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Show THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY AND ITS FOUNDER. It ia thirty years since John Humphrey Hum-phrey Noyes, with a band of for y converts, driven out of New England, established the Oneida community. The peculiar institution which baa grown up and flourished on the fertile soil of Lennox: ia, in every eeential respect, the work of this remarkable man. in its social, theological and industrial systems, the Oneida community com-munity had its origin in the braiD and the energy of John Humphrey Noyes. He not only framed i'.s crceda, but he alone has ben authority author-ity in expounding them. His word has been the community law and gospel. gos-pel. The absolute authority he has claimed and his fellow communists ' have conceded, the firm, practical, Bhrewd manner in which he has exercised exer-cised this authority these are the sole secrets of the Bucccas which hs followed the community ever since it took root upon New York soil in IS 13. However much the doctrines of the Oneida perfectionists may differ from those of the Mormons, their unity of purpoee and developement of reionrce are due to the same cause. In tbe one cao, it is the personality of Brig ham Yuung uniting church and state thathaa preserved from discord and disintegration. Iu the other ewe it is the personality of Juhn Hum-phrf-y Noyes Liat has achieved t le same end. IIo is the Mohammed, the prophet, the man-God, tho fr-uo-tain-ucid, the it rat and last resort. 1 Erpeiimeuts of this- peculiar character charac-ter are not apt, as huxan nature . lung, to long turviva the Je;tth of j their founder and leading ppirita. A ! new epoch in the history of the ! Oneida community may liu-ref-jre I e I eaid to hafe bugun when Juun Hum-i Hum-i phrpy Noyes resigned its ' presidency'' presi-dency'' the other day, and wad auc ceedfcd by his eldest eon, Theodore Richard Noyes. The retiring preai dent ie not an old mau, in the popular popu-lar estimate of age. He was born in 1811; ai;d at sixty bir, wiih a vigT-cus vigT-cus constitution and a noteworthy vitality aud energy, h may he sup-pu?d sup-pu?d to uavo still I m-tore him a long and active life Wu mut look to other causes than the fear of approaching ap-proaching demli to account for hie resignation. Iu fact, if not in name, Mr. Noyea will still ba tho autocrat of tho community. M-an while the d (Tellers there will become accustomed accus-tomed to the authority of hia aon. When dth finally comes to the father, this uutliorily will probably have had time to hbcome as despotic and unquestioned as th.it f the founder has buen, and the succesaion will thus bo btahliahe l without danger of collision ur fear of disintegration. For the Oneida community there ia but one John Humphrey Nyee. It haa reached the zenith of its prosperity pros-perity under the impuUe of his guiding guid-ing mind and hand; its decay aud disintegration will have begun when those are finally removed. It ia the supremacy of tho single intellect which makes such abnormal eatab lishmouls possible. The writings of Noyes furnish no key lu tho real secret of the Oneida j cominuuiLy'a biiccena. Its peouliar religious tenets, its still more peculiar social teuents, have nothing t do with that success. It has held to -net her. it haa accumulated broad I acres and a large bank account, it haa built fineuildings and commanded ready markets for ita goods and manufactures, not because of ita religiuu or its communism, but in spite of them. Remove the fihrewd and practical administration, the strict discipline, the perfect obedience which the founder has been able to command, and the wholo institution hs dulivercd over to the dry rot. These can not always remain to it, and the thirty years of prosperity which the community noatis are nu uvmouo permanency, nro no vindication i the theories that prosperity haa kept alive. The history ol the world if filled with tin) rocurd of similar eipirimonts. 't'hev have lasted, aume longer and some shorter, than ihia one; but they have all served finally to enfor:e the name moral which the Oneida community ruuat I onforue. Uiica (N. Y.) Herald. |