"The evils of life are not so much social, or political, as personal, and a personal reform only can eradicate them.

"Family is not dependent upon number, nor riches, but upon union in and with the spirit which alone can bless any enterprise.

"Rather is self-denial the straight and narrow way to eternal life, than the enticements of increased indulgence which almost all associated endeavors have in view.

"As to property, we discover not its just disposal either in individual or social tenures, but in its entire absorption into New Spirit, which ever gives and never grasps.

66 We do not recognize the purchase of land, but its redemption from the debasing state of proprium, or property, to divine uses.

"Our diet is strictly pure, and of bloodless kind. No animal substance, neither flesh, butter, cheese, eggs, nor milk, pollute our tables, or corrupt our bodies. Neither tea, coffee, molasses, nor rice, tempt us beyond the bounds of indigenous productions. Our sole beverage is pure fountain water.

"We rise at early dawn, commence the day

with cold bathing, succeeded by a music lesson, and then a chaste repast. Each one finds occupation till the meridian meal, when usually some interesting and deep-searching conversation gives rest to the body and development of mind. Occupation according to the season of the weather, engages out of doors or within, until evening meal, when we again assemble in social communion, prolonged generally till sunset, when we resort to sweet repose for the next day's activity.

"Abstain, being in preference to doing, is the great aim, and this comes to us rather by a resigned willingness than a wilful activity; which is indeed a check to all divine growth. Outward abstinence is a sign of inward fulness; and the only sound and true progress is inwards."

Winter, stern, cold, inhospitable winter approached. Fruitlands disappeared with the knot of its devoted and spiritually minded enthusiasts, and Eden once more re-entered the domain of the history of the past.

IX.

The Brotherhood of the Holy Cross.

"What other yearnings was the master tie

Of the monastic Brotherhood ?-What but this
The universal instinct of repose,

The longing for confirmed tranquillity,
Inward and outward; humble, yet sublime:-
The life where hope and memory are as one;
Earth quiet and unchanged: the human soul
Consistent in self-rule; and heaven revealed
To meditation in that quietness!

Such was their scheme;-thrice happy he who gained
The end proposed!"

WORDSWORTH.

SEV

EVERAL attempts to realize a more perfect way of life have been made among different denominations of Protestants. Of these we select the community or "The Brother

hood of the Holy Cross," which sprung up in the Anglican Church some eight or ten years ago. The sincerity with which this and other associations of the same nature were started, was most evident. The men who commenced them felt deeply and strongly the necessity of a more truthful life, both interiorly and exteriorly. They saw also the inefficiency of labor while confined to individual clergymen working alone; hence they desired to form themselves into a community which would aid them individually in a more perfect life, and at the same time, they would, by their combined efforts, be enabled to effect more good and be more successful in their efforts for others.

66

The brotherhood of the holy cross was at a place called Valle Crucis." This name was given to a wild and beautiful spot in Ashe County, in the north-west corner of North Carolina; it was suggested by two streams crossing at the place. There was on the land, a house in which the members dwelt, called the "Mission House," a chapel, farm-houses, &c.,—crosses were placed on their tops, and a tall cross near the side of the road leading along the mountain

towards the mission lands. Such were the surroundings of the brotherhood at Valle Crucis.

A part of the brotherhood worked at regular hours on the farm, all the year round, and some spent a portion of the time during the week in teaching their school.

The hours for prayer were also fixed through the day, and the chapel was kept open, giving an opportunity to those who wished, to offer up their prayers and aspirations at the foot of the altar, at all times during the day.

There was preaching on Sundays in the chapel, for such as chose to come from the surrounding country. During the week, journeys on foot were made to the region around, twenty or thirty miles in circuit.

The clergymen cheerfully and earnestly labored to do the people in their neighborhood, who had been totally neglected in their instruction, some good; and their labors were not fruitless.

The superior of the brotherhood was an episcopal clergyman, who always resided at the "Mission House."

They aimed at a more perfect life, by means