RELIGION, EDUCATION, FINE ARTS. 



525 



of the Community are held in a sense to be 

 married to each other. This has led to the 

 charge being made against them of being 

 "free-lovers"; but, says one writer, "The 

 system, as regulated by the ' principle of sym- 

 pathy ' and controlled by that free public 

 opinion which constitutes the supreme govern- 

 ment of the society, is far from being ame- 

 nable to the reproach of immorality in any 

 sense of the word." The Community reject 

 all rules of conduct except those which each 

 believer formulates for himself, subject to the 

 free criticism of his associates. They hold 

 that the Mosaic law and ordinances were abro- 

 gated by the second coming of Christ, which 

 they place at A. D. 70, and at which time the 

 reign of sin was concluded ; and true believers 

 have since been free to follow the indications 

 of the Holy Spirit in all things, nothing being 

 good or bad in itself. While all the males and 

 females are united by a " complex marriage," 

 their intercourse which, in theory, is un- 

 fettered by any law is, in practice, subject to 

 a good deal of regulation. Like everything 

 else, it is subject to the opinion of the society, 

 and certain principles have been so steadily ap- 

 plied to it that they have gained the force of 

 laws. First, there is the principle of the as- 

 cending fellowship. There should be contrast, 

 the Perfectionists say, between those who be- 

 come united in love. That there should be 

 differences of temperament and of complexion 

 has, they say, been well ascertained by phys- 

 iologists. They hold that there should be a 

 difference in age also, so that the young and 

 passionate may be united to those who have, 

 by experience, gained self-control. In virtue 

 of this principle, the younger women fall to 

 the older men. and the younger men to 

 the older women. A second principle is 

 that there should be no exclusive attachment 

 between individuals ; a third, that persons 

 should not be obliged to receive the attentions 

 of those whom they do not like ; and, lastly, it 

 is held indispensable that connections should 

 be formed through the agency of a third party ; 

 because, without this, the question of their 

 propriety might be open to criticism, and also 

 because this affords the lady an easy opportu- 

 nity of declining. 



Pagodas are in most instances pyramidal- 

 shaped temples consisting of various layers of 

 stones piled one upon another in successive reces- 

 sion, and covered all over with the richest orna- 

 mentation. They are among the most remark- 

 able monuments of Hindoo architecture. The 

 pilasters and columns, which take a prominent 

 rank in the ornamental portion of these tem- 

 ples, show the greatest variety of forms ; some 

 pagodas are also overlaid with strips of cop- 



per, having the appearance of gold. Though 

 the word pagoda is used to designate but the 

 temple, it is in reality an aggregate of various 

 monuments, which in their totality constitute 

 the holy place sacred to the god. Sanctuaries, 

 porches, colonnades, gateways, walls, tanks, 

 etc., are generally combined for this purpose 

 according to a plan which is more or less uni- 

 form. Several series of walls form an inclo- 

 sure ; between them are alleys, habitations for 

 the priests, etc. ; and the interior is occupied 

 by the temple itself, with buildings for the 

 pilgrims, tanks, porticoes, and open colon- 

 nades. The walls have, at their openings, large 

 pyramidal gateways higher than themselves, 

 and so constructed that the gateway of the 

 outer wall is always higher than that of the 

 succeeding inner wall. These gateways are 

 pyramidal buildings of the most elaborate 

 workmanship, and consist of several, some- 

 times as many as fifteen, stories. The pagoda 

 of Chalambron, in Tanjore, is one of the most 

 celebrated and most sacred of these monu- 

 ments in India. The buildings of which this 

 pagoda is composed cover an oblong square 

 360 feet long and 210 wide. The pagodas of 

 Juggernaut on the north end of the coast of 

 Coromandel are three in number, and are sur- 

 rounded by a wall of black stone, whence they 

 are called by Europeans the Black Pagodas. 

 The height of the principal one is said to be 

 344 feet ; according to some, however, it does 

 not exceed 120-123 feet. The term pagoda is 

 also applied, but not correctly, to those Chinese 

 buildings of a tower form, as the Porcelain 

 Tower of Nanking. These buildings differ 

 materially from the Hindoo pagodas, not only 

 as regards their style and exterior appearance, 

 but inasmuch as they are buildings intended 

 for other than religious purposes. The word 

 pagoda is, according to some, a corruption of 

 the Sanskrit word bhagavata, from bhagavat, 

 sacred ; but according to others, a corruption 

 of put-gada, from the Persian put, idol, and 

 gada, house. 



Hampshire Shakers. This community 

 of Shakers settled in the New Forest, near 

 Lymington, Hampshire, England, in 1872 or 

 1873, and consisted of eighty-three persons. 

 Their leader, a Mrs. Girling, wife of an Ips- 

 wich builder, declared herself to be the woman 

 of the twelfth chapter of Revelations, who was 

 " clothed with the sun, and the moon under 

 her feet." These Girlingites, or Bible Chris- 

 tians, as they called themselves, believed that 

 the earth and the fullness thereof belonged to 

 the elect, and that they were the elect. They 

 professed to take the literal scriptures for their 

 guide in all things, yet were so little inclined 

 to earn their bread by the eweat of their 



