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Show 4-56 TRAVELS THROUGH THE UNITED STATES: p:tny th~..:ir hymns, hcfidcs, with violonc llos, violins, flutes, &c. Th \ hole foci ·ty attends the chnrch on a Snnday, and whcu any one of the focicty eli s, all the remaining members attend hi funer.:tl, which is conduClcd with gr at fulemnity, though with little pomp: they neve:· go in to mournillP· for their departed friends. Ev ry houfe in the town is fupplied with an abundat ce of t.:xcelh:nt ·water from a fj11 ing, which is forccJ through pipes by means of <ln hydraulic machine workcll by water, and which i fitu.1ted on the b .nk of the cre~..:k. Some of the houfes arc fu pplied with water in every room . The nuchin is v ry i1mpl ·, and would eafily raife the water of the fpring, if nccci ~try, fevcral hundred feet. The fpring from whence the houfes are fupplied with wat r Hand. nc;nly in the center of the town, and over it, a hrge flo 1e houfe with ·cry thicl· walls, is retlcd. Houfes like this are very common in America ; they arc called fpring houfe and are built for the purpofe of prei:.. rving· meat, milk, butter, &c. during the heats of fummer. This fpring houfe in Bethlehem is common to the whole town; a fhelf or board in it is allotted Lo each family, and though there is no watch placed over it, and the door be only fecured by a latch, yet every pcrfon is certain of finding, when ~e comes for it, his plate of butter or bowl of milk, &c. exactly in the fame fi:ate as when he put it in. The Mocavians fl:udy to render th ir conduCt ftritl:ly conformable to the principles of the Chriilian religion; but very different notions, notwithll: anding, are, and, no doubt, will be entertained refpetling fame of their tenets. Every unprejudiced perfon, however, that has vifited their fettlements mufl: ackno .vledge, that their mon 1 conduct is truly excellent, and is fuch as would, if generally adopted, n , ke men happy in the extreme. They live together like member of one large family; the moil: perfeCt harmony fubfifl:s b ·tween them, and they fe 11 to have but one wiili at heart, the propagation of the gofpd, and the gootl of mankind. They arc in general of a grave turn of mind; but nothing of that il:.iffne.fi, OJ' of that affeCted fingularity, or pride, as I will call it, prevalent amongft the ~akcr , is obfcrvable in their m~nners. Wherever their fociety has extended itfelf in America, the ~1ofl happy confcqu~:n cs M 0 RAVIA N S. 457 onf·qL cnccs have rcfulted from jt- good order :m-' . 1 · I . _ ' • u 1 egn anty 1:1 Vt! become confp1cuous m the behaviour of the people of t!1< : ne1· g Il bo ur 11 oo.uJ , and arL and manufaf.turC' have been intra luccd into the LOuntry. As the whole of the plot of ground, on which H:..:thkhem fiands, belongs to the foci~ty, as well a the lands for a confiderablc way roun~l the town, the Moravta!ls here arc not liable to be trouhled by intruders, but' any perfon that will confo ·m to thei r line of condutl: will be received intu their focit.:ty with rcadinc!s anJ ordiality. They appeared to take the_ greatcCl: dclig~1t in !hewing us their town, and every thing belonging to It, and at panmg brncnteJ much that we could not fi-ay longer with them, to fee ftill more of the manners and habits of the focicty. They do not feem deGrous of adding to the number of houft:s in Det11_ lehem; but whenever there is an incrcafe of people, they fend them olf to another part of the country, there to form a new fcttkment. Since Bethlehem \Va founded, they have eftablilhcd two othn towns in P nnfylvania, Nazareth ancl Letitz. The former of thdl.! fiands at the ctifl:ance of abont ten miles from Bethlehem, and in coming down from the Blue Mountain you pa.fi through it; .it is about half the fize of Bethleh m, and built much on the fame plan. Lctit2 is fituated at a iflance of about ten miles from Lancafl:er. 'fhc ountry for many miles round Bethlehem is mofl: pk1fingly divcrfified with rifing grounds; the foil i rich, and better cultivJ.tcd than any part of America I before f1w. Until within a few y'ars p::til: this n ighbourhoo l has be ll difl.inguiilH.:J. fur the 1:tlubrity or its climate, but fever.,, chiefly bilious and intermittent, have incn:afcd to a very great dcgre of late, and, indeed, not only h rc, but in many other parts of Pcnnfylvania, which have been loug fettlcd. During the lafl aurnmn, more people fuffer d from fickncfs in the well cultiv,ttcd parts of the conntrv than had ever been remembered. Various reafons ' have been affigncd for this increafe of fevers in Pcnnfylvani:t, but it appears moil: probably to be owing to the .unequal quantities of min that have f;1Jlcn of late years, and to the unprecedented mildnefs of the wmters. .") Bethlehem |