vated the spirit of meekness,
"Thou art as good as the formerly rich and fortunate; insist upon
your equality." It reminded the former favorites of society of
their lost superiority, and despite all rules tinctured their words
and actions with "airs" and conceit. Similar thoughts and feelings
soon arose among the men; and though not so soon exhibited they
were none the less deep and strong. Suffice it to say, that at the
end of three months--three months!--the leading minds in the
Community were compelled to acknowledge to one another that the
social life of the Community could not be bounded by a single
circle. They therefore acquiesced, though reluctantly, to its
division into many. But they still hoped, and many of them no doubt
believed, that though social equality was a failure, community of
property was not. Whether the law of mine and thine is natural or
incidental in human character, it soon began to develop its sway.
The industrious, the skilful and the strong saw the product of
their labor enjoyed by the indolent, the unskilled and the
improvident; and self-love rose against benevolence. A band of
musicians thought their brassy harmony was as necessary to the
common happiness as bread and meat, and declined to enter the
harvest-field or the workshop. A lecturer upon natural science
insisted upon talking while others worked. Mechanics, whose single
day's labor brought two dollars into the common stock, insisted
that they should in justice work only half as long as the
agriculturist, whose day's work brought but one.

Of course, for a while, these jealousies were concealed, but soon
they began to be expressed. It was useless to remind all parties
that the common labor of all ministered to the prosperity of the
Community. Individual happiness was the law of Nature and it could
not be obliterated. And before a single year had passed, this law
had scattered the members of that society which had come together
so earnestly and under such favorable circumstances, and driven
them back into the selfish world from which they came.

The writer of this sketch has since heard the history of that
eventful year reviewed with honesty and earnestness by the best men
and most intelligent parties of that unfortunate social experiment.
They admitted the