Members of one family live under the same roof, or at all events within the same ground.  The father is head of the household, and the highest in authority.  The mother is next, and the children follow in the order of their age.  They hold that the proper place for the woman is between the man and the child, and that her nature, which partakes of both, fits her for it.  On the rare occasions when authority needs to be exercised it is promptly obeyed.  All the members of the family mix freely together in mutual confidence and love, with reverence, but not fear.  They are very clean and dainty in their habits.  To every house, either in an open court or in the garden, there is a bathing pond of running water, with a fountain playing in the middle, where they can bathe at any time without going to the lake.

They deem it not only gross to eat flesh or fish, but also barbarous, nay cruel, to enjoy and sustain their own lives through the suffering and death of other creatures.  This feeling, or prejudice as some would call it, extends even to eggs.  They live chiefly on fruits, nuts, edible flowers, grain, herbs, gums, and roots, which are in great profusion.  I did not see any alcoholic, or at least intoxicating beverages amongst them.  Their drink is water, either pure or else from mineral springs, and the delectable juices of certain fruits and plants.  They eat together, chatting merrily the while, and afterwards recline on couches listening to some tale, or song, or piece of music, but taking care not to fall asleep, as they believe it is injurious.

They rejoice when a child is born, and cherish it as the most holy gift.  For the first eight or ten years of its life it is left as much as possible to the teaching of Nature, care being taken to guard it from serious harm.  It is allowed to run wild about the gardens and fields, developing its bodily powers in play, and gaining a practical experience of the most elementary facts.  After that it goes to school, at first for a short time, then, as it becomes used to the confinement and study, for a longer and longer period each day.  Their end in education is to produce noble men and women; that is to say, physical, moral, and intellectual beauty by assisting the natural growth.  They hold it a sin to falsify or distort the mind, as well as the soul or body of a child.  They seem to be as careful to cultivate the genius and temperament as the heart and conscience.  Their object is to train and form the pupil according to the intention of Nature without forcing him beyond his strength, or into an artificial mould.  Studious to preserve the harmony and unity of mind, soul, and body, they never foster one to the detriment of the others, but seek to develop the whole person.

It is not so much words as things, not so much facts, dates, and figures, as principles, ideas, and sentiments, which they endeavour to teach.  The scholar is made familiar with what he is told by observation and experience whenever it is possible, for that is how Nature teaches.  Precept, they say, is good, and example is better; but an ideal of perfection is best of all.