CHAPTER TWO
It was January 1854, the year of both the creation and subsequent purging of Happy Valley. Happy Valley had actually been more of an isolated homestead rather than a village and this was especially true after the events of 1854, which had guaranteed that it would never again see another human settlement. From January until September of that year the population of twenty had slowly been reduced, until one man remained. An initial population of only twenty might have seemed farcical to some, even for a United States less than a hundred years old. However, this was not the kind of village that had been born out of gold seeking, wagon train convoys or desperate wanderers. Happy Valley was instead a social experiment of sorts, a pre-Emancipation attempt to bring Americans of all colors and all walks of life together in a religious revival, away from Mammon and worldly distractions. That was the collective hope.
Jacob had arrived with nineteen other people in January to establish this new colony, consisting of people who had willingly turned their backs on society and even on family members who did not share in their spiritual aspirations. Jacob remembered that it was a mild California winter, the kind when the weather was just right, conducive to the start of a spiritual retreat, more so given the recent end of the bloodshed that had been the Mexican-American war. Happy Valley had been established to bring together a group of strangers. For Christians, however, these initial strangers had simply been ‘friends who had not met.’ But people are people and sometimes human nature can be hard to go against. Jealousy. Backbiting. Scorn. It took less than the very first day of settlement to elapse and already one of the villagers, having delivered a concise farewell, departed. By February, another two were gone; by late May, only thirteen villagers were left. And by late August, a total of only eight villagers remained, including Jacob. Jacob regarded this situation, unlike some of the other villagers who remained, with a sense of complete despair.
Jacob’s despair was finely entwined with a growing anger. It was anger borne out of a sense of piousness that had been growing since he had found God in a way he had truly never known before arriving at Happy Valley. It was on a breezy night in February that Jacob felt God’s presence in a way as never before. He knew this was real. He knew this was the beginning of an eternal relationship. By March, Jacob had become another man, partly due to his growing religious zeal and devotion to God and also due to his increasing responsibility as village elder. By this time, Jacob saw the spiritual welfare of the remaining villagers as his sole responsibility. He had to guide his flock. Encourage them. But deep down, Jacob knew that as human beings, the villagers had the freedom to choose their paths, even if their paths led out of Happy Valley and into the inevitable destruction that the world offered. A life beyond the quiet contemplation, fellowship and spiritual connection of Happy Valley. A life in the outside world surrounded by evil pleasures, and all of which lay beyond the boundaries of the woods, woods which encircled the grassy prairie that was Happy Valley.
CHAPTER TWOIt was January 1854, the year of both the creation and subsequent purging of Happy Valley. Happy Valley had actually been more of an isolated homestead rather than a village and this was especially true after the events of 1854, which had guaranteed that it would never again see another human settlement. From January until September of that year the population of twenty had slowly been reduced, until one man remained. An initial population of only twenty might have seemed farcical to some, even for a United States less than a hundred years old. However, this was not the kind of village that had been born out of gold seeking, wagon train convoys or desperate wanderers. Happy Valley was instead a social experiment of sorts, a pre-Emancipation attempt to bring Americans of all colors and all walks of life together in a religious revival, away from Mammon and worldly distractions. That was the collective hope.Jacob had arrived with nineteen other people in January to establish this new colony, consisting of people who had willingly turned their backs on society and even on family members who did not share in their spiritual aspirations. Jacob remembered that it was a mild California winter, the kind when the weather was just right, conducive to the start of a spiritual retreat, more so given the recent end of the bloodshed that had been the Mexican-American war. Happy Valley had been established to bring together a group of strangers. For Christians, however, these initial strangers had simply been ‘friends who had not met.’ But people are people and sometimes human nature can be hard to go against. Jealousy. Backbiting. Scorn. It took less than the very first day of settlement to elapse and already one of the villagers, having delivered a concise farewell, departed. By February, another two were gone; by late May, only thirteen villagers were left. And by late August, a total of only eight villagers remained, including Jacob. Jacob regarded this situation, unlike some of the other villagers who remained, with a sense of complete despair.Jacob’s despair was finely entwined with a growing anger. It was anger borne out of a sense of piousness that had been growing since he had found God in a way he had truly never known before arriving at Happy Valley. It was on a breezy night in February that Jacob felt God’s presence in a way as never before. He knew this was real. He knew this was the beginning of an eternal relationship. By March, Jacob had become another man, partly due to his growing religious zeal and devotion to God and also due to his increasing responsibility as village elder. By this time, Jacob saw the spiritual welfare of the remaining villagers as his sole responsibility. He had to guide his flock. Encourage them. But deep down, Jacob knew that as human beings, the villagers had the freedom to choose their paths, even if their paths led out of Happy Valley and into the inevitable destruction that the world offered. A life beyond the quiet contemplation, fellowship and spiritual connection of Happy Valley. A life in the outside world surrounded by evil pleasures, and all of which lay beyond the boundaries of the woods, woods which encircled the grassy prairie that was Happy Valley.
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