nging to the Unity
are situated in larger and smaller cities and towns, intermingled with the
rest of the inhabitants, in which cases their peculiar regulations are, of
course, out of the question. In their separate communities, they do not
allow the permanent residence of any persons as householders who are not
members in full communion, and who have not signed the written instrument
of brotherly agreement, upon which their constitution and discipline rest;
but they freely admit of the temporary residence among them of such other
persons as are willing to conform to their external regulations. According
to these, all kinds of amusements considered dangerous to strict morality
are forbidden, as balls, dancing, plays, gambling of any kind, and all
promiscuous assemblies of youth of both sexes. These, however, are not
debarred from forming, under proper advice and parental superintendence,
that acquaintance which their future matrimonial connections may require.
In the communities on the European continent, whither, to this day,
numbers of young persons of both sexes resort, in order to become members
of the society from motives of piety and a desire to prepare themselves to
become missionaries among the heathen, and where, moreover, the
difficulties of supporting a family greatly limit the number of marriages,
a stricter attention to this point becomes necessary. On this account, the
unmarried men and boys, not belonging to the families of the community,
reside together, under the care of an elder of their own class, in a
building called the _single brethren's house_, where usually divers trades
and manufactures are carried on, for the benefit of the house or of the
community, and which, at the same time, furnishes a cheap and convenient
place for the board and lodging of those who are employed as journeymen,
apprentices, or otherwise, in the families constituting the community.
Particular daily opportunities of edification are there afforded them; and
such a house is the place of resort where the young men and boys of the
families spend their leisure time, it being a general rule, that every
member of the society shall devote himself to some useful occupation. A
similar house, under the guidance of a female superintendent, and under
similar regulations, is called the _single sisters' house_, and is the
common dwelling-place of all unmarried females, not members of any family,
or not employed as servants in the families of