, 1875-02-17

pralfleS ana Tree air OF Tue west In which
to lay the corner stone Of any kind of
Utopia. Nearly every Northern State is
dotted by little groups Of men and women
who are not willing to wait for the logic
of events to produce the millennium, and
who take the matter into their own hands
and make for themselves what they fondly
dream to be a social paradise. The more
thrifty and sagacious Of these sects, the
Shakers, are, as might be expected, under
the protecting care of New England.
That Grecian section of our common coun-
try is willing to extend its sympathy to
any kind of insanity which has method
enough in its madness to become of prac-
tical value. 1t can endure, if not encour-
age, TIE wholesale manufacturer of wood
en- clocks and patent medicines, because
the revenue from these products is by no
means to be sighted but when a COM
munity starts on an ideal basis only, with
notions of the marriage relation which
would not pass muster in the cabin of the
Mayiower, it must seek a more genial
cline than that of the Granite Hills. The
recent experiment at Valcour will proba-
bly, pack its trunks and start for the West,
under the plea that the air is too bracing
and the winters are too long for the sum-
mer-land doctrine of affinity. New Eng
land is a little loose in its theories, but
somewhat careful about its practice. Ra-
dicaIism of thought is not only tolerated but
inspired there, but radicalism of action
fluids its true home elsewhere. The elite Of
Boston will gather to listen to the logic
of q great social change, but if enthusiasm
carries the matter beyond q logical state
ment Beacon street frowns and the Radi-
cal Club goes into commissions.
1t is on the Pacific slope, in Iowa and
Ohio that the Inspiratlonists, the Separa-
lists and the everything e~lse-ists find good
cheer and ample opportunity. There they
flourish for q while at least, and are then
lost sight of as q piece of froth floating on
the wave is resolved into o few common
drops of water, which mingIe with the
ocean. German mysticism has made this
contribution to the museum of our social
curiosities, and German emigrants have
given the first start to a large majority of
these societies. The ordinary North Amer
lean brain is not metaphysical, and would
fnd it hard to originate q plan by which
oil social d~istempers are to be eradicated.
When, however, the plan is made, Ameri-
cans foster ard nourish it, partly, perhaps,
to see what sort of monstrosity will be
evolved, and partly from a spirit of fair
play, the result of our large-hearted
institutions. Our soil has become the
natural refuge for oil the social and politi-
cal maIformations ofthe Old World. The
madness Of every race finds a home and a
hearty welcome here. We are more than
tolerant to the Perfectionists, who have
grace enough left to say that they are
aiming at a sinlessness which they have
not attained, and who illustrate their
creed by demanding o general community
of persons as we'll as of property; to the
communities Of Bethel and Aurora, whose
insanity runs between the same banks, and
even to the Mormons, who slightly modify
the general assertion Of personal right by
taking to themselves as many wives as
their income will allow.
A very interesting problem is thus pre-
sented to the student of social science.
Were ours a smaller territory, and were
the people less active, great evils might
result. The dose of poison, however,
which would kill the child or the invalid,
is innocuous to the giant. He may have two
or three commissions, but easily manages
to absorb or throw off the foreign material.
The digestive power of our institutions