Page:Maria Felicia.pdf/183

 the Union, to renounce all their claims to titles, and place themselves on a level with the Brethren. The rich were also excluded from their Union, because, said the Brethren, wealth ruins the mind; wealth makes a man proud, lazy, avaricious; abundance makes a man willful; wealth makes a man covetous, and a desire for possessions is the cause of all evil deeds; and besides, it was considered inappropriate for a thing so transient and insignificant as earthly possessions to dominate over human intellect and soul. The Brethren held no personal property; the lands of the members were one common possession, to which from time to time were added new estates as new members joined the society and transferred their property to the Union; and the whole was divided for cultivation and use among families according to the number of heads. The more heads, the more wants, but at the same time there were more hands to work. By this arrangement the Brethren avoided servitude; the children of large, poor families were not obliged to look for