Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-05-08
The Socielas Fraterna.

Inc SocieiaS Fraterna.
There are a great many religions
In the world some good, some bad,
some absurd, some disgusting.
Some people believe 10 heaven and
not In hell; some In hell and not
in heaven. Some people believe
in heaven aud hell, and others
scout the iiea of the existence of
either. "Man is curos animile
wrote Johnny; and in nothing is
he more curious than in his rtlig-
ious beliefs and e!isbeliefa He runs
from one extreme to .iie e.otl.er, AMI
so earnest Is he in the aivoracy If
his views that, no matte1 how ab-
surd they may he TO the mind of
The listener, he cannot. but be i'm
pressed to a certain extent with tile
ideas SO earnestly advanced. /, il
only when rem wed firm l- AL
mnsphere and j. fiuence Of tIip t~-
matte that one eau discover thu
fsllihil' y aud q m-iness f the ar
guments with bich the theorists
bolster up their peculiar views
There il living n few mites from
Anaheina a 0ciety WHOSE peeulj,r
befiefs a,ni rnnfe of hfe havs tarnh
made the subject of public rii,ici-,u
for some time past The sum MS ~
regard to them were evtd d,Iitly 70
at variance with :h,' f,cts rh,t,
some weeks sg0 he e,iItor Of the
Gazette sough, an iuir.vIew with
them for the purpose of btaining
authentic Information as to l}i.ir
religious views. He. fort fled him-
self for the interview hy asking
Rev. Mr.. Trew to accompany him
as sort of theolog ioai men or and
support, fearing that without the
presence Of some orthadux person
age he might succumb to the se,luc.
tions o. the new religion. -a
Iu 1876 there arrived in Anaheim
an Euglishman named George p.
Hinde, accompanied by his wife
and children. He bought fiue
tract of land about four miles
northeast of Anaheim, and began
the erection of house whose ar
chitectural peculiarities were the
talk OF the ueighborhood. 1t is "a
large two-story frame dwelling, of
quite handsome external appear.
ance; but all the rooms, hallways
and closets are either oval or round
10 shape. The effect Is rather
novel, but pleasant withal, andihe
waste space which the peculiar
construction made necessary Is
utilized by closets -those conven-
lent receptacles so dear to the heart
OF the housewife. 1t is claimed,
also, that such shaped houses are
superior in sanitary point of view,
allowing a free circulation Of air,
and consequently being cooler ami
more pleasant residences, for this
climate than the ordinary house.
But these points were not taken
into consideration by the builder.
He gave up a lucrative and pros
porous business in England at the
com mand of the "spfrits,n and un-
der their guidance crossed the
ocean, and, still under their guild
ance, kept on until Anaheim was
reached. The tract of land which
he bought was pointed out to him
by the same invisible power, and
the house of which we have spoken
was reared under inspiration from
the same source.
Two years later there arrived In
Anaheim an oldish gentleman
named DR.. Schlesinger. He, too,
was impelled by influences in the
spirit world to come here. He had
never met Mr.. Hinde; in fact, had
never even heard of him, but the
mysterious power led him direct TO
thatt gentleman's house. When
the two men met, they were in.
stantly imbued with the knowl.
edge that they had been thrown to.
gether in order to accomplish some
grand purpose, and it was afterward
rrvealed to them that they were
destined to be the founders of a 80
ciety which would In time grow to
grand proportions, and which In its
beliefs and practices would be en-
tirely different from, and immeas-
urably superior 10, that sof any
other society or sect in the world.
Shortly after DIR. Schlesinge,'s
arrival, the Societas Fraterna was
organizsd-nOt, as they explained,
In worldly sense, but ouly in q
spiritual way. The Dnctor occupies
10 .illon analogous to that OF Pres
dent. Mr. Gpor.r r Hinde ia Sec.
retary, and Ira Carpenter, Treas
urer. The Society, as has been
stated, il in many respects entirely
different from any other OF. which
any account has been given. Spir-
ituai communion is the great cell
traI ,ruih-the anchorage, as H.
were, of the Society. The lpa,iei 8
claim to receive direct instruction
from The spirit world as TO every
act. Nothing Is done of their own
vol ton. Tue mass Of sp!rilualisls
have only II blind belief in their
faith, tut these people have nc ual
knowledge Of the spiritual wor II,
adm this respect are far above
the ordinary believers in spiritual
isin. 1t is vOucfifafed to them not
only to see the spirit forms, bur
aiso to feel them aud conver-e with
them Just as II they were of verita-
ble flesh aud blood
But the most remarkable feature
Of this Society is the strange views
they hold as to what should be
eaten-or, rather, what should not
constitute mans diet. They eat no