, 1876-08-06
ADONI-SKOMD.

The Springfield C1ass.) Republican OF July 81
| has the following sketch Of local sect:
As queer people as are often Hlet, and, ap-
parently, as Upright and religious, wthal are the
community situated on the stage road between
Athol and pctersha1n, and commonly known
thercabouts az 'Howlanditcs or >'Fulleritcs y
According to their account, nearly twenty one
xs o Ser see ,roe hrs sa1ah
come to hope for divine revelation to them, and
in expectation Of it, had gone to camp-nlectins
bs they hfad
the man to Meet their wlnts, in the person Of
Frederick 7. Rowland, Quaker Of good social
1856, was the origin lin the faith" though not
in temporal association, OF the community, these
three being the ...pion.ers:" aa Sister Hcrvcy
takes pride in calling herself and associates. Mrs.
llervcys husband died, year or two later, though
not in the faith, ''these things, as they say,
''haying been beyond him" soon after, tile new
belief received the addition of eight persons living
in Athol, among them Leonard G. Fuller, the
present head Of the community, and his wife. In
May, 1851, having been - moved by the Spirit to
tied ut Fuers, ut the south end of Pleasant street
in Athol In August. 1864, they removed TO their
present farm in Petershana. brother, HowIant
held the position Of head of the body till killed by
runaway horse, not quite two years ago. His
people considered him prophet. and say the Lord
spoke BY him, nnd that he led them US Moses led
Their religious belief in many respects resembles
that Of e Adsentists, but differs iii the vital point
that the reign Of Christ, under the expected new
dispensaton, il to by spiritual. and not personal,
us the Advcntists hold. They construc the saying
OF John the kcye|ator, ~ in the Spirit the
viii the 3dooth year Of the World which IS nesr s Ut
hand The Judgment Day they believe has already
begun, and in short time, ut the opening Of the
When man who has received common" saliva
tion dies he has no more consciousness TIL the
resurrection; put some, who aEe Especially -
t0fnmDu1y When the 1EDHngnti1n hrrrfn4
1hrr are to be Of the IA, 600 spoken Of by John,
and are to jndgc the nations. They do not believe
earth is not to be destroyed, but changed; and,
finally, the devil is to be bound for d thousand
years. They entirely denounce Spirituulisn, say
@.i,rothcr" Rowland, they say lay down to rire
with thc Prophets, and they have written out what
they claim to be prophecies made by him months
it should occur, which, judged by the event, arc
Tie o community immunity live chiefly upon farinaceous
food; they. drink principally water, sometimes
herbtea No flesh is eaten, because there is to be
restitution Ut the order Of things that prevailed
in the Garden Of Eden, and nothing that grows in
live on the apostolic plan Of having all property in
common If any among them wish to get married,
ney have to e'ys jf fSe N and
repeat the Lords prayer and read and explain the
Bible, us tl.e Spirit gives utterance." Although
away, tic half-dozcn children IN she community,
whom they have adopted, '"as the Lord sent
them, are taught at home by '*sistcr " Hcrvcy.
a1 They are said to do better there than ut the pub
lilschool. The school gives IN occasional cxibi-
tton before the family und u Christmas tree is
very plainly; though the ''word*s people, claim
that the community wear Us expensive ''fxins"
and show ns much pride Us they do. The com,
munty observe seventh day Sabbath, cxtcndiu.
froul p III. Friday to the same hour Saturday.
The religious exercises begin ut 10 oclock Satur-
tay, and continue without inter1nission till 3.
They are Of the opinion that they need not go to
''synagoguc ~ Or ''whcre the minister has to 20
round and wake the people up, US he did down to
The Advent Church in Aihol last Sunday" The
Mmly seat themselves in the parlor upon three
sides Of the roOm with the occasional visitors Oh
tic fourth side; and the exercises consist Of ex-
they urc moved by the Spirit, with abun .:ant
''arnens' from tho rest. II 10 one feels called
upon to speak. they study the Bible: often they
ito1 Ut all times. From June to October, lust
year, they had over 600 visitors, among them 10,
Unexpectedly, one Sabbath.
time to time They claim not to expect additions,
though recently they have received two or three
which they count Of considerable importance.
Ono Of them is a woman formerly member of the
Shaker community ut Dayton. o., where she was
not satisfied, who walked all the way from Ohio
to join them; another is an ex-Baptist minister
from Atllol. They claim to have suffered eonsid-
erable persecution ''for righteousness sake. "
Mrs. Fuller thinks she was cheated out OF proper
ty which her mother LETT her, nnu, because OF the
faith, two of their number, while sick, they say,
were turned ont Of house on School street in this
city. They add. however, that many OF those for
wurd in opposing them have died sudden or violent
deaths. On the other hand, they arc prospering;
they own farm Of o10 acres aud Brother Asa
Richards, their temporal head raises stock grain,
fruits, etc, nearly sufficient to support them:
Brother" Fuller, though their spiritual
head, does the marketing, principally in
Athol. They have decided to enlarge ths house;
and build chapel in short time, '.if the Lord
permits Last winter to protect their property,
they went to the Secretsry OF the Commonwealth
and were organized under recent State laws u Il
corporation, with all the powers Of a chartered
body, under tue name Of - Adoni-skomo' He
brew for :. the Lord is there" that name being
found in Ezekiel, XVIII. IS. All their property
will now remain in the community while SINGLE
member OF it il living.
1t may BE- added that the views which outsiders
hold Of the community do not agree with their
own. ''brother " named Mann died last fall
and, By their own confession. they had some ditl
Guilty with his heirs, but finally settled for nomi
nal sum. Al first they refaEcd to pay over any
thing, but the heirs, fur in number, threatening
the law, they finally concluded that the Lord willed
them to give up $500. The common belief is th1t
Mann was wort: as many Thousands; at any rate
the Fetersllam property was decided to hin, in
nection with Rowland. Athol people scout the
idea that Rowland had prophetic powers. and