DUKE UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 The Glenn Negley Collection 
 of Utopian Literature 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/dwellersinvalesuOOIIoy 
 
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THE 
 
 Dwellers inj'ale Siiiiiise 
 
 How They Got Together 
 
 AND Lived Happy 
 
 Ever After 
 
 A Seqltel to "The Natural Man" 
 
 Being an Account 
 
 OF the Tribes of Him 
 
 BY 
 
 J. WM. \AA)Yi) 
 
 Price $i.oo, Postpaid 
 
 Published by The Ariel Press 
 
 West WOOD Mass. 
 
 1904 
 
Copyright, 1904, by J. Wm. Lloyd. 
 

 The 
 Dwellers 
 
 In 
 
 Vale Sunrise 
 
'*// -IV ill be a marvellous thing — the true 
 personality of man — when we see it. It will 
 grow naturally and simply., flower-like.^ as a 
 tree grows. It will not be at discord . . . 
 It will not be always meddling with others or 
 asking them to be like itself. It will love 
 them becazise they will be different. And yet., 
 while it will not ??ieddle with others it will 
 help all., as a beautiful thing helps us by be- 
 ing what it is. . . It will be as wonderftil 
 as the personality of a child . . . Is this 
 Utopian? A map of the world that does not 
 include Utopia is not worth even glancing at 
 for it leaves out the one country at which 
 humanity is always la?iding. And when hu- 
 manity lands there it looks out., and seci?ig a 
 better coiaitry sets sail. Progress is the real- 
 ization of Utopias'' — Oscar Wilde. 
 
THE TRIBES OF THE NATURAL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 HE traveller picked his 
 breakfasted teeth on the 
 front piazza of the "Rip- 
 pleford Hotel." A worn, 
 rather sad, yet kindly face 
 and shrewd eye gave in- 
 terest to his inconspicuous tigure. 
 
 '^A quiet place, this," he said, with a 
 glance down the hot, still street, banded 
 by the cool, broad shadows of maples. 
 "Ya-as, middlin'," from the leathery- 
 faced tavern-keeper, raining tobacco 
 juice on the steps below. 
 
 "My health is not good, and Pve been 
 
6 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 advised to live in the country, and I 
 believe this might suit me if I could 
 get some place in the hills, near here, 
 where I could board." 
 
 "Mebbe ye kin. They ust to take 
 boarders up at the Red Farm, but now 
 they've all jined the Tribe I dunno what 
 the chance'd be. But if ye don't mind 
 queer folks I reckon they'd board ye 
 at the Tribe." 
 
 "The nVibe?' Indians?" 
 
 "White Injuns." 
 
 "What do you mean!" 
 
 The leathery one spat, opened his 
 mouth to speak, and then held up his 
 hand. 
 
 A sound of music, singing, and the 
 trampling of horses hoofs came down 
 the street from the westward. 
 
 "Them's them!" 
 
 At that moment, around a slight bend 
 in the street, there poured into the vil- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 7 
 
 lage a motley cavalcade of horses, riders 
 and dogs that made the traveller stare. 
 
 What were they? Indians, Gypsies, 
 masqueraders, or a circus company? 
 
 They were certainly mostly white 
 people, and their faces intelle6lual and 
 retined, tho sunburned like sailors. 
 
 But all of them, men, women and 
 children, wore on their faces the same 
 expression — something so vividly un- 
 tamed, free and care -free, frank and 
 glad, that it affected the traveller like 
 a breath from another world. He had 
 never seen that expression on a grown- 
 up person before. 
 
 A herd of romping deer in the forest 
 might look that way. 
 
 And there were several deer, run- 
 ning among the horses as a part of the 
 procession. 
 
 A young hound, seeing them, sprang 
 up and made threatening start, but the 
 
8 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 dogs of the procession met him with 
 such a rank of gleaming fangs and 
 bristling backs that he fled cowering. 
 
 The horses were beautiful, with much 
 the same proud, wild, glad look as their 
 riders, groomed till they shone like 
 glass, curvetting yet gentle, fantastically 
 decorated and caparisoned, according 
 to the fancy or affe6tion of their own- 
 ers, with little bells, plumes, fringes, 
 tassels, woven saddle-cloths, horsehair 
 bridling and carved leather-work. 
 
 And the riders were dressed, each 
 after his own humor, in costumes that 
 seemed more to express the wearer than 
 any fashion or style. Some were se- 
 verely plain, some neutral in tints, but 
 not one was dressed conventionally, and 
 brilliant colors, artistically blended, and 
 strange, barbaric ornamentation, consist- 
 ing mainly of profuse but exquisite em- 
 broidery & fringe-work prevailed. The 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 9 
 
 originality of many of the costumes was 
 remarkable & struck the eye at once. 
 
 And a wild, half-savage freedom ex- 
 pressed itself in all. Bare heads, arms 
 and feet were common, bare throats 
 were universal, bare chests and bare legs 
 were there. The full beard was almost 
 invariable, with the men, many wore 
 long hair, & many of the women had 
 their locks loose and streaming or in 
 long braids down the back. 
 
 But there was little jewelry, and a 
 critical eye might have noted that their 
 theory of ornamentation seemed rather 
 to consist in the loving decoration of 
 useful things by artistic handiwork, than 
 in the wearing of useless or cumber- 
 some things purely for effe6t. It was 
 free, exuberant, glad delight in beauty, 
 not ostentation. 
 
 A strong suggestion of Indian taste, 
 freely adapted, was discernible in all 
 their dress and trappings. 
 
lo The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 The women rode astride, like the 
 men, and seemed equally at home on 
 horseback. 
 
 It was evidently a holiday pageant; a 
 singularly childlike, un-American aban- 
 don moving them all, and there was 
 much fluting and luting and singing of 
 gay songs. 
 
 Just as they neared the hotel they 
 were singing this part-song, with a 
 spirit and elan that stirred the care- 
 worn listener like a trumpet. 
 
 SONG OF THE FREE 
 
 O the -winds are free — 
 
 And so are we! 
 The -waves are free — 
 
 Aiid so are lue! 
 The woods are free — 
 
 And so are we! 
 
 Sons of the Wood are we ! 
 Merrily^ merrily^ Comrades^ 
 Sing we the Song of the Free ! 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise i i 
 
 O the flowers are free — 
 
 And so are vje! 
 The birds are free — 
 
 And so are we! 
 The clouds are free 
 
 A?id so are 7ve! 
 
 Sons of the Wild are we ! 
 Merrily^ juerrily^ Comrades^ 
 Sing we the Song of the Free\ 
 
 O the stars a) e free — 
 
 And so are wet 
 The hills are free 
 
 And so are we! 
 The trees grow free — 
 
 And so do we! 
 
 Hoh ! Hoh ! Hoh ! 
 Coynrades ! — 
 L iberty ! Libe rty ! 
 Forever we are free ! 
 
 ''Them's them. Them's tlie Tribe." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 
 ■^ 
 
 Y dear Ilillford: 
 
 I ha\'e found the 
 Place at last. 
 
 A week ago I came to this 
 little out-of-the-way town of Rippleford, 
 I hardly knew why, except that I was 
 tired of wandering, felt myself a bro- 
 ken man financially and in health, and 
 had to stop somewhere. I sounded the 
 hotel-keeper as to where I could board, 
 and he told me that perhaps ''The Tribe" 
 would take me in. I was about to pump 
 him as to the meaning of these myste- 
 rious words when a fantastic cavalcade 
 came dashing down the street — a pro- 
 cession of men, women and children, 
 horses, dogs <& tame deer. I thought 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 13 
 
 it was a circus. But it was my an- 
 swer. This was "The Tribe." 
 
 I had never seen people Hke this be- 
 fore, and I thought them Arabs. They 
 were, it seems, celebrating their anni- 
 versary, & a morning ride to town was 
 part of the sports of the day. While 
 they were scattered about the village I 
 made acquaintance with some of them. 
 To my surprise they proved the most 
 refined and cultured of people, with 
 gentle voices & most courteous man- 
 ners. Yet they looked more like Indians 
 or Gypsies than civilized beings. 
 
 I met their chief, if you can call one 
 such in a Society where none obey, and 
 all claim equality, and individual initia- 
 tive is the first and favorite principle. 
 
 He was a magnificant, athletic man, 
 with the brow of a philosopher, a rest- 
 ful, gentle voice, serenely child-like look 
 and the eyes of a mystic. Imagine 
 
14 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 such a man without clothing, except 
 sandals, short breeches (about like 
 swimming trunks) of fringed buckskin, 
 a sleeveless unbuttoned vest, or Bolero 
 jacket, of embroidered leather, a wam- 
 pum belt, fringed pouch, and an owl 
 feather in his hair, and you will guess 
 something of his company, tho no two 
 were alike. 
 
 There was a female leader, too, a dark 
 beautiful woman named Earle. She 
 wore a scarf turban-wise on her coiled 
 hair, divided skirt, leggings and moc- 
 casins; all in nut-brown and almost ut- 
 terly without ornament, tho of richest 
 material and perfect fit. But no sim- 
 plicity could lessen the queenliness of 
 her presence. She was high-bred from 
 eyelash to feet. 
 
 The man was Forrest Westwood. 
 
 Their eyes were singularly alike, 
 deep, mystical, penetrative, but child- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 15 
 
 like and unworldly. I felt they were 
 judging me by new standards & felt 
 very strangely. T told them my needs. 
 They seemed hardly listening, only look- 
 ing into me. Suddenly the man put 
 forth his hand and clasped mine. 
 
 "Brother," he said, "you were never 
 at home out there, and that is why it 
 sickened you. You will find your own 
 among us." 
 
 I was thrilled, tho I hardly knew 
 why, but he looked at the woman. 
 
 "You are right," she said, "he will be 
 one of us," & she gave me her hand. 
 
 I did not wonder at the influence of 
 these two. A sort of god-like dignity 
 and health seemed to hang about them; 
 they were as messengers from another 
 world. 
 
 But indeed something of the same I 
 find among all of 'these unique people. 
 Perhaps it is because each lives his 
 
1 6 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 own life, absolutely, without interfer- 
 ence from the others. To do as you 
 please is what everyone requires of you. 
 There seems no other policy (tho they co- 
 operate beautifully) except to encourage 
 each others differences in ideals. They 
 are as pleased with difference as peo- 
 ple in the world are with conformity, 
 
 Well, when they returned I went 
 with them. 
 
 Comrade Forrest, as they call the 
 chief, insisted on my taking his horse, 
 and when the others went fast he took 
 hold of the stirrup-leather & ran beside 
 me like a deer, saying, and apparently 
 with truth, that he enjoyed it. 
 
 The horses were all pets,coming to call 
 like dogs, beloved like those of Arabs. 
 
 I have now been here a week and 
 feel I have just begun to live. 
 Your saved friend, 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
 Y dear Hillford: 
 
 "The Tribe of the 
 Natural," lives among the 
 hills & mountains westward 
 from Rippleford ; including in its domain 
 the farms of some former dwellers in 
 that region and a goodly parcel of wild, 
 rough acres whicli they bought. 
 
 Their village, scattered about among 
 the hills and valleys, is called "Vale 
 Sunrise," after the original name of 
 Forrest Westwood's place. 
 
 The founders, it seems, were Forrest 
 Westwood; a fair neighbor and friend 
 of his, whom I have never heard called 
 by any other name than "?vIabel-of-the- 
 Morning-Light" (a most beautiful, gen- 
 
1 8 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 tie, dreamy-eyed woman whom every- 
 body loves and talks about as if she 
 were somehow a little apart and sacred) 
 who brought in "The Red Farm;" 
 Theodora Earle, a famous artist, who 
 bought most of the land; Saxon Ward, 
 the now well-known author, then editor 
 of the local paper, and his cousin, Edith 
 Lyle, a pretty, saucy wom.an whom at 
 first you think pert and shallow, but 
 whom a closer acquaintance reveals as 
 possessing some really surprising depths 
 of thought and feeling, and whose con- 
 clusions can be relied upon always to 
 fall on the radical side. 
 
 These all live in the original "Vale 
 Sunrise," not far apart, in pi6luresque 
 and artistic homes, and form a little 
 inner circle of love and devotion whose 
 center is confessedly this grand demi- 
 savage, Forrest. 
 
 Forrest has several children, too, — 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 19 
 
 three stalwart, manly boys and a beau- 
 tiful little girl, and it is delightful to 
 see the reverence and love they show 
 their father. 
 
 The land was gotten at different times 
 and in different ways, but now nobody 
 owns it individually exa6tly as they do 
 in the outer world, but it belongs to 
 the Society, collectively, and each in- 
 dividual has what he thinks he can use, 
 as long as he can use it, but cannot buy 
 it or sell it or give it away as his own, 
 having however the privilege of trans- 
 ferring his usufruct right to another 
 actual user. A good deal is held in 
 common, for these people, most of 
 them, are semi-communists and some 
 entirely communistic. 
 
 The names of the country people for 
 them,^'The Tribe" and "White Indians,'' 
 and their own titles, '^The Tribe of the 
 Natural," or the "Society of the Simpli- 
 
20 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 cists," reveal a good deal, as I have 
 learned that they a6lually have modeled 
 a great part of their social life alter that 
 of Indians, Eskimos and other sav^ages, 
 whose social relations they seriously 
 contend are superior to the white man's. 
 Their ideal is a simple, natural, child- 
 like life. There are some real Indians 
 among them, too, and people of all 
 colors, even one Chinaman. I never in 
 my life, before, was in a place where ^'a 
 man's a man for a' that" so truly as here. 
 But to my surprise I found that most 
 of these wild people were artists; musi- 
 cians, poets, painters, sculptors, or writ- 
 ers; and some of them of world-wide 
 fame. It reminds one of Brook Farm, 
 that way. 
 
 One of the most interesting groups 
 is a Japanese family, artists all of them, 
 who in their dress, and in everything 
 about their house & home, carrv out 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 21 
 
 all the ways and customs of Old Japan. 
 But a proportion of the villagers are 
 quite illiterate, simple, old-fashioned 
 country people, drawn by an attraftion 
 easy to understand, for here the ''good 
 old times" have not yet gone out of 
 respe(5l. 
 
 The utmost childlike ca7naraderie 
 prevails. 
 
 The separating lines regarded so im- 
 portant in the outer world are consid- 
 ered vulgar here. 
 
 Yet no one intrudes on the privacy 
 of another & you can be a hermit, if 
 it so suit you, with the full approval 
 and sympathy of all. 
 
 There are two pillars or gateposts of 
 granite at the entrance to this domain 
 and on one is chiseled: 
 
 *Xbf$ 1$ the Eand of €quaI'DO'Jf$-yoM'PIeasc;'' 
 
 and on the other: 
 
2 2 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 *'m UlouW Vo« nm Vo«r own Eire Tn Vour 
 Own may/' 
 
 On the reverse side of one is the 
 single word " Liberty," on the reverse 
 of the other the w^ord "Comradeship." 
 
 I know not how it would seem to 
 you, but these mottoes thrill me like 
 a divine voice. 
 
 Onl}^ one thing nobody will tolerate 
 here: To attempt to dominate, dictate, 
 interfere with or coerce anybody, for 
 any purpose whatever, or to treat any- 
 body with disrespect, would bring down 
 the boycott of the whole Tribe upon 
 you. The one thing that drew these 
 people together, and which seems to 
 unite them, is a common enthusiasm 
 for a larger, more natural and more 
 beautiful human life, founded on the 
 individual's own ideals. They dream 
 above all things of a society wherein 
 everyone attains the evolution and fru- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 23 
 
 ition of Self, believing this the road 
 to the Ideal Happiness. 
 
 ''What is happiness?" I asked For- 
 rest one day. 
 
 "When you were a child, how did 
 you define it?'' 
 
 "Why I used to think that if I could 
 do just as I wanted to I would be per- 
 fectly happy." 
 
 He nodded and smiled, and went on 
 with his work as if there were no more 
 to be said. 
 
 And that reminds me that the way 
 these people treat children is extraor- 
 dinary. Theya6tas if, concerning many 
 of the deep things of life, children were 
 wiser than grown-ups and could be their 
 teachers. They treat them with tender- 
 est care and most respe6lful politeness. 
 A negle6fed child, or an abused one, is 
 impossible here. Every adult feels as 
 a parent to every child; an orphan is 
 
24 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 the beloved charge of the community. 
 Children are never slapped, suppressed 
 or insulted. And the effe6l on the chil- 
 dren is just as wonderful. Perhaps it 
 is just becouse they are never treated 
 rudely themselves and never see rude 
 behavior between their elders; but be 
 it what it may a rude, mischievous in- 
 sulting child seems as unknown here as 
 in Japan. Yet all the respe6l with which 
 they are treated does not spoil them one 
 bit. And they are the happiest children 
 I ever saw. Here adults are like chil- 
 dren, and children wise & polite from 
 their cradles. And I notice one won- 
 derful thing, beside. No child has that 
 morbid longing to be grown up, so fa- 
 miliarly seen outside, and no grown-up 
 here has the equally unnatural desire 
 to be a child again. I wonder why? 
 
 But to resume. 
 
 "Why do you people all seem so hap- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 25 
 
 py?'' I asked Theodora Earle. (Whom 
 everybod}' calls by her first name, as 
 there are no titles here.) 
 
 "Because we are all children in the 
 woods" she laughed. 
 
 Knowing there was no necessary 
 agreement of ideas in this place I went 
 to others. I asked an Indian who was 
 cutting a tree. He was a Carlisle grad- 
 uate, but proud of his blood. 
 
 He looked around at wood and sky 
 and tapped his breast with a graceful 
 gesture : 
 
 •^Because they are like Indians, like 
 trees and clouds — ivildr 
 
 A gray and wrinkled old negro had 
 been a slave. He looked thoughtful : 
 
 "I reckon, suh, hits because dey aint 
 no big folks hyeah, suh. Hits 'nuf to 
 be jes' plain maii^ hyeah, suh." 
 
 "We live the poet-life!" a long haired 
 German told me. 
 
26 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 Itso, the Japanese, gave me his gen- 
 tle smile: 
 
 '^They have learned the lesson of 
 Old Japan. Art is the atmosphere of 
 daily Hfe.'^ 
 
 "Pm afther thinkin," Pat Ginnis said, 
 tapping the stone he was laying with 
 his trowel, '^that we're happy because 
 there's nobody to sthop us," and he 
 winked and whistled. 
 
 After all, when I compared these 
 different replies, I thought they said 
 about the same thing. 
 As ever, 
 I am your true friend, 
 
 Ben. Felton. 
 
CHAPTER 1\ 
 
 EAR HiUford: 
 
 Well, I've joined the 
 Tribe. I am one of the "Nat- 
 ural" and the "Simple" now; 
 not a full member yet, because there is 
 a term of probation, but I am sure I 
 shall never leave them; and they all tell 
 me they are sure of it too. But I must 
 stop writing "they" and proudly substi- 
 tute "we." Well, then, my dear fellow, 
 it is one of our basic principles so to 
 balance employment and labor that we 
 form a self-sufficient community, or are 
 capable of being such, able to supply 
 all our necessities by an exchange of 
 labor and labor-produ6ls among our- 
 selves. We claim that everv normal 
 
2 8 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 man should supply his own needs by 
 his own labor, either directly, with his 
 own hands, or indirectly, by exchang- 
 ing his work, or its produc^ts, for those 
 of others — that naturally his work and 
 wants balance. Every man, here, does 
 the work that pleases him, & the resi- 
 due of unpleasant work, that nobody 
 cares to do, if any, is divided equally 
 among us; for we hold that each should 
 do his fair share of the dirty and dis- 
 ao'reeable work that must be done. 
 
 We are semi-communists. (At least 
 that is the rule, tho exceptions are not 
 at all disallowed.) Work is roughly 
 divided among us into necessary and 
 artistic work, tho we try to carry the 
 poetic touch into all work so far as may 
 be and mostly succeed. In the fore- 
 noons we all work together in common, 
 under unanimously chosen leaders, or 
 superintendents, to do the necessary 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 29 
 
 work. In the afternoons we do what 
 pleases us, or do nothing if we please. 
 There is nothing cast-iron about this, 
 you understand. The leaders do not 
 order or compel, they only direct and 
 advise. Work is ele6iive, but if enough 
 do not choose a necessary vv^ork volun- 
 teers are called for, and it is considered 
 an honorable and comradely a6l to vol- 
 unteer, & in case of specially disagreea- 
 ble or dangerous work there are various 
 compensations and rewards offered — 
 public testimonials and thanks, honor- 
 able mention in the historical records, 
 public and private gifts, longer hours 
 of leisure, etc., etc. Some have their 
 personal time in the forenoon and do 
 necessary work in the afternoon, or later, 
 because some woik must be done then. 
 And in times of emergency, harvest 
 time we'll say, all hands work commun- 
 istically all day, or as long as necessary. 
 
30 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 This is balanced by holidays and sick 
 leaves and other special exemptions. 
 But ordinarily the half-day does the 
 necessary work, and the rest of the 
 day 3^ou rest, or study, or amuse your- 
 self, or do vour own w^ork. 
 
 The artistic element is so strong, here, 
 that most of us spend our individual 
 time in the doing of beautiful work just 
 for the joy of it. Even as I vv^rite, this 
 pleasant afternoon, I know of a violinist 
 who is composing a waltz, a poet pol- 
 ishing verse, a stone-cutter chiseling 
 tlowers on his cotta^^e wall. Nobodv 
 ever fancied bald-headed, melancholy 
 old Ben. Felton had any artistic long- 
 ings, did they? — and he certainly never 
 would have confessed it had not these 
 people encouraged him to be fearlessly 
 himself. But the fa6t is I have always 
 had such cravings, and now I am going 
 into wood -carving with passionate 
 
The 1)well.ers in Vaee Sunrise 31 
 
 enthusiasm. Forrest, who is quite a 
 carver and sculptor himself, and who 
 seems to like my company, is giving 
 me many points, and encourages me 
 right along. 
 
 "What is the use!" I said, "I am too 
 old to ever do any really worthy work." 
 
 "You do not see it right," he replied; 
 "Art is for the artist. It is love in the 
 work expressed in the ware. If you 
 are happy in the making, and the made 
 reveals it, it is enough. Other people's 
 critical estimate of it, in the light of 
 their ideals, is their own affair and an- 
 other matter altogether. True critics, 
 those who feel what the artist felt, and 
 judge the work by his ideals, are rarer 
 than diamonds, and they will understand 
 and be pleased anyway. The first pas- 
 sion of a true artist is to express him- 
 self, not to please the public." 
 
 "But is there not a Perfe6t, some- 
 
32 The Dwej^lers in Vai.e Sunrise 
 
 where, to which all Art must turn as 
 the final arbiter?" 
 
 "Yes, but you, by virtue of your in- 
 dividuality, have a private road, all your 
 own, to travel on toward the. Perfect. 
 To take another man's path, against 
 your desire, is to be traitor to Art and 
 your own soul." 
 
 It is an axiom here that the artist 
 should never work for pay (tho he may 
 sell his work), or force himself, or be 
 forced by others, in his work. He 
 should onl}' do it because he longs to 
 do it, and while the passion for crea- 
 tion is upon him. He must be u.tterly 
 independent & above his work. How- 
 ever, as much as possible, these people 
 are artists in all they do and make. 
 Art is, as Itso said, the atmosphere of 
 their daily life. They delight to inter- 
 weave the quaint, the picturesque and 
 the beautiful, if only with a few sug- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise ^^ 
 
 gestive touches, in all their work, so 
 that all becomes pleasing and interest- 
 ing and not mere drudgery. 
 
 The art of Forrest is very original. 
 The walls, furniture and timber-work 
 of his strange dwelling, "Cave Gables,^' 
 (half cave, half Gothic hall) are replete 
 with carvings and chiselings, and all his 
 tools & accoutrements are more or less 
 adorned in the same way. He delights 
 to catch a suggestion from some knot 
 or root or grain in timber, or line or 
 corner in stone, and bring it out with 
 a few knife-cuts or chisel-strokes. The 
 result is half-Nature, half-art, so blended 
 that you can hardly tell where one be- 
 gins & the other ends, or whether man's 
 hand or Nature's growth is most respon- 
 sible. His work is seldom finely finished 
 or polished, often it is rude and gro- 
 tesque, but it is intensely stimulating and 
 suggestive to the imagination, and fre- 
 quently weird and mystical in effe6f. 
 
34 I'he Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 As an illustration of how Art (often 
 with a humorous touch) pervades the 
 lower lines of work here, I will just 
 speak of one thing which struck me as 
 soon as I arrived and which is com- 
 mented upon by all visitors. 
 
 Now with you, no man who has any 
 pride in his appearance dare wear a 
 patched garment — "it is premeditated 
 poverty" — and good clothes are con- 
 stantly thrown away because torn or 
 worn. Not so here. As long as a gar- 
 ment can be used it is used. There is 
 a large & well-appointed laundry, with 
 cleaning and repairing room attached, 
 and the moment your garment is soiled 
 or defaced you send it there — not only 
 shirts and underwear but all garments 
 of all fabrics. Every garment is inspec- 
 ted and put in complete repair before 
 sending it home — cleaned, sponged, 
 pressed, patched, darned or whatever 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 35 
 
 may be necessary. Consequently the 
 people of the Tribe (as this is all com- 
 munistic work and costs nothino- indiv- 
 idually) are the best-dressed & cleanest 
 working community in the world. They 
 simply have no excuse for wearing dirty 
 or torn raiment. But tho there are no 
 rags, patches are common and worn 
 shamelessly by all — and this is what 
 struck me — not only are they common, 
 but they are made ornamental. 
 
 Perhaps by form, or by agreeable 
 contrasts in material or color, or by 
 excellence of needle-work — someway 
 the result is ingeniously attained, and 
 the patchers are certainly artists in their 
 way, and their work a constant source 
 of amusement & pleasure to the people. 
 Here you see a moth-eaten blue coat 
 patched with silver stars ; there an Orien- 
 tal looking garment has a patch like a 
 crescent; that buckskin tunic has a patch 
 
36 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 on the elbow in the familiar Indian sun- 
 pattern; that stone-mason's overall has 
 a patch on the knee like a trowel; yon- 
 der jovial shoemaker has two eye-spots 
 on his seat; that little girl's torn apron 
 is adorned with a "pussy-cat" (to her 
 infinite delight) — and so it goes. A 
 multitude of patterns are kept on hand, 
 and you can choose yourself if you 
 wish, or they will be made to order, 
 or, of course, if you prefer, the patch 
 will be made invisible; but few ask that. 
 Most people enjoy the patches, & they 
 certainly are exceedingly pi6turesque. 
 
 Yes, and while I think of it I will 
 tell you of something else which may 
 interest you, at least it did me, intensely, 
 as showing how co-operation & a little 
 ingenuity can, in a very simple way, over- 
 come some great evils. What can you 
 imagine more wasteful & disgusting than 
 the usual closet and scavenger system 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 37 
 
 of civilization? Our water closets are 
 clean, but sweep millions of dollars 
 worth of weath annually into the sea, 
 and carry the deadly peril of sewer gas. 
 And the methods in small towns and 
 country places are simply unmention- 
 able. How different here. The Tribe 
 has a great sand pit. The sand is kiln 
 dried and thuroly impregnated with a 
 cheap, non-poisonous, yet very powerful 
 disinfectant and deodorizer made here. 
 Every resident is provided with com- 
 mode pails, with tight lids, and all he 
 can use of the deodorizing sand. Twice 
 a week a man drives around in a great 
 quaint wain drawn by six mules and 
 loaded with clean pails full of sand. 
 Pails are exchanged at every residence 
 and when his round is completed he 
 drives to the community farm & empties 
 his load into a great roofed-over pit. 
 Here a drove of hogs thuroly work over 
 
38 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 and compost the contents, for the dis- 
 infectant is harmless. These hogs are 
 never eaten by man, but breed, live & 
 die in the pit, and when dead are de- 
 voured by the others. All garbage, 
 gatheixd by the same methods, goes 
 into the pit to improve the compost. 
 The pails are placed in a vat & cleansed 
 by hot steam. 
 
 Now see how cheap, clean and sim- 
 ple the whole plan: there is from tirst 
 to last no odor or disagreeable sugges- 
 tiveness about the whole business. The 
 hogs cost nothing and do all the work 
 of composting. The scavenger (they 
 call him '*The Waste Man" here and 
 he has more leisure time than almost 
 anybody else because of the supposed 
 disagreeable suggestiveness of his du- 
 ties) wears a big white smock-frock 
 about his work & is as clean as a baker. 
 His wagon is picturesque, and his mules 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 39 
 
 tinkle with little bells, and the people 
 treat him with gratitude & respe6t. And 
 the fertilizer obtained pays all expenses 
 and leaves a big profit for the farm, for 
 nothing excels it in manurial value. 
 
 Speaking of cleanliness reminds me 
 that I want a bath. There is a public 
 bath-house free to all, with attendants 
 always ready, and you can have a hot- 
 air, steam or water bath, as you prefer, 
 or all of them, with any desired hydro- 
 pathic variation. 
 
 Clean clothes all the time, and a 
 tirst-class bath whenever you want it — 
 isn't that luxury for a working man — 
 wealth ? ! 
 
 Happily — 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 
 H 
 
 Y dear Hillford: 
 
 You want to know 
 
 more about our "Indian idea" ? 
 
 Well there is a side to this 
 which is very serious and fundamental. 
 We claim that the Indians, and indeed 
 most savages, by the simplicity, com- 
 munism and brotherhood character of 
 their tribal arrangements secured a 
 beauty, health and sanity of social life 
 infinitely superior to that which most 
 w^hite men know. We are all free to 
 do as we please, and none of us are 
 hypnotized by this idea, but as a mat- 
 ter of faft, in both larger and minor 
 matters, we have accepted a great 
 many Indian ways. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 41 
 
 Take first our integnil polity: It is 
 really anarchistic; individual liberty is 
 as absolute as it can be in conjun6tion 
 with an equal freedom of all. There 
 are no governors, laws, masters, ser- 
 vants, jails, policemen, judges and, I 
 may add, no criminals. The principle 
 of Natural Leadership, derived from 
 the Indians, takes the place of govern- 
 ment. The wisest & most capable advise 
 and set the example, and the others ac- 
 cept the advice and follow the leading 
 so far as seems right to them, for there 
 is no compulsion of any kind. These 
 leaders & wise advisers are called chiefs, 
 but the title is an honorary one & rests 
 wholly upon merit and personal influ- 
 ence. Nothing that a chief dire6ts can 
 be enforced by him, and indeed any at- 
 tempt to enforce would be unanimously 
 resisted — everything rests on free con- 
 sent. If you cannot work agreeably or 
 
42 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 conscientious!}' under a leader you with- 
 draw and do some other work; but to 
 unkindly criticise a leader, or endeavor 
 aggressively to take awa}' the contidence 
 of others in him, is not favored or con- 
 sidered comradely, for like the Indians 
 these people are most dignified and 
 courteous. Having no laws, ideals and 
 customs grow very strong and public 
 opinion is potent. To quarrel, to abuse, 
 to revile, to slander, all these tilings are 
 against the prevailing ideal of dignity 
 and brotherly courtesy. 
 
 They have a custom to chisel, on 
 ever}' Tribe Da}', (which is the ist of 
 June, their anniversary) a motto on the 
 face of some rock on a public road or 
 other place often seen. The one this 
 year reads: 
 
 'To Speak an Unkind Ulord i$ (InwortDv of 
 
 a man. Tf Vou Cannot J^grce Utitft 
 
 Vowr Brother Ceaoe Rlra/' 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 43 
 
 And this principle of Free Secession, 
 or the Boycott, they carry out in every- 
 thing. It is pra6lically the only weapon 
 and purely for defense. The six month's 
 probation is mainly to test your ability 
 to co-operate kindly & peacefully with 
 your comrades. The quarrelsome, con- 
 tentious, man, however generous, is only 
 admitted on condition that he live and 
 work apart, and if he prove treacher- 
 ous, jealous, a scandal-monger & strife- 
 breeder, he is refused utterly; but the 
 effort to govern and dominate is the 
 most unpardonable sin. 
 
 As a consequence, and in spite of or 
 because of their utter liberty, (as you 
 choose to look at it) these people live 
 and work together with a harmony I 
 never saw equalled. 
 
 But if anything is to be done involv- 
 ing mutual expense, say the erection of 
 a public building, only those who vote 
 
44 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 for it are expected to pay for it. It is 
 considered simply fair that the minority 
 be exempt from contributions, tho as a 
 matter of fa6t they often do contribute. 
 Perhaps you do not quite see how such 
 independence is possible in commun- 
 ism, so I will explain. Communism 
 here is only partial and rests on individ- 
 ualism, that is, is free, & may be seceded 
 from if unsatisfa6tory. On all matters 
 on which all agree expenses are equally 
 assessed, and at stated times profits are 
 divided, the individual having full con- 
 trol of his dividend. But if there is 
 disagreement on any work the minority 
 withdraw and hav^e neither expenses or 
 profits to share, the majority assuming 
 both. However, if this is a public struc- 
 ture, as is usually the case, the minority 
 are not excluded from its use because 
 of non-contribution, it being considered 
 that the privilege of use is only a fair 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 45 
 
 compensation for the disappointment of 
 not being permitted to have it made as 
 they wish. And if the majority build 
 one strii6Lure and the minority another, 
 for similar use, but on different lines, 
 then the privilege of use is courteousl}' 
 extended from each to the other. 
 
 You have no idea what an immense 
 amount of wrangling, bitterness & polit- 
 ical trickery this estops. 
 
 As I say, the wisest and best of the 
 Tribe come to be regarded as chiefs, 
 but this is not often by formal \'ote or 
 ceremony, but by individual admiration, 
 acclamation and followinfr. The kin^j^ 
 is the one who can^ who knows best, 
 and his work is his proof. The fore- 
 men who direct the communal work 
 are chosen by unanimous vote. 
 
 If two tribesmen cannot agree they 
 do not reproach, insult or beat one an- 
 other, but carry the matter to mutually 
 
46 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 trusted comrades, usually chiefs, for 
 arbitration. 
 
 The Society, as I have said, is only 
 partially communistic, like the Indians, 
 like a family. V/e work together on 
 mutual matters; on private matters we 
 stand alone. But this, too, is custom & 
 not law. A few members are wholly 
 communistic, dwell in community build- 
 ings, do only community work, & claim 
 and have no priv^ate property. Another 
 few are pure individualists, some me- 
 chanics, several artists, a few farmers. 
 The communistic feature of tribal life 
 is then a separate enterprise, into which 
 you enter as deep as you please, and 
 from which you derive a profit in pro- 
 portion to your investment. There are 
 quarter-time, half-time & full-time com- 
 munists — almost all of us being in the 
 half-time class as before explained. 
 
 Among most Indians the love rela- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 47 
 
 tions are matters of private agreement, 
 with more or less tribal congratulation 
 and rejoicing. Here the prevailing spirit 
 is more than Indian-like in its simplic- 
 ity. All such matters are considered 
 utterly private and personal, and it is 
 universally considered ill-bred and in- 
 delicate to publish, comment on or take 
 any notice of them with reference to 
 particular events or couples. It is uni- 
 versally agreed to, too, that legal inter- 
 ference here is impertinent, invasive of 
 private right, and injurious, but as we 
 live in the U. S., and do not wish trouble 
 with the authorities, it is usual for two 
 members who wish to live as mates to 
 go thru with the simplest ceremony the 
 law will accept. That is all. As to the 
 Tribe itself the whole matter is silently 
 accepted or, if you will, gracefully ig- 
 nored. There is no ceremony, no one 
 offers congratulations or gifts, except 
 
48 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 perhaps the most personal friend in the 
 most private and delicate manner, not 
 a word by any chance appears about 
 it in "The Council Fire," the tribal pa- 
 per, which is usually considered a his- 
 tory of current events. If the Tribe 
 ever has its way all questions of love, 
 parentage, marriage and divoice will be 
 settled altogether and alone by the pri- 
 vate agreement of the parties concerned. 
 And if their silence is deep concerning 
 love-unions, it is like oblivion itself 
 concerning all trouble between lovers 
 tending to separation. They simply will 
 not discuss it. 
 
 I really believe these people think it 
 infinitely more immodest and indelicate 
 to reveal or take notice of love-joys and 
 sorrows than to expose the person. In 
 fa(?t I know it is so, for nakedness is 
 almost as indifferent a matter here as 
 in Japan. And I confess that the more 
 I think of it the more I think they are 
 right. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 49 
 
 In consequence a wonderful freedom 
 and affe6lionateness prevails in all re- 
 lations between the sexes here. You 
 can hardly imagine how heavenly it 
 seems, my dear fellow, to live in a 
 community where there is no gossip, 
 no sense of ownership or financial de- 
 pendence between the sexes, jealousy 
 is the general horror, low, suggestive 
 jests never heard, & love never men- 
 tioned in a personal sense. 
 
 Yet impersonally, as a scientific, med- 
 ical, ethical matter, I never knew peo- 
 ple discuss love and the sex-relations 
 so much, yet always with the same 
 respectful care, as touching the most 
 serious and sacred things. I have not 
 heard a smutty story or an obscene 
 laugh since I came here. Think of 
 such an atmosphere for the young. 
 
 An Indian-like custom prevails in 
 the matter of names. When a child 
 
50 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 is born a name is given it which is 
 wholly temporary and is called the 
 '^given-name." At any time later the 
 child may discard this name, if he 
 wishes, and name himself, choosing 
 which of his parents' names he pre- 
 fers as a surname, or using both with 
 a hyphen. This is usually done some- 
 where about the age of twelve. At 
 any later time the name may again be 
 changed, if desired, by giving public 
 notice. This is the "taken-name" or 
 '^self-name." But beyond this is the 
 "tribe-name," which is a nick-name 
 given because of some striking charac- 
 teristic, adventure or exploit. This is 
 given, like all nick-names, by general 
 informal consent & usage, and is usually 
 poetic, descriptive or comical, tho these 
 people are too kind to give a name that 
 would embarass or pain. Sometimes 
 the tribe-name is much or altogether 
 
The Dwellers l\ Vale Sunrise 51 
 
 used, sometimes but little. Thus we 
 have "Mabel-of-the-Morning-Light ;" 
 Forrest "The Runner;" Edith Lyle, 
 "The-Bird-that-Talks ;" " Saxon Sledge- 
 hammer;" Theodora, "The Wise Lady;" 
 "The Red-Farmer;" "The Horse-Jump- 
 er;" "The Iron Artist;" and so on. 
 
 But all the "given" and "self-names" 
 here are preferably meaningful & poetic, 
 and there is quite a revolt against He- 
 brew & other conventional names. Here 
 are some of these I have gathered up 
 to amuse you: Ardor, Cloud, Cliff, Rock, 
 Dark, Oak, Granite, Quartz, Gem, Gay- 
 heart, Greatheart, Gladheart, Freebrain, 
 Candor, Westwind, Birch, Cone, Corn- 
 silk, Pine, Elmwood, Pinecone, Brook, 
 Fountain, Stone, Hillstone, Vinestone, 
 Violet, Oriole, Iris, Woodbine, Clover, 
 Zephyr, Hazel, Gladness, Hedgebloom, 
 Grasstield, Azalia, etc. 
 
 I like that. 
 
52 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 And I am very proud of the "tribe- 
 name" they have given me. One day 
 I was sitting near Forrest, who was 
 talking to some friends, and, having a 
 bit of clean board handy, with my pen- 
 knife I traced a sketch of him and then 
 carved it into the wood. I worked idly, 
 almost without thought, being engrossed 
 with his talk, but one of the tribesmen 
 it seemed overlooked me and motioned 
 to others, and when I had finished there 
 was a general shout of admiration from 
 the little group behind me. Then For- 
 rest had to see, & asked me to give it 
 him, and professed great admiration for 
 it, & turning to the others said, "I have 
 a name for our new brother now. We 
 will call him *Pi6lure-Knife.'" Then 
 there was another shout, and that has 
 been my name ever since. 
 
 It pleases me greatly, for it seems a 
 recognition of me as an artist, beside 
 
The Dwei^lers in Vale Sunrise ^^ 
 
 it is an unusual compliment to give a 
 " tribe -name" to one not yet a full 
 member. 
 
 Another Indian-like feature is the 
 ofeneral solidarity. The whole tribe is 
 as one family. The trouble, loss, help- 
 lessness, sickness, pain or danger of one 
 is the concern of all, and not to do all 
 in your power for a fellow-tribesman in 
 distress is considered monstrous. This 
 brings in a wonderful mutuality of love, 
 confidence, security, trust, helpfulness & 
 cheer. I never saw people in the outer 
 world, not even children, so utterly 
 care-free as these. 
 
 But in a thousand and one minor 
 matters, which I have not time to cat- 
 alogue here, these people resemble In- 
 dians & savages. I will tell them as I 
 think of them, or you will gather them 
 from what I write. I find I am still 
 obliged to say '^these people" for, altho 
 
54 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 I am one of them, I am still so new a 
 member I am forced to feel like a 
 pupil or a spectator. 
 
 I am making this letter too long, but 
 there is one thing so important, and at 
 the same time so Indian-like, that I 
 ought to tell you of it here. 
 
 There is a gently sloping hill on the 
 eastern side of the tribal land & rather 
 in the south-east. This hill is very 
 steep on the west but eastward drops 
 gradually all the way to Rippleford. 
 The view is wide and superb. This is 
 "Council Hiir- and a splendid grove 
 of ancient hemlocks, oaks & chestnuts 
 on its summit & western side is known 
 as "Council Grove." This the great 
 gathering-place of the Tribe for all so- 
 cial and deliberative purposes. It is so 
 high and dry that mosquitoes seldom 
 annoy, and on fair, dry nights of sum- 
 mer & fall the people come here and 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 55 
 
 sit around tiny fires & talk & sing and 
 play harps and violins and tell tales & 
 recite poems. Part way down the slope 
 a sort of terrace forms a convenient 
 arena & on holidays there are all sorts 
 of races, games and dances there and 
 displays of strength & skill. 
 
 In Council Grove is "Council Lodge," 
 or "Council House." The most striking- 
 building in the village, it deserves de- 
 scription. It is an oblong structure with 
 a gothic roof & a wide veranda on all 
 sides. The posts of the veranda are 
 peeled tree-trunks, the walls of the edi- 
 fice are of rough tield stones, and the 
 floor of all is a mosaic of bits of broken 
 rock and pebbles forming pictures of 
 trees, flowers, birds, animals, all distinc- 
 tively American. All about are many 
 tall, narrow windows or glass doors, 
 hinged & reaching to the floor. The 
 panes are of clear glass, but set in lead, 
 
56 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 of tree & vine forms, with branches. 
 The door-posts are tree-trunks and the 
 wall between is painted to represent 
 forest vistas. Overhead branches spring 
 everywhere from the rafters and tie- 
 beams and interlace with such art that 
 the effect is like the arches of a winter 
 forest, the ceiling above being sky blue. 
 
 At one end of the room is a dais of 
 rough rock work, holding a chair carved 
 out of a single log, with a great skin 
 thrown over it. Another cut of the same 
 log, on end with a stone celt or toma- 
 hawk lying on it, forms a stand. 
 
 Here, on "Council Nights," an old, 
 white-bearded man, who by his ta6t & 
 wisdom has held the office for many 
 years, sits as "Council Chief." 
 
 In the center of the hall is an altar- 
 like block of rough stone, on which, 
 when in council, the Tribe 'keeps a 
 little fire burning of fragrant woods, 
 
The Dvvelj.ers in Vale Sunrise 57 
 
 leaves and nuts — ^'The Council Fire." 
 The rest of the hall is occupied by 
 seats — short cuts of trees, on end, turn- 
 ing on pivots let into the floor. 
 
 Indian curios hang about the walls, 
 and over the dais are two large calu- 
 mets, or peace-pipes, with long elder 
 stems plumed with squirrel tails & the 
 feathers of wood -doves & song-birds. 
 I have attended one Council and was 
 much impressed. When a tribesman 
 spoke he stood up in his place and all 
 wheeled their seats facing him. Each 
 is allowed so many minutes to speak, 
 and then the Council Chief strikes a 
 blow with the tomakawk on the block 
 beside him. If he seems not thru, and 
 any wish him to go on till finished they 
 rise and stand, and if a majority thus 
 express themselves no further stopping 
 is attempted. If this is not done, how- 
 ever, he must stop as soon as he hn- 
 
58. The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 ishes his sentence. Fortunately I had 
 a chance to see what would be done 
 if the Chief's signal were disregarded. 
 One young member, carried away by 
 his eloquence, tried to speak on after 
 the gavel fell. 
 
 ''My brother!" said the old Chief, in 
 a tone of surprised reproach, rising to 
 his feet. 
 
 But almost before he had done this 
 a remarkable demonstration had oc- 
 curred. Hardly had the speaker gone 
 one sentence beyond his time before 
 every seat in the room was wheeled, 
 every back turned squarely upon him, 
 and every ear covered with a hand. 
 Not a word was spoken, & for a mo- 
 ment it seemed vou could have heard 
 the wink of eyelid. The speaker was 
 arrested with his mouth open and his 
 hand in the air. It appears he is a new 
 member & had never seen this before. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 59 
 
 For an instant he wavered, gazing from 
 my astonished lace to that oT the re- 
 proachful Chief, & then sat down with 
 a suddenness that ahnost made me lausfh 
 and hid his abashed face in his hands. 
 At once the speaking was resumed & 
 all went on as before. 
 
 To me it was a wonderful lesson in 
 the force, dignity and effectiveness of 
 the secession or leave-alone policy. 
 Thruout the whole meeting I was con- 
 stantly reminded of the Indians by the 
 gravity, dignity and courtesy of all, 
 whether speakers or listeners, and even 
 by the constant use of nature-derived 
 metaphors in their speeches. 
 
 But I have written you a long, long 
 letter & must stop. 
 
 Your friend. 
 
 "Piaure-Knife." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 lY dear Hillford: 
 
 I am full of a 
 remarkable ceremony which 
 I have just witnessed. 
 It was a funeral. 
 
 A few days ago an old man died. 
 It seems it is often the custom here 
 to have a private funeral at the home 
 of the deceased, with such music, re- 
 ligious or other ceremonies and speak- 
 ing as may be desired, and after that 
 to have the public or tribal funeral. 
 But in this case the tribal funeral alone 
 was held, & of this I will tell you. 
 
 Friends bore the body on a bier to 
 the Council Lodge and there laid it on 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 6i 
 
 a table. There was no coffin, no pall, 
 the dead man lay in a restful attitude, 
 as if asleep, his head on a pillow. 
 
 One by one the members of the Tribe 
 gathered, for it was afternoon, the leis- 
 ure time, and each one carried a spray 
 or twig of evergreen & was dressed in 
 his best attire. As soon as he entered 
 the Council Lodge each one became 
 silent. When I entered the chiefs were 
 already gathered about the corpse and 
 stood there, grave & quiet, regarding 
 the dead. The silence was profound, 
 only the scrape of a moccasined foot 
 or the rustle of a garment as some one 
 entered & took a seat broke it. 
 
 At last, when all seemed there, For- 
 rest, who stood at the head, laid his 
 sprig of hemlock on the dead man's 
 breast & in his deep, gentle voice said: 
 
 "Farewell, Brother! Living or dead 
 we do not forget you!" 
 
 Then he stood aside. 
 
62 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 Not another word was spoken. 
 
 One by one, the chiefs first, the peo- 
 ple came up & laid down their sprigs 
 of green till the corpse was buried deep 
 in a fragrant pile of hemlock, cedar, 
 pine, birch, lycopodium, sweet bay and 
 spice-bush. 
 
 When all had done, the chiefs took 
 up the bier, and bore it, at the head of 
 the silent people, down into the valley 
 to the crematory, a plain, stone stru6lure 
 in a side hill, over the door of which 
 these simple, suggestive words were 
 deeply cut in the rock: 
 
 **Chan8c Peace Rope'' 
 
 And then the people dispersed to 
 their homes. 
 
 Afterward, I am told, the chiefs took 
 the ashes to Council Hill & scattered 
 them in the Grove, from a poetic feeling 
 that the dead should not be separated 
 
The Dweli.ers in Vale Sunrise 6^ 
 
 from the gathering-place of the people, 
 but their ashes help to make green & 
 shadeful the trees over the living. 
 
 Of course there is no necessary agree- 
 ment or similarity in any ceremony here, 
 but I am told that this, which I had wit- 
 nessed, was the usual form of funeral. 
 
 It made a deep impression on me. ^I 
 think I never witnessed, in all my life 
 before, anything so simple, poetic, sig- 
 nificant. 
 
 Think of it, no coffin, no black robes, 
 no music, no flattering, tear- drawing 
 speeches,; nothing but the few touch- 
 ing words, the eloquent silence, & the 
 evergreens so symbolic, if you please, 
 of continued life and enduringr remem- 
 brance. 
 
 Do you not notice that it fits any 
 life, or belief or unbelief? 
 
 Your rejuvenated brother — 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 ]Y dear friend, Hillford: 
 
 You complain that it is 
 a long while since I wrote 
 you ? That is true, & I may 
 as well make a clean breast of it. I 
 have fallen in love, and did not know 
 how to tell you about it and yet could 
 think of nothing else. 
 
 Do not laugh, please. I know I am 
 small & weak & insignificant, and no 
 longer young, but I am loved, at least, 
 and in that consciousness I envy no 
 man alive. 
 
 I must tell you about Her. You know 
 I have always been conscious that I was 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 65 
 
 homely & unattra6\ive, and while I have 
 worshipped woman at a distance I have 
 kept the secret locked in my own heart, 
 because they did not seem to notice me, 
 and I was too sensitive & timid to risk 
 repulsion. And so in late years I had 
 grown accustomed to singleness, and 
 thought myself contented, and ignored 
 the sex. 
 
 But on the Tribe Day when I rode 
 up from Ripple ford on Forrest's horse, 
 I noted, by an attraction I could not 
 explain, a woman who rode in the cav- 
 alcade Perhaps it was because she 
 seemed so tall and strong, like a man, 
 just such a man as I would like to have 
 been. A grave, quiet woman, with plain, 
 strong features & long braids of tawny 
 hair. Her eyes were of auburn-brown, 
 (my favorite color) and once or twice 
 I thought I caught them fixed on me. 
 She rode her horse like an Amazon 
 
66 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 and seemed very silent and reticent. 
 
 In spite of myself I was curious about 
 her, and little by little gathered fa6ts. 
 She had joined the Tribe in the early 
 days, and no one knew her previous 
 history. In receiving applicants the 
 Tribe never asks credentials, but goes 
 altogather by the test of probation. If 
 you a(5t like a man desirous & capable 
 of living a helpful, brotherly life the 
 Tribe will receive you, no matter what 
 your previous life has been. I am told 
 that man}' a good man here was once be- 
 hind the bars. 
 
 A curious thing was her name, Planer 
 Heartwood. And not a tribal -name, 
 either, but the one she herself had 
 given. I felt it was an assumed name 
 because she followed the strange trade 
 (for a woman) of cabinet-maker. No 
 man in the Tribe could excel her in 
 making massive artistic furniture and 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 67 
 
 in the use of the plane. Forrest West- 
 wood is a name that fits the man, yet 
 came by chance, but her name, I felt 
 sure, was no chance. 
 
 Moved by I hardly know what im- 
 pulse, I got board, during my proba- 
 tion, with the family next south of her 
 on the ridge on which she lived, which 
 is next west of Council Hill. I could 
 pass her cottage, then, every day. She 
 lived all alone in a most curious place. 
 A square two-story stru6lure of stone, 
 with a flat, battlemented roof, was first; 
 the lower part her living room, the up- 
 per part her chamber. The rest of the 
 house, a long, low, one-story wing, with 
 many odd, old-fashioned windows. This 
 was her shop & at the end of it was 
 her horse's stable. The whole structure, 
 to the casual view, like a quaint little 
 church. 
 She kept much to herself & talked little. 
 
6S The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 Her recreation was to wander alone 
 and study natural history. ^Only when 
 a baby was sick would she cast aside 
 her reserve, and go at once & tenderly 
 nurse it, and the mothers, who loved 
 her, tho a little in awe of her, used to 
 say her very touch was curative. And 
 the children all loved her, tho she usu- 
 ally only smiled at them as she passed. 
 But the men left her alone, mostly, as 
 one unsocial & too man-like. Never- 
 theless she was so wise in council that 
 in times of emergency her advice was 
 always asked, and she was accounted 
 one of the chiefs. Theodora Earle 
 seemed her only intimate friend. 
 
 When resting, or in holiday attire, 
 she wore a long, plain gown of olive- 
 green or perhaps old-gold tint, falling 
 ungirdled to the ankles, open at the 
 throat & with flowing sleeves, her heavy 
 hair in two braids down her back. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 69 
 
 When at work, or out exercising, she 
 coiled her hair on her head and wore 
 bloomers & in the shop a workman's 
 apron. 
 
 One afternoon I had gone alone to 
 Council Grove, and was sitting apart 
 under a great hemlock, carving a pic- 
 ture-frame. It was a curious design of 
 my own making — a slender panel pic- 
 ture for each quarter of the frame — a 
 glimpse of landscape on either side 
 water & lilies below, & branches atop. 
 I was working away with quiet pleas- 
 ure when T heard the light step of a 
 sandal, and, looking up, saw Planer stand- 
 ing beside me. My heart gave a great 
 bound & I blushed, I know, tho I was 
 very glad. She looked like a Greek 
 goddess to me, so tall & majestic, with 
 her heavy braids & sandalled feet, and 
 the old-gold robe bordered at the hem 
 with a Greek pattern in olive-green. 
 
70 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 I don't know what I said, but she 
 sat down cahnly beside me. 
 
 "You do beautiful work," she said, 
 quietly. 
 
 "Oh no!" I stammered, "but I 
 want to." 
 
 She reached out her left hand (and I 
 noticed how strong & shapely it was) 
 and running her finger appreciatively 
 along the lines of the design said simply: 
 
 ^^That is beautiful." 
 
 I was thrilled, but did not know what 
 to reply. 
 
 After a few minutes she asked me: 
 
 "Do I disturb you?" 
 
 "Oh no, indeed !" I hastened to say, 
 "I am glad to have you here." 
 
 Again there was silence, & then she 
 said, " I wish I could draw and carve 
 like that, but I can only work by rule 
 & measure. 1 never could do free-hand 
 work." 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 71 
 
 "But how perfectly you do your 
 work!" I cried. Look at the mitres on 
 this frame ! I am ashamed of them ! 
 I never could make anything straight 
 or square!" 
 
 "Bring it to my shop, tomorrow," 
 she said, "and I will fix them for you." 
 
 I blundered out my thanks, & then 
 there was a long silence, while I carved 
 and she watched me. Then in her calm, 
 passionless voice she asked me: 
 
 "Are you happy here?" 
 
 "Oh very happy!" I said, "I never 
 knew vv^hat happiness was before. Are 
 not you ?" 
 
 "No!" she said, suddenly rising, and 
 I thought for once there was a little 
 quiver in the even tones. "I am lone- 
 some," and she walked away, leaving 
 me churned about by the most confli6t- 
 ing emotions. 
 
 I could not carve any more that day, 
 
72 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 I could not sleep that night. I knew 
 now that I loved her. And what did 
 she mean by seeking me out & talking 
 to me in that way? 
 
 The next day I went eagerly with 
 my frame to her shop. The door stood 
 open, and she nodded & smiled to me 
 from her bench as I entered. She took 
 the frame apart with skillful fingers, & 
 while with smooth, clean strokes of her 
 plane she adjusted the mitres I looked 
 about the shop. 
 
 It was a long, sunny room, scrupu- 
 lously clean for a work-shop. The floor, 
 of hard wood, was littered with saw- 
 dust & fresh shavings. You could look 
 way up into the steep roof & see the 
 rafters and ridge-pole, while on great 
 beams, reaching from plate to plate, lay 
 planks and sticks of the timber from 
 which she worked out her chairs and 
 tables. The walls were panelled and 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 73 
 
 wainscoated from floor to plate, and 
 hung with glittering tools. And all up 
 and down the room, on both sides, & 
 up in the roof, were windows; windows 
 large & windows small, round & square 
 and pointed; bay windows, gothic win- 
 dows, dormer windows; with single 
 panes, square panes, lozenge panes, 
 painted panes; windows that lifted with 
 weights, windows that slid on rollers, 
 windows that turned on pivots, win- 
 dows that opened on hinges as case- 
 ments — it was an exhibition of win- 
 dows. The effect was strangely cheer- 
 ful and" pi6luresque. 
 
 A tame robin hopped in & out of an 
 open casement and on to her bench, 
 the head of her horse looked in over a 
 Dutch half-door from the stable, kittens 
 played in the shavings, doves cooed on 
 the roof, and at the upper end of the 
 room I looked thru an open door into 
 her living room. 
 
74 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 After the frame was finished, with 
 smooth invisible joints that made me 
 envious with admiration, she took me 
 into that room & showed me the plain, 
 massive table, antique seats, hardwood 
 floor and panelled walls. 
 
 *^This room is all my own work," she 
 said, proudly, "I laid the floor, flnished 
 the walls and ceiling, and made every 
 wooden thing here, even the mantel & 
 mirror-frame." 
 
 I noticed that the only ornament was 
 the beautiful grain of the woods brought 
 out with plane and polish. There was 
 not a pi6fure, or a bit of bric-a-brac, 
 not a sign of carving, or a moulding, or 
 even a line of bead-work. All was mas- 
 sive wood and polished grain, matched 
 with perfection of the joiner's art. 
 
 "How do you like it?" she said. 
 
 ''It is beautiful," I said, "beautiful 
 exceedingly, and unique, but — " 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 75 
 
 "But you think it a little severe and 
 cold" she interrupted. "Yes, it suddenly 
 looked that way to me lately. But what 
 could I do? I wanted everything here 
 made by my own hand, & I do not like 
 conventional, pretty things. I cannot 
 carve, I cannot draw like you. I can 
 only plane, & so I did the best I could." 
 
 I had not meant to criticise, only to 
 suggest a few appropriate ornaments, & 
 I tried to reassure her, but she would 
 not be comforted. She looked around 
 with deep dissatisfaction. 
 
 "It is too hard!" she said. 
 
 Suddenly she broke out again: 
 
 "Are you making that frame for any 
 one in particular?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "If you will give it to me I will 
 hang it on my wall, and I will make 
 a chair for you, just such a one as you 
 will choose." 
 
76 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 "My dear friend, I will not only give 
 you the frame, but every bit of carving 
 I have that you may like, if you will 
 put it here. But I do not want you to 
 make me things in exchange. I want 
 to give you the carving." 
 
 She smiled, the first smile I had ever 
 seen on her face except some faint one 
 of salutation, & it made her beautiful. 
 
 "My dear friend, I did not offer the 
 chair in exchange. I want the pleasure 
 of making you a gift," and she placed 
 her large, warm hand in mine. 
 
 I was so pleased that I bent over & 
 kissed it, then looked up a little fright- 
 ened at my own daring. She took her 
 hand away & colored slightly, but did 
 not seem displeased, tho she was silent. 
 
 We were both a little confused, and 
 to cover it I said: 
 
 "But you wanted nothing in this room 
 but what vou made yourself ?" 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 77 
 
 She not onl}- smiled this time but 
 laughed, & it was very pleasant to see. 
 
 ''A friend is the best part of your- 
 self," and again she held out her hand 
 and this time I was not afraid to press 
 it warmly. 
 
 ''But what will you put in the frame ?" 
 
 "I will have my friend draw me a 
 picture." 
 
 Suddenly a rush of power and con- 
 fidence came over me. 
 
 "I never drew a portrait in my life 
 except that sketchy thing of Forrest 
 that I scratched with my knife-point 
 on a board, but if you will put on that 
 gown I saw yesterday and sit on the 
 roots of that big tree out there I will 
 draw your picture for the frame. I will 
 go home & get pencil & paper .while 
 you change your dress." 
 
 "You are very good," she said, and 
 gave me another of those heavenly 
 
78 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 smiles, & then I left her & rushed home. 
 
 When I got back she was sitting 
 calmly beneath the tree with the gown 
 on and her long braids down. I did 
 not say a word, but sitting down I drew 
 as I never drew before. I felt serene, 
 strong, confident, & wondered, yet ex- 
 ulted, at the firm, clean, delicate strokes 
 of my pencil and the feeling and ac- 
 curacy of my work. 
 
 It was like watching the work of 
 another person. 
 
 When I had finished and showed her 
 the picture a light came into her eyes, 
 and she looked at me in a way that 
 thrilled me. 
 
 "I am proud of you, my friend," 
 she said, "vou are an artist." 
 
 Again I kissed her hand. 
 
 ''Tou are my inspiration," I said. 
 
 "I shall put this picture in the frame 
 and the frame and pi(?ture will be 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 79 
 
 the dearest treasure of mv house." 
 But I am writing you a tremendous 
 letter. I will stop and tell you the rest 
 another time. 
 
 Happily— 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 dear Hill ford: 
 
 You are very good, old 
 man, to be so interested. I 
 will try not to write you such 
 a volume this time. 
 
 Well, I was in heaven when she ac- 
 cepted my pi6ture, and until the next 
 day at noon. But when the next after- 
 noon I rushed to her shop, to my dis- 
 may all was silent. She was not there 
 and her horse was gone, too. My heart 
 sank, but I waited until the next after- 
 noon—and again she was gone. I could 
 not stand it — she was avoiding me, & 
 why? — had I offended her? I must find 
 out. I peered in the window of her 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 8i 
 
 living room and there on the wall hung 
 my pi6lure. No, she was not offended, 
 but something was wrong. I resolved 
 to go & get a horse and ride too, till 
 I found her. But on my way home I 
 saw a boy who had come across from 
 Council Grove. I knew Planer some- 
 times got him to do errands for her & 
 asked him if he knew wheie she was. 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "she is down 
 there," pointing behind him into the ra- 
 vine-like valley between the two ridges. 
 
 "What is she doing?" 
 
 With all the innocence of a child he 
 looked up at me, as if a little puzzled 
 by something half fogotten, and said, 
 "She is sitting under a big tree, crying." 
 
 I said no more, & let the child pass 
 on, but the moment he was out of sight 
 I hurried into the glen, which was nar- 
 row and rocky and shaded by great 
 hemlocks. I turned off from the path 
 
82 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 when I came to the stream & went up 
 a little way and saw her horse standing 
 there tied. And near by she sat, un- 
 der a tree, with her head bowed and 
 her face in her hands. 
 
 I could not stand that, but, springing 
 forward, caught her in my arms and 
 drew her to my breast and let my love 
 and tenderness flow out in a torrent of 
 words that astonished even mj^self and 
 sounded in my ears like those of another 
 person. 
 
 She did not resist me, or speak a 
 word, but lay back in my arms like a 
 tired child till I was done, only a great 
 sob, or a sigh, shaking her at intervals. 
 
 When I was thru she was quiet a 
 few moments, while I waited in sus- 
 pense, but full of the joy of holding 
 her, and then, slowly releasing herself 
 from my embrace, lifted herself to her 
 feet and faced me with a look of inex- 
 pressible sadness. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 83 
 
 ^'Dear friend," she said, "I love you 
 even as you love me, but you do not 
 know me yet. When you know all, 
 your love may die. I am going home 
 now. Please do not follow me. I will 
 not keep you waiting. Let the end come 
 quickly. I will tell you all and soon." 
 
 And going to her horse she mounted 
 and rode sadl}^ away, without a glance 
 behind, leaving me amazed at her words. 
 
 The next day a heavy envelope came 
 to me & I found it contained a confes- 
 sion from her. 
 
 It was a sad story. 
 
 She had been born in England, her 
 mother dying in her infancy, and had 
 been raised & cared for by her father, 
 a cabinet-maker. 
 
 She spent her childhood in his shop, 
 playing among the shavings and with 
 his tools, and he had deliirhted to teach 
 her to plane and saw and hammer. She 
 
84 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 grew up a strong, healthy, headstrong 
 girl, fond of helping him at his work 
 by da}^ and of reading to him at night. 
 Then came a time of bliss, followed 
 by an age of pain. A young gentle- 
 man, who had been her father's patron, 
 courted her and she, loving & trusting 
 him as an innocent girl will, was be- 
 trayed and then abandoned. When her 
 child was born her father loved her 
 still, but felt deeply the social stain. 
 Meeting the betrayer one day there 
 were words and blows, and the rugged 
 old man struck down the dastard with 
 a broken jaw. He was arrested and 
 imprisoned for murderous assault. He 
 was not sentenced severely, and was 
 not long in jail, but his spirit was bro- 
 ken, a prison-caught cold ended in pneu- 
 monia and he died. Then his daughter, 
 whose real name was Grace Bedford, 
 said to herself: — ^'^ly name is Disgrace 
 
The Dwellers ln Vale Sunrise 85 
 
 now, I will go off somewhere & change 
 it and lead a new life.'^ 
 
 And while she planned it her baby 
 died of scarletina, and in her sorrow 
 and bitterness she said she would no 
 longer be a woman, and selling her 
 cottage she came to America and took 
 the dress of a man, the name of Planer 
 Heartwood, and set up a cabinet-shop 
 of her own. 
 
 And so she lived for years, holding 
 her secret, until getting acquainted with 
 Theodora she confided in her and was 
 persuaded to join in the Tribe experi- 
 ment in her true guise as a woman. 
 But her old name she would not re- 
 sume. And here she had lived ever 
 since. But her sorrow and loneliness 
 had never left her and lately had rather 
 increased. 
 
 x\nd then she wrote of her feeling 
 for me and that was the dearest part of 
 her letter. 
 
86 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 She had felt, she said, from her first 
 look at me that I was not like other 
 men. I was not so strong, and not con- 
 fident in my own powers, and I, too^ 
 had suffered and was sad. 
 
 But she felt (she said) that I had a 
 beautiful & loving nature, & was sym- 
 pathetic and intuitive and yet lonesome. 
 And she felt I would understand a 
 woman and be good to her. And so 
 she came to think about me and wish 
 I might be her friend. But she had 
 never thought of more than friendship. 
 And she felt, somehow, that I liked her 
 too, but time went on, and I did not 
 approach her, & she saw I looked hap- 
 pier & less lonesome all the time, and 
 so at last she grew desperate & resolved 
 to make advances herself. 
 
 And after that all went with a rush 
 & before she knew it she found I was 
 loving her and she me. And then she 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 87 
 
 had resolved to avoid me, because I had 
 come only lately from the world, and 
 would be sure to feel as people do there, 
 and hold her a thing despised if I knew 
 all, & she had hastened to confess that 
 the agony might soon end, and now I 
 was released from all, and she would 
 say good bye. 
 
 It was a pitiful epistle, simple and 
 sad, and stained by many tears, and it 
 made me cry to read it. 
 
 Well, Hill lord, you may be sure I 
 did not waste much time after that. 
 What did I care if she had been the 
 mother of six love-babies I Nothing 
 could "ruin" a nature as sweet as hers. 
 She was good, & that settled it, and I 
 loved her above all the women in the 
 world and never could do less. 
 
 So I went straight to her shop and 
 found her in this time. And I opened 
 her door without a knock and went 
 
88 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 right in & took her in my arms and 
 said: 
 
 "Well, Dear Heart, I have come to 
 P stay this time. You are a good joiner, 
 suppose you join me?" 
 That is all for this time. 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 EAR Hillford: 
 
 My mind has been 
 so disturbed lately that I have 
 neglecSled to tell you anything 
 more about the ways of my brother 
 Simplicists, but now I am steadied 
 again I will resume. 
 
 Nothing strikes me more here than 
 the Nature-love of the people. That 
 is indeed, when you come to notice it, 
 their most Indian-like characteristic. 
 They love Nature, wild Nature, more 
 than anything else and seem to want a 
 wide margin of it about everything they 
 do. Each member is allowed an acre 
 of ground to set his house on & almost 
 invariably, I notice, instead of clearing 
 
90 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 and artificializing this spot as the 
 "world's people" would do, the tribes- 
 men change its wild look just as little 
 as possible. The house stands there, 
 usually, among the trees, bushes & rocks 
 as if it had grown there, like a tree, 
 itself. The wild runs to the very door- 
 step and often the house itself is satu- 
 rated with it. Great pride is taken in 
 a home that corresponds to its wild 
 environment. As an extreme example 
 let me tell you of the home of a very 
 ardent disciple of Forrest, designed by 
 himself. 
 
 It looks like a conical pile or peak 
 of rocks, tapering up on all sides from 
 a broad base, irregularly, to a sharp 
 pinnacle in the middle. The cement 
 joints are cleverly hidden, the rocks are 
 covered with moss, lichens & vines, and 
 even the doors and windows are like 
 irregular embrasures or cave-openings; 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 91 
 
 some of the upper windows having crag- 
 like balconies. It is really a tiny two- 
 story cottage, most comfortable and 
 weather-proof, and charmingly unique 
 and beautiful. 
 
 Exotics are little prized here, but the 
 beauties of American flora are appre- 
 ciated to an extreme. The roads all 
 over the settlement are very good, and 
 made with great care, but they are never 
 formal & rectangular, but wind up and 
 down the hills and in & out the valleys 
 as if seeking the most picturesque nooks 
 and romantic vistas, which is indeed 
 the case. On each side of the road is 
 a graveled footwalk, separated from the 
 road by a wild hedge four feet wide, 
 & another such hedge, of similar width 
 and wildness, separates the path from 
 the adjacent fields. These hedges are 
 most beautiful and interesting and the 
 delight of the people. If you criticize 
 
92 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 their economy, they will tell you that 
 wild birds as inse6l killers are the most 
 valuable stock a farm can have, and a 
 wild-hedge the ideal breeding place for 
 a bird. In brief these hedges are dedi- 
 cated to birds and botanists. 
 
 Here & there a tall tree is permitted 
 in them for pi6turesque effe6l, but 
 usually all tall-growing trees are half- 
 severed, when about twenty-five feet 
 high, and bent down & pleached into 
 the hedge. This is all the interference 
 that is m.ade, except to prevent the in- 
 vasion of the fields and the choking of 
 the path. For the rest, whatever shrub, 
 flower, briar, weed, moss or vine finds 
 rooting there grows undisturbed by man 
 unless some special vista needs to be 
 kept open. 
 
 To walk along one of these shady 
 footwalks on a summer's day, with the 
 shrubs arching overhead (an endless 
 
The Dwei.i.ers in Vale Sunrise 93 
 
 lover's lane) and peer into these strange 
 wild hedges on either side, which change 
 in appearance & vegetation with every 
 turn, is to me a perpetual delight. They 
 are full of birds' nests, and the birds 
 so tame that they build or sit within 
 reach of your hand with perfect fear- 
 lessness. I have seen a dozen people 
 standing about a nest in the hedge, 
 watching the bright-eyed mother calmly 
 sitting there with never a tremor. The 
 people do not pet a wild thing; they 
 say, you spoil its wildness so, we want 
 to see it wild and natural. 
 
 I wish, my dear Ilillford, you could 
 walk along one of these footpaths, /;/- 
 side a hedge one might say, and see 
 the flickering rays of sunshine falling 
 on leaf & flower & moss, see squirrels 
 or rabbits hop fearlessly along before 
 you, and robins, catbirds, thrushes sing- 
 ing everywhere or flitting across or 
 
94 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 peering at you from nests on either side. 
 Especially is it lovely in early morning 
 or late afternoon, when the level sun- 
 rays pierce the hedge and fall in bars 
 across the way. 
 
 This spirit is everywhere, & it would 
 rejoice Wilson Flagg to see how every 
 field is bordered by its hedge or its 
 stone-wall. These people clear their 
 fields, or cut their trees, or build their 
 houses with an apology to Nature, so 
 to speak (as some Indians kill bears) 
 and make the offence in every way as 
 little marked as possible. Therefore as 
 fruit-growing occupies a great part of 
 their attention, and orchards are every- 
 where, a semi-forest look hangs over 
 the whole domain. And not content 
 with all this deference to Nature thev 
 have set apart a certain section of their 
 lands as sacred to her. This they call 
 the "San6tuary." It is a wild ravine. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 95 
 
 beginning just above the crematory & 
 running away to the southwest corner 
 of their tra6l. A chaos of rocks, trees, 
 streams and bogs, and pra6tically irre- 
 claimable for culture. This is sacred 
 to wild nature. No tree is ever cut 
 here, no flower plucked, no stone quar- 
 ried, no animal hunted, no sign of man's 
 handiwork permitted to remain. This 
 was Forrest's idea. The efle6t is already 
 sublime and I love to go with Planer 
 and wander in its primitive recesses. 
 It is like a trip to another world. 
 
 There are many other ways in which 
 this love of Nature is shown. 
 
 In the summer time, on fine nights, 
 sleeping out of doors is the usual cus- 
 tom; wrapped in their gay blankets, 
 you will find these people everywhere, 
 on the ground, or in hammocks, or on 
 flat-topped houses, or in open wagons, 
 sleeping under the stars. 
 
g6 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 Much of their eating is out of doors, 
 too. 
 
 Many of them move out of their 
 houses altogether, when warm weather 
 comes, and live in tents & wigwams. 
 
 The same love of Nature peeps out 
 in their dislike of the restraints of cloth- 
 ing. Were it not for the surveillance 
 of American law & American custom 
 I cannot tell to what lengths some would 
 go. Certainly there is nothing in pub- 
 lic opinion here to prevent one from 
 being as naked as one might in Japan, 
 tho probably the majority would not 
 personallv desire it. In warm weather 
 the babies usually go entirely naked and 
 up to the age of ten years all the chil- 
 dren wear the least possible clothing — 
 a single tunic perhaps, or a loin cloth 
 like Forrest wears. And quite a clique 
 of enthusiastic young men are special 
 disciples of Forrest and follow his ex- 
 ample in nudity very closely. 
 
The Dwellers in, Vale Sunrise 97 
 
 Sandals on bare feet are almost uni- 
 versal in hot weather; few of the men 
 then wear anything below the knee, & 
 it is common to see workmen stripped 
 to the waist. Throats are generally open 
 at all seasons and more than half the 
 people wear no hats. 
 
 I wish I had the ability to tell you 
 of all the strange, striking, pi6turesque 
 garments these people have invented, 
 but only a series of pi6lures could do 
 it. But perhaps you can understand 
 that a community of thousands of artistic 
 people, who have utterly emancipated 
 themselves from convention and are a 
 law unto themselves, would achieve 
 remarkable results in costuminj^. 
 
 I will only say that almost all the 
 fabrics, woven or knitted here, are in 
 mesh of greater or less openness so that 
 air gets freely to the skin. 
 
 With love alwavs — Felton. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 EAR Hillford: 
 
 Yes, of course you 
 want to know how we all 
 make a living here, and I 
 will try to give you some idea. In the 
 first place remember that we are to a 
 great extent communists and the com- 
 munity plan permits more economy than 
 any other social form. A great amount 
 of expense is saved by our co-operating 
 as partners in one lirm. We are on an 
 agricultural basis. There are individ- 
 ual farms & gardens, but most of the 
 farming and gardening is done on the 
 community plan, and even where a man 
 runs his bit of ground on his own lines 
 it is often included in the community 
 
The Dwellers in^Vale Sunrise 99 
 
 farm — that is they let him do the work, 
 but share expenses & profits with him. 
 Many mechanics work that way, too, 
 Phmer for one (while others work in 
 the communit}' shops) and almost all the 
 professional artists & literary workers. 
 The community has a communal 
 farm, with orchards, pastures, meadows, 
 grain -fields, poultry- yards, gardens, 
 granaries, barns, stables ; a communal 
 boarding-house, or "Unitary Flome," 
 with communal kitchen, dining-hall, 
 dairy, butcher-shop, weaving looms, etc., 
 etc., etc. — in brief a very complete and 
 pra6tically self-supporting, self-supply- 
 ing, agricultural & industrial common- 
 wealth. ^There is a fine tannery and 
 wlienever an animal dies or is killed, 
 even to a dog or a cat, it is skinned 
 by a professional fiayer and the skin 
 tanned. The qualit}- of the work is 
 celebrated. Most of the smaller skins 
 are tanned after the Indian manner and 
 
loo The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 come out like buckskin, soft, velvety, 
 smoky, and are much worn by the peo- 
 ple, especially for winter clothing. Some 
 are tanned with fur on. Leather and 
 skin-work is a prominent industrial 
 feature. The skins of lambs are worked 
 up into vests, jackets & caps, with the 
 wool on, like Astrachan goods; dog and 
 goat skins are made into fur overcoats; 
 calf-skins, chosen for their beauty, with 
 the hair on, are made into vests and 
 tunics. There is much making of san- 
 dals, moccasins, buskins, leggings, 
 leather-breeches; much ''Mexican" 
 carved leather-work, and a great deal 
 of harness-making and saddlery, espec- 
 ially the manufadture of a saddle in- 
 vented here, without a wooden-tree, 
 very soft, easy & safe, and with original 
 stirrups. 
 
 A great many sheep and long-haired 
 goats are kept, and the fleeces are all 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise ioi 
 
 woven here, on hand-looms, into cloth, 
 blankets and rugs, or knitted into caps, 
 socks, shirts. The Navajo blanket is 
 copied with great success, and various 
 Oriental weaves also, and colored b}- 
 vegetable dyes made here. Two kinds 
 of socks are made and sold largely to 
 outsiders. One is straight on the inside 
 of the foot, so as not to cramp the great 
 toe, and the other has a special pouch 
 or "stall" for the great toe, so it can be 
 worn with a certain kind of sandal. All 
 rags that can be used are worked up 
 into rugs and rag carpets; old leather 
 garments cut into strings; horsehair 
 woven into cinches, saddlecloths, quirts, 
 bridles, watch-guards, neck-ties. 
 
 There is a basket shop, already fa- 
 mous, whose specialty is artistic work. 
 Indian patterns, freely adapted, are used, 
 with rich & barbaric d}'es, and an in- 
 hnite variet\' of graceful shapes. 
 
I02 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 There is a brick-yard, and tine bricks, 
 roof-tiles and art-tiles made. Also a 
 pottery, producing unique & celebrated 
 work. 
 
 These people are enthusiasts about 
 the evolution of an American art, and 
 all their art forms & patterns are prefer- 
 ably drawn from American sources — 
 American plant and animal forms pre- 
 dominating — with free adaptation of 
 Indian suggestions. 
 
 Then there is a o:reat deal of furni- 
 ture made in solid, massive, old-fash- 
 ioned style, of honest hard-wood and 
 good leather, built to last. 
 
 There is a communal grist-mill and 
 saw-mill, and a communal wood-yard. 
 And a printing shop where the papers 
 are printed and fine artistic book- work 
 done. They bind most of their books 
 in Indian-tanned buckskin, or similar 
 leather, with Indian desions on the 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 103 
 
 cover, or in thin boards of real wood 
 with grain beautifully polished, or in 
 paper printed in birch-bark or other 
 bark-patterns. The chara6teristic touch 
 of the Tribe comes out in all thev do. 
 Some very quaint and original books 
 are made, one style being all in leather. 
 Everything here, you know, is made 
 on honor, with the greatest honesty & 
 artistic skill. And all work is marked 
 with the worker's name or private mark, 
 as far as that is possible. If sold to 
 the outside world a good price is asked, 
 for we have nothing cheap in any sense. 
 And a brisk trade of this kind is grow- 
 ing. The mail-order business is large, 
 and visitors come from far and near, 
 almost every day in the year, and few 
 want to leave without a souvenir of 
 Tribal work. The obje6l of all work 
 in the settlement is first to supply local 
 need — only the surplus being sold. But 
 
I04 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 everything must be good, and as beauti- 
 ful as may be according to the maker's 
 ideal. And such a reputation has this 
 honest and artistic work attained that 
 there is never any trouble about sales. 
 Usually orders are far ahead of produc- 
 tion. Pra6tically every man in the col- 
 ony is an artist, in his own line, and 
 does his work well & beautifully for 
 the love of it. That is the ideal here — 
 not quick work or cheap work. 
 
 *'Not the cheap, but the good." 
 
 "Take your time & love the doing.'' 
 
 ''Have your conscience in your 
 hands.'' 
 
 ''True work is true art." 
 
 ''Build yourself into your work and 
 you build 3'ourself by your work." 
 
 "The joy of the worker is the cut 
 of his tool & the color of his pigment." 
 
 "Art is for the artist.'* 
 
 "Your work is vour credential." 
 
The DwEi^i^ERS in Vale SlixNRIse 105 
 
 ''Work is the written word of the 
 inner voice." 
 
 These are a few of the man\- mot- 
 toes which 3'Oii will find in every shop, 
 or chiseled on stones & rocks, and all 
 breathing the same inspiration to sin- 
 cere and self-expressive work, ^j These 
 people make their life a poem. 
 
 Most of their work, as you notice, 
 is hand work, but they are beginning 
 to use machinery for work that is mere 
 drudgery or repetition, but even here 
 everything is done to make the work 
 attra6tive and the worker happy. 
 
 I had always heard that in socialism, 
 the spur of acute necessity lacking, men 
 would grow lazy & poor workers. On 
 the contrary, here, work is the joy of 
 life, and after working for the com- 
 munity all the forenoon the majority 
 spend the afternoon also in the enthusi- 
 astic doing of some bit of private work 
 
io6 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 that obje6tities the ideal. Make a tour 
 in the afternoon, or leisure time, & you 
 shall hnd one writing a poem, another 
 carving, another modeling or chiseling, 
 another painting, another in deep study, 
 another practising music, another beau- 
 tifying his home. The mere produ(5lion 
 of things to sell, the mere lust of pos- 
 session, the mere accumulation of tire- 
 some luxuries these people indeed de- 
 spise. Their joy is in living a beautiful 
 life, taking pleasure in their labor and 
 the fruit of it as they go along & their 
 wealth and their luxurv is that every- 
 thing about them should suggest the 
 attained ideal. But too-much is a nui- 
 sance & so, while as esthetic as Greeks, 
 they are as simple as savages, avoiding 
 pomps and conventional cares. 
 
 One source of revenue, which I had 
 almost forgotten, is the thurobred stock. 
 By agreeing among themselves never 
 
The Dvveljlers in Vale Sunrise 107 
 
 to keep poor stock, and usually only 
 one breed of a kind, the Simplicists find 
 purity is much easier secured and guar- 
 anteed, as every breeder can see. 
 
 Thus all their horses are thurobred 
 Morgans carefully bred & trained and 
 petted like children. The very best are 
 never sold and every new^ member of 
 the Society is presented with a horse 
 or colt (his own choice) on the day of 
 his admission, to remain his in usufru6t 
 so long as he retains membership and 
 treats it kindly. He may exchange this 
 horse with another member, or give it 
 to a member, but may on no terms part 
 with it to an outsider, and is expected 
 to care for it as long as it lives. And 
 every clild of twelve is given one on 
 the same terms. Therefore a large herd 
 is kept. The surplus ones go with no 
 difficulty, as there are always more ap- 
 plications than horses to supply. 
 
io8 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 It is so with all stock kept. The sheep 
 are all pure bloods, and one flock of 
 about one hundred are all pure black 
 sheep, perhaps the only flock in the 
 world, and their wool, woven without 
 dying, is made into a black cloth held 
 precious. 
 
 There is a herd of beautiful asses, bred 
 from a trio brought from the Orient. 
 
 They are unusually tall, swift and 
 clean-limbed, and some members have 
 chosen them for riding animals in pref- 
 erence to horses. From these and the 
 Morgans, by crossing, comes a splendid 
 grade of mules, much used for the 
 farm- work. 
 
 On the community farm they have a 
 breed of shepherd dogs, kept for herd- 
 ing the animals, and Forrest breeds a 
 strain of famous beagles, bearing his 
 name. But most of the Simplicists keep 
 St. Bernards. Only those three breeds 
 are kept, and all very pure. 
 
The Dwej^lers in Vale Sunrise 109 
 
 There is even a pure breed of cats 
 here and none others are kept. These 
 are all tortoise-shell in color, and pe- 
 culiarly tall, slender & leopard-like in 
 outline, very gentle and intelligent, but 
 great mousers. The strangest thing is 
 that all kittens are reared for several 
 months in an aviary, so that they get 
 used to birds, squirrels and rabbits as 
 playmates and never afterw^ard molest 
 them. When these cats die their skins 
 are made into beautifully spotted winter 
 coats and sleigh-robes. 
 
 There is only one breed of hens kept 
 —Golden Wyandottes. It seems Forrest 
 had a strain of these bred for eggs, when 
 the Tribe began. An expert in poultry 
 was one of the first members and he 
 took this strain and began to develop 
 it. lie had a theorv that if several thou- 
 sand hens were kept under normal con- 
 ditions and bred constantly for vigor 
 
no The Dweljlers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 no fresh blood would be needed. And 
 his theory proves true. Almost every- 
 body here keeps a small flock of these 
 beautiful fowls, amounting to thousands 
 in the aggregate, but no chickens are 
 ever hatched except from matings made 
 by the expert, the parent fowls being 
 selected for health above everything, 
 next eggs, then beauty. By this means 
 there has been a constant improvement 
 in the stamina and pra6tical value as 
 well as beauty of the strain, and a fine 
 business is done in selling eggs and 
 fowls to outside breeders. 
 
 The uniform rule of stock-breeding 
 here is never to breed from any animal, 
 of either sex, that has been even slightly 
 sick. They claim in-and-in breeding is 
 harmless if this rule is stri6tly observed. 
 
 Gracious! another long letter. 
 As ever — 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 dear Hillford: 
 
 You ask about edu- 
 cation? Well, education is 
 original here like everjthing 
 else. Now with you a child is com- 
 pelled to go to school and obey the 
 teacher and swallow and digest all set 
 before him, willy-nilly. Here there are 
 a number of teachers & schools, more 
 or less differing in methods, and the 
 scholar makes his own choice, eleds 
 his own studies, goes to school or stays 
 at home, as he pleases. Teachers and 
 parents respeafully advise him, but no- 
 body thinks of compelling him. His 
 natural desire to know & to equal his 
 fellows is supposed to be enough, and 
 
112 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 the teacher who cannot make his les- 
 sons so attra6tive that the scholar would 
 rather attend than stay away is regarded 
 as a failure. Anyway to force a child, 
 or even overpersuade him, is regarded 
 as outrage and crime. 
 
 In bad weather lessons are in a school 
 room, but if the weather is pleasant 
 teachers & scholars are usually out-of- 
 doors wandering about the Tribe-land, 
 in the fields or woods. These general 
 teachers, in what you might term the 
 grammar-school grade (also that below) 
 have to possess an all-around capacity. 
 They are born teachers, enthusiasts in 
 their profession, gifted with extraordi- 
 nary personal magnetism and powers of 
 conveying knowledge in attra6tive ways 
 and unforgetable words. 
 
 Since your question came I went one 
 day with a teacher just to study the 
 svstem. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 113 
 
 We started out just after breakfast, 
 taking lunch in our hands like picnicers. 
 We went to the woods, and on the wa}' 
 the teacher asked questions & answered 
 them at every step. What was the name 
 of this flower, and that bird, and yon- 
 der rock? What is this wood good 
 for? Who can tell me what poet de- 
 scribes a scene like this? The questions 
 and answers flew back & forth like a 
 weaver's shuttle, but mostl}' the pupils 
 questioned, and the teacher could hardly 
 talk fast enough to answer the eager 
 young voices. 
 
 At last we came to the little lake 
 Forrest had made by damming a brook 
 in Vale Sunrise, and here, in a grove, 
 the true school- work began. Maps, 
 books, etc., were pulled out of knap- 
 sacks and the school seated itself on 
 logs, stones and the ground. 
 
 First was a lesson in geographv. A 
 
114 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 map was hung on a tree and for five 
 minutes by my watch every scholar 
 looked at that map as if his soul were 
 in his eyes. Then it was reversed and 
 each pupil took his sketch-book and 
 began to draw the map from memory. 
 To my astonishment some of these 
 young artists almost perfectly repro- 
 duced the map which they had that 
 morning seen for the first time. The 
 pi6lures were now compared with the 
 map and by the criticism of the whole 
 school the best reproduction was de- 
 clared winner and a medal hung on the 
 neck of the one who made it. Tomor- 
 row, the teacher said, they would try 
 again, and so on for several days till one 
 had made a perfe6l map. 
 
 It seems each study has a medal & 
 there is competition for it every day, 
 the winner being allowed to wear it till 
 the next day in sight of all the Tribe. 
 
The DwELi^ERS in Vale Sunrise 115 
 
 The next day some one else may win 
 it. At the end of the term the one 
 winning it the most days keeps it per- 
 manently. It is usually of carved wood. 
 
 Now the winner is called to the tree 
 and asked to describe the country he 
 has pi6tured; its climate, soil, produc- 
 tions, inhabitants, etc. The others listen, 
 and when he is thru, one by one, ac- 
 cording: to their number on a roll call, 
 they rise, like men in council, & praise 
 his accuracy or point out his errors, also 
 freely criticising each other. When all 
 had done the teacher reviev/ed the 
 whole criticism. 
 
 Then came history. The teacher read 
 a chapter from a book and then the 
 pupil whose turn it was (they followed 
 the roll in this study) rose and tried 
 to repeat from memory what the teacher 
 had said. All the others had been writ- 
 ing rapidly while the teacher read, and 
 
ii6 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 now I found they had been reporting 
 the reading in shorthand for one at a 
 time they now produced their notes & 
 critised the memorizer, and each other, 
 and even the teacher, till the lesson was 
 over. Everything was criticised, style, 
 accuracy, articulation, grainmar, the 
 moral bearing of the lesson itself — 
 everything that any critic might notice. 
 At the end a vote was taken and it was 
 decided that the history memorizer of 
 yesterday had surpassed this one, and 
 could keep the medal for this day, too. 
 The teacher now wrote three senten- 
 ces (quotations from ancient philoso- 
 phers) rapidly, on the blackboard, rub- 
 bing each one out before writing the 
 next. All now copied these from mem- 
 ory. Then one was called to read his 
 version. Before he had read many 
 words many voices called out "wrong!" 
 He turned to the teacher, who smiled 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 117 
 
 and nodded, and he sat down. The 
 second one called got the first sentence 
 right, but he gave a wrong authority. 
 The third was downed on the second 
 sentence, and so on. But three were 
 correct, and these "pulled off the tie" 
 by copying other sentences until only 
 one remained, who won the medal. 
 
 Now there was an hour's recess, with 
 the usual school-child fun, and then 
 again school reopened. 
 
 Now a boy rose, and walking to the 
 middle, repeated with much grace and 
 fire, a really spirited little poem. To 
 my surprise the teacher told me it was 
 his own composition. The others took 
 it down in shorthand and then sharp 
 criticism followed. But 1 was glad when 
 they finally voted him the medal. 
 
 Then a boy wn-ote a poem from mem- 
 ory on a blackboard and his memor}-, 
 writing, spelling, grammar, etc., were 
 
ii8 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 criticised by all. The teacher explained 
 to me that those exercises were usually 
 in verse because that was considered 
 better training for the literary faculties 
 than prose: ^'Few good prose-writers 
 can write good verse, but all good 
 verse-writers ca \ write good prose." 
 
 And so it went on all day. 
 
 The lessons proper began at 9 a. m. 
 and ended at 4 p. m., but there were 
 generous intermissions of one hour each 
 — one for lunch. 
 
 But the teacher joined even in the 
 plays, and I marvelled at the ta6t with 
 which even the sports were turned in 
 the dire6tion of knowledge. The teacher 
 seemed the favorite comrade & play- 
 fellow and was continually called from 
 one part of the play-ground to the other 
 to assist, admire or decide. And advice, 
 instruction or gentle correction were 
 working in all the time a moral and 
 intellectual influence. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 119 
 
 The studies seemed all concrete — the 
 pupils knew all the time what they were 
 doing and what they were trying to get 
 at, and applied their knowledge dire6tly. 
 Thus almost all the afternoon was taken 
 in studying an architect's plans & figur- 
 ing on his estimates. It seems a new 
 & model barn was being built in Rip- 
 pleford and the teacher had borrowed 
 the plans and the pupils had studied 
 these as they did maps until they had 
 drawn a corre6t copy and from this copy 
 they were now figuring how many feet 
 of lumber, of what kinds, and how 
 many perch of stone, etc., would be 
 needed to ere6l the stru6ture, the proba- 
 ble cost, the probable time, and all other 
 estimates made by builders. When each 
 one had made these estimates to his 
 own satisfaction they were all to be 
 compared with those of the architect 
 himself. To mv amazement these mere 
 
I20 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 children knew vastly more about ma- 
 terials, their strength, durability, relative 
 cost, etc., than I did. They knew how 
 to find out how many perch of stone 
 it took to build a given wall, how many 
 shingles covered a given side, how 
 man}' tiles a given roof, and how the 
 whole thing was builded. 
 
 When I went over the matter in my 
 mind that evening I was astonished to 
 find out how much I had learned my- 
 self, and how ashamed of my pra6tical 
 ignorance those blessed infants had 
 made me. All day long there had not 
 been a dull moment, or any mere form- 
 ality or routine. Everything had been 
 pra6\ical and interesting. The pupils 
 were happy, all alive & sucking in in- 
 formation at every pore. They had con- 
 du6led the school themselves & taught 
 each other, so to speak, the teacher be- 
 ing mainly a sort of chairman & referee. 
 
The DVVELL.ERS in Vale Sunrise 121 
 
 The scholars even took charge of each 
 other's behavior and the last vote of 
 the da}' was to decide w^ho deserved the 
 medal for that day for the most ideal 
 condu6t, and all thus selected received 
 medals. 
 
 There had been no scolding, no pun- 
 ishments, no set rules for the sake of 
 discipline. The children were all good, 
 because all at work, all absorbed soul 
 and bod}' in that work & all subje6ted 
 to the criticism of each other. All day 
 long they had criticised & praised each 
 other in every possible way, but always 
 kindly. Sometimes a good stroke had 
 elicited a round of applause. I found 
 it was etiquette for the last wearer of 
 a medal to surrender it gracefully to 
 the succeeding winner. Qiiarreling was 
 looked upon as stupid and a bore. 
 
 I was impressed with the cleverness 
 of the educational method. All those 
 
122 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 iniiuences which in outside schools are 
 usually arrayed against the teacher were 
 here ta<5tfull3' turned to support him. 
 Books, which a6tive children are not 
 prone to, were but little used. Laugh- 
 ing and talking were freely permitted. 
 All studies were elective, all were con- 
 crete, all were attractive 4^ interesting. 
 The teacher was not a ruler, but an 
 older, wiser and beloved comrade, like 
 the chiefs in the Tribe. There was no 
 compulsion, therefore nothing to excite 
 rebellion. I noticed, during the history 
 lesson, that one thoughtful little fellow 
 took a book and went off out of hear- 
 ing & read, no one interfering. I asked 
 him, while we were going home, why 
 he had done this. 
 
 "Because I do not care to hear about 
 those bad old kings and wars," he said. 
 "Teacher thinks I ought to know about 
 them, but I think my time can be better 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 123 
 
 spent, so I read natural history during 
 that lesson-time.'' 
 
 I loooked down at the resolute, re- 
 fle6^ive little eleven-year-old face with 
 wonder. Already deciding for itself the 
 path of life. What a man this might 
 make ! 
 
 The most noticeable feature was that 
 the espj'it de corps & public opinion, 
 so strong in all schools and usually 
 against the teacher, was here the main- 
 spring of order and education. The 
 scholar looked ever to his fellows for 
 criticism, praise or blame, & the award- 
 ing of every prize. The teacher told 
 me privately that he had no right to veto 
 the vote of the school, tho he could re- 
 cord his opinion also, & that the school 
 was prompt to boycott a mean, jealous 
 or quarrelsome pupil. 
 
 I tried to recall all the pupils had 
 learned & see how it would help them 
 
124 "A HE Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 in mature life. They had learned to 
 speak in public, easily, gracefully, cor- 
 re6tly, with parlimentary decorum ; to 
 criticise keenly but kindl}' everything 
 seen & heard; to remember accurately 
 the sounds of things heard, the shapes 
 of things seen & reproduce them from 
 memory; to understand maps; to draw; 
 to read, write and cipher; to report in 
 short hand, verbatim; to compare like 
 litterateiirs and correct written exer- 
 cises like proof-readers ; to draw & read 
 plans and figure on estimates like con- 
 tra6tors; and tinally to have clean and 
 reasonable ideas of their moral respon- 
 sibilities and relations to each other. 
 Incidentalh' they had gathered a won- 
 derful store of fa6ts about all sorts of 
 things, so interestingly fixed on their 
 minds by all sorts of associations that 
 forgetting was almost impossible. 
 Their criticism of the history lesson 
 
The Dwelle rs in Vale Sunrise 125 
 
 was a revelation to me. Each spoke as 
 he felt, criticising the lesson and other 
 speakers, but the moral criticism was 
 what astounded me. It was a lesson 
 in English history from a conservative 
 source. But these young radicals went 
 thru it like a whiff of ozone. Kings, 
 they said, had no rights as such, except 
 what the people freely gave them; their 
 only office was to be good servants of 
 the people, advising them, working for 
 them; that they had no moral right to 
 coerce anybody not an invader of oth- 
 er's rights; that war was organized and 
 licensed murder, more shameful than 
 piracy because pretending to more vir- 
 tue and glory; that no man ought to 
 obey another against his conscience; 
 that no rulers or laws were necessary 
 that taxation was robbery because it 
 took men's property without their con- 
 sent, & that, finally history was a chron- 
 icle of crime useful only as a warnino- 
 
126 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 Just imagine children talking that way 
 when we were boys and worshiped 
 Ca?sar and Napoleon! 
 
 Lessons are every day, except Sun- 
 day, but Saturday is usually given up 
 to the study of Nature, usually out of 
 doors & while rambling, & is regarded 
 practically as a holiday. And the pupil, 
 remember, stays home, whenever he 
 pleases, without reproof. And lessons 
 are continuall}' varied so that almost 
 every day affords some change & attrac- 
 tion. There seem to be no formal vaca- 
 tions, but a whole school votes a holiday 
 or vacation. Each school has usually 
 two teachers, who divide the teaching 
 time between them to suit themselves, 
 but so that the result is about half-time 
 work for each. Thus in this school this 
 teacher had taught all day, but next day 
 another would take his place for all 
 dav. Sometimes the division is at mid- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 127 
 
 day and some teach a whole week and 
 rest one whole week. 
 
 It may seem, at first glance, hard on 
 the pupils, this fairly continuous study, 
 but it is all so like real life, so free, 
 unconstrained, interesting, fascinating, 
 so arouses and satisfies that insatiable 
 curiosity all children know, and play- 
 intermissions are so long, that they do 
 not seem to feel it. Beside there is no 
 home stud}' required. And if anything 
 of diverting interest is going on in 
 Tribe-land, like the raising of a house, 
 draining of a swamp, a special Council, 
 etc., the teacher takes them all there 
 and makes the matter the subje6t of a 
 peripatetic le6ture. 
 
 The theory is that children, if un- 
 forced and unconstrained, do not crave 
 rest, but long constantly to be actively 
 amused & concretely instru6ted. Book- 
 study and lectures, the Tribesmen say, 
 
128 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 are for grown-ups, not these restless 
 little animals. 
 
 The indoor study, on dull days, is 
 mostly manual training in art and me- 
 chanics. 
 
 There are no formal examinations. 
 
 Different teachers have very different 
 and original ways, but the spirit of all 
 is the same — to train all the faculties 
 symmetrically and for practical use and 
 to keep the pupil happily interested. 
 
 Later on the youth goes to special 
 schools, where some art, profession or 
 trade is theoretically and practically 
 taught, or languages, or literature. 
 
 And beside these there are afternoon 
 and evening classes for older people, in 
 all sorts of elementary & higher studies. 
 Tribeland is a sort of universit}'. No- 
 body's education is supposed to be com- 
 plete, and nobody is ashamed to ac- 
 knowledge ignorance or be a student. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 129 
 
 While walking home from school 
 that da}^ one interesting episode oc- 
 curred of which I must tell you. Just 
 as we got into the upland there was 
 a sound of running feet and Forrest 
 Westwood came bounding by, followed 
 by that little band of his disciples 
 whom Tribemen call ''The Forresters."* 
 Bronzed, bearded, bare-headed, sandal- 
 footed, stalwart 3'Oung fellows, nude 
 except for loin cloths, carrying books, 
 glasses, herbariums, etc., (for they had 
 been out studying ornithology & bot- 
 any), they went by at a long, swinging 
 trot, laughing and jesting. Some wore 
 wreaths, and some feathers in their hair 
 like Forrest. I understood why they 
 called him ''The Runner" as he went 
 laughing ahead, and the whole scene 
 was like a classic pi6ture. There were 
 several young women among them, too, 
 clad in bloomers & low-necked sleeve- 
 less jerseys. 
 
130 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 The children cheered as they bounded 
 by, and some young enthusiasts ran 
 with them a ways. There will be more 
 "Forresters" by and by, I thought. 
 So long! 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER XI r 
 
 1 
 
 It 
 
 H 
 
 iY dear friend, Hill ford: 
 
 I have just learned 
 something that it surprises me 
 I never knew before — that 
 this is not the only Society of Simpli- 
 cists, not the only Tribe of Natural Men. 
 There are, it seems, three more, all off- 
 shoots of this. 
 
 One man who came here had been 
 reared a farmer and owned by inher- 
 itance a large tra6t of land in New 
 England. He could not sell it — aban- 
 doned farms were all about it — and 
 after staying here a while, absorbing 
 the spirit of the place, he returned home 
 and started another Tribe. Partly he 
 went back because his wife pined for 
 
132 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 her old home. He had different ideals, 
 too, from the founders of this colony, 
 and naturally his venture took another 
 form. He bought up adjoining farms, 
 got men to join him, and now there is 
 quite a prosperous settlement. The ideal 
 is to revive, as far as may be, the old- 
 fashioned American farm life. Most of 
 them are farmers, but they have a grist 
 & saw mill, tannery, shoe-makers, car- 
 penters, blacksmith, wagon-maker, bas- 
 ket-maker, tailor, and looms for making 
 homespun and for rag-carpets ; also a 
 co-operative laundry & Turkish bath. 
 They raise their food, make their own 
 flour, butcher their own meat, spin & 
 weave their own wool and flax, make 
 their own shoes, dress in homespun and 
 leather and knitted stuff, and in every 
 way possible supply their own wants 
 and copy "the good old ways." A great 
 deal of their work is done on the prin- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 133 
 
 ciple of ^^bees"— husking-bees, log-rol- 
 lings, etc. 
 
 They have a trulj-^old meeting house" 
 which they bought, but no salaried min- 
 ister. Every Sunday a sort of union- 
 meeting is held. Each Sunday some 
 family (chosen in rotation) has charge 
 of the services, and a member of the 
 family, or some deputy chosen by it, 
 speaks or reads, setting the program for 
 the day with no reference to any gen- 
 eral plan, teaching anything he pleases 
 from Roman Catholicism to Atheism. 
 
 They have chosen a lot of hymns, 
 songs and musical pieces that all like, 
 and these they confine themselves to, 
 never using anything that anyone ob- 
 je6ts to. 
 
 There are no audible prayers, but 
 silent periods, in which those pray who 
 wish to and those think quietly who do 
 not pray. And there are no criticisms 
 or debates. 
 
134 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 But they have a free "Lyceum," 
 wherein every question can be discussed. 
 
 Houses are built on old-fashioned 
 lines, & furnished with rag-carpets, rush- 
 bottomed chairs, "grandfather clocks'' 
 and all that. 
 
 All this represents their ideal of 
 simplicity. 
 
 They seem happy and well-to-do. 
 
 Another man who came here had 
 been a Catholic priest, then a Protest- 
 ant minister, then got too liberal even 
 for that and joined the Tribe. 
 
 But he fell heir to large estates, and 
 havino- an ideal of his own went back 
 to his land, in the mountains of Penn- 
 sylvania, and started another Society of 
 Simpli cists there. ^The}' call them- 
 selves "The Brothers of Good Work." 
 
 They all live together in a great stone 
 building, with wings and annexes, and. 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 135 
 
 tho not monastic, a semi-ecclesiastical 
 air pervades everything. They dress 
 pretty much alike, in a simple working 
 garb, & make a religion of doing good 
 and beautiful work. They eat at a com- 
 mon table and are stridtly communists 
 in all things. Their sleeping rooms are 
 mere cells, of exceeding cleanness and 
 simplicity, but their public rooms are 
 lavish with art and beauty. They say 
 their onl}' law is the Golden Rule. 
 They are perfe6tly free, but do not en- 
 courage variation, and invite only those 
 to join them who agree with their ideal. 
 
 They have a great farm, which they 
 cultivate in a model way, but most of 
 them are artists on medieval lines and 
 print & illumine books (or write them 
 entirely like ancient monks) paint, carve, 
 make furniture, and so on. 
 
 They seem to have a common and 
 rather mystical religious faith, & much 
 to do with spirits. 
 
136 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 They are not self-sufficient, but de- 
 pend upon the sale of their produ6ts to 
 the outside world for support. 
 
 They are largely French, Germans, or 
 other foreigners, and were almost all of 
 them brought up as Roman Catholics. 
 
 A third Tribe lives in a great city. 
 Its founder is a business man and prac- 
 tical scientist, and pervaded with all 
 modern ideas of mechanical progress. 
 
 ''You people," he said of the other 
 Tribes, "are all Mooking backward.' 
 You are trying to put new wine in old 
 bottles. This trying to be mere savages, 
 monks, medievalists, ruralists and the 
 rest is nonsense. Now m}' motto is: 
 'To simplicity thru com.plexity.' That 
 is the course of evolution, first increas- 
 ing complexity, then such a perfection 
 of co-a6tion in all the associated parts 
 that simplicity is again attained, only 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 137 
 
 on a hiw-her staii^e than ever before. 
 Don't go back to old hand-labor ways 
 but put yourself in the forefront of 
 progress." 
 
 So he bought a block in the city and 
 put up a big department store, bought 
 another adjoining block and turned it 
 into an immense hotel, bought land in 
 the suburbs & erected factories. The 
 best modern machinery was used and 
 modern business methods plus social- 
 ism. Every detail was systematized & 
 worked like a well-oiled machine. Now 
 he searched far & wide, and selecting 
 good men who were in sympathy with 
 free-socialism, drew them to him, and 
 as soon as he had proved them took 
 them into association with him. Then 
 employees were tested and admitted in 
 the same way and finally the whole 
 business was run by them. Thus the 
 Society was organized. In its internal 
 
138 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 polity it is much like the other Tribes 
 with such differences only as environ- 
 ment & business necessities made com- 
 pulsory. All share alike in expenses 
 and profits & hours of work. Work is 
 on the basis of six hours out of twenty- 
 four for each individual, and all live 
 at the hotel, which has all modern 
 luxuries and conveniencies, including 
 laundry, Turkish bath-rooms, a resident 
 ph}'sician, dentist, etc. All goods are 
 sold from the store at prices as low as 
 can be figured, to properly maintain and 
 extend the business and ensure against 
 business crises, consequently the store 
 is popular and prosperous. 
 
 Now all this is wonderfully interest- 
 ing to me. It shows how flexible this 
 new idea is, how adapted to all sorts 
 and conditions of men. Here are four 
 groups, wonderfully different in their 
 ideals and manner of life and the sort 
 
The Dwellers ln Vale Sunrise 139 
 
 of people they attract, yet all agreeing 
 on the same essentials of simplicity, 
 brotherhood & absolute personal liberty. 
 Do you wonder where the simplicity is 
 in the city group? It is here: Each 
 man has his place in the business, like a 
 cog in a machine, does his work so many 
 hours, and then is free to enjoy himself 
 without a care in the world. Of course 
 the superintendents (selected b}- the ap- 
 proval of the Society & corresponding 
 to our chiefs) have more care and re- 
 sponsibility than the ordinary workers, 
 but they also have the natin-al reward 
 for this in that general love, honor, grat- 
 itude & admiration which alwavs troes 
 to the men of superior abilities and ser- 
 vices if these services are disinterested 
 and not forced upon the unwilling. 
 Always lovingly — 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER XI 11 
 
 Y dear Hillford: 
 
 There is one most 
 interesting personality here 
 and I have not told 3011 of 
 him before because I have been care- 
 fiilh" studying him up and wanted to 
 really understand him before I wrote. 
 He is a Simplicist indeed & as much be- 
 yond Westwood in this regard as West- 
 wood is beyond the ordinary Tribes- 
 man. He is a German, & an enthusiast 
 as many Germans are, and got into dire 
 trouble trying to live his theories in the 
 outer world. So he came here, not so 
 much because of accord with our ideas 
 as because here he could do as he liked. 
 He is shv and reserved, but commun- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 141 
 
 icative enough when you get his con- 
 fidence, and at last I have got to know 
 him well. 
 
 His idea is utter simplicity and un- 
 adulterated human nature. He lives in 
 the deepest vv'oods and is not often seen. 
 He is consistently vegetarian from an 
 ethical concept and will not even eat 
 an Qgg because there is life in it, nor 
 drink milk because that defrauds some 
 animal babe. He avoids drinking water, 
 too, for fear of unwittingly taking life 
 and is always troubled in his conscience 
 because he thinks that even the roots, 
 fruits, vegetables he eats are alive and 
 likely suffer pain & shrink from death. 
 "I cannot help killing and invading, do 
 what I will!'' he cried to me once in 
 genuine distress. 
 
 He is a Spiritualist and thinks him- 
 self in constant communication with the 
 departed. He wears no clothes at all 
 
142 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 in warm weather when at home in his 
 woods, and only the merest tigleaf when 
 in society. He wears more or less in 
 winter, but no leather, skins or ordinary 
 cloth, and makes for himself a sort of 
 tappa or barkcloth to wear when it is 
 very cold. Also he weaves a strange ma- 
 terial from soft inner bark & dried moss 
 which is quite durable and resistive of 
 cold. But mostly he goes naked. His 
 body is bronzed and hairy and rugged 
 as a tree-trunk, his beard reaches to his 
 waist and his hair to his knees. He 
 combs hair and beard every day care- 
 fully with his fingers, tugging & pulling 
 at it in the process, and he claims that 
 hair thus pulled and tugged and stroked 
 by magnetic hands will never turn gray, 
 thin or fall out. He generally keeps 
 both braided in the dav time, but at 
 night unbraids all, if the air is cool, and 
 uses his locks as a natural wrapper or 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 143 
 
 blanket. He says animals have the same 
 rights as men and so he never tames 
 any, for tame animals, he says, are 
 slaves. No, I am not quite right here, 
 for he has a host of tame wild animals, 
 if I may so call them. That is, as he 
 never kills even a mosquito or a tick, 
 the animals lose all fear of him and he 
 is on the most intimate, even speaking 
 terms with them. When birds, squirrels, 
 etc., are babes in the nest he vies with 
 the mother in bringing them food, and 
 they grow up with the feeling that he 
 is a foster-parent. That is one way he 
 has of taming them, but he always 
 moves gently among them, and knows 
 how to imitate their notes and cries and 
 so they come to know and admit him 
 as one of themselves. It is wonderful 
 how familiar he is with them. Birds 
 flutter down on him as a perch, squir- 
 rels run down the trees at his approach, 
 
144 ^^'he Dwellers in Vale wSunrise 
 
 rabbits are as tame as house-cats to his 
 touch. He handles snakes, toads, lizards; 
 handles even the wild skunk without 
 exciting its fetor ; takes even the fish out 
 of water with his hands, talks to them 
 and replaces them unhurt & apparently 
 little alarmed. His vocabulary of grunts, 
 squeaks, whistles, barks, etc., seems in- 
 finite to me, but he says each one is a 
 word in animal language, & has a m.ean- 
 ing, and he talks to the beasts with these. 
 He makes a garden in the forest and 
 raises fruit, grain & vegetables. These, 
 with wild roots, nuts, berries, buds, bark, 
 leaves, herbs, etc., form his food. He 
 is strong and hardy, tho nearly sixty, 
 with an eye like an eagle for strength. 
 He eats raw food only. 
 
 He can make a fire by rubbing sticks, 
 like a primitive savage, but seldom in- 
 dulges in one even in the dead of winter. 
 
 He lives in a little cave in the south 
 
The Dwellers ln Vale Sunrise 145 
 
 side of a cliff and has a great, deep bed 
 there of wild grass, pine-needles, leaves, 
 etc. Here he burrows, covering him- 
 self with bark-robes, and on cold nights 
 some of his animal friends are apt to 
 share his couch with him. lie lives 
 mostly on nuts in the winter, basks in 
 the sun on warm days, and sleeps like 
 a woodchuck on cold, dark ones. His 
 capacity for sleep and fasting remind 
 me of a hibernating animal. He tells 
 me he eats nothing for a week, some- 
 times, sleeping nearly all the time. Tho 
 strange, fanatical & eccentric he seems 
 perfe6fly sane. ^] There is a quarry of 
 excellent slates near his cave & he gets 
 these and writes on them with a flint 
 and stores his stone folios in another, 
 larger cave. Almost all that he writes 
 is about nature, especially his observa- 
 tions on the habits, language & thoughts 
 of animals, and as his opportunities for 
 
146 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 such knowledge probably excel those of 
 any man who has ever lived his librar}^, 
 someday, will have a priceless value. 
 Remember that he lives among the ani- 
 mals as one of them, has their confi- 
 dence and talks their language. It is 
 wonderful to see him challenore a wild 
 animal with some strange note or mo- 
 tion and to see it respond and answer 
 with evident pleasure and intelligence; 
 and just as wonderful to see ticks, mo- 
 squitos, etc., feasting undisturbed on his 
 naked hide. 
 
 Forrest Westwood would like to be 
 very friendly with him, but he feels very 
 hard toward Forrest because he is a 
 hunter & not vegetarian, and is rather 
 cold to him in consequence. All se6ta- 
 rians and enthusiasts find it hardest to 
 forgive those nearest to them in faith, 
 I have noticed, if they differ at all. Karl 
 has learned the libert}^ that lets alone, 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 147 
 
 but not the sympathy that appreciates 
 the merit of the other view. But he 
 likes me because I am not a hunter and 
 eat no tiesh & he hopes to fully convert 
 me. But he saw Planer kill a chicken 
 once and has his opinion of her. 
 
 He has made him a flint axe and a 
 flint knife and these are his only tools, 
 except wooden tappa- mallets, sticks, 
 thorns, and the bags and baskets he 
 weaves to carry his provision. 
 
 I saw him yesterday in the woods, 
 asleep in the sun, curled up at the foot 
 of a tree, naked as a snake. 
 Heartily yours, 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER 
 
 \ 
 
 XI v\ 
 
 I 
 
 V 
 
 Y dear Hillford : 
 
 I have just returned 
 from the Council House, 
 where I have Hstened to one 
 of the most interesting^ debates I ever 
 heard. It w^as a tripartite discussion or 
 manifesto of ideals by Karl Schaefer, 
 Forrest Westwood and James Harvard. 
 Harvard is the founder of the depart- 
 ment-store group in the city, of which 
 I wrote you. 
 
 Old Karl was the first speaker. Out 
 of consideration for his audience he 
 wore a loin-cloth of woven bark. His 
 hair and beard were unbraided and his 
 wild eyes glared under his shaggy brows. 
 Bronzed, wrinkled, hairy, calloused, with 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 149 
 
 knotted muscles, big bones and sharp 
 white teeth, a more ideal ''Wild Man of 
 the Woods" could not have been im- 
 agined. There were strange wild notes 
 & cadences in his tones, derived proba- 
 bly from his much use of animal sounds, 
 indescribable. Leaving out the German 
 accent, he spoke somewhat like this: 
 
 "My good friends, I am of Germany, 
 you know, and cannot always the best 
 English speak. But you will be good 
 and consider. I will not be long. 
 
 You think I am a beast, but it is not 
 so — I am a mayi ! — and my way I think 
 the best. I want you to know it. 
 
 You are simple, but not simple 
 enough. I am the true Simple! I do 
 not wear the clothes. God gave me this 
 skin, it is enough, 1 ought to be content. 
 If I take what God gives me I shall be 
 better than if I seek many inventions. 
 
 I take not life. Consider! — life is 
 
150 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 sacred. You understand that with men 
 but you think you may kill these weaker 
 ones. For shame! They are brothers. 
 You have no more right to kill them 
 and wear their skins than you have to 
 kill me, eat me and wear my skin. All 
 animals have equal rights to life and 
 liberty. I would not kill even that thier- 
 chen^ the what you call it? — a louse. 
 Let him eat me if he knows no better. 
 I have enough for both. I love the 
 animals. They are my good friends. 
 We together talk and understand. 
 
 My good friend, Forrest, you call 
 'The Natural Man,' but he does not de- 
 serve the title. I am the true 'Natural 
 Man.' I am the true 'Simple.' You 
 will be full of disease & crime-wishes 
 unless you do as I do." 
 
 Forrest spoke next. 
 
 "Comrades: We all love our German 
 friend and his beautiful, natural life is 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 151 
 
 a joy to me. By going down to the 
 animals and being one of them he is 
 acquiring and garnering for mankind 
 priceless knowledge. It is a great les- 
 son on the value of permitting and en- 
 couraging every man to live his own 
 life in his own way — on its public value 
 I mean. But his life is an extreme, and 
 to apply it to all of us would not be 
 well. He should be glad in our differ- 
 ence as we are in his. He should not 
 want the squirrel to be like the toad, 
 nor the wildcat like the badger. 
 
 He claims superior naturalness, but 
 to be natural does not necessarily mean 
 to live like a beast with scant brain & 
 no fingers. Our friend does not consider 
 evolution. All animals evolve, it is nat- 
 ural to evolve, and as they evolve they 
 do more and more things in a more and 
 more artful and intricate way, using nat- 
 ural materials in combination & in new 
 
152 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 forms to further their desires. The use 
 of tools & materials goes with the evo- 
 lution of the brain, increasing with its 
 growth. Therefore much of what we 
 call ^artificial' in man's life is really most 
 natural. When I called myself a natural 
 man, I did not mean one who used no 
 tools, or art, or inventions, for these are 
 all natural and found to some extent 
 among even the beasts, but one who 
 had determined to yield to his own law 
 of growth, to follow and live out only 
 his own ideals, no matter how whim- 
 sical, feeling sure that in this way the 
 truest life & wisdom would evolve. All 
 about me I find the world full of peo- 
 ple who were trying to suppress their 
 evolution, or twist it, or reshape it, so 
 as to fit some ancient, or conventional 
 or other-person's ideal. They religiously 
 would not do what the public consen- 
 sus called 'strange, peculiar, eccentric, 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 153 
 
 improper, odd, crazy,' or any one oi a 
 hundred such names. To smother self 
 and conform was the unwritten hiw. 
 
 But to live my own life was what I 
 did, and this I called "natural' because 
 all beasts & birds & flowers & trees and 
 primitive men and winds and streams 
 do that way. They yield themselves to 
 the great world currents and their own 
 innate laws and are justified. Only such 
 lives are beautiful, satisfying, fair to 
 consider, and fit musically into the S3'm- 
 phony of the universal rhythms. 
 
 Karl lives his animal life from a sense 
 of duty, but I am a savage 'just for fun,' 
 just for health and pleasure. It seems 
 to me more sweet, wholesome & artistic 
 than the life most men lead, and so I 
 live it. I prefer hand work and em- 
 phasize it, because I am built that way, 
 but I do not condemn the machine in 
 its place. I am mostly an artist in feel- 
 
154 "l^HE Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 ing, and my desire has been to conserve 
 all the gentle and beautiful, idyllic as- 
 pects of savage life while losing nothing 
 reallv worth while in the life of the arti- 
 licial man of today. I wanted to exclude 
 both conventionality & crudity & attain 
 the truly poetic mean. I wanted savage 
 health, animal spirits, tree-like truth of 
 growth, but also to possess the acquired 
 joy of the artist; the vi6lories of the 
 thinker, the writer; to know something 
 of the worker's bliss in his work. This 
 life I called 'Simplicity.' I think we have 
 no better word for it. But animal sim- 
 plicity or consistent simplicity I never 
 strove for. I don't think much of con- 
 sistency. It is the enem}' of progress. 
 Consistency might require me to be un- 
 natural, for it is natural to me to love 
 to create and enjoy creation after the 
 artist's impulse. M}' gentle friend here 
 is not natural or consistent either, judged 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 155 
 
 by his own standards. It is not con- 
 sistent for him to weave baskets, sacks, 
 garments ['Birds weave!' interrupted 
 Karl], not consistent for him to wear 
 any garments whatever, not consistent 
 for him to use an artificial & complex 
 language, or to speak any language but 
 his own, not consistent for him to write, 
 not natural — but I spare him. He is 
 prett}' near consistency I allow & much 
 more simple than I would care to be 
 except as an occasional luxury. 
 
 It is the artistic, idyllic side of the 
 simple and savage life that appeals to 
 me and I would not cheat myself of an 
 artistic joy because it was complex, nor 
 any other joy I felt I needed. M}' mes- 
 sag^e to those who look to me as teacher 
 is simply to live your own life accord- 
 ing to its strongest impulse. Comrade 
 Karl does this & so does Comrade James 
 Harvard and both therefore seem to me 
 
156 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 to lead the natural life, and not a re- 
 pressed or perverted one, different as 
 each is from the other. The natural life 
 is the expressed life, the artificial life 
 is the repressed life. Our Comrade Karl 
 wants to live his own life, but he is not 
 quite satisfied because we live ours dif- 
 ferently. A little of the old spirit which 
 demands conformity under pain of in- 
 harmony clings to him yet. lie is spe- 
 cially hurt because we enslave, kill, skin 
 and eat the lower animals. I understand 
 his feeling and have respe6t and sym- 
 pathy for it, but Nature seems to be 
 against it. He will not kill even in self- 
 defense and here he is inconsistent & 
 unnatural. All animals resist if strong 
 enough, even rabbits. A monkey will 
 kill the vermin on his bod}' & eat them 
 too. A very little study of nature will 
 show that there are very few if any ani- 
 mals consistently vegetarian or consist- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 157 
 
 ently carnivorous. The mixed diet in 
 greater or less degree is almost univer- 
 sal. And as animals rise in the scale of 
 evolution they are on one stage carniv- 
 orous and on another vegetarion as op- 
 portunity or necessity leads. Practically 
 all aggress, and all defend. Therefore 
 in his non-resistence and ethical vege- 
 tarianism Karl is unnatural from the 
 viewpoint of the animal. He curiously 
 vaults here from one end of the scale 
 of human evolution to the other. Peace 
 and the bloodless diet belong to the far 
 future of the human race. At this time 
 Nature is against both. Her plans just 
 now require universal conflict and the 
 feeding of life on life. A violent death 
 is the natural death of the lower ani- 
 mal & he recks not about being eaten 
 alive. A careful study has never shown 
 me any superiority in health, character, 
 etc., of one habit of diet over another. 
 
158 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 The carnivorous dog is as intelligent, 
 brave, noble, gentle, swift & enduring 
 as the herbivorous horse ; the Cape buf- 
 falo, the rhinoceros, the baboon, are as 
 bad-tempered & ferocious as lions and 
 tigers, and with less reaspn, for they 
 attack unprovoked and unspurred by 
 hunger, the eagle is as constant in love 
 as the dove, the vulture is less belliger- 
 ent than the cock, and the vegetarian 
 hornet is, for his size, as venomous as 
 the carnivorous < snake. The same is 
 true of men. The effects of diet on 
 character are fanciful. The carnivor- 
 ous Eskimos are more kindly, honest, 
 gentle & every way virtuous than the 
 vegetarian Malays & a potato-fed Irish- 
 man loves fight better than a pemmican- 
 fed Indian. The wheat-fed Roman sol- 
 dier wasted the world. It is the social 
 standard & ideal that mostly determines 
 character, & the perfection of the diges- 
 
The D wellers in Vale Sunrise 159 
 
 tive apparatus that mostly determines 
 nutrition no matter what j'ou eat. 
 Whether you live on beef or bananas 
 or codfish you are all right if you have 
 the digestive tools to extract all the vir- 
 tues and reject all the poisons & rubbish. 
 Bad digestion means bad morals & bad 
 blood no matter w^hat you eat. 
 
 When we deal with the animals we 
 deal with them on their own plane which 
 is that of "Might is Right," simply be- 
 cause they can understand no other. 
 We cannot cooperate with them simply 
 because, as a rule, no treaties can be 
 made with them which they can under- 
 stand or will keep. If man ceased to 
 kill or injure animals they would soon 
 lose all fear or respe6t for him. Vermin 
 would swarm on his body and in his 
 homes. Carnivores would devour him 
 as they now do deer. The tribes of the 
 air, of the forest and the prairie would 
 
i6o The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 crawl thru, jump over, break down his 
 fences, gnaw his trees, pillage his fruit, 
 run off with his nuts, swarm on his 
 grain, feast on his honey. Agriculture 
 would be impossible. Even if we could 
 make fences capable of effectually ex- 
 cluding the animals, that would not be 
 brotherly, and if carried out thurol}' 
 would fence them off the earth and ex- 
 terminate them. If no animal preyed 
 on another and all were vegetarian, 
 vegetation would be destroyed as by 
 locusts and all soon perish of starvation. 
 The universal war in Nature is a check 
 which permits life to go on in various 
 forms. As man grows numerous he 
 kills the dangerous beasts and so re- 
 moves the checks on the increase of 
 the vegetarian ones. Now if he did 
 not interfere with these they would mul- 
 tiply & devour every plant till he and 
 they alike miserably perished. Reason- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise i6i 
 
 ably enough he takes the place of the 
 carnivores, he extirpates, kills and eats 
 the vegetarians and so maintains the 
 natural balance. 
 
 Did he not enslave, fleece, milk and 
 eat many of these gentler animals he 
 would have no alternative, for the rea- 
 sons I have given, but to exterminate 
 them as pests. Suppose man in the 
 British Isles, for instance, was purely 
 a plant-eater and used nothing animal 
 in his arts or work? Todav in those 
 isles would not be left a single cow, 
 horse, sheep, goat, ass, deer or rabbit 
 alive, or if those remained men would 
 be few and struggliug, living on the 
 nuts and herbs left by the beasts. 
 There is no alternative, war in Nature 
 in some form must go on and life be 
 limited by life. 
 
 Man can make peace with man and 
 cooperate with him to mutual ad van- 
 
i62 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 tage, and should do so, but that is about 
 the limit, and even that only beginning 
 to be possible. 
 
 For the rest, man's place in Nature 
 is that of conqueror and master w,ith 
 despotic powers. Only for his own sake 
 he should not give unnecessary pain nor 
 delight in it. I love the animals; I do 
 do not love to give them pain, I would 
 like to cooperate with them as with you. 
 T believe that life is one and all animals 
 my brothers, but plants are my broth- 
 ers, too, and want to live and I think 
 they feel. But Nature says that not till 
 man comes can peace be, and that 
 for man alone; and that plants and 
 animals must live on each other, and 
 that is enough for me. So far as I find 
 it necessarv to kill I will 'do it without 
 regret and with what pleasure I may, 
 but with a swift, clean stroke, giving as 
 little pain as may be. But I do not 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 163 
 
 thereby lose my sense of brotherhood. 
 If I want the body of my brother the 
 squirrel I go and take it as he would 
 the body of his brother the grub or 
 the nesting bird. When I take his body 
 I think I take only his shell. I think 
 his soul goes marching on, and next 
 time embodied will be a little further 
 on — a little higher in the scale. He must 
 die to make this progressive change & 
 I help him on by killing him. And 
 even pain teaches and advances him. 
 
 On the lower & animal stage man's 
 law also is that of "Might is Right," 
 he even hunts and preys on man, en- 
 slaves, perhaps even literally devours 
 him, but always, in Nature, the tendency 
 within the species is stronger to peace 
 & cooperation than to war and all man's 
 evolution is naturally in this linej — only 
 as he works with man & for man does 
 he attain the best for himself. He can- 
 
164 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 not advance without his fellows. The 
 day is not far distant when all noxious, 
 ferocious, venomous beasts will be ex- 
 tinct, but man will grow ever gentler 
 to man, & as he does so his gentleness 
 will overflow to the beasts and so far 
 as possible the gentler beasts that can 
 be permitted to remain will be treated 
 with love & kindness and the habit of 
 eating them will die out. But this is 
 not 3'et & to force the time is not wise." 
 There was quite a round of applause 
 and then James Harvard rose to speak. 
 What a contrast he was, clean-shaven, 
 dressed in the height of fashion, elegant 
 and polished, to the two splendid demi- 
 savages who had preceeded him. Karl 
 glowered at him, under heavy brows, 
 like a troglodyte of the Stone Age; but 
 Forrest, handsome, easy, muscular, semi- 
 nude, his head twined with a chaplet 
 of leaves like an ancient Greek, reclined 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 165 
 
 on the dais and looked smilingly up at 
 him, for they were old & warm friends. 
 "My dear Comrades," said Harvard, 
 "I, too, claim to be a natural man and 
 a simplicist, but these things take on 
 larger meanings in my mind than with 
 the speakers who have preceded me. 
 I believe heartily in evolution; I accept 
 the supremacy of man; and I accept 
 the Modern Age and believe that logic- 
 ally, when completed, it will be the 
 best of all. It is not ripe yet, that is 
 what we fault in it, for unripness is al- 
 ways crude and unpalatable. It will 
 leave out nothing that was valuable in 
 the past, while adding its own most 
 important contributions. Like Forrest, 
 then, I believe it is natural for man to 
 evolute, use tools, & combine materials 
 in creative work and therein this age 
 is also natural. This is the Age of 
 Machinery, that is its distinction, and 
 
1 66 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 there is nothing abnormal about ma- 
 chinery. Kropotkin is right when he 
 says our present kilHng servitude to the 
 machine 4s a matter of bad organization, 
 purely, and has nothing to do with the 
 machine itself;' and Oscar Wilde is 
 right when he claims that the machine 
 is the helot on which our future civili- 
 zation shall rise. The steam engine is 
 as natural a product as a bird's nest 
 and as normal a tool as Karl's flint. 
 There are many beautiful features in 
 Comrade Karl's life but it would stop 
 us at the threshold of the Stone Age, 
 and that can never be. You are mostly 
 disciples of Forrest, and a very happy, 
 wholesome, sweet life you live here, I 
 own, and a most needed reproof you 
 give the faults of the outer world, but 
 still you are wrong in your dislike of 
 machinery. 
 
 You think machinery is complex and 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 167 
 
 you want simplicity, but let me tell 
 you what I think about that. In evolu- 
 tion simplicity is attained in successive 
 stages. Progress is rhythmic, in cycles, 
 and as life progresses it reaches out 
 and includes more than previously, not 
 uniformly and continuously, but in suc- 
 cessive periods of growth and ripening, 
 of start and finish. There are some 
 very ugly stages at the beginning of 
 every new cycle; when the house is 
 building the struggle is very full of 
 stress, materials stubbornly resist assim- 
 ilation, and every thing is disagreeably 
 complex, but after a while the new ar- 
 rangements of materials and forces are 
 all smoothly adopted and coordinated 
 and then a new stage of simplicit}- is 
 reached. When the house is finished 
 it looks as simple as a rock. You think 
 a man is simple, but when you study 
 his structure you begin to think him 
 
1 68 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 infinitely complex. What we can do 
 and use and fit to without conscious ef- 
 fort or thought is what we call simple 
 but there was once a time when it 
 seemed painfully difficult and complex. 
 Thru complexity to new simplicity, 
 then, is the order of evolution, which 
 ever advances in spirals, or cycles of 
 progress, returning as it were to the 
 starting point of simplicity, but ever on 
 a new & higher plane than previously. 
 
 We are passing thru such a cycle of 
 progress in industry and society, just 
 now, and we feel very severely the 
 struggle, & all life seems full of wheels 
 and pulleys and cords & scaffolds and 
 jostling workmen. But by and by all 
 this will settle down and life will be as 
 simple, natural and serene as in Arcadia. 
 
 You delight in hand-labor and I fully 
 agree with you as to its artistic prefer- 
 ability, but when you come to use it 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 169 
 
 for many of the pra6tical works of life 
 it is by comparison a failure. And here, 
 my friends, is where the new age will 
 advance us and simplify. I prophesy 
 that the new age will apply machinery 
 to all the drudgery of daily work, and 
 do it vastly better and faster and easier 
 and cheaper than it could possibly be 
 done by hand; and this will liberate an 
 immense amount of time and himian- 
 force now employed distastefully upon 
 it. A great deal of human work can- 
 not possibly be made artistic and this 
 dish-washing and scrubbing and wood- 
 chopping of life can better be done 
 by machines. Then all this released 
 human energy will have a chance to 
 be employed on the handwork which 
 can be artistic. So I prophesy that when 
 the Machine Age is fully ripened we 
 shall not only be altogether released 
 from drudgery, and the stupid lines of 
 
170 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 work, but there will be vastly more 
 artistic hand work done, and by more 
 individuals, than is any way possible 
 now. Those who fear that the machine 
 will ever supercede the artistic hand are 
 foolish and those who think the hand 
 can remove the machine are equally so. 
 The machine is the friend of the hand 
 and has come to help it and to liberate 
 it for higher uses. Have you never 
 noticed that when the hand workers on 
 some line are ousted by some machine, 
 those very workers naturally go to an- 
 other line of the same sort of work, but 
 always on a higher plane, requiring more 
 taste & intellect and manipulative skill 
 than that from which the machine drove 
 them? In competition with the machine 
 the man rises, he cannot do otherwise, 
 for there is no place for him below and 
 that forced rise makes the machine a 
 blessing to him. Nor can the man be 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 171 
 
 ever dominated by the machine for it 
 is made by him and for him and inevi- 
 tably he will be above it & use it for 
 his own benefit. It cannot survive save 
 it serve him. So there is nothing to 
 fear from the machine and nothing but 
 good can ever come from it, and every- 
 thing that now opposes it will be ben- 
 efited by it. 
 
 Another chara6leristic of this age is 
 its social machinery. Never were men 
 so coordinated and cooperated as now, 
 never was there such universality, in- 
 tricacy and complexity of organization. 
 It is this that you are more opposed to 
 than even the machine of wood & iron, 
 but it is all a part of the age and its 
 evolution and has come to stay, and 
 in the end it is just as advantageous 
 as the machine of wheels and levers. 
 
 But 3'Ou stand for liberty and here 
 indeed you are right & here I am with 
 
172 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 you. It is not the machine that works 
 evil, but the forced machine, and that 
 force selfishness, that hurts you. The 
 evil is precisely in the element of com- 
 pulsion. Selfishness is to have your own 
 pleasure at another man's expense, even 
 if, in your opinion, it is all for his ben- 
 fit. Man must be free; nothing benefits 
 him till he freely consents. If Karl, here, 
 forced you to use only flints or if For- 
 rest forced vou all to dress as little as 
 he, you would find it as great an evil 
 as if I forced vou to use a machine or 
 to work together in a certain way. 
 
 It isn't the machine or the organiz- 
 ation, remember that, but the spirit be- 
 hind these that grinds men. When man 
 is free he is above his tool and when 
 man is kind he will never use his tool 
 as a weapon of offence, therefore where 
 man is free & kind he is bound to use 
 all tools (and social organization is only 
 
The Dwellers l\ Vale Sunrise 173 
 
 a tool ) for liis own good and the equal 
 good of all and that is the whole of it. 
 Where men are left free they are cer- 
 tain to use the tools best adapted in their 
 judgment to attain their ideals & gratify 
 their desires, and that means the ever 
 increasing use of machines in human 
 labor and the ever increasing intricacy, 
 complexity & unity of human organiza- 
 tion & cooperation in social action and 
 relation. But where this is all free it 
 is natural, the parts quickly coordinate, 
 and there soon comes a feeling of ease 
 and simplicity. A man is himself a tre- 
 mendously intricate & complex machine, 
 but he is so used to his parts, & their 
 relation and coa(5tion, that he feels as 
 simple as a stick. And so in time we 
 shall attain a social organization so com- 
 plete, united & perfe6tly integrated that 
 it will seem almost as simple as a single 
 man and no unit will feel it abnormal 
 or himself restrained. 
 
174 ^^^ Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 Will this repress individuality? Not 
 at all. It will increase it. Now a man 
 works the greater part of his working 
 hours in drudgery and dreary toil, and 
 only has, now & then, an hour to him- 
 self to be himself and live his own life. 
 Likely has so little time to himself that 
 the desire to be himself almost com- 
 pletely atrophies and he conforms in 
 every way to the conventions. But 
 when this machine of social organiza- 
 tion, which you unwittingly hate, is 
 perfected, all the monotonous, every- 
 day, unindividualized work will be done 
 so simply, economically, satisfactorily, 
 in so short a time, that all the rest will 
 be spare time, which each man, free 
 from di6lation or care of any kind, can 
 spend in his own way, in a perfe(?tion 
 of leisure undreamed of by even the 
 richest at present. You already know- 
 something of that here. It will be vastly 
 
The Dwellers l\ Vale Sunrise 175 
 
 more perfect then. Such a life v/ill be 
 very simple to the units. Such a social 
 machine will be so vast, smoothlv run- 
 ning, w^ell-oiled, that each little cog will 
 have a very simple v/ork to do in the 
 brief working period, and the rest of 
 the day will be a real individual, as 
 different as he pleases from all the 
 rest. This is the natural and simple 
 life which our evolution is building for 
 us and the future will reveal." 
 
 This speech was roundly applauded 
 and then we all came home. — Why! — 
 it is long after midnight! I must get 
 to bed. 
 
 Good night! 
 
 Felton. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 1 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 i 
 
 Y good Hillford: 
 
 You delight me with 
 your half-promise to come & 
 see Vale Sunrise with a view 
 to joining the Tribe. I always thought 
 I should draw you in, but I never spoke 
 of it, for I have learned from these peo- 
 ple the wisdom of not dire6lly persuad- 
 ing a man, but of setting before him a 
 truthful spread of facSfs & theories and 
 then lea\ing him to freely select his 
 own. A man's life should be from 
 // litis elf out w ar d . 
 
 But I am a happy man anywa}^, for 
 I have been admitted, all unexpe6fedly, 
 to full membership before the expira- 
 tion of my probation. It is a great 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 177 
 
 compliment. ^It seems a secret ballot 
 was taken and it was decided to admit 
 me at once. This is a strong proof of 
 general love and contidence and I feel 
 it deeply. The chiefs came to me and 
 acquainted me with the decision & told 
 me that on the ist day of 061., if the 
 weather was hne I should be initiated. 
 Then they took me to the community 
 herd and asked me to sele6l my horse, 
 for every new member is given one. 
 I picked out a beautifully dappled iron- 
 gra}', with a broad brow and a gentle 
 eye, who came up to me trustfully as 
 I was looking at the herd and nibbled 
 an apple from my hand. 
 
 "I choose this one for he seems to 
 have chosen me," I said. 
 
 So they asked me to name him, & I 
 called him Cirrus, because of his cloudy 
 skin, and they said Cirrus was mine. 
 
 Then they told me to pick out an acre 
 
178 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 of land far my house-lot, and I chose 
 that one which happened to be vacant 
 just beyond Planer's, at the point of the 
 ridge, a terribly wild rough bit, but with 
 a lovely view of the Vale, and of Cave- 
 Gables, and of the little lake Forrest 
 had made, which I had long coveted. 
 Then they asked me to plan my house 
 and when I had drawn the plans they 
 set all who could be spared at the work 
 and in a few days my little cottage was 
 built by loving, friendly hands before 
 my eyes, and everybody seemed as glad 
 to build it for me as I was glad to 
 have it built. 
 
 I wish you could see it, Hillford. I 
 am as pleased as a child. When I was 
 a boy I was always dreaming of sim- 
 ple, peasant-like little cottages and now 
 my dream is made real. It is of rough 
 stone, with massive walls, a tile roof, 
 dormer windows, and plastered gables 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 179 
 
 showing the timbers in EHzabethan 
 style. It is one & a half stories high, 
 and the upper part projec6ts a foot or 
 two, and there are deep eaves where 
 the swallows can build, & all the win- 
 dows are lattice, casement windows, & 
 there are chimney-pots, and a knocker 
 on the front door, & a little stone porch. 
 Inside there are wide tire-places, and 
 Planer has superintended all the wood- 
 work and says she is going to make 
 all the furniture. But gifts of love 
 from special friends come in, all the 
 time and make me feel how many 
 like me here. Drawings, sketches and 
 paintings, bits of sculpture & carvings, 
 autograph books & poems, hand-made 
 rugs & couch-covers, presented by the 
 makers, are already making my peas- 
 ant's cot an artist's dream. A generous 
 Scandinavian fresco-painter has painted 
 the walls of my sittino^ room with beauti- 
 
i8o The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 ful woodland scenes — evergreen groves 
 where the rough trunks, green branches 
 and brown needles below seem real 
 enough to touch, and you almost expert 
 the chick-a-dees among the cones to 
 salute you. And all a labor of love. 
 
 Planer and I visit back & forth and 
 have great delight in being each other's 
 guests. She has set apart a portion of 
 her big work-room for me and there I 
 do my carving. We work together now, 
 and I carve and ornament the furniture 
 she makes when customers so desire. 
 I love her more and more every day. 
 
 But I must tell you of my initiation. 
 
 06tober ist was a beautiful mild day, 
 and we all went to the Council House 
 dressed in our best, for an initiation is 
 a general holiday. 
 
 This is the ceremony: 
 
 I was placed on the dais, with For- 
 rest sitting beside me and the people 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise i8i 
 
 sitting as in council. Forrest rose and 
 taking me by the hand said: 
 
 "My brothers, my sisters, I present 
 to your love and confidence our new 
 brother." 
 
 The people rose and answered, lifting 
 the left hand: 
 
 "Brother, we receive you!" 
 Then I stood up and said: 
 "My brothers, my sisters, I have an 
 ideal of how a man should live with his 
 fellows, generously, peaceably, help- 
 fully, not interfering, not invading — I 
 promise to live up to it." 
 The people answered: 
 "We hear you, we will help you!" 
 "My brothers, my sisters, I have an 
 ideal of how a lover should treat the 
 one beloved, without impurity, without 
 jealousy, without deception, without 
 claims of ownership — tenderly, consid- 
 erately, trustworthily — I promise to live 
 up to it." 
 
1 82 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 "We hear you, we will help you!" 
 "My brothers, my sisters, I have an 
 ideal of how every adult should treat a 
 child, without insult, without discour- 
 agement, without violence; respectfully 
 as one who would learn, tactfully as one 
 who would teach, watchfully as one 
 who would prote6l — I promise to live 
 up to it." 
 
 "We hear 3'ou, we will help you!" 
 "My brothers, my sisters, I have an 
 ideal of how a man should do his work 
 — industriously as one not wasting the 
 time, honestly as one satisfying his con- 
 science, lovingly as one achieving the 
 ideal — I promise to live up to it." 
 "We hear you, we will help you!" 
 "My brothers, my sisters, I promise 
 in every part of my life to set before 
 me as my pra6lical religion, my Ideal 
 of the Best and earnestly & sincerely 
 will I endeavor to live up to it." 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 183 
 
 "We hear yon, we will help you!" 
 "M}^ brothers, my sisters, I wish to 
 be one with you in free, equal, help- 
 ful brotherhood; serving you with all 
 my powers, loving you as I love my- 
 self, doing to you as I would have you 
 do to me." 
 
 "You are welcome, we receive you!'' 
 
 "In joy and in pain, in health and in 
 
 sickness, in strength and in weakness, 
 
 in life and in death, I hold you my 
 
 brothers, my sisters." 
 
 "In joy and in pain, in health and in 
 sickness, in strength & in weakness, in 
 life & in death we hold you brother!" 
 All (singing): 
 
 Where faith is free the soul is glad — 
 Where thought is free the brain is 
 
 glad — 
 Where love is free the heart is glad — 
 Where work is free the hand is glad — 
 Whese life is free the man is glad — 
 
184 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 Life ! Life ! Life ! 
 L ib e rty ! Li be rty ! 
 Forever tve are free! 
 
 Then Forrest rose again & stepping 
 to me said: 
 
 "My brother, I give you my left hand 
 in affe6lion, my right hand in helpful- 
 ness & prote6lion. As you would have 
 your brothers treat you, so treat you 
 them, respe(?ting their ideals, holding 
 their freedom & happiness sacred, lov- 
 ing them as you love yourself. Leave 
 all bitterness & fear out of your heart 
 and live true to your Vision of the Best.'' 
 
 Then one after the other, commenc- 
 ing with the chiefs and ending with the 
 little children, the people came up and 
 gave me their two hands crossed (right 
 to right and left to left, which is the 
 tribal grip) and said: 
 
 "You are welcome, brother!'' 
 
 I cannot remember any ceremony in 
 
The Dwellers ln Vale Sunrise 185 
 
 all my life, religious or social, that ever 
 affe6led me so profoundly. It all seemed 
 so real, so deeply sincere & loving, such 
 a sacrament & communion of brotherly 
 sympathy and kindness that I w^as af- 
 fe6led almost to tears and when the last 
 little baby toddled up and gave me its 
 little crossed hands and lisped out its 
 message, I picked it up and kissed it. 
 
 And then they brought up my beau- 
 tiful Cirrus, with a new saddle & bridle 
 of finest workmanship, and placed me 
 on him, and placed Planer on her horse 
 to ride beside me and then everybody 
 took horse & rode behind us and es- 
 corted us to my cottage. 
 
 And there a great feast was spread 
 and the whole day the Tribe spent in 
 sport-making and joy till sweet Night 
 came to the earth. 
 
 Your happy 
 
 Felton. 
 
/ 
 
 1 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 N the preceding chapters I 
 have availed myself of Mr. 
 Felton's kind permission to 
 copy a number of his old let- 
 ters, to give a more vivid interior view of 
 Vale Sunrise than my own words could 
 afford. But when Mr. Hill ford himself 
 became a member of the Tribe these 
 letters ceased, and so all I can do now 
 is to give in as brief a form as possible 
 a summary of events at Vale Sunrise 
 from that time to the present. 
 
 Soon after Felton became a full mem- 
 ber, as described in his last letter, James 
 Harvard gave a series of lectures at 
 Vale Sunrise, and these lectures, and 
 the long and comradely discussions that 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 187 
 
 followed, produced very important re- 
 sults. They produced a coalescence of 
 the ideals, so to speak, of Forrest's 
 gioup and Harvard's group, so that after 
 due consideration the two Tribes merg- 
 ed into one and it is onl}' truth to sa}' 
 that in this Tribe Harvard (under the 
 new Tribal-name of "Freeman Worth) 
 became the leading spirit and admitted 
 chieftain. 
 
 It became fully recognized that his 
 ideas of the value of machinery to do 
 the less artistic work of life were sound, 
 and need not coniiict with the ideas 
 previously held of the beaut}^ of sim- 
 plicity and artistic hand-production. A 
 kind, brainy man, magnetic as a leader, 
 clear-viewed, scientific, well-informed 
 on all topics, with a marvelous power 
 to enthuse and unite men in cooperation, 
 his influence soon became predominant 
 and bore fruit everywhere. Forrest had 
 
r88 The Dwellers ln Vale Sunrise 
 
 been beloved and followed but had no 
 genius for superintending others or 
 desire to organize, but Freeman, as we 
 must now call him, was a natural su- 
 perintendent and organizer of industr}'. 
 
 One of the first results of the evolu- 
 tion was that practically all the employ- 
 ees of the department store in the city 
 took up their residence in Vale Sunrise, 
 going back and forth morning and night, 
 the city hotel being sold. 
 
 These trips were made in automobiles 
 and a factory was erected on the margin 
 of the Vale Sunrise domain, near Rip- 
 pleford, to make automobiles and auto- 
 mobile freight- wagons. By means of 
 these automobiles not only could the 
 employees travel back and forth, swiftly 
 and comfortably, but the freight- wagons 
 carried to the city all surplus produce 
 from the farms and gardens, and work- 
 shops of Vale Sunrise, and brought 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 189 
 
 back all needed imports from the city. 
 More land was bought near Rippleford 
 and all the factories formerly belonging 
 to Harvard's group were transplanted 
 there and more erected. In these fac- 
 tories, as much as possible, all the things 
 sold in the city department store were 
 made, and the men who worked there 
 had their homes on the hills about 
 Vale Sunrise, working only part of the 
 day, with the rest of the time for them- 
 selves. The work, however, being done 
 in shifts, was often almost continuous. 
 Having their own means of transporta- 
 tion the members were largely indepen- 
 dent of the railroads and express com- 
 panies and where they did need outside 
 products their large orders carried 
 weight and compelled respect. Selling 
 as near cost as sound business prudence 
 and foresight would warrent they drew 
 custom from all by the cheapness of 
 
190 The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 their wares, and held the trade thus 
 attracted by the imdeviating honesty of 
 all their dealings and the guaranteed 
 exellence of all their work. At first 
 there was bitter war waged against them 
 by other manufacturers and dealers, but 
 as they supplied nearly all their own 
 needs they were hard people to fight 
 and the public being in sympathy with 
 their ideals and methods, which were 
 everywhere frankly explained, refused 
 to boycott but rather everyway aided 
 them until their competitors in despair 
 were forced to adopt similar tactics, 
 colonize and communize their workers, 
 share with them, and sell near cost; 
 the result being the formation of a great 
 many new Tribes on nearly similar 
 lines, cooperating rather than competing 
 with Freeman's group and exchanging 
 products with him. Lecturers were sent 
 out, literature printed, and at this writ- 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 191 
 
 ing a powerful propaganda is being 
 waged to make this movement national 
 and even international. 
 
 And in Vale Sunrise itself chancres 
 were marked, especially in agriculture. 
 First all the arable lands were ditched 
 and drained b}^ machinery, swamps 
 drained, impeding rocks blasted out, ter- 
 races built, roads made perfect. Then 
 great machine-plows and earth-mixers 
 went over all the fields, subsoiling them, 
 turning-up, mixing & blending the soils, 
 and sifting out every stick and stone 
 and impediment, till all was fine as 
 garden mould and penetrable by the 
 tenderest roots. Then wind-mills went 
 up, with pumps to irrigate fields and 
 gardens when needed. Great fertilizer- 
 sheds were built where every kind of 
 refuse whatever was converted, by the 
 best scientific means, into available fer- 
 tilizer, the old hog-mixing process be- 
 
igz The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 ing now no more. Green-houses were 
 built to produce early plants and winter 
 vegetables and flowers, and, in brief, 
 the whole community-farm was con- 
 verted into a model-farm with every 
 benefit and aid that modern science 
 could suggest to create certain and in- 
 tensive production. 
 
 In the community kitchen the same 
 methods were introduced, and most of 
 the cooking, dish-washing, scrubbing, 
 and laundrv work were done with little 
 use of hands. 
 
 Everywhere the hard, disagreeable, 
 monotonous, uninspiring labor was turn- 
 ed over to machines and the people 
 liberated to the more brainv and artistic 
 tasks and to cultured leisure. 
 
 Finding diflEiculty in getting the need- 
 ed machinery made, owing to the jeal- 
 ousy of the trusts, Freeman secured the 
 cooperation of some friendly capitalists, 
 
The Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 193 
 
 went to Pennsylvania, bought a coal- 
 mine and an iron-mine, built the neces- 
 sary iron-works and machine-shops and 
 proceeded to make his own machines, 
 colonizing his workmen in the neigh- 
 borhood, even as in Vale Sunrise. 
 
 There was now no difficulty about 
 getting members. The workmen of the 
 country were enthused, & clamored for 
 and almost demanded admittance. The 
 difficulty was rather to keep up the old 
 rigid system of probation and select 
 only the fit material for colony-life and 
 to get land and employment and super- 
 intendents for the incomers. 
 
 But Freeman Worth was a born gen- 
 eral and selected his lieutenants with an 
 intuitive accuracy that seldom failed. 
 As fast as possible he trained men for 
 superintendency in his system, picked 
 out a wise man, gave him a gang of 
 true and lo3'al workmen, and sent them 
 
194 "f'HE Dwellers in Vale Sunrise 
 
 out somewhere as the nucleus of a new 
 Tribe. And these new chiefs worship- 
 ped him as Napoleon was worshipped 
 by his marshals. He was fighting a 
 world-war for their emancipation and 
 elevation to all human dignities and 
 values, and they knew it and loved him 
 and would have died for him. 
 
 And all the time the old, sweet syl- 
 van, half-savage and wholly poetic sim- 
 plicity prevailed in Vale Sunrise and 
 spread like an atmosphere thro' all new 
 Tribes. When not working for the com- 
 munity the members painted, carved, 
 fiddled, sang, read, argued, loafed, slept, 
 made art-furniture, artistic homes, 
 dressed, or undressed as picturesquely 
 as they pleased, and rode their pet horses 
 up and down the winding rustic roads. 
 
 This side of their life was untouched 
 and rather intensified. 
 
 Forrest Westwood still ran bare- 
 
The Dwellers l\ Vale Sunrlse i 
 
 95 
 
 footed along the hill paths & twirled 
 his owl-plume in gay content, and old 
 Karl still grunted and squeaked and 
 whistled with his four-footed & feath- 
 ered friends in the forest and glowered 
 disdainfully at the new ways. 
 
 And so Arcadia had come again, and 
 the old & the new were fully recon- 
 ciled, the savage and the civilized; the 
 machine and the hand-tool were friends 
 and allies and all men in all the Tribes 
 were glad and healthy brothers. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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