All these old people are so well
preserved, and have so free and wholesome an air, that intercourse with
them is not a slight argument to the visitor in favor of their simple
manner of life.
There is a council of seven persons, from among whom the trustees are
chosen.
It is a curious fact that among the hired people of the society, living
in Economy, are a number whom they adopted as children and brought up,
and who conform their lives in all respects, even to the celibate
condition, to the rules of the society, but prefer to labor for wages
rather than become members.
The society does not seek new members, though I am told it would not
refuse any who seemed to have a true vocation. As to its future, little
is said. The people look for the coming of the Lord; they await the
appearance of Christ in the heavens; and their chief aim is to be ready
for this great event, when they expect to be summoned to Palestine, to
be joined to the great crowd of the elect. Naturally there are not
wanting, among their neighbors in Pittsburgh, people who are tormented
with curiosity to know what is to become of the large property of the
Harmonists when these old people finally, in the course of nature, pass
away. "The Lord will show us a way," is the answer at Economy to such
inquiries.
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