st with
the American mode, which leaves the weeds to grow undisturbed among the
trees, and disregards entirely all regularity and beauty. He, on the
contrary, insisted no less on embellishment than on neatness and order;
and this was no vain boast. Carefully-kept walks led through the
grounds; verdant turf, flowerbeds and charming shady arbors met us at
every turn; there were long beds planted with flourishing currant,
raspberry and blackberry bushes, and large tracts set with rows of
bearing vines, on which luscious grapes hung invitingly. Order also
reigned among the fruit trees: here were several acres of nothing but
apples, again a plantation of pears or apricots, beneath which not a
weed was to be seen: the hoe and the rake had done their work
thoroughly. Everything was in the most perfect order: the courtgardener
of a German prince might have been proud of it.

We seated ourselves in a shady arbor, where the doctor entertained us
further with an account of his religious belief. He had, he said, no
fixed creed and no established religion: there were in the colony
Protestants, Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, indeed Christians of every
name, and even Jews. Every one was at liberty to hold what faith he
pleased: he preached only natural religion, and whoever shaped his life
according to that would be happy. After this he enlarged on the
prosperity of the colony, which was founded on the principles of natural
religion, and prosed about humility, love to our neighbor, kindness and
carrying religion into everything; and then back he came to Nature and
himself, until my head was perfectly bewildered. I had given up long
before this, in despair, any questions as to the interior organization
of the colony, for the doctor either gave me evasive answers or none at
all. His colonists, he asserted, loved him as a father, and he cared for
them accordingly: both these assertions were undoubtedly true. The deep
respect with which those whom we occasionally met lifted their hats to
"the doctor"--a form of greeting by no means universal in America--bore
witness to their unbounded esteem for him. Toward us also they demeaned
themselves with great respect, as to noble strangers whom the doctor
deigned to honor with his society. As to his care for them, no one who
witnessed it could deny the exceedingly flourishing condition of the
settlement. Whether, however, in all this the doctor had not a keen eye
to his own interest was an after