agricultural labor where this was possible. He was himself fond of
out-door employments, and liked to be in the fields, helping the plowmen
or harvesters. The women attend to the housekeeping; and as this is
simple and quickly done, they are fond of working in the gardens
attached to the houses. In the old times, women as well as men labored
in the fields in harvest time, or at other times when work was pressing;
and the younger women still follow this habit, which was probably
brought over from Germany.
Each household consists of men and women to the number of from four to
eight, and usually in equal numbers. The houses have but one entrance
door from the street. They carpet their floors, and generally deny
themselves no comforts compatible with simplicity of life.
Father Rapp taught them to love music and flowers; almost all the people
can read music, and there are but few who have not learned to play upon
some instrument. In their worship they use instrumental music; and it
forms an important part in their feasts. They do not practice dancing,
to which they have always felt opposed. As they study plainness of
dress, they use no jewelry.
They once had a museum, which has been sold. Father Rapp's house
contains a number of pictures, among them a fine copy of Benjamin West's
"Christ Healing the Sick;" the church and assembly hall have no works of
art. The people read the newspapers; and those who wish for books have
them, there being a library; but "the Bible is the book chiefly read
among us," I was told.
Father Rapp taught that it was advisable for the society to make all it
could for itself; and he had an intelligent appreciation of the value of
labor-saving machinery. Economy has therefore complete and well
furnished shops of various kinds. Its steam laundry is admirably
contrived; and its slaughter-house, with piggery and soap-boiling house
near by; its machine shop, with a cider-boiler annexed; its saw-mill,
wagon shop, blacksmith shop, tannery, carpenter's shop, bakery, vinegar
factory (where much cider is utilized), hattery, tailor's and
shoemaker's shops, tin shop, saddlery shop, and weaver's shop, show how
various were and are the industries followed here, and how completely
furnished the society was, from within, for all the wants of daily life.
I saw even a shop for the repair of clocks and watches, and a barber's
shop; the barber serving the aged and sick, and being otherwise foreman
of the tailor's shop.
[Illustration: A STREET VIEW IN ECONOMY]
[Illustration: FATHER RAPP'S HOUSE--ECONOMY.]
In this long list I have not specified the brewery, grist-mill, a large
granary, a cotton and a woolen mill; nor the two great cellars full of
fine wine casks, which would make a Californian envious, so well-built
are they.
There is also a school, and the Harmony people have always kept up a
good school for the children in their charge. They aim to give each
child an elementary education, and afterwards a trade; and as the boys
learn also agricultural labors of different kinds, they are generally
self-helpful when they pass into the world. The instruction is in German
and English; and the small girls and boys whom I examined wrote very
well.
Each family cooks for itself. There were formerly bake-ovens in every
block, one being used by several families; but there is now a general
bakery, whence all carry bread in indefinite and unlimited supplies.
Milk, too, is brought to the houses, and from what each household
receives, it saves the cream for butter. When the butcher kills a beef,
a little boy is sent around the village, who knocks at each window and
cries out "_Sollt fleisch holen_"--"Come and get meat"--and the
butcher serves to each household sufficient for its wants. Other supplies
for the household are dealt out from the general storehouse at stated
periods; but if any one needs more, he has only to apply. Tea is not
generally used.
Clothing is given out as it is needed by each person; and I was told
that the tailor usually keeps his eye upon the people's coats and
trousers, the shoemaker upon their shoes, and so on; each counting it a
matter of honor or pride that the brethren shall be decently and
comfortably clad.
"As each labors for all, and as the interest of one is the interest of
all, there is no occasion for selfishness, and no room for waste. We
were brought up to be economical; to waste is a sin; we live simply; and
each has enough, all that he can eat and wear, and no man can use more
than that." This was the simple explanation I received from a Harmonist,
when I wondered whether some family or person would not be wasteful or
greedy.
In the season, all the people who are not too old labor more or less in
the fields and orchards. This is their habit, and is thought healthful
to body and soul.
The Harmonists have usually attained a hale and happy old age. I had
access to no mortuary records, and there are no monuments in the
cemetery, but a great part of the people have lived to be seventy and
over; and they die without fear, trusting that they are the chosen
people of the Lord.
Such is Economy at this time. Its large factories are closed, for its
people are too few to man them; and the members think it wiser and more
comfortable for themselves to employ labor at a distance from their own
town. They are pecuniarily interested in coal-mines, in saw-mills, and
oil-wells; and they control manufactories at Beaver Falls--notably a
cutlery shop, the largest in the United States, and one of the largest
in the world, where of late they have begun to employ two hundred
Chinese; and it is creditable to the Harmony people that they look after
the intellectual and spiritual welfare of these strangers as but too few
employers do.
"Is there any monument to Father Rapp?" I asked; and the old man to whom
I put the question said, quietly, "Yes, all that you see here, around
us."
His body lies in a grave undistinguishable from others surrounding it.
There is no portrait of him--for he always refused to sit for one. But
his memory is most tenderly and reverently cherished by his followers
and survivors. From a number of persons I gathered the following
personal details, which give a picture of the man: He was nearly if not
quite six feet high; well-built, with blue eyes, a somewhat stately
walk, and a full beard, which he was the first in the society to wear.
He was extremely industrious, and never wasted even a minute; knew
admirably how to use every spare moment. He was cheerful, kindly,
talkative; plain-spoken when he had to find fault; not very
enthusiastic, but somewhat dry and very practical. In his earlier years,
in Germany, he was witty; and to the last he was ready and apt in
speech. His conversation centered always upon religion and the conduct
of life; and no matter with whom he was speaking, or what was the
character of the person, Rapp knew very well how to lead the talk to
these topics.
The young people were very fond of him. "He was a man before whom no
evil could stand." "When I met him in the street, if I had a bad thought
in my head, it flew away." He was constantly in the fields or in the
factories, cheering, encouraging, or advising the people. "He knew every
thing--how to do it, what was the best way." "Ah, he was a _man_; he
told us what to do, and how to be good." In his spare moments he studied
botany, geology, astronomy, mechanics. "He was never idle, not even a
quarter of an hour." He believed much in work; thought hard field-work a
good cure for spiritual as well as bodily diseases. He was an
"extraordinarily eloquent preacher;" and it is a singular fact that,
dying at the great age of ninety, he preached in the church twice but
two Sundays before his death; and on the Sunday before he died addressed
his people from the window of his sick-room. He was "a good man, with
true, honest eyes." He "always labored against selfishness, and to serve
the brethren and the Lord." He appears to have abhorred ostentation and
needless forms and ceremonies, for he sat while preaching; never
prescribed any uniform dress or peculiar form of speech; and neither in
their worship nor in their daily lives taught the people to make merely
formal differences between themselves and the world at large. That he
did not feel the necessity of such outward protests against "the world,"
and relied for the bond of union in the community so entirely upon the
effect of his teachings, seems to me one of the surest and most
significant proofs of his real power.
Such is the report of their founder and guide from the older men now
living, who knew him well. That he was a man of great force and high
character it seems to be impossible to doubt. It has often been reported
that he was tyrannical and self-seeking; and that he chose his people
from among the most ignorant, in order to rule them. But the present
members of the Harmony Society cannot be called ignorant: they are a
simple and pious people, but not incapable of taking care of their own
interests; and their opinion of their founder is probably the correct
one. Their love and reverence for him, their recital of his goodness, of
his abilities, and of his intercourse with them, are the best testimony
as to his character; and their continuance in the course he laid out for
them, for more than a quarter of a century since his death, shows that
not only did his teaching and life inspire confidence, but also that his
training bore wholesome fruit in them.
He made religion the most important interest in the lives of his
followers. Not only did he preach on Sundays, but he admonished,
encouraged, reproved, and advised constantly during the week; he divided
the people into companies or classes, who met on week-day evenings for
mutual counsel in religious matters, and with these he constantly met;
he visited the sick; he buried the dead--with great plainness and lack
of ceremony. He taught that they ought to purify the body, and he was
himself a model of plain and somewhat rigid and practical living, and of
self-abnegation; and I think no thoughtful man can hear his story from
the older members of the society who were brought up under his rule, and
consider the history of Economy, and the present daily life of its
people, without conceiving a great respect for Father Rapp's powers and
for the use he made of them.
Pecuniarily Rapp's experiment has been an extraordinary success. The
society is now reported to be worth from two to three millions of
dollars. By an investigation into all its affairs and interests, made in
the Pennsylvania courts in 1854, by reason of a suit brought by a
seceding member, it was shown to be worth at that time over a million.
In these days of defaulting bank officers and numerous breaches of
trust, it is a singular commentary upon the communal system to know that
the society has never required from its chiefs any report upon their
administration of the finances. The investigation in the courts was the
first insight they had since their foundation into the management of
their affairs by Rapp and his successors; and there the utmost efforts
of opposing lawyers, among whom, by the way, was Edwin M. Stanton,
afterward Secretary of War, failed to discover the least
maladministration or misappropriation of funds by the rulers; and proved
the integrity of all who had managed their extensive and complicated
business from the beginning.
As Father Rapp grew older, his influence over his people became
absolute. His long life among them bore fruit in an unwavering
confidence in his sound judgment and unselfish devotion. He appears to
have led them in right paths; for, though probably few will be found to
subscribe to their peculiar religious tenets, all their neighbors hold
them in the highest esteem, as just, honest, kindly, charitable,
patriotic; good citizens, though they do not vote; careful of their
servants and laborers; fair and liberal in their dealings with the
world.
Of Economy as it now is, what I have written gives a sufficiently
precise view. The great factories are closed, and the people live
quietly in their pretty and simple homes. The energies put in motion by
their large capital are to be found at a distance from their village.
Their means give employment to many hundreds of people in different
parts of Western Pennsylvania; and wherever I have come upon their
traces, I have found the "Economites," as they are commonly called,
highly spoken of. They have not sought to accumulate wealth; but their
reluctance to enter into new enterprises has probably made them in the
long run only more successful, for it has made them prudent; and they
have not been tempted to work on credit; while their command of ready
money has opened to them the best opportunities.
The present managers or trustees ("_verwalter_") are Jacob Henrici
and Jonathan Lenz. The first, who is also the religious head, being in
this respect the successor of R. L. Bäker, who was the successor of
Father Rapp, is a German by birth, and a man of culture and of deep
piety. He was educated to be a teacher; and entered the Harmony Society
in 1826, a year after its removal to Economy. Rapp appears to have
appreciated from the first his gentle spirit, piety, and sincere devotion
to the community, as well as the importance of his culture and talents.
He lived long in the house with Father Rapp, and was his intimate and
confidant. Upon Frederick Rapp's death, Father Rapp appointed Bäker and
Henrici to attend to the temporal concerns with which he was then
charged; and upon the Elder Rapp's death, these two were chosen to take
his place. When Mr. Bäker died, Mr. Henrici was chosen to fill his
place, and he selected Mr. Lenz to be his coadjutor.
Mr. Lenz was born in the society in 1807, and has lived in it all his
life. He also is a man of some culture, of gentle and pleasant manners,
and an excellent business man.
Both are aged, Henrici being seventy, and Lenz sixty-seven. Both are
tall, firmly built, and fine-looking men, with a peculiarly gentle and
lovable expression of face. They live together in the house built for
Father Rapp, where also live several of the older members, among them
Miss Gertrude Rapp, a granddaughter of the founder, a charming old lady,
with a very bright, intelligent face. All these old people are so well
preserved, and have so free and wholesome an air, that intercourse with
them is not a slight argument to the visitor in favor of their simple
manner of life.
There is a council of seven persons, from among whom the trustees are
chosen.
It is a curious fact that among the hired people of the society, living
in Economy, are a number whom they adopted as children and brought up,
and who conform their lives in all respects, even to the celibate
condition, to the rules of the society, but prefer to labor for wages
rather than become members.
The society does not seek new members, though I am told it would not
refuse any who seemed to have a true vocation. As to its future, little
is said. The people look for the coming of the Lord; they await the
appearance of Christ in the heavens; and their chief aim is to be ready
for this great event, when they expect to be summoned to Palestine, to
be joined to the great crowd of the elect. Naturally there are not
wanting, among their neighbors in Pittsburgh, people who are tormented
with curiosity to know what is to become of the large property of the
Harmonists when these old people finally, in the course of nature, pass
away. "The Lord will show us a way," is the answer at Economy to such
inquiries. "We have not trusted him in vain so far; we trust him still.
He will give us a sign."
THE SOCIETY OF SEPARATISTS,
AT
ZOAR, OHIO.
THE SOCIETY OF SEPARATISTS AT ZOAR.
I.--HISTORY.
The village of Zoar lies in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, about half-way
between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, on a branch of the railroad which
connects these two points. It is situated on the bank of the Tuscarawas
Creek, which affords at this point valuable water-power. The place is
irregularly built, and contains fewer houses than a village of the same
number of inhabitants usually has; but the dwellings are mostly quite
large, and each accommodates several families. There is a commodious
brick church, a large and well-fitted brick schoolhouse, an extensive
country tavern or hotel, and a multitude of sheds and barns. There are,
besides, several mills and factories; and in the middle of the village a
somewhat elaborate, large, square house, which was the residence of the
founder and head of the society until his death, and is now used in part
as a storehouse.
Zoar is the home of a communistic society who call themselves
"Separatists," and who founded the village in 1817, and have here become
quite wealthy. They originated in Würtemberg, and, like the Harmony
Society, the Inspirationists, and others, were dissenters from the
Established Church. The Separatists of southern Germany were equivalent
to what in New England are called "Come Outers"--protestants against the
prevailing religious faith, or, as they would say, lack of faith.
These German "Come Outers" were for the most part mystics, who had read
the writings of Jacob Boehm, Gerhard Terstegen, and Jung Stilling; they
cherished different religious or doctrinal beliefs, were stigmatized as
fanatics, but were usually, I judge, simple-hearted, pious people,
desirous to lead a more spiritual life than they found in the churches.
Their refusal to send their children to the schools--which were
controlled by the clergy--and to allow their young men to serve as
soldiers, brought upon them persecution from both the secular and the
ecclesiastical authorities, resulting in flogging, imprisonment, and
fines. The people who finally emigrated to Zoar, after enduring these
persecutions for ten or twelve years gathered together in an obscure
part of Würtemberg, where, by the favor of a friend at court, they were
permitted to settle. But even from this refuge they were hunted out
after some years; and, finding no other resource left, they at last
determined to remove in a body to America, those few among them who had
property paying the passage of those who were without means.
Their persecutions had, it seems, attracted the attention of some
English Quakers, who aided them to emigrate, and with kindly forethought
sent in advance of them to certain Quakers in Philadelphia a sum of
money, amounting, I have been told, to eighteen dollars for each person
of the company, with which their Philadelphia friends provided for them
on their landing. This kind care is still acknowledged at Zoar as an
"inestimable blessing."
They arrived at Philadelphia in August, 1817, and almost immediately
bargained with one Hagar for a tract of five thousand six hundred acres
of land, which they were, with the help of their Quaker friends, enabled
to buy on favorable terms. It was a military grant in the wilderness of
Ohio, and they agreed to give for it three dollars per acre, with a
credit of fifteen years, the first three years without interest.
Joseph Baumeler, whom they had chosen to be their leader, went out to
take possession with a few able-bodied men, and these built the first
log-hut on the 1st of December, 1817. During the following spring the
remainder of the society followed; but many were so poor that they had
to take service with the neighboring farmers to earn a support for their
families, and all lived in the poorest possible way.
At this time they had no intention of forming a communistic society.
They held their interests separately; and it was expected that each
member should pay for his own share of the land, which had been
purchased in order to be thus subdivided. Their purpose was to worship
God according to their faith, in freedom, and to live, for that end, in
a neighborhood.
But, having among them a certain number of old and feeble people, and
many poor who found it difficult to save money to pay for their land,
the leading men presently saw that the enterprise would fail unless it
was established upon a different foundation; and that necessity would
compel the people to scatter. Early in 1819 the leaders after
consultation determined that, to succeed, they must establish a
community of goods and efforts, and draw in to themselves all whom
poverty had compelled to take service at a distance. This resolution was
laid before the whole society, and, after some weeks of discussion, was
agreed to; and on the 15th of April articles of agreement for a
community of goods were signed. There were then about two hundred and
twenty-five persons--men, women, and children. The men were
farm-laborers, weavers, carpenters, bakers, but at first they had not a
blacksmith among them.
From this time they began to prosper. "We could never have paid for our
land, if we had not formed a community," the older people told me; and,
from all I could learn, I believe this to be true.
At first they prohibited marriage, and it was not until 1828 or 1830
that they broke down this rule.
On forming a community, Joseph Baumeler, who had been a leading man
among them, was chosen to be their spiritual as well as temporal head.
His name probably proved a stumbling-block to his American neighbors,
for he presently began to spell it Bimeler--a phonetic rendering. Thus
it appears in deeds and other public documents; and the people came to
be commonly spoken of as "Bimmelers." Baumeler was originally a weaver,
and later a teacher. He was doubtless a man of considerable ability, but
not comparable, I imagine, with Rapp. He appears to have been a fluent
speaker; and on Sundays he delivered to the society a long series of
discourses, which were after his death gathered together and printed in
German in three ponderous octavo volumes. They concern themselves not
only with religious and communistic thoughts, but largely with the minor
morals, manners, good order in housekeeping, cleanliness, health
observances, and often with physiological details.
In March, 1824, an amended constitution was adopted. Between 1828 and
1830 they began to permit marriage, Baumeler himself taking a wife. In
1832 the Legislature formally incorporated the "Separatist Society of
Zoar," and a new constitution, still in force, was signed in the same
year.
"As soon as we adopted community of goods we began to prosper," said one
of the older members to me. Having abundance of hands, they set up
shops; and, being poor and in debt, they determined to live rigidly
within their means and from their own products. They crowded at first
into a few small log-cabins; some of which are still standing, and are
occupied to this day. They kept cattle; were careful and laborious
farmers; and setting up blacksmith's, carpenter's, and joiner's shops,
they began to earn a little money from work done for the neighboring
farmers. Nevertheless their progress was slow, and they accounted it a
great piece of good fortune when in 1827 a canal was built through their
neighborhood. What with putting their own young men upon this work, and
selling supplies to the contractors, they made enough money from this
enterprise to pay for their land; and thenceforth, with free hands, they
began to accumulate wealth.
They now own in one body over seven thousand acres of very fertile land,
including extensive and valuable water-power, and have besides some land
in Iowa. They have established a woolen factory, where they make cloth
and yarn for their own use and for sale. Also two large flour-mills, a
saw-mill, planing-mill, machine shop, tannery, and dye-house. They have
also a country store for the accommodation of the neighborhood, a large
hotel which receives summer visitors; and for their own use they
maintain a wagon shop, blacksmith's and carpenter's shops, tailors,
dressmakers, shoemakers, a cider-mill, a small brewery, and a few looms
for weaving linen. They employ constantly about fifty persons not
members of the community, besides "renters;" who manage some of their
farms on shares.
They have now (in the spring of 1874) about three hundred members, and
their property is worth more than a million dollars.
II.--RELIGIOUS FAITH AND PRACTICAL LIFE.