The New York herald., 1874-10-28
More Social Madn sss.

At last the Free Lovers are on theeve Of hav-
ing local habitation as we'll as ON infamous
name. If Orrin Shipman, who seems to look
upon things spiritual with carnal eye to
business, can be persuaded to sell his part of
the island OF Valcour, in the beautiful waters
of Lake Champlain, at eight dollars per acre,
this new community proposes to blossom like
the rose by next summer. That price is GER
tainly too cheap for land on which to try such
ON experiment. Free love and spiritual wives,
with reservation in the marriage contract
whereby either party may be free at months
notice, cannot be purchased in any part of the
community at the ridiculously small price Of
eight dollars per acre.
The general ferment in the community
which has hitherto assumed shape in Oneida
and Walllngford has at last taken unto itself
another, and probably its last as it surely
is its most disgusting phase. Every society
has o certain amount of moral pesti-
lence, in the shape of theories wild
aud hnatical and in open rebellion against
the laws of order and decency and, once in
o while, these theories become solidifed into
an organization. But it is left to our own
novelty-loving age to recklessly organize the
lusts OF the discontented under the name of q
new and higher order of things
The only popularity of this valcour COM
munity is it's moral filth. 1t is the fanaticism
of our widest moments frozen into disgusting
shape; the ultimate result, not of freedom,
but Of license, degenerated into icentious-
ness, assuming to itself the contour of a
society social orgie, in which all the
guests are drunk with immortality, and slip
under the table in a promiscuous heap of
obscenity. Its foundation stone is easy
divorce. Marriage is civil contract, which
holds good during the pleasure Of the con-
tracing parties. So long as the honeymoon
is at the full oil will be as merry as q marriage
bell; but the moment more sparkling eyes
fash on the domestic scene and the moon
becomes partially echpsed the father or
mother, as the case may be, packs
up, bids an affectionate farewell to former
triumphs, and goes off to keep house with
black eyes that have done the business of cap
ture, and the new moon begins to grow to the
full. This luminary, however, like the last,
may suffer eclipse when the same good-byes
and packing up are repeated With sufR-
cent amount Of fckleness as q capital in
trade, backed by good looks and winning
ways, man might be so much married in
few years that he would have to begin again
at the beginning.
But the childrenp asked our correspondent
of the half-undressed priestess of valcour.
She stammered, hesitated, and at last acknowl-
edged that the community would solve that
problem in good time. The peculiar theories
Of this human menagerie have reference at
present only to their own passions, and if
they succeed in buying valcour at eight dol
lars per acre they will find in few years
such snarl of mutual relationship, such an
inextricable tangle Of family and social ties,
that they will go to pieces by atomic repul-
sion. Wise men try no experiments without
reviewing and preparing for consequences,
but fools rush in where angels fear to tread.