The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 103, May, 1866 | Page 4

even the library or gallery of paintings pertaining to his family; nor did
the articles of association allow any exclusive advantage to accrue to
him or his heirs from the profits of the community. He held his office
as spiritual and temporal head, not by election of the people, but
assumed it as by Divine commission, as Moses and Aaron held theirs;
and not only did the power of the man over his followers enable him to
hold this autocratic authority during a long life, unimpaired, but such
was the skill with which his decrees were framed that after his death
this authority was reaffirmed by the highest legal tribunal of the
country.[A] With all his faith in his divine mission, too, he had a clear
insight into all the crookedness and weakness of the natures he was
trying to elevate. He knew that these dogged, weak Germans needed
coercion to make them fit for ultimate freedom; he held the power of an
apostle over them, therefore, with as pure purpose, it's my belief, as any
apostle that went before him. The superstitious element lay ready in
them for him to work upon. I find no fault with him for working it."
"How?" I asked.
Knowles hesitated. "When their stupidity blocked any of his plans for
their advancement, he told them that, unless they consented, their
names should be blotted out from the Book of Life,--which was but a
coarse way of stating a great truth, after all; telling them, too, that God
must be an unjust Judge should he mete out happiness or misery to
them without consulting him,--that his power over their fate stretched
over this life and the next,--which, considering the limitless influence
of a strong mind over a weak one, was not so false, either."
Rapp's society, Knowles stated, did not consist altogether of this class,
however. A few men of education and enthusiasm had joined him, and
carried out his plans with integrity. The articles of association were
founded in a strict sense of justice; members entering the society
relinquished all claim to any property, much or little, of which they
might be possessed, receiving thereafter common maintenance,

education, profit, with the others; should they at any time thereafter
choose to leave, they received the sum deposited without interest. A
suit had just been decided in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania[B]
which had elicited this point.
Knowles, more and more eager, went on to describe the settlement as it
had been pictured to him; the quaint, quiet village on the shores of "the
Beautiful River," the rolling hills of woodland, the quiet valleys over
which their flocks wandered, the simple pastoral work in which all
joined; the day begun and ended with music;--even the rich, soft tints
of the fresh Western sky about them were not forgotten, nor the
picturesque dresses of the silent, primitive people.
"A home in which to forget all pain and sore, boy," ended the old man,
gulping down a sigh, and then falling into a heavy silence.
It was long before I broke it. "They do not marry?"
"No," anxiously, as if I had reached the core of the truth in this matter
at last. "It was their founder's scheme, as I believe, to lift them above
all taint of human passion,--to bring them by pure work, solitude, and
contact with a beautiful nature into a state of being where neither
earthly love, nor hate, nor ambition can enter,--a sphere of infinite
freedom, and infinite love for Him and all His creatures."
There was no doubting the fire of rapt enthusiasm in his eye, rising and
looking out across the moonlit fields as if already he saw the pleasant
hills of Beulah.
"Thank God for George Rapp! he has found a home where a man can
stand alone,"--stretching out his arms as if he would have torn out
whatever vestige of human love tugged at his sick old heart, his eye
hunting out Tony as he spoke.
The boy, startled from his sleep, muttered, and groped as a baby will
for its mother's breast or hand. No hand met the poor little fingers, and
they fell on the pillow empty, the child going to sleep again with a
forlorn little cry. Knowles watched him, the thick lips under his

moustache growing white.
"I purpose," he said, "that next week you and I shall go to these people,
and, if possible, become members of their community,--cut loose from
all these narrow notions of home and family, and learn to stand upright
and free under God's heaven. The very air breathed by these noble
enthusiasts will give us strength and lofty thoughts. Think it over,
Humphreys."
"Yes."
He moved to the door,--held it open uncertainly. "I'll leave the boy here
to-night. He got into