The Communistic Societies of the United States by Charles Nordhoff

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When any member offends against the rules or order of life of the
society, he is admonished (_ermahnt_) by the elders; and if he does
not amend his ways, expulsion follows; and here as elsewhere in the
communities I have visited, they seem vigilantly to purge the society of
improper persons.

The following twenty-one "Rules for Daily Life," printed in one of their
collections, and written by one of their older leaders, E. L. Gruber,
give, I think, a tolerably accurate notion of their views of the conduct
of life:

"I. To obey, without reasoning, God, and through God our superiors.

"II. To study quiet, or serenity, within and without.

"III. Within, to rule and master your thoughts.

"IV. Without, to avoid all unnecessary words, and still to study silence
and quiet.

"V. To abandon self, with all its desires, knowledge, and power.

"VI. Do not criticize others, either for good or evil, neither to judge
nor to imitate them; therefore contain yourself, remain at home, in the
house and in your heart.

"VII. Do not disturb your serenity or peace of mind--hence neither desire
nor grieve.

"VIII. Live in love and pity toward your neighbor, and indulge neither
anger nor impatience in your spirit.

"IX. Be honest, sincere, and avoid all deceit and even secretiveness.

"X. Count every word, thought, and work as done in the immediate
presence of God, in sleeping and waking, eating, drinking, etc., and
give him at once an account of it, to see if all is done in his fear and
love.

"XI. Be in all things sober, without levity or laughter; and without
vain and idle words, works, or thoughts; much less heedless or idle.

"XII. Never think or speak of God without the deepest reverence, fear,
and love, and therefore deal reverently with all spiritual things.

"XIII. Bear all inner and outward sufferings in silence, complaining
only to God; and accept all from him in deepest reverence and obedience.

"XIV. Notice carefully all that God permits to happen to you in your
inner and outward life, in order that you may not fail to comprehend his
will and to be led by it.

"XV. Have nothing to do with unholy, and particularly with needless
business affairs.

"XVI. Have no intercourse with worldly-minded men; never seek their
society; speak little with them, and never without need; and then not
without fear and trembling.

"XVII. Therefore, what you have to do with such men, do in haste; do not
waste time in public places and worldly society, that you be not tempted
and led away.

"XVIII. Fly from the society of women-kind as much as possible, as a
very highly dangerous magnet and magical fire.

"XIX. Avoid obeisance and the fear of men; these are dangerous ways.

"XX. Dinners, weddings, feasts, avoid entirely; at the best there is
sin.

"XXI. Constantly practice abstinence and temperance, so that you may be
as wakeful after eating as before."

These rules may, I suppose, be regarded as the ideal standard toward
which a pious Inspirationist looks and works. Is it not remarkable that
they should have originated and found their chief adherents among
peasants and poor weavers?

Their usual religious meetings are held on Wednesday, Saturday, and
Sunday mornings, and every evening. On Saturday, all the people of a
village assemble together in the church or meeting-house; on other days
they meet in smaller rooms, and by classes or orders.

The society consists of three of these orders--the highest, the middle,
and the lower, or children's order. In the latter fall naturally the
youth of both sexes, but also those older and married persons whose
religions life and experience are not deep enough to make them worthy of
membership in the higher orders.

The evening meeting opens a little after seven o'clock. It is held in a
large room specially maintained for this purpose. I accompanied one of
the brethren, by permission, to these meetings during my stay at Amana.
I found a large, low-ceiled room, dimly lighted by a single lamp placed
on a small table at the head of the room, and comfortably warmed with
stoves. Benches without backs were placed on each side of this chamber;
the floor was bare, but clean; and hither entered, singly, or by twos or
threes, the members, male and female, each going to the proper place
without noise. The men sat on one side, the women on the other. At the
table sat an elderly man, of intelligent face and a look of some
authority. Near him were two or three others.

When all had entered and were seated, the old man at the table gave out
a hymn, reading out one line at a time; and after two verses were sung
in this way, he read the remaining ones. Then, after a moment of
decorous and not unimpressive silent meditation, all at a signal rose
and kneeled down at their places. Hereupon the presiding officer uttered
a short prayer in verse, and after him each man in his turn, beginning
with the elders, uttered a similar verse of prayer, usually four, and
sometimes six lines long. When all the men and boys had thus prayed--and
their little verses were very pleasant to listen to, the effect being of
childlike simplicity--the presiding elder closed with a brief extemporary
prayer, whereupon all arose.

Then he read some verses from one of their inspired books, admonishing
to a good life; and also a brief homily from one of Christian Metz's
inspired utterances. Thereupon all arose, and stood in their places in
silence for a moment; and then, in perfect order and silence, and with a
kind of military precision, benchful after benchful of people walked
softly out of the room. The women departed first; and each went home, I
judge, without delay or tarrying in the hall, for when I got out the
hall was already empty.

The next night the women prayed instead of the men, the presiding
officer conducting the meeting as before. I noticed that the boys and
younger men had their places on the front seats; and the whole meeting
was conducted with the utmost reverence and decorum.

On Wednesday and Sunday mornings the different orders meet at the same
hour, each in its proper assembly-room. These are larger than those
devoted to the evening meetings. The Wednesday-morning meeting began at
half-past seven, and lasted until nine. There was, as in the evening
meetings, a very plain deal table at the head, and benches, this time
with backs, were ranged in order, the sexes sitting by themselves as
before; each person coming in with a ponderous hymn-book, and a Bible in
a case. The meeting opened with the singing of six verses of a hymn, the
leader reading the remaining verses. Many of their hymns have from ten
to fourteen verses. Next he read some passages from one of the
inspirational utterances of Metz; after which followed prayer, each man,
as in the evening meetings, repeating a little supplicatory verse. The
women did not join in this exercise.

Then the congregation got out their Bibles, the leader gave out the
fifth chapter of Ephesians, and each man read a verse in his turn; then
followed a psalm; and the women read those verses which remained after
all the men had read. After this the leader read some further passages
from Metz. After the reading of the New Testament chapter and the psalm,
three of the leaders, who sat near the table at the head of the room,
briefly spoke upon the necessity of living according to the words of
God, doing good works and avoiding evil. Their exhortations were very
simple, and without any attempt at eloquence, in a conversational tone.
Finally another hymn was sung; the leader pronounced a blessing, and we
all returned home, the men and women going about the duties of the day.

On Saturday morning the general meeting is held in the church. The
congregation being then more numerous, the brethren do not all pray, but
only the elders; as in the other meetings, a chapter from the New
Testament is read and commented upon by the elders; also passages are
read from the inspired utterances of Metz or some other of their
prophets; and at this time, too, the "instrument," if moved, falls into
a trance, and delivers the will of the Holy Spirit.

They keep New-Year's as a holiday, and Christmas, Easter, and the
Holy-week are their great religions festivals. Christmas is a three
days' celebration, when they make a feast in the church; there are no
Christmas-trees for the children, but they receive small gifts. Most of
the feast days are kept double--that is to say, during two days. During
the Passion-week they have a general meeting in the church every day at
noon, and on each day the chapter appropriate to it is read, and
followed by prayer and appropriate hymns. The week ends, of course, on
Sunday with the ascension; but on Easter Monday, which is also kept, the
children receive colored eggs.

At least once in every year there is a general and minute
"Untersuchung," or inquisition of the whole community, including even
the children--an examination of its spiritual condition. This is done by
classes or orders, beginning with the elders themselves: and I judge
from the relations of this ceremony in their printed books that it lasts
long, and is intended to be very thorough. Each member is expected to
make confession of his sins, faults, and shortcomings; and if any thing
is hidden, they believe that it will be brought to light by the inspired
person, who assumes on this occasion an important part, admonishing
individuals very freely, and denouncing the sins and evils which exist
in the congregation. At this time, too, any disputes which may have
occurred are brought up and healed, and an effort is made to revive
religious fervor in the hearts of all.

[Illustration: CHURCH AT AMANA]

[Illustration: INTERIOR VIEW OF CHURCH]

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE INSPIRATIONIST VILLAGES]

Not unfrequently the examination of a class is adjourned from day to
day, because they are found to be cold and unimpressible; and I notice
that on these occasions the young people in particular are a cause of
much grief and trouble on account of their perverse hardness of heart.

The celebration of the Lord's Supper is their greatest religious event.
It is held only when the "inspired instrument" directs it, which may not
happen once in two years; and it is thought so solemn and important an
occasion that a full account of it is sometimes printed in a book. I
have one such volume: "_Das Liebes- und Gedächtniszmahl des Leidens und
Sterbens unsers Herrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi, wie solches von dem
Herrn durch Sein Wort und zeugnisz angekündigt, angeordnet und gehalten
warden, in Vier Abtheilungen, zu Mittel und Nieder Eben-Ezer, im Jahr_
1855" ("The Supper of Love and Remembrance of the suffering and death of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: How it was announced, ordered, and
held by his word and witness, in four parts, in Middle and Lower
Eben-Ezer, in the year 1855"). It is a neatly printed volume of 284
pages.

The account begins with the announcement of the Lord's command: "Middle
Eben-Ezer, April 21st, 1855, Saturday, in the general meeting, in the
beginning, when the congregation was assembled, came the following
gracious word and determination of the Lord, through Brother Chr. Metz."
Thereupon, after some words of preface, the "instrument" kneeled down,
the congregation also kneeling, and said: "I am commanded humbly to
reveal, according to the sacred and loving conclusion, that you are to
celebrate the supper of love and remembrance in the presence of your
God. The beginning and the course of it shall be as before. There will
be on this occasion humiliations and revelations, if in any the true
Worker of righteousness and repentance has not been allowed to do his
work. The Lord will make a representation of the lack of his
understanding in many of you; his great love will come to light, and
will light up every one." After more of this kind of address, the
"instrument" said: "You are to begin the Lord's Supper on Ascension-day,
make ready then all your hearts, clean out all filth, all that is rotten
and stinks, all sins and every thing idle and useless; and cherish pious
thoughts, so that you shall put down the flesh, as you are commanded
to," and so on.

On a following Sunday, the "instrument" recurred to the subject, and in
the course of his remarks reproved one of the elders for disobedience to
the Lord and resistance to grace, and displaced him in the assembly,
calling another by name to his place. At the close, he spoke thus,
evidently in the name and with the voice of God: "And I leave it to you,
my servants, to take out of the middle order here and there some into
the first, and out of the third into the second, but not according to
favor and prejudice, but according to their grace and conduct, of which
you are to take notice."

A day was given to admonitions and preparation; the "instrument"
speaking not only to the congregation in general, in the morning and
afternoon meetings, but to a great many in particular--admonishing,
exhorting, blaming, encouraging them by name. The next morning there was
a renewal of such hortatory remarks, with singing and prayer; and in the
afternoon, all being prepared, the elders washed the feet of the
brethren. This is done only in the higher orders.

Thereupon tables are brought in, and bread and wine are placed. After
singing, the "inspired" person blesses these, and they are then received
by the brethren and sisters from the hands of the elders, who pronounce
the customary words of Scripture.

This being accomplished, the assembly temporarily adjourns, and persons
previously appointed for this office spread on the tables a modest
supper of bread and cake, coffee, chocolate, and a few other articles of
food, and to this all sit down with solemn joy. At the conclusion of
this meal, a hymn is sung, and the assembly retire to their homes.

When the three regular orders have gone through this celebration, there
is a fourth, consisting of children under sixteen years, and of certain
adult members who for various reasons have been thought unworthy to
partake with the rest; and these also go through a thorough examination.

I asked one of their leading elders whether they believed in a
"prayer-cure," explaining what the Oneida communists understand by this
phrase. He replied, "No, we do not use prayer in this way, to cure
disease. But it is possible. But if God has determined death, ten
doctors cannot help a man."

The present inspired instrument being very aged, I asked whether another
was ready to take her place. They said No, no one had yet appeared; but
they had no doubt God would call some one to the necessary office. They
were willing to trust him, and gave themselves no trouble about it.

It remains to speak of their literature.

They have a somewhat ponderous hymnology, in two great volumes, one
called "The Voice from Zion: to the Praise of the Almighty," by "John
William Petersen (A.D. 1698)," printed at Eben-Ezer, N. Y., in 1851, and
containing 958 pages. The hymns are called Psalms, and are not in rhyme.
They are to be sung in a kind of chant, as I judge from the music
prefixed to them; and are a kind of commentary on the Scripture, one
part being taken up with the book of Revelation.

The other volume is the hymn-book in regular use. It contains 1285
pages, of which 111 are music--airs to which the different hymns may
be sung. The copy I have is of the third edition, and bears the
imprint, "Amana, Iowa, 1871." Its title is "Psalms after the manner of
David, for the children of Zion." It has one peculiarity which might
with advantage be introduced in other hymn-books. Occasional verses
are marked with a *, and it is recommended to the reader that these be
taught to the children as little prayers. In practice, I found that in
their evening meetings the grown persons as well as the children
recited these simple and devotional little verses as their prayers:
surely a more satisfactory delivery to them and the congregation than
rude and halting attempts at extemporary utterance.

Many of the hymns are very long, having from twelve to twenty-four
verses; and it is usual at their meetings to sing three or four verses
and then read the remainder. They do not sing well; and their
tunes--those at least which I heard--are slow, and apparently in a style
of music now disused in our churches. The hymns are printed as prose,
only the verses being separated. I was told that they were "all given by
the Spirit of God," and that Christian Metz had a great gift of
hymn-writing, very often, at home or elsewhere, writing down an entire
hymn at one sitting. They are all deeply devotional in spirit, and have
not infrequently the merit of great simplicity and a pleasing quaintness
of expression, of which I think the German language is more capable than
our ruder and more stubborn English.

Their writers are greatly given to rhyming. Even in the inspirational
utterances I find frequently short admonitory paragraphs where rude
rhymes are introduced. Among their books is one, very singular, called
"Innocent Amusement" ("_Unschuldiges Zeitvertreib_"), in a number of
volumes (I saw the fifth). It is a collection of verses, making pious
applications of many odd subjects. Among the headings I found Cooking,
Rain, Milk, The Ocean, Temperance, Salve, Dinner, A Mast, Fog, A Net,
Pitch, A Rainbow, A Kitchen, etc., etc. It is a mass of pious doggerel,
founded on Scripture and with fanciful additions.

Another is called "Jesus's ABC, for his scholars," and is also in rhyme.
Another is entitled "Rhymes on the sufferings, death, burial, and
resurrection of Christ." There are about twelve hundred pages of the ABC
book.

They have printed also a miniature Thomas a Kempis, "for the edification
of children;" two catechisms; a little work entitled "Treasure for those
who desire God," and other works of similar character. A list, not
complete, but containing all the books I have been able to collect, will
be found in the Bibliography at the end of this volume.

At the end of the Catechism are some pages of rules for the conduct of
children, at home, in church, at school, during play hours, at meals,
and in all the relations of their lives. Many of these rules are
excellent, and the whole of them might well be added to the children's
catechisms in use in the churches. Piety, orderly habits, obedience,
politeness, cleanliness, kindness to others, truthfulness, cheerfulness,
etc., are all inculcated in considerable detail, with great plainness of
speech, and in sixty-six short paragraphs, easily comprehended by the
youngest children. The fifty-fourth rule shows the care with which they
guard the intercourse of the sexes: "Have no pleasure in violent games
or plays; do not wait on the road to look at quarrels or fights; do not
keep company with bad children, for there you will learn only
wickedness. Also, _do not play with children of the other sex_."

THE HARMONY SOCIETY,

AT

ECONOMY, PA.

THE HARMONY SOCIETY.

I.--ECONOMY IN 1874.

Traveling from Cleveland to Pittsburgh by rail, you strike the Ohio
River at Wellsville; and the railroad runs thence, for forty-eight
miles, to Pittsburgh, along the river bank, and through the edge of a
country rich in coal, oil, potters' clay, limestone, and iron, and
supporting a number of important manufactures.

To a traveler in search of the Rappist or Harmony settlement at Economy,
the names of the towns along here seem to tell of the overshadowing
influence of these communists; for, passing Liverpool, you come to
Freedom, Jethro (whose houses are both heated and lighted with gas from
a natural spring near by), Industry, and Beaver; you smile at the sign
of the "Golden Rule Distillery;" and you wonder at the broken fences,
unpainted houses, and tangled and weed-covered grounds, and that general
air of dilapidation which curses a country producing petroleum and
bituminous coal.

Presently, however, you strike into what is evidently a large and
well-kept estate: high and solid fences; fields without weeds, and with
clean culture or smooth and rich grass; and if you ask the conductor, he
will tell you that for some miles here the land is owned by the
"Economites;" and that the town or village of Economy lies among these
neatly kept fields, but out of sight of the railroad on the top of the
steep bluff.

Economy has, in truth, one of the loveliest situations on the Ohio
River. It stands in the midst of a rich plain, with swelling hills
behind, protecting it from cold winds in winter; a magnificent reach of
the river in view below; and tall hills on the opposite shore to give a
picturesque outlook. The town begins on the edge of the bluff; and under
the shade-trees planted there benches are arranged, where doubtless the
Harmonists take their comfort on summer evenings, in view of the river
below them and of the village on the opposite shore. Streets proceed at
right-angles with the river's course; and each street is lined with neat
frame or brick houses, surrounding a square in such a manner that within
each household has a sufficient garden. The broad streets have neat
foot-pavements of brick; the houses, substantially built but
unpretentious, are beautified by a singular arrangement of grape-vines,
which are trained to espaliers fixed to cover the space between the top
of the lower and the bottom of the upper windows. This manner of
training vines gives the town quite a peculiar look, as though the
houses had been crowned with green.

As you walk through the silent streets, and pass the large Assembly
Hall, the church, and the hotel, it will occur to you that these people
had, when they founded their place, the advantage of a sensible
architect, for, while there is not the least pretense, all the building
is singularly solid and honest; and in the larger houses the roof-lines
have been broken and managed with considerable skill, so as to produce a
very pleasing and satisfactory effect. Moreover, the color of the bricks
used in building has chanced to be deep and good, which is no slight
advantage to the place.

Neatness and a Sunday quiet are the prevailing characteristics of
Economy. Once it was a busy place, for it had cotton, silk, and woolen
factories, a brewery, and other industries; but the most important of
these have now ceased; and as you walk along the quiet, shady streets,
you meet only occasionally some stout, little old man, in a short
light-blue jacket and a tall and very broad-brimmed hat, looking
amazingly like Hendrick Hudson's men in the play of Rip Van Winkle; or
some comfortable-looking dame, in Norman cap and stuff gown; whose
polite "good-day" to you, in German or English as it may happen, is not
unmixed with surprise at sight of a strange face; for, as you will
presently discover at the hotel, visitors are not nowadays frequent in
Economy.

[Illustration: ASSEMBLY HALL--ECONOMY]

[Illustration: CHURCH AT ECONOMY]

The hotel is one of the largest houses in the place; it is of two
stories, with spacious bed-chambers, high ceilings, roomy fire-places,
large halls, and a really fine dining-room, all scrupulously clean. It
was once, before the days of railroads, a favorite stopping-place on one
of the main stage routes out of Pittsburgh; in the well-built stable and
barns opposite there was room for twenty or thirty horses; the
dining-room would seat a hundred people; and here during many years was
a favorite winter as well as summer resort for Pittsburghers, and an
important source of income to the Economists.

When I for the first time entered the sitting-room on a chilly December
morning, the venerable but active landlord was dusting chairs and
tables, and looked up in some amazement at the intrusion of a traveler.
"I can stay here, I suppose," said I, by way of introduction; and was
answered: "That depends upon how long you want to stay. We don't take
people to board here." My assurance that I meant to remain but two or
three days, and that I had been recommended by Mr. Henrici, the head of
the society, secured me a room; and the warning, as I went out for a
walk, that I must be in by half-past eleven, promptly, to dine; and by
half-past four for supper, because other people had to eat after me, and
ought not to be kept waiting by reason of my carelessness. "For which
reason," added the landlord, "it would be well for you to come in and be
at hand a quarter of an hour before the times I have mentioned." When I
had dined and supped and slept, I saw what a loss to Pittsburghers was
the closing of the Economy hotel; for the Harmonists live well, and are
substantial eaters in their German fashion. Nor was any ceremony omitted
because of the fewness of guests; and old Joseph, the butler and
head-waiter, who, as he told me, came to serve here fifty years ago, and
is now seventy-eight years old, attended upon my meals arrayed in a
scrupulously white apron, ordered the lass who was his subordinate, and
occasionally condescended to laugh at my jokes, as befitted his place,
with as much precision and dignity as when, thirty or forty years ago,
he used to serve a houseful of hungry travelers.

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