he had forgotten it--was actually healed. `My blood is at last
pure. The struggle between the natural and the unnatural is over,

and I am beyond the depraved influences of my former taste. My
instincts are now, therefore, entirely pure also. What is good for

man to eat, that I shall have a natural desire to eat: what is bad
will be naturally repelled. How does the cow distinguish between

the wholesome and the poisonous herbs of the meadow? And is man
less than a cow, that he cannot cultivate his instincts to an equal

point? Let me walk through the woods and I can tell you every
berry and root which God designed for food, though I know not its

name, and have never seen it before. I shall make use of my time,
during our sojourn here, to test, by my purified instinct, every

substance, animal, mineral, and vegetable, upon which the
human race subsists, and to create a catalogue of the True Food of

Man!'
"Abel was eloquent on this theme, and he silenced not only Eunice,

but the rest of us. Indeed, as we were all half infected with the
same delusions, it was not easy to answer his sophistries.

"After supper was over, the prospect of cleaning the dishes and
putting things in order was not so agreeable; but Mrs. Shelldrake

and Perkins undertook the work, and we did not think it necessary
to interfere with them. Half an hour afterwards, when the full

moon had risen, we took our chairs upon the sloop, to enjoy the
calm, silver night, the soft sea-air, and our summer's residence in

anticipatory talk.
"`My friends,' said Hollins (and HIS hobby, as you may remember,

Ned, was the organization of Society, rather than those reforms
which apply directly to the Individual),--`my friends, I think we

are sufficientlyadvanced in progressive ideas to establish our
little Arcadian community upon what I consider the true basis: not

Law, nor Custom, but the uncorrupted impulses of our nature. What
Abel said in regard to dietetic reform is true; but that alone will

not regenerate the race. We must rise superior to those
conventional ideas of Duty whereby Life is warped and crippled.

Life must not be a prison, where each one must come and go, work,
eat, and sleep, as the jailer commands. Labor must not be a

necessity, but a spontaneous joy. 'Tis true, but little labor
is required of us here: let us, therefore, have no set tasks, no

fixed rules, but each one work, rest, eat, sleep, talk or be
silent, as his own nature prompts.'

"Perkins, sitting on the steps, gave a suppressed chuckle, which I
think no one heard but myself. I was vexed with his levity, but,

nevertheless, gave him a warning nudge with my toe, in payment for
the surreptitious salt.

"`That's just the notion I had, when I first talked of our coming
here,' said Shelldrake. `Here we're alone and unhindered; and if

the plan shouldn't happen to work well (I don't see why it
shouldn't though), no harm will be done. I've had a deal of hard

work in my life, and I've been badgered and bullied so much by your
strait-laced professors, that I'm glad to get away from the world

for a spell, and talk and do rationally, without being laughed at.'
"`Yes,' answered Hollins, `and if we succeed, as I feel we shall,

for I think I know the hearts of all of us here, this may be the
commencement of a new EEpoch for the world. We may become the

turning-point between two dispensations: behind us every thing
false and unnatural, before us every thing true, beautiful, and

good.'
"`Ah,' sighed Miss Ringtop, `it reminds me of Gamaliel J.

Gawthrop's beautiful lines:
"`Unrobed man is lying hoary

In the distance, gray and dead;
There no wreaths of godless glory

To his mist-like tresses wed,
And the foot-fall of the Ages

Reigns supreme, with noiseless tread.'
"`I am willing to try the experiment,' said I, on being appealed to

by Hollins; `but don't you think we had better observe some kind of
order, even in yielding every thing to impulse? Shouldn't there

be, at least, a platform, as the politicians call it--an agreement
by which we shall all be bound, and which we can afterwards exhibit

as the basis of our success?'
"He meditated a few moments, and then answered--

"`I think not. It resembles too much the thing we are trying to
overthrow. Can you bind a man's belief by making him sign certain

articles of Faith? No: his thought will be free, in spite of it;
and I would have Action--Life--as free as Thought. Our platform--

to adopt your image--has but one plank: Truth. Let each only be
true to himself: BE himself, ACT himself, or herself with the

uttermost candor. We can all agree upon that.'
"The agreement was accordingly made. And certainly no happier or

more hopeful human beings went to bed in all New England that
night.

"I arose with the sun, went into the garden, and commenced weeding,
intending to do my quota of work before breakfast, and then devote

the day to reading and conversation. I was presently joined by
Shelldrake and Mallory, and between us we finished the onions and

radishes, stuck the peas, and cleaned the alleys. Perkins, after
milking the cow and turning her out to pasture, assisted Mrs.

Shelldrake in the kitchen. At breakfast we were joined by Hollins,
who made no excuse for his easy morning habits; nor was one

expected. I may as well tell you now, though, that his
natural instincts never led him to work. After a week, when a

second crop of weeds was coming on, Mallory fell off also, and
thenceforth Shelldrake and myself had the entire charge of the

garden. Perkins did the rougher work, and was always on hand when
he was wanted. Very soon, however, I noticed that he was in the

habit of disappearing for two or three hours in the afternoon.
"Our meals preserved the same Spartan simplicity. Eunice, however,

carried her point in regard to the salad; for Abel, after tasting
and finding it very palatable, decided that oil and vinegar might

be classed in the catalogue of True Food. Indeed, his long
abstinence from piquant flavors gave him such an appetite for it

that our supply of lettuce was soon exhausted. An embarrassing
accident also favored us with the use of salt. Perkins happening

to move his knee at the moment I was dipping an onion into the
blacking-box lid, our supply was knocked upon the floor. He picked

it up, and we both hoped the accident might pass unnoticed. But
Abel, stretching his long neck across the corner of the table,

caught a glimpse of what was going on.
"`What's that?' he asked.

"`Oh, it's--it's only,' said I, seeking for a synonyme, `only
chloride of sodium!'

"`Chloride of sodium! what do you do with it?'
"`Eat it with onions,' said I, boldly: `it's a chemical substance,

but I believe it is found in some plants.'
"Eunice, who knew something of chemistry (she taught a class,

though you wouldn't think it), grew red with suppressed fun, but
the others were as ignorant as Abel Mallory himself.

"`Let me taste it,' said he, stretching out an onion.
"I handed him the box-lid, which still contained a portion of its

contents. He dipped the onion, bit off a piece, and chewed it
gravely.

"`Why,' said he, turning to me, `it's very much like salt.'
"Perkins burst into a spluttering yell, which discharged an onion-

top he had just put between his teeth across the table; Eunice and
I gave way at the same moment; and the others, catching the joke,

joined us. But while we were laughing, Abel was finishing his
onion, and the result was that Salt was added to the True Food, and

thereafter appeared regularly on the table.
"The forenoons we usually spent in reading and writing, each in his

or her chamber. (Oh, the journals, Ned!--but you shall not see