education" was a duty of the Association--an education not of the mind
alone, but of the hands, heart and affections--coincided exactly with
Fourier, and it was easy to adopt his motto of "_coöperative
labor_," for they had already adopted the principle; also
"_association of families_," for that had been agreed on. It was
easy to adopt his formula of "_honors according to usefulness_";
they believed in it.

Usefulness, not wealth, station or any artificial distinction, was to
receive the highest rank and the greatest honors and favors from the
body politic. It might be an invention of the mind; it might be some
Herculean or disagreeable labor of the body, or it might be some
enthusiasm imparted from some brilliant soul, that would win the honor;
but it could be given to none except those who had won it by superior
usefulness, whether that usefulness came from doing the work in the
"sacred legion"--who were a body of persons who did unattractive work
from a sense of duty--or in any other body or group.

It was easy to adopt "_attractive industry_," another of Fourier's
mottoes, for were they not trying mind and body to make it so? And
finally, it was easy to adopt the aphorism that the attractions of life
in the universe are in proportion to the destinies they assist in
accomplishing--"_attractions are proportionate to destinies_," as
it is translated. Certainly it was simple and easy to grasp and
believe, when explained so well as it had been by Fourier, and by
Brisbane and Godwin, his American translators. And lastly, if all these
things were true, why not say so and adopt them? They were outside and
free from modern society. They had one of their own. They were happy in
it. They had adopted truth as their guide--truth as they saw it, and
whenever and wherever they saw it.