The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-20
WOMAN RULES EMPIRE
 VICTORIA GRATIA' IS NAME
Community ls Patterned After AnDsto- He Church of the gIrst Century, Br0therIy Fave and Pare Lafe
 the Creed

Sg.AAsatnAAS AB EatteFme0 ARteF ARDStO- He Church of the S'Irst Century,
 BrOtherIy Fave Hnd Pure Life the Greed
 New York, Tribune.
 Ask the first man you meet the quick est route to the capital city of the em- pire of Koresllan and he will probably regard you with something akin to sus- picions. Ask him then if he happens to know who the pre-eminent and the prime cou1selor are, and after he has muttered Something, like The funny house for Oyurs. see fine doesn't try to sidc-step and call policeman. And yet the questions are not such extra ordinary ones. Indeed the very man who looks on you with suspicion may himself some day become patron of equation, may sit with the signet chamber and the pre-eminent coun- eilium may become the counseIor's right-hand man, may even sit at the feet of Victoria GrAtia herself. Who knows? It is. after all, more a matter of, environment than anything else.
 Down in the southern part of Flor ida almost every one knows that Es- terO Is the capital of the 'Koreshan Unity that Dr. Cyrus R. Teed. the founder of Koreshanity. is the prime counsellor. and that Mrs. Annie Ord way. or Victoria Gratia," as they style her in Estere is the "pre-em- fnent" To those to whom the name of .Koreshanify conveys a vague idea of few scattered degotees to the be- lief that the, unverse Is an evergrown hollow globe, inside which the earth, ssun, moon. and stars move about as trained goldfish in Jar Of water, there is much of interest to be learned of the Koreshan Unity. it's rulers its capital city. and the inhabitants thereof. Ezra J. Stewart, who has visited Estero, on the banks of the Estero River, about sixteen miles south of Fort Mereys, Fla. and five miles from the point where the river empties into Estero Bay, has written to The Tribune of his trip to that unique settlement
 Head sk the Colonies.
 Here, in the heart of the tourists' and hunters paradise of South Florida, the several Koreshan colonies located in Chicago. San Francisco, and else- where have for the last decade. been concentrating their forces, and under the leadership of pr. Cyrus R. Teed, the founder of Koreshanity. the name of which Is derived from ''Koresh," the in an attempt to establish what they believe to be the greatest religious. social. and industrial movement ever attempted in any age
 For the present. writes Mir. Stew art, "a central nucleus practices cell bacy. while other orders of the system sustain the monogramic marriage re- lation, with cooperation in industrial and social relations. They teach that heaven and hell are in humanity. and constitute, the spiritual world; the spiritual domain is mental. and Is in l the natural humanity--not in the l sky"
 Of the life of the 200 or more in- habitants of Estero. Mfr. Stewart says: Here they have all things in common after the pattern of the Christian | Apostolic Church of the first century. 1 A common dining hall, kitchen. bakery, dairy, laundry. &c.. help. to supply or l dinary needs and go far toward the l conservation of time and energy re- l quired by those people for the devel- | opment of their social, educational | and spiritual Ideals. Much attention is given to practical as well as theo- retical education in almost all branches of learning. A primary school is main tained for younger children. In which l music, vocal and Instrumental, IS a prominent study. Higher classes. at tended by adults and youth. are held hourly each day, in which algebra, bookeeping. lapguagee, nausic, science,