new claimant. The "tail of the serpent drew the third part of 
 the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth!" said 
 Kapp when the result was reported to him. 
 
 Seventh, the i^oluntary destructi<in of their property rec- 
 ord. Under their original constitution it was agreed that in 
 ease any member should withdraw from the Community there 
 should be refunded to him whatever property he brought to 
 the Community, and a careful record of the same w^as kept; 
 but in 1818 Father Rapp, who was one of the principal con- 
 tributors to the Community fund, j^roposed, '-for the purpose 
 of promoting greater harmony and equality between the origi- 
 nal members and those who had come in recently," that this 
 property record should be destroyed ; and it was accordingly 
 committed to the flames with the luianimous consent of the 
 Community. Thus was the bridge brrrned behind them. And 
 who does not see how wise a thing it was, for those who would 
 abolish all fictitious distinctions between man and man, and 
 remove all temptation to return to the old world of sin and 
 selfishness % Eighteen years later, in 1836, a radical change was 
 made in their constitution, so that thereafter the property 
 brought in by new members became absolutely the property 
 of the Community, and no seceder could claim any thing " as 
 a matter of right." But though all claims on the joart of se- 
 ceders are cut off by the new constitution, the Society is not 
 prevented from dealing generoiisly with those who leave ; and 
 I understand it is customary to make donations to them 
 varying in amount according to time and value of service. A 
 young man who had recently seceded, whom I met at Zoar, 
 
Hi AMEIUCAN VOMMUNITIES. 
 
 told me he received a thousand dollars when he left Economy; 
 "but this was undoubtedly an exceptionally large donation. 
 
 In defending the rights of Communities as against seced- 
 «rs the Hai-monists have done a great work for the general 
 ■cause of Communism. As early as 1821 suit was brought 
 against the Society by one Eugene Miiller, who had been a 
 member, to recover wages for labor and services rendered. 
 The suit was rightfully decided against the complainant, on 
 the ground that in signing the articles of association he had 
 formally renounced all claim of wages. But the ill luck of 
 Miiller did not deter others from similar attempts to obtain 
 money, of whom the most notable were Jacob Schriber and 
 Joshua Nachtrieb. 
 
 Jacob Schriber wus the fourth son of Peter Schriber, who 
 with five sons and four daughters joined the Society in 1806, 
 all of whom, with the exception of Jacob, remained in the 
 Society during their lives ; but after the death of their father 
 (who had died intestate, having long before consecrated his 
 property to the Society), Jacob, " as one of the surviving 
 heirs, took out letteis of administration, and made a demand 
 upon the Society for an account of the jiroperty of his father 
 in their hands. Siiit was brought before Judge Bredin, of 
 the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver county, who decided 
 adversely to the claim. An appeal was taken to the Supreme 
 Couit of Pennsylvania, where the judgment of the lower court 
 was afiii-med, after an able opinion l)y Judge Gibson, which is 
 recorded in Watts' Reports, vol. 5, pp. 3G0— 4. The legal 
 princi2)les decided by this trial were, 1st, ' that an association 
 by which each surrendered his property into one common 
 stock, for the mutual benefit of all, during their joint lives, 
 with the right of survivorship, reserving to each the jjrivilege 
 t(.) secede at any time during his life, is not prohibited hy law 
 and that right of secession is not transmissiV)le to the per- 
 
THE HARMONISTS. 17 
 
 sonal representative of a party to such agreement, so as to 
 enable him to recover the property of his intestate, so put 
 into the common stock; 2d, that a member of a rehgious 
 society cannot avoid a contract with it on the basis of its 
 pecuhar faith, by setting up the supposed extravagance of its 
 doctrines as a proof that he veas entrapped.' " 
 
 The Nachtrieb case was still more important in its results, 
 it having been carried to the highest tribunal in the land. 
 This case was brought before the "Circuit Court of the United 
 States for the Western District of Pennsylvania, at the Novem- 
 ber term of 1849 ; and it was charged that the complainant, 
 having been a member of the Society, was unjustly excluded 
 and deprived of any participation in the property and benefits 
 of the association ; and he prayed for an account of the property 
 and effects at the time of his exclusion, and that his share be 
 awarded him by decree of the court." This case lasted seven 
 years. The most eminent council were engaged on both sides, 
 the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Abraham Lincohi's Secretary of 
 "War, acting for the complainant. In the first trial the claim of 
 the complainant was sustained, and the "Trustees of the Har- 
 mony Society were ordered to render a full accoimt of the net 
 vahie of all the estate of the Society during the twenty-seven 
 years of the complainant's membership, ia order that the court 
 might deteiTQine the amount due to him as his proper share 
 of the whole. This led to a protracted and tedious investiga- 
 tion before Commissioner Henry Sproul, in which the pecuniary 
 affairs of the Society, from the very beginning, were minutely 
 and inquisitoriaUy examimed into, and all their books and 
 accounts, their methods of transacting business, the value of 
 their lands and all other possessions, were brought under 
 review. The final result was the issuing of a decree in 1855 
 by Judge Grier, awarding to the complainant the sum of three 
 thousand eight hundred and ninety dollars, as his rightful 
 
 2 
 
as AMERICAN COMMUN [TIES. 
 
 share in the estate of the Society. The ojjeration, however, ot 
 this decree was suspended by an appeal which was taken by 
 the Society to the Supreme Court of the United States. At 
 the December term of 1856 the case was finally adjudicated by^ 
 a reversal of the decree of the lower court, Justice Campbell 
 jironouncing the judgment of this high tribunal in an ably 
 written opinion." Nachtriebhad signed a paper declaring, "I 
 have this day withdrawn myself from the Harmony Society,, 
 and ceased to be a member thereof," and acknowledged "the 
 receipt of two hundred dollars as a donation according to con- 
 tract," which was regarded by the Supreme Court as conclu- 
 sive evidence against his alleged expulsion, and as a bar to all 
 claims. 
 
 The Rev. Aaron Williams, after describing these vexatious, 
 lawsuits, in which " all the private and domestic concerns of the 
 Society were juried into, all their branches of business and the 
 profits of each, all their religious and social usages, every- 
 thing, indeed, which was nobody's business ):)ut their own, was 
 impertinently, needlessly and inijuisitorially di'agged into pub 
 lie view, ' says : "The result of the whole, however, was to the 
 Ijenefit and credit of the Society. They became better known 
 and understc lod ; the extravagant estimates of their supposed 
 wealth no longer awakened jealousy ; and especially, the unim- 
 jieachable integrity with which their financial affairs had been 
 managed by the leaders, even though never called to account 
 by the S(jciety, was a refreshing exhibition of honesty in the 
 use of funds which is but too rarely fomid." 
 
 Another suit, broiight by Elijah Lemmix in l.S.5'2, after a 
 protracted trial of three years, had the same result. 
 
 The Harmonists are very religious, making the salvation', 
 (if their souls tlie one supreme object of their lives. They are 
 thorough lielievers in the Bil)le, and regard the Second C\)m- 
 ing of Chiist as near at hand. Rapp exijected himself to Ywq 
 
TJIE IIARMO.MSTS. 11> 
 
 to witness that great event. It is not likely that they will 
 change their attitude on this subject. "We believe that God 
 has called ns and given us the truth, and we will wait on him. 
 till the end," they will rejjly to evei'y suggestion of radical 
 change of theory or jJractic^e. They do not claim to be a dis- 
 tinct rehgious sect, and have no ecclesiastic organization sepa- 
 rate from their Community. They acknowledge no written 
 creed save the Bible. They believe firmly in the possibility 
 of an entire regeneration of heart through the grace and 
 mercy of Christ. They regard Community of goods as am 
 essential part of Chi'istianity. They believe Adam to have 
 been created in the exact image of God, a dual being. They 
 are millenarians, believing in the final restoration of this 
 earth to its pristine and paradisaic condition, and that, ac- 
 cording to Eev. 20: 4, 5, Christ and his saints are to live and 
 reign on the earth a thousand years. Their views in many 
 respects resemble those of Bohn, Bengel and Stilling. . 
 
 A great Hall is jjointed out not far from the chirrch, where- 
 in are held their three annual festivals — the Anniversary, the 
 Harvest Home, and the Lord's Supper. On these occasions 
 there are singing and speaking and feasting ; and before the 
 last there must be thorough reconcihation between all the 
 members. The Harmonists also observe ■\\-ith special interest 
 Christmas. Easter and other days. 
 
 In receiving members they requii'e, like the Shakers and 
 Perfectionists, a thorough opening and confession of the past 
 life of the applicants. 
 
 The young people, on reaching maturity are allo\\ed their 
 choice between Ijecoming full members of the Society ( provid- 
 ed of course they are of suitable character), or going outside, 
 or remaining and working for wages ; and more prefer the 
 latter alternative than the former, though required in such 
 case to conform to the customs of the Society even in respect 
 
20 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 to celibacy ; but tlie greater number take the second alterna^ 
 tive, choosing a hfe of complete independence with all its draw- 
 backs to the restraints of Communism. 
 
 In respect to the future of Economy, outsiders have much 
 more concern than the Harmonists themselves, who quietly 
 wait in trust for the coming of the Lord. 
 
 In the mean time they are showing their liberahty in many 
 ways. They who ask for bread are never turned away hungry 
 from their doors, and they have freely contributed of their 
 means toward benevolent and educational enterprises. Though 
 half a century has passed since they removed from their home 
 on the Wabash, they have recently expended several thousand 
 dollars in New Harmony, partly at least for the benefit of its 
 citizens. Purchasing the enormous ci-uciform structure, used 
 as a hall and assembly-room in the old days when their Com- 
 munity flourished there, they demolished the principal part of 
 it, and with the brick inclosed their old burial ground, twenty 
 rods square, with a wall four and a-half feet high and one foot 
 thick, adding a projecting coping and iron gates dependent 
 -on solid stone abutments seven feet in height. One wing of 
 the cross was allowed to stand, and constitutes nearly half of 
 the present Institute building (125 by 45 feet), containing a 
 large public library, Masonic Hall, and five large, well-fur- 
 nished school-rooms. The village made some contribution, 
 but for the present really fine building, of . which the citizens 
 of New Haimony feel justly proud, they must mainly thank the 
 Rappites. The latter intended it as a memorial building, and 
 from its facade stand out the words: "In memory of the 
 Harmony Society, founded by George Rapp, 1805." I was 
 told that one condition of the donation uisisted upon by the 
 Rappites through their agent, Mr. Lenz, was that the old 
 stone door which was designed and executed by Frederick 
 Rapp, the adopted son of George Rapp, should take its ijlace 
 
THE HABMONISrS. 21 
 
 unaltered in the remodeled building. His Highness, Bernhardt 
 Duke of Saxe- Weimar Eisenach, in his " Travels through 
 North America," thus speaks of it: "Over one of the entran- 
 ces of this i^roblematical ediiice stands the date of the year 
 1822, hewed m stone ; under it is a gilt rose, and under this is- 
 placed the inscription, Micah -4 : 8." This inscription has ref- 
 erence to Luther's version, which reads, " Unto thee shall 
 come the golden rose, the first dominion," etc., and is also 
 commemorative of a vision or dream of Father Rapp. 
 
 It is remembered to the credit of the Hannonists that dur- 
 ing the war of the rebellion they contributed liberally "for the 
 equipment of volunteers, for special bounties, for the support 
 of the families of absent soldiers, and for the Christian, Sani- 
 tary and Subsistence Conunissions, for the fortification of 
 Pittsbui'gh, for the relief of the freedmen, for the support of 
 soldiers' widows, and the education of their orphan children." 
 
 In this connection I may approiDriately introduce the fol- 
 lovidng stoiy to the credit of their founder. It is said that on 
 one occasion, when their necessities were great and their means 
 were small, Father Rapp went to Pittsburgh for supplies, and 
 was refused credit at the houses which had before trusted 
 him. His heart was weighed do\vn with sorrow ; he wan- 
 dered off to the river's bank, and sat down to weep and pray. 
 A merchant of the city found him there, thus engaged, and 
 inquired into his necessities. Being informed, he offered 
 Father Rapp two four-horse wagon-loads of provisions, telling 
 him also to borrow no trouble about the payment. The 
 thrifty Communists were blessed immediately with bountiful 
 crops, and soon paid the debt. But the story does not end 
 here. Years rolled by. The Harmonists prospered in all 
 their enterpiises ; and when a great financial hurricane swept 
 over the land they stood erect while many houses toppled 
 over. In the midst of the storm they learned by some me;;ns 
 
T> AMEUIGAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 that the mercliant who had so generously befriemlod them m 
 their day of trouble was now himself unable to meet his obli- 
 gations and threatened with financial ruin. Father Kapp 
 welcomed the opportunity it offered. Filling his saddle-bags 
 with sohd coin, he rode to Pittsburgh, found his old benefactor, 
 poured out his money before him, and told him he could have 
 as much more if it were needed ; and so the merchant was 
 saved ! 
 
 The Harmonists have achieved an important success. They 
 have maintained their principles in their integrity for three- 
 quarters of a century, and have steadily increased their prop- 
 erty until they are now milhonairee of an unknown degree. 
 They have failed in other important respects ; they have not 
 kept their numbers good in their single Community, and have 
 nttemjited no system of propagandism. It remains for the 
 Communists of the future to emulate all that is worthy in 
 their experiment, correct their mistakes, and nniltiply commu- 
 nal villages which- shall be as happy and prosperous as 
 Economy was in its halcyon days. 
 
THE SEPARATISTS OF ZOAll. 
 
 rpHE Zoar Comnamiists, like the Harmonists, whom they 
 JL in many resiDects resemble, came to this country from 
 old "Wiirtemberg, which, during the early part of the cen- 
 tury, appears to have been a veritable hot bed of religious 
 i'atlicalisms. 
 
 Both the followers of George RajDp and of Joseph Baume 
 ler were called Separatists, but the latter were Seijaratists in 
 a double sense, renoiuicing allegiance to both church and 
 state, considering that they together constituted the great 
 Babylon, which was to be "thrown down," as mentioned in 
 the Kevelation. They were, of course, persecuted and driven 
 ifrom place to place. One of their leaders, Johannes Goesele, 
 was imprisoned for nine years ; but his spirit remained un- 
 broken. It is Trelated that when, upon one occasion, he was 
 broirght before the Emperor Najjoleon liy the Duke of Wiir 
 temburg, at the former's request, he boldly warned the great 
 soldier of " the dread account he would have to render in the 
 great day for the multitude of souls he was hurrymg into 
 eternity by his bloody wars. Napoleon was offended, and de 
 sired that Goesele should be pxmished for his insolence ; but 
 as soon as he had departed the Duke summoned his prisoner 
 before him, and instead of punishing him said : ' Goesele, if 
 you had not talked to the Emjieror just as you talked to me I 
 would have taken off your head ; but now, since you treat us 
 both aUke, you may go home : ' and he was accordingly set at 
 liberty." 
 
 In 1803 George Rapp«led his followers into the forests of 
 
I'-t AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Pennsylvania, and founded, two years later, the Community at 
 Harmony. The followers of Baumeler and Goesele endured 
 the trials and horrors of iDersecution fourteen years longer ere 
 they followed the example of their brother Separatists and 
 fomided a settlement in the neighboring wilds of Ohio, on the 
 very ground visited by Rapp when seeking- a location for his 
 Community. But the Separatists who f oimded Zoar had at first 
 no idea of estabhshing a Community. Like the English Sepa- 
 ratists who settled at Plymouth, they left tlieir native land 
 that they might enjoy religious liberty for themselves and rear 
 their children in right ways. They landed in Philadelphia in 
 the month of August, 1817, and four months afterward Bau- 
 meler and a few others, sent out by the company to take pos- 
 session of a tract they had f)urchased in the wilderness of 
 Ohio, built the first log-cabin where now stands the village 
 of Zoar. But thoiigh the rich had shared their means with 
 the poor in paying the expenses of the ocean journey, it was 
 expected that after they had reached their final home each 
 family would shift for itself. This plan, it soon became evi- 
 dent to the leaders, would not work. Some 'were unable to 
 pay for their share of the land : others unable, from age or 
 sickness, even to support themselves ; and the consequent fail 
 ure of their enterprise would result, they foresaw, unless they 
 adopted Communism of property. This step was accordingly 
 taken in 1819 ; and from that time they have prospered, until, 
 with their 7,200 acres of land paid for, and their saw-mill, 
 two large flouring-mills, machine-shops and foiuidry, woolen- 
 factory, store, tavern, Iowa farm, etc., they are accounted rich 
 — worth in jDoxuilar estimation a million dollars — worth, ac- 
 cording to their own more careful valuation, $731,000. 
 
 Immense fields of corn, wheat, oats, and other crops are 
 seen on their home-farm. They own a thousand sheejo. Their 
 herdsman took me over a two-hundred acre pasture to look 
 
THE SEPARATISTS OF ZOAR. 'ir, 
 
 at their eighty-five cows. I counted forty-seven calves in one 
 lot; another contained thirty. A new cattle-barn was built 
 two years ago, costing $7,000. It is 50 ft. by 210, and con- 
 tains 104 stalls. The lower story is occupied for stabling and 
 feeding. An asphaltum walk seven feet wide extends the 
 entire length of the stables, and the fifteen feet separating 
 the two rows of mangers is also covered with asphaltum. 
 The cows, as they were di-iven up at night, made their way 
 intelligently to theii' several stalls, where a " liuich " and the 
 milkmaids awaited them. 
 
 Zoar, one has said, " is a little city hidden in an upple- 
 orchard," and fruit-trees are certainly a conspicuous and jjleas- 
 ing feature of this Commiuiistic settlement, as they are of 
 nearly every other one I have visited ; and so are the gardens. 
 The German Communities are especially favored in this re- 
 Rl^ect. Here at Zoar there is a large public or Community 
 garden, much freqiiented, especially by visitors. At the 
 center is a small circle surrounded by a thrifty, well kept 
 cedar hedge ; from wliich radiate twelve triangular beds, in 
 which one may notice the familiar petiinias, balsams, verbenas, 
 amaranths, dahlias, geraniiuns, etc. Indeed, the several acres 
 included in the garden are mainly occiipied with flowers. 
 There are, however, a few vines and fruit-trees, and on one 
 side a green-house of moderate dimensions. 
 
 Aside from this common pleasure-ground, however, one 
 finds few evidences of a love of the beautiful in Zoar. The 
 buildings are mostly common in style and material, and in- 
 clude many of the log-huts and other structures of the early 
 settlers. The house btlilt for their leader, Joseph Baiune- 
 ler, shordd, however, be noted as an exception. It is large, 
 made of brick, has piazzas, balcony and cupola, and looks 
 aristocratic among its plebeian neighbors ; but it must not be 
 assumed from this that the leaders of Zoar are themselves. 
 
I'C AMEnWAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 aristocratic, for Banmeler, I imderstand, was averse to Ining 
 in the fine brick house, and Acljermami, the present leader, is 
 unostentatious in all his habits, and occupies a modest 
 dwelling. A common and attractive feature of many of 
 the houses is a large piazza or double piazza, suggestive of 
 hospitality and happy evening groups. 
 
 In criticising the appearance of Zoar, it should be taken 
 into account that the people were, with few exceptions, from 
 the common classes of Germany, and that they were at first 
 very poor — scarcely able to erect even log-cabins — so poor in 
 fact that they were compelled to put their means into a com- 
 mon fund, as we have described, to avoid the calamity of a 
 general separation. 
 
 The peoi^le of Zoar are exceedingly frank in answering all 
 questions relating to their Community life and history ; and I 
 can not perhajjs do better than to introduce here a conversa- 
 tion between myself and a member who was for twenty-six 
 years their school-teacher, and to whom I was referred for 
 information by Mr. Ackermann : 
 
 '■ When did your Commiuiity reach its highest nieml)er- 
 ship?" 
 
 "In 1(S32. when many persons came to us from Germany, 
 including some who refused to emigrate in 1817." 
 
 " What was the number of members at that time]? " 
 
 "I think it never (juite reached five Inmdred." 
 
 ■■ What is the jDresent number? " 
 
 " Two hundred and fifty-four." 
 ' " How divided in resi^ect to age, sex and membership ? " 
 
 " There are fifty-five adult males, seventy-one adult females, 
 and one hundred and twenty-eight children and youth under 
 twenty-one. Of the one hundred and twenty-six adults, 
 seventy-two belong to the second class, and fifty -four to the 
 first class." 
 
THE SEPARATISTS Ob' ZOAl!. -'7 
 
 "How are these two classes distingiiislied from each 
 •other?" 
 
 " The tiist class includes the larobationary members and 
 the children, and all who have not signed the Covenant. After 
 the children become of age they can not be received into the 
 second class except on sjjecial application, and then cinly after 
 a year's delay." 
 
 " What are the special piivileges of the seccjnd or higher 
 class ? " 
 
 " The t-wo classes fare alike in all respects, excejoting that 
 only the members of the second class can vote and hold 
 office." 
 
 " How does it hai323en that so many adults still remain in 
 the tirst class "? " 
 
 '• Some are perfectly satisfied with their jsresent position 
 and don't care to enter the higher class. This may in a few- 
 cases be owing to the fact, that so long as a isei'soii remains 
 in the first class he can withdraw any money he put into the 
 common fund on joining the Community, and use it as he 
 likes ; but on joining the sec(jnd class there is an entire sur- 
 render of all property rights. " 
 
 '• In case a member of the second class secedes, is any jjart 
 of the money he jDut in refunded "'. " 
 
 ■■ No projaert}' is refiuided ; his bringing in much or little 
 would not be regarded ; but if he made application for some- 
 thing, it would be considered how he had conclucted and how 
 vahiable his services had been, and a gift made accordingly." 
 
 " What is the position of women in your Community "! 
 Can they vote and hold office 1 " 
 
 " Our women, married and single, on joining the second 
 <!lass become full members, and have the right to vote as well 
 as the male members. Our Constitution says nothing against 
 their holding office, and in my opinion they could, should they 
 
28 AMERICAN OOMMUNITIEt^. 
 
 be elected to an official position. They generally exerciHc tneir 
 right to vote." 
 
 " What industries do they pursue other than household ? " 
 
 "Besides milking, they spade, plant and work in the 
 gardens, which you observe are connected with the houses,, 
 raising the vegetables required for family use and gratifying 
 their taste for flowers. Those who do not work in the gar 
 dens, and are sufficiently healthy and strong, help a httle in 
 hay -making, and in harvest time rake up sheaves for the 
 binders. In the fall they help prepare the flax which they 
 spin m the winter-time. Some, who do not spin, knit stock- 
 ings, socks, mittens and gloves, of which we sell large quan- 
 tities in our store." 
 
 "How much hired help have you? ' 
 
 "Including the families of those who work for us there are 
 in all one hundred and seventy-one persons who subsist upon 
 the wages paid by the Community." 
 
 " What is the effect upon the Commiuiity itself of employ- 
 ing so many hirelings ? " 
 
 "Very injurious. They tempt our young people into bad 
 habits. We commenced hiring about 1834, after the cholera 
 had swept off about one-third of oixr old members." 
 
 "How many hours do the men work*? " 
 
 "The able-bodied generally labor from siturise to sunset." 
 
 "What regulations have you respecting the distribution of 
 groceries, provisions, etc.?" 
 
 "Bread is distributed without limit. Meat (only beef),, 
 coffee, sugar, butter, etc., is distributed equally — *'. c, to each 
 family according to its number of persons ; bvTt we are not very 
 strict in this. If a family is visited by outside friends it. 
 generally gets what it asks for. We have never eaten pork. 
 Each family raises as much poultry as it chooses. If a family 
 
THE SEPARATISTS OF ZOAR. L'H 
 
 has more eggs than it wants it takes them to the storehouse, 
 where they are distributed to those who have none or not 
 enough." 
 
 "Did Ackermann, your present leader, directly succeed 
 Baumeler, yovir first leader?" 
 
 " No. Baumeler died Aug. 27, 1853. As his successor we 
 unanimously appointed Jacob Sylvan — a good writer, but no 
 speaker. Chi-istian Weebel read his discou.rses for him. 
 After Sylvan's death, Oct. 13, 1862, Weebel took the spiritual 
 lead ; but the majority of the members were not fully satisfied, 
 and in 1871 Ackermann was appointed, he being the oldest 
 Trastee and having labored hard for the Society. We desired 
 to honor him." 
 
 ''"WTiat is the government of the Community? " 
 
 "There are three Trustees who regulate the work and all 
 ihe business affairs of the Commiuiity — appointing such sub- 
 ordinates as they deem best ; but they are responsible to a 
 Standing Committee of Five, whom they are to consvdt on all 
 important matters, and to whom they make monthly reports. 
 This Standing Committee is the central power of the Commu- 
 nity. To it any one can appeal from the decisions of 
 the Trustees." 
 
 "What is Ackermann's relation to the Trustees and Stand- 
 ing Committee ? " 
 
 " Ackermann is one of the Trustees, but has no more power 
 than the other two, and is responsible to the Standing Com- 
 mittee. He is regarded as a leader by the members in honor, 
 as already mentioned." 
 
 " You referred to your Constitution : What are its principal 
 provisions °? " 
 
 "It provides that all officers shall )je voted for by all 
 the full members. It provides also that there shall be an 
 annual election of one Trirstee and one member of the Standing- 
 Committee ; that a Cashier shall be chosen every four yeais ; 
 
30 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 and that the time of each election shall be publiKlied twenty 
 
 days before it takes place." 
 
 "Do you still receive new members? " 
 
 "We have accepted new members up to the present time, 
 and I think will keep on doing so ; but our doors are only 
 open to applicants of good character." 
 
 " What are your terms of admission f " 
 
 " We generally pay wages for a year or more to applicants, 
 so that they may have time and opportunity to get acquainted 
 with ue and we with them. If the acquaintance proves mutu- 
 ally satisfactory, and they again apply for admission to the 
 Commiuiity, they are admitted as probationary members and 
 sign the Articles for the First Class. If during the next year 
 they commend themselves they may make application for ad- 
 mission to the second class, and if there is no good ground of 
 rejection will be admitted ; when they give up their property 
 forever. Rich j^eo^ile seldom apjily for membership, and we 
 are glad of it. We would rather take poor people, half naked 
 though they may be, i^rovided they have the right character." 
 
 "Your Commiuiity numbers only about half as many as it 
 did forty-five years ago. You must have had numei'ons seces- 
 sions. Have many of the older members left ? " 
 
 " Only two parties of the older members that I recall. The 
 first party left soon after the Society was established, and con- 
 sisted of six men, all of whom save one were married, but their 
 wives remained with us. In 1841 a grand scheme was jilanned 
 for the division of the whole jirojierty. Manj' were at first in 
 favor of it, and seven adhered to the plan, and sued for a 
 di-^dsioii. They entirely failed in this. With a single excep- 
 ti(5n they were worthless nieiiil)ers. Most of them afterwards 
 repented of their course. One was received back again, and 
 allowed to work for wages. To two others the Community 
 paid a pension of $8.00 a iiionth in their old age and destitu- 
 
THE SEPARATISTS OF ZOAIt. ::i 
 
 tiou. New members frequently leave, and many of tlie yomit;- 
 folks leave as they become of age." 
 
 "I have understood that each family attends to all its 
 affaii-s, its cooking, washing, etc., separately." 
 
 " That is the case now ; but years ago it was not so. All 
 the persons and families in one house did their work together. 
 The present method leads to separation rather than Com- 
 munism." 
 
 " Have you any very aged jjeojile ? " 
 
 '' Our oldest member is ninety-five years and four months 
 old. He is a native of New Hampshire. He lived with the 
 Shakers from l.s3(t to iSil, since then with us. Our oldest 
 woman is now ninety-three. Both of these persons still work 
 a httle voluntarily, and both are unmarried. Another un- 
 married w(jman here is eighty-seven. A male member died 
 last year aged ninety j^ears and two months. Many of our 
 members have reached from seA'enty-five to eighty years. Our 
 factory foreman is past eighty-six." 
 
 ■■What jjeculiar ceremonies have j'ou '. " 
 ■■None at all." 
 
 "How do you regard the Bible ? " 
 
 '■ We believe in both the Old and Xe«- Testament, and in 
 Chi-ist as the Sa-vior of the world." 
 
 ■■ AMiat great objects have you as a Community? " 
 "Our oljject is to get into heaven, and help others to get 
 there." 
 
 "Do you expect your sj'stem will sometiiiic be generally 
 accef)ted ? ' 
 
 "I formerly believed it would spread all over the world. I 
 thought every body would come into Commimistic relations. 
 I beheve so still, but I don't know how far our particular sys- 
 tem will prevail. In heaven there is only Commrmism ; and 
 "why should it not be our aim to prepare ourselves in this. 
 
32 AMEBIVAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 world for the society we are sure to enter there '? If we can 
 get rid of our willfulness and selfishness here, there is so much 
 done for heaven." 
 
 "That is a good point certainly; but haven't you confi- 
 dence in the perpetuity of your Community ? " 
 
 " I will not undertake to decide the question of its perpe- 
 tuity. If God wishes to have it continued he will see that it 
 is done." 
 
 "Joseph Baumeler was a remarkable man, I judge." 
 "Yes; when he was oiu- leader we knew every thing would 
 come out right. He had the superintendence of our busmess, 
 and he was at the same time our preacher, and cared for the 
 spiritual interests of the Community. He was also our phj'si- 
 cian. He was, indeed, a remarkable man." 
 "What rules of discipline have you?" 
 
 "We appeal to the conscience. What else can we do? 
 We can't piuiish anybody. Formerly, if a member disobeyed 
 the regulations of the Society he was not allowed to attend 
 the meetings, and that was punishment enough." 
 
 "I have read that for several years the members did not 
 marry." 
 
 "That is true, but it never was intended that celibacy 
 should be a permanent principle of the Community. The 
 change from celibacy to marriage was made more than forty 
 years ago, and a principal argument in favor of the change 
 was that we might raise our own members. We siipposed 
 that children bom in the Society would become natural 
 Communists." 
 
 For fifteen years after the Zoarites began to marry it was 
 a rule that their children should be taken care of by the 
 Society from the time they were three years old, and they 
 were for this purpose jolaced under superintendents appointed 
 by the Community. " It was better so," said Aekermann, and 
 
THE SEPARATISTS OF ZOAR. 33 
 
 80 said others. The abrogation of this rule was evidently a 
 backward step in the direction of famihsm. 
 
 A school is maintained at Zoar both summer and winter, 
 one of the teachers being hired from the outside world. 
 Music is cultivated. They have pianos in their houses, a 
 small organ in theii- chm-ch, and a band. They have also a 
 hymn-book of their own production. 
 
 I have spoken of the Zoarites as in some respects resem- 
 bling the Harmonists ; in other respects they resemble the 
 Quakers, by whom they were aided to emigrate to the United 
 States and to purchase on favorable terms their present do- 
 main. There is at Zoar the same aversion to ceremony that 
 one finds among the Quakers, the same freedom from secta- 
 rianism, the same simplicity of address toward friends and 
 strangers, calling each other by the first name if they choose 
 and saying " thou " to all, the same freedom to keep the head cov- 
 ered in the presence of dignitaries and in church, and the same 
 aversion to war ; for " a true Christian," said Baiuneler, " can- 
 not murder his enemy, much less his friend." As among the 
 Quakers, only the mutual consent of the contracting parties is 
 considered necessary to the validity of miiTiage. They, how- 
 ever, usually consult the leaders of the Society, and formerly 
 the parties signed their names to a paper drawn up for the 
 purpose of satisfying the outside world. At the present time 
 the members are generally married at the office of the Justice 
 of the Peace. They hold that sexual intercourse, except for 
 purposes of procreation, is a great sin and contrary to the 
 Divine command. 
 
 These Communists are strong believers in the Bible as the 
 inspired word of God, and strong Trinitarians — believing in 
 God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and in the Holy Gho.st. 
 Their explanation of the fall of Adam and of the original sin 
 is, that the jirimal man's imagination was thrown uiioii earthlj' 
 3 
 
34 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 tilings ; in other words, he wanted a wife, and hence lost the. 
 image of God. Therefore Clirist had to come to restore again 
 what Adam lost, and he is for this cause the Savior of the 
 w<jrld. 
 
 The Separatists at first had a distinctive garb, but now 
 dress pretty much as people do around them. 
 
 In the civil war they took no part as a Society except to 
 pay their share of the taxes required to secure volunteers ; 
 and they would have besn glad to have kept their young men 
 at home at any cost ; but fourteen of them were swept away 
 ■with the current, to be killed, or die in hospitals, to absent 
 themselves forever from the communal home, or to retiu'n 
 liegging for re-admission. 
 
 The Zoar Communists liave had almost as much trouble 
 with seceders as the Harmonists, and like them will be grate- 
 fully remembered in the far future for their efforts in setthng 
 by resort to the higliest tribunals, regardless of exjjense, some 
 important princij^les. Their Covenant reads : 
 
 " We, the subscriljei's, members of the Society of Sej^ara- 
 tists of the Second Class, declare hereby that we give all our 
 pfoi^erty, of every kind, not only what we possess, but what 
 we may hereafter come into possession of by inheritance, 
 gift, or otherwise, real or personal, and all rights, titles, and 
 expectations whatever, both for ourselves and our heirs, to 
 the said Society forever, to Ise and remain, not only during- 
 our lives, but after our deaths, the exclusive property of the 
 Society. Also we promise and bind ourselves to obey all the 
 commands and orders of the Trustees and their subordinates, 
 with the utmost zeal and diligence, without opposition or 
 
THE SEPARATISTS OF ZOAR. 3.1 
 
 same rights and powers over them as though they had been 
 formally inientnred to them nnder the laws of the State." 
 
 This Covenant has been the basis of two important legal de- 
 cisions which Cormnnnists should generally imderstand. One 
 of them was rendered by the Supreme Coi^rt of the United 
 States, and settled definitely and fiUly, flmt ft member on acced- 
 ing from a (Jomtnujiiti/ bound together by such <i Covenant 
 cannot enforce a dirhion and distribution of its ^iroperty ; 
 and also that a mcr/dnr of a Conmntnity ivith sucli a. t'oveiiont 
 has »o interest in the common pro'iterty which On his death 
 descends to his heirs at latr. The other decision, made in a 
 ease that was not carried beyond the State courts, settled an- 
 other point of \-ital interest to Communities. It was held that 
 neither a member who subscribed to the above Covenant nor 
 his heir at law is entitled, in recpiital for services rendered, 
 to a divisible share in the property acquired by the Commu- 
 nity while he was a member, because "as between the seceder 
 and remaining members he had already received all that his 
 contract entitled him to demand." 
 
 Baumeler is generally regarded, as the first leader of the 
 Zoar Separatists; but Barbara Griibermann, I was told, pre- 
 ceded him in the leadershij^. She was a native of Sfl'itzerland, 
 and was driven into Germany by a terrible persecution. There, 
 in the province of old Wiirtemberg, she was received by a few 
 people as one divinely commissioned ; but died before her dis 
 ciples emigrated to America; and Joseph Baumeler was then 
 chosen as their principal leader. Barbara, had she lived in 
 our day, might have been called a "trance medium." She oc- 
 casionally passed from the realms of consciousness, and upon 
 her return reported what she had seen and heard. These 
 utterances were not written down, as in the case of the "In- 
 spired Instruments" of the Eben-Ezer Society or "True Inspi- 
 ration Congregations." Some of hei' hymns are however 
 
36 AMERlCAlSr COMMUNITIEti. 
 
 preserved, and I heard them sung in the church at Zoar. 
 
 The present leader, Jacob Ackermann, would be taken by a 
 stranger as one of the conunon members. There is nothing in 
 his appearance betokening superiority or any special abihty ; 
 and yet he is greatly respected by all, and exercises a control- 
 ling influence in the Society. Although seventy-four years of 
 age he still has the chief superintendence of both the lower 
 and higher interests of the Community, and does more labor 
 with his hands besides than many a younger man. In conver- 
 sation with him you are impressed with his simplicity and 
 sincerity. You feel that here is a man who can be safely 
 trusted. He vrins your full confidence at once. This, I take 
 it, is the secret of his power as a leader. Then, too, he im- 
 presses you as a sympathetic, kind-hearted man — one who 
 would willingly share your burdens. 
 
 This man is so sincere that he frankly admits that he is a 
 little discouraged about the future of Zoar — discouraged be- 
 cause the yoimger generation do not come under the same 
 earnestness that controlled the original members. They fall 
 into the fashions and ways of the world, and will not brook 
 the restraints that religious Communism requires. The un- 
 favorable condition of Zoar in this respect may well excite 
 reflection. Evidently it is not enough that a Community had 
 a religious afflatus and intelligent, earnest men at its begin- 
 ning. It must find means to keep that afflatus alive and 
 strong, and to replace its founders, as occasion requires, with 
 men of equal iutelligence and earnestness ; and to this end 
 ordinances become of great value. The Shakers have almost 
 
THE SEPARATISTS OF ZOAR. 37 
 
 The ordinances of the Zoar Community are few and weak. 
 They have nothing answering to mutual criticism, and no 
 meetings except on Sunday, and these are not generally at- 
 tended, and are not of a kind to elicit special interest or enthu- 
 siasm. I was present at one of them. Not more than one- 
 third of the members were there. The women sat on one side, 
 the men on the other, both facing the desk, from which Jacob 
 Ackermann read one of the discourses of Baumeler. The 
 reading was preceded and followed by the singing of a hymn, 
 with the accompaniment of a small organ. No one except 
 Ackermann said a word ; and he confined himself entirely to 
 reading. There is no meeting, I was informed, in which all 
 take part — where all hearts flow together in unity and devo- 
 tion. Is it any wonder that the young people stay away, and 
 that they lose their attraction for Community life ? A Com- 
 munity should be an enlarged home, differing from the small 
 home only in its increased attractions and its greater facilities 
 for improving character. 
 
 Zoar, it must be boine in mind, is not a complete Com- 
 munity. Like Bethel and Aurora, it is a combination of 
 familism and Communism. The property is held in com- 
 mon ; their agricultural and commercial businesses are carried 
 on in common ; they have a common church and school- 
 house, and some common customs and principles : but 
 each family has its separate household arrangements, and in 
 many resi^ects the place resembles more an ordinary country 
 village than a well-organized Community. Their hotel is 
 thronged after work hours with hirelings and Communists ; 
 and as the former drink and smoke and use rough language, 
 it would be strange indeed if some of the Communists did not 
 fall into the like bad habits. Experience shows that a Com- 
 munity thrives best when some check is placed upon the in- 
 tercourse of its members with ordinary society. 
 
3,s AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 In reviewing my observations at Zoar I am forced to admit 
 that I saw there few signs of superior culture, and that many 
 a village of the same size in our Northern States surpasses it 
 in enterprise and in facilities for educational development; 
 but when I asked, "What advantages do you enjoy, over 
 common society by reason of your Communism'?" I got 
 an answer that made me think their life might be richer and 
 nobler than appears from any consideration of externals : 
 "The advantages are many and great. All distinctions of 
 rich and poor are abolished. The members have no care ex- 
 cept for their own sjDiritual culture. Communism provides for 
 the sick, the weak, the unfortunate, all alike, which makes their 
 life comparatively easy and pleaeant. In case of great loss by 
 fire or flood or other cause, the burden which would be ruin- 
 ous to one is easily borne by the many. Charity and genuine 
 love one to another, which are the foundations of true Chris- 
 tianity, can be more readily cultivated and practiced in Commu- 
 nism than in common, isolated society. Finally, a Community 
 is the best place in which to get rid of selfishness, willfulness, 
 and bad habits and vices generally; for we are subject to the 
 constant surveillance and reproof of others, which, rightly 
 taken, will go fai' toward prej^aring ns for the large Com- 
 munity above." 
 
BETHEL COMJirXITY. 
 
 I MUST describe things as tliej' apjjeared to me, and say 
 that Bethel has an unthrifty look. There is a main street, 
 with a few side streets. Many of the old houses are of brick, 
 plastered on the outside, and are badly scarred here and there 
 where the mortar has fallen off in patches. There is scarcely 
 a pretense for a sidewalk in the place, though the soil is of 
 that adhesive clay which renders sidewalks so in disjjen sable to 
 comfort in walking. Grunting pigs forage everywhere at 
 will ; and a big wood-jiile, exposed to ail the storms, encum- 
 liers the street opposite every house. Call the attention of 
 the Commimists to these things, and they will, with the 
 utmost frankness, acknowledge that they are lar behind the 
 true standard and need many imijrovements ; Init they vsdll 
 add, that the present condition of things is mainly owing to 
 the fact that for a number of years they have been watching 
 for an opportunity to sell out their entire property here, that 
 they may remove to Oregon, whither their leader, Dr. Keil, 
 migrated twenty-two years ago to found the more prosperous 
 Community of Aurora. 
 
 Still Bethel has many poiii'^^s of interest, some of which I 
 will briefly mention : 
 
 First, Dr. Keil, so far away, commands apparently the full 
 confidence of the members. "It makes no difference," one 
 said to me, "in what way a man is troubled; if he takes the 
 Doctor's advice he will find relief ; " and I met no one who 
 had aught to say of him in the way of censure. 
 
 Second, the young people are generally contented and stay 
 
40 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 in the Community. "You could not whip them away," the 
 
 elder members said to me. 
 
 Third, the leaders are men of great simplicity. You would 
 not be surprised to find the President at work in the black- 
 smith-shop or grist-mill; and the older members will teU yon 
 how Dr. Keil used to labor in the harvest-field, with coat and 
 vest off, and sleeves rolled up. "Ah! he is a man," they ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 Fourth, the government is very simple. They have a 
 President and several Trustees, who manage every thing, and 
 strive to work in harmony with the general wishes of the 
 Society. 
 
 Fifth, they have few distinctive principles ; but those they do 
 possess are certainly of the sterling sort. They make little 
 account of formalities and ceremonies, and much account of a 
 practical Christian life. They mean to live, they first of all 
 say, as moral men ought to live, the elder members taking the 
 lead of the younger in good example, as the founder of the 
 Society has taken the lead of all. All strive to manifest their 
 love one toward another ; all willingly forgive injuries; all are 
 esteemed according to their real character and not according- 
 to appearais^ces ; riches and poverty are abolished ; the scrip- 
 tural injunction which requires first of all obedience to God 
 is respected by all. A man can be saved, they hold, only by 
 becoming a " new creature " in Christ Jesus ; and then if he 
 has lied he wiU lie no more ; if he has stolen he will steal no 
 more, and if possible will make double restitution ; and in 
 all things he will seek to do good rather than evil. A man's 
 whole diity, in short, is to do right and live unselfishly. 
 To my questions about their constitution and by-laws, they 
 replied, " The word of God is our constitution and by-laws." 
 
 Sixth, Commmiism and individualism are so blended that 
 one is at a loss to determine which predominates. Yoii 
 
BETHEL. -tl 
 
 pass along the streets, and notice the little houses and gar- 
 dens, and you say, "This looks like individualism." You go 
 into the shops and fields, and behold the men working together 
 in groups, and learn that no accounts are kept of their labor ; 
 and you say, " This is Commvmism." You step into the store, 
 and are told that the members pay for some things from the sur- 
 plus of their gardens and poultry-yards ; and you say again, 
 " This looks like individualism." But crossing the street you 
 enter the grist-mill, and see the members supplied without 
 charge with whatever is needed for their households ; and you 
 say, "Here again is Communism." 
 
 Seventh, the Hne of demarkation between outsiders and 
 members is not always distinct. Persons own property 
 and carry on businesses at Bethel who have no interest in 
 the Community. A small shop or store in the heart of 
 the village is thus owned and managed by an outsider. The 
 explanation of this singular state of things is found in the fact 
 that about thirty years ago, only a few years after the founding 
 of the Community, a partition of the property was made among 
 the members, and a few availed themselves of the opportunity to 
 withdraw their share from the common interest, and have 
 since managed it wholly for themselves. 
 
 Eighth, many evidences greet you at Bethel of an 
 earnest appreciation of communal life, in spite of its many 
 unfavorable conditions. Here are a people who have fewer 
 luxuries, fewer social and educational privileges, judging 
 from external ajjpearances, than the peojjle of many common 
 villages ; and yet their testimony would be that of the old 
 Brook-Farmers : "The life which we now lead, though to a su- 
 perficial observer surroimded with so many imperfections and 
 embarrassments, is far superior to what we were ever able to 
 attain ui common society. There is a freedom from the 
 frivolities of fashion, from arbitrary restrictions, and from the 
 
4l' AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 frenzy of competition; we meet om- fellow-men in more sin- 
 cere, hearty and genial relations ; kindred spirits are not 
 ^separated by artificial, conventional barriers ; the soul is 
 wanned in the sunshine of a true social equality ; there is a 
 greater varietj' of employments, a more constant demand for 
 the exertion of all the faculties, and a more exquisite joleasure 
 in effort, from the consciousness that we are laboring, not for 
 personal ends, but for a holy i^rincijjle; and even the external 
 sacrifices which the pioneers in every enterprise are obliged 
 to make are not without a certain romantic charm, which 
 effectually jDrevents us from envying the luxuries of Egypt, 
 though we should be blessed with neither the manna nor the 
 quails which once cheered a table in the desert. So that for 
 ourselves we have gi-eat reason to be content. We are con- 
 scious of happiness which we never Imew until we embarked 
 in this career. A new strength is given to our arms, a new 
 fire enkindles our souls." 
 
 Signs of comfort an 1 substantial jirosperity are by uo 
 means wanting at Bethel. Every house has its garden where 
 the supply of vegetables for the family is raised, and where 
 a few flowers gladden the eye. Every family has its pigs and 
 poultry, and one or more cows. It was a pleasant sight to 
 witness the incoming drove of eighty cows late in the after- 
 noon, and see them separate to their several homes for milkuig. 
 A large new brick grist-mill, standing at the lower end of the 
 village, supplies the members with flour and meal; do- 
 ing also much grinding for outsiders. The Community 
 store furnishes them with clothing, sugar, coffee and other 
 articles. From the tower of their substantial brick church a 
 :splendid dom;iin is seen, of meadow, cultivated field and 
 woodland. Some four thousand acres they have in a solid 
 body, besi(.eK a thousand or more acres at Nineveh in an ad- 
 joining county, where half a dozen families live and puisue, in 
 
BETHEL. 4.! 
 
 addition to farming, some mechanical industiies. SiDecial care 
 has been taken to save their growing timber, or rather not to 
 wantonly destroy it, as is too often done in newly settled 
 countries. Their land is undoubtedly fertile, and well adapted 
 to grass, ginin and timber. Their tables have an abundance of 
 well-cooked food. No fear of want goads them on, and they 
 take life easily. "With their simple, economical habits they 
 have no difficiilty in miildng a living even with their pres- 
 ent reduced numbers. 
 
 Agriculture is their main business, but taihiriiig. shoemak- 
 ing, blacksmithing, eaipentry, coopering, and I know not how 
 many other trades, have their I'espeetive sho^JS. Mechanics 
 and farmers command a premiiini at Bethel; learned men are 
 confessedly at a discount. The former they regard as "pillars 
 of strength;" of the latter "there is a suiierfliiity," they say. 
 They do not seek highly educated men, because they have "no 
 need of them;" but they aim to give all their children a good 
 educ;itiou in the common and necessary branches, and out- 
 sideis commend them as "well taught." They have no libra- 
 ries, but v:du;'-ble books may Ite found in every house, and they 
 siilisaibe readily to works that seem to them really useful. 
 
 They impressed me as benevolent and hmnane people, who 
 would not find it in their hearts to turn even a tramp from 
 their doors unfed. It is indeed a fundamental rule of their 
 lives that they "are bound to practice humanity, to assist one 
 another in time of need, and to worship God rather than 
 money." The President's home is also the home of the un- 
 married, the aged and the infirm. 
 
 Like most other American Communists, the Bethel people 
 are averse to war, and for this reason, during the great strug- 
 gle between the North and South," many of their young men 
 emigrated to the Oregon settlement. 
 
 Bithel at one time nu-nbered six hundred an 1 fifty mem- 
 
U AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 bers ; but so many have been drawn away to Oregon that it 
 has now only one hundred and seventy-five. 
 
 The two Communities of Bethel and Aurora are considered 
 as one, and are both under the presidency of Dr. Keil. His 
 deputy at Bethel is Jacob Miller, who is highly esteemed by 
 the members. 
 
 When a person secedes he can take with him what he ptit 
 into the common treasury ; and in case he contributed nothing 
 on joining the Community, a small sum of money is given him 
 on his withdrawal. 
 
 Monogamy obtains at Bethel ; and the only restriction on 
 marriage is that members cannot go outside of the Community 
 for their mates, except at the risk of expulsion. 
 
 Religious services are held in the church only every other 
 Sunday, and consist of congregational singing and prayer and 
 preaching by Mr. Miller, the deputy President. The sexes 
 enter at separate doors, and sit apart from each other. There 
 is a high pulpit at one end, and at the other a space is railed off 
 for the accommodation of the band on special occasions. The 
 Bethel band, by the way, is described as such an excellent one 
 that visitors come long distances to hear its music. 
 
 I cannot account for the fact that the Bethel Community 
 has existed so long and with so much unity and prosperity, in 
 spite of its loose organization and lack of clearly defined prin- 
 ciples, except on the supposition that its founder possesses 
 great personal magnetism and power over men. I know he is- 
 called by many a foolish fanatic, and is accused of things 
 which if true would deprive him of all confidence ; but it must 
 be considered, on the other hand, that nearly every sect began 
 its career with measures that were devised under the fervor of 
 new truth and which the skeptical pronounced fanatical. But 
 I imagine that in cases where there is actually fanaticism it is; 
 likely to soon disappear when confronted with the daily ex- 
 
BETHEL. +5 
 
 periences of communal life ; and certainly some remarks quoted 
 by Nordhoff show that Dr. Keil has at the present time 
 deep wisdom in the art of governing Communities. " In the 
 early days," says the Doctor, "we used sometimes to have 
 trouble. Thus a man would say, ' I brought money into the 
 Society, and this other man brought none ; why should he 
 have as miich as It' But my reply was, 'Here is your money 
 — take it ; it is not necessary ; but while you remain remember 
 that you are no better than he.' Again, another might say, 
 ^My labor brings one thousand dollars a year to the Society; 
 his only two hundred and fifty ; ' but my answer was, ' Thank 
 God that he made you so much abler, stronger, to help your 
 brother ; but take care lest your poorer brother do not some 
 day have to help you when you are crippled, or Ul, or 
 disabled.'" 
 
 Fanatical or not. Dr. Keil, the Prussian man-milluier, after 
 passing through the mysticism of Germany and the Metho- 
 dism of America, when scarcely thirty years of age began his 
 career as an independent religionist, and soon had a sufficient 
 following to commence the Bethel Community. His disciples 
 were all Germans and "Pennsylvania Dutch," and included 
 some who seceded from the Rappite Community under the 
 leadership of Count Leon, who, it will be remembered, founded 
 a short-lived colony at Phillipsburg, Penn. 
 
 The results at Bethel show what Communism has accom- 
 plished among simple, vmeducated people having the two 
 essential conditions of religious unity and a leader whom aU 
 respect ; but by no means what it can accomplish. It must 
 produce the best results in all departments of growth and 
 culture before it can make good its claim to stand at the head 
 of civilization. 
 
A VRORA (U)MMUXITY. 
 
 THIS Commimity, as already mentioned, had the same 
 founder as the Bethel Community of Missouri. I did 
 not visit Aurora; but I conversed at Bethel with those who 
 had lived there, and have since received descriptions of the 
 place from. trustworthy corresjDondents in Oregon. The Com- 
 munity is located in Marion County, Oregon, about thirty miles 
 from Portland. Although twelve years younger than Bethel, 
 Aurora is the larger and more prosperous Community, having a 
 membership of between three and four hundred persons, and 
 a domain of nearly eighteen thousand aci-es. Dr. Keil, the 
 President and founder, came here from Bethel in 1856, and it 
 has since had the advantage of his personal superintendence. 
 
 The general characteristics of Aurora and Bethel are 
 similar. They both resemble a common village in a newly 
 settled country, only the houses are larger. 5;A-t Aurora, as at 
 Bethel, the streets, which are laid out with little taste, have 
 an untidy look. The houses are constructed with an eye to 
 comfort only, and scarcely any pains is taken to keep the 
 walks and roads and fences in good order. StUl there are 
 signs of substantial comfort on- every hand. The houses are 
 surrounded with gardens, and each family has pigs and poultry 
 in abundance. As at Bethel there is a common supply-store 
 and a gristmill which furnishes flour to all. The people have 
 substantial food and clothing in abundiuu'e, but no ornamen- 
 tation or luxury is seen. 
 
 Like most Germans the people of Aurora use tobacco 
 
AURORA. 47 
 
 freely and drink beer, but ilinnkenness is exc-eediugly rare — 
 some say never occnrs. 
 
 They -n'ork regularly, but never hard. 
 
 They have a store, hotel and drug-store, and all the shops 
 usually foiuid in small villages, with a grist- and saw-mill, but 
 carry on no large manufactiuing enterjorise. 
 
 They have the finest orchards and vineyards in the State, 
 which yield good financial returns. 
 
 They have few accessions excejjt from the j^arent Society 
 at Bethel ; but their children generally remain in the Commu- 
 nity on growing up. 
 
 They employ a few hii-ehngs ; and persons who jJropose to 
 join them are at first psid wages, and received on probation, 
 that there may be opiwrtunity for mutual acquaintance. 
 There is no money condition in their terms of membership. 
 
 They attend church every alternate Siinda}'. Their relig- 
 ious serAdce resembles the Lutheran. 
 
 Their principles are few. Their creed is as simple as that 
 of the apostles. Fear God, and do right in all things ; that 
 is the formula into which they condense the whole duty of 
 hfe. 
 
 They have no written constitution and but few by-laws. 
 
 They are strict monogamists, each family having a separate 
 house, or separate accommodations in one of the larger 
 houses. 
 
 They have common schools, but give no attention to higher 
 culture. 
 
 The government is very simple. The President and his 
 few assistants, selected by himself, manage every thing. 
 
 They have few means of discip)line, and little need of them. 
 
 They do not make great account of amusements ; but they 
 have two excellent bands which go abroad as far as Portland 
 to play. 
 
4K AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Tliey keep out of debt. 
 
 The occupations of the members are generally determined 
 lay the leaders, respect being had to individual tastes and 
 •wishes. 
 
 The property is managed for the common interest, but 
 each family has a deed of a part. 
 
 The two Communities of Aurora and Bethel are one in 
 property and interest and principle; and for this reason a 
 fuller description of Aurora is unnecessary. 
 
 Imperfect as the Aurora Community is, and uncultured as 
 are its members, it can yet boast that "since the foundation 
 of the colony it has not had a crimiaal among its members ; 
 it has sent no man to jail ; it has not had a lawsuit, either 
 among its members or with outside people ; it has not an in- 
 sane person, nor one blind or deaf and dumb, nor has there 
 been any case of deformity." 
 
AJ/AXA COJIJllwiyv. 
 
 THE Amana Community of Inspirationists is the largest 
 and in some resiDects most prosiDerous of existing Com- 
 munities. Its sixteen hundred members Kve in seven villages 
 near the center of Iowa : Amana ; East, West, South and 
 iliddle Amana ; Amana near the Hill, and Homestead. The 
 last village is a station on the Chicago, Rock Island and 
 Pacific Railroad, twenty miles west of Iowa City. These 
 villages are at convenient distances from one another, and are 
 surrounded by a domain of from 25,000 i,o 30,000 acres. The 
 jjropertj' of the Society is held in common, and is managed 
 by thirteen Trustees, elected annually. The Trustees choose 
 a Director, Vice-Director and Secretary, -who constitute an 
 Executive Committee of management. They appoint Superin- 
 tendents of the different departments of industry. Besides 
 their great farms, they have four saw-mills, two grist-mills, a 
 tannery, a print-factory, and two woolen-mills. They have 
 an excellent reputation both as farmers and manufactui'ers. 
 They have hvmdi-eds of horses, more than a thousand cattle, 
 and between two and three thousand sheej^ and swine. They 
 make prints, yarns, flannels and other woolen goods that 
 stand high in market. They are accounted very wealthy ; but 
 say themselves that their wealth is exaggerated, and that some 
 years their expenses exceed their- income. But " making the 
 two ends meet " in such a great family, with about five hun- 
 dred children under sixteen years of age and more than two 
 hundred aged people, is a problem that may well tax their 
 financial ability ; and the fact that they are gradually accumu- 
 4 
 
r,u AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 lating proijerty commends both their financial management 
 and the principles that luiderlie their organization. 
 
 The members of the Amana Community are mostly from 
 the middle classes ; but they claim to have among them those 
 who represent the higher classes of German society. One of 
 the members contributed over $50,000 to the Society. 
 
 Several of the Communities — Amana among the number — 
 have been trans^Dlanted once or more. The large Commimity 
 of Oregon got its start in Missouri ; the great Community of 
 George Eapp — at one time a thousand strong — was trans- 
 j^lanted from Pennsylvania to Indiana, and then back again 
 after ten years, its roots being all the stouter for it; the 
 Brotherhood of the New Life had its first Community ex- 
 jierience in Amenia, Duchess Co., N. Y., whence it was 
 removed to Salem-on-Erie ; the Oneida Community was " pot- 
 ted," as gardeners would say, in Vermont, and showed few 
 signs of large growth until it had been " set out " in the fertile 
 valley where it now flourishes ; and the Amana Community first 
 took root in the State of New York near Buffalo, and there 
 grew from 1H42 to 1855. But land there was high, and they 
 had at first only 6,000 acres, afterwards increased to 9,000! 
 They wanted a larger farm, and so removed to Iowa and 
 trebled their domain. It is an interesting fact to mention 
 in this connection, that with their present enormous amount 
 of land, located in one of the most desirable sections of this 
 fertile State, they still rely for their income as much on their 
 few manufactures, emj^loying but a small jiart of their mem- 
 bers, as they do on all the products of their broad acres ! 
 
 The "True Inspiration Congregations" or " Inspiration- 
 ists," out of which came first the Eben-Ezer Society and then 
 Amana, originated in Germany more than a century and a-half 
 ago. But there was no Communism until after ' their emigra- 
 tion to America in 1842. They say they were commanded by 
 
AMAJVA. r.l 
 
 inspiration to live together and pn.t tlieir property into one 
 common fund. 
 
 The Amana villages are laid out generally in squares, 
 with a main street extending perhaps half a mile. The older 
 hoiises and the greater number are of wood ; those more re- 
 cently erected are of brick and stone. They are of different 
 sizes and mostly of uniform style. 
 
 The families live separately — one or more families in a 
 house, according to size of famihes and of houses ; but they 
 eat in groups of from thirty to fifty. At the principal village 
 there are fourteen eating-houses for the accommodation of its 
 450 inhabitants. Certain articles of food are regularly dis- 
 tributed to them. The milkman, I noticed, rung his bell at 
 every eating-house night and morning. Food is carried in 
 baskets to those who are unable to go to the eating-houses. 
 They have three regular meals, and in siammer two lunches 
 besides, as at Economy. Their food is substantial, but un- 
 modified by modern dietetic philosophy. 
 
 Every house in the village has a small patch of ground for 
 garden pui'poses, in which yoir will generally observe, in addi- 
 tion to the common vegetables, a few flowers and many grape- 
 vines, from the fruit of which the people keep themselves sup- 
 plied with home-made wine. 
 
 An allowance is yearly made to cover the personal expenses 
 of each individual for clothing, etc. That of the men is usually 
 forty dollars ; that of the women twenty-five ; that of the chil- 
 dren from five to ten; but these amounts are increased in 
 special cases. 
 
 There is a store in each village for the accommodation prin- 
 cipally of its own people, but also joatronized by the citizens of 
 neighboring towns. 
 
 They have schools, in which the common branches and 
 the English language are taught, as also their catechism 
 
:,■> AMEMWAN COilMUNiriEiii. 
 
 designed for children. The Bible, too, is read in their schools. 
 
 There is singing, but musical instriunents are not permitted 
 in the Society. Neither are pictures nor games of chance. 
 
 They make long hours in summer-time, but " take things 
 easy," seldom overworking. 
 
 They live to a great age, often reachuag four-score years, 
 and sometimes passing four-score-and-ten. 
 
 The women help in the harvest, doing of course the lighter 
 work ; and that women may have more time for public service 
 there is a common nursery where two or three women take 
 care of twenty-five small children, if there happen to be so 
 many in a village, while the mothers of the little ones labor 
 wherever their services are most needed. 
 
 Their working-force is directed by the superintendents as 
 may be deemed best. For example, during harvest^time the 
 shop- and factory-hands labor in the fields. 
 
 They have some hundreds of liiielings, who are chiefly 
 employed in agriculture. 
 
 The members all speak the German language, and a few 
 the English. Some came from Switzerland. 
 
 There are shoe-shops, blacksmith-shops, tin- shops, harness- 
 shops, and all the common trades have their places of business. 
 
 They have three doctors, but no ministers or lawyers. A 
 dentist of Iowa City visits the Amana villages at stated periods. 
 
 They have breweries and make wine at home, and drink 
 both beer and wine freely, bu.t have no drunkards. 
 
 Tobacco is used to excess ; there is smoking every-where. 
 
 The dress of the women is striking, but not picturesque. 
 Most of those I met wore short gowns ; and all, old and young, 
 had on a black, close-fitting cap, tied under the chin and effec- 
 tually hiding every ringlet ; they also wore a kerchief spread 
 over the shoulders and pinned across the breast. The dress 
 of the men has little to distinguish it from the ordinary styles. 
 
Maniagf is tolerated, but it is deemed best to remain sin- 
 gle, as St. Paul advises. Formerly marriage was looked upon 
 with a more luifriendly eye than at present ; but a young man 
 may not now marry luitil he is twenty-four, and he must still 
 wait a year after he has announced his intention before he can 
 lead Iris betrothed to the altar. By marriage the standing of 
 the parties in the Society suffers for a time. If a man marries 
 out of the Society he is excluded for awhile even though liis 
 wife might choose to become a meml)er. 
 
 At table, at church, and at labor the sexes are separated. 
 
 This people are vei-y religious. One of their rules of daily 
 life is to ■' coiuit every word, thought and work as done in the 
 immediate presence of tlod, and give him at once an account 
 of it, to see if all is done in liis fear and love." There is some 
 religious expression before and after eveiy meal ; there is a 
 meeting for prayer e\-ery evening ; there are meetings on 
 ^Vednesday. Saturday and Sunday mornings. Sometimes they 
 all meet together in the chiirch ; sometimes in smaller apart- 
 ments and in order ; f(_)r the members are di-vided into three 
 classes : the first including the elders and the most earnest 
 and siDiritual ; the second, those who have made considerable 
 l^rogress in conformmg to the highest standard ; and the 
 third, the children, new members, backsliders and others. 
 Their sole aim, they affiim, is to become true Christians, not 
 only Christians in name, but true followers of our Lord Jesus 
 Chiist. They '• beheve that the same God who sjooke through 
 the prophets and apostles is still living, and in his Almighti- 
 ness can reveal his will through the voice of a human being in 
 our present times, as well as formerly ; " and they are con- 
 vinced that their inspiration "is the same word of God 
 spoken by the Holy Ghost through the j^rophets and apos- 
 tles, and cannot be influenced by the opinions and wishes 
 of men." All their rtiles a]id modes of worship, they say, 
 
.-,4 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 are given to them "through inspiration by oixr merciful God." 
 The "human being" through whom God speaks to this 
 people, as they believe, is regarded as an " Inspired Instru- 
 ment," and is the spii-itual head of the Society. The "Instra- 
 ment " is generally greatly agitated before coming under the 
 heavenly afflatus, sometimes shaking for an hour. The Sepa- 
 ratists at Zoar gave me a most sensational account of the 
 contortions and tremblings of Christian Metz while on a visit 
 to their Society, illustrating the manner of his inspiration. 
 They were not at all favorably impressed by the scene. The 
 line of inspiration has been continued, they claim, with occa- 
 sional interruptions, from the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century. From 1818 to 18G7 there were two "Instruments" 
 — Christian ]\Ietz, a carpenter by trade, and Barbara Heyne- 
 mann, an ignorant servant girl ; but since 1867 Barbara has 
 stood alone in the jirophetic office. She is now over eighty- 
 one years of age. The jjeople trouble themselves very httle 
 about her successor. " The Lord has always given us an in- 
 spired leader, and vi-e can trust him for the future," they say 
 in simple faith. 
 
 It is not easy to fully understand the entire fimction of the 
 "Inspired Instrument." Its utterances are in general exhor- 
 tations to holier life — to more thorough consecration to God 
 — and in condemnation of sin and worldhness. Occasionally 
 it calls the entire Society to some great step, Kke the advance 
 into Commmiism after they came to this comitry, or to sell out 
 in one place and remove to another. Sometimes it reproves 
 individuals for their faults. Barbara is generally present at all 
 important meetings of the Triistees. 
 
 Candidates for membership usually pass a probation of 
 two years, biit sometimes this term is shortened or even 
 omitted by direction of the " Inspired Instrument." Most of 
 the new members come from Germany, and occasionally the 
 
Society pay the passage of poor families across the ocean 
 ■who wish to join them. If a member withdraws from the 
 Society, what he contributed is returned without interest. 
 
 Amaua is a great example of Communism. Sixteen hundred 
 people here live in comfort and happiness, each one stu-e of 
 enough to eat and drink and wear so long as he lives — sure, 
 too, of a home and friends — sure, also, of such discipline and 
 instiTiction as shall keep him constantly reminded of the su- 
 2Dreme importance of a temperate, virtuous, holy life. They live / 
 in such pei-petual peace that no lawyer is found in their midst ; , 
 in such habits of morality that no sheriff walks their streets ; , 
 in such plenty that no beggars are seen save such as come ; 
 from the outer world. 
 
 But with all its numbers and wealth, morality and religion, 
 peace and plenty, Amana is still far from being a model Com- 
 munity. In many respects it fails to realize the blessings 
 which belong to Communism. 
 
 Every one of its seven villages ought to have a few large 
 houses in close juxtaposition, all heated by steam and fur- 
 ished with every labor-saving convenience, instead of its 
 jjresent scores of widely-scattered dwellings. A single kitch- 
 en and dining-room would then answer in place of the 
 numerous eating-houses, and save much labor and expense. 
 
 Evei-y village ought to have a butter-and-cheese factory ; 
 now each eating-house makes its own butter and cheese by 
 hand. 
 
 Evei-y village ought to have a common laundry, with its 
 washing-macliLaes and wringers and mangles run by power. 
 Now each family has to do its own laundi'y work, and there is 
 a public wash-house only for the unmarried adults. The 
 building of a common laundry and furnishing it with the 
 best machines is however in contemplation. 
 
 Every village ought to have a large library and reading- 
 
.-,f, AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 room. There is nothing of the kind. These Commimists are 
 not a reading people. They have some access to newspapers, 
 periodicals and scientific works, but their chief attention is 
 given to the Bible and their "inspired records;" and their 
 theory is that education in other than such branches* as are 
 required in the common affairs of life is rnmecessary. Their 
 (ibject is to save the soul ; why, then, should they fill the mind 
 with worldly wisdom ? 
 
 But although the Amana C!ommiuiity have no ccmsiderable 
 library of the world's books, they have a somewhat extensive 
 literature of their own. They have a printing-press, and have 
 used it in printing " Year-Books of the True Inspiration Con- 
 gregations ; Witnesses of the Si^irit of God, which happened 
 and were spoken in the meetings of the Society through the 
 Instruments." They have jDrinted more than a hundred books, 
 mainly reenrds of their inspirations, which are esteemed by 
 them as containing words of Divine Wisdom. The utterances 
 of their " Instruments" have Ijeen carefully recoi'ded from the 
 first. 
 
 With the exception of the flowers ai-ound the houses there 
 is little indication that a taste for the beautiful in nature or 
 art is citltivated at Amana. The monotony of the architecture, 
 the entire absence of paint, the rough Ijoard fences which 
 border the streets, the untidy sidewalks and other features, 
 render the Amana villages unattractive to the visitor. 
 
 The interior of the houses is sc^arcely more jileasing. 
 There is no ornamentation liy paint or paper, carpets or 
 pictures. Every thing is plain. Their churches and assem- 
 Ijly-rooms have only long wooden benches for seats. 
 
 Amusements are not eneouiaged. There is no dancing or 
 theatrical presentations in the halls of Amana. These they 
 " d(!em a shame for all good Christians." 
 
 Their worship, too. has in it little that is enlivening — much 
 
A.VAXA. -,r 
 
 however that savors of sincerity and earnest piety, and from 
 which unquestionably the members derive inward comfort and 
 strength. Biit the exercises contrast Tinfavorably with the 
 spontaneity and freedom which eharacterize the meetings of 
 some other Communistic societies. The men and women sit 
 apart ; and when a chapter is read, each one reading a verse, 
 the women read after the men. There are no preachers, 
 and Httle freedom in speaking. Sometimes the leaders dis- 
 course upon the necessity of hdly living. Often passages from 
 theii- "inspirational records" are read; and it is customary 
 for all to take part in worship, by reading or repeating some 
 short verse or jDrayer. When there are too many present to 
 l^ermit both the men and the women to take part, only one sex 
 prays or reads, and the othei' waits till the next occasion. 
 
 The ascetic features of the Amana Community are in 
 accordance with its fundamental idea and justified by it, 
 namely, that people are placed in this world for the one pur- 
 pose of saving their souls, and that this requires the cruci- 
 fixion of such desires and ap2')etites as divert the attention 
 from God. This doctrine is at the foundation of all forms of 
 ascetic Communism ; and it is easy to see how those who ac- 
 cept it should look with suspicion on amusements, pictures, 
 and social enjoyments. The peoj)le of Amana say: "He who 
 made heaven, earth, men and all creatures could easily have 
 been in possession of all the liches of this world, but he pre- 
 ferred to come among us as a poor child, and live as the poor-_ 
 est of men. He did not even have a place where he might lay 
 his head. We, th(irefore, in trying to follow his example, 
 have to leLul a life of humbleness and self-denial, and seek to 
 avoid allluxury, elegance, pride, etc., in our clothing, houses _ 
 and surroundings. Our meeting-houses are plain, as our Lord 
 does not live in houses of stone nor magnificent churches ; he 
 wants us to prepare and cleanse our hearts — ' the temples. 
 
,-,.s AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 not made with hands' — so that he may dwell in them." 
 
 The great body of the people are fully persuaded that their 
 mode of life is pleasing to God. 
 
 Most of their youth remain in the Society. 
 
 They are non-resistants ; they furnished no volunteers in the 
 civil war, but hired substitutes to fill their quota. They, how- 
 ever, contributed during the war nearly twenty thousand 
 dollars to benevolent objects. They take little part in politics, 
 but in local affairs vote for the best men without inquiring to 
 what party they belong. 
 
 Though the women work in the field their status in the 
 Society is not, they claim, a low one. They have a council for 
 the management of household matters ; the recognized head 
 of the Community is a woman ; and all widows and unmarried 
 women thirty years of age and over, who are not represented 
 by male members, have a right to vote at the anp.ual election 
 of Trustees. 
 
 The Community do not court publicity, and complain that 
 they are annoyed with inquiries and applications for admis- 
 sion. They prefer to go on their quiet way undisturbed. But 
 the fact of their existence cannot be ignored, and ought not 
 to be, in these days when the world is "in travail and pain" 
 for better social conditions. If the sixteen hundred Commu- 
 nists of Amana have found a way to live comfortably, peaceably, 
 hapjDily together, while the world around them is in compara- 
 tive misery, it ought to be known and read of all men. 
 
 There is one feature of life at Amana which might with 
 advantage be adopted by every Community and every church. 
 Prom tune to time there is a general examination-^" (tJiier- 
 suchung" — of the spiritual condition of all the inhabitants. 
 Personal confessions of faults and suis are in order ; and it is 
 expected that the " Inspired Instrument " will throw light on 
 hidden things. Evidently, such a cleansing process as this can 
 
AMAA'A. 59 
 
 have but the best effect on all Avho sincerely engage in it. 
 How much evil-thinking, condemnation, and bad experience 
 generally, such a periodical examination and purging might 
 clear out of any social organization ! 
 
 The Inspirationists, as well as the Harmonists, make great 
 account of the Lord's Supper. The latter have constituted it 
 one of their annual festivals. The former celebrate it only 
 when directed l>v the "Insisired Instrument;" and then it be- 
 comes an extraordinai-y event. An account of the celebration 
 of 1855 has been printed in a volume of 284 pages under the 
 title: "The Supper of Love and Eemembrance of the Suffer- 
 ing and Death of our Lord and Savioiu- Jesu.s Christ — How it 
 was announced, ordered and held, l.iy his Word and "Witness, in 
 four jsarts, in Middle and Lower Eben-Ezer, in the year 1855." 
 
 The Inspirationists have printed in one of their books the 
 folloT\'ing twentj-one "Rules for Daily Life," which show how 
 intensely (not to say ascetically) religious they ai-e : 
 
 "1. To ol>e}' without reasoning God, and throug'h God 
 our superiors. 
 
 "2. To study quiet, or serenity, within and without. 
 
 "3. "Within, to rule and master your thoitghts. 
 
 " i. "Withoiit, to avoid all unnecessary words, and still to 
 study silence and cjuiet. 
 
 " 5. To aljandon self, with all its desires, knowledge and 
 jiower. 
 
 "G. Do not criticise others, either for good or evil, neither 
 to judge nor to imitate them ; therefore contain j-oiu'self, re 
 main at home, in the house and in your heart. 
 
 "7. Do not disturb your serenity or peace of mind — hence 
 neither desire nor grieve. 
 
 "8. Live in love and pity toward yoiu- neigh! )or, and in- 
 dulge neither anger nor impatience in jom- spirit. 
 
 " 9. Be honest, sincere, and avoid all deceit. 
 
r,(i AMERICAN COMilUNITIKS. 
 
 "10. Count every wonl, thought and work as done in the 
 immediate presence of God, in sleeping and waking, eating, 
 drinking, etc., and give him at once an account of it, to see if 
 all is done in his fear and love. 
 
 "11. Be in all things sober, without levity or laughter; 
 and without vain and idle words, works, or thoughts. 
 
 "12. Never think or speak of God mtliout the deepest 
 reverence, fear and love, and therefore deal reverently with all 
 spiritual things. 
 
 "13. Bear all inner and OTitward suffering in silence, com- 
 plainmg only to God ; and accept all from him in deepest I'ev- 
 erence and obedience. 
 
 "14. Notice carefully all that God permits to happen to 
 you in your inner and outward life, in order that you may not 
 fail to comprehend his will and lie led by it. 
 
 "15. Have nothing to do with iniholy, and particularly 
 with needless business affairs. 
 
 "16. Have no intercourse with worldly-minded men; never 
 seek their society ; speak little with them, and never without 
 need ; and then not without fear and trembling. 
 
 "17. Therefore, what you have to do with such men do in 
 haste ; do Jiot waste time in public places and worldly society, 
 that yoii be not tempted and led away. 
 
 " 18. Ply from the society of women-kind as much as pos- 
 sible, as a very highly dangerous magnet and magical fire. 
 
 " 19. AY(r;d obeisance and the fear of men ; these are 
 dangerous Avays. 
 
 "20. Dinners, wcddhigs, feasts, avoid entirely ; at the best 
 there is sin. 
 
 "21. Constantly practice abstinence and temperance, so 
 that you may l)e as wakeful after eating as before." 
 
 One cannot ^\-ithold his respect from these people for their 
 religious earnestness, even thoiigh he mav criticise their asceti- 
 
cism. Religion was their bond ^Yhen they \\eve scattered over 
 the callages of Germany ; it drew them together, and colo- 
 nized them in America ; it has held them together in the close 
 relations of communal brotherhood foi- thirty-six years ; it 
 has given them peace and prosi^erity ; and, above all, it has 
 made their hearts rich in that faith \\hich comprehends the 
 mysteries of the mner world. Better reasons they could not 
 desire for consecrating themselves wholly to the service of 
 Rehgion. Some may think, as I do, that this is compatible 
 with thorough educational di-ill, with giving much attention to 
 music and high art, with freedom in amusement and all that 
 makes hfe joyous. Others will think Religion itself can be 
 dispensed with, and that all the Amana Commujiists have ac- 
 complished in their practical life, even their unity, can be effect- 
 fid through enlightened self-interest. But these Communists 
 ask none of us to believe as they do, nor do they urge any to 
 adopt their ciistoms. And it remains for those who criticise 
 them to show that equally precious fruits can 1 h- produced by 
 other means than they employ. 
 
 It is often remarked that Communism may be applied on a 
 limited scale with comjsarative safety, but that it will fail in a 
 broader application. In the case of the Amana Society there is 
 entire Communism of property, not only bet^^een the members 
 of a single settlement, but between all the settlements. It 
 makes no difference whether one village makes a profit or 
 another, so that there is a gain in the whole Society; the peo- 
 ple of all the villages are supplied exactly alike. If Commu- 
 nism can be applied with such beneficent results in the case of 
 seven villages, why not over an entire coTinty ! Why not over 
 a State? Why not over a nation? 
 
IC'A RIA N C OMM UXITY. 
 
 NO existing Community has had a sadder history than 
 Icaria. That in face of all the obstacles that have con- 
 fronted them the Icarians should have held together so long 
 and accomplished so much is a marvel. Follow their history as 
 told by President Sauva in a sketch published in the American 
 Socialist : 
 
 Their founder, Etienne Cabet, was born at Dijon in Prance 
 in 1788, and l)efore he app)eared in the rviv of a social theorist 
 had made a name as a politician, editor and historical writer. 
 His Yoyage en Icarie — an imaginary work descriptive of life 
 in a happy land of Communism — was published in 1840, and 
 at once made him a recognized leader among French Social 
 ists. He soon after commenced the journal Le Po^ynlaire., 
 to advocate his ' principles, and erelong had an immense 
 following. In 1847 there were hundreds of thousands of Ica- 
 rian Commiinists. They abounded, not alone in France, 
 but in Switzerland, Spain, Germany, England, and even in 
 South America. Cabet was not content with the dissemina- 
 tion of his principles. He determined to exj^eriment in practi- 
 cal Communism, and for this purpose made preparations for 
 the settlement of a large colony in the United States. He 
 secured for this purpose one million of acres in the State of 
 Texas, and called on his disciples to help him establish Icaria. 
 " The effect of this call was indescribable. Thousands of con- 
 gratulations came to him from all parts. His scheme became 
 the topic for all the journalists. Some supported it, others 
 denounced or ridiculed it, but the greater nmnber favored it. 
 
ICARIA. i:;; 
 
 "Thousands of Icarians claimed the honor of being the 
 first colonists. Assisted by a committee appointed by the 
 Paris Icarians, Cabet took all the necessary measures, made all 
 the preparations, selected sixty-nine of his most devoted disci- 
 ples, all young and stoiit men, able to stand the fatigues and 
 privations which awaited them ; and on the 3d of February, 
 1848, this first vanguard left France, sailed for the United 
 States, carrj-ing with them the best wishes and encoiu-agements 
 of hundreds of thousands of Communists. How strange is 
 destiny ! Three weeks later, the departure of the first Icarians 
 for America would probably not have taken j^lace ; and the 
 realization of Icaria would jsrobably be yet future. Neither 
 Cabet nor his school had foreseen that twenty-one days after 
 the departui'e of the first company the Republic would be pro- 
 claimed in Paris. 
 
 " The revolution which took place on the 24th of February, 
 1848, was the first, and, accoi'tling to our notion, the most 
 severe check experienced by the Icarian undertaking. The 
 Icarian school, which had been so well united until that time, 
 became divided. Some were in favor of recalling the first de- 
 parture, of giving up the idea of emigration, and of devoting 
 themselves exclusively to the success of the new Republic. 
 Others, with a better appreciation of the events, sided with 
 Cabet, and were willing to continue the work, foreseeing that 
 nothing good could be expected from a revolution at the head 
 of which were such men as Lamartine, Ledru Rolhn, Marie, 
 Marrast and other republicans of that shade, whose hostility 
 against all social reforms was notorious. But the first blow 
 was struck, the union was broken. Cabet himself was hesita- 
 ting between two preoccupations which neutralized his energy. 
 It was for him a terrible moment. In the meanwhile the ad- 
 vance-guard, arriving at New Orleans toward the end of March, 
 learned that a Republic was proclaimed in France. The most 
 
•i;4 AMEBIC AN COMMUniriES. 
 
 bitter regrets manifested themselves among them. The mo- 
 tion to return to France was made, but it did not prevail, 
 and the pioneers of the great Icarian Community proceeded 
 toward the place selected for their settlement. 
 
 "Toward the month of June, 1848, they laid the founda- 
 tions of the larian Colony in Fanin Co., Texas. 
 
 "They built a few miserable huts, undertook to break 
 prairie, but they were soon stopped in their work by the 
 malaria, which assailed and demoralized them, depriving them 
 of the only physician they had, Doctor Roveira, who became 
 insane, besides five of their number who died ; and the others 
 A^ere compelled to abandon the place. 
 
 "This aljjindonment was a bitter disappointment to the 
 first vanguard, and it was not withoiit regret that they made 
 up their minds to retreat. They left on the place five of their 
 brethren : Guillot, Collet, Gucrin, Chauvin and Sauge. They 
 started bac'k toward Shreveport and New Orleans, where they 
 hoiDed to meet other Icarians who were coming to join them. 
 There stood before them a distance of from three to five him- 
 di'ed miles to travel through a lonely country, without any re- 
 sources, and laboring under sickness. The retreat from Texas 
 was one of the most saddening events in the Icarian enter- 
 prise. For fear of not finding on the same route the neces- 
 sary supphes for such a company, the Icarians divided 
 themselves into three equal squads, and dragged themselves 
 toward their rendezvous. These squads disbanded themselves 
 on the road ; sickness prevented several from following their 
 friends. Four of them died from exertion and privations. 
 The remnant of this first vanguard, together ^wth a few mem- 
 bers of the second vanguard whom they met on the road, 
 arrived finally at New Orleans toward the end of 1848. 
 
 "In the meanwhile other departures had been effected from 
 France. Ca!)et himself, left Paris in December, and in March, 
 
ICARFA. i;.-, 
 
 1849, tlie Icaiiaiis, numbering 280, with tlieir leiultr at their 
 head, left New Orleans and went to establish themselves at 
 Naiivoo, Illinois. This was a good place for a temijorary 
 settlement. Houses were plenty. By the departure of -Joseph 
 Smith's followers the population of Nauvoo had been reduced 
 from fifteen or twenty thousand inhabitants to three or four 
 thousand. 
 
 "Cabet and his followers settled there. From 1850 to 
 1H55 many new members came to augment their number. 
 The colony liecame prosperous. They had work-shops, farms. 
 a flonring-mill and a distillery. They had a school for their 
 chilch'en, and published a newspaper. From time to time they 
 issued pamphlets to pi'opagate their principles. They had 
 an office in Paris and correspondents eveiy- where. 
 
 "The colony being mostly composed of French people, 
 amusements were not forgotten. Tliej' had a theater with 
 Icarian artists. They organized a musical bund of about fifty 
 instriunents. 
 
 "In 18.5.") the coL.ny numbered five hiindred menjl)ers. 
 
 "Con-^'inced thit Nauvoo was onlj' a temporary settle- 
 ment, and that the great Community was to be established 
 in some othei' locality, the Icarians in 1H.')3 purchased three 
 thousand acres of land in Iowa. A few pioueeis were sent to 
 prepare for the future transfer (jf the Comuamity. 
 
 "Fntil then Cabet's moral authority over his followers did 
 not seem to have l)een lessened. He was the leader and the 
 honored father of the Icarian familJ^ 
 
 "But most of the Icarians had been former revolutii mists. 
 The authority of the founder of Icaria, however mild, reasona- 
 ble and legitimate it might be, became by degrees a burden to 
 them ; they had submitted to it because they believed it indis- 
 pensable to the success of the undertaking, but they now 
 thou'^ht the time had come to free themselves from it. 
 
ae, AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 " Cabet was getting old. His intellectual f acid ties were 
 declining, and a secret conspiracy against his authority had 
 been forming for some time. 
 
 " The war broke out. 
 
 " Suffice it to say, that after a pacific though grievous; 
 struggle, which lasted over a year, a strong minority of about 
 two hundred members left Nauvoo with Cabet at their head. 
 The old champion of the great humanitarian cause was anni- 
 hilated. He had dared every thing during his long career: 
 criticism, insult, calumny, provocation, imprisonment, exile. 
 Nothing affected him so much as the deplorable events which 
 now occurred. 
 
 " Cabet was sixty-nine years old. On the 8th of Novem- 
 ber, 1856, he died m a fit of apoj)lexy, in St. Louis, Mis- 
 souri. The death of Cabet was a terrible blow for those who 
 followed him. Many of them lost all hope of continuing 
 their undertaking and abandoned their brethren, who, having 
 a sti'onger faith and enthusiasm in their belief, devoted them- 
 selves with a greater courage to accomplish his work. 
 
 " They settled within a few miles of St. Louis, and started 
 the Cheltenham 'Community. They enjoyed a moment of 
 apparent prosperity, but reverses assailed them. Sickness, 
 poverty, division, decimated the colony. 
 
 "Still the few persevering ones who had remained would 
 not have surrendered themselves if financial embarrassments 
 had not compelled them to do so. But such heroism was 
 useless. The claws of their creditors sank deeper every day 
 in the throat of the unfortunate victim, and in January, 
 1864, the Cheltenham Community expired. Thus ended 
 one of the branches of the Icarian Community. The 
 other one, established at Nauvoo, remained there until 1859, 
 when those who had resolved to continue the work, wishing 
 to show that they could live and grow without being un- 
 
ICAEIA. K7 
 
 der the rule of their founder, retired to their Iowa colony. 
 
 "New trials awaited them in this place. Uncertainty as 
 to their future prospects, want and poverty, were their share 
 for many years. 
 
 "The amoTuit of devotedness, confidence in their principles, 
 and perseverance required by the Icarians of the first hour, to 
 go through all the stages of Icarian history, will never be 
 known. 
 
 "Now Icaria is free from mateiial embarrassment. With- 
 out being in a very prosperous condition, it stands upon a 
 solid basis. Its fideUty to the great principle of human fra- 
 ternity has not failed. Now, as well as on the first day of its 
 existence, it believes in and proclaims equality of rights and 
 equality of duties for all the children of Nature. It is op- 
 posed to every idea of superiority, whether based upon mus- 
 cular strength, intellect or wealth. It does not make any 
 distinction between the son of a poor man and the son of a 
 king. In its estimation all are equal, all have a right to receive 
 from society the entire satisfaction of their wants, all have 
 the duty to produce according to the amount of strength with 
 which they are endowed by Nature. Such is Icaria." 
 
 In the summer of 1876 the author visited Icaria, and 
 thence wrote the following letter to the American Socialist : 
 " Corning, Adam,s Co., Iowa, Aug. 14, 1876. 
 
 "A dozen small white cottages arranged on the sides of a 
 parallelogram ; a larger central building, containing a unitary 
 kitchen and a common dining-hall, which is also used as an 
 assembly-room and for Community amusements, including an 
 occasional dance or theatrical presentation; a unitary bake- 
 room and laundry near at hand ; mmierous log-cabins, also 
 within easy reach of the central building — forcible reminders 
 of the early poverty and hardships of this people ; a small 
 
(IS AMKRICAN COMMUNITIKti. 
 
 dairy-lionse lusar the tliateliecl stable to tlie scutli ; ))ains for 
 the horses and sheej^ to the north : all these buildings on the 
 bluff rising from the valley of the Nodaway river, and sur- 
 rounded by the Community domain of over two thousand 
 acres of fertile land, of which seven hundred have been cultiva- 
 ted, and including, with some timber-land, extensive meadows 
 and pastures, over which range 600 sheep and 140 head of 
 cattle — the cultivated part having the present season 5 acres 
 of potatoes, 5 acres of sorghum, 100 of wheat, 250 of corn, 
 1 1-2 of strawljerries, besides vineyards, orchards, etc. : behold 
 the jjresent external aspects of learia. 
 
 "At the sound of the l)ell all direct tlieir footsteps to the 
 central building ; and should you enter at meal-time you 
 would see the entire CommiTuity. now numbering seventy-five, 
 seati;d at the oblong and circular tables, as lively and sociable 
 as French people know how to be. Over the entrance-door 
 you would notice in large letters the word 'Etiuality,' and 
 directly ojiposite the word 'Liberty,' an<l at one end of the 
 room the suggestive " 177G — 187(i." You would notice also 
 that upon the table there is a great abiuidance of substantial 
 food, but that every thing is jilaiii. 
 
 "Should you enter the same building at evening you 
 might find most of the family assembled. S(jme to dani'e. some 
 to converse, some to sing their songs of equality and frater- 
 nity. Or should your call be on a Sunday afternoon, as was 
 my good fortune, you might hear selections from the writings 
 of their great apostle, Etienne Cabet, or recitals by the young, 
 or songs, perchance, which would stir your Socialistic enthu- 
 siasm. One of those I heard had this refrain : 
 
 ' Travaillers de In gvaude cause, 
 
 Soyons fiers de notre di'stin ; 
 
 L'egoiste senl se repose, 
 
 Travidllous pour le gi'ure Imnmiii.' 
 
IVARIA. (;;)• 
 
 "A vet'ital by a maiden of fifteen was very effective. She 
 pnt great exiwession into the words : 
 
 ' Mee frfcres, il est temps que les haiaes s'oublieiit ; 
 
 Que sous un seul drapeau les peuples se rallient ; 
 
 Le chemin du salut va pour nous s'aplaiiir. 
 
 La grande liberte que THumaniti' reve, 
 
 Comme un nouveiu soleil, radieuse, se love 
 
 S ir I'horiz )ii de I'aveair.' 
 '■ It is indeed time that hatreds weie forgotten and that 
 all people rallied mider a single Hag. Shall that flag be 
 Cfunmunism ? The Icarians will enthusiastically answer, ' Yes :' 
 and yet should one inquire whether all hatreds are forgotten 
 in Icaria itself, would the reply be also 'YesT 
 
 '' Icaria has existed for twenty-nine years. It has over- 
 (•<_)me the hardships and endured the severe privations insejj- 
 arably connected with tlie upbuilding of a Community in a 
 new ci.>nntiy and withoiit cajjital. It c(>mmenced in poverty. 
 It now h 'K .S(i0.(lli:i in real and personal jjroperty, encmnbered 
 only with a debt of about $i,003. Its numbers are more than 
 double what they were eight or ten years ago. It is building 
 every year additional houses for the lietter accommodation of 
 its membeis. It is settuig out orchards and vineyards, and 
 beginning the cultivation of small fiuits. It is talldng about 
 i-adical improvements as though it expected to realize them in 
 the near future. It is anticipating an increase of numbers, 
 and lately received four families. And though it offers few at- 
 tractions, having no facilities for a higher education or esthetic 
 culture, and is destitute of some of the comforts and many of 
 the conveniences of communal life, I still see no renson why 
 it may not attain ])orm..ncnt success provided it /las mijfi.cirvt 
 poiner ofjlJirceuifut. 
 
 "The exj^eriment here is an attempt to form a pros- 
 perous Comtiiunity without religion, or jierhaps we should 
 express the Icarian idea 1 letter by saying, without Christ 
 
7U AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 and the Bible and theology. If it succeeds the Icarians 
 will be entitled to the greatest praise. To build a Commu- 
 nity is like building a brick house — the better the cement 
 or mortar the stronger the walls. It has been demonstrated 
 that with a strong religious afflatus it is possible to make 
 good mortar. The Icarians are confident that they can make 
 mortar suitable for laying up high walls, with the principles 
 of equahty, liberty and fraternity. Nous verrons. 
 
 "Some of the Icarian principles will be more severely 
 tested when their numbers have increased. Their system is 
 founded on pure democracy, with its unrestricted free discus- 
 sion. Such discussion may be allowed in a small Commimity, 
 but might it not become unbearable in a large one? And 
 then no Community organization should be at the mercy of a 
 majority. If mere numbers carry the day, as is the case in 
 Icaria, it is possible that the most worthy in a Community 
 may have the least power. "Woe be to the Community 
 in that condition. It might have been better had it not 
 been bom. 
 
 "As I have previously remarked in my letters to the 
 Ameeioan Socialist, one of the most vital questions concerned 
 in successful Communism is this : How should individual hb- 
 erty and subordination to the central power of a Commimity 
 stand related to each other ? The principle of subordination 
 may be so magnified as to seriously interfere with the proper 
 development of the individual members, and, on the other 
 hand, individualism may assert its claims so strongly^ as to 
 endanger the governmentaL-i30wer of the Community. If the 
 Insjjirationists, Harmonists and other Communists stand at 
 one extreme in this respect, the Icarians are at the other. 
 The true mean will be discovered when a way is found to 
 secure perfect oljedience to the central principle of the organi- 
 zation, and at the same time make the individual free to de- 
 
IGARIA. 71 
 
 Telop, fully and naturally, all the powers witli which he is 
 •created. 
 
 "One cannot witlihold his admiration from the little band 
 at loaria — a mere remnant of the army assembled at Nauvoo 
 under Cabet. Of every half-score that could then have re- 
 sponded to the roll-call scarcely one is left ; and yet they are 
 apparently as full of courage and as enthusiastically devoted 
 to Communism as they would have been had their pathway 
 been strewn with roses instead of beset with thorns. 
 
 The following questions and answers wiU convey to the 
 reader definite information on some additional points pertain- 
 ing to this interesting Community. It is proper to mention 
 that the answers were given last September by President 
 Sauva : 
 
 "What is the present population of Icaria?" 
 
 "Eighty-three." 
 
 "Have you many applications for membership?" 
 
 "We have on hand fifty apphcations." 
 
 "How many members have been received the past year?" 
 
 "Seventeen definitely and three provisionally." 
 
 "What are your rules respecting the admission of new 
 members?" 
 
 "An applicant can be received, can be allowed to pass a 
 novitiate of six months, and be definitely admitted as a mem- 
 ber of the Community, only on the concurrence of three- 
 fourths of the voting members." 
 
 "Do you desire a large increase of members? " 
 
 "Certainly. It is both our duty and our interest; but 
 our means and the difficulty of finding suitable material have 
 prevented a very rapid growth." 
 
 "What businesses do you rely on for your income? " 
 
Vl AMERICAN COMMUySriES. 
 
 "Besides a saw- and grist-mill run by steam-power, we rely 
 upon the cultivation of our land and the increase of our herds 
 and flocks." 
 
 " How much land have you ? and what proportion of it is 
 luider cultivation '? " 
 
 "We have 2,150 acres. 700 are now under crrltivation ; 
 ,400 are covered with timber; the rest is prairie pasture." 
 
 "How much sti,)ek have you? " 
 
 "We have between 30 and 40 horses, 140 head of cattle, 
 and 600 sheep." 
 
 "Has your Conimunity been jorosperous, financially and 
 otherwise, the past year? " 
 
 "The last two j'ears have not been financially favorable to 
 learia ; our harvests have been poor, and we still feel the 
 consequences." 
 
 "Your system, as I understand it, is theoretically one of 
 jjure Communism in property. Is this idea fully realized in 
 your xsractical life ? " 
 
 "Our system, as you say, ccjn templates Communism of 
 goods in all its puiity ; but we have thus far only imperfectly 
 realized it ; but whatever departure there may be from princi- 
 ple in oru- joractice is constantly tending to disapjaear. No 
 money is furnished to members for their private rise." 
 
 "Each house, I have noticed, has a small garden. Are the 
 gardens cultivated for the Community or for the benefit of 
 individuals ? " 
 
 "Every family has a s mall garden in which it can cultivate 
 flowers and fruits, which are entirely at its disposal; but a 
 considerable part of the Society consider this practice a 
 departure from our principles, and ask for its suppression." 
 
 "Your system is also, as I conceive it, one of pure democ- 
 racy. How far is it found practicable to carry this principle 
 out in daily life ? " 
 
ICAHIA. 7;! 
 
 '•Our sj-stem is a piire clemocnu-y, and wc experience no 
 diffii-ulty in its application." 
 
 '•Are the officers simply exfcutivc everj' tliiuy being- 
 determined by vote"? " 
 
 "Our officers are ele<'ted to execute the decisions of the 
 General Assembly or leo-islative body, and have no other 
 2')0\ver." 
 
 "What are the officers of your Society' Hciw are they 
 elected '. and for what time "? " 
 
 "The officers of the Icarian Community are : a Director of 
 Agriculture, a Director of Industry, a Director of Clothing- 
 and of Lodging, a Secretary, Treasurer and President. They 
 are elected aunu-illy on the 'M of February, by the simple 
 majority of members, and hold their positions always subject 
 to the ^ilt^'ASure of the Community." > 
 
 ■'^Mirriige is said to be obligatory in Icaria : how much is 
 to be understood by this' Does it simply mean that it is 
 expeeteil and desired that all membei's shall marry? or that 
 no one would be received who should decline to enter into the 
 marriage relation?" 
 
 "Marriage is obligatory here; that is to say, celibacy is 
 considered an anomalous con;htion, contrary to nature, to be 
 tolerated only when the number of members is so limited as to 
 prevent the celibates, men and women, from readily finding 
 suitable mates." 
 
 "What are your means of thseii^hne ? How would you' 
 deal with any transgressoiof the Society's regulations, or wdth 
 any offender against morality and good order ? " 
 
 "Transgressions of the jorineiiDles, laws and regulations of 
 the Commtuiity are jiunished by public censure, by ilepriva- 
 tion of civil rights, or by the exclusion of the ti'ansgressors,, 
 according to the gravity of the offenses." 
 
 "How are the occu]).itions of members determined '. " 
 
7+ AMEIilOAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 "By individual preferences and by the requirements of 
 labor." 
 
 "Wliat is the position of women in Icaria? Have they 
 Any voice or vote in the business meetings ? " 
 
 " They come to the assemblies ; they take part in the de- 
 liberations ; they are at liberty to make propositions, and to 
 discuss those made by others ; they can offer their opinion 
 -and counsel, but are not permitted to vote." 
 
 "Am I right in supposing you exalt the principles of Com- 
 munism into religion — considering that they do essentially 
 -embody religion or Christianity t " 
 
 " You are perfectly right in supposing that wo elevate the 
 ■principle of Communism, and especially the principle of frater- 
 nity, into the place of religion ; but Christianity in its primi- 
 tive purity is held with us in great esteem ; and of personal 
 •opinion in matters of religion there is in Icaria the greatest 
 tolerance, provided its expression does not^ result in trouble 
 ■and disorder to the Community." 
 
 The statement of President Sauva, that there has been no 
 difficulty in the practical application of the Icarian system 
 of pure democracy, conveys an idea of harmony that' is 
 scarcely consonant with the facts ; but he may have simply 
 intended to say the businesses of the Conlmuhity had been 
 successfully conducted. However that maj' be, it is certain 
 that for some time there has been a growing tendency toward 
 the formation of two distinct and even antagonistic parties in 
 Joaria. Previous to the author's visit to the Community in 
 the summer of 1876 there had been a serious altercation be- 
 tween these parties, which had however terminated amicably ; 
 for which reason he deemed it inexpedient to publicly call at- 
 tention to the matter at the time. But the harmony resulting 
 irom the compromise measures then adopted was superficial 
 
TO ARIA. ir, 
 
 and illusory; the old antagonisms soon began to reassert 
 themselves, and at the present time there appears to be an 
 irreparable breach between the two parties; one of which 
 IS cautious, prudent, and averse to radical changes, preferring 
 to "hasten slowly" as in the past ; while the other considers 
 that the time has arrived for making many improvements in 
 the practical Hfe of the Community, for multiplying its indus- 
 tries, improving its educational conditions, giving the ballot 
 to les Icariennes, etc. etc. The first includes mainly the 
 older members of the Community ; the second, many of the 
 young men and women who have grown up in the Community, 
 recently-received members and others ; and though comprising 
 a numerical majority includes a minority of voters ; the Ica- 
 rian Constitution prescribing that only males above twenty 
 years of age shall be permitted to cast the ballot. 
 
 The second party having made several propositions to 
 amend the Constitution which were rejected by the General 
 Assembly, finally proposed terms of separation. They asked : 
 
 " That a division of land and stock be made pro-rata, each 
 stockholder, man, woman and child, to be given ten acres of 
 laud ; that henceforth we carry on our affairs, agricultural, in- 
 dustrial and financial, as two distinct branches of one Commu- 
 nity ; that the land be held on both sides in usufruct only, each 
 branch having the privilege of mortgaging its land to one-fifth 
 of its appraised valuation ; that each branch admit to its 
 ranks such new members as it may deem proper (births being- 
 reckoned as new admissions) ; and that the surplus of land re- 
 maining, after the division shall be made according to the above 
 proposition, shall be held in common at the disposal of both 
 sides for the use of its new members. In case of death on 
 either side, if the portion held in the name of the deceased is 
 not taken up by a new admission within a specified time, the 
 opposite party shall have the right to claim it." 
 
TV. AMFAUCAN COMMUSS'ITIKS. 
 
 This proposition having also been rejected by the majority 
 of voters, the "young party" have taken extra-constitutional 
 measures to effect a separation. 
 
 It appears from the testimony of both sides that there is 
 no lack of zeal for Communism. All are ready to live and 
 die for that. The irreconcilable difference is over a question 
 of Community policy. Should the Community be severed in 
 twain, each part would become a distinct Community and en- 
 deavor to realize its social ideal. 
 
 A i-ecent visitor at Icaria, in a letter to the ('nriiiiKj lluim, 
 written after a ten-days' sojourn in the Commi^nity, says: 
 
 '■ The Community of Icaria is but a miniature republic, with 
 its elaborate Constitiition, its laws, rules and regulations, its 
 President and civil authorities, its politicians, office-seekers, 
 and its assemblies ; and it is subject to all the conditions, 
 variations and changes of any other republic. A republic run- 
 not exist without party, and this word is the key to the 
 'Trouble in Icaria;' trouble expanded to such an extent that 
 the Community has been shaken as if by an earthquake, until the 
 machinery of its internal organizatior., its laws, rules and regula- 
 tions have ceased to work. There has been a struggle between 
 a progressive and a conservative party here, as in all govern- 
 ments, and who would have it otherwise? Is not progres- 
 siveness a check upon the bigotry of extreme conservatism? 
 And is not conservatism a check upon the empiricism of 
 extreme progressiveness '? Is it not to this conflict that 
 humanity owes every thing it owns and nearly all it Imowst " 
 
 This may be a wise view of the matter ; but it is certainly 
 conceivable that even a repxTblic- might have unexamj^led 
 prosperity under one party. Indeed, the people of the 
 United States point to the (jne-i^arty episode in its history, 
 during President IMonroe's administration, as a kind of po- 
 litical millennium. But leaving the question of politics, 
 
)e- 
 
 IVAIUA. Vi 
 
 it is cortaiu that Coinmnnities nutat fiuj ways to secure luia- 
 nimit}' and liarmonious action ; otherwise the larger they 
 come the less desirable they Avill be as places of abode. A 
 religious afflatus can make hundreds, yea thousands, of "one 
 heart and of one mind ;" a capable leader, ruling by truth 
 and loTe, may do much to secure the desired unity ; but it 
 is yet to be proved that pure democracy, with its party antago- 
 nisms, can hold a large number of persons together in the 
 close relations of Communism. 
 
 The party at learia which demands separation say they 
 have " arrived at the conclusion that they can no longer 
 live in peace and harmony with the old people ;" and 
 from general observation among the Commruiities I feel 
 justified in affirming that the harmonioirs adjustment of the 
 relations of the old and young is one of the most difficult 
 problems which Communities have to solve. In common 
 society, wjien a man arrives at the age of twenty-one he be- 
 comes legally independent, and is at liberty to choose his own 
 course in life, and generally leaves the j^arental roof and 
 sets ujj for himself in business, politics and I'eligion. Not so 
 in Communities. At Icaria the young men liecome voters at 
 twenty, but in most of the Communities no change takes 
 place in the status of the members -^vlien they arrive at legal 
 matirrity. They can only hojje to fill jilaces of honor as they, 
 by long courses of faithfidness, commend themselves to all as 
 persons who can be fully trusted with imjsortant interests. If, 
 on the other hand, the elders have come to love their respon- 
 sibilities, and to feel that they cannot iiossibly be as safe in 
 younger hands as they are in theirs, as is natural, it is obvious 
 that the process of transferring the interests of a Community 
 from one generation to another, which always has to be done 
 sooner or later, will be at least a painful one. The highest 
 wisdom is needed to make this transfer, and not mar the har- 
 
78 AMERICAN COMMVA'ITIES. 
 
 mony of the Society. Not alone are business and official 
 interests concerned ; the transfer may involve questions of 
 policy that seem vital ; for each succeeding generation brings 
 with it nevi^ truths, which are very likely to give a slight shock 
 even to those who in younger days were themselves radicals and 
 innovators. Happy is the Community whose elders, free from 
 self-seeking, have wisdom to discern when the best interest 
 of the Community requires that they should transfer their 
 official cares to others ; and have grace to do it All this is 
 not applicable to the Icarian Community, where every thing is 
 determined by ballot, and any man over twenty can hold any 
 office to which he is elected. But it is evident that in such a 
 Commimity, if the party in the majority fails to command the 
 respect and confidence of the minority, there will be evil-think- 
 ing and evil-doing that will destroy the general peace 
 and make a state of society more resembling pandemo- 
 nium than heaven. At learia each party thinks the other the 
 cause of all the difficulties which encompass the Community ; 
 it is probable that neither party is wholly right nor wholly 
 wrong, and that a wave of the Good Spirit would obliterate all 
 lines of separation and make of the Community one party, that, 
 avoiding all extremes, and combining the wisdom of prudence 
 with the wisdom of progress, would realize the highest des- 
 tiny. There are noble men and women in Icaria^and for their 
 sakes, and for the sake of the cause for whdehihey have la- 
 bored so long and endured so much, it is to be hoped that the 
 Icarians will throw to the dogs their bones of contention, send 
 home their lawyers, and strive anew for the harmony which 
 ensures every blessing to communal life. 
 
 One of the saddest phases of the Icarian strife is, that it 
 has made enemies of the same household, setting wife against 
 husband and children against parents, and widely sundered 
 ties that should have grown stronger with each succeeding 
 
ICAlilA. -,'.)■ 
 
 year. The dissolution of a Commimity is as much more serious- 
 than the dissohition of a common family as its numbers are 
 greater and its social and business interests are more com- 
 plicated. Hence the exceeding importance of careful selection 
 of material in the formation of Communities. Hence, also, 
 the imperative obligation resting on every member to strive 
 for unity and peace. The difficulty of satisfactorily and justlj 
 dividing the property of a Community is an additional induce 
 ment to the same end. The proposition of the "yoimg party" 
 at Icaria, for example, to divide the property pro-rata, seems 
 fair at first glance ; but what if one party includes the greater 
 number of those who have grown old in the service of the 
 Community, and those who are enfeebled by disease contract- 
 ed ia such service, while the other party includes most of those 
 who have been only a few years connected with the Commu- 
 nity? It is apparent that in such a case the proposed condi- 
 tions of separation might work great injustice. And probably 
 any conditions that might be proposed by either side would in 
 their application fail to secure exact justice. It is not at alP 
 Ukely that the lawyers and courts would succeed any better. 
 And indeed if Communities must dissolve from time to time, 
 as well as other organizations, they ought to find ways to get 
 along without resort to force or litigation. Far better would 
 it be to refer the whole matter to arbitrators, all obligating 
 themselves to abide by the decision. Better still to divide 
 their property themselves in the spirit manifested by the 
 founder of the Putney Community, who, when the Society 
 seemed on the eve of dissolution in consequence of external 
 .pressure, said: "//"' a division of property is necessary to 
 satisfy our enemies, I shall not be satisfied to have it done on 
 worldly, seljish principles, or merely according to lecial rights, 
 but on the principle that the strong shall help the iceak." To 
 appreciate the noble spirit which prompted these words it is. 
 
.sii AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 iiecessaiy to iTiiderstaml that the foiinder of the Putney Com- 
 munity and his wife contributed one-half of its capital, and 
 lihat many of its members brought in no property. The spirit 
 wliich can give such counsel in such circumstances will attract 
 and hold hearts, and form Communities that will withstand all 
 the jjressure that can be brought to bear upon them both 
 from within and from without. 
 
THE SHAKERS. 
 
 THE Shakers have seventeen Societies, and a total member- 
 ship of about 2.400. Each Society is divided into tvpo or 
 more Famihes, vchich are in respect to property and other mat- 
 ters distinct from one another ; so that there may be said to be 
 fifty-seven different Shaker Communities, or fifty-eight if we 
 include the Family of twenty colored persons in Philadelphia. 
 
 The Shakers first landed in the United States on the sixth 
 of August, 1774; the first settlement was commenced at 
 Watervliet in 1776 ; the first completed Community was Mt. 
 Lebanon, which began its organization in 1787. Previous to 
 1792 two Societies had been formed in New York, four in 
 Massachusetts, one in Connecticut, two in New Hampshire, 
 and two in Maine. Between 1805 and 1807 two Societies were 
 formed in Ohio, one in Indiana, and two in Kentucky. Be- 
 tween 1822 and 1827 two Societies were formed in Ohio, and 
 one in New York. The Indiana Society was broken up on 
 account of unhealthy climatic conditions, and the Tyringham 
 Society of Massachusetts more recently and for other causes. 
 
 These Societies had at one time a population of more than 
 (lijuble their present niunber, reaching an aggregate of between 
 five and six thousand souls. The largest Society is Mount 
 Lebanon, with a membership of about 375. Watervliet, N. Y., 
 XTnion Village, Ohio, and Pleasant Hill and South Union, Ky., 
 have each between two and three hundred members. Water- 
 vliet, O., Groveland, N. Y., and Shirley, Mass., are the smallest, 
 having only about fifty members each. 
 
 They aU have large home farms, ranging from one thou- 
 6 
 
S2 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 sand acres upward, and many of tliem own additional tracts of 
 land in the Western and Southern States. A single Family of 
 one of the New York Societies a few years ago bought thirty 
 thousand acres in Kentucky. It is not easy to ascertain their 
 aggregate landed, estate ; but it must nearly or quite reach 
 one hundred thousand acres. They give as reasons for not 
 making pubhc the acreage of the Societies, that they "own too 
 much land," "more than they can profitably pay taxes on." 
 They were long under the land-mania, and "bought all that 
 joined them" and a great deal that did not join them. The 
 wiser heads among them now regret their past policy in this 
 resisect. They find themselves burdened with investments 
 that yield small returns, and call themselves "land poor." 
 It is imiJOKsible for them to cultivate their entire domains. 
 They let land run to forest, selling the wood and timber, as 
 in some of the Eastern States ; make sheep-walks of large 
 tracts, as at ^It. Lebanon ; rent farms, or employ hirelings to 
 carry them on. But in no case do they get large returns from 
 the land when cultivated for ordinary farm p)urposes ; often the 
 rennuieration is very small. The case is different when they 
 can raise garden crops, seeds, medicinal herbs, etc., and market 
 the same without encountering too fierce comjjetition. I have 
 been repeatedly told that some simple branch of manufactxire, 
 employing only a few hands, gives more satisfactory returns 
 than large tracts of farm land, especially when cidtivated by 
 hireling laljor.^^ 
 
 The raising of garden seeds and medicinal herbs has been 
 carried on by most of the Shakei' Societies, and has been a 
 jn-incipal s( mrce of their wealth ; but they have also been en- 
 gaged in several mechanical industries. They still manvifac- 
 ture brooms and measures, pails and tubs, chairs and mops, 
 mats and sieves, waslung-machmes and chimney-caps, and I 
 know not liow mo.ny other things. They put up a variety of 
 
THE SHAKERS. 83 
 
 vegetable extracts, and preserve corn, tomatoes, peaches and 
 other vegetables and fruits. And their reputation for good 
 work and honest dealing is proverbial. 
 
 Of the wealth of the Shaker Societies it is impossible to 
 speak with definiteness. Nordhoff estimated the wealth of all 
 the American Communities at twelve millions. I have reason 
 to beHeve that the wealth of the Shaker Societies alone ap- 
 proximates this amount. But whatever property they possess 
 is the reward of faithful industiy and economy ; and if for any 
 reason they prefer not to make known their exact riches v>'e 
 may well content ourselves with the general fact, that their 
 Communism of property and labor has proved highly favorable 
 to financial prosperity. 
 
 The Shaker villages are generally pleasantly located, and 
 with few exceptions have a neat and thrifty look. Their 
 houses and fences are kept in good repair, and every thing is 
 in strictest order. Dixon's picture of Mt. Lebanon is a j^icture 
 of nearly every Shaker settlement from Maine to Kentucky : 
 "No Dutch town has a neater aspect, no Moravian hamlet a 
 softer hush. The streets are quiet ; for here you have no 
 grog-shop, no beer-house, no lock-up, no pound : of the dozen 
 edifices rising about you — work-rooms, barns, tabernacles, 
 stables, kitchens, schools and dormitories — not one is either 
 foul or noisy : and every building, whatever may be its use, 
 has something of the air of a chapel. The paint is all fresh; 
 the planks are all bright ; the windows are all clean. A white 
 sheen is on every thing; a happy quiet reigns around. ' 
 
 Of the origin and early history of the Shakers the briefest 
 statement will suffice. In the early part of the eighteenth 
 century arose the "French prophets," the " Sinritu'ilists " of 
 that early day. They weru subject to most remaikable mani- 
 festations, which in many respects were like those experienced 
 by modern "mediums." They had visions and revel-dtions, 
 
,s4 AMBRIOAIf COMMUNITIES. 
 
 were entranced, spoke with eloquent joower under spiritual 
 control, and were also subject to violent agitations of the 
 body. The movement of which the " French prophets " were 
 the center soon extended to other countries, and in Eng- 
 land spread far and wide. In 1747 some members of the 
 Society of Quakers, who had become subjects of this spirit- 
 uahstic revival, formed themselves into a society of which 
 Jane and James Wardley were the leaders. The members 
 were often in their meetings seized with a mighty trembling ; 
 at other times they sang their songs of praise, shouting and 
 leaping for joy ; sometimes they would be compelled to shake 
 their limbs, or run, or walk, " with a variety of other opera- 
 tions and signs, swiftly passing and repassing each other, like 
 clouds agitated with a mighty wind."* These strange exer- 
 cises gave them the appellation of Shakers, which they have 
 since borne. Of course persecution followed, which only in- 
 creased their numVjers and unity. Ann Lee joined them with 
 her parents, and soon became a prominent member, and in 
 1770, while in prison, professed to have had a great revela- 
 tion of Christ's kingdom and glory, of man's loss and the way 
 of redemption, accompanied vsdth a flow of the power of God 
 into her soul which was like a fountain of living water. From 
 that time she was acknowledged as Mother in Christ and 
 called Mother Ann; and from that time she was "able to take 
 up a full cross against all the doleful works of the flesh," and 
 especially against the great sin which caused the fall of Adam. 
 Four years later she received a revelation directing Tier to 
 come to America, where the true Christian Church would be 
 established — a revelation accompanied by such " signs, visions, 
 and extraordinary manifestations" as left no room for doubts. 
 Eight believers accompanied her, including her husband, 
 
 • " Shaker's Compendium," pp. 18-22. 
 
THE SHAKERS. 8f. 
 
 who apostatized soon after their arrival in this country. 
 The captain of the vessel on which they made the passage 
 across the Atlantic forbade their peculiar demonstrations on 
 board ; but they, fearing God rather than man, went forth in 
 the dance with songs and shoutings. The captain was enraged, 
 threatened to put them overboard, and actually proceeded to 
 carry out his threat, when, a plank starting, the ship sprung 
 a leak, and he was glad of their assistance at the pumps. 
 They were in great peril, but Mother Ann maintained her con- 
 fidence in God, and said : " Captain, be of good cheer ; there 
 shall not a hair of our heads perish ; we shall all arrive safe in 
 America." Shortly after, a wave struck the ship with great 
 violence and closed the plank into its place, which wonderful 
 circumstance was viewed by all on board as nothing less than 
 a miraculous interposition of Providence. 
 
 Arriving in New York August, 1774, Mother Ann remained 
 there for nearly two years, while most of her companions went 
 up the river to Albany ; but all were dependent for support 
 on the labor of their hands, and Mother Ann sought employ- 
 ment as a washer-woman. 
 
 In 1776 a settlement was made at Niskayuna, seven miles 
 from Albany. There they quietly remained, subduing the 
 wilderness and the flesh, until, four years later, they were 
 called, as they believe by a divine voice, to proclaim the millen- 
 nial gospel to the world. 
 
 A great revival of religion occurred at New Lebanon and in 
 towns adjacent. The people were painfully and wonderfully 
 exercised in body and soul. In their meetings loud cries were 
 heard for the Kingdom to cjme, and a powerful testimony was 
 given against aU sin. Some cried for mercy ; others felt un- 
 speakably happy. But the work was short, and when the 
 Spirit was withdrawn many were plunged in deep distress, 
 while still earnestly praying for the advent of Christ's King- 
 
S(; THE SHAKEBS. 
 
 dom. Finally, in 1780, some of those who had been engaged 
 in the revival visited Mother Ann, and were immediately con- 
 vinced that she and her followers were " in the very work for 
 which they themselves had been so earnestly praying. Others 
 soon visited the Shakers, and their fame was spread abroad. 
 Persecution followed. Mother Ann and her disciples were 
 accused of treason, and several of them, including Mother Ann 
 herself, imprisoned ; and this in turn made them more widely 
 known. 
 
 After her release, accompanied by five of her disciples she 
 made a journey to Massachusetts and Connecticut, which has 
 been described as " a triumphal tour and a march to the 
 cross." They were gone two years, and proclaimed the testi- 
 mony to many thousands who thronged to hear them, but they 
 suffered all manner of trials, and were repeatedly in danger 
 of losing their lives. 
 
 In 1784 Mother Ann died, in the forty-ninth year of her 
 age. She was succeeded in the ministry by Elder James Whit- 
 taker, and he shortly by Elder Joseph Meacham, of American 
 birth and the great organizer of Shaker Communities. Of 
 the system which he introduced and its present working, as 
 well as of the general objects and principles of Shakerism, I 
 prefer to let the Shakers speak for themselves ; and the quoted 
 paragraphs that immediately follow are taken directly from 
 their published works : 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OP SH.\KEEISM. 
 
 The Shaker Church rests upon a foundation of fom' 
 "pillars, or basic principles; these are Virgin Furity ^nA 
 Christian Gommunism ; Confession of Sin, and Separation 
 from the -loorld. 
 
 " Virgin Purity is of the utmost consequence in the 
 Shaker Life. To secure this. Confession of Sin is essential, 
 because all have sinned in a greater or less degree ; and sin of 
 
THE SHAKERS. «7 
 
 any kind defiles the spirit. Hence, to live in purity we must 
 first become pure, by removing all that defiles in thought 
 Avord and deed. In other vv^ords, whatever is contrary to the 
 pure Christ spirit or virgin character must be brought to the 
 light, and confession made thereof to God in the presence of 
 a confidential witness. 
 
 " Christian Coinuiunisin, wdiich may be shown to be ra- 
 tional, and is certainly scriptural, follows as a sequence. The 
 bond of union which unites all Shakers is spiritual and re- 
 ligious, hence unselfish. All are equal before God and one 
 another ; and, as in the institiition of the primitive Christian 
 Church, all share one interest in spiritual and temporal bless- 
 ings, according to individual needs ; — no rich, no jioor. The 
 strong bear the infirmities of the weak, and all are sustained, 
 promoting each other in Christian fellowship, as one family of 
 brethren and sisters in Christ, acknowledging God the univer- 
 sal Father and Mother, or the jDrinciple of Divine parentage. 
 
 '•But Christian Communism cannot be maintained without 
 a 8ep(iratio)i from the World. Christian Communism, based 
 upon Virginity, or Purity, with Confession of Sin as a safe- 
 guard, implies a total separation from, and antagonism to, all 
 that is worldly or non-Christian. All worldly usages, manners, 
 customs, loves and affections, which interpose between the 
 individual citizen of the heavenly kingdom and his duties and 
 privileges therein, must be abandoned. 
 
 •'True Christian Communism can exist only through the 
 principle of the Virgin Life. This exckides marriage from 
 Shakerism ; — that, being a selfish relation, cannot be incorpora- 
 ted with Communism, and does not belong to the Kesurrection 
 order, according to the words of Jesus Christ: 'For in the 
 resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage; 
 but are as the angels of God in heaven.' (Matt. "I'l: 30.) 
 
 "Marriage is not condemned in its order; but that order 
 
88 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 is of the earth, earthy, according to the text which reads, 
 ' They twain shall be one flesh ' — there is no reference to the 
 spirit in the contract. It belongs to the first Adam, not to 
 the second. 
 
 "Jesus lived the virgin life, — left the earthly order to be 
 fulfilled by those who remain on that plane. He is the Shaker 
 exemplar ; surely, to live as Jesus lived cannot be wrong. 
 
 "He taught that no man was worthy to be called his dis- 
 ciple until he would give up all to follow him, — to live as he 
 lived. And that there might be no mistake about this, we are 
 told that 'air includes father, mother, wife, children, house 
 and lands ; yea, a man's own life also. Thus a perfectly un- 
 selfish surrender was the qualification for Christian fellowship. 
 "The Shakers claim that a life based upon these principles 
 secures salvation from sin and soi^row, produces happiness here, 
 in the present existence, which increases with growth of soul 
 in the hfe beyond; and that it is the highest type of Chris- 
 tianity as taught by Jesus Christ, and revived by Ann Lee." * 
 These four princiiDles — 
 
 Virgin Purity, 
 
 Christian Gommiinisni, 
 
 Confession, 
 
 Separation from the "World, — 
 are put forth as the essential things ; but the Shakers have, 
 besides, a very comprehensive theology on such points as 
 
 The Duality of the Grodliead, 
 
 Salvation from Sin, 
 
 The Second Appearing of Christ, 
 
 The Resurrection, 
 
 The New Birth, 
 
 The Millennium, 
 
 The Judgment, etc., 
 
 * " Brief Acooimt of Shakers and Shakerism." 
 
THE SHAKKRS. 8!> 
 
 which are elaborated in large works. It is perhaps sufficient 
 here to say they behave the Deity is male and female ; that it 
 is possible to hve a sinless life ; tliat the second appearing of 
 Christ (not -Tcsiis, whom they regard as only a man) took place 
 in Mother Ann ; that there is no resurrection of the body, but 
 a progressive resurrection of the spirit ; that the new birth re- 
 quires the united influence of spiritual jjarents, in the order of 
 male and female, and as the eternal Christ in Jesus is the 
 male, so the eternal Christ in Mother Ann is the female, con- 
 stituting the father and mother of all the children of God ; 
 that the millennial reign and the final judgment have begun : 
 hence they call themselves the Millennial Church. 
 
 For a succinct ^dew of the position of the Shakers I append 
 the following statement isrejoared at tnj solicitation by a promi- 
 nent member of their body : 
 
 " Our interpretation of Shakerism is, that it is not only a 
 condemning testimony to the perversions of human passions 
 and the commonly acknowledged ii-orldJy fivlU, such as are 
 enumerated in Galatians 5 : 19-21, but it denies the practice 
 of much vorhlh/ good which Judaism recommended, and for 
 which Jesus only expressed admiration. In this latter class 
 may be included marriage, war, retaliatifjns, private property, 
 and many worldly Judaical honors and practices. The Shak- 
 ers pi'onounce these all good under Judaism, but very wrong-, 
 imj^ossible, for Christians to practice. While marriage and 
 reproduction are excellent institutions under Judaism, virgin 
 celibacy alone is recognized as the jjossible life of a Christian, 
 and that there never was, nor can )je, a child conceived and 
 bom under Christian auspices. War is permitted for Jews 
 and heathen, but not even a retaliation for an injury done is 
 admissible under Jesus, but rather in all things giving the kiss 
 for the blow. Following mxrriage and reproduction, private 
 property for the sustenance of the family was recommended 
 
■!I0 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 by Judaism ; restricted, however, by regulations which allowed 
 none to become inordinately rich while some were made inor- 
 dinately poor. The gospel of Jesus overtops Judaism by the 
 greater excellence of its principles. It proclaims universal 
 brotherhood, a common interest among all 'who do the will of 
 the Father.' The Shakers have given more cause of offense 
 because of their unwillingness to practice irorhUy good than 
 from any denunciation of irorldly cvU.s." 
 
 KULES WHICH GOVERN THE ADMISSION OF MEMBERS TO 
 SHAKER SOCIETIES. 
 
 ''1. All persons who unite with this Society, in any degree, 
 must do it freely and voluntarily, according to their own faith 
 and unbiased judgment. 
 
 " 2. In the testimony of the Society, both public and pri- 
 vate, no flattery or any undue influence is used ; but the 
 most plain and explicit statements of its faith and principles 
 are laid before the inquirer : so that the whole ground may be 
 •comprehended, as far as jiossible, by every candidate for 
 admission. 
 
 "3. No considerations of property are ever made use of 
 by this Society to induce any person to join it, nor to prevent 
 any person from leaving it. 
 
 "4. No believing husband or wife is allowed, by the prin- 
 'ciples of this Society, to separate from an unbelieving partper, 
 ■excej^t by mutual agreement ; unless the conduct of the unbe- 
 liever be such as to warrant a separation by the laws of God 
 and man. Nor can any husband or wife who has otherwise 
 abandoned his or lier partner be received into communion with 
 the Society. 
 
 " 5. Any j^erson becoming a member must rectify all his 
 Avrongs, and as fast and as far as it is in his power discharge 
 all just and legal claims, whether of creditors or filial heirs. 
 ^or can any person not conforming to this rule long remain 
 
THE SHAKERS. 'Jl 
 
 ill union wth tlie Society. But the Society is not responsi- 
 ble for the debts of individuals before nor after they become 
 members, except by agreement; because such responsibihty 
 would involve a principle niinous to the institution. 
 
 "6. It is an established principle in the Society, that 
 cliildreii who are faithful and obedient to their parents until 
 they become of age are justly entitled to their equal portion 
 of the estate of their parents, whether they continue with 
 the Society or not. 
 
 " 7. If an unbeUeving wife separate from a believing hus- 
 band by agreement, the husband must give her a just and 
 reasonable share of the property; and if they have children 
 who have arrived at years of understanding sufficient to judge 
 for themselves, and who choose to go with their mother, they 
 are not to be disinherited on that account. " 
 
 THE DIFFERENT ORDEBS. 
 
 The Shaker Societies are divided each into two or more 
 branches, commonly called Families. This division is generally 
 "made for the sake of convenience, and is often rendered 
 necessary on account of local situation and occurrent circum- 
 stances ; but the proper division and arrangement of the 
 Community, without respect to local situation, is into three 
 Classes, or jirogressive degrees of Order, as follows : 
 
 "The first, or Xocltinte C'/atm, are those who receive faith, 
 and come into a degree of relation with the Society, but 
 choose to live in their own families, and manage their own 
 temporal coneemB. Any who choose may live in this manner, 
 and be owned as brethren and sisters in the gospel, so long 
 as they Uve up to its requirements. 
 
 "Believers of this class are not controlled by the Society, 
 either with regard to their property, children, or families ; but 
 act as freely in all these respects as the members of any other 
 religious Society, and still enjoy all their spiritual privileges, 
 
9a AMERICAN COMMUNITIEti. 
 
 and maintain their union with the Society; provided they do 
 not violate the faith, and the moral and religious principles of 
 the institution. 
 
 "The second, or Junior Class, is composed of persons 
 who, not having the charg-e of families, and being under no 
 embarrassments to hinder them from uniting together in 
 Community order, choose to enjoy the benefits of that sit- 
 uation. These (for mutual safety) enter into a contract to 
 devote their services freely to support the interest of the 
 Family of which they are members, so long as they continue 
 in that order ; stipulating at the same time to claim no pe- 
 cuniary compensation for their services ; and all the members 
 of such Families are mutually benefited by the united interest 
 and labors of the whole Family, so long as they continue to 
 support the order thereof ; and they are amply provided for 
 in health, sickness, and old age. These benefits are secured 
 to them by contract. 
 
 " Members of this class have the privilege, at their option, 
 by contract, to give freely the improvement of any part or all 
 of their projoerty, to be used for the mutual benefit of the 
 Family to which they belong. The property itself may be re- 
 sumed at any time, according to the contract ; but no interest 
 can be claimed for the u.se thereof ; nor can any member of 
 such Family be employed therein for wages of any kind. 
 Members of this class may retain the lawful ownership of all 
 their own property, as long as they think it proper, and 
 choose so to do; but at any time, after having gained suffi- 
 cient experience to be able to act deliberately and understand- 
 ingiyj they may, if they choose, dedicate and devote a part, or 
 the whole, and consecrate it forever to the support of the in- 
 stitution. But this is a matter of free choice. 
 
 "The third, or iSenior C'I<t>is, is composed of such persons 
 as have had sufficient time and opportunity jDractically to 
 
THE ISMAKERS. ;i:j 
 
 prove the faith and manner of hfe practiced in the Society, 
 and are thus prepared to enter fully, freely and voluntarily 
 into a united and consecrated interest. These covenant and 
 agree to dedicate and devote themselves and services, with all 
 that they possess, to the service of God and the support of 
 the gospel forever, solemnly promising never to bring debt 
 nor damage, claim nor demand, against the Society, nor 
 against any member thereof, for any property or service 
 which they have thus devoted to the uses and purposes of the 
 institution. This class constitutes what is called the Church 
 Order. 
 
 " To enter fully into this order is considered by the 
 Society to be a matter of the utmost importance to the parties 
 concerned, and therefore requires the most mature and de- 
 liberate consideration ; for, after having made such a dedica- 
 tion, according to the laws of justice and equity, there can be 
 no ground for retraction. Nor can they, by those laws, re- 
 cover any thing whatever which has been thus dedicated. 
 Of this all are fully apprised before entering into the contract. 
 Tet should any afterwards withdraw, the Trustees have 
 discretionary power to bestow upon them whatever may be 
 thought reasonable, not on the groiind of any just or legal 
 claim, but merely as an act of charity. No person, however, 
 who withdraws peaceably is sent away emj)ty." * 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 "The Ministry, who are the central executive of the 
 whole order, consist of two brethren and two sisters : and 
 every regularly organized Community or Family in a Society 
 have two elder brethren and two elder sisters, who have the 
 charge of the spiritual affairs ; also two deacons and two 
 deaconesses, who have the care of the tenqioralities. All 
 
 • " Brief ExpoBition of the Ertablislied PrinciplcB and Rcgiilatious of the Unitcnl 
 Society of Believers." 
 
;»4 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 other positions of care and trust are filled, after the same 
 dual order."* The Ministry at Mt. Lebanon is called the 
 Head of Influence, and is sovereign over all the Shaker Com- 
 munities wherever located. It is composed of four persons, 
 but one of the four is preeminent; the other three are his 
 advisers. He may depose any of them, and may appoint his 
 own successor. The deacons and deaconesses are subordinate 
 to the elders and eldresses, as the latter are to the Ministry. 
 Throughout the whole Society, the inferiors report to the su- 
 periors. Authority is transmitted from the head down, and 
 one rank obeys another. 
 
 From the presentation already made it will be seen that 
 the Shakers have had able leaders, with clearly defined princi- 
 ples, and that they have elaborated a thorough system of 
 organization. That this system has been effective for nearly 
 a century in holding thousands of people together in unity, 
 and in producing industry, temperance, honesty, and all the 
 common Virtues, is known wherever their name has gone in 
 all the world. And who can estimate the value of their 
 example in Christian Communism ? As the author of the 
 "History of American Socialisms" has pointed out, the 
 world is more indebted to the Shakers than to all other 
 social architects of modern times ; their success having been 
 the " specie basis " that has upheld all the paper theories, and 
 counteracted the failures of the French and Enghsh schools. 
 Their example has, indeed, encouraged every effort at Com- 
 munism in this country and in Europe which has been at- 
 tempted since the walls of their Zion were laid at Mt. 
 Lebanon in 1787. 
 
 Nor have their great successes been achieved without the 
 usual accompaniments of hardships, privations, and persecu- 
 
 * '* Shaker's Compendium." 
 
THE SUAKEKS. 9r. 
 
 tion. We have seen how Mother Ann and her first followers, 
 after their arrival ia this country, labored at menial employ- 
 ments, were imprisoned without cause, and received all 
 manner of personal abuse, and how even their hves were in 
 jeopardy. And after they began their first settlement at 
 Wateiwhet, New York, they were reduced to great extremities. 
 We are told that they toiled so hard and fared so poorly 
 that they came to look hke walking skeletons ; that ■' at 
 one season their breakfast consisted only of a small bowl of 
 milk-porridge for each, and their supper was the same. For 
 dinner, in adchtion to the bowl of porridge, they had a piece of 
 cake two and a-half inches square. One day two of the breth- 
 ren went to the river to catch herring, and one of them was so 
 pressed with hunger that he ate, wliile yet raw, the first two 
 fish he caught ! Their house-room was also limited. They 
 had but Uttle convenience for lodging, and were obhged to 
 sleep upon the floor of their apartment. Some few had a 
 blanket to cover them ; others had none." 
 
 And of i^ersecution, for the first half century of their ex- 
 istence at least, they had their full share, At Lebanon, Ohio, 
 their houses were beset at night ; their windows broken ; their 
 persons assaulted mth clubs and stones ; their fences thrown 
 down : cattle were turned into their grain-fields ; their fruit- 
 tret s cut and mangled ; their horses cropped and otherwise 
 disfigured ; their barns and stables, containing their stores of 
 hay and grain, burned, as also their jolace of worship. " Le- 
 gal prosecutions were instituted upon frivolous pretenses ; 
 petitions drawn up, subscribed ind laid before the legislature ; 
 and finally, to insure success to their measures, subscription 
 papers, accompanied by malicious reports, and enforced 
 by inflammatory speeches, were industriously circulated 
 with a view to raise offenses sufficient to expel the be- 
 lievers from the cormtry." And in fact a body of five- 
 
!)« AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 hundred armed men, aecompanied by a miscellaneous crowd 
 estimated at fifteen hundred, appeared before the principal 
 dwelling of the Shakers, and demanded that the Society 
 should relinquish their principles and practices, mode of 
 worship and manner of living, or quit the country. But the 
 "calm, peaceable, harmless deportment" of the Shakers had 
 such a quieting effect upon the visitors that they finally left 
 without committing any abuse. What wonder that the be- 
 lievers recognized the " mighty hand " in their dehverance ! 
 
 The Shaker Societies, beginning with Mount Lebanon, have 
 been the fruits of revivals. Upon revivals the Shakers still 
 place their chief reliance for an increase of membership, which 
 shall fill their large homes with new life and give new pros- 
 perity to all their enterprises. Their connection with the 
 Kentucky revival was brought about in so singular a manner 
 that I will briefly state the facts as they are recorded in Shaker 
 books. Shortly before her death Mother Ann had said, 
 ''The next opening of the Gospel will be in the southwest; it 
 will be at a great distance, and there will be a great work of 
 God." Remembering these words her followers were ex- 
 pectant, and when reports came to them of the revival in 
 progress in the far-off States of Kentucky and Ohio, the 
 Society at Mount Lebanon sent three messengers — John 
 Meacham, Benjamin S. Youngs and Issachar Bates — to ujien 
 the testimony of salvation and of the second coming. They 
 set out on the first day of January, 1805, and made a foot 
 journey of more than a thousand miles, in obedience to what 
 seemed to them a divine call. Their message was first opened 
 in Kentucky ; bxit their great work really commenced in Ohio. 
 Guided, as they believed, by Providence, they came to the 
 house of Malcham Worley, in the town of Lebanon — -a man 
 of wealth and education, who had been a leader in the great 
 revival. Worley received the messengers almost as angels of 
 
THE SHAKERS. 97 
 
 Grod. From this spot the work spread into the neighboring 
 States of Kentucky and Indiana, and resulted in the formation 
 of the several Societies. 
 
 The Shakers are Spiritualists, and had " manifestations" 
 in all their Societies, Tv-ith mediums by the dozen, long before 
 the "Rochester knockings " were heard of. They appear to 
 have received them at iirst with great credulity, in some cases 
 verily believing their mediums uttered the words of the Lord 
 Jehovah. The more violent spirii^demonstrations left the So- 
 cieties in 1844, but to this day they hold communion with 
 departed spirits, receiving almost daily "hymns and spiritual 
 songs " from them ; but they have learned to " try the spirits." 
 
 Intense religious earnestness has been the distinguish- 
 ing characteristic of the Shakers, as a body, during their 
 entire history ; and this fact must be borne in mind in consid- 
 ering the regulations and customs controlling their practical 
 life, some of which are repugnant to common ideas of uidi\dd- 
 ual Hberty. 
 
 It is a rule in all Shaker Societies that the members 
 shall rise simultaneously at the ringing of the bell, which 
 in the summer is at half-past four, and in the winter at five ; 
 and that breakfast shall be an hour and a half after rising ; 
 dinner at twelve ; supi^er at six, except on Sunday, when the 
 Shakers rise and breakfast half an hour later, dine lightly at 
 twelve, and sup at four. 
 
 A large bell always rings a few moments before meal-time. 
 The brothers and sisters eat apart from each other. Enter- 
 ing the dining-room at separate doors they "quietly arrange 
 themselves near their respective places at the table ; then all 
 simultaneously kneel in silent thanks for a few moments, then 
 rise and seat themselves noiselessly at table. No talking, 
 laughing, or whispering is allowed while thus partaking of 
 God's blessings- After eating, all rise together at the signal 
 7 
 
98 AM S RIO AN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 of the first elder, kneel as before, and leave the room as 
 quietly as they entered, going directly to their labor." 
 
 A brother and sister must not pass each other upon the 
 stairs. 
 
 The brethren and sisters must not visit each other's rooms 
 except to attend "union meetings" or for some errand of 
 business. 
 
 A brother and sister must not converse together except in 
 presence of a third party — a rule that does not, however, pre- 
 vent an occasional word in passing each other. 
 
 A male member must obtain the consent of the elder, and 
 a female member of the eldress, before leaving the premises 
 of the Family where he or she lives. Without this consent 
 one cannot go from one Family to another, no matter how 
 short the distance. The Trustee is excepted from this rule, 
 but he must not absent himself from his Family over night 
 without the consent of his elder. 
 
 Confession must be made to the elders, not only of one's 
 past life when he joins the Society, but of all subsequent 
 wrong-doing ; and "whoever yields enough to the evil tempter 
 to gratify in the least degree the sensual passion, in deed, 
 word, or thought, must confess honestly the same to his 
 elders ere the sun of another day shall set."* 
 
 The dress of both males and females must be plain and 
 without ornamentation, and must conform to established 
 rides. 
 
 All who are able must labor a certain mmaber of hours 
 daily, and must subordinate their own wishes respecting 
 choice of industries to the general interest of the Society as 
 expressed through its officers. 
 
 No one can absent himself from meeting without permis- 
 sion of his sixperiors. 
 
 * Hervey Elkinn' " Fifteen Years in the Sf nior Order of the Shalters." 
 
THE SHAKERS. n!> 
 
 One must submit his amusements and even his reading to 
 the dictation of superiors, who may also, if they choose, in- 
 spect all personal correspondence. 
 
 But many regulations which were once rigidly enforced 
 have either been modified or dropped altogether. There is less 
 restriction than formerly regarding the use of books published 
 outside of the Societies; more freedom in conversation and 
 fraternal intercourse; the beard may be worn, once strictly 
 foj'bidden ; instrumental music is now heard in nearly every 
 Shaker Community; flowers are in some Families cultivated 
 for their beauty and fragrance ; even the drees of the Shakers 
 has undergone important changes. Thirty years ago the 
 following dress regulations, Elldns says, were observed ia all 
 the Societies : 
 
 "Hats drab, crown 4 1-2 inches high, rim 4 to 5 inches in 
 width, according to the wearer's breadth of shoulders. All 
 woolen gai-ments for winter use, with the exception of panta- 
 loons, shall be of brownish-di-ab ; pantaloons of a reddish- 
 brown or claret ; summer vests of a light blue ; summer 
 pantaloons striped blue and white. Females' winter-dress, 
 wine colored alapaca, drugget or worsted; capuchins drab; 
 riding-cloaks deep blue ; caps white muslin, and bordered vsdth 
 lace, not crimped, but smooth and starched stiff; Vandykes 
 of the same material; scarfs, white muslin or white silk; 
 bonnets of a cylindrical, ungula shape, lined with white silk, 
 and furnished with a veil of white lace; shoes high-heeled, 
 similar to those worn by females half a centui-y ago. Summer 
 dress, white muslin or very light striped." 
 
 No one would at the present time mistake a Shaker or 
 Shakeress in costume for a Gentile ; bvit the close observer 
 would detect many departures from the old regulation- 
 standard ; and these departures are always in the direction of 
 simpUcity and good taste. You may be sure a Shaker will 
 never change his dress for the sake of conforming to 
 fashion; if he changes at all it will be because he has fully 
 
10(j AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 ■satisfied liimself that the change will be an improvement. 
 Once -'no image or portrait of any thing upon the earth 
 or under the earth" was suffered to exist in any Society.. 
 Now photographs are occasionally taken of the members, 
 but this kind of picture-making is not encouraged by the 
 elders, as it might tend to vanity and idolatry. 
 
 In matters of diet great modifications have taken place, 
 especially in the Eastern Societies, for which, I think, Elder 
 Evans of Mount Lebanon deserves especial credit. He has 
 labored zealously to leaven the entire Order with hygienic 
 wisdom on the subject of food, ventilation, drainage, etc.; and 
 he enforces his exhortations with the irresistible logic of 
 facts. Since he began to give attention to sanitary conditions 
 in his Family at Moimt Lebanon the di-ug-store has disap- 
 peared and sickness become an unusual thing. Pork is not 
 eaiten in any of the Societies ; and at Lebanon, and I think 
 in some other Societies, a hygienic table is set for those who 
 prefer that their bread and mush should be made of unbolted 
 flour, their food lightly seasoned, and that no meat should 
 be set before them. 
 
 Temperance is luiiversally practiced^ 
 
 Tobacco is used by a few aged members, but is likely to 
 soon disappear from every Shaker settlement. 
 
 Some of the Societies are well furnished with bathing 
 facilities, and in one Family that great luxury and health- 
 agent, the Turkish bath, has been recently introduced. 
 
 I think, too, that important changes have taken place in 
 the intei-nal character of Shakerism ; that its leaders are more 
 liberal and more tolerant than they were a quarter of a century 
 ago ; and that they are more ready to see good in other sys- 
 tems, and less prompt to condemn what does not accord with 
 their own. It is also obvious that there is a grovsdng party of 
 progressives among the Shakers — men and women who, while 
 
THE SHAKERS. XOl 
 
 firmly adhering to all that is deemed essential in the system,, 
 think it desirable that all non-essentials that stand in the 
 way of genuine progress and culture should be modified or 
 abolished. 
 
 It is a common charge against the Shaker system that 
 its regulations and restrictions are unfavorable to individual 
 development. On this point my observation has led me to 
 the following conclusion : The conditions of communal 
 life existing in Shaker Societies do certainly tend to the 
 development of some high qualities of character, such as 
 obedience, resignation, loyalty, earnestness. Moreover, they 
 are favorable to the development of the talents which are 
 exercised in mechanical invention ; and the Shakers claim, 
 and apparently with good reason, to have contributed to 
 general society quite a number of its most useful inven- 
 tions anil mechanical improvements, such as the com 
 broom, tongue-and-groove machinery, cut nails, Babbitt- 
 metal, an improved washing-machine, an improved lathe, a 
 pea-sheller, mowing- and reaping-machines, etc. But, on the 
 other hand, it has appeared to me that the Shaker system 
 tends to produce two distinctly marked classes ; and that 
 while one of them — ihe governing class, which holds the 
 temj^oral and spiritiral keys — has more than an average 
 amoiuit of shrewd good sense and thinking capacity, the 
 other — the .governed class, composed of the rank-and-file — 
 does not compare favorably with the first in culture and 
 general intelligence. 
 
 Except as revivals occasionally bring them converts, the 
 Shakers have to depend for their members, in great part, upon 
 the unfortimate people who flock to them for homes when 
 they find the struggle for existence too hard for them ; and 
 upon orphans and the children of poor people, glad to put 
 -their little ones where they will have enough to eat and. wear, 
 
102 AMEMICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 and be brought up in habits of strict morality. From such 
 material they have to select the most intelligent for the posts 
 of responsibility ; and there is necessarily a remnant that 
 need a great deal of govemiag. The wonder is that under 
 such circumstances they develop so many really superior men 
 and women. But still the question remains whether their 
 system does not make too great a distinction of classes — 
 whether even in a theocratic form of government like that of 
 the Shakers it is not best to so conduct affairs that every one 
 shall feel, not only that he is personally interested in the 
 general prosperity, but that he contributes to it according to 
 the measure of his ability. Among the Shakers, questions re- 
 lating to business, for instance, are not discussed ic. general 
 assembly, but among the leaders only, others being subject to 
 consultation at their option. Nordhoff in his work described 
 a departure which had been made at Union Village, Ohio, in 
 this respect He said that "in the Church Family once a 
 week all the members — male and female, young and old — 
 were gathered to overhaul the accounts of the week and to 
 discuss all the industrial occupations of the Family ; " and he 
 added that "these weekly meetings were found to give the 
 younger members a greater interest in the Society." This 
 was a step in the right direction ; and I was sorry to learn 
 •on visiting Union Village that the weekly meetings had 
 been discontinued. The easiest way to manage a Community 
 is to perfect the machinery of government, and let a few 
 smart persons run it ; but it is not the best way to develop 
 the individual mambars and draw out their enthusiasm. 
 
 But if there is a ruling class in Shakerdom, they do not 
 exempt themselves from labor, or play the "nabob" in matters 
 of dress and luxury. The following rule is strictly applied to 
 every member, high or low: "No one who is able to labor 
 can be permitted to live idly upon the labors of others. All, 
 
THE SHAKERS. W.'. 
 
 including ministers, elders and deacons, are required to be 
 employed in some manual occupation, according to their 
 several abilities, when not engaged in other necessary duties." 
 The highest officials work with their hands, as well as the 
 members last received into the fold. 
 
 I have spoken of the leaders of the Shaker Societies as men 
 and women of superior ability. This is shown by their sys- 
 tem of organization and principles, and by their successful 
 administration. It is also shown by their hterature, which 
 includes a large niunber of works ; and those who would thor- 
 oughly acquaint themselves with Shakerism should at least 
 read the following : " The Shakers' Compendium," by F. W. 
 Evans; "Dimlavy's Manifesto;" "A Summary View of the 
 IVIUlennial Church ; " " The Testimony of Christ's Second 
 Appearing." For a few years past the Order have pubhshed a 
 monthly paper, its present title being 2'he Shaker Manifesto, 
 which is ably edited by Elder George Albert Lcmas of the 
 "Watervliet Society. 
 
 The central Ministry at Mount Lebanon, which, besides 
 having a general oversight of all the Societies, has especial 
 charge of the New York Societies, is now composed of the 
 following persons : Daniel Boler, Giles B. Avery, Eliza Ann 
 Taylor and Polly Reed. Elder Evans and Eldress Antoinette 
 DooHttle, who preside over the North or Receiving Family of 
 the same Society, are better kno\\Ti than the Ministry itself, as 
 they are more often broiight jjrominently before the public. 
 Of the Hancock (Mass.) and Enfield (Conn.) Bishopric, 
 Thomas Damon is first Minister ; of Canterbury and Enfield 
 (N. H.), James S. Kaime ; of Harvard and Shirley (Mass.), 
 John Whitely ; of Alfred and Gloucester (Maine), Otis Saw- 
 yer ; of Union Village, North Union, Whitewater and Water- 
 vliet (Ohio), Wm. Reynolds ; of South Union (Ky.), H. L. 
 Eades; of Pleasant Hill (Ky.), Benjamin B. Dunlavy. These 
 
104 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 are all men of more than average ability ; but there are many, 
 very many others, who as thinkers, writers, speakers, and per- 
 sons of marked capacity, would deservedly stand high in 
 any society. 
 
 The women of the Shaker Societies claim to be fully eman- 
 cipated — to have equal rights with the men in all respects. 
 The Shaker government is dual in all its departments and 
 offices. The women appear to have as much influence and 
 voice as the men ; a woman founded the organization, and a 
 woman held its first office for twenty-five years during itfe 
 greatest period of prosperity ; women are as free as men to 
 speak in their meetings ; women are as free as men to write 
 for their paper ; women manage their own departments of 
 industry independently of the men. 
 
 The Shakers themselves are persuaded that the celibate 
 condition is superior to any other and raises them above 
 the worldly or generative j^lane. That every human passion 
 may be exercised in the spirit of purity they have not 
 yet learned ; and we must respect their earnest efforts to 
 separate themselves from every fleshly temptation that they 
 may lead sinless lives. It is proper to repeat in this con- 
 nection that they do not wholly condemn marriage, as many 
 people suppose, bu.t, on the contraiy, admit that it is a natural 
 and proper relation for those who have not been called to the 
 higher or resurrection order. Their position respecting both 
 marriage and celibacy is well described by H. L. Eades, the 
 able Minister of the South Union Society of Kentucky, when 
 he says: "We Shakers are up-stairs, above the rudimental 
 state of man, which is the generative. The other Commu- 
 nities are down-stairs — still in the rudimental. "VYe are not 
 of that group. Our work is chiefly for the soul and in the 
 soul-world, all externals being merely incidental, whether there 
 are many or few at any given point in space. Theirs is mainly 
 
THE SHAKERS. 105 
 
 for the body combined with the intellect; they labor for 
 then- special improvement, comfort, gratification and pleasure 
 AH well enough on the lower (not the lowest) floor, but 
 whereon no one can be a Christian, because Christ was not 
 there; while these things with us are ignored or held in 
 abeyance to the spu-it-dictation, in obedience to the teaching 
 and example of Christ." The Shakers, according to Elder 
 Eades, recognize three conditions or three stories — the second 
 floor, first floor, and basement or "lowest floor ;" and that it 
 is all right for those who occupy the first floor to multiply 
 their kind, but not right for those living in the basement, 
 because they are too degraded in body and mind ; and not right 
 for those living np-stairs or on the second floor, because they 
 have been called to flee from the flesh -s^ith all its affections 
 and lusts. Now it is conceivable that the house should have 
 more than two stories and a basement ; that there should be 
 at least a thii-d story, in which love and parentage are exer- 
 cised withoTit sensuality or idolatry, and in the spirit of true 
 science for the good of humanity. If the Shakers could 
 recognize the truth that the exercise of any function in the 
 spirit of purity is not only better than its exercise in sen- 
 suahty, but better than its di.vii«\ they might find themselves 
 going up-stairs again ! 
 
 Celibacy is thought by many to be less favorable to health 
 than marriage. If this be true it only proves that the general 
 conditions of Communism are greatly superior to those of 
 commc m society, for the Shakers are unusally long-lived even 
 for Communists. The eightieth year is often reached, and 
 some Uve far past the ninetieth. 
 
 But celibacy, as illustrated in the Shaker Societies, is 
 expensive and uneconomical in many resi^ects. It necessitates 
 many and large buildings. There must be rooms for the 
 brothers to occupy before their meals, and similar rooms for 
 
1W> AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 the sisters ; there must be an assembly-room at each Family 
 large enough for their marching exercises in worship, with 
 brothers' and sisters' retiring-rooms adjoining ; there must 
 be smaller rooms for "union meetings;" there must be 
 sisters' work-rooms ; there must be commodious private rooms 
 fox the members ; there must be separate work-shops for the 
 l)rothers and the sisters ; there must be a church where the 
 different Families constituting a Society can assemble for 
 worship ; and so on. Of course the burden of taking 
 care of the buildings falls more heavily on the sisters at the 
 present time than formerly; for the Societies have nearly or 
 quite as many buildings as they had when their present 
 membership was doubled, and they had fewer disabled from 
 active service. Occasionally a Family is given up and the care 
 of a half-score or score of buildings saved. {Moral to new 
 Coi7imunities : Think long before increasing the number of 
 your buildings ; for every addition, beyond the necessities of 
 comfort and health, not only ties up your capital, but lessens 
 youi- power of productive indiistry.) 
 
 Celibacy places the Shakers at a disadvantage in respect 
 to the increase of their numbers. They have to face the 
 fact that they, like all the other celibate Communities, are 
 rapidly declining. Every year sees their nvunbers diminished. 
 Some of their villages have a half-deserted aspect. In nearly 
 every one of their Societies there is a great preponderance of 
 aged people. Of the thousands of children they have 
 adopted few have remained among them after they reached 
 maturity. "Since I came to this place, forty-nine years ago," 
 said an Elder at North Union, "we have taken in young peo- 
 ple enough to make a continuous Une half a mile long ; and I 
 alone remain." "Out of eighty boys that went to school, in 
 the course of five winters, with myself," says a recent seceder 
 from the Hancock Society, "not one besides myself remained 
 
THE SHAKERS. 107 
 
 till he was twenty years old." The Shakers themselves are as 
 well aware of their present lack of prosperity as their outside 
 friends and critics; but they stand true to their principles and 
 calling, and leave the rest to God. And if the homes they 
 have made are not strong enough to hold their young people 
 at the age when the world and the flesh offer the strongest 
 inducements, they are yet warm enough with love and friend- 
 ship and the presence of the Good Spirit to induce many wan- 
 derers from their circle to return, to find the contentment and 
 rest they have sought elsewhere in vain. The story of many 
 an hrunble Shaker would be full of instruction could it be 
 written. I recall one that seemed to me to be of thrilling 
 interest as I Hstened to its recital. Taken among the Shakers 
 by his parents when a small boy, our hero had run away after 
 some years — gone on to the lakes — gone into the far west and 
 south — attached himself to a United States surveying and ex- 
 ploring party — married— lived among the Chippewas and other 
 Indian tribes for years, until he learned their language and 
 ways of life — until a life of roving and hunting, with its perils 
 and excitements, its songs and camp-fires, was far more 
 attractive to him than civihzed life with all its artificial 
 accessories — returning after twenty years to the home of 
 self-denial and peace he had fled from in his youth, satisfied 
 that it is the best place on earth for those who prefer 
 the joys of the spirit to the vexations of the flesh. Singu- 
 larly enough, his father, whose grave he pointed out among 
 the evergreens, had had a similar experience — running away 
 when a young man and the flesh was strong, and returning 
 to mature in spirit for the hereafter. There is indeed, said 
 my Shaker friend, 
 
 "A divinity that shapes our ends, 
 Rough-hew them how we will." 
 
 The Shakers have had thousands of secessions, and 
 
108 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 many diffi3ulties with seceders. These have from time to 
 time been carried into the courts ; and, as in the case of the 
 Harmonists and Separatists, the result of trials at law' has 
 been to establish the following points, as epitomized by Judge 
 Towner : 
 
 " 1st. That Community contracts are not against public 
 policy, nor contrary to any principle of law or morals. 
 
 "2d. That they are not in derogation of the inalienable 
 right of hberty of conscience, but are really an exercise of 
 that right. 
 
 " 3d. That they are supported by a good and sufficient con- 
 sideration, viz., one's support, etc., from the common fund 
 while a member. 
 
 " 4th. That they are maintainable and should be supported 
 on the principles of the law of trusts and charitable uses as 
 administered by courts of chancery. 
 
 " 5th. That^in adopting community of property persons are 
 but following the example of the Apostles and adopting a rvde 
 ordained by them. Though this point might be claimed to be 
 an obiter dictum, it is sustained by judges of the standing and 
 fame of Justice McLean of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States and Chief Justice Gibson of the Supreme Court of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 " 6th. That if such contract were illegal and void, a party 
 to it could have no recovery against othei'S, on the principle 
 that they are m pari ddinto, and the law leaves them where it 
 finds them." 
 
 In Ohio the Society at Union Village had a great lawsuit 
 long ago which settled the question whether persons can 
 bequeath their property to a Commimity. Malcham Worley 
 had left his property to that Society. His relatives set up the 
 plea of insanity. The celebrated Tom Corwih appeared as 
 
THE SBAKEIiS. 109 
 
 counsel for the Shakers. "George Fox," he said, "wore 
 leather breeches and did many eccentric things ; Martin 
 Luther thi'ew his inkstand at the devil ; but the Quakers will 
 not admit that George Fox was crazy, and Protestants will not 
 admit than Martin Luther was crazy ; neither can it be allowed 
 that Malcham Worley was crazy, becaiise by a deed drawn by 
 himself he chose to give his property to this peculiar people !" 
 The Shaker Families are examples of complete Commu- 
 nism, so far as the principle of cehbacy permits. There is in 
 them no combination of familism and Communism as in most 
 of the Societies described in this work. And in their house- 
 hold industries, as well as in their jDrinciijal businesses, they 
 take great advantage of the principle of combination. Their 
 bakeries, laundries, dairies, etc., are often models in this re- 
 spect. The Communism of the Shakers does not, however, 
 extend to different Families, except at Pleasant Hill, where 
 the three central Families own their property together. One 
 would supjDose that at least the property of one Society, 
 whether composed of one or ten Families, would be considered 
 the common property of that Society. The Shakers them- 
 selves will say the property is more easily managed thus divi- 
 ded, and that in case of great loss by one Family the others 
 help bear the burden. Thus I was told that a single Family 
 contributed $3,000 toward the new dwelling of the Church 
 Family at New Lebanon ; and I have understood that the ex- 
 pense of publishing the organ of the Shakers is shared by all 
 the Societies. But their divided interest results in inequalities, 
 some Famihes and Societies having much more wealth than 
 others. 
 
 The worship of the Shakers has always attracted much 
 attention, and deservedly so. I attended several Shaker meet- 
 ings at different places, and always with pleasure and in-ofit. 
 
110 AMERICAN GOMMUNITIEK 
 
 The following sketch was written after a visit to the Canterbury 
 Society in New Hampshire : 
 
 SHAKEB WORSHIP. 
 
 How Conducted — Speeches — Songs and Marches — the Religious 
 
 Element in Communities. 
 
 Shaker Village, N. 11., June 12, 1876. 
 
 I AM not a Shaker, believing there is a better way, and am 
 quite ready to see the Shakers' faults, as will duly appear ; but 
 for all that I will speak of the good I find. It has taken a 
 century to live dovsoi the lies that have been told about them, 
 and a good omen for Socialism is it that they are likely to have 
 fairer play the next hundred years. Howells' article in the 
 June Atlantic gives them a good send-off. It by no means 
 tells the entire truth ; but it does proclaim to a vast audience 
 that this people, once so despised, persecuted and belied, are 
 worthy examples in many respects to the whole Christian 
 world. 
 
 Howells' account of their worshi2) is indeed the most satis- 
 factory of any that I have read. It makes the reader feel in a 
 degree how sincere and earnest these consecrated people are. 
 I say in a degree ; for it is impossible for one not in spiritual 
 accord with them to fully depict in words the meetings of the 
 Shakers. 
 
 The Shakers have gatherings of some sort nearly every 
 evening. Three evenings in the week are generally set apart 
 for "union meetings." For these the brethren and sisters, 
 from ten to twenty in number, as the case may be, come 
 together either in the brothers' rooms or in rooms especially 
 provided for the purpose, forming two ranks, the sexes 
 sitting opposite each other; and spend an hour in conver- 
 sation, or reading, or singing, as they choose. Only the 
 Sunday meetings, in which all the Families of a Society take 
 part, are open to the public ; and that part of the public living 
 
THE SHAKERS. m 
 
 within ten miles of this village fully appreciates its privileges; 
 in this respect. At the meeting here yesterday there v?ere at 
 least two hundred strangers and visitors present. I am in- 
 formed that during the summer months this number is some- 
 times doubled, compelling most of the Shaker brothers and sis- 
 ters to absent themselves ; and that those who are present are 
 often crowded into such close quarters that their "goings 
 forth in the dance " are necessarily omitted. The meet- 
 ings here are indeed wonderfully attractive. Thirty-seven 
 carriages came yesterday from the towns near and distant, and, 
 many people on foot. Probably the greater nmnber attend 
 the meetings from mere curiosity ; but some doubtless find 
 in them spiritual nutriment. 
 
 Yesterday there were present about thirty Shaker brothers 
 and fifty sisters. The exercises were begun by the reading of 
 an original anthem by one of the sisters, iu a voice so clear 
 and distinct that every syllable was easily heard by the whole 
 
 assembly : 
 
 "I looked, and lo! a multitude 
 
 Stood on Mount Zion." 
 
 In the singing of this anthem and of the many hymns, 
 which followed, I noticed that most of the worshipers took 
 part, including nearly every one of the sisters. 
 
 The anthem ended, a brother stepped into the space 
 separating the brothers and sisters — who in their worship are 
 always formed in ranks on opposite sides of the room, headed 
 respectively by the first elder and eldress — and in a few 
 appropriate words, adressed to both the believers and un- 
 beUevers present, indicated the object of the meeting and the 
 spirit in which it should be conducted, and expressed his. 
 confidence that they should receive strength from on high. 
 Then about a dozen of the singers, brothers and sisters,. 
 formed a parallelogram in the center of the room, and sang 
 " 0, tell me not of earthly wealth or favor," 
 
112 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 while all the others marched around them, singmg and 
 
 keeping time with hands and feet — their hands making a 
 
 motion as if gathering something. 
 
 Then followed, 
 
 " Trust in me ; trust in me," 
 
 ,and 
 
 " The bright morning of the new creation;" 
 
 the singing growing more and more lively, and the marching 
 
 apriroaching nearer and nearer to the dance, which it never 
 
 quite reached. 
 
 The marcliing ceased. A brother, without leaving his 
 position in the ranks, said : 
 
 "We have been singing, brothers and sisters, about a new 
 relation. It occurs to me that I appreciate any thing new 
 when it is better than the old ; and the gospel relation is 
 certainly better than the oM relations of a selfish character. I 
 rejoice that I can claim that relation with every one that is 
 really at work for God's kindgom as his chief aim and object. 
 I love to be in such good company ; and I give you my pledge, 
 brothers and sisters, that I will from this day strive to over- 
 come all sin and wickedness and make my heart pure." 
 
 Such simple, earnest utterances as this were certain to 
 draw forth short responses of approval or indorsement. 
 
 Then they sang, while all knelt down — 
 
 "Sweet angels, come nearer; 
 
 O, nearer and nearer. 
 Do list to our pleadings 
 
 For strength from on high. 
 This world's seeming pleasure s, 
 
 Its riches, its honors, 
 The immortal spirit 
 
 Can never supply," 
 
 Then arising, a sister said she felt it was good to be there ; 
 that good angels would come nearer; that we have the 
 promise if we draw neai' to God he will draw near to us ; that 
 divine power would be given us if we take up our cross against 
 the sins of the world. She thanked God that she was not a 
 
THE SHAKERS. IV.', 
 
 slave in any sense of the word; that she possessed all her 
 facidties, and could devote them to God and the virgin life. 
 She was not ashamed of her calling; she rejoiced that she was 
 called to separate herself from the world. Christians were to 
 be the salt of the earth — she did not want to be without 
 the savor. 
 
 Another was thankful that the Shakers had been called out 
 of the generative order into a new and more excellent way of 
 living — a virgin life ; that their lives and conduct might be 
 conformed to the angelic state. 
 
 Then marching was resumed, and became more and more 
 
 exhilarating, while the really beautiful hymn was sung : 
 
 < " I've enlisted once forever, 
 
 In the cause of truth to stand ; 
 Beyond all doubts and fears 
 I give my heart and hand. 
 
 " My feet have found the way, 
 
 My soul has heard the call ; 
 O heaven, give me strength 
 
 To triumph over all. 
 
 " I fear the threat'ning storms 
 
 That may my sky o'ercast ; 
 The power of God alone 
 
 Will shield me from the blast. 
 
 " What though my sun be hidden, 
 
 My faith I'll keep in view, 
 The way of life I've chosen 
 
 With purpose flrui and true." 
 
 This was followed by a slow march to the song, 
 "Come ye out! come ye out!" 
 which reminded one how necessary it is to keep step, to 
 follow the lead, as we march on toward heaven and life 
 eternal : each should make his life an example that others may 
 safely follow. 
 
 Then .came the most effective discourse of the day by a 
 sister — of whom Frederica Bremer wrote many years ago: 
 s 
 
U4 AMISRICAN GOMMUNITIES. 
 
 "She is of singular beauty, and a more fascinating, inspired 
 glance than hers I never beheld." Hers is an inspirational 
 nature ; throu.gh her are given many of the songs which enter 
 so largely into the worship and daily life of the Shakers. 
 Here is one : 
 
 "Ever changing, ever aiming 
 Toward a higher, better life ; 
 Ever learning, ever earning. 
 Is the good believer's strife. 
 
 ' ' Light unfolding, spirit molding, 
 Is the law of endless growth ; 
 Feeding thought and word and action 
 From the wells of boundless truth." 
 
 The burden of her utterance was genuineness in one's relig- 
 ious character. This seemed to her essential and above every 
 other consideration. Form and, ceremony are as the passing 
 wind. To think of relying upon them would be only an irrita- 
 tion to her spirit. She consecrated her life anew. Her past life 
 of self-denial had been glorious, and sufficient to lead her to con- 
 tinued consecration. She loved to recognize that the distance 
 between her soul and its Maker was being sj)anned. Words 
 had not power to express the love of God in her soul. She 
 loved the virgin life ; she loved her Savior, who bore the cross, 
 and who is our example. Her work was individual — she must 
 experience the work of God in her own soul. That is worth 
 more than the whole world. But that work must be genuine. 
 " The world loveth its own ; it can never take us in. It is 
 bound to maintain the generative life. We have the work of 
 regeneration to maintain, as did our Savior. I love our cross. 
 I will keep the purity of my heart toward all mankind. I will 
 keep the solemn vow I make this morning." 
 
 Her discourse finished, there were more songs, more 
 marching, more simple heart-utterances from the faithful 
 brothers and sisters. Of the songs I was particularly im- 
 
THE SHAKERS. 115 
 
 pressed with the following, which appears to be a favorite in 
 several of the Societies : 
 
 "Number me with the Pilgrim band 
 
 Who are traveling to the promised land, 
 Giving to God both heart and hand, 
 United for the truth to stand. 
 
 " ' Tis an uphill work we're called unto, 
 
 An uphill march till we've traveled through; 
 Then falter not, beloved few, 
 
 For your reward is just and true." 
 
 They sang this with much spirit, marching the while with 
 joyous step, and their conntenances aglow with the fervor 
 which can only come from a faith within. 
 
 There was great freedom — no hesitation — no awkward 
 paiises — no useless formalities — no waiting for one another 
 — the young and old alike were free. The earnest utterance 
 of a young sister introducing a little song — 
 
 '•I would rather be a pure, white spirit" — 
 which others joined her in singing, should have touched many 
 a heart. The sisters were indeed rather more prominent in 
 the exercises than the brothers. This might be exp)lained 
 perhaps by the fact that some of the principal male speakers 
 were absent holding a meeting in a distant village, in response 
 to urgent and repeated soHcitations ; but the Shakers make no 
 useless and unjust distinctions of sex, and are in this respect 
 an example to most other denominations. 
 
 My sketch of Shaker worship is somewhat extended ; but I 
 am certain that it is impossible to understand the Shakers with- 
 out comprehending pretty fully their religious ordinances, and 
 especially their meetings. People inquire, "What holds the 
 Shakers together V I believe their meetings should have the 
 principal credit. They are not all equally interesting — some 
 that I have attended have been comparatively dull ; but they 
 all have this pecuUarity, that every member who is present 
 takes some part in the exercises — if not in speaking, then 
 
IKi AMERICAN OOMMUNITIE.s. 
 
 in singing or marching ; and all must feel in some degree 
 their harmonizing, unifying power. Mere doctrines, however 
 good, will not hold people together for a century; it requires 
 an afflatus ; and this is dej)endent for its effects upon the 
 assembling of the members together. And m this respect 
 the Shakers are nearly as far from limiting themselves to a 
 Sunday meeting as the Oneida Communists. Nearly every 
 evening in the week witnesses some gathering for conversation, 
 singing or worship. Perhaps Community builders will some 
 day find a way to produce the requisite harmony and unity 
 without appealing so strongly and persistently to the religious 
 element ; but facts thus far in the history of the world say 
 nay. w. a. h. 
 
 With this letter I close my account of the Shakers. Those 
 interested will procure their paper and their books ; while 
 others will declare the Shaker life intolerable to a liberty- 
 loving soul, .and conclude that sufficient has been said of this 
 singular people, who can truly boast that "for nearly a 
 hundred years they have lived prosperous, contented, happy, 
 making their land bloom like the fairest garden ; and during 
 all these years they have never spent a penny for police, for 
 lawyers, for judges, for poor-houses, for penal institutions, 
 or any like 'improvements' of the outside world." Should 
 they cease to exist as organized bodies, their examj^le would 
 live and proclaim through all the ages the practicability of 
 Communal Society based on Christian Brotherhood. 
 
OXEIDA AND WALLING FORI) COMMUNITIES. 
 
 ONEIDA. 
 
 rpHESE Societies, like most of the Communities which have 
 J_ held together for any considerable period, laid first a re- 
 ligious foundation. Their builder, John Humphrey Noyes,, 
 was called a "Perfectionist" as early as 1834, on account of 
 the new doctrine he proclaimed, while yet a student in the 
 Yale Theological Seminary, that the gospel of Christ ensures 
 present salvation fi'om sin. This was at least twelve years 
 before he experimented in Communism. His doctrine of 
 perfection had its complement in another doctrine equally at 
 variance with the accepted dogmas of the popular churches of 
 that day, namely, that Christ's Second Coming and the estab- 
 lishment of his eternal kingdom took jslace within a single 
 generation from the time of his iirst coming. These ^dews 
 made Mr. Noyes an independent religionist, and in process of 
 time, with the aid of the press and oral presentation, gave him 
 a small following of disciples, in the Eastern and Middle 
 States, who were known as " Perfectionists," or " Believers " 
 as they more frequently called themselves. These constituted 
 the material out of which was formed, first a small communal 
 organization in Putney, Vermont, and in 1848 the Oneida 
 Community, in Lenox, Madison Co., New York. 
 
 It is common to ascribe the success which has attended 
 this Community solely to the great abilities of its founder ; but 
 Mr. Noyes himself has enumerated a number of "cooperating 
 causes," among which he has placed first " the faithful help of 
 a large body of men and women, whose moral power and. 
 
118 AilEBIOAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 business ability, if they bad chosen other channels, would have 
 made them individually successful in all the ordinary profes- 
 sions." These helpers include, in addition to several mem- 
 bers of his father's family, many persons of high moral and 
 social standing. Nordhoif's remark that ''aU the successful 
 Communities are composed of what are called 'common peo- 
 ple,' " is not strictly true, if by that remark is meant the labor- 
 ing in distinction from the educated classes. The latter are 
 well represented in the Oneida Community. Mr. Noyes 
 studied at Amherst, Dartmouth, Andover and Tale ; his father 
 was a college graduate and tutor, a State Kepresentative and 
 Member of Congress ; and the Noyeses are connected by blood 
 and marriage with many who have won distinction in art, lit- 
 erature and politics. The Community includes two families of 
 physicians, two men who have received a medical diploma since 
 they beciime members of the O. C, four who have been edu- 
 cated as lawyers, several clergymen and families of clergymen, 
 a number of graduates of Colleges and Scientific Schools, 
 several editors and writers for the press ; and, besides, the 
 original members of the Community had generally a high 
 standing in the churches and in society before they became 
 Perfectionists or Communists, and they were all earnest. God- 
 fearing men and women, who engaged in Communism because 
 they felt called to the work. It is claimed, in short, that the 
 members of the 0. C. form "an average slice of humanity," and 
 include, with the common laborers and mechanics, and those 
 even who have suffered need, a fair proportion of the refined 
 and cultured. 
 
 The buildings of the Community consisted at first of two 
 small frame dwellings, a log-hut, and an old saw-mill, once 
 o\^Tied by the In linns. It was a dozen years before their 
 members got beyond the necessity of sleeping in garrets and 
 out-houses. Though the means brought in by the members 
 
ON El B A. 11!) 
 
 enabled tliem to live tolerably well at first, they soon learned 
 to content themselves with the humblest fare. For years 
 bread and milk, potatoes and beans, with milk gravy in 
 lieu of butter, were the chief articles of diet. Their first 
 meetings were held at the old log -house : in the absence 
 of chairs, persons sat on stairs, trunks, cradles, or whatever 
 else they could find. Their Sunday gatherings, which at that 
 time attracted outside people, were first 'held in an old 
 barn; and after the "Mansion House," as they called it, was 
 completed, their meeting- and dining-rooms were furnished 
 with pine benches. 
 
 The industries of the Community were also at fiist of the 
 simplest and rudest kinds : farming, logging, milling, and 
 clearing swamps, in which latter occupation the women 
 <'Ourageousl3' engaged, as they did also in lathing and othei' 
 work (connected with the building of the first houses. There 
 "\\ ere no distinctions of classes in respect to labor, Mr. Noyes, 
 the foimder, taking the lead as mason in laying irp chimneys 
 and foundation-walls. 
 
 The Community treasury was fitquently empty in those 
 early days; it was not always easy to 'p&y their postage; 
 and they often could not tell a day beforehand where 
 the money was coming from to buy the necessary groceries. 
 Jlolasses was brought from the village store in a jug, and the 
 sugar in a pail ! Nothing but the stiictest economy and 
 adherence to the rule, " Pay as yon go ! '' and above all the 
 blessing of God, as they believe, kept them from the financial 
 ruin which continually threatened. As it was, during the 
 first nine years of pioneer work the Community reduced its . 
 capital from $107,000 to $67,000 ; but in the same time it im- 
 proved its organization, developed important principles and 
 measures, and started several liusinesses, some of which have 
 
120 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 proved fairly remunerative. The Community has since 
 l^rospered financially until its property (including that of 
 the W. C. branch) is now estimated at a little more than half 
 a million dollars — not a large sum considering the number of 
 its members, and a small one compared with what has been 
 accumulated by some other Communities. 
 
 These Communists with their radical institutions naturally 
 excited prejudice at first among their neighbors and the sur- 
 rounding population, who had no knowledge of the peaceable 
 character and intentions of the people who had settled in their 
 midst. The Communists thenjselves were perhaps less pru- 
 dent than they have since become, and there were collisions 
 of one kind and another with outsiders which led to legal 
 complications ; and at one time they actually contemplated a 
 dissolution. But the best men of the vicinity said, "No; you 
 have proved yourselves peaceable and industrious citizens; 
 and we are unwilling you should leave." Thus the tide was 
 turned, the danger passed, and the Community has from that 
 time steadily grown in the favor of good people far and near. 
 
 The Oneida Community attracts more visitors than any 
 other of the American Communities — perhaps more than 
 all others. They come from Maine and California, from 
 England and France and other foreign countries ; while ex- 
 cursion parties from the surrounding cities and villages are 
 common during the summer months. These are occasionally 
 more than a thousand strong. Indeed, as many as fifteen 
 hundred persons have visited the Community grounds in a 
 single day. Visitors receive polite attention, and all respectful 
 questions pertaining to their principles and practical life are 
 frankly answered. Inquiring visitors often proiiound siich 
 questions and receive such replies as those which follow : 
 
 " What is the jiresent number of the. Oneida Community 
 including its Wallingford branch ? " 
 
ONEIDA. 121 
 
 "There are here at O. C. 268 ; at Walhngford 38 : in all 306." 
 
 "How are the sexes divided? " 
 
 " There are 14:5 males and 161 females." 
 
 " How many children are there % " 
 
 " GO imder 14 years of age ; 82 under 21." 
 
 "What nationaUties are represented in the Community? " 
 
 " We have a few English ; the rest are .imericans." 
 
 " Do you practice temperance ? " 
 
 "We use neither tobacco nor alcoholic Uquors." 
 
 "Do you use tea and coffee"?" 
 
 "Both are discarded. Decoctions of roasted grain, etc., 
 with cocoa, take their jslace." 
 
 " Are you vegetarians ? " 
 
 " Xo ; but we use less meat than most peojDle and more 
 fruit." 
 
 "Do you use unbolted wheat? " 
 
 "Not exclusively, but it is much in favor." 
 
 " How do you manage to suit so many in regard to kinds 
 of food and times of eating '. " 
 
 " Meals are served at 10 A. M. and 4 P. M., with a lunch at 
 G in the morning, for the children and such as prefer a 
 hygienic table ; at 7 A. M. and 1 P. M., with a limch at 6 
 P. M., for those who prefer a less restricted diet." 
 
 "How are your women employed?" 
 
 " They do the housework with the assistance of a few of 
 the men and half a dozen hired people in the kitchen ; they 
 work in the sewing-room, in the printing-office and counting- 
 room, in the children's dejjartment and in the school-room, etc." 
 
 " Do you believe in the equality of men and women? " 
 
 "No; we don't believe even in the equality of men: but 
 we do believe that every man, woman and child should be sur- 
 rounded with circumstances favoring the best development of 
 heart, mind and bodj', and that no one sliould be excluded on 
 
li'2 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 account of age, sex, or race, from engaging in any occupation 
 for whieli he or she is adapted by nature or culture." 
 
 " Do Community women talk much about their rights'? " 
 
 " No ; there is no occasion for that: they have all the rights 
 they desire. One of them thus defines the position of woman 
 in the Commimity : 
 
 " ' Communism gives woman, without a claim from her, the 
 place wliich every true woman most desires, as the free and 
 lionored companion of man. Communism emanciioates her 
 from the slavery and corroding cares of a mere wife and moth- 
 er ; stimulates her to seek the improvement of mind and heart 
 that will make her worthy a higher place than ordinary society 
 can give her. Freed from forced maternity, a true and holy 
 desire for children grows in her heart. Here no woman's hand 
 is red with the blood of innocents, as is whispered so often 
 of many of her sisters in bondage. Gradually, as by natu- 
 ral growth, the Community women have risen to a position 
 where, in labor, in mind, and in heart, they have all and more 
 than all that is plaimed by the women who are so loudly assert- 
 ing their rights. And through it all they have not ceased to 
 love and honor the truth that 'the man is the head of the 
 woman,' and that woman's highest, God-given right is to be 
 'the glory of man.' " 
 
 "You remarked that there were about half a dozen hired 
 assistants in the kitchen ; how many outsiders do you employ 
 in all your departments of industry? " 
 
 "From one hundred to two hmidred and fifty, accord- 
 ing to the necessities of our businesses." 
 
 "How do you reconcile the hireling system with Com- 
 mimism?" 
 
 "We do not reconcile them. We expect that Commu- 
 nism will sometime become general and that hiring will cease ; 
 in the meantime we propose to helji our neighbors and our- 
 
ONEIDA. Vl?, 
 
 selves by fuinisliing remimerative labor to those who are not 
 prepared for Communism. Many of our workmen, besides 
 supporting themselves and famihes, have laid by a part of 
 their wages, and some have been able to build houses, while 
 a few have bought small farms." 
 
 '• How are your men employed? " 
 
 " They work in aU oui- departments ; in some of them doing 
 most of the manual labor ; in others being mainly employed 
 as superintendents." 
 
 " Don't some of your people, who have had the super- 
 intendence of outside workers, come to feel above manual 
 labor ? " 
 
 " If there is a tendency of that kind it is likely to be 
 corrected by the frequent changes made in our superintend- 
 ents, by our system of criticism, and by the public opinion 
 of the Community, which considers all kinds of labor alike 
 honorable." 
 
 " Ai'e siiperintendents of the different departments elected 
 or appointed ? " 
 
 "Both : /. (?., the leaders exercise at their option the appoint- 
 ing power, generally with pretty free consultation with others ; 
 and the Business Board at its option elects persons to fill par- 
 ticular posts of responsibility, subject to the approval of the 
 leaders." 
 
 " ^Yho compose the Business Board ? " 
 
 " The heads of departments and all who choose to attend 
 its sessions, both male and female." 
 
 "Don't the Business Board and the leaders of the Com- 
 munity sometimes differ in their judgments ? " 
 
 " AVe don't recall any serious case of that kind. "SVe 
 seek harmony and work for unanimity, and defer the execu- 
 tion of any plan so long as it meets with decided opposition 
 from even a small minority." 
 
124 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 "What has been the influence of the Community upon 
 surrounding population ? " 
 
 " Ask our neighbors. We think they will testify that it 
 has from the first favored education, good habits, sound 
 morality. They are glad to work for us, and to have their 
 children employed in our factories. Then it is certain that 
 wherever the Communists have settled there has been a great 
 rise in the value of real estate." 
 
 "Is the Community managed by one man? " 
 Y'No; there are at least as many managers as there are 
 departments of business. The larger businesses, as the Trap, 
 Silk and Fruit-Packing, are under the supervision of Boards or 
 Committees, organized by, or with the approval of, the General 
 Business Board of the Community. Besides, all questions of 
 considerable importance are brought before the Community 
 for decision, and in the general assembly every person, male 
 and female, has a voice and vote." \ 
 
 "But don't some have much more infliience than others?" 
 
 " Of course : that is true of every organization. The best 
 and wisest ought to rule every-where." 
 
 "Are persons allowed to leave the Community? " 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 " Can they take away any property? " 
 
 " Our practice has been to refund to seceders all the 
 property they brought into the Community, or its equivalent in 
 money, and to give those who had no property when they 
 joined a good outfit of clothing and one hundred dollars, in 
 case of their peaceable withdrawal. But our present Covenant 
 cuts off all claim on the part of seceders, and leaves the matter 
 of refunding any property entirely at the option of the Com- 
 munity." 
 
 "Why was this change made?" 
 
ONEIDA. 12.-. 
 
 "To test more thoroughly the sincerity of applicants for 
 admission, and to avoid trouble in cases of secession." 
 
 "Have you any formulated creed?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 "But you have religious doctrines which are gentrally ac- 
 cepted by the members of the Community? " 
 
 "Tes; our people generally believe in the Bible as ' the 
 text^book of the Spirit of Truth,' and as a record of 'super- 
 natural facts and sensible conununications from God ;' that 
 God is a dual being — Father and Son ; that ' evil comes from 
 the Devil as good comes from God ; ' that God was in no 
 sense the author of evil ; that a ' dispensation of grace com- 
 menced at the manifestation of Christ entirely different from 
 the preceding dispensation ;' that salvation from sin is ' the 
 special promise and gift of the new dispensation,' and is ap- 
 prehended by faith in the resurrection of Christ ; that Christ 
 came the second time and estabhshed his everlasting kingdom, 
 according to promise, within-one generation ofjiis first eom- 
 ing ; that we are now living in ' the dispensation of the full- 
 ness of times,' and that the final jiidgment is approaching ; 
 that 'the divine obligation to specially observe one day of 
 the week passed away with the first or Jewish dispensation,' as 
 also many other external observances ; that the baptism of 
 the Holy Spirit is the only baptism recognized in the new 
 dispensation ; that personal commimication with Chiist is a 
 privilege of the Gospel, and when this communication is per- 
 fected it will ensvu-e salvation from all evil, including disease 
 and death, etc. etc. But the doctrine regarded as most essen- 
 tial to Communism is that of salvation from sin through 
 
 Christ." 
 
 "Will you explain more fully the meaning and scope of 
 
 this doctrine t " 
 
 "Mr. Noyes has said: 'Salvatibn from sin, as we under- 
 
V't: AMERICAN OOMMUNiriES. 
 
 stand it, is not a system of duty-doing under a code of dry 
 laws, Scriptural or natural ; but is a special phase of religious 
 experience, having for its basis spiritual intercourse with God. 
 All religionists of the positive sort believe in a personal God, 
 and assume that he is a sociable being. This faith leads them 
 to seek intercourse with him, to approach him- by prayer, to 
 give him their hearts, to live in communion with him. These 
 exercises, and the various states and changes of the inner life 
 connected with them, constitute the staple of what is called 
 religious experience. We cannot live in familiar intercourse 
 with human beings without becoming better or worse under 
 their influence ; and certainly fellowship with God must affect 
 still more powerfully aU the springs of action. We hold that 
 intercourse with God may proceed so far as to destroy selfish- 
 ness in the heart, and so make an end of sin. In other 
 words, our Communism with one another is based on our 
 religion, and our religion is based on Communism with God 
 and the good sjiirits of the invisible world.' " 
 
 " What attitude do you take in regard to the develop- 
 ments of modern Spiritualism ? " 
 
 " We have investigated the various phenomena with some 
 care and patience. Some of our own members have been 
 found to possess considerable mediumistic powers, enabling 
 them to procure rappings, table-tijjpings, writing, etc. ; and 
 those among us who have been more directly interested in the 
 subject have had sittings with the most celebrated mediums of 
 this country. Our experience thus far leads us to believe that 
 many of the manifestations are genuine ; *'. e., that they are the 
 acts of unseen intelligences purporting to be the spirits of 
 the dead. But at present these genuine manifestations are 
 so mixed up with trickery and deception that investigations 
 must be made with great ■ caution to avoid being misled. Al- 
 though we are mmh interested in the subject, and think it has 
 
ONEIDA. 12T {yC 
 
 an important bearing on our future, yet we use great delibera- 
 tion in drawing conclusions, and do not reverence the spirits 
 which communicate through the mediums as being our supe- 
 riors in any important sense. On the contrary, we take the 
 liberty to criticise them and their influence freely, which we 
 have come to think is the only safe way to deal with them." 
 " What are the soeial_ principles of the Community? " 
 
 " We recognize no claim of individual property ia one 
 another. We affiiTQ that the same spirit which on the day of 
 Pentecost abolished exclusiveness in regard to money tends, 
 to obliterate all other property distinctions. But we have no 
 aifihation with those commonly termed Free Lovers, because 
 their principles and practices seem to us to tend toward 
 anarchy. Our Communities are famUivfi, as distinctly 
 bounded and separated from promiscuous society as ordinary 
 households. The tie that binds us together is as j)ermanent 
 and siiered, to say the least, as that of common marriage, 
 for it is our religion. We receive no new members (except 
 by deception and mistake) who do not give heart and hand 
 to the family interest for life and forever. Community of 
 property extends just as far as freedom of love. Every man's, 
 care and every dollar of the common property are pledged 
 for the maintenance and protection of the women and the_ 
 education of the children of the Community." 
 
 " Your people and the Shakers appear to be directly op- 
 posed in principle. Is there any friendly intercourse between 
 the two Societies / " 
 
 "O, yes." 
 
 "How is that possible? They consider generation all 
 wrong, and you think persons can propagate without being de- 
 graded or sensualized by it." 
 
 "Do you state the position of the Shakers correctly ? As we 
 understand them, they do not object to the increase of the race 
 
128 AMERTGAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 per se, but only insist that it belongs to the natural order and 
 not to the spiritual. We sympathize most sincerely with their 
 puriDOse to lead pure and sinless lives, and are even ready to 
 admit that Ann Lee might have acted under a wise afflatus in 
 calling her followers away from everything connected with 
 propagation. With only two alternatives, celibacy ,or propaga- 
 tion unrestricted and unmodified by science, what strong rea- 
 sons there are in favor of choosing the first alternative ! But 
 a century has passed since the founder of Shakerism lived — a 
 century replete with discoveries of new truth bearing upon the 
 subject of human genei'ation. The great principles lying at 
 the foundation of stirpiculture, or the scientific propagation of 
 luunan beings, have been evolved ; and it is conceivable that 
 were Ann Lee now living she might call on her followers to 
 leave their stronghold of celibacy, and advance into .this broad 
 field, carrying with them the self-control, self-denial, self-puri- 
 fication that a century's battle with the lusts of the flesh has 
 given them ! We cannot say that we have reason to anticipate 
 any such progress on their part, and hence there is likely to be 
 in the future, as there has been in the past, a wide difference 
 between the two Societies on this important subject. They 
 think there can be no Christian Communism or Christian life 
 without celibacy. We think the time hiis arrived for something 
 better, and that all the good they find in celibacy with all the 
 benefits that result from the association of the sexes may be 
 realized in Christiiin Comniunism. And certainly if Commu- 
 nism is to flourish in this world on any great scale, or even 
 per23etuate itself, it must jorogress beyond the celibate condi- 
 tion. But we have great respect for the Shakers, and honor 
 them for their labors and successes." 
 
 " Are the children of the Community healthy and happy 1 " 
 " Our own testimony on this point might savor of par- 
 tiality, and so I will. read to you what Goldwin Smith published 
 
ONEIDA. 1L"J 
 
 in the Canadian Monthly after a visit to the Comnnuiity. 
 He certainly will not be suspected of a wish to represent any 
 feaku-e of Commimism too favorably ; but he says — 
 
 " ' The children are regarded as cluldren of the Community, 
 and are brought up together on that footing. ^The mother is 
 allowed to take part in nursing them as much as she pleases, 
 but she is not required to do more. 6 Undeniably they are a 
 
 line, healthy-looking, merry set of infants The Oneida 
 
 childi-en are reared under conditions of exceptional advantage, 
 which could not fail to secure health to the offspring of any ' 
 but positively diseased parents .... The nurseries with every 
 thing about them are beautiful. Large play-rooms are pro- 
 vided for exercise in winter. The nurses are not hirelings, 
 but members of the Community who voluntarily undertake the 
 office. Every precau.tion is taken against the danger of infec- 
 tion. A simple and wholesome dietary is enforced, and no 
 mother oi' grandmother is permitted to ruin digestion and 
 temper, by administeriug first a poison from the confectioner's . 
 and then another poison from the druggist's.'" 
 
 "Wni you explain more fully the arrangements of your 
 Children's HoiTse ? How much care, for instance, does the 
 mother have of her child ? " 
 
 " She has the fxchisice care of her child until the time of 
 weaning, which in most cases takes place at nine months, 
 though about this there is no rule exee23t the one of common 
 sense. Care is taken as to the time of year, the state of the 
 child in regard to teething and other conditions. When well 
 weaned the child enters the first department of the Children's 
 House, where there are others of nearly the' same age who are 
 cared for by nurses, who serve half a day at a time. The 
 child leaves its mother at 8 o'clock in the moming, and 
 returns to her again at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, remaining 
 with her through the night. At about a year and a half, 
 according to the degree of development, the child passes into 
 the second department, where it remains all day. The par- 
 
130 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 ents are free at any time to take the child away for a walk or 
 a ride or a visit at their room. While it is in this department 
 the mother, however, gradually gives up all particular respon- 
 sibihty about its clothing, diet and night-care. She is then 
 free to fill her place in the various industries of the house- 
 hold. There is still a third department, which the child enters 
 at about three years, and in which it continues until the age 
 of thirteen or fourteen, when it leaves the department alto- 
 gether. Through this entire period, as in the previous ones, 
 no mother is separated from her child for any considerable 
 timej We aim to deal with our children according to the dic- 
 tates of the most enlightened common sense combined with 
 a tender regard for human weakness ; but how to bring them 
 up under the best moral, spiritual, intellectual, physical and 
 social conditions has been a problem requiring the deepest 
 study on the part of the Community for many years. If the 
 parents were to keep the exclusive or even the principal care 
 of their children. Communism would be difficult, and there 
 would be, besides, great waste of force. We have found that 
 the more fully different functions, like that of child-training, 
 can be differentiated, the more economical will be the work- 
 ings of the institution ; and it is imperative that economies 
 of this kind be studied, or a Community would be a great 
 lumbering machine, increasing instead of saving labor. By 
 such differentiation, and by placing in special charge of the 
 children, after they are weaned, the persons who are best 
 fitted for the responsibility, while parents are left at hberty to 
 associate with their children freely, so far as such association 
 does not militate with the best interests of either, we claim 
 to have made considerable improvement upon the common 
 way of rearing children." 
 
 " Very likely ; but I can see that the system might occa- 
 sionally result in trials to parents ; and now let me ask 
 
ONEIDA. 131 
 
 whether your form of Hfe does not have, along with its many- 
 comforts, many things hard to be borne? " 
 
 " Certainly, it has. Our Society is based on the idea that 
 selfishness must be displaced in all the relations of hfe ; and 
 that is a work which cannot be accomplished without suffering 
 of the keenest kind. But to the earnest lover of improvement 
 it brings its present rewards ; and then we comfort ourselves 
 with the assurance that whatever makes us haimonic and 
 altruistic here will help us in ' the beyond.' " 
 
 "Has the Community any literatui-e of its ownT' 
 
 " The Press has been almost constantly employed by Mr. 
 Noyes and his followers since 1834. The first handbills and 
 tracts were followed by a monthly paper, 2'he I'erfectionist ; 
 this by 2'he TF(Y«ii'««, issued irregularly ; this by The Perfec- 
 tionist again ; then came The Spiritual Magazine ; then the 
 Free Church Circular ; then twelve volumes of the first series 
 of The Circvlar, including one semi-weekly and one tri-weekly 
 volume ; then the second series, the eighth volume of which 
 was commenced Jan. 1, 1871, with its name changed to Oneida 
 Circular. Pamphlets and books have been printed from time 
 to time, including The Way of Holiness, the Berean, three 
 Annual Reports of the Oneida Cominmiity, the Jteligious 
 Experience of J. II. Noyes, Bible Comrmmism, Faith Facts, 
 the Trapp>ers Guide, Hand-Books of the Oneida Commu- 
 nity, Male Continence, Scientific Fropagation, Mutual Criti- 
 cism, History of American Socialisms, Foot-Notes by Alfred 
 Barron, Home-Talks by J. II. Noyes, etc., etc. Many of these 
 works are now out of print." 
 
 " What is the secret of your unity ? " 
 
 " More than thirty years ago a few persons recognized Mr. 
 J. H. Noyes as an embodiment of a higher Christian life, and 
 acknowledged him as their leader. The unity then begun has 
 never been broken nor its power of cohesion weakened, but has 
 
131' AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 increased with the increase of members and the wear and 
 tear of experience. Goldwin Smith speaks of Mr. Noyes as 
 ' a man whose abiUty is written on his brow, on the pages of 
 his vigorously written books, and on the work of his organ- 
 izing hands ; ' but we recognize in him something more than 
 
 
 ,v jrv 
 
 I J ' ,»* 
 
 '''»f,|»^ 
 
 •lOHN HUMPHREY NOYES. 
 
 natural 'ability.' To us he is a permanent medium of the 
 
 spirit of Christ." 
 
 "What are the conditions of membership*? " 
 
 "We insist that candidates shall, first, tmderstand and 
 
 hold by heart our religious and social doctrines ; secondly, 
 
ON El IK 1 . 13.3- 
 
 count the cost of enlisting with us for life ; thirdly, secure 
 their freedom from any claims of kindi-ed, etc., that might 
 entangle us; and, fourthly, pay all their debts. Joining 
 the Community is like marriage ; and these are simply the pru- 
 dent preliminaries of such a decisive act. If the parties are 
 not in full sympathy, or are in external circumstances imfavor- 
 able to a union, it is better for them to remain friends than to 
 venture on a closer connection." ' 
 
 The Community has a library of between five and six thou- 
 sand volumes, and keeps the best magazines and journals on 
 file, accessible to all the members. 
 
 There is a school-building ; and it is the purijose of the 
 Community to give all its children good educational advantages. 
 
 A play-house has been erected for the children at a cost of 
 ¥1,000, within convenient distance of the home buildings. 
 Amusements in the Community are subject only to such re- 
 strictions as are required by good order. 
 
 There is a photographic studio, and attention to the fine 
 arts is encouraged. 
 
 The Commimity has a summer-resort at Oneida Lake, 
 twelve miles distant, which is frequented by parties for fish- 
 ing, hunting and general recreation. 
 
 The Commrmity has 580 acres of good land, which is de- 
 voted to meadow and pasturage, orchards and vineyards, and 
 the raising of vegetables and fruits for their canning or pre- 
 serving establishment ; for which they harvested in 1877 six 
 acres of beans, eight acres of raspberries, 5,000 bushels of 
 tomatoes, 5,224 bushels of sweet corn, and other crops in more 
 limited quantities. 
 
 Their dairy is pronounced one of the best in the country, 
 and includes 50 Ayrshires, 7 Holsteins, 56 grades alid natives. 
 They have 45 horses and colts. 
 
134 AMERICAN VOMMUNITIES. 
 
 Slioemaking, tailoring, dentistry, printing, carpentry, and 
 other common trades, are carried on ; but the capital and in- 
 dustry of the Community are mainly concentrated in three 
 businesses : canning of fruits and vegetables, and the manu- 
 facture of silk and of steel traps. 
 
 The present dwellings of the Community are of brick. 
 The principal one is 188 feet by 70, with a rear extension of 
 100 feet. A new dwelling is in process of construction, which 
 with its wings will have a south front of 112 feet, a west front 
 of 103 feet, and a north front of 149 feet. The principal part 
 will be four stories high, and will have a one-story connection, 
 30 by 42 feet, with the main dwelling, to be used as a library 
 and reading-room in place of the present one. 
 
 The home buildings are heated by steam. Steam is also 
 found an invaluable aid in their laundry and kitchen, where 
 it is made to do much of the work. The greatest advan- 
 tage is taken of machinery and labor-saving contrivances 
 in both of these departments. The dining-rooms are located 
 immediately above the kitchen in a building disconnected 
 from the main dwellings. 
 
 For securing good order and the imj^rovement of the 
 members, the Community place much reliance upon a peculiar 
 •system of plain speaking, which they term Mu Mial Ori ticism- 
 They have described this system in a pamphlet. Its origin is 
 traced to a secret society of missionary brethren, with which 
 Mr. Noyes was connected while preparing himself for mis- 
 sionary labor and pursuing theological studies at Andover 
 Seminary. The members of this society submitted them- 
 selves in turn to the sincerest comment of one another as a 
 means of personal improvement. Mr. Noyes observed and 
 experienced its great benefits, and subsequently introduced it 
 into the Oiieida Community as a regular means of discipline. 
 It is their principal agency of government. They have a 
 
ONEIDA. 135 
 
 standing, committee -of -criticiain, which is selected by the. Com- 
 munity, and changed iromtimflJfflL time, thus giving all an op- 
 portunity to serve both asper ities and s ubjects, and justifying 
 the term " mutual " which they give to their criticism. The 
 subject is made free to have others besides the committee 
 present, or to have critics only of his ovm choice, or to invite 
 an expression from the whole Community. The Communists 
 say of the practical application of this system : 
 
 "It is not easy to overestimate the usefulness of criticism 
 in its relation to Community life. There is hardly a phase of 
 that Hfe iu which it does not play an important part. It is 
 the regulator of industry and amusement — the incentive to all 
 improvement — the corrector of all excesses. It governs and 
 guides all. Criticism, in short, bears nearly the same relation 
 to Communism which the system of judicature bears to ordi- 
 nary society. As society cannot exist without government, 
 and especially vsdthout a system of courts and police, so Com- 
 munism requires for its best development Free Criticism. 
 
 " Our object being self-improvement, we have found by 
 much experience that free criticism — -faithful, honest, sharp 
 truth-telling — is one of the best exercises for the attainment 
 of that object. We have tried it thoroughly ; and the entire 
 body of the Community have both approved and honestly sub- 
 mitted themselves to it. Criticism is in fact the entrance-fee 
 by which all the members have sought admission. 
 
 "In the great majority of cases criticism is desired and 
 solicited by individuals, because they are certain from their 
 own past experience, or from observation of the experience of 
 others, that they will be benefited by it ; but in some instances, 
 where it is noticed that persons are suffering from faults or 
 influences that might be corrected or removed by criticism, 
 they are advised to submit themselves to it. In extreme cases 
 of disobedience to the Community regulations, or obsession by 
 
13C AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 influences adverse to the general harmony, criticisro, is admin- 
 istered by the Community or its leaders without solicitation 
 on the part of the subject. In general, all are trained to criti- 
 cise freely, and to be criticised without offense. Evil in char- 
 acter or conduct is thus sure to meet with effectual rebuke 
 from individuals, from platoons, or from the whole Commimity. 
 
 "We only claim for our system of criticism that it is a new 
 and improved application of old jDrinciples. Common society 
 is not exempt from criticism. Thought is free, and faults 
 draw censure wherever they exist. Every person is more or 
 less transparent to those around him, and passes in the sur- 
 rounding sphere of thought for pretty much what he is worth. 
 Speech is free, too, in a certain way, and industriously sup- 
 plies the demand for criticism with an article commonly called 
 backbitmg. If you have faults, you may be sure they are the 
 measure of the evil-thinking and evil-speaking there is going 
 on about you. SujDply meets demand, but not in a way to tell 
 to your account under the common system of distribution.. 
 Criticism is not more free with us, but it is distributed more 
 profitably. We have a systematic plan of dis tribution, by 
 which criticism is delivered in the right time and j)lace, and 
 in a way to produce the best results. Criticism as it goes in 
 society is without method ; there is no ' science ' in it : it acts 
 every-where like the electric fluid, but is not applied to any 
 useful purpose ; it distributes itself, and sometimes injuriously. 
 In the Community we draw it off from the mischievous chan- 
 nels of evil-thinking and scandal, and apply it directly to the 
 improvement of character." 
 
 The Community have another ordinance which they regard 
 as of great importance to their harmony and general progress, 
 viz., Daily Eoenlng MeeiiiKjs. These are of an hour's dura- 
 tion, and are conducted with very little formality. Mat- 
 ters of business, of Commimity order and government, the 
 
ONEIDA. l:!7 
 
 news of the day, scientific discussion, home lectures, rehgious 
 testimony and discourse, music, and every thing of common 
 interest, . here come in for their share of attention. There is 
 of course a moderator, but every member is free to take part 
 in both the presentation and discussion of subjects. There 
 are short-hand reporters, who note down for permanent record 
 or transmission to the sister Community matters of special 
 importance. 
 
 The Conununity have no definite regulations respecting 
 houi-s of rising and of labor, leaving such matters for the most 
 part to the judgment and inclination of the individual mem- 
 bers ; and they have little trouble from the lazy and shiftless. 
 Where reproof or counsel is needed it is given thi'ough their 
 system of criticism already described. 
 
 Several of the Communities have fallen aipon similar cu.s- 
 toms resj)ecting labor; one of which is to work en mas.'te, or 
 muster together in "jDees" for the performance of certain defi- 
 nite enterprises. At Aurora-Bethel those who work in shops 
 turn out when there is an urgent demand for labor in the har- 
 vest-field ; and the same occurs at Zoar and Amana, men, 
 women and children all working with common zeal for the 
 common weal. At Economy, when the work of the harvest 
 crowded, all hands used to join in the work, enlivening the 
 labor with their Grerman songs. Of the Harmonists it was. 
 written years ago : " Sometimes nearly the whole force of the 
 Society, male and female, is put to one object, such as pulhng 
 flax, reaping, hoeing corn, etc., so that the labor of a hundred- 
 acre field is accomplished in a day or two." The Oneidians 
 have always made great account of this custom, as a means 
 of increasing both the attractiveness and also the produc- 
 tiveness of labor. In earher days they had " bees" for cutting 
 and husking com, working in the hay-field, harvesting peas, 
 beans, etc., in which men and women and children took part 
 
138 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 •with great enthusiasm. At present these occasions of grega- 
 rious industry are more confined to indoor labor, taking vol- 
 unteers by scores to the kitchen, laundry and fruii^packing 
 room; but there are still occasional outdoor "bees," especially 
 in the harvesting of fruit. 
 
 In common with the Shakers and Harmonists the Oneida 
 Commimists have some peculiarities of dress. They are, how- 
 ever, confined to the women, who wear a costume which origi- 
 nated in the Community, consisting of short dress and pan- 
 talets. They are enthusiastic in praise of its convenience. 
 They exercise their individual taste respecting materials, colors, 
 etc. The women have also adopted the practice of wearing 
 short hair, which also saves time and vanity. 
 
 The Oneida Communists, like the Shakers, Harmonists and 
 other Communists, are long-lived. Several have lived to be 
 over four score years. They give much attention to hygienic 
 conditions, living on simple food and following after temper- 
 ance in all things. Among other health-maintaining and 
 health-restoring agencies, their Turkish baths deserve men- 
 tion. Then they have a theory that physical disease often 
 roots back in spiritual disease, and that cleansing the spirit 
 through criticism may sometimes restore the body to health. 
 However this may be, the fact remains that their sick gen- 
 erally recover and live to ripe old age. Perhaps credit is due 
 also to the facilities which such a Community has foi' taking 
 care of the sick. A large Community naturally accumulates 
 the conveniences which belong to a first-class hospital, and in 
 addition has at command cheerful and experienced nurses 
 such as few hospitals can supply. 
 
 Though the Community claim that their system is founded 
 on religion and they have little faith in the success of any 
 system of Communism which has not a religious basis, yet 
 they are practical rather than theoretical religionists, and are 
 
ONEIDA. 139 
 
 far enough from being formalists. Their reverence even for 
 the Bible is reverence for its spirit rather than its letter. 
 They pay little attention to the ordinances deemed so im- 
 portant by many sects. They are not afraid that reUgion will 
 suiFer from any truth which science may discover; and the 
 works of Huxley and Tyndall, Darwin and Spencer, are well 
 represented ia their library. Neither do they behave that 
 reUgion necessarily expresses itself in ascetic forms. Hence 
 their freedom to encourage education, art, music, amusements, 
 and every thing which tends to human culture or happiness, 
 only insisting that the element of self-seeking shall be exclu- 
 ded, and that the general Community interest shall be regarded 
 as paramount in every thing. 
 
 WALLINGFORD. 
 
 The Oneida Community has started at different times sev- 
 eral smaU branch societies ; but that at Wallingford, Connec- 
 ticut, is the only one at present existing. It was founded in 
 1851, and now has a domain of 366 acres, including a small 
 lake that furnishes an excellent water power. Its membership 
 has varied from twenty-five to eighty, according to the de- 
 mands of its businesses. In addition to farming and horticul- 
 ture, it has carried on several branches of manufactures. It 
 had at one time a silk-factory ; for several years a printing 
 establishment, which attracted work from the neighboring 
 villages and cities ; at present the manufacture of spoons takes 
 the lead. 
 
 Perfect unity of interests exists between the Oneida and 
 WaUingford Commuuities. Men and means are freely ex- 
 changed as occasion requires. The property of the two Com- 
 
140 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 munities is indeed the common property of the members of 
 both. They also have the same principles, the same customs, 
 the same means of discipline and of improvement. A jonrnal 
 of the important events happening at each Community is regu- 
 larly transmitted to the other, and read publicly at the eve- 
 ning meeting, which is an institution of both. 
 
 A Community mansion veas erected at Wallingford in the 
 summer of 1876, but its buildings and accommodations are 
 more limited than at Oneida, necessitating a smaller Commu- 
 nity. Each place has, however, its pecu.liar attractions, and 
 there are advantages in having the two Communities thus 
 connected. Those who prefer a smaller family than that at 
 Oneida, or a larger one than that at Wallingf ord, can be suited ; 
 and it is found agreeable to nearly all to occasionally change 
 their residence from one to the other. 
 
 The Wallingford Community has a pleasant place on Long 
 Island Sound, much visited during the summer months by 
 jjarties from both Communities. 
 
 Should the Oneida Community establish other branch 
 Societies they would only extend the unity that now exists 
 between the two Communities of Oneida and Wallingford. 
 
THE BllOTHERHOOD OF THE XEW LIFE. 
 
 THIS is the name by which a considerable number of people 
 in this and other countries, who have chosen Thomas L. 
 Hakeis as their leader, prefer to be known. They have at- 
 tracted much attention, partly on account of the peculiarity of 
 their principles, and partly because the Brotherhood has in- 
 cluded persons of high social position and eminent talent, no- 
 tably Lady Oliphant, widow of Sir Anthony Ohphant, C. B., 
 formerly Chief-Justice of Ceylon ; and Lawrence Oliphant, her 
 son, who, after serving his government in dij^lomatic positions 
 in China and Japan, gave up his seat in the English Parlia- 
 ment that he might take part in the social experiment of the 
 Brotherhood at Salem-on-Erie, where their largest Family is 
 located, called by the outside world the Brocton or Harris 
 Community. 
 
 Previous to his connection with the Brotherhood Mr. 
 Harris had made himself viddely known, first as an eloquent 
 Universalist preacher, then as a Spirituahst and the author of 
 some of the best poems in Spiritualistic literature, and still 
 later as one of the leaders of the Mountain-Cove Community 
 in Virginia, a short-lived Spirituahstic Society. 
 
 Fourteen years intervened between the Mountain-Cove 
 experiment in 1853 and the founding of Salem-on-Erie — years 
 of trial and battle and growth, we may suppose, for Mr- 
 Harris. During this period he became a leader of Christian 
 Spirituahsm against Lifidel Spiritualism ; spent several years 
 in England preaching strange doctrines ; hved five or six years 
 at Amenia, Dutchess County, New York, where he prospered as 
 
142 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 a banker and agriculturist, and gathered about him a circle 
 of devoted disciples. 
 
 The Brotherhood claim to have evoluted out of Commu- 
 nism ; but as they at one time held their property ia common, 
 and still carry it on together, and possess many other commu- 
 nistic features both in theory and practice, and are, moreover, 
 popularly regarded as Communists, I have thought it proper 
 to give in the present work such information as I have been 
 able to gather of their Societies ; and, happily, it comes for 
 the most part directly from Mr. Harris himself, who has most 
 kindly responded to my inquiries. If, therefore, the account 
 which follows is less sensational than some accounts that have 
 been published, it will, nevertheless, have the interest which 
 attaches to a true record : 
 
 THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE NEW LIFE AS DESCRIBED 
 BY ITS LEADER. 
 
 Fountain Grove, Santa Rosa, Cat., Aug. 22, 1877. 
 W. A. Hinds, Dear /Sir: — 
 
 The hfe, system and action of the Society which I represent 
 are so far removed from the lines of the usual thought, that I 
 fear I shall hardly be able to answer your friendly inquiries 
 with the fullness you desire. Personally, I am not a Commu- 
 nist. I find it impossible to maintain the ordinary relations ; 
 much more to unite in close association, communistically, with 
 even my nearest friends. My home is practically an hermitage : 
 the evolution of my faculties has led me into strict natui-al 
 celibacy. Whatever material property I possess is considered 
 by me as fully my own ; yet not my own, being held, like all 
 other gifts, as a trust from God, for his service in the race. 
 Both physically and morally I find it impossible to exist under 
 other conditions. 
 
 While thus self-contained, reserved and isolated, I find my- 
 
BROTHERHOOD OF THE NEW LIFE. US. 
 
 self enzoned by a large circle of men and women, in Europe 
 and Asia, as well as in this country, who have been driven to 
 me by a potent attraction, in the course of my labors, but 
 without any conscious endeavor of my own. My life is de- 
 voted to their service, and I feel honored in their inexpressible 
 love and devotion. They constitute the Society known as the 
 "Brotherhood of the New Life." Of their numbers, wealth, 
 or potential force, I do not feel at liberty to speak. 
 
 My people, with few exceptions, reside in isolated families, 
 and esteem it fortunate that thus far they have generally 
 escaped the intrusive curiosity of the civihzees. This is a 
 kingdom that does not come with observation : it employs no 
 verbal preachers : it practices no ecclesiastical rites : it seeks 
 no mere natural proselytes : its voice is not heard in the street. 
 Tet it affects no mystery, and those who desire to know of it 
 for "the good of hfe" find no difficulty in attaining to what 
 they seek. It grows simply by its power of organic diffusion 
 and assimilation. We believe it to be a germ of the Kingdom 
 of Heaven, dropped from upper space and implanted in the 
 bosom of the earthly humanity : — in fine, the seed of a new 
 order; the initial point for a loftier and sweeter evolution of 
 man. 
 
 Two only of our Families, so far as I am aware, have fallen 
 under the eye of correspondents of the press ; that in the 
 town of Portland, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., and this, my private 
 residence, in Cahfornia. These are practically one. In both 
 of them the social order may perhaps be termed patriarchal, 
 there being no community of possessions. I may quote from 
 the old dramatist, and say : "A poor house, sir, but mine own." 
 I hope I shall not trespass on the modest privacy of my guests 
 and kinsmen, if I add that, under no stress of compulsion, 
 but in the evolution of character, they have become, in the 
 
144 AMER[GAN COMMUNITJEti. 
 
 natural sense, celibate as I am : some entering from a state of 
 mouogamic marriage, but others virginal from the first. 
 
 Of the other Families in the Society, I may say that they 
 are in different stages of advancement, from a starting-point 
 of accepted altruism ; that they begin from germs of indi- 
 vidual households, with no break in the continuity of rela- 
 tions ; the new growth forming in the old wood of the tree ; 
 the internal iirst changing, and then, by evolution, "that 
 which is without" becoming "as that which is within." All 
 growths are first invisible. After seventeen years of life, 
 unity and struggle, the Brotherhood begins to declare its 
 presence and purpose. Notices that you may have seen of it, 
 like the sensational article in the Neio York Sun, pubhshed 
 some years since, have been unauthorized accounts, and such 
 facts as served to give them color and credence were obtained 
 under the express understanding that they should be held ki 
 honorable confidence. In evolving a new spiritual experience, 
 through a new social experience, we have sought to avoid pub- 
 licity. It is time enough to describe a tree when it begins to 
 ripen its fruit. 
 
 The Family at 
 
 SALEM-ON-KME, 
 
 which these press notices have brought into unwelcome obser- 
 vation, under the pseudonym of the "Brocton Community," 
 was founded in the tovsTi of Amenia, Dutchess Co., N. Y.^ in 
 the spriag of 1861. It removed to its present locality in, I 
 think, 1867. In Dr. Taylor's "History of Portland," which I 
 mail to your address, you will find a brief resume of its mate- 
 rial and industrial affairs and of its labors at the date of pub- 
 lication, 1873. During the ensuing year the Family began 
 to contract its affairs. Its industries are now confined to 
 the orchard, vineyard and farm. Never so united, never so 
 effective in unity, it maintains a waiting attitude. 
 
BROTHERHOOD OF THE NEW LIFE. 145 
 
 This Family passed, years ago, through the commimistic 
 phase, in which, however, I did not take part, though esteem- 
 ing it a phase in evolution and serving it financially. As a 
 means of education it was useful, but those engaged in it 
 found that, in the long run, it was neither promotive of their 
 happiness, nor evolutionary in the direction of their ruling 
 -tendencies. 
 
 Without dissension or disunion, its members then passed 
 into a phase of modified Sociahsm, each series constituting a 
 family partnership, and found that this mode of combined 
 action developed a large force of individual character, as well 
 as a more strict business habit and aptitude. Here the ledger 
 showed a favorable balance, but the spirit was not fully satis- 
 fied. 
 
 Meantime I organized my own affairs, amidst my friends, 
 and employed all who did not fit or find place elsewhere, treal^ 
 ing them as sons, but insisting on paying weekly wages. 
 After a time they found it incompatible with their forming 
 affections to receive money-pay. 
 
 I then entertained them as guests, brethren and children 
 in their father's hoiise ; and this satisfied. They labor for me, 
 and I for them : their services, recreations and expenses are 
 regulated among themselves. I put limits on their labors, but 
 not on their recreations or expenses. There is no esp)ionage : 
 honor niles : love is supreme. Gradually the family partner- 
 ships have ceased, withcHit a struggle, and all have entered 
 into this order. 
 
 In serving me tliese tender hearts believe that they are 
 also serving God, working for a kingdom of universal right- 
 eousness. They do not think that I possess any thing, except 
 as representatively ; nor that I rule in them, except as aiding 
 to hft and direct them into a larger freedom, wisdom and 
 purity. I consider the Family at Salem-on-Erie and that at 
 10 
 
14fi AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 Fountain Grove as one : the germ of a solar family in the 
 midst of a planetary family system. 
 
 I find no difficulty in the solution of the painful and per- 
 plexing problem of the sexes. Monogamists who enter into 
 union with me rise, by changes of life, into a desire for the 
 death of natural sexuality. Those whose lives have been less 
 strict first, perhaps, may pass through the monogamic relr. 
 tion, though not always ; but the end is the same. Others, 
 who have lived singly, holding the fierce passion in restraint, 
 find themselves gliding out of the passional tempest into a 
 bodily state of serenity and repofee. Still I do not believe 
 that sexlessness characterizes man in his higher and final 
 evolution. 
 
 Among my people, as they enter mto the peculiar evolution 
 that constitutes the new life, two things decrease : the propa- 
 gation of the species, and physical death. In the large 
 patriarchal Family that I have described but one death has 
 occurred since its formation in 1861, and this under circum- 
 stances and with results which demonstrated to us that the 
 dear and honored subject of the visitation was simply taken 
 from his more visible place to serve as an intermediate for 
 higher services. One young pair in ou:r borders have bad 
 three children, I am sorry to say ; but with this exception the 
 births in seventeen years have been but two, and of these the 
 younger is almost a young man. We think that generation 
 must cease till the sons and daughters of God are prepared 
 for the higher generation, by evolution into structural, bi- 
 sexual completeness, above the plane of sin,, of disease, or of 
 natural mortality. 
 
 I have considered my Family, since 1861, merely as a 
 school : its methods educationary, and its form only tentative. 
 My aim, per se, has been neither to organize close nor far-apart 
 association, but to prepare myself and the inmates of my 
 
BROTHERHOOD OF THE ]^EW LIFE. 147 
 
 houBe for a new era of human evolution, whicli we have con- 
 sidered to be at hand, and -which in individual cases we think 
 has now begun. We think that by the survival of the fittest, 
 the most plastic, the most complex organisms, men of a new 
 spirit wrought bodily into new structures, the race will take a 
 new deiiarture; that we ap^Hoach a new beginning of huiuan 
 days and generations. 
 
 I may add here that our views are not the result of mere 
 scriptural study, nor based on textual interpretations, and that 
 we have no especial sympathy that unites us to one school of 
 religionists more than to another. If we find one vein of 
 knowledge, or possibly correct surmise, in Swedenborg, we 
 find other veins in Spinoza, or Eoehme, or Comte. Using the 
 term in its metaphysical sense, we aim not to be partialists 
 but universalists of inquiry and knowledge. We consider all 
 Scriptures as Hterature ; we hold that experience is the meas- 
 ure and method of revelation; and that, for the ripening of 
 experience, man should be both individualized and insociated. 
 Behevers in the Divine Immanence, we hold by the " True 
 Light, that lighteth every man who cometh into the world ; " 
 but we further conclude that the Creative Logos, " God mani- 
 fested in the flesh," is not male merely, or female merely, but 
 the two-in-one. The doctrine of the Divine-human Two-in-One, 
 in whose individual and social hkeness, in whose spiritual and 
 physical Ukenese, we seek to be re-born, is the pivot of our 
 faith and the directive force of our life. The ages wait for 
 the manifestation of the sons of God. Thus we are adventists, 
 not in a sectarian sense, but in the sense of a divine invo- 
 lution, and thence of a new degree in human evolution. 
 Our faith teaches us love for all men, however inverted, 
 arrested, or infirm, as our dear brethren. Our sympa- 
 thies are especially toward those who have devoted them- 
 selves, in a practical sense, to the substitution of "altru- 
 
148 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 ism" for egoism, of mutuality for competition, in social life. 
 
 With these views you will readily perceive why the Brother- 
 hood of the New Life has both sought to maintain a modest 
 privacy, and to keep aloof from the prevalent discussions of 
 social amelioration and reform. 
 
 "With kind regards, believe me 
 
 Faithfully yours, T, L. Hareis. 
 
 In Dr. Taylor's " History of the Town of Portland," re- 
 ferred to in the jareceding communication, we find a chapter 
 devoted to the "Brotherhood of the New Life," which includes 
 a letter from. Mr. Harris, from which we take the following 
 paragraphs : 
 
 . " The purchase made by myself and friends in the town of 
 Portland consists of something less than two thousand acres> 
 principally of farm and vineyard lands, but inclusive of the 
 plat at the junction of the Lake Shore and Alleghany Valley 
 railroad, where we are laying out a village which we have 
 named Salem-on-Erie, designing to make it an industrial and 
 business center. These properties were secured mainly in the 
 month of October, 1867 ; about one-half as a personal invest- 
 ment, and the moiety in behalf of the gentlemen interested 
 with me in the enterijrise. These lands in part comprise what 
 is known on the old town maps as 'the Diamond,' and extend 
 in length two miles on the shore of Lake Erie, being nearly 
 contiguous to each other. 
 
 " Besides the usual operations in agriculture and vine-cul- 
 ture, we are engaged, first, in the wholesale pressing and ship- 
 ping of hay ; second, in the general nursery business ; third, 
 in the manufacture and sale of pure native wines, more 
 especially for medicinal use. Our product of wines is from 
 fifteen thousand to twenty-three thousand gallons annually. 
 Our principal cellar is of stone, arched and fire-proof, 110 feet 
 
BROTHERHOOD OF THE NEW LIFE. 149 
 
 in length, and affording, with the one adjoining, storage for 
 about 65,000 gallons of wine. At the village we also carry on 
 a hotel and restaurant, and have just enlarged our operations 
 by erecting a steam grist-mill and opening an exchange for 
 transactions in produce and general merchandise. We are at 
 present laying out and planting a public park and gardens, 
 and draining and improving, as well as from time to time add- 
 ing to, the freehold estate." 
 
 These statistics need considerable modification to express 
 the present truth, the Brotherhood having, as Mr. Harris says 
 in his letter on a pre\'ious page, contracted its business at 
 Salem-on-Erie within the past few years. Indeed, I found on 
 the occasion of my visit, a little more than a year ago, the 
 hotel and store of the Brotherhood closed, their railway res- 
 taurant burnt, and neither their vine-culture nor other busi- 
 nesses in a very flourishing condition. Some of the estate 
 had been sold, and the impression prevailed that they 
 would gladly dispose of more. Part of the Family had fol- 
 lowed their leader to Cahfornia, and others, it was thought, 
 were intending to take up their hne of march for the same 
 destination. All this, however, furnishes no evidence that the 
 Brotherhood is losing ground in numbers or property : it may 
 be only "changing its base of operations." 
 
 jVIr. Harris says fui'tber in his letter to Dr. Taylor : 
 "The one object of the Brotherhood is the realization 
 of the noble Christian ideal in social service. It is simply 
 an effort to demonstrate that the ethical creed of the Gospel 
 is susceptible of service as a working system, adapted to 
 the complex and cultured nineteenth century, and contain- 
 ing the practical solution of the social problems of the age. 
 In one sense the Brotherhood are Spiritualists : in the fervid 
 and intense conviction that the individual man has no real life 
 in himself ; that all Ufe, and with it the virtues and energies 
 
150 AMERIVAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 of life, are the result of a divine inflowing. Considering, first, 
 that all real hfe is the continuous outgift of God, and, second, 
 that our Lord is that one pure and living God (vfhether right 
 or wrong in their opinion), there is among them a practical 
 faith in him as the sole Euler, Actuator and Director. They 
 are monarchists, who recognize the Divine Man for their 
 Sovereign. 
 
 "In another sense the Brotherhood are Sociahsts. They 
 consider that the practical fulfillment of the Gospel is in what 
 may be termed 'Divine-natural Society.' From the present 
 civilization, the aggregation of self-interests, they would evolve 
 a noble form, ' one pure and perfect chrysolite ' — the associa^ 
 tion of noble and cultured souls in every industrial and human 
 service. They hold most fully and most vitally, that the 
 'worship of Gad is the service of humanity.' If they revere 
 in Christ the Loi'd, they also accept in him the Artisan. 
 
 "While they do not reject the sacred observance of accus- 
 tomed Religion, they believe in uplifting every avocation of 
 life into a permanent Religious Ministration. Cherishing the 
 faith of Scripture in individual regeneration, they hold that it 
 is the function of reg-enerate man to regenerate society; that 
 this work must be initiated and carried out by the entrance of 
 the cultured, the prosperous, the gifted, as well as those of 
 humbler state, into those employments which have been 
 counted menial ; ami that those labors should be done from 
 the inspiration of the Divine Love which have heretofore 
 been 23erformed from selfish greed or at the mere spur of 
 material necessity. 'See,' s;iid the ancient pagans, 'how these 
 Christians love one another.' It is the aim of the Broth- 
 erhood, in all its many fields of action, to re-instate that 
 antique and eternal principle, not in demonstrative preach- 
 ment, but in a most unobtrusive yet demonstrated social fact." 
 
 Dr. T.iylor does not acjd many particulars of interest. He 
 
BROTHERHOOD OF THE NEW LIFE. 151 
 
 mentions that sixty-five or seventy are engaged upon the 
 Portland purchase, and adds : " They hve by themselves as far 
 as possible, and are exceedingly reticent with reference to the 
 association and its inner workings when approached by those 
 outside, and will hold no converse with the simply curious. 
 The fact of their being difficult of access excites curiosity, 
 and is the occasion of much impertinent inquiry. The air and 
 the charm of mystery hang over and about them." And he 
 concludes his chapter with the following testimonial in their 
 favor : 
 
 " It is but just to say of the Bj-otherhood in Portland, 
 that in all respects they seem to be living out the principles of 
 their order in their every-day life, and regard their religion as 
 something to be put on and worn as a garment. Their de- 
 portment is most discreet and gentlemanly, and although their 
 interests seem to center, to a large extent, in their association, 
 they are excellent citizens." 
 
 The Family at Fountain Grove in Santa Rosa, California, 
 number at present about twenty persons. They have a beau- 
 tiful location and rich, productive land; ;iiul their principal 
 sources of income are the raising of hay. grain and other 
 agricultural products. 
 
 For the benefit of those who would inform themselves 
 more thoroughly respiu'ting tlie principles of the Brotherhood, 
 it may be adih-d that they have recently published two pam- 
 phlets entitled, "The Lord, the Two-in-One," and "Hymns of 
 the Two-in-One," an<l have also begun the publication of a 
 journal called " 7 '/('- WnhVuKi (jiK-xt." 
 
INDUCTIONS. 
 
 ¥E have given a description of the principal Comnninistic 
 Societies of the United States. Let us inquire what 
 is taught by the facts of their history. 
 
 They teach, in the first place, that it is possible to solve 
 by methods free from strife the problem of the relations 
 of labor and capital. In these Communities there exist no 
 distinctions of rich and poor. All are laborers, and all are 
 capitalists; and all seek the common interest. A "strike" on 
 the one hand, and a " lockout " on the other, are made impos- 
 sible by their fundamental principle of common property. 
 
 They teach that individual holding of property is not essen- 
 tial to industry and the vigorous prosecution of complicated 
 businesses. 
 
 They teach that there are great advantages and economies 
 in communal life. 
 
 They teach that a large proportion of what are termed 
 middle-men, as also of non-producers in general, may be trans- 
 ferred to the side of production. 
 
 They teach that litigation and other expensive evils, made 
 necessary, in part at least, by the system of individual 
 property, disappear with the advent of Communism. 
 
 They teach that pauperism and trampism, necessary results 
 of the grab -system, by which some are made extremely rich 
 and others extremely poor, have no place in Communism. 
 
 They teach that education, libraries, lectures, the pleasures 
 of art, the instructions of science, the best means of moral 
 
INDUCTIONS. 153 
 
 and spiritual discipline, may be brought within the reach of 
 the common people. 
 
 They teach that the necessary preliminary conditions of 
 successful Communism are comparatively few and within reach 
 of all. None of the described Communities had at starting 
 the numbers or capital required by Fourier, or any conception 
 of the laws he deemed so indispensable. They have wrought 
 out their success under the simple conviction that it is possible 
 to live together and work together as brethren. 
 
 They teach that successful Communism is not dependent 
 on any single theory of the sexual relation; for there are 
 monogamic Communities as prosperous as the ceHbate ones, 
 and others favoring comjalex-marriage as prosperous as those 
 which hold to monogamy. 
 
 They teach that while no special religious system, or 
 special interpretation of the Scriptures, is essential to suc- 
 cess in Communism, Religion is a powerful promoter of 
 Ageeement, which is indispensable to the permanent pros- 
 perity of any Community. The present anarchic condition 
 of the Icarian Community emphasizes this fact, as does also 
 the entire history of American Socialism. 
 
 They teach that in proportion as a Community loses the 
 afflatus of its first leaders and relies upon doctrines and the 
 machinery of government, it tends to death : in other words, 
 a Community needs, for its growth and progress in all stages 
 of its career, a Hving power at its center not inferior to that 
 which it had in the beginning. 
 
OTHER SOCIALISTIC EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 IN addition to the Communities already described, whicti 
 have existed for a number of years, and attracted the 
 attention of the pubhc by their prosperity, there are quite a 
 number of Socialistic experiments — Communistic, Fourier- 
 istic, Spiritualistic and Cooperative — in different parts of 
 the country. 
 
 The " Adonai-Shomo " is the name of a Community which 
 has existed for sixteen years in Athol, Mass. It has twelve 
 members, owns 210 acres of land, and is reported to be finan- 
 cially prosperous. It has a religious foundation, bases its 
 Communism of goods on the example and teachings of the 
 Pi-imitive Church, and observes the seventh day of the week 
 as "the Sabbath of the Lord our God." It obtained a charter 
 Jan. 1st, 1876. Asa P. Richards is President. Its Hebrew 
 name signifies "the Lord, the Spirit, is there." 
 
 " The Home " .is a Community of twelve persons located 
 in Gilmore, Benzie County, Michigan, on a domain of 320 
 acres. It has a printed constitution and by-laws, and reports 
 itself as slowly prospering. It has been founded but httle 
 more than a year. 
 
 There is a Community of about the same size in Kane 
 County, Illinois, which has had a longer term of existence. 
 
 There is another Community of a dozen persons, mostly 
 of the same family, at Plattsbui'gh, Missouri. 
 
 Alcander Longley is starting a Community in Bollinger 
 County of the same State. 
 
 The Progressive Cijmmunity at Cedar Vale, Chautauqua 
 
OTHER SOCIALISTIC EXPERIMENTS. 155 
 
 ■County, Kansas, has a total membership of ten persons. 
 
 In Urbana, Neosho County, Kansas, there is an organiza^ 
 
 tion called the Esperanza Commmiity, which publishes monthly 
 
 " I'he Star of Hope." 
 
 A Commimity is just starting at Ancora, New Jersey, under 
 the leadership of Thomas Austin ; and a small Society with 
 some Communistic featiires has for a short period been in 
 practical operation in the same place under Samuel Fowler. 
 
 Tappan Townsend, Samuel Leavitt, J. H. Ingalls and 
 others are proposing to estabhsh "A Hotel and Cottage Asso- 
 ciation" on a tract of twenty acres at Palls Glen, near 
 Fanwood, New Jersey, twenty miles from New York City. 
 
 The " Springfield Industrial Works," of Springfield, Ver- 
 mont, now called the " Union Manufacturing Company," has 
 attracted considerable attention. It is a Cooperative enter- 
 prise, including thirty or forty persons, with a Unitary Home 
 and other Communistic features. Mr. J. A. H. Ellis is acting 
 Superintendent. 
 
 The " Cooperative Industrial Association of Virginia" is a 
 chartered company, that has secured lands on the bluffs of the 
 Potomac, twenty miles from Washington. Thomas J. Diu-ant 
 is President and Dr. J. A. Eowland is Secretary — both of 
 Washington, D. C. This enterprise has not made great prac- 
 tical progress, and does not contemplate any form of Commu- 
 nism. It states its objects to be " to organize labor and social 
 life upon the basis of order and justice — to secm-e higher 
 education, fuller protection and better conditions of living." 
 
 There are two or more schemes for establishing Communal 
 ■or Cooperative homes in Florida, and a few Socialists have 
 recently secured four hundred acres in that State for this pur- 
 pose, but have not yet pubhshed their plans. A company has 
 been organized in New York and Brooklyn, calling itself the 
 
156 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 " St. John's Cooperative Colony of Florida," whicli proposes 
 
 to purchase ten thousand acres of land in that State. 
 
 A company is organizing in Massachusetts for the sys- 
 tematic planting of Cooperative Colonies in the Western 
 States. 
 
 Another company is forming in St. Louis for the purpose 
 of establishing Cooperative Colonies in Texas. Their plan, as 
 at present explained, contemplates that " the whole community 
 will labor in the Cooperative way, and will be governed by 
 laws made by themselves. 
 
 Colorado has the flourishing city of Greeley, which was 
 founded on the Cooperative plan and has many Cooperative 
 features. Though it has had a growth of only eight years it 
 now has eighteen hundred inhabitants, with fine churches, 
 school-houses and other public buildings, and is surrounded 
 with a still larger agricultural population. "Cooperation," 
 says a recent visitor at Greeley, "has made production,, 
 and consequently living, from 25 to 40 per cent, cheaper here 
 than elsewhere in Colorado. The Cooperative principles have 
 been applied in the general, leaving the details to be worked 
 out by individual efforts. In the wholesale purchase of land, 
 fencing and irrigation, several hundred thousand dollars were 
 saved, and now the annual interest on that amount. The 
 people own the lands, the water, the fences, the village and 
 all the privileges Cooperation has secured them. These con- 
 ditions and privileges which accompany the farms are as much 
 a part of them as the foundation rocks. A board of trustees 
 is elected annually, a superintendent of canals and fences 
 employed, and assessments levied every year to meet all 
 expenses. The people are justly proud of their record. They 
 have no poor, no criminals, no idle loafers, and no police. 
 To-day this village and Community are the most prosperous 
 in Colorado. Here 4,000 people have found happy homes, and 
 
OTHER SOCIALISTIC EXPERIMKATS. ir,7 
 
 form the nucleus of what shall be in time 50,000 population." 
 
 California has seyeral Cooperative settlements, of which 
 Anaheim is best known and most flourishing. The 1,165 acres 
 pm-chased there twenty years ago at $2 per acre, by fifty poor 
 German mechanics, have been increased to 3,200 acres, and 
 their value enhanced more than fifteen-fold on the average, 
 and in some cases more than an hundred-fold. It was, how- 
 ever, Cooperative only durmg the first years of its history. 
 
 "Praii-ie Home," or " Silkville," in Franklin County, 
 Kansas, founded by E. "V. Boissiere, a French gentleman of 
 wealth and culture, is one of the most interesting experi- 
 ments now in progress. M. Boissiere has here invested in 
 land, buildings, etc., over one hundred thousand dollars, 
 which he proposes to devote to "Association and Coopera- 
 tion based on Attractive Industry." His scheme, so far as 
 it is developed, appears to be a modified form of Fourier- 
 ism. He proposes "as a leading feature of the enterprise to 
 establish the ' Combined Household ' of Fourier — that is, a 
 single large residence for all the associates." And he states 
 that his principal aim is " to organize labor, the source of all 
 wealth, first, on the basis of remuneration proportioned to 
 production ; and second, in such manner as to make it both 
 eflBcient and attractive. Guarantees of education and subsis- 
 tence to all, and of help to those who need it, are indispensa- 
 ble conditions, to be provided as soon as the organization shall 
 be sufficiently advanced to render them practicable." Several 
 buildings have been erected, and some industries started, as 
 farming, fruit-growing and silk-culture. But festina lente is 
 the motto of both M. Boissiere and of his able assistant, Mr. 
 Charles Sears. They wisely choose to thoroughly mature 
 their plans and test them on the small scale before largely 
 advertising their experiment. 
 
 There are numerous Cooperative stores and Cooperative 
 
168 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 manufactiu-mg companies in the Northern States, and even 
 large Orders, Hke the Grangers and Sovereigns of Industry, 
 and a SociaHst Labor Party, that might be mentioned in this 
 connection as additional evidences that a tidal wave of Social- 
 ism — ^using this term in its broadest sense — is bearing society 
 onward toward conditions more accordant with its ultimate 
 destiny. 
 
 GHARAGTERISTIGS OF AMElilGAX GOM- 
 
 IIUJSU.SM. 
 
 IMMENSE mischief is done by the confounding of things 
 in popular estimation which are distinct in character and 
 object. This most often occurs when two things happen to 
 have some peculiarities in common, and hence a common name. 
 For example, the American people, a century ago, established 
 a republican form of government, which was peaceable, 
 orderly, and remarkably free from excesses of all kinds. 
 Scarcely had their work been completed when the French 
 people also undertook the same task. Their effort was pre- 
 mature, and the result shocking to men and angels. Their 
 republic was soon transformed into a military despotism, but 
 during its short term of existence, under the name of liberty 
 and of republicanism, the greatest disorder and most horrible 
 excesses prevailed. It should have been plain to aU the world 
 that the republicanism of Marat and Danton, St. Just and 
 
VJIARAVrERlSTWS. 159 
 
 Kobespierre, was a wholly different thing from the republi- 
 canism of Adams and Franklin, Jefferson and Washington; 
 but the monarchists of Europe and the tories of the United 
 States and the opponents of republicanism every-where per- 
 sistently confounded the two, and compelled the lovers of 
 Uberty here to suffer the opprobrium which belonged solely to 
 the poUtical demagogues and fanatics of France. "Behold," 
 they continually cried, "the fruits which grow on your boasted 
 tree of hberty." And it was a long time before a clear distinc- 
 tion was recognized and expressed in the world's thought and 
 language; biit finally the republicanism of 1776 came to be 
 known as America)!, in contradistinction from that of 1789, 
 which was labelled French. 
 
 Commutiism is another unfortiuiate word, whose history 
 has been similar to that of republicanism. America took the 
 lead in the establishment of certain organizations, like the 
 Shakers and Harmonists, based on Communism of property, 
 and hence called Communities. Other Communities followed, 
 successful and otherwise, but all carrying on their experiments 
 without interference with common society or hostility to it. 
 This was the normal character of American Communism. It 
 was free from every form of compulsion and conservative of 
 property, order and morality. It aimed to improve the 
 present social condition of the world, but it rehed mainly 
 upon example, and asked only voluntary individual coopera- 
 tion, and contemplated no violent or sudden revolutions in 
 society. These facts were becoming recognized, and the word 
 Communism was in a fair way to acquire honor if not renown, 
 when lo ! another form of Communism entered the field, as 
 widely contrasting with its American namesake as the American 
 republicanism of 1776 contrasted with the French repubhcan- 
 ism of 1789. This new form of Communism demanded that 
 society as a whole should at once resolve itself into a state of 
 
100 AMERICAN OOMMUNITTKS. 
 
 common jiroperty, which would really be compulsory Commu- 
 nism, and would amount to plunder of the upper classes by 
 the lower. Moreover, it would necessarily result in anarchy 
 and enormous waste, if it did not end in universal poverty. 
 It aimed at controlling all the functions of government and 
 society. In a word, it was the_ Communism of force. It 
 manifested itself on a large scale and displayed these inherent 
 characteristics in France during and immediately following 
 the Franco-Prussian war, and hence has been called French 
 Communism. It showed itself in other countries, and was 
 called European Communism, International Commimism, etc. 
 It may not deserve condemnation as wholly wrong in charac- 
 ter, tendency and objects ;_ but M)_faT^;SJJLseeks its ends by 
 compulsory means it,, is .Jio-t^ , allied^ to what is proijerly 
 termed American Commmiism. There is reason to hope it 
 will outgrow its objectionable features, as French republi- 
 canism has outgrown its original characteristics, but until 
 it does there is no fairness in confounding the two kinds 
 of Communism. The Communism which has been practically 
 illustrated in the United States during the last four score 
 years is voluntary, peaceable, conservative. From it there is 
 no violence to be feared. If there is a "strike" or "oui>- 
 break " or " uprising " or "mob" or " disorder " or " destruc- 
 tion " anywhere or of any kind, it may be safely assumed that 
 Communism, in the true American sense of the word, is in no 
 manner responsible for it. It abhors all forms of compulsion. 
 
THE COJIMUXISTIC STAyUAllJ) OF CHAR- 
 A CTER. 
 
 MEN'S charactei's are determined in a great degree by 
 their dominant aims, and these in the past ages of the 
 world have been, for the most part, of a nature to unfit them 
 for close organization. Personal distinction in one form 
 or another has been and is the leading object of ambition 
 among all classes and peoples. It matters little whether it is 
 sought in war or trade, literature or art ; its effect on personal 
 character is essentially the same in all cases. Character thus 
 developed cannot stand the test of Communism. It is in its 
 very nature selfish and inorganic. The character demanded 
 by Communism contrasts very sharply with that which gains 
 the prizes in this world. It is outlined in the beatitudes of 
 Christ and in Paul's description of charity. Those possessing 
 it wdl strive neither for leadersliip nor for individual gain, 
 but for peace, for the happiness of others, for personal 
 improvement — for meekness, love, pui'ity, righteousness. 
 
 The small family may have wealth, and all that wealth can 
 procure ; genius, and all that genius can achieve ; and yet 
 lack the essential elements of a happy home. There must be 
 that which promotes love and unity; that which delights in 
 serving others ; that which avoids giving offense and does not 
 easily take offense ; that which yields readily to the judgment 
 and wishes of others : these are the indispensable conditions 
 of a happy home whether in hut or palace. And it is utter 
 folly to suppose that a large family or Community can get 
 along harmoniously without the same conditions. It may have 
 11 
 
I(i2 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 its hundreds of members ; its phalanstery ; its gronps and 
 series ; its immense domain ; its manifold industries ; its large 
 library and every aid to intellectual development ; and yet, 
 unless it finds a way to secure the conditions enimierated as 
 essential to the happiness of a small family, it will prove a 
 gigantic failure. Indeed these conditions are more indispen- 
 sable in a Community than anywhere else. The members of 
 the common family have a large part of their association vsdth 
 persons outside of their circle; business, education, politics, 
 religion, are continually bringing them into other combina- 
 tions. But a Commmiity, as a writer in the Boston Common- 
 wealth has happily said, " is a church which clothes and feeds 
 its members in a material as well as a spiritual sense : " it is 
 more ; it is a school which educates its members, a village in 
 its industries and amusements ; and it is a home that contem- 
 plates no dissolution. Its members have taken each other 
 "for better, for worse," for life. They look not forward to 
 the time when their organization will be broken by any of the 
 agencies that disintegrate the common family. How unspeak- 
 ably important it is, then, that in this perpetual home those 
 characteristics should jiredominate which tend to harmony 
 and brotherhood ! 
 
 COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP. 
 
 IT is remarkable how many persons there are who conceive 
 themselves well qiialified to manage Communities. Men who 
 have failed as lawyers and doctors and ministers, and even as 
 ordinary business men, will not hesitate a moment to under- 
 
COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP. IGfJ 
 
 take the superintendence of a large Community. Poor leader- 
 ship was doubtless a more potent cause of failure in the disas- 
 trous campaign of Foui-ierism than any or all of the causes com- 
 monly assigned, such as poor land, lack of capital, inadequate 
 numbers. One of the most eloquent advocates of Fourierism 
 and a director in two of its Phalanxes says, " None but high 
 and commanding leaders could have reduced the crowds who 
 sought entrance into these experiments to order, and such 
 leaders they did not have ; " and Horace Greeley, who in 
 so many ways aided the Associations that were started, 
 contributes this sketch of the class of persons who sought 
 to control them : " They may have failed again and again 
 and been protested at every bank to which they have been 
 presented ; yet they are sure to jump into any new move- 
 ment as if they had been born expressly to superintend 
 and direct it, though they are morally certain to ruin what- 
 ever they lay their hands on. Destitute of means, of practical 
 abihty, of prudence, tact and common, sense, they have such a 
 wealth of assurance and self confidence that they clutch the 
 responsible positions which the capable and worthy modestly 
 shiink from ; so responsibilities that would task the ablest are 
 mistakenly devolved on the blindest and least fit. Many an 
 experiment is thus wrecked, when, engineered by its best 
 members, it might have succeeded." 
 
 It is utterly futile to undertake the estabHshment of Com- 
 munities unless men can be found to lead them who have at 
 least as much abihty and inteUigence as is required, for 
 instance, in the successful management of a railroad or bank 
 or large manufactory. They must also possess other and 
 more rare qualifications, such as freedom from selfish ambi- 
 tion and the genuine spirit of service. Christ said to his dis- 
 ciples : "Te know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise 
 dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority 
 
UH AMEIilCAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 upon them. But it shall not be so among you ; but whosoever 
 will be greatest among you let him be your minister ; and 
 whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant." 
 That is the kind of leadership for Communities — a kind that 
 makes harmony rather than strife. The more leaders of 
 this sort there are the better. If a man honestly labors as a 
 servant of the Community, and grows great in its service, the 
 well-disposed will rejoice in his prosperity as they would in 
 their own. 
 
 The best leaders will be given to meditation, searching into 
 interior truth, and in their intercourse with the Community 
 will be, not chiefly commanders and directors, but instructors 
 and teachers of interior things. Leadership which consists 
 mainly in the exercise of personal influence, however great 
 the person who exercises it, tends to bondage ; and the greater 
 the person the greater the bondage. "If I bring out a prin- 
 ciple," says one who has thought much on these deep ques- 
 tions, " your loyalty is spontaneous to that, and the truth does 
 not bring you into bondage. If I show you how to do an 
 example in arithmetic, you do not have to look to me, or be 
 governed by me, in doing it ; the truth is sufficient of itself to 
 attract and govern you." Leadership that relies mainly upon 
 the truth for its means of influence and government will never 
 become oppressive. 
 
 With the right standard of character for both leaders and 
 led, it will be an easy task to multiply Communities in all 
 rivilized lands. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION OF THE HARMONY 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 Whereas, by the favor of Divine Providence, an Association or Com- 
 munity has been formed by George Eapp and many others, upon the basis 
 of Christian fellowship, the principles of which, being faithfully derived 
 from the sacred Scriptures, include the government of the patriarchal age, 
 united to the Community of property, adopted in the days of the apostles, 
 and wherein the simple object sought is to approximate, so far as human 
 imperfections may allow, to the fulfillment of the will of God, by the 
 exercise of those affections and the practice of those virtues which are 
 essential to the happiness of man in time and throughout eternity ; 
 
 And whereas, it is necessary to the good order and well-being of the 
 said Association, that the conditions of membership should be clearly 
 understood, and that the rights, privileges and duties of every individ- 
 ual therein should be so defined as to prevent mistake or disappointment 
 on the one hand, and contention or disagreement on the other ; 
 
 Therefore be it known to all whom it may concern, that we, the 
 undersigned, citizens of the County of Beaver, in the Commonwealth of 
 Pennsylvania, do severally and distinctly, each for himself, covenant, 
 grant and agree, to and with the said George Rapp and his associates as 
 follows, viz. : 
 
 Abticle 1st. We, the undersigned, for ourselves, our heirs, execu- 
 tors and administrators, do hereby give, grant, and forever convey to the 
 said George Eapp and his associates, and to their heirs and assigns, all our 
 property, real, personal and mixed, whether it be lands and tenements, 
 goods and chattels, money or debts due to us, jointly or severally in posses- 
 sion, in remainder, or in reversion or expectancy, whatsoever and where- 
 soever, without evasion, qualiiication or reserve, as a free gift or donation, 
 for the benefit and use of the said Association or Community, and we do 
 hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators, to do all 
 such other acts as may be necessary to vest a perfect title to the same in 
 the said Association, and to place the said property at the full disposal of 
 the superintendent of the said Community without delay. 
 
 Abticle 2d. We do further covenant and agree to and with the said 
 George Kapp and his associates, that we will severally submit faithfully to 
 the laws and regulations of said Community, and will at all times manifest 
 a ready and cheerful obedience toward those who are or may be appointed 
 
160 AMERICAN COMMUMITIES. 
 
 as superintendents thereof, holding ourselves bound to promote the inter- 
 est and welfare of the said Community, not only by the labor of our own 
 hands, but also by that of our children, our families, and all others who 
 now are, or hereafter may be, under our control. 
 
 Aeticle 3d. If, contrary to our expectations, it should so happen 
 that we could not render the faithful obedience aforesaid, and should be 
 induced from that or any other cause to withdraw from the said Associa- 
 tion, then and in such case we do expressly covenant and agree to and 
 with the said George Rapp and his a.ssociates, that we never will claim or 
 demand, either for ourselves or our children, or for any one belonging to 
 us, directly or indirectly, any compensation, wages or reward whatever 
 for our or their labor or services rendered to the said Community, or to 
 any member thereof, but whatever we or our families jointly or severally 
 shaU or may do, all shall be held and considered as a voluntary service 
 for our brethren. 
 
 AeticlB 4th. In consideration of the premises, the said George 
 Kapp and his associates do, by these pre^ieuts, adopt the undersigned 
 jointly and severally, as members of the said Community, whereby each 
 of them obtains the privilege of being present at every religious meeting 
 and receiving, not only for themselves but also for their children and 
 families, all such instructions in church and school as may be reasonably 
 I'equired both for their temporal good and for their'eternal felicity. 
 
 Aeticle Tith. The said George Kapp and his associates further agree 
 to supply the undersigned severally with all the necessaries of life, as 
 clothing, meat, drink, lodging, etc., for themselves and their families. 
 And this provision is not limiti-d to their days of health and strength ; 
 but when any of them shall become sick, infirm, or otherwise unfit for 
 labor, the same support and maintenance shall be allowed as before, 
 together with such ni'dicine, care, attendance, and consolation, as their 
 situation may reasonably demand. And if at any time after they have 
 become members of the Association, the father or mother of a family 
 should die or be otherwise separated from the Community and should 
 leave their fanjily behind, such family shall not be left orphans or desti- 
 tute, but shall partake of the same rights and maintenance as before, so 
 long as they remain in the Association, as well in sickness as in health, 
 and to such extent as th'ir circumstances may require. 
 
 Aeticle 0th. And if it should so happen as above mentioned, that 
 any of the undersigned should violate his or their agreement, and would 
 or could not submit to the laws and regulations of the Church or the Com- 
 munity, and for that or any other cause should withdraw from the Asso- 
 ciation, then the said George Eapp and his associates agree to refund to 
 him or them the value of all such property as he or they may have 
 brought into the Community, in compliance with the first article of this 
 agreement, the said value to be refunded without interest, in one, two or 
 three annual installments, as the said George Kapp and his associates shall 
 determine. And if the person or persons so withdrawing themselves were 
 
AFFEJSIDIX. U;7 
 
 poor, and brought uothing into the Community, notwithstanding, if they 
 depart openly and regularly, they shall receive a donation in money, 
 according to the length of their stay, and to their conduct, and to such 
 amount as their necessities may require, in the judgment of the superin- 
 tendents of the Association. 
 
 The provision in regard to refunding property to seceders was abro- 
 gated in 1836 by the unanimous adoption of the following additional 
 articles : 
 
 1st. The said sixth article [in regard to refunding] is entirely an- 
 nulled and made void, as if it hud never existed, all others to remain in 
 full force as heretofore. 2d. All the property of the Society, real, per- 
 sonal and mixed, in law or equity, and howsoever contributed or acquired, 
 shall be deemed now and forever joint and indivisible stock. Each indi- 
 vidual is to be considered to have finally and irrevocably parted with all 
 his former contributions, whether in lands, goods, money or labor, and 
 the same rule shall apply to all future contributions, whatever they may 
 be. 3d. Should any individual withdraw from the Society, or depart this 
 life, neither he in the one case, nor his representatives in the other, shall 
 be entitled to demand an account of said contributions, or to claim any 
 thing from the Society as a matter of right ; but it shall be left altogether 
 to the discretion of the superintendent to decide whether any, and if any, 
 what allowance shuU be made to such member, or his representatives, as a 
 donation. 
 
 AUTlCLliS OF ASSOf-fATIOM OF THE r<jMMFyiTy 
 AT ZOAR, OHIO. 
 
 AUTICLES or THE FIRST CLASS. 
 
 We, the undersigned, members of the First Class of Separatists, 
 party of the first ijart, and G-eorge Gasely, Jacob Ackermann and Christian 
 Euof, Triiste&s elect, and their successors in ofliue, of the Separatists' 
 Society of Zoar, in the County of Tusc:irawas, and State of Ohio, party 
 of the second part, have, through confidence mutually reposed in one 
 another, established, and by these presents do establish, the following 
 rules and principles of social compact, for the better fulfillment of the 
 duties of mankind, which we owe one another, and also for the further- 
 ance of our spiritual and temporal welfare and happiness. 
 
 ABTIC3I.E 1st. We, the said party of the first part, do declare, that by 
 our own free will and accord we have agreed, and by these presents do 
 agree, and bind ourselves to labor, obey, and execute all the orders of 
 said Trustees and their successors in office ; and from the day of the date 
 hereof henceforth to use all our industry and skill in behalf of the 
 
168 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 exclusive benefit and welfare of the said Separatists' Society of Zoar, and 
 continue to do so as long as strength and health will permit, to the entire 
 satisfaction of said Trustees and their successors in oflSce. 
 
 Article 2d. And we do also hereby agree and bind ourselves firmly 
 by these presents, to put our minor children under the care and control of 
 the said Trustees and their successors in oflice, in the same manner as if 
 they had been bound by indentures to serve and dwell with them and 
 their successors in office, for and during the term of their minority, sub- 
 ject to all the duties, and likewise entitled to the same rights and protec- 
 tion, as indentured children by law are subject and entitled to, until they 
 shall have attained their proper age, as defined by the statutes of the 
 State of Ohio. 
 
 Aeticle 3d. And the said Trustees do hereby, for themselves and 
 their successors in office, agree and bind themselves to furnish the said 
 party of the first part with suitable dwelling, board and clothing, free of 
 cost, the clothing to consist at any time of no less than two suits, includ- 
 ing the clothes brought by the said party of the first part to this Society ; 
 and in case of sickness, necessary care and attendance is hereby promised 
 to the said party of the first part ; and this performance of the Trustees 
 and their successors in office shall be considered by the party of the first 
 part a full compensation for all their labors and services, done, either by 
 themselves or their minor children, without any further claim or demands 
 whatever. 
 
 Article 4th. Good and moral behavior, such as is enjoined by strict 
 observance of the principles of Holy Writ, are by both parties hereby 
 promised to be observed ; hence it is clearly understood that all profane 
 language, immoral words and acts, which may cause offense amongst the 
 other members of this Community, are not only wholly to be avoided, 
 but, on the contrary, all are to endeavor to set good examples and to 
 cherish general and mutual love. 
 
 Article 5th. The object of this agreement being, furthermore, to 
 preserve peace and unity, and as such can only be maintained by a general 
 equality among its members, it is therefore severally understood and 
 declared, that no extra demands shall be made or allowed in respect to 
 meat, drink, clothing, dwellings, etc. (cases of sickness excepted), but 
 such, if any can be allowed to exist, may and shall be obtained by indi- 
 viduals through means of their own, and never out of the common fund. 
 
 Article 6th. All monies which the said party of the first part either 
 now possess, or hereafter may receive into their possession, shall without 
 delay be deposited in the common fund of this Society, for which a 
 receipt, payable on demand, is to be given ; but upon the request of said 
 party of the first part, in order to procure extra necessaries, as the 
 case may be, a part or the whole of said deposit shall be refunded to the 
 owner. 
 
 Article 7th. All manner of misunderstandings and ditFerences shall 
 be settled by way of arbitration, and not otherwise, that is, by a body of 
 
APPENDIX. 1U;> 
 
 three or live persons, to be chosen by both parties ; and their decision 
 shall be held binding upon both parties. 
 
 Abtiole 8th. All rules and regulations contained in the foregoing 
 articles (if any there be that are not plain enough, or are subject to 
 misapprehension), shall be so undsrstood as never to be in opposition to, 
 but always in perfect accordance with, the morals, usige'!, principles and 
 regulations of the members of the Second Class of the Separatists' 
 Society of Zoar. 
 
 Article 9th. These articles being fully and fairly understood, to 
 their strict and faithful performance both parties bind themselves in the 
 most solemn manner, jointly and severally, their children, heirs, executors, 
 administrators and successors in office, by the penal sum of fifty dollars, 
 current money of the United States of North America. 
 
 Abticle loth. If in consequence of the foregoing, a penalty upon 
 any one of the parties to this agreement shall be laid, then, in case of 
 refusal or non-compliance, the party so refusing may be prosecuted for 
 the same before any magistrate or Justice of the Peace in the Township, 
 County and State wherein the defendant may reside, and judgment shall 
 be had agreeable to the laws of this State ; and said magistrate or Justice 
 of the Peace shall forthwith proceed to collect such penalty, and pay it 
 over to the party who by law is entitled to the same. In testimony 
 whereof, both parties have hereunto set their hands and seals this 14th 
 day of October in the year of our Lord, ISM:!. 
 
 FULL COVENANT OF THE MEMBERS OP THE SECOND CLASS. 
 
 We, the subscribers, members of the Society of Separatists of the 
 Second Class, declare hereby that we give all our property, of every kind,, 
 not only what we possess; but what we may hereafter come in possession 
 of by inheritance, gift, or otherwise, real or personal, and all rights,, 
 titles, and expectations whatever, both for ourselves and our heirs, to the 
 said Society forever, to be and remain, not only during our Uves, but after 
 our deaths, the exclusive property of the Society. Also we promise and 
 bind ourselves to obey all the commands and orders of the Trustees and 
 their subordinates, with the utmost zeal and diligence, without opposition 
 or grumbling ; and to devote all our strength, good-will, dihgence and 
 skill, during our whole lives, to the common service of the Society and 
 for the satisfaction of its Trustees. Also we consign in a similar manner 
 our children, so long as they are minors, to the charge of the Trustees, 
 giving these the same rights and powers over them as though they had 
 been formally indentured to them under the laws of the State. 
 
COVENANT OF THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY. 
 
 Wheeeas, the Society called the Oneida Community, hiving its head- 
 quarters at or near the village of Oneida, County of Madison, and State 
 of New York, and branches at WaUingford, State of Connecticut, and other 
 places, was founded by John H. Noyes and others for the purpose of re- 
 Hgious fellowship and discipline ; and 
 
 Whbebas, it has been and is the agreement of the members of the said 
 Oneida Community, and of all its branches, by and with one another, that 
 on the admission of any member all pi'operty belonging to him or her be- 
 comes the joint-property of the Community, and of all its members, and 
 the education, subsistence, clothing, and other necessaries of life furnished 
 to members and their children in the Community are agreed and held to 
 be just equivalents for all labor performed, and services rendered, and 
 property contributed, no accounts being kept between any member and 
 the Community, or between individual members, and no claim for wages 
 accruing to him or her in case of subsequent withdrawal ; and 
 
 Wheeeas, it has heretofore been the practice of the Community to 
 Jteep a record of the estimated amount or value of the property put in by 
 every member joining the Community, and to refund the same or an 
 equivalent amount or value, without interest, use, or increase, in case of 
 the subsequent voluntary withdrawal of the member ; 
 
 Yet, as this practice stands and has already stood on the ground, not 
 of obligation, but of good will and liberality, the time and manner of re- 
 funding such property or its value resting entirely in the discretion of the 
 Community through the voice of its members, who may also discontinue 
 this custom of refunding at any time they see fit, or refuse in any case to 
 refund all or any part of such property contributed by any member, upon 
 or after his or her withdrawal, at their pleasure ; and 
 
 Wheeeas, it is also agreed that on the death of a member, or his or her 
 expulsion for just cause, the Community, its trustees, officers, or other 
 representatives, are not bound to refund all or any part of the property 
 contributed by such members to his heirs, executors, administrators, or 
 assigns ; 
 
 Theeeeoee, we, the undersigned, acknowledge the above as the 
 terms of our connection with and membership in the Oneida Community 
 and all its branches now existing or that may hereafter exist, and we 
 severally, for ourselves, our heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, 
 do agree and covenant with it, and with its members, and with one another, 
 and with the present propei-ty-holders thereof, and their successors in 
 
APPENDIX. 171 
 
 office, that neither we uor our heirs, exacutors, administr.;tors, nor assigns, 
 will ever bring any action, either at law or in equity, or other process or 
 proceeding whatsoever, against said Community or its branches, or against 
 the agents, or property-holders thereof, or any person or corporation, for 
 wages or other compensation for service, nor for tte recovery of any 
 property by us or either of us contributed to the funds or property of 
 said Community or its branches, on or before our entering the same, or at 
 any subsequent time, nor mike any cliim or demand therefor, of any 
 iind or nature whatsoever. 
 
 THE ISHAKER OOVENAJSTT. 
 
 [We omit the preamble of this Covenant, and such parts as relate to 
 the objects of the Society and the duties of the subordinate officers.] 
 
 OEDEE AND OmCE OF THE MINISTET. 
 
 We acknowledge and declare that for the purpose of promoting and 
 maintaining union, order and harmony throughout the various branches 
 of this Cominuaity, the primary adiniaistr.itiou of parental authority has 
 been settled in the first estabUshed Ministry at Mt. Lebanon, N. Y. , there 
 to rest and remain as the center of union.to all who are in Gospel relation 
 and communion with the Society. The established order of this Ministry 
 includes four persons ; two of each sex. 
 
 PEEPETUITY OF THEIE OFFICE AND HOW SUPPIjIED. 
 
 We further acknowledge and declare that the said i^rimary adminis- 
 tration of parental authority has been and is perpetuated as follows : 
 Namely, that the first in that office and calling possesses the right given 
 by the sanction of divine authority, through the first founders of this 
 Society, to prescribe or direct any regulation or appointment which they 
 may judge most proper and necessary respecting the Ministry or any 
 other important matter which may concern the welfare of the Church 
 subsequent to their decease. But in case no such regulation or ap- 
 pointment be so prescribed or directed, then the right to direct and 
 authorize such regulation and appointment devolves upon the surviving 
 members of the Ministry, in council with the Elders of the Church, or 
 others, as the nature of the case in their judgment may require. Such 
 appointments being officially communicated to all concerned, and receiving 
 the general approbation of the Church, are confirmed and supported in 
 the Society. 
 
 THE MINISTEKIAL OFFICE IN THE SEVEEAL SOCIETIES. 
 
 We further acknowledge and declare, covenant and agree that the 
 ministerial office and authority in any Society or Comnnmity of our faith, 
 
172 AMERWAI'f COMMUNITIES. 
 
 which has emanated or which may emanate, in a regular line of order from 
 the center of union aforesaid, is, and shall be acknowledged, owned and 
 respected as, the spiritual and primary authority of such Society or Com- 
 munity in all matters pertaining to the ministerial office. And in case of 
 the decease or removal of any individual of said Ministry, in any such 
 Society, his or her lot and place shall be filled by agreement of the 
 surviving Ministers, in council with the Elders and others, as the nature 
 of the case may require, together with the knowledge and approbation of 
 the primary ministerial authority at Mt. Lebanon, N. Y., aforesaid, to 
 which they are responsible. 
 
 POWEES AND DUTIES OF THE MINISTRY. 
 
 The Ministry being appointed and established as aforesaid are vested 
 with the primary authority of the Church and its v.irious branches. 
 Hence, it becomes their special duty to guide and superintend the spiritual 
 concerns of the Society as a body of people under their care and govern- 
 ment, and in connection with the Elders in their respective families and 
 departments, who shall act in union with them, to give and establish such 
 orders, rules and regulations as may be found necessary for the govern- 
 ment and protection of the Church and Society within the limits of their 
 jurisdiction, and also to counsel, advise and judge in all matters of impor- 
 tance, whether spiritual or temporal. The said Ministry are also vested 
 with authority, in connection with the Elders as aforesaid, to nominate 
 and appoint to office Ministers, Elders, Deacons, and Trustees, and to 
 assign offices of care and trust to such brethren and sisters as they, the 
 said Ministry and Elders, shall judge to be best qualified for the several 
 of&ces to which they may be appointed ; and we do hereby covenant and 
 agree that such nominations and appointments, being made and officially 
 communicated to those concerned, and receiving the general approbation 
 of the Church, or of the Families concerned, shall thenceforth be confirmed 
 and supported until altered or revoked by the authority aforesaid. 
 
 PEEPAEATION EOK ADMISSION INTO CHUKCH RELATION. 
 
 In order that believers may be prepared for entering into the sacred 
 privilege of Church relation, it is of primary importance that suffioient 
 opportunity and privilege should be afforded under the ministry of the 
 Gospel for them to acquire suitable instruction in the genuine principles 
 of righteousness, honesty, justice and true holiness, and also that they 
 should prove their faith and Christian morality by their practical obedi- 
 ence to the precepts of the Gospel according to their instructions. It is 
 also indispensably necessary for them to receive the one uniting spirit of 
 Christ, and to become so far of one heart and one mind that they are will- 
 ing to sacrifice all other relations for this sacred one. Another essential 
 step is to settle all just and equitable claims of creditors and JiS'a? heirs, 
 so that whatever property they may possess shall be justly their own. 
 When this is done, and th^y fael themselves sufficiently prepared to make 
 a deliberate and final choice, to devote themselves, with all they possess, 
 wholly to the service of God, without reserve, and it shall be deemed 
 
APPENDIX. 17:', 
 
 proper by the leading authority of the Church, after examination and due 
 consideration, to allow them to associate together in the capacity of a 
 Church, or a branch thereof in Gospel order, they may then consecrate 
 themselves and all they possess to the service of God forever, and confirm 
 the same by signing and sealing a written covenant predicated upon the 
 principles herein contained, and fulfilling, on their part, all its obligations. 
 
 ADMISSION OF NEW MEMBEBS. 
 
 As the door must be kept open for the admission of new members 
 into the Church, when duly prepared, it is agreed that each and every 
 person who shall at any time after the date and execution of the Church 
 Covenant, in any branch of the Community, be admitted into the Church 
 as a member thereof, shall previously have a fair opportunity to obtain a 
 full, clear and explicit understanding of the object and design of the 
 Church Covenant, and of the obligations it enjoins upon the members. 
 For this purpose, he or she shall, in the presence of two of the Deacons 
 or acting Trustees of the Church, read, or hear the same distinctly read, so 
 as to be able freely to acknowledge his or her full approbation and ac- 
 ceptance thereof, in all its parts. Then he, she or they (as the case may 
 be), shall be at liberty to sign the same ; and having signed and sealed it, 
 and being subject to all the obligations required of the original signers, 
 shall thenceforth be entitled to all the benefits and privileges thereunto 
 appertaining ; and the signature or signatures thus added shall be certified 
 by the said Deacons or Trustees, together with the date thereof. 
 
 PEIVILEGES AND OBLIGATIONS OF MEMBEES. 
 
 The united interests of the Church having been formed and estab- 
 lished by the free-will offerings and pious donations of the members 
 respectively, from the commencement of the institution, for the object and 
 purposes already stated, it cannot be considered either as a joint-tenancy 
 or a tenancy in common, but as a conxeo'ated whole, designed for and 
 devoted to the uses and purposes of the Gospel forever, agreeable to the 
 established principles of the Church : Therefore it shall be held, pos- 
 sessed and enjoyed by the Church, in their united capacity, as a sacred 
 and covenant right : That is to say, all and every member thereof, while 
 standing in Gospel union and maintaining the principles of this Covenant, 
 xMll erijfiy equal rights, benefits and primleges, in the use of all things per- 
 taining to the Church, aawrding to their several needs and eircunwtanoes ; 
 and no difference shall be made on account of what any one has con- 
 tributed and devoted, or may hereafter contribute and devote to the 
 support and benefit of the institution. 
 
 It is nevertheless stipulated and agreed that the benefits, privileges 
 and enjoyments secured by this Covenant to the members of the Church, 
 shall not be considered as extenaiug to any person who shall refuse to 
 comply with the conditions of this association ; or who shall refuse to 
 submit to the admonition and discipline of the constituted authority of 
 the Church ; or who shall willfully depart from the principles and practice 
 of those religious and moral obligations which have been estabhshed in 
 
174 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 
 
 the Church, agreeable to the primitive faith and distinguished principles 
 of this institut'oii ; of which refusal or non-compliauce the leading au- 
 thority acknowledged in the first article of this Covenant shall be the 
 proper and constitutional judges. 
 
 OBLIGATIONS OF THE MEMEEKS. 
 
 As subordination and obedience is the life and soul of every well-regu- 
 lated Community, so our strength and protection, our happiness and pros- 
 perity, in our capacity of Church members, must depend on our faithful 
 obedience to the rules and orders established in the Church, and to the 
 instruction, counsel and advice of its leaders. Therefore, we do hereby 
 covenant and agree that we will receive and acknowledge, as our Elders in 
 the Gospel, those members in the Church who are or may be chosen and 
 appointed for the time being to that office and calling by the authority afore- 
 said ; and also that we will , as faithful brethren and sisters in Christ, conform 
 and subject ourselves to the known and established faith and principles of 
 our Community, and to the counsels and directions of the Elders, who 
 shall act in union, as aforesaid, and also to all the orders, rules and regu- 
 lations which are or may be given and established in the Church, accord- 
 ing to the principles and by the authority aforesaid. 
 
 DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS. 
 
 The faithful improvement of our time and talents in doing good is a 
 duty which God requires of man, as a rational, social and accountable 
 being, and this duty is indispensable in the members of the Church of 
 Christ. Therefore, it is and shall be required of all and every member of 
 this institution, unitedly and individually, to occupy and improve their 
 time and talents to support and maintain the interest of the Society, to 
 promote the objects of this Covenant, and discharge their duty to God 
 and each other according to their several abilities and callings, as members 
 in union with one common lead ; so that the various gifts and talents of 
 all may be improved for the jnutual benefit of each other and all concerned. 
 
 As we esteem the mutual possession and enjoyment of the consecrated 
 interest and privileges of the Church a valuable consideration, fully ade- 
 quate to any amount of personal interest, labor or service, devoted or 
 consecrated by any individual ; we, therefore, covenant and agree, in con- 
 formity with an established and well-known principle of the Church, that 
 no person whatever under its care and protection can be employed for 
 wages of any kind, on his or her individual account, and that no ground 
 is or can be afforded for the recovery of any property or service devoted 
 or consecrated as aforesaid ; and it is also agreed that in case of the re- 
 moval of any member or members from one Family, Society or branch of 
 the Church to another, his, her or their previous signature or signatures 
 to the Church or Family Covenant from whence such member or mem- 
 bers shall have removed, shall forever bar all claims which are incompati. 
 ble with the true intent and meaning of this Covenant, in the same man- 
 ner as if such removal had not taken place. Yet all who shall so remove, 
 in union with the authority aforesaid, shall be entitled to all the benefits 
 
APPENDIX. 17.-> 
 
 and privileges of the Order in which they shall then be placed, so long as. 
 they shall conform to the rules and regulations of the same. 
 
 DEDICATION AND CONSEOEATION Or PERSONS, PEOPEKTY AND SEEVICE. 
 
 According to the faith of the Gospel which we have received, and 
 agreeable to the uniform practice of the Church of Christ from its first 
 establishment in this Society, we covenant and agree to dedicate, devote,, 
 consecrate and give up, and by this Covenant we do solemnly and con- 
 scientiously dedicate, devote, consecrate and give up ourselves and ser- 
 vices, together with all our temporal interests to the service of God and 
 the support and benefit of the Church of this Community, and to such 
 other pious and charitable purposes as the Gospel may require, to be 
 under the care and direction of such Elders, Deacons, and Trustees as are 
 or may be appointed and established in the Church hy the authority 
 aforesaid. 
 
 DEDICATION AND KELEASE OF PEIVATE CLAIM. 
 
 Whereas, in pursuance of the requirement of the Gospel, and in the 
 full exercise of our faith, reason and understanding, we have freely and 
 voluntarily sacrificed all self-interest, and consecrated and devoted our 
 persons, services and property, as aforesaid, to the pious and benevolent 
 purposes of the Gospel : Therefore, we do hereby solemnly and conscien- 
 tiously, unitedly and individually for ourselves and our heirs, release and 
 quitclaim to the Deacons, or acting Trustees of the Church for the time 
 being, for the uses and purposes aforesaid, aU our private, personal right, 
 title, interest, claim and demand of, in and to the estate, interest, prop- 
 erty, and appurtenances so consecrated, devoted and given up ; and we 
 hereby jointly and severally promise and declare in th6 presence of God 
 and before these witnesses, that we will never hereafter, neither directly 
 nor indirectly, under any circumstances whatever, contrary to the stipula- 
 tions of this Covenant, make nor require any account of any interest, 
 property, labor nor service, nor any division thereof, which is, has been,. 
 or may be devoted by us, or any of us, to the uses and purposes aforesaid,, 
 nor bring any charge of debt or damage, nor hold any claim, nor demand 
 whatever against the said Deacons or Trustees, nor against the Church 
 or Society, nor against any member thereof, on account of any property 
 or service given, rendered, devoted or consecrated to the aforesaid sacred 
 and charitable purposes. 
 
 In confirmation of all the aforesaid statements, covenants, promises, 
 and articles of agreement, we have hereunto subscribed our names and 
 
 affixed our seals, commencing on this day of in the year of 
 
 our Lord one thousand eight hundred and . 
 
lie, AD rniR ris ements. 
 
 HISTORY OF AMEBIC AX SOCIALISMS. 
 J3y John Hdmphbey Noyes, 678 pp. 8vo. J. B. Lippincott & 
 Co., Philadelphia. Triibner & Co., London. 
 
 G-iving a clear account of the experiments of the past : Owen's Com- 
 munity, Collins' Communitj', Ballou's Community, the French School 
 and the Enthusiasts of 1843 ; the Fourier Phalanxes, Sylvania, the Wis- 
 consin, the North American ; Brook Farm, its legends, literati, and the 
 lesson of its life; Modern Times, its Individual Sovereigns and queer peo- 
 ple ; the Broctonian Respirationists, and reminiscences of Mountain Cove ; 
 the Religious Communities and causes of their success, etc. etc. 
 
 It forms an octivo volume, printed on heavy, tinted paper, hand- 
 somely bound in cloth, gilt. Price $3.00. 
 
 Orders filled at the office of the American Socialist, Oneida, N. Y. 
 
 AMERICAN SOCIALIST. 
 
 ONEIDA, N. Y. 
 
 " Deiuilvd to the Enlargement and Perfection of Home." 
 
 Many people in Europe and in America are now studying and experi- 
 menting in preparatory forms for a new social life. The Cooperators of 
 England number more than a million persons. These have their coopera- 
 tive stores and shops in which they get food, fuel, clothing, and other 
 necessaries of life, at very nearly the cost price, thereby saving in the 
 aggregate enormous sums annually. The foremost thinkers among these 
 coiiperators are beginning to advocate combined housekeeping in large 
 Homes, for the sake of the greater economies of living, the improved con- 
 ditions of health, of education, for rearing children, and the better associa- 
 tions which are thus to be had. In Germany a similar movement is pro- 
 gressing on an immense scale, while Russia is said to be " honey -exmihed 
 with Socinlistn. In our own country the cooperative movement has got a 
 strong foothold, and we have, besides, many interesting Communistic ex- 
 periments, new and old, which should be intelligently reported and care- 
 fully studied. 
 
 To watch, report, and assist this evolution of the civilized world from 
 an old and very defective social system to a new one adapted to the 
 present needs of mankind, and to discuss the principles which should 
 govern the transition, is the function which the Ainei'ictlll Socisiliiit 
 has undertaken to perform. This is a handsomely printed, eight-page 
 paper about the size of Harper' x Weekly, and is published every Thursday, 
 at Oneida, N. Y. 
 
 It is not the organ of any particular sect or society, but aspires to 
 represent all phases of Socialism in the broadest and most catholic spirit. 
 It is the lai'gest and best Socialistic paper in the world. Correspondents 
 in various Communities and in Europe, as well as this country, constantly 
 furnish interesting information. The best writers for the Labor Party 
 are contributors to the Socialist. 
 
 SUBSCRIPTION PRICE. 
 One year, post-paid, $2 OO ; Six months, %\. OO ; alwayn in 
 advance. One year to England, France, or Germany, post-paid, $3 OO. 
 Send money in Registered Letters, P. 0. Money-orders, or Drafts. 
 Sample mpi^K Feee. 
 
 Address, THE AMERICAN SOCIALIST, 
 
 Oneida, N. 1'., U, S. A,