Alamo Ranch Part 7

"In the spring," said Leon Starr, parodying Tennyson one morning at the breakfast-table, "the Koshare fancy lightly turns to thoughts of Shalam.

Why not make to-day our long-planned excursion to that famous colony?"

"All right," responded the entire Koshare; and that afternoon a party of twelve set out from Alamo Ranch to explore that remarkable colony, some seven miles up the valley.

A description of the place and an account of this excursion is copied verbatim by the present writer from the journal of one of the party.

"To begin at the beginning," says the narrator, "the colony was started by one Dr. ----, a dentist from Philadelphia. He enlisted as a partner in his enterprise a man from that region of fads--Boston, Ma.s.s. To this chimera of the doctor's brain, the latter, a man of means, lent his approval, and, still more to the point, the money to carry out the doctor's plans.

"Some few years ago the original founder of Shalam died, leaving to his partner the work of carrying out his half-tried experiment.

"Mr. ---- lived on in the place, a.s.suming its entire charge, and finally marrying the doctor's widow,--a lady of unusual culture and refinement, but having a bent towards occult fads, as Spiritualism, Mental Science, and their like.

"Well, we arrived safely at Shalam, and were met by Mrs. ---- and a dozen or more tow-headed kids. It is noticeable that the whole twenty-seven children selected for this experiment have light hair and blue eyes. Mrs. ---- kindly presented us to her husband,--apparently a man of refined natural tendencies and fair intellectual culture, but evidently, like 'Miss Flite,' 'a little _m-m_, you know.'

"Conventionally clothed, Mr. ---- would undoubtedly have been more than presentable; in his Shalam undress suit he was, to say the least, unique.

"His long, heavy beard was somewhat unkempt. His feet were in sandals, without stockings. His dress consisted of a pair of white cotton pants, and a blouse of the same material, frogged together with blue tape, the ends hanging down over his left leg. Hitched somehow to his girdle was a plain watch-chain, which led to a pocket for his watch, on the front of his left thigh, placed just above the knee. When he wants time he raises the knee and takes out the watch, standing on one leg the while.

"The place is beautifully situated on the banks of the Rio Grande, with a range of high mountains across the river.

"It consists of two parts: 'Leontica,' a village for the workers, where they have many nice cottages, an artesian well for irrigation, and a big steam pump to force the water through all the ditches; Shalam, the home of the children, has a big tank, with six windmills pumping water into it all the time. Near the tank is the dormitory,--a building about one hundred and fifty feet in dimension. Through its middle runs a large hall for the kids to gambol in. On each side are rooms for the attendants and the larger children.

"Chiefly noticeable was the cleanliness of the hall, and the signs over the doors of the chambers, each with its motto, a text from '_Oahspe_,'--the Shalam bible.

"At each end of the hall was a big sign, reading thus: '_Do not kiss the children._' As none of them were especially attractive, this command seemed quite superfluous. After looking over the dormitory, we were led to the main building, projected by the late Dr. ----. This encloses a court about one hundred and fifty feet by sixty in size, and planted with fig trees.

"The front of the building is taken up by the library of the doctor; on the opposite side is his picture gallery.

"Rooms or cells for the accommodation of guests occupy the long sides of this structure.

"I was cordially invited to occupy one of these; but the place is too creepy for me! The pictures in the gallery were all done by the deceased doctor, under the immediate direction of his 'spirit friends.' To look at them (believing this) is to be a.s.sured that artists do not go to heaven, since not even the poorest defunct painter would have perpetrated such monstrosities.

"They all represent characters and scenes from the doctor's bible,--known as Oahspe, and written by him at the dictation of spirits.

The drawing is horrible, the coloring worse; and no drunkard with delirium tremens could have conceived more frightful subjects!

"Mr. ----, the doctor's successor, is a curious compound of crank and common-sense; the latter evinced by his corral and cattle, which we next visited. I have never seen so fine a corral nor such handsome horses and cattle. They are all blooded stock; many of the cows and calves having come from the farm of Governor Morton, in New York State. The cows were beautiful, gentle creatures; one of them is the largest 'critter' I ever saw, weighing no less than fifteen hundred pounds!

"The county authorities--scandalized by the meagreness of the Shalam bill of fare--compelled Mr. ---- to enrich the children's diet with milk, and, thus officially prodded, he is trying to give them the best in the land.

"The stock department of Shalam seems to be his undivided charge; while Mrs. ---- manages the garden. She kindly showed us all over it; and it is a beauty! With water flowing all through it, celery, salisfy, and lettuce all ready to eat, and other vegetables growing finely. She gave us a half bushel of excellent lettuce, which we all enjoyed.

"The Shalam idea is to take these children from all parts of the country, to bring them up in accordance with its own dietetic fad (which in many respects corresponds with that of our own dream-led Alcott), feeding them exclusively on a vegetable diet so that they won't develop carnal and combative tendencies, and thus start from them a new and improved race. Will they succeed? G.o.d knows; but they seem to have started wrong; for the children are largely the offspring of outcasts, and you can't expect grapes from thistle seed. However, Mr. ---- and Mrs. ---- are both sincere, kind-hearted reformers, trying to do what they think right in their own peculiar way. They are doing no harm by their experiment--hurting no one; and if the children turn out badly, it is no worse than they would if left alone; and if well, it is a distinct triumph of brain over beastliness. It may be well to state that no _materia medica_ is tolerated at Shalam. The health of the colony is entrusted absolutely to the 'tender mercies' of mental healing. Mr. ---- is himself the picture of health, and says he does not know what it is to feel tired. ('They that be whole need no physician!') As for the Lady of Shalam, there is a look in her face that led me to think she was deadly tired of the whole business, but was too loyal either to her dead or living husband to 'cry quits.'

"These children know not the taste of physic. All their ailments are treated in strict accordance with Mental Science. They eat no eggs, fish, or other animal matter, save the county-prescribed milk, living solely on grains, vegetables, and fruits; and it must be said that they all look extremely healthy. Mr. ---- informs us that he rises daily at three A.M., goes directly to his corral and milks, comes in a little after four and prepares the children's breakfast. They are called at four forty-five, and breakfast at five. At five thirty devotional exercises begin, and last until six thirty, when the father of Shalam goes out and starts the hands on the farm. At eight the children begin lessons or some kind of mental training, which lasts till dinner time.

"After dinner they run wild for the rest of the day.

"We left Shalam at about five P.M. On the homeward drive we discussed this odd colony, and compared notes on what we had observed. An irreverent member of the party thus summed up the whole business in his own slangy fas.h.i.+on,--'a man who all winter long prances round in pajamas, making folks s.h.i.+ver to look at him, ought to be put in an insane asylum.' So there you have his side of the question.

"The original founder of Shalam, Dr. ----, not only aspired to be a painter, but, as an author, flew the highest kind of a kite, giving to the world no less than a new bible.

"A glimpse at its high-sounding prospectus will scarce incite in the sane and sober mind a desire to peruse a revelation whose absurdity and fantastic a.s.sumption leaves the Mormon bible far behind, and before whose 'hand and glove' acquaintance with the 'undiscovered country'

Swedenborg himself must needs hide his diminished head.

"Thus it runs: '_Oahspe_; a new Bible in the words of Jehovih and his Angel Emba.s.sadors. A synopsis of the Cosmogony of the Universe; the creation of planets; the creation of man; the unseen worlds; the labor and glory of G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses in the etherean heavens with the new commandments of Jehovih to man of the present day. With revelations from the second resurrection, found in words in the thirty-third year of the Kosmon Era.'

"Oahspe's claims are thus _moderate_: 'As in all other bibles it is revealed that this world was created, so in _this_ bible it is revealed _how_ the Creator _created_ it. As other bibles have proclaimed heavens for the spirits of the dead, behold _this_ bible revealeth _where_ these heavens _are_.'

"Oahspe also kindly informs us 'how h.e.l.ls are made, and of what material,' and how the sinner is in them mainly punished by the forced inhalement of 'foul smells,'--so diabolically foul are these that one is fain to hold the nose in the bare reading of them!

"'There is,' declares Oahspe, 'no such law as Evolution. There is no law of Selection.' A vegetarian diet is inculcated; and we are gravely informed that 'the spirit man takes his place in the first heaven according to his _diet_ while on earth!'

"A plan for the founding of 'Jehovih's Kingdom on earth through little children' is given. This 'sacred history' claims to cover in its entirety no less a period of time than eighty-one thousand years. At quarter-past six," concludes our informant, "we arrived, tired and hungry, but glad to have gone, and glad to get back, leaving behind us Shalam, with its spirit picture-gallery and its fantastic Oahspe, for the more stable verities of commonplace existence."

CHAPTER XI

It was on Friday that the Koshare made their little excursion to the Shalam settlement, and the next evening they gathered in full force,--with the exception of the Hemmenshaws and the Harvard man, who still remained at Hilton Ranch, losing thereby two of the most interesting of the Antiquary's papers; but "time and tide" and Sat.u.r.day clubs "stay for no man," and now came the second Aztec paper.

"The Aztec government," began Mr. Morehouse, "in a few minor points is said to have borne some resemblance to the aristocratic system evolved by the higher civilization of the Middle Ages.

"Beyond a few accidental forms and ceremonies, the correspondence was, however, of the slightest. The legislative power both in Mexico and Tezcuco had this feature of despotism; it rested wholly with the monarch. The const.i.tution of the judicial tribunals in some degree counteracted the evil tendency of this despotism. Supreme judges appointed over each of the princ.i.p.al cities by the crown had original and final jurisdiction over both civil and criminal cases. From the sentence of such a judge there was no appeal to any other tribunal, not even to that of the King.

"It is worthy of notice as showing that some sense of justice is inborn; as even among this comparatively rude people we read that under a Tezcucan prince a judge was put to death for taking a bribe, and another for determining suits in his own house (a capital offence also, by law.) According to a national chronicler, the statement of the case, the testimony, and proceedings of the trial were all set forth by a clerk, in hieroglyphical paintings, and handed to the court.

"In Montezuma's day the tardiness of legal processes must have gone miles beyond the red tape of a nineteenth-century court of justice.

"This vivid picture of the pomp and circ.u.mstance attendant upon the confirmation of a capital sentence by the king is presented by one of the Mexican native chroniclers:

"'The King, attended by fourteen great lords of the realm, pa.s.sed into one of the halls of justice opening from the courtyard of the palace, which was called "the tribunal of G.o.d," and was furnished with a throne of pure gold, inlaid with turquoises and other precious stones.

"'The walls were hung with tapestry, made of the hair of different wild animals, of rich and various colors, festooned by gold rings, and embroidered with figures of birds and flowers. Putting on his mitred crown, incrusted with precious stones, and holding, by way of sceptre, a golden arrow in his left hand, the King laid his right upon a human skull, placed for the occasion on a stool before the throne, and p.r.o.nounced judgment. No counsel was employed and no jury. The case had been stated by plaintiff and defendant, and, as with us, supported on either side by witnesses. The oath of the accused was, with the Aztecs, also admitted in evidence.

"'The great crimes against society were all made capital.

"'Among them murder (even of a slave) was punishable with death.

Adulterers, as among the Jews, were stoned to death. Thieving, according to the degree of the offence, was punished with slavery or death. It was a capital offence to remove the boundaries of an estate, and for a guardian not to be able to give a good account of his ward's property.

"'Prodigals, who squandered their patrimony, were punished. Intemperance in the young was punished with death; in older persons, with loss of rank, and confiscation of property.

"'The marriage inst.i.tution was held in reverence among the Aztecs, and its rites celebrated with formality. Polygamy was permitted; but divorces were not easily obtainable. Slavery was sanctioned among the ancient Mexicans, but with this distinction unknown to any civilized slave-holding community: no one could be _born_ to slavery. The _children_ of the slave were _free_. Criminals, public debtors, persons who from extreme poverty voluntarily resigned their freedom, and children who were sold by their parents through poverty, const.i.tuted one cla.s.s of slaves. These were allowed to have their own families, to hold property, and even other slaves. Prisoners taken in war were held as slaves, and were almost invariably devoted to the dreadful doom of sacrifice. A refractory or vicious slave might be led into the market with a collar round his neck, as an indication of his badness, and there publicly sold. If incorrigible, a second sale devoted him to sacrifice.

"'Thus severe, almost ferocious, was the Aztec code, framed by a comparatively rude people, who relied rather on physical than moral means for the correction of evil. In its profound respect for the cardinal principles of morality, and a clear perception of human justice, it may favorably compare with that of most civilized nations.'

"'In Mexico,' says Prescott, 'as in Egypt, the soldier shared with the priest the highest consideration. The King must be an experienced warrior. The tutelary deity of the Aztecs was the G.o.d of war. The great object of their military expeditions was to gather hecatombs of captives for his altars.' The Aztec, like the (so-called) _Christian crusader_, invoked the holy name of religion as a motive for the perpetration of human butchery. He, too, after his own crude fas.h.i.+on, had his order of knighthood as the reward of military prowess. Whoever had not reached it was debarred from using ornaments on his arms or on his person, and was obliged to wear a coa.r.s.e white stuff, made from the threads of the aloe, called _nequen_. Even the members of the royal family were not excepted from this law. As in Christian knighthood, plain armor and a s.h.i.+eld without device were worn till the soldier had achieved some doughty feat of chivalry. After twenty brilliant actions officers might shave their heads, and had, moreover, won the fantastic privilege of painting half of the face red and the other half yellow. The panoply of the higher warriors is thus described. Their bodies were clothed with a close vest of quilted cotton, so thick as to be impenetrable to the light missiles of Indian warfare. This garment was found so light and serviceable that it was adopted by the Spaniards.