68 With Feet to the Earth 



is a book of the morals, philosophy, his- 

 tory, and pretty bad science of the Jews. 

 Our souls used to be tired within us when 

 the world's people came here and argued 

 about three gods in one, and the atone- 

 ment and those orthodox ideas. Shaker- 

 ism combines science, religion, and inspi- 

 ration. It is practical religion. We live 

 as families, each member doing his share 

 of work, all mutually helpful, we own all 

 things in common, we discountenance 

 war, we do not go to law, we do not 

 vote, we are celibates, we use only 'yea' 

 and 'nay' for affirmative and negative" 

 (they pronounce them "yee" and "nee"), 

 "we aim to be just, we do not swear, and 

 we keep clean. We believe in marriage, 

 but only for the continuance of the race. 

 All men cannot be Shakers, nor do we 

 wish them to be. With marriage came 

 private property, with that came wran- 

 gling, and with wrangling came war. Our 

 communism is that of Moses. Private 

 property in land a pernicious thing is 

 new. It is outrageous that one man should 

 absorb thousands of acres to himself. As 







