The first, in date, of the new gospels was that of the Saint-Simonians.  When George Sand arrived in Paris, Saint-Simonism was one of the curiosities offered to astonished provincials.  It was a parody of religion, but it was organized in a church with a Father in two persons, Bazard and Enfantin.  The service took place in a bouis-bouis.  The costume worn consisted of white trousers, a red waistcoat and a blue tunic.  On the days when the Father came down from the heights of Menilmontant with his children, there was great diversion for the people in the street.  An important thing was lacking in the organization of the Saint-Simonians.  In order to complete the “sacerdotal couple,” a woman was needed to take her place next the Father.  A Mother was asked for over and over again.  It was said that she would soon appear, but she was never forthcoming.  Saint-Simon had tried to tempt Madame de Stael.

“I am an extraordinary man,” he said to her, “and you are just as extraordinary as a woman.  You and I together would have a still more extraordinary child.”  Madame de Stael evidently did not care to take part in the manufacture of this prodigy.  When George Sand’s first novels appeared, the Saint-Simonians were full of hope.  This was the woman they had been waiting for, the free woman, who having meditated on the lot of her sisters would formulate the Declaration of the rights and duties of woman.  Adolphe Gueroult was sent to her.  He was the editor of the Opinion nationale.  George Sand had a great fund of common sense, though, and once more the little society awaited the Mother in vain.  It was finally decided that she should be sought for in the East.  A mission was organized, and messengers were arrayed in white, as a sign of the vow of chastity, with a pilgrim’s staff in their hand.  They begged as they went along, and slept sometimes outdoors, but more often at the police-station.  George Sand was not tempted by this kind of maternity, but she kept in touch with the Saint-Simonians.  She was present at one of their meetings at Menilmontant.  Her published Correspondance contains a letter addressed by her to the Saint-Simonian family in Paris.  As a matter of fact, she had received from it, on the 1st of January, 1836, a large collection of presents.  There were in all no less than fifty-nine articles, among which were the following:  a dress-box, a pair of boots, a thermometer, a carbine-carrier, a pair of trousers and a corset.

Saint-Simonism was universally jeered at, but it is quite a mistake to think that ridicule is detrimental in France.  On the contrary, it is an excellent means of getting anything known and of spreading the knowledge of it abroad; it is in reality a force.  Saint-Simonism is at the root of many of the humanitarian doctrines which were to spring up from its ashes.  One of its essential doctrines was the diffusion of the soul throughout all humanity, and another that of being born anew.  Enfantin said:  “I