CONCERNING TAXATION
E'en if a vicious man were like a leaky vat,
That wastes what it receives, pour in, for all that!
If vat and man are not in too decrepit plight.
Keep pouring in thy gifts. How soon a crack soaks
tight.
--Lessing.
And now, early in the year 1737, occurred a matter which hath been held
up against our community as a great reproach; for by reason of this
thing, which I shall set out fully, hewing to the line, caring not
whither the chips may fall, we were regarded by many who were ignorant
of the truth, as disturbers of the peace; others accusing us of being
misers, while still others went so far in their condemnation as to hold
us guilty of nothing less than treason.
The whole trouble arose out of what was known as the "Single Men's Tax,"
our province having passed an Act some twelve years prior to our first
introduction to it, providing that "those single men whose estates shall
not be rated at fifty pounds, they shall be assessed after the rate of
three shillings a head upon a tax of one penny per pound, both for poor
rates and city and county levies."
There were then, as before and ever since, those who had no regard for
the sanctity of religion, no appreciation for what religion preserves
better than all our courts and justices, namely, the safety and security
of the State. For, let it be known to our credit, though we like not to
boast of ourselves, we on the Cocalico did not spend all our time in
pious devotions and speculations upon the mysteries of the infinite.
Hard manual labor marked much of our lives, and I glory to say that this
labor was not for ourselves alone. Up to this time, indeed, works of
charity had been our chief occupation. Canestogues was then a great
wilderness, but a wilderness into which many a poor German settler came
to cut out of the deep woods a little clearing for his grain, and to
build a log cabin he could call his home. These poverty-stricken
brethren from the _Vaterland_ often called upon us to assist them in
building houses for them. To these calls we always responded, and for
many a summer we were kept continually employed in hard carpenter's
work, so that by this too great consideration for the needs of our poor
neighbors our own poverty was so increased that we wanted even things
necessary for life.
Not only did we build their homes and help them till the soil, but we
also bestowed such great care on our lands in the plowing, sowing, and
reaping, that we often were blessed with such rich harvests that out of
our bounty we supplied the poor for miles around with grain and flour,
when their own crops, through inexperience, or improvidence, or rust, or
drought, had failed.
Substantial assistance was never refused to such as needed it. The
Solitary, whether sister or brother, always imbued with God's priceless
gift of charity, were swift of foot to all calls of mercy and humanity.
In the early days of our Kloster life we would not employ any
four-footed animals to do our heavy work, thinking it unchristian to put
on them what we should ourselves bear; and thus all our hauling and
carrying and plowing was done by our own hands and feet and with our own
backs. I recall full well how the Brethren and the Sisters, instead of
mules and oxen, pulled the plows through the hard soil of our fields for
the planting and sowing. Our life being orderly and systematic, we had
time for devotions, and for work, and for charity, each receiving its
due proportion, but the greater proportion falling to works of charity
and benevolence. Indeed, this was the chief reason, and not because of
any foolish superstitions, that the greater part of our devotions were
held at night.
But though we lived in this primitive manner of the early Christians and
did all these works of charity, yet there was a number of persons who
appreciated not our charity, or our stern but simple piety, and the
hardships of our mode of life.
Such was the township constable, who, hungry for his worldly fees, was
bent upon making the Brethren pay this "Single Men's Tax." With this
purpose the worthy dignitary, much swollen with the importance of his
high office, descended upon us one day, as a chicken hawk swoops down
upon some unsuspecting domestic fowl, and with a loud voice and
boisterous manner demanded that we pay the tax, all the while shaking
his head and holding his nose in the air as if he already scented the
fees that would fill his rapacious pockets.
His coming, and more his loud, gruff manner, threw great consternation
into our hitherto peaceful camp. Brother Martin at first sight of the
fat impressiveness of the bloated form of the constable, and on hearing
his loud voice of command, shrank behind me and whispered timidly, "Is't
the king come for his tax?"
"King! thou simple one!" I scowled at him, "King's fool, more like!" for
I did not much admire the overbearing airs of this unmannerly tax
collector, who, like many another of his stripe, evidently thought
because we were a plain, simple folk, we were easily frightened by the
show of any authority of the law, especially when emphasized by bulk and
big voice in the representative. But our bawling officer soon found that
while we were ever a law-abiding people, not seeking to quarrel with any
one, yet we were not accustomed to hide in terror every time the law
appeared; so instead of rushing forth in great haste with our taxes in
our hands and beseeching the collector to accept them and leave us in
peace, Brother Beissel, unheeding the constable's commands to hurry up
and not delay him, summoned all the Solitary Brethren to the _Saal_ to
have our views in the matter. And at once there were formed two opposing
parties; one, headed by Brother Weiser--or Brother Enoch as was his
cloistral name--arguing that it was just and right to pay unto Cæsar his
tribute as commanded by Scripture, and counseling that the tax be paid
and thus all trouble be avoided. The contrary party, of which I was the
chosen head, contended the assessments should not be paid, because by
our manner of life we were entitled to immunity from all taxation. And
to support this I reminded my brethren that in the Eastern countries
monks and hermits paid no taxes, it being a matter of well-known history
that when the monks and hermits collected by their labors every harvest
so much grain as to supply regularly all the prisons in Alexandria with
bread, Theodosius Magnus and other Christian emperors declared all such
monks and hermits free from taxes. I could not see that we were in any
wise inferior to the ancient hermits, and if not, it were contrary to
custom to deny us the same immunity.
Brother Beissel interrupted loudly, forgetting his usual subtility,
"Brother Jabez, I doubt much whether our constable will feel bounden by
the practices of the early church."
"That I will not," growled the constable, who had been admitted to the
council; "the Act does set forth the tax must be paid, and the tax will
I have ere I leave."
"But the Act doth not apply to us, I tell thee, or else I should counsel
immediate obedience to thy demands," I said as calmly as I could; "we
refuse not to pay this paltry tribute because we care overmuch for the
little money we have; but we do not think it right for us to pay."
"Of that I know not," came another cavernous growl from the depths of
the constable. "I know I leave not till I am paid the tax."
"Well, I for one shall pay it not," I cried out. "If our Kloster labors
were merely for the enrichment of our coffers, then I should pay the tax
as being my share of the support of the province. But we work not for
ourselves further than is necessary for our slender needs. The overflow
of our abundance hath ever gone to the poor and needy settlers far and
wide. If we came not to the relief of these, then would the province
have the burden of their support. In all ages it hath been the custom
and the law to grant immunity of taxation to the church and to those
whose lives are spent in charity. I say I shall not pay the tax, for it
is neither right, nor custom, nor law."
"If thou payest not the taxes thou goest to jail, for so the Act
declares," bellowed the constable.
"So be it," I replied quietly, "and I fear not but I shall have worthy
company."
"Thou goest not alone with this ungodly man," answered me Brother
Elimelech--his secular name being Emanuel Eckerling--as he stood bravely
by my side.
"I too go with thee into the camp of the Philistines," said Brother
Jephune, brother to Elimelech, also coming to my side.
Another of the Eckerlings, Brother Jotham, stepped over to me and said
quietly: "Even if it be to the stocks or the gallows I go with thee."
"And if I go with thee, Brother Jabez, as I surely will, then thou hast
all the sons of my mother with thee," said Brother Onesimus.
"With all these Eckerlings--Emanuel, Samuel, Gabriel, and Israel--I fear
naught, not even our formidable friend, the tax collector," I said
gayly, not at all disturbed by his fierce looks and scowls at me, whom
he regarded as the instigator of all this little rebellion, although in
truth there were more than the Eckerlings and myself who thought it not
right to pay the taxes. But thus it ever hath been, for doth not the
Scriptures say that out of the ten thousand who gathered to fight under
the banner of Gideon only three hundred were worthy to be led against
the enemy?
"The devil take ye all for a lot of pious fools if ye go not with me at
once," thundered the constable, choking with wrath, so that I greatly
feared from his purple face he might perish from the palsy.
"The devil, or his deputy, may take us now if he be ready," I said to
him, which but the more enraged him, so that he rushed from us puffing
and wheezing as he floundered across the meadow, the very swaying of his
broad back expressing his indignation at our disregard for the majesty
of the law.
"Brother Jabez," said Brother Enoch, as the majesty of the law
disappeared down the road beyond the meadow, "dost thou know if we pay
not the levy we shall be arrested and taken to jail?"
"If the constable be a man of his word, I doubt not thou art a true
prophet," I replied, "but thou knowest Ecclesiastes sayeth there is 'a
time of war and a time of peace.' It seemeth my duty to oppose this
unjust tax, and now is the time to set our faces firmly against the
levy. If we five must go alone, so be it."
Just then some one laid hold of mine arm, and turning about I saw
Brother Martin--Martin Brämer being his secular name--our tailor. I
asked him: "What hast to say, Brother Martin, shall we pay the taxes?"
"Will they hang us if we pay not the king's officer?" he asked, still
with the image of the king in his eye, looking first at me and then at
Brother Enoch and then at the four Eckerlings.
"That I do not know," I said, after a pause. "Brother Enoch," said I,
turning to him, "thou art learned in the laws of the province. What will
be done with us?"
"Most likely ye will be imprisoned until ye promise to pay the taxes,"
said our learned brother, who afterward became one of the justices of
our province.
"And our good Brother Jabez is so stubborn in this, if we pay not the
levies, then must we abide in jail for all our days," sighed Brother
Martin, "for I know he will never make such promise."
"Ye tailors are ever a timid folk," I broke in with some impatience.
"'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.'"
And yet with all the differences about the taxes, when the constable
returned with five or six neighbors who liked not our Sabbatarian views
and who answered willingly to the summons to arrest the "rebels" and
"heretics," as it pleased them to call us, I rejoiced exceedingly to see
that not only the whole Brotherhood but even the Sisters were united in
their determination to oppose the tax. And so when the constable and his
eager minions came rushing across the meadow as though they were about
to storm some walled city, they found us quietly gathered at the foot of
Mount Sinai, our hands meekly folded across our breasts, no one saying a
word, except that Brother Beissel, as guardian of our flock, stood
somewhat in advance of the Brothers and Sisters, with me close to him,
to meet the first onset of the doughty constable and his deputies.
As they came nigh, they paused, and then came to a full stop as they saw
this goodly array of Brothers and Sisters. Whereupon Brother Beissel
spoke up to the constable: "'Are ye come out as against a thief with
swords and staves to take us?' Ye need not come in such haste and
violence; our good neighbors, though they seem overly anxious to help
thee in this, must say we have never done violence toward any one. We
are gathered here to go with thee and to have our cause heard by the
justices."
This was more than our constable had bargained for, for they were hardly
prepared to convoy such a gathering, and we could but smile, Brother
Beissel and I, and even the Brothers and Sisters, to see the
consternation that now reigned on the side of the constable and our
officious neighbors. Drawing closely together they held such a lively
conference, in which each seemed bent on out-talking the others, that it
was no great difficulty for us to hear everything that passed between
them. The constable was for taking me alone, because he regarded me as
the ringleader; another argued just as violently that our superintendent
and I should be taken, as we were the leaders of the community and
therefore represented them; still another loudly claimed that the four
Eckerlings and myself should be taken as being guilty of open treason
for saying we would not pay the taxes; and still another thought we all
should go.
Finally, it was decided to take only the Eckerlings and myself, and as
Brother Martin cried out from behind my back that he would not pay the
tax, he too was added to our number. As soon as this result was achieved
by our adversary the constable, he stood forth and in a loud voice
called our names and demanded that we stand forth, that we were
arrested, and that we must go with him to Lancaster to be heard before
the justices. It was with great difficulty that we prevailed upon
Brother Beissel and the remaining Brothers and Sisters that they could
not accompany us, for they were all determined that in this we must
make common cause. Finally, however, I succeeded in showing them that
we six represented the community and were willing to stand trial for the
sake of all, and that it would be the duty of the rest to remain at home
and look after the sewing and the spinning and the preparing of the
fields for the spring planting and to take care of the sick and poor and
needy.
Thus matters at last having been settled, another problem stared our
enemies in the face. They demanded that we provide some conveyance in
which to be taken to Lancaster, which was some thirteen miles from us.
To this I replied that we had none; that we always traveled afoot.
Knowing this to be true, they had no more to say other than that they
would furnish conveyances at their own expense, wherein we could ride to
Lancaster. This also we said we could not do because it was our custom
never to ride but always to walk, with staff in hand like the early
pilgrims. When this conclusion was made known to the constable I
thought, in all truth, he would now surely die in a fit; for he howled
and stormed and raged like some one possessed with a thousand devils;
but we merely stood quiet, saying not a word until the storm had
somewhat subsided and he was sufficiently sensible to understand that if
we were to go to Lancaster it would be on foot and not otherwise. Thus
we departed after--with some misgivings it is true--I had first had a
promise from Brother Beissel that he would look after Sonnlein until I
came back again, the constable and his deputies in the lead, and we
following in single file, with our staffs in hand, quietly and
peacefully.
At first our captors were disposed to heap on us all the indignities and
insults they could think of, pulling us by our long beards which they in
their humor were pleased to liken to goats' beards, and calling us
"he-goats," "men with women's frocks on," "bleached fools," "Beissel's
lambs," and spitting on us every now and then; to all of which we raised
not our hands or opened our mouths but followed meekly, as was our
custom to bear all insult and indignity. Uphill and down again, through
dale and valley, long stretches of forest broken only at rare intervals
by some little clearing with its humble log cabin, we trudged along
patiently and uncomplainingly only that the constable and his deputies
who at first set out with such a high pace as though they intended to
devour the way in a few steps soon found that even their spite and anger
could not furnish endurance for such a pace. Gradually they slackened,
the constable, by reason of his great bulk and this unaccustomed
exercise puffing most violently and every now and then growling at our
stubbornness and our pig-headedness in making them travel afoot and
roaring and swearing most vile oaths that we should pay dear for this
great contempt of the law.
Indeed, before we were more than half-way to our destination our
constable, not being built for walking, was suffering severely in his
feet and limbs from these unaccustomed exertions, which we, inured to
such trifles, minded not in the least. His deputies, who looked as lean
and hungry as he looked prosperous, also were in sore straits; for they
too found this walking not much to their taste. It finally came to such
a pass, while we were yet some miles from Lancaster that the constable
announced savagely, looking at us as though he would have liked to hang
us from the branches of the nearest tree, that he could not walk any
farther. A short consultation with the rest of the Brethren, and I
stepped up to him sitting at the foot of a tree, puffing, and mopping
the sweat from his forehead, and said to him respectfully that if he
would tell us where to present ourselves we would go straight ahead and
give ourselves up to the justices. At this he glared at us, if anything
more savagely than ever, and declared it to be a scheme to escape.
Whereupon I merely replied, "Very well, we shall wait here, then, until
thou art ready to proceed with us."
"No doubt ye would," he howled; "for I doubt not it gives ye great
pleasure to see what a sorry state ye have brought me to by your
pig-headedness."
"Perhaps thou canst find a conveyance if we press on, and thou canst
ride the rest of the journey?" I suggested to him gently.
He was not to be soothed, however, for he merely growled: "I know no
place between here and the justices' courts where I can find beast or
wagon to carry me."
"Dost thou object if we carry thee there, we and our kind neighbors who
are helping thee?" I asked.
"Now are ye quite crazy, for do ye see anything by which ye can carry
me, or do you intend to take me on your backs one at a time and thus
carry me a laughingstock into Lancaster?"
"If thou wilt wait and hear the plan we have formed in our minds thou
wilt perhaps have more respect for our foolish brains," I assured him.
"Well, what is this great plan of thine?"
"Sit there until thou seest, and if it do not please thee thou needst
not take it." So saying I dispatched one of the leanest deputies who I
thought could best stand the strain of walking, back a short distance to
a cabin we had passed on our way, for a hatchet and some strong cord, or
ropes, or perchance, nails. He grumbled and growled, but upon the
constable's bidding him go on our fool's quest, the deputy left us.
While he was gone, my brethren and I made search in the forest about us
for such timber as we could make into a litter and when the deputy
returned, scornfully handing me the hatchet and some strong cord, we cut
down a number of saplings suitable to the constable's weight, and with
these formed a sort of litter on which he could sit or lie, as it might
please him, while the rest of us carried him along. He was much loth to
trust himself to what he considered a frail support for his mighty
frame, but after showing him it was strong enough to hold him, he
finally stretched his length thereon, sending the deputy back with the
hatchet, while we waited his return.
But the constable still doubting, growled, but more softly, I thought,
"Now what good is all this litter; who shall carry me? My deputies, who
are themselves tired, cannot carry me all these miles to Lancaster."
"Nay," replied I, "but we six Brethren are young and strong and we will
take hold of the poles and carry thee as far as we are able, after which
thy deputies may relieve us until we regain our breath and strength when
we shall again take thee on."
He sat up and said slowly and still doubtfully: "Do ye mean to say ye
will do this for me?"
"That we will cheerfully," we all assured him; "though thou hast not
treated us over kindly it is not in our minds to remember what thou hast
said and done."
"You are not up to some trick?"
"Thou hast good reason to believe we be men of our word," I replied
somewhat stiffly; "my brethren are not given to trickery."
The deputy having now returned, my brethren and I took the first turn
and hoisting to our shoulders the long poles extending beyond the
framework on which our constable sat in royal state, we trudged along
quietly but cheerfully, even though our burden was not a light one, our
neighbors, the deputies, under the direction of the still distrustful
constable, attending to it that we departed not from our proper course,
which none of us had the slightest intention of doing. Yet I must record
that the human heart, as the Holy Book sayeth in its omniscient wisdom,
is a deceitful thing, even in the best of us; for we had not gone far
with our rude conveyance when we came to a most foul and dirty pool
directly in our way. Brother Martin, being so small and slight and by
reason thereof in great danger of destroying the evenness of the
litter--which of course would not have been well for the choleric temper
of the constable--was placed at my corner, in front of me, so borrowing
from my height and strength that the litter would carry more evenly, and
also our beloved little tailor be not overly taxed by the burden.
But surely the Evil One doth ever find an easy entrance to idle minds,
wherefore we of the Kloster always made it our rule to be busy as far
as in us lay. Now in our anxiety to save our Brother Martin from undue
labor, we had made the mistake of leaving too little on his shoulders,
wherefore instead of having his mind on pious things, he was bent upon
evil toward the constable; for it grieves me to say that as we came to
this filthy pool and were about to step over it, Brother Martin turned
his head about and gave me a sly look and made a motion of his body as
of dropping our end of the lifter, which foul deed, had we done it at
this juncture would most surely have dropped the majesty of the law into
this slimy pool. In truth, so powerful is the mere suggestion of evil to
our weak, sinful natures that ere I fully thought what I was about, I
had responded by bobbing down a trifle, but recalling myself in due
time, straightened up sternly, giving Brother Martin such a withering
glance as made him faithful for the rest of the journey, if not for the
remainder of his days.
Fortunately, our constable never knew how near he was to a ducking, and
as we stepped carefully over the pool--at which he looked with some
apprehension--and proceeded thoughtfully on our way, very seldom
relieved by the deputies--for whom the farther we had come the more the
heat of their persecuting zeal had abated--I could see assurance in the
constable's features that we were rising higher and higher in his
regard.