The motives which bring individuals there,
may be as various as their numbers. In fact, the present residents are
divisible into three distinct classes; and if the majority in numbers
were considered, it is possible that a vote in favor of self-sacrifice
for the common good would not be very strongly carried.
The leading portion of the adult inmates, they whose presence imparts
the greatest peculiarity and the fraternal tone to the household,
believe that an improved state of existence would be developed in
Association, and are therefore anxious to promote it. Another class
consists of those who join with the view of bettering their condition,
by being exempt from some portion of worldly strife. The third portion
comprises those who have their own development or education for their
principal object.
Practically, too, the institution manifests a threefold improvement
over the world at large, corresponding to these three motives. In
consequence of the first, the companionship, the personal intercourse,
the social bearing, are of a marked and very superior character. There
may possibly to some minds, long accustomed to other modes, appear a
want of homeness and of the private fireside; but all observers must
acknowledge a brotherly and softening condition, highly conducive to
the permanent and pleasant growth of all the better human qualities.
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