Some Sample Walks 69 



to the eating of flesh, it is needless, for all 

 its ingredients are in the soil. Beef con- 

 tains nothing that we do not find in vege- 

 tables. But animals have a right to their 

 lives, and I object to the murder." 



The little burial-ground to which the 

 mortal relics of these people are com- 

 mitted is almost unmarked, and Daniel Fra- 

 ser asked the use of gravestones, for of what 

 honor and value was dust ? The lives 

 and deeds of men were not buried. There 

 are in this village a serenity, prosperity, 

 and health that to the tired man of cities 

 ought to be delightful. Do the Shakers 

 prove communism possible, except on a 

 religious basis ? Industrial and intellectual 

 brotherhoods have not thriven as they 

 should. Will men be as just and work as 

 hard for each other's material welfare as 

 they will to reach heaven ? I do not know. 

 I can only say that as communists the 

 Shakers have proved their right to be. 

 Said Elder Evans, since gathered to the 

 faithful, "This is an earthly heaven. I 

 could live here forever." 



