The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-12-20
WOMAN RULES
 GREAT EMPIRE
Victoria Gratia" Is Head Of
 koreShan
THE CAPITAL IS IN FLORIDA
Community Is Patterned After Apos- toic Church of First Century. Brotherly Love and Pure
 Life the Creed.
From the New York Tribune.

From the New York Tribune.
 Ask the first man you meet the quick est route to the capital city of the empire of Koreshan and he will probably regard you with something akin to suspicion Ask him then if he happens to know who the pre-eminent and the prime counselor are, and after he has muttered something like "The funny house for yours" see if he doesn't try to sidestep and call po- liceman. And yet the questions are not such extraordinary ones. Indeed, the very man who looks on you with sus- pcion may himself some day become a patron of equation, may sit with the sig net chamber and the pre-eminent coun- cilium may become the counselors right hand man, may even sit at the feet of Victoria Gratia herself. Who knows? It is, after all, more a matter of environ ment than anything else.
 Down in the southern part of Florida almost every one knows that Estero is the capital of the "Koreshan Unity" that Dr. Cyrus R. Teed, the founder of Kore- shanity is the prime counsellor, and that Mrs Annie Ordway or "Victoria Gratia, ' as they style her in Estero, is the ore eminent" To those to whom the name of Koreshanity conveys vague idea of a few scattered devotees to the belief that the universe is an overgrown hollow globe, inside which the earth, sun, moon. and stars move about as trained gold fish in jar of water, there is much of in terest to be learned of the Koreshan Unity. its rulers it's capital city and the inhabitants thereof. Ezra J. Stewart. who has visited Estero, on the banks of the Estero river, about Is miles south of Fort Myers, Fla, and miles from the point where the river empties into Estero bay, has written to the Tribune of his trip to that unique settlement.
 Head of the Colonies.
 Here. in the heart of the tourists and hunters paradise of south Florida, the several Koreshan colonies located in Chi eago, San Francisco, and elsewhere have for the last decade been concentrating their forces and under the leadership of Dr. Cyrus R. Teed the founder of kore- shanity, the name of which Is derived from "Koresh," the Persian word for Cy- rus. are engaged in an attempt to estab- llsh what they believe to be the greatest religious, social and industrial movement ever attempted in any age.
 For the present" writes Mr. Stewart, "a central nucleus practices celibacy, while other orders of the system sustain the monogramic marriage relation, with cooperation In industrial and social rela- l tions. They teach that heaven and hell are in humanity, and constitute the spir- | itual world; the spiritual domain is men tai, and is in the natural humanity-not l In the sky
 Of the life of the 200 or more inhabi- | tants of Estero MT. Stewart says: Here they have all things in common after the 1 pattern of the Christian Apostolic church | of the first century. A common dining
 hall, kitchen bakery, dairy, laundry, etc, help to supply ordinary needs, and go far | toward the conservation of time and ener- gy required by these people for the de- | velopment of their social, educational, and spiritual ideals. Much attention is given to practical, as we'll as theoretical education in almost all branches of learn ing A primary school is maintained for younger children, in which music, vocal and instrumental Is a prominent study. Higher classes, attended by adults and youth, and held hourly each day, in which algebra, bookkeeping, languages, music, science, art, and other branches are taught by competent persons.
 "A practical surveyor demonstrates his art by taking boys into the fields and woods for actual practice; while carpen- try, boat building, furniture making, pat tern making, printing, mechanics, and 
 shops to youths and adults as part of the daily routine Books scattered about in different places are to be collected into a library building in the near future. l noticed some 250 volumes in a bookcase in the visitors room, including the works of such authors as Gibbon, Burns, Emerson, Shakespeare, Goethe, Tolstoi. Dickens, Cooper, Smiles, Spencer, Max Muller and Swedenborg, besides concord ances, cyclopedias, and medical works. Varied Industries.
 Besides agriculture, this industrious community is engaged in growing citrus and other fruits. Almost every kind of fruit which will grow in Florida is raised here. Most of the crop Is con- sumed by the colonists. The building and , equipment of electric launches for use in surrounding waters, is a growing indus try at Estero, where splendid facilities are at hand, including a dry dock. A sawmill furnishes lumber for building, furniture making and kindred industries. A complete outfit for the manufacture of concrete building blocks is in successful l operation. The publishing house, con- | taining two large presses, folders. etc., | employs a number of colonists in editing l and publishing a monthly magazine de-