The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 103, May, 1866 | Page 9

bright-colored silk handkerchief crossed over the breast,
the whole surmounted by a straw hat, with a rim of immense width.
They do not carry on the manufactures of silk or woollen now, which
were Rapp's boast; they have "struck oil" instead, and are among the
most successful and skillful land-owners in Pennsylvania in the search
for that uncertain source of wealth.
The "Economite Wells" are on the Upper Alleghany, nearly opposite
Tidionte. In later years, I believe, children have been brought into the
society to be cared for by the women.

It needs no second-sight to discern the end of Rapp's scheme. His
single strength sustained the colony during his life, and since his death
one or two strong wills have kept it from crumbling to pieces,
converting the whole machinery of his system into a powerful
money-making agent. These men are the hand by which it keeps its
hold on the world,--or the market, perhaps I should say. They are
intelligent and able; honorable too, we are glad to know, for the sake of
the quiet creatures drowsing away their little remnant of life, fat and
contented, driving their ploughs through the fields, or smoking on the
stoops of the village houses when evening comes. I wonder if they ever
cast a furtive glance at the world and life from which Rapp's will so
early shut them out? When they finish smoking, one by one, the great
revenues of the society will probably fall into the hands of two or three
active survivors, and be merged into the small currents of trade,
according to the rapid sequence which always follows the accretion of
large properties in this country.
Rapp is remembered, already, even by the people whom he meant to
serve, only as a harsh and tyrannical ruler, and his very scheme will not
only prove futile, but be forgotten very soon after Fredrika and Joseph
have drank their last cup of home-made wine, and gone to sleep under
the trees in the apple-orchard.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Vide Trustees of Harmony Society vs. Nachtrieb, 19 Howard, U. S.
Reports, p. 126, Campbell, J.
[B] Schreiber vs. Rapp, 5 Watts, 836, Gibson, C. J.

ABRAHAM DAVENPORT.
In the old days (a custom laid aside With breeches and cocked hats) the
people sent Their wisest men to make the public laws. And so, from a
brown homestead, where the Sound Drinks the small tribute of the
Mianas, Waved over by the woods of Rippowams, And hallowed by

pure lives and tranquil deaths, Stamford sent up to the councils of the
State Wisdom and grace in Abraham Davenport.
'Twas on a May-day of the far old year Seventeen hundred eighty, that
there fell Over the bloom and sweet life of the Spring, Over the fresh
earth and the heaven of noon, A horror of great darkness, like the night
In day of which the Norland sagas tell,-- The Twilight of the Gods. The
low-hung sky Was black with ominous clouds, save where its rim Was
fringed with a dull glow, like that which climbs The crater's sides from
the red hell below. Birds ceased to sing, and all the barn-yard fowls
Roosted; the cattle at the pasture bars Lowed, and looked homeward;
bats on leathern wings Flitted abroad; the sounds of labor died; Men
prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp To hear the doom-blast of
the trumpet shatter The black sky, that the dreadful face of Christ
Might look from the rent clouds, not as he looked A loving guest at
Bethany, but stern As Justice and inexorable Law.
Meanwhile in the old State-House, dim as ghosts, Sat the lawgivers of
Connecticut, Trembling beneath their legislative robes. "It is the Lord's
Great Day! Let us adjourn," Some said; and then, as if with one accord,
All eyes were turned to Abraham Davenport. He rose, slow cleaving
with his steady voice The intolerable hush. "This well may be The Day
of Judgment which the world awaits; But be it so or not, I only know
My present duty, and my Lord's command To occupy till he come. So
at the post Where he hath set me in his providence, I choose, for one, to
meet him face to face,-- No faithless servant frightened from my task,
But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls; And therefore, with all
reverence, I would say, Let God do his work, we will see to ours. Bring
in the candles." And they brought them in.
Then by the flaring lights the Speaker read, Albeit with husky voice
and shaking hands, An act to amend an act to regulate The shad and
alewive fisheries. Whereupon Wisely and well spake Abraham
Davenport, Straight to the question, with no figures of speech Save the
nine Arab signs, yet not