THE UTOPIAN COMMUNIST
seemed to elude even so favorable an observer from the outside
world as Weitling. Keil and two others apparently managed
everything. A "company" held title to the property, but Weitling
could not discover who constituted the "company." Keil acted as
preacher and physician for the colony. His wife and his most
ardent disciples called him "Saviour" and treated him like a sec
ond son of God. There could be no doubt that the new Messiah
was a dictator. He called no meetings, counseled with no one,
and gave no accounting of his activities. Weitling found that he
read neither books nor newspapers, could not write a decent
letter, and was "not a speaker, but a practiced shouter." At one
of the colony's services, Weitling heard its leader shout himself
hoarse, pound the pulpit and leap around like a "hyena in a cage,"
all the time discoursing ungrammatically, and without any sem
blance of unity, on Thirteenth Corinthians. The burden of the
sermon seemed to be a condemnation of all books and rational
thinking and a demand for absolute obedience to the leader, the
"man of will" in whom earth's fire really burned. In a later sermon,
however, Weitling heard a moving appeal for help for the poor of
Germany, and he found the exhorter far more attractive and sensi
ble in private conversation than in his public appearances.
Keil was a strong, broad-shouldered man, with regular features
and thin lips. He lived in a fine country house on a wooded hill
in Elim. It had a beautiful garden and an ample supply of good
wine. Keil was a passionate hunter. Every Saturday afternoon
he decreed free time for hunting, and in deviation from strict
communist principles, each hunter was allowed to keep what he
shot. The colony consisted largely of Swiss, Pennsylvania Ger
mans, and former Rappists. One of the most affluent members was
the storekeeper, who belonged to the church, but not to the
"company."
Weitling was completely confused about the economic struc
ture of the colony. "Vorsteher" divided up and assigned the work
and supervised the distribution of food and clothing. An apothe
cary was supported by the colony, although he was not a member