378 RURAL MICHIGAN 



as belonged to their tradition ; while their Teutonic 

 congeners, the Mennonites and Dunkards, were also 

 settled within the State. The Mennonites' eight 

 organizations in Michigan in 1916 still reported 

 509 members, while the branch called "Eeformed" 

 added 108 additional members. At "Holy Corners," 

 Kent County, they periodically washed each other's 

 feet in "the bucket of peace" until a narrow con- 

 servatism and rural simplicity and piety gave way 

 before the forces of modernity. The Israelite House 

 of David, near Benton Harbor, is a communistic 

 religious society, not restricted to Michigan, which 

 possesses a fine park and zoological garden, and lives 

 by agriculture and manufacturing and the income of 

 their tourist business. A portion of their agricul- 

 tural supplies is derived from High Island, Lake 

 Michigan. The observer notes their unshorn tresses, 

 while their belief in perpetual existence without 

 death for the sinless is a cardinal element in their 

 religious life. They are credited with exceptional 

 thrift and acumen. 



It scarcely requires comment that the salaries paid 

 to the ministers of the gospel in Michigan as well as 

 elsewhere are meagre. The census returns of 191') 

 place the average salary of a minister of the ^lethod- 

 ist Episcopal Church in Michigan at $1,1()0, which 

 readily suggests that pastors of rural parishes obtain 

 an income considerably short of this figure. Num- 

 bers of states make a far worse showing than Michi- 

 gan and some make a better report. The average 

 of Baptist salaries stood at $995 in Michigan; while 



