longer, some shorter time. Some rise with joy and triumph, others crying for mercy.” “To these encampments the people flocked by hundreds and thousands–on foot, on horseback, and in wagons and other carriages.” At Cabin Creek, in May, 1801, a “great number fell on the third night; and to prevent their being trodden under foot by the multitude, they were collected together and laid out in order in two squares of the meetinghouse; which, like so many dead corpses, covered a considerable part of the floor.” At Concord, in Bourbon County, in June, 1801, “no sex or color, class or description, were exempted from the pervading influence of the Spirit; even from the age of eight months to sixty years.” In August, at Cane Ridge, in Bourbon County, “about twenty thousand people” were gathered; and “about three thousand” suffered from what was called “the falling exercise.” These brief extracts are from the account of an eye-witness, and one who believed these manifestations to be of divine origin. The accuracy of McNemar’s descriptions is beyond question. His account is confirmed by other writers of the time. [Footnote: “The Kentucky Revival, or a Short History of the late extraordinary Outpouring of the Spirit of God in the Western States of America,” etc. By Richard McNemar. Turtle Hill, Ohio, 1807.]
Hearing of these extraordinary events, the Shakers at New Lebanon sent out three of their number–John Meacham, Benjamin S. Youngs, and Issachar Bates–to “open the testimony of salvation to the people, provided they were in a situation to receive it.” They set out on New-Year’s day, 1805, and traveled on foot about a thousand miles, through what was then a sparsely settled country, much of it a wilderness. They made some converts in Ohio and Kentucky, and were, fortunately for themselves, violently opposed and in some cases attacked by bigoted or knavish persons; and with this impetus they were able to found at first five societies, two in Ohio, two in Kentucky, and one in Indiana. The Indiana society later removed to Ohio; and two more societies were afterward formed in Ohio, and one more in New York.
All these societies were founded before the year 1830; and no new ones have come into existence since then.
Following the doctrines put forth by Ann Lee, and elaborated by her successors, they hold:
I. That God is a dual person, male and female; that Adam was a dual person, being created in God’s image; and that “the distinction of sex is eternal, inheres in the soul itself; and that no angels or spirits exist who are not male and female.”
II. That Christ is a Spirit, and one of the highest, who appeared first in the person of Jesus, representing the male, and later in the person of Ann Lee, representing the female element in God.
III. That the religious history of mankind is divided into four cycles, which are represented also in the spirit world, each having its appropriate heaven and hell. The first cycle included the antediluvians–Noah and the faithful going to the first heaven, and the wicked of that age to the first hell. The second cycle included the Jews up to the appearance of Jesus; and the second heaven is called Paradise. The third cycle included all who lived until the appearance of Ann Lee; Paul being “caught up into the third heaven.” The heaven of the fourth and last dispensation “is now in process of formation,” and is to supersede in time all previous heavens. Jesus, they say, after his death, descended into the first hell to preach to the souls there confined; and on his way passed through the second heaven, or Paradise, where he met the thief crucified with him.
IV. They hold themselves to be the “Church of the Last Dispensation,” the true Church of this age; and they believe that the day of judgment, or “beginning of Christ’s kingdom on earth,” dates from the establishment of their Church, and will be completed by its development.
V. They hold that the Pentecostal Church was established on right principles; that the Christian churches rapidly and fatally fell away from it; and that the Shakers have returned to this original and perfect doctrine and practice. They say: “The five most prominent practical principles of the Pentecost Church were, first, common property; second, a life of celibacy; third, non-resistance; fourth, a separate and distinct government; and, fifth, power over physical disease.” To all these but the last they have attained; and the last they confidently look for, and even now urge that disease is an offense to God, and that it is in the power of men to be healthful, if they will.
VI. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity, of the bodily resurrection, and of an atonement for sins. They do not worship either Jesus or Ann Lee, holding both to be simply elders in the Church, to be respected and loved.
VII. They are Spiritualists. “We are thoroughly convinced of spirit communication and interpositions, spirit guidance and obsession. Our spiritualism has permitted us to converse, face to face, with individuals once mortals, some of whom we well knew, and with others born before the flood.” [Footnote: “Plain Talks upon Practical Religion; being Candid Answers,” etc. By Geo. Albert Lomas (Novitiate Elder at Watervliet). 1873.] They assert that the spirits at first labored among them; but that in later times they have labored among the spirits; and that in the lower heavens there have been formed numerous Shaker churches. Moreover, “it should be distinctly understood that special inspired gifts have not ceased, but still continue among this people.” It follows from what is stated above, that they believe in a “probationary state in the world of spirits.”
VIII. They hold that he only is a true servant of God who lives a perfectly stainless and sinless life; and they add that to this perfection of life all their members ought to attain.
IX. Finally, they hold that their Church, the Inner or Gospel Order, as they call it, is supported by and has for its complement the world, or, as they say, the Outer Order. They do not regard marriage and property as crimes or disorders, but as the emblems of a lower order of society. And they hold that the world in general, or the Outer Order, will have the opportunity of purification in the next world as well as here.
In the practical application of this system of religious faith, they inculcate a celibate life; “honesty and integrity in all words and dealings;” “humanity and kindness to friend and foe;” diligence in business; prudence, temperance, economy, frugality, “but not parsimony;” “to keep clear of debt;” “suitable education of children;” a “united interest in all things,” which means community of goods; suitable employment for all; and a provision for all in sickness, infirmity, and old age.
III.–THE ORDER OF LIFE AMONG THE SHAKERS.
A Shaker Society consists of two classes or orders: the Novitiate and the Church Order. There is a general similarity in the life of these two; but to the Novitiate families are sent all applicants for admission to the community or Church, and here they are trained; and the elders of these families also receive inquiring strangers, and stand in somewhat nearer relations with the outer world than the Church families.
To the Church family or commune belong those who have determined to seclude themselves more entirely from contact with the outer world; and who aspire to live the highest spiritual life. Except so far as necessary business obliges deacons and care-takers to deal with the world, the members of the Church Order aim to live apart; and they do not receive or entertain strangers or applicants for membership, but confine their intercourse to members of other societies.
Formerly there was a considerable membership living in the world, maintaining the family relation so far as to educate children and transact business, but conforming to the Shaker rule of celibacy. This was allowed because of the difficulty of disposing of property, closing up business affairs, and perhaps on account of the unwillingness of husband or wife to follow the other partner into the Shaker family. There are still such members, but they are fewer in number than formerly. The Novitiate elders and elderesses keep some oversight, by correspondence and by personal visits, over such outside members.
The Shaker family, or commune, usually consists of from thirty to eighty or ninety persons, men and women, with such children as may have been apprenticed to the society. These live together in one large house, divided as regards its upper stories into rooms capable of accommodating from four to eight persons. Each room contains as many simple cot-beds as it has occupants, the necessary washing utensils, a small looking-glass, a stove for the winter, a table for writing, and a considerable number of chairs, which, when not in use, are suspended from pegs along the wall. A wide hall separates the dormitories of the men from those of the women. Strips of home-made carpet, usually of very quiet colors, are laid upon the floors, but never tacked down.
On the first floor are the kitchen, pantry, store-rooms, and the common dining-hall; and in a Novitiate family there is also a small separate room, where strangers–visitors–eat, apart from the family.
Ranged around the family house or dwelling are buildings for the various pursuits of the society: the sisters’ shop, where tailoring, basket-making, and other female industries are carried on; the brothers’ shop, where broom-making, carpentry, and other men’s pursuits are followed; the laundry, the stables, the fruit-house, wood-house, and often machine shops, saw-mills, etc.
If you are permitted to examine these shops and the dwelling of the family, you will notice that the most scrupulous cleanliness is every where practiced; if there is a stove in the room, a small broom and dust-pan hang near it, and a wood-box stands by it; scrapers and mats at the door invite you to make clean your shoes; and if the roads are muddy or snowy, a broom hung up outside the outer door mutely requests you to brush off all the mud or snow. The strips of carpet are easily lifted, and the floor beneath is as clean as though it were a table to be eaten from. The walls are bare of pictures; not only because all ornament is wrong, but because frames are places where dust will lodge. The bedstead is a cot, covered with the bedclothing, and easily moved away to allow of dusting and sweeping. Mats meet you at the outer door and at every inner door. The floors of the halls and dining-room are polished until they shine.
[Illustration: SHAKER WOMEN AT WORK.]
Moreover all the walls, in hall and rooms, are lined with rows of wooden pegs, on which spare chairs, hats, cloaks, bonnets, and shawls are hung; and you presently perceive that neatness, order, and absolute cleanliness rule every where.
The government or administration of the Shaker societies is partly spiritual and partly temporal. “The visible Head of the Church of Christ on earth is vested in a Ministry, consisting of male and female, not less than three, and generally four in number, two of each sex. The first in the Ministry stands as the leading elder of the society. Those who compose the Ministry are selected from the Church, and appointed by the last preceding head or leading character; and their authority is confirmed and established by the spontaneous union of the whole body. Those of the United Society who are selected and called to the important work of the Ministry, to lead and direct the Church of Christ, must be blameless characters, faithful, honest, and upright, clothed with the spirit of meekness and humility, gifted with wisdom and understanding, and of great experience in the things of God. As faithful embassadors of Christ, they are invested with wisdom and authority, by the revelation of God, to guide, teach, and direct his Church on earth in its spiritual travel, and to counsel and advise in other matters of importance, whether spiritual or temporal.
“To the Ministry appertains, therefore, the power to appoint ministers, elders, and deacons, and with the elders to assign offices of care and trust to such brethren and sisters as they shall judge to be best qualified for the several offices to which they may be assigned. Such appointments, being communicated to the members of the Church concerned, and having received the mutual approbation of the Church, or the family concerned, are thereby confirmed and established until altered or repealed by the same authority.” [Footnote: “Summary View,” etc.]
“Although the society at New Lebanon is the centre of union to all the other societies, yet the more immediate duties of the Ministry in this place extend only to the two societies of New Lebanon and Watervliet. [Groveland has since been added to this circle.] Other societies are under the direction of a ministry appointed to preside over them; and in most instances two or more societies constitute a bishopric, being united under the superintendence of the same ministry.”
Each society has ministers, in the Novitiate family, to instruct and train neophytes, and to go out into the world to preach when it may be desirable. Each family has two elders, male and female, to teach, exhort, and lead the family in spiritual concerns. It has also deacons and deaconesses, who provide for the support and convenience of the family, and regulate the various branches of industry in which the members are employed, and transact business with those without. Under the deacons are “care-takers,” who are the foremen and forewomen in the different pursuits.
It will be seen that this is a complete and judicious system of administration. It has worked well for a long time. A notable feature of the system is that the members do not appoint their rulers, nor are they consulted openly or directly about such appointments. The Ministry are self-perpetuating; and they select and appoint all subordinates, being morally, but it seems not otherwise, responsible to the members.
Finally, “all the members are equally holden, according to their several abilities, to maintain one united interest, and therefore all labor _with their hands_, in some useful occupation, for the mutual comfort and benefit of themselves and each other, and for the general good of the society or family to which they belong. Ministers, elders, and deacons, all without exception, are industriously employed in some _manual_ occupation, except in the time taken up in the necessary duties of their respective callings.” So carefully is this rule observed that even the supreme heads of the Shaker Church–the four who constitute the Ministry at Mount Lebanon, Daniel Boler, Giles B. Avery, Ann Taylor, and Polly Reed–labor at basket-making in the intervals of their travels and ministrations, and have a separate little “shop” for this purpose near the church. They live in a house built against the church, and eat in a separate room in the family of the first order; and, I believe, generally keep themselves somewhat apart from the people.
The property of each society, no matter of how many families it is composed, is for convenience held in the name of the trustees, who are usually members of the Church family, or first order; but each family or commune keeps its own accounts and transacts its business separately.
The Shaker family rises at half-past four in the summer, and five o’clock in the winter; breakfasts at six or half-past six; dines at twelve; sups at six; and by nine or half-past all are in bed and the lights are out.
They eat in a general hall. The tables have no cloth, or rather are covered with oil-cloth; the men eat at one table, women at another, and children at a third; and the meal is eaten in silence, no conversation being held at table. When all are assembled for a meal they kneel in silence for a moment; and this is repeated on rising from the table, and on rising in the morning and before going to bed.
When they get up in the morning, each person takes two chairs, and, setting them back to back, takes off the bed clothing, piece by piece, and folding each neatly once, lays it across the backs of the chairs, the pillows being first laid on the seats of the chairs. In the men’s rooms the slops are also carried out of the house by one of them; and the room is then left to the women, who sweep, make the beds, and put every thing to rights. All this is done before breakfast; and by breakfast time what New-Englanders call “chores” are all finished, and the day’s work in the shops or in the fields may begin.
Each brother is assigned to a sister, who takes care of his clothing, mends when it is needed, looks after his washing, tells him when he requires a new garment, reproves him if he is not orderly, and keeps a general sisterly oversight over his habits and temporal needs.
In cooking, and the general labor of the dining-room and kitchen, the sisters take turns; a certain number, sufficient to make the work light, serving a month at a time. The younger sisters do the washing and ironing; and the clothes which are washed on Monday are not ironed till the following week.
[Illustration: SHAKER COSTUMES.]
Their diet is simple but sufficient. Pork is never eaten, and only a part of the Shaker people eat any meat at all. Many use no food produced by animals, denying themselves even milk, butter, and eggs. At Mount Lebanon, and in some of the other societies, two tables are set, one with, the other without meat. They consume much fruit, eating it at every meal; and the Shakers have always fine and extensive vegetable gardens and orchards.
After breakfast every body goes to work; and the “caretakers,” who are subordinate to the deacons, and are foremen in fact, take their followers to their proper employments. When, as in harvest, an extra number of hands is needed at any labor, it is of course easy to divert at once a sufficient force to the place. The women do not labor in the fields, except in such light work as picking berries. Shakers do not toil severely.
They are not in haste to be rich; and they have found that for their support, economically as they live, it is not necessary to make labor painful. Many hands make light work; and where all are interested alike, they hold that labor may be made and is made a pleasure.
Their evenings are well filled with such diversions as they regard wholesome. Instrumental music they do not generally allow themselves, but they sing well; and much time is spent in learning new hymns and tunes, which they profess to receive constantly from the spirit world. Some sort of meeting of the family is held every evening. At Mount Lebanon, for instance, on Monday evening there is a general meeting in the dining-hall, where selected articles from the newspapers are read, crimes and accidents being omitted as unprofitable; and the selections consisting largely of scientific news, speeches on public affairs, and the general news of the world. They prefer such matter as conveys information of the important political and social movements of the day; and the elder usually makes the extracts. At this meeting, too, letters from other societies are read. On Tuesday evening they meet in the assembly hall for singing, marching, etc. Wednesday night is devoted to a union meeting for conversation. Thursday night is a “laboring meeting,” which means the regular religious service, where they “labor to get good.” Friday is devoted to new songs and hymns; and Saturday evening to worship. On Sunday evening, finally, they visit at each other’s rooms, three or four sisters visiting the brethren in each room, by appointment, and engaging in singing and in conversation upon general subjects.
In their religious services there is little or no audible prayer; they say that God does not need spoken words, and that the mental aspiration is sufficient. Their aim too, as they say, is to “walk with God,” as with a friend; and mental prayer may be a large part of their lives without interruption to usual avocations. They do not regularly read the Bible.
The Sunday service is held either in the “meeting-house,” when two or three families, all composing the society, join together; or in the large assembly hall which is found in every family house. In the meeting-house there are generally benches, on which the people sit until all are assembled. In the assembly hall there are only seats ranged along the walls; and the members of the family, as they enter, take their accustomed places, standing, in the ranks which are formed for worship. The men face the women, the older men and women in the front, the elders standing at the head of the first rank. A somewhat broad space or gangway is left between the two front ranks. After the singing of a hymn, the elder usually makes a brief address upon holiness of living and consecration to God; he is followed by the eldress; and thereupon the ranks are broken, and a dozen of the brethren and sisters, forming a separate square on the floor, begin a lively hymn tune, in which all the rest join, marching around the room to a quick step, the women following the men, and all often clapping their hands.
The exercises are varied by reforming the ranks; by speaking from men and women; by singing; and by dancing as they march, “as David danced before the Lord”–the dance being a kind of shuffle. Occasionally one of the members, more deeply moved than the rest, or perhaps in some tribulation of soul, asks the prayers of the others; or one comes to the front, and, bowing before the elder and eldress, begins to whirl, a singular exercise which is sometimes continued for a considerable time, and is a remarkable performance. Then some brother or sister is impressed to deliver a message of comfort or warning from the spirit-land; or some spirit asks the prayers of the assembly: on such occasions the elder asks all to kneel for a few moments in silent prayer.
In their marching and dancing they hold their hands before them, and make a motion as of gathering something to themselves: this is called gathering a blessing. In like manner, when any brother or sister asks for their prayers and sympathy, they, reversing their hands, push toward him that which he asks.
[Illustration: SHAKER WORSHIP–THE DANCE]
All the movements are performed with much precision and in exact order; their tunes are usually in quick time, and the singers keep time admirably. The words of the elder guide the meeting; and at his bidding all disperse in a somewhat summary manner. It is, I believe, an object with them to vary the order of their meetings, and thus give life to them.
New members are admitted with great caution. Usually a person who is moved to become a Shaker has made a visit to the Novitiate family of some society, remaining long enough to satisfy himself that membership would be agreeable to him. During this preliminary visit he lives separately from the family, but is admitted to their religious meetings, and is fully informed of the doctrines, practices, and requirements of the Shaker people. If then he still desires admission, he is expected to set his affairs in order, so that he shall not leave any unfulfilled obligations behind him in the world. If he has debts, they must be paid; if he has a wife, she must freely give her consent to the husband leaving her; or if it is a woman, her husband must consent. If there are children, they must be provided for, and placed so as not to suffer neglect, either within the society, or with other and proper persons.
It is not necessary that applicants for admission shall possess property. The only question the society asks and seeks to be satisfied upon is, “Are you sick of sin, and do you want salvation from it?” A candidate for admission is usually taken on trial for a year at least, in order that the society may be satisfied of his fitness; of course he may leave at any time.
The first and chief requirement, on admission, is that the neophyte shall make a complete and open confession of the sins of his whole past life to two elders of his or her own sex; and the completeness of this confession is rigidly demanded. Mother Ann’s practice on this point I have quoted elsewhere. As this is one of the most prominent peculiarities of the Shaker Society, it may be interesting to quote here some passages from their books describing the detail on which they insist. Elder George Albert Lomas writes:
“Any one seeking admission as a member is required, ere we can give any encouragement at all, to settle all debts and contracts to the satisfaction of creditors, and then our rule is If candid seekers after salvation come to us, we neither accept nor reject them; we _admit_ them, leaving the Spirit of Goodness to decide as to their sincerity, to bless their efforts, if such, or to make them very dissatisfied if hypocritical. After becoming thoroughly acquainted with our principles, we ask individuals to give evidence of their sincerity, if really sick of sin, by an honest confession of every improper transaction or sin that lies within the reach of their memory. This confession of sin to elders of their own sex, appointed for the purpose, _we_ believe to be the door of hope to the soul, the Christian valley of Achor, and one which every sin-sick soul seizes with avidity, as being far more comforting than embarrassing. And this opportunity remains a permanent institution with us–to confess, retract our wrongs as memory may recall them; and aids individuals in so thoroughly repenting of past sins that they are enabled to leave them in the rear, while they pass on to greater salvations. It often takes years for individuals to complete this work of _thorough confession and repentance_; but upon this, more than upon aught else, depends their success as permanent and happy members. Those who choose to use deceit, often do so, but _never_ make reliable members: always uncomfortable while they remain; and very few do or can remain, unless they fulfill this important demand of ‘_opening the mind.’_ If _we_ do not detect their insincerity, God does, and they are tempted of the devil beyond their wish to remain with the Shakers; while he that _confesseth_ and _forsaketh_ his sins shall find mercy. This is not a confession to mortality, but unto God, witnessed by those who have thoroughly experienced the practical results of the ordeal. ‘My son, give glory to the God of heaven; _confess unto him_, and _tell_ me what thou hast done.'” [Footnote: “Plain Talks on Practical Religion,” etc.]
Another authority says on this subject:
“All such as receive the grace of God which bringeth salvation, first honestly bring their former deeds of darkness to the light, by confessing all their sins, with a full determination to forsake them forever. By so doing they find justification and acceptance with God, and receive that power by which they become dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God, through Jesus Christ, and are enabled to follow his example, and walk even as he walked.” [Footnote: “Christ’s First and Second Appearing. By Shakers.”]
A third writer reasons thus upon confession:
“As all the secret actions of men are open and known to God, therefore a confession made in secret, though professedly made to God, can bring nothing to light; and the sinner may perhaps have as little fear of God in confessing his sins in this manner as he had in committing them. And as nothing is brought to the light by confessing his sins in this manner, he feels no cross in it; nor does he thereby find any mortification to that carnal nature which first led him into sin; and is therefore liable to run again into the same acts of sin as he was before his confession. But let the sinner appear in the presence of a faithful servant of Christ, and there confess honestly his every secret sin, one by one, of whatever nature or name, and faithfully lay open his whole life, without any covering or disguise, and he will then feel a humiliating sense of himself, in the presence of God, in a manner which he never experienced before. He will then, in very deed, find a mortifying cross to his carnal nature, and feel the crucifixion of his lust and pride where he never did before. He will then perceive the essential difference between confessing his sins in the dark, where no mortal ear can hear him, and actually bringing his evil deeds to the light of one individual child of God; and he will then be convinced that a confession made before the light of God in one of his true witnesses can bring upon him a more awful sense of his accountability both to God and man than all his confessions in darkness had ever done.” [Footnote: “Summary View,” etc.]
Community of property is one of the leading principles of the Shakers. “It is an established principle of faith in the Church, that all who are received as members thereof do freely and voluntarily, of their own deliberate choice, dedicate, devote, and consecrate themselves, with all they possess, to the service of God forever.” In accordance with this rule, the neophyte brings with him his property; but as he is still on trial, and may prove unfit, or find himself uncomfortable, he is not allowed to give up his property unreservedly to the society; but only its use, agreeing that so long as he remains he will require neither wages for his labor nor interest for that which he brought in. On these terms he may remain as long as he proves his fitness. But when at last he is moved to enter the higher or Church order, he formally makes over to the society, forever, and without power of taking it back, all that he owns. The articles of agreement by which he does this read as follows:
“We solemnly and conscientiously dedicate, devote, and give up ourselves and services, together with all our temporal interest, to God and his people; to be under the care and direction of such elders, deacons, or trustees as have been or may hereafter be established in the Church, according to the first article of this Covenant.
“We further covenant and agree that it is and shall be the special duty of the deacons and trustees, appointed as aforesaid, to have the immediate charge and oversight of all and singular the property, estate, and interest dedicated, devoted, and given up as aforesaid; and it shall also be the duty of the said deacons and trustees to appropriate, use, and improve the said united interest for the benefit of the Church, for the relief of the poor, and for such other charitable and religious purposes as the Gospel may require and the said deacons or trustees in their wisdom shall see fit; _Provided nevertheless_, that all the transactions of the said deacons or trustees, in their use, management, and disposal of the aforesaid united interest, shall be for the benefit and privilege, and in behalf of the Church (to which the said deacons or trustees are and shall be held responsible), and not for any personal or private interest, object, or purpose whatsoever.
“As the sole object, purpose, and design of our uniting in a covenant relation, as a Church or body of people, in Gospel union, was from the beginning, and still is, faithfully and honestly to receive, improve, and diffuse the manifold gifts of God, both of a spiritual and temporal nature, for the mutual protection, support, comfort, and happiness of each other, as brethren and sisters in the Gospel, and for such other pious and charitable purposes as the Gospel may require; _Therefore_ we do, by virtue of this Covenant, solemnly and conscientiously, jointly and individually, for ourselves, our heirs, and assigns, promise and declare, in the presence of God and each other, and to all men, that we will never hereafter, neither directly nor indirectly, make nor require any account of any interest, property, labor, or service which has been, or which may be devoted by us or any of us to the purposes aforesaid; nor bring any charge of debt or damage, nor hold any demand whatever against the Church, nor against any member or members thereof, on account of any property or service given, rendered, devoted, or consecrated to the aforesaid sacred and charitable purpose.”
As under this agreement or covenant no accounts can be demanded, so the societies and families have no annual or business meetings, nor is any business report ever made to the members.
Agriculture and horticulture are the foundations of all the communes or families; but with these they have united some small manufactures. For instance, some of the families make brooms, others dry sweet corn, raise and put up garden seeds, make medicinal extracts; make mops, baskets, chairs; one society makes large casks, and so on. A complete list of these industries in all the societies will be found further on. It will be seen that the range is not great.
Besides this, they aim, as far as possible, to supply their own needs. Thus they make all their own clothing, and formerly made also their own woolen cloths and flannels. They make shoes, do all their own carpentering, and, as far as is convenient, raise the food they consume. They have usually fine barns, and all the arrangements for working are of the best and most convenient. For instance, at Mount Lebanon the different families saw their firewood by a power-saw, and store it in huge wood-houses, that it may be seasoned before it is used. In their farming operations they spare no pains; but, working slowly year after year, redeem the soil, clear it of stones, and have clean tillage. They are fond of such minute and careful culture as is required in raising garden seeds. They keep fine stock, and their barns are usually admirably arranged to save labor.
Their buildings are always of the best, and kept in the best order and repair.
Their savings they invest chiefly in land; and many families own considerable estates outside of their own limits. In the cultivation of these outlying farms they employ hired laborers, and build for them comfortable houses. About Lebanon, I am told, a farmer who is in the employ of the Shakers is considered a fortunate man, as they are kind and liberal in their dealings. Every where they have the reputation of being strictly honest and fair in all their transactions with the world’s people.
The dress of the men is remarkable for a very broad, stiff-brimmed, white or gray felt hat, and a long coat of light blue. The women wear gowns with many plaits in the skirt; and a singular head-dress or cap of light material, which so completely hides the hair, and so encroaches upon the face, that a stranger is at first unable to distinguish the old from the young. Out of doors they wear the deep sun-bonnet known in this country commonly as a Shaker bonnet. They do not profess to adhere to a uniform; but have adopted what they find to be a convenient style of dress, and will not change it until they find something better.
[Illustration: SISTERS IN EVERY DAY COSTUME]
IV.–A VISIT TO MOUNT LEBANON.
It was on a bleak and sleety December day that I made my first visit to a Shaker family. As I came by appointment, a brother, whom I later found to be the second elder of the family, received me at the door, opening it silently at the precise moment when I had reached the vestibule, and, silently bowing, took my bag from my hand and motioned me to follow him. We passed through a hall in which I saw numerous bonnets, cloaks, and shawls hung up on pegs, and passed an empty dining-hall, and out of a door into the back yard, crossing which we entered another house, and, opening a door, my guide welcomed me to the “visitors’ room.” “This,” said he, “is where you will stay. A brother will come in presently to speak with you.” And with a bow my guide noiselessly slipped out, softly closed the door behind him, and I was alone.
I found myself in a comfortable low-ceiled room, warmed by an air-tight stove, and furnished with a cot-bed, half a dozen chairs, a large wooden spittoon filled with saw-dust, a looking-glass, and a table. The floor was covered with strips of rag carpet, very neat and of a pretty, quiet color, loosely laid down. Against the wall, near the stove, hung a dust-pan, shovel, dusting-brush, and small broom. A door opened into an inner room, which contained another bed and conveniences for washing. A closet in the wall held matches, soap, and other articles. Every thing was scrupulously neat and clean. On the table were laid a number of Shaker books and newspapers. In one corner of the room was a bell, used, as I afterward discovered, to summon the visitor to his meals. As I looked out of a window, I perceived that the sash was fitted with screws, by means of which the windows could be so secured as not to rattle in stormy weather; while the lower sash of one window was raised three or four inches, and a strip of neatly fitting plank was inserted in the opening–this allowed ventilation between the upper and lower sashes, thus preventing a direct draught, while securing fresh air.
I was still admiring these ingenious little contrivances, when, with a preliminary knock, entered to me a tall, slender young man, who, hanging his broad-brimmed hat on a peg, announced himself to me as the brother who was to care for me during my stay. He was a Swede, a student of the university in his own country, and a person of intelligence, some literary culture, and I should think of good family. His attention had been attracted to the Shakers by Mr. Dixon’s book, “The New America;” he had come over to examine the organization, and had found it so much to his liking that, coming as a visitor, he had remained as a member. He had been here six or seven years. He had a fresh, fine complexion, as most of the Shaker men and women have–particularly the latter; his hair was cut in the Shaker fashion, straight across the forehead, and suffered to grow long behind, and he wore the long, blue-gray coat, a collar without a neck-tie, and the broad-brimmed whitish-gray felt hat of the order. His voice was soft and low, his motions noiseless, his conversation in a subdued tone, his smile ready; but his expression was that of one who guarded himself against the world, with which he was determined to have nothing to do. Frank and communicative he was, too, though I do not doubt that my tireless questioning sometimes bored him. Such as I have described him I have found all or nearly all the Shaker people–polite, patient, noiseless in their motions except during their “meetings” or worship, when they are sometimes quite noisy; scrupulously neat, and much given to attend to their own business.
[Illustration: ELDER FREDERICK W EVANS]
The Sabbath quiet and stillness which prevailed I attributed to the fact that there had been a death in the family, and the funeral was to be held that morning; but I discovered afterwards that an eternal Sabbath stillness reigns in a Shaker family–there being no noise or confusion, or hum of busy industry at any time, although they are a most industrious people.
While the Swedish brother was, in answer to my questions, giving me some account of himself, to us came Elder Frederick, the head of the North or Gathering Family at Mount Lebanon, and the most noted of all the Shakers, because he, oftener than any other, has been sent out into the world to make known the society’s doctrines and practice.
Frederick W. Evans is an Englishman by birth, and was a “reformer” in the old times, when men in this country strove for “land reform,” the rights of labor, and against the United States Bank and other monopolies of forty or fifty years ago. He is now sixty-six years of age, but looks not more than fifty; was brought to this country at the age of twelve; became a socialist in early life, and, after trying life in several communities which perished early, at last visited the Shakers at Mount Lebanon, and after some months of trial and examination, joined the community, and has remained in it ever since–about forty-five years.
He is both a writer and a speaker; and while not college bred, has studied and read a good deal, and has such natural abilities as make him a leader among his people, and a man of force any where. He is a person of enthusiastic and aggressive temperament, but with a practical and logical side to his mind, and with a hobby for science as applied to health, comfort, and the prolongation of life. In person he is tall, with a stoop as though he had overgrown his strength in early life; with brown eyes, a long nose, a kindly, serious face, and an attractive manner. He was dressed rigidly in the Shaker costume.
[Illustration: VIEW OF A SHAKER VILLAGE.]
Mount Lebanon lies beautifully among the hills of Berkshire, two and a half miles from Lebanon Springs, and seven miles from Pittsfield. The settlement is admirably placed on the hillside to which it clings, securing it good drainage, abundant water, sunshine, and the easy command of water-power. Whoever selected the spot had an excellent eye for beauty and utility in a country site. The views are lovely, broad, and varied; the air is pure and bracing; and, in short, a company of people desiring to seclude themselves from the world could hardly have chosen a more delightful spot.
As you drive up the road from Lebanon Springs, the first building belonging to the Shaker settlement which meets your eye is the enormous barn of the North Family, said to be the largest in the three or four states which near here come together, as in its interior arrangements it is one of the most complete. This huge structure lies on a hillside, and is two hundred and ninety-six feet long by fifty wide, and five stories high, the upper story being on a level with the main road, and the lower opening on the fields behind it. Next to this lies the sisters’ shop, three stories high, used for the women’s industries; and next, on the same level, the family house, one hundred feet by forty, and five stories high. Behind these buildings, which all lie directly on the main road, is another set–an additional dwelling-house, in which are the visitors’ room and several rooms where applicants for admission remain while they are on trial; near this an enormous woodshed, three stories high; below a carriage-house, wagon sheds, the brothers’ shop, where different industries are carried on, such as broom-making and putting up garden seeds; and farther on, the laundry, a saw-mill and grist-mill and other machinery, and a granary, with rooms for hired men over it. The whole establishment is built on a tolerably steep hillside.
[Illustration: THE HERB HOUSE, MOUNT LEBANON]
A quarter of a mile farther on are the buildings of the Church Family, and also the great boiler-roofed church of the society; and other communes or families are scattered along, each having all its interests separate, and forming a distinct community, with industries of its own, and a complete organization for itself.
[Illustration: MEETING HOUSE AT MOUNT LEBANON]
The initiations show sufficiently the character of the different buildings and the style of architecture, and make more detailed description needless. It need only be said that whereas on Mount Lebanon they build altogether of wood, in other settlements they use also brick and stone. But the peculiar nature of their social arrangements leads them to build very large houses.
Elder Frederick came to give me notice that I was permitted to witness the funeral ceremonies of the departed sister, which were set for ten o’clock, in the assembly-room; and thither I was accordingly conducted at the proper time by one of the brethren. The members came into the room rapidly, and ranged themselves in ranks, the men and women on opposite sides of the room, and facing each other. All stood up, there being no seats. A brief address by Elder Frederick opened the services, after which there was singing; different brethren and sisters spoke briefly; a call was made to the spirit of the departed to communicate, and in the course of the meeting a medium delivered some words supposed to be from this source; some memorial verses were read by one of the sisters; and then the congregation separated, after notice had been given that the body of the dead sister would be placed in the hall, where all could take a last look at her face. I, too, was asked to look; the good brother who conducted me to the plain, unpainted pine coffin remarking very sensibly that “the body is not of much importance after it is dead.”
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF MEETINGHOUSE AT MOUNT LEBANON]
Afterwards, in conversation, Elder Frederick told me that the “spiritual” manifestations were known among the Shakers many years before Kate Fox was born; that they had had all manner of manifestations, but chiefly visions and communications through mediums; that they fell, in his mind, into three epochs: in the first the spirits laboring to convince unbelievers in the society; in the second proving the community, the spirits relating to each member his past history, and showing up, in certain cases, the insincerity of professions; in the third, he said, the Shakers reacted on the spirit world, and formed communities of Shakers there, under the instruction of living Shakers. “There are at this time,” said he, “many thousands of Shakers in the spirit world.” He added that the mediums in the society had given much trouble because they imagined themselves reformers, whereas they were only the mouth-pieces of spirits, and oftenest themselves of a low order of mind. They had to teach the mediums much, after the spirits ceased to use them.
In what follows I give the substance, and often the words, of many conversations with Elder Frederick and with several of the brethren, relating to details of management and to doctrinal points and opinions, needed to fill up the sketch given in the two previous chapters.
As to new members, Elder Frederick said the societies had not in recent years increased–some had decreased in numbers. But they expected large accessions in the course of the next few years, having prophecies among themselves to that effect. Religious revivals he regarded as “the hot-beds of Shakerism;” they always gain members after a “revival” in any part of the country. “Our proper dependence for increase is on the spirit and gift of God working outside. Hence we are friendly to all religious people.”
They had changed their policy in regard to taking children, for experience had proved that when these grew up they were oftenest discontented, anxious to gain property for themselves, curious to see the world, and therefore left the society. For these reasons they now almost always decline to take children, though there are some in every society; and for these they have schools–a boys’ school in the winter and a girls’ school in summer-teaching all a trade as they grow up. “When men or women come to us at the age of twenty-one or twenty-two, then they make the best Shakers. The society then gets the man’s or woman’s best energies, and experience shows us that they have then had enough of the world to satisfy their curiosity and make them restful. Of course we like to keep up our numbers; but of course we do not sacrifice our principles. You will be surprised to know that we lost most seriously during the war. A great many of our younger people went into the army; many who fought through the war have since applied to come back to us; and where they seem to have the proper spirit, we take them. We have some applications of this kind now.”
A great many Revolutionary soldiers joined the societies in their early history; these did not draw their pensions; most of them lived to be old, and “I proved to Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton once, when we were threatened with a draft,” said Elder Frederick, “that our members had thus omitted to draw from the government over half a million of dollars due as pensions for army service.”
With their management, he said, they had not much difficulty in sloughing off persons who come with bad or low motives; and in this I should say he was right; for the life is strictly ascetic, and has no charms for the idler or for merely sentimental or romantic people. “If one comes with low motives, he will not be comfortable with us, and will presently go away; if he is sincere, he may yet be here a year or two before he finds himself in his right place; but if he has the true vocation he will gradually work in with us.”
He thought an order of celibates ought to exist in every Protestant community, and that its members should be self-supporting, and not beggars; that the necessities and conscience of many in every civilized community would be relieved if there were such an order open to them.
In admitting members, no property qualification is made; and in practice those who come in singly, from time to time, hardly ever possess any thing; but after a great revival of religion, when numbers come in, usually about half bring in more or less property, and often large amounts.
As to celibacy, he asserted in the most positive manner that it is healthful, and tends to prolong life; “as we are constantly proving.” He afterward gave me a file of the _Shaker_, a monthly paper, in which the deaths in all the societies are recorded; and I judge from its reports that the death rate is low, and the people mostly long-lived. [Footnote: In nine numbers of the _Shaker_ (year 1873), twenty-seven deaths are recorded. Of these, Abigail Munson died at Mount Lebanon, aged 101 years, 11 months, and 12 days. The ages of the remainder were 97, 93, 88, 87, 86, 82, six above 75, four above 70, 69, 65, 64, 55, 54, 49, 37, 31, and two whose ages were not given.]
“We look for a testimony against disease,” he said; “and even now I hold that no man who lives as we do has a right to be ill before he is sixty; if he suffer from disease before that, he is in fault. My life has been devoted to introducing among our people a knowledge of true physiological laws; and this knowledge is spreading among all our societies. We are not all perfect yet in these respects; but we grow. Formerly fevers were prevalent in our houses, but now we scarcely ever have a case; and the cholera has never yet touched a Shaker village.”
“The joys of the celibate life are far greater than I can make you know. They are indescribable.”
The Church Family at Mount Lebanon, by the way, have built and fitted up a commodious hospital, for the permanently disabled of the society there. It is empty, but ready; and “better empty than full,” said an aged member to me.
Among the members they have people who were formerly clergymen, lawyers, doctors, farmers, students, mechanics, sea-captains, soldiers, and merchants; preachers are in a much larger proportion than any of the other professions or callings. They get members from all the religious denominations except the Roman Catholic; they have even Jews. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Adventists furnish them the greatest proportion. They have always received colored people, and have some in several of the societies.
“Every commune, to prosper, must be founded, so far as its industry goes, on agriculture. Only the simple labors and manners of a farming people can hold a community together. Wherever we have departed from this rule to go into manufacturing, we have blundered.” For his part, he would like to make a law for the whole country, that every man should own a piece of land and work on it. Moreover, a community, he said, should, as far as possible, make or produce all it uses. “We used to have more looms than now, but cloth is sold so cheaply that we gradually began to buy. It is a mistake; we buy more cheaply than we can make, but our home-made cloth is much better than that we can buy; and we have now to make three pairs of trousers, for instance, where before we made one. Thus our little looms would even now be more profitable–to say nothing of the independence we secure in working them.”
[Illustration: SHAKER TANNERY, MOUNT LEBANON]
In the beginning, he said, the societies were desirous to own land; and he thought immoderately so. They bought to the extent of their means; being economical, industrious, and honest, they saved money rapidly, and always invested their surplus in more land. Then to cultivate these farms they adopted children and young people. Twenty years ago the Legislature of New York had before it a bill to limit the quantity of land the Shakers should be allowed to hold, and the number of apprentices they should take. It was introduced, he said, by their enemies, but they at once agreed to it, and thereupon it was dropped; but since then the society had come generally to favor a law limiting the quantity of land which any citizen should own to not more than one hundred acres.
[Illustration: SHAKER OFFICE AND STORE AT MOUNT LEBANON]
He thought it a mistake in his people to own farms outside of their family limits, as now they often do. This necessitates the employment of persons not members, and this he thought impolitic. “If every out-farm were sold, the society would be better off. They are of no real advantage to us, and I believe of no pecuniary advantage either. They give us a prosperous look, because we improve them well, and they do return usually a fair percentage upon the investment; but, on the other hand, this success depends upon the assiduous labor of some of our ablest men, whose services would have been worth more at home. We ought to get on without the use of outside labor. Then we should be confined to such enterprises as are best for us. Moreover we ought not to make money. We ought to make no more than a moderate surplus over our usual living, so as to lay by something for hard times. In fact, we do not do much more than this.”
Nevertheless nearly all the Shaker societies have the reputation of being wealthy.
In their daily lives many profess to have attained perfection: these are the older people. I judge by the words I have heard in their meetings that the younger members have occasion to wish for improvement, and do discover faults in themselves. One of the older Shakers, a man of seventy-two years, and of more than the average intelligence, said to me, in answer to a direct question, that he had for years lived a sinless life. “I say to any who know me, as Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘which of you convicteth me of sin.'” Where faults are committed, it is held to be the duty of the offender to confess to the elder, or, if it is a woman, to the eldress; and it is for these, too, to administer reproof. “For instance, suppose one of the members to possess a hasty temper, not yet under proper curb; suppose he or she breaks out into violent words or impatience, in a shop or elsewhere; the rest ought to and do tell the elder, who will thereupon administer reproof. But also the offending member ought not to come to meeting before having made confession of his sin to the elder, and asked pardon of those who were the subjects and witnesses of the offense.”
As to books and literature in general, they are not a reading people. “Though a man should gain all the natural knowledge in the universe, he could not thereby gain either the knowledge or power of salvation from sin, nor redemption from a sinful nature.” [Footnote: “Christ’s First and Second Appearing”] Elder Frederick’s library is of extremely limited range, and contains but a few books, mostly concerning social problems and physiological laws. The Swedish brother, who had been a student, said in answer to my question, that it did not take him long to wean himself from the habit of books; and that now, when he felt a temptation in that direction, he knew he must examine himself, because he felt there was something wrong about him, dragging him down from his higher spiritual estate. He did not regret his books at all. An intelligent, thoughtful old Scotchman said on the same subject that he, while still of the world, had had a hobby for chemical research, to which he would probably have devoted his life; that he still read much of the newest investigations, but that he had found it better to turn his attention to higher matters; and to bring the faculties which led him naturally toward chemical studies to the examination of social problems, and to use his knowledge for the benefit of the society.
The same old Scotchman, now seventy-three years old, and a cheery old fellow, who had known the elder Owen, and has lived as a Shaker forty years, I asked, “Well, on the whole, reviewing your life, do you think it a success?” He replied, clearly with the utmost sincerity: “Certainly; I have been living out the highest aspirations my mind was capable of. The best I knew has been realized for and around me here. With my ideas of society I should have been unfit for any thing in the world, and unhappy because every thing around me would have worked contrary to my belief in the right and the best. Here I found my place and my work, and have been happy and content, seeing the realization of the highest I had dreamed of.”
Considering the homeliness of the buildings, which mostly have the appearance of mere factories or human hives, I asked Elder Frederick whether, if they were to build anew, they would not aim at some architectural effect, some beauty of design. He replied with great positiveness, “No, the beautiful, as you call it, is absurd and abnormal. It has no business with us. The divine man has no right to waste money upon what you would call beauty, in his house or his daily life, while there are people living in misery.” In building anew, he would take care to have more light, a more equal distribution of heat, and a more general care for protection and comfort, because these things tend to health and long life. But no beauty. He described to me amusingly the disgust he had experienced in a costly New York dwelling, where he saw carpets nailed down on the floor, “of course with piles of dust beneath, never swept away, and of which I had to breathe;” and with heavy picture-frames hung against the walls, also the receptacles of dust. “You people in the world are not clean according to our Shaker notions. And what is the use of pictures?” he added scornfully.
[Illustration: A SHAKER ELDER.]
They have paid much attention to the early Jewish policy in Palestine, and the laws concerning the distribution of land, the Sabbatical year, service, and the collection of debts, are praised by them as establishing a far better order of things for the world in general than that which obtains in the civilized world to-day.
They hold strongly to the equality of women with men, and look forward to the day when women shall, in the outer world as in their own societies, hold office as well as men. “Here we find the women just as able as men in all business affairs, and far more spiritual.” “Suppose a woman wanted, in your family, to be a blacksmith, would you consent?” I asked; and he replied, “No, because this would bring men and women into relations which we do not think wise.” In fact, while they call men and women equally to the rulership, they very sensibly hold that in general life the woman’s work is in the house, the man’s out of doors; and there is no offer to confuse the two.
Moreover, being celibates, they use proper precautions in the intercourse of the sexes. Thus Shaker men and women do not shake hands with each other; their lives have almost no privacy, even to the elders, of whom two always room together; the sexes even eat apart; they labor apart; they worship, standing and marching, apart; they visit each other only at stated intervals and according to a prescribed order; and in all things the sexes maintain a certain distance and reserve toward each other. “We have no scandal, no tea-parties, no gossip.”
Moreover, they mortify the body by early rising and by very plain living. Few, as I said before, eat meat; and I was assured that a complete and long-continued experience had proved to them that young people maintain their health and strength fully without meat. They wear a very plain and simple dress, without ornament of any kind; and the costume of the women does not increase their attractiveness, and makes it difficult to distinguish between youth and age. They keep no pet animals, except cats, which are maintained to destroy rats and mice. They have, of course, none of the usual relations to children–and the boys and girls whom they take in are in each family put under charge of a special “care-taker,” and live in separate houses, each sex by itself.
Smoking tobacco is by general consent strictly prohibited. A few chew tobacco, but this is thought a weakness, to be left off as standing in the way of a perfect life.
[Illustration: A GROUP OF SHAKER CHILDREN]
[Illustration: SHAKER DINING HALL]
The following notice in the _Shaker_ shows that even some very old sinners in this respect reform:
OBITUARY.
On Tuesday, Feb. 20th, 1873, _Died,_ by the power of truth, and for the cause of Human Redemption, at the Young Believers’ Order, Mt. Lebanon, in the following much-beloved Brethren, the aged respectively.
No funeral ceremonies, no mourners, no grave-yard; but an honorable RECORD thereof made in the Court above. Ed.
In D.S. ………….. 51 years’ duration. In C.M. ………….. 57 “
In A.G. ………….. 15 “
In T.S. ………….. 36 “
In OLIVER PRENTISS … 71 “
In L.S. ………….. 45 “
In H.C. ………….. 53 “
In O.K. ………….. 12 “
Reviewing all these details, it did not surprise me when Elder Frederick remarked, “Every body is not called to the divine life.” To a man or woman not thoroughly and earnestly in love with an ascetic life and deeply disgusted with the world, Shakerism would be unendurable; and I believe insincerity to be rare among them. It is not a comfortable place for hypocrites or pretenders.
The housekeeping of a Shaker family is very thoroughly and effectively done. The North Family at Mount Lebanon consists of sixty persons; six sisters suffice to do the cooking and baking, and to manage the dining-hall; six other sisters in half a day do the washing of the whole family. The deaconesses give out the supplies. The men milk in bad weather, the women when it is warm. The Swedish brother told me that he was this winter taking a turn at milking–to mortify the flesh, I imagine, for he had never done this in his own home; and he used neither milk nor butter. Many of the brethren have not tasted meat in from twenty-five to thirty-five years. Tea and coffee are used, but very moderately.
There is no servant class.
“In a community, it is necessary that some one person shall always know where every body is,” and it is the elder’s office to have this knowledge; thus if one does not attend a meeting, he tells the elder the reason why.
Obedience to superiors is an important part of the life of the order.
Living as they do in large families compactly stowed, they have become very careful against fires, and “a real Shaker always, when he has gone out of a room, returns and takes a look around to see that all is right.”
The floor of the assembly room was astonishingly bright and clean, so that I imagined it had been recently laid. It had, in fact, been used twenty-nine years; and in that time had been but twice scrubbed with water. But it was swept and polished daily; and the brethren wear to the meetings shoes made particularly for those occasions, which are without nails or pegs in the soles, and of soft leather. They have invented many such tricks of housekeeping, and I could see that they acted just as a parcel of old bachelors and old maids would, any where else, in these particulars–setting much store by personal comfort, neatness, and order; and no doubt thinking much of such minor morals. For instance, on the opposite page is a copy of verses which I found in the visitors’ room in one of the Shaker families–a silent but sufficient hint to the careless and wasteful.
Like the old monasteries, they are the prey of beggars, who always receive a dole of food, and often money enough to pay for a night’s lodging in the neighboring village; for they do not like to take in strangers.
The visiting which is done on Sunday evenings is perhaps as curious as any part of their ceremonial. Like all else in their lives, these visits are prearranged for them–a certain group of sisters visiting a certain group of brethren. The sisters, from four to eight in number, sit in a row on one side, in straight-backed chairs, each with her neat hood or cap, and each with a clean white handkerchief spread stiffly across her lap. The brethren, of equal number, sit opposite them, in another row, also in stiff-backed chairs, and also each with a white handkerchief smoothly laid over his knees. Thus arranged, they converse upon the news of the week, events in the outer world, the farm operations, and the weather; they sing, and in general have a pleasant reunion, not without gentle laughter and mild amusement. They meet at an appointed time, and at another set hour they part; and no doubt they find great satisfaction in this–the only meeting in which they fall into sets which do not include the whole family.
TABLE MONITOR.
GATHER UP THE FRAGMENTS THAT REMAIN, THAT NOTHING BE LOST.–Christ.
Here then is the pattern
Which Jesus has set;
And his good example
We cannot forget:
With thanks for his blessings
His word we’ll obey;
But on this occasion
We’ve somewhat to say.
We wish to speak plainly
And use no deceit;
We like to see fragments
Left wholesome and neat:
To customs and fashions
We make no pretense;
Yet think we can tell
What belongs to good sense.
What we deem good order,
We’re willing to state–
Eat hearty and decent,
And clear out our plate–
Be thankful to Heaven
For what we receive,
And not make a mixture
Or compound to leave.
We find of those bounties
Which Heaven does give,
That some live to eat,
And that some eat to live–
That some think of nothing
But pleasing the taste,
And care very little
How much they do waste.
Tho’ Heaven has bless’d us
With plenty of food:
Bread, butter, and honey,
And all that is good;
We loathe to see mixtures
Where gentle folks dine,
Which scarcely look fit
For the poultry or swine.
We often find left,
On the same china dish,
Meat, apple-sauce, pickle,
Brown bread and minc’d fish;
Another’s replenish’d
With butter and cheese;
With pie, cake, and toast,
Perhaps, added to these.
Now if any virtue
In this can be shown,
By peasant, by lawyer,
Or king on the throne,
We freely will forfeit
Whatever we’ve said,
And call it a virtue
To waste meat and bread.
Let none be offended
At what we here say;
We candidly ask you,
Is that the best way?
If not–lay such customs
And fashions aside,
And take this Monitor
Henceforth for your guide.
[VISITORS’ EATING-ROOM, SHAKER VILLAGE.]
Since these chapters were written, Hervey Elkins’s pamphlet, “Fifteen Years in the Senior Order of the Shakers,” printed at Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1853, has come into my hands. Elkins gives some details out of his own experience of Shaker life which I believe to be generally correct, and which I quote here, as filling up some parts of the picture I have tried to give of the Shaker polity and life:
“The spiritual orders, laws, and statutes, never to be revoked, are in substance as follows: None are admitted within the walls of Zion, as they denominate their religious sphere, but by a confession to one or more incarnate witnesses of every debasing and immoral act perpetrated by the confessor within his remembrance; also every act which, though the laws of men may sanction, may be deemed sinful in the view of that new and sublimer divinity which he has adopted. The time, the place, the motive which produced and pervaded the act, the circumstances which aggravated the case, are all to be disclosed. No stone is to be left unturned–no filth is suffered to remain. The temple of God, or the soul, must be carefully swept and garnished, before the new man can enter it and there make his abode. (Christ, or the Divine Intelligence which emanated from God the Father, transforms the soul into the new man spoken of in the Scriptures.)
“Those who have committed deeds cognizable by the laws of the land, shall never be admitted, until those laws have dealt with their transgressions and acquitted them.
“Those who have in any way morally wronged a fellow-creature, shall make restitution to the satisfaction of the person injured.
“Wives who have unbelieving husbands must not be admitted without their husbands’ consent, or until they are lawfully released from the marriage contract, and vice versa. They may confess their sins, but cannot enter the sacred compact.
“All children admitted shall be bound by legal indentures, and shall, if refractory, be returned to their parents.
“There shall exist three Orders, or degrees of progression, viz.: The Novitiate, the Junior, and the Senior.
“All adults may enter the Novitiate Order, and then may progress to a higher, by faithfulness in supporting the Gospel requirements.
“When at the age of twenty-one, the Church Covenant is presented to all the young members to peruse, and to deliberate and decide whether or not they will maintain the conditions therein expressed. To older members it is presented after all legal embarrassments upon their estates are settled, and they desire to be admitted to full fellowship with those who have consecrated _all._ And whoever, after having escaped the servility of Egypt, shall again desire its taskmasters and flesh-pots, are unfit for the kingdom of God; and in case of secession or apostasy shall, by their own deliberate and matured act (that of placing their signatures and seals upon this instrument when in the full possession of all their mental powers), be debarred from legally demanding any compensation whatever for the property or services which they had dedicated to a holy purpose.
“This instrument is legally and skillfully formed, and none are permitted to sign it until they have counted well the cost; or, at least, pondered for a time upon its requirements.
“Members also stipulate themselves by this signature to yield implicit obedience to the ministry, elders, deacons, and trustees, each in their respective departments of authority and duty.
“The Shaker government, in many points, resembles that of the military. All shall look for counsel and guidance to those immediately before them, and shall receive nothing from, nor make application for any thing to those but their immediate advisers. For instance: No elder in either of the subordinate bishoprics can make application for any amendment, any innovation, any introduction of a new system, of however trivial a nature, to the ministry of the first bishopric; but he may desire and ask of his own ministry, and, if his proposal meet their concurrence, they will seek its sanction of those next higher. All are to regard their spiritual leaders as mediators between God and their own souls; and these links of divine communication, successively descending from Power and Wisdom, who constitute the dual God, to their Son and Daughter, Jesus and Ann, and from them to Ann’s successors of the Zion of God on earth, down to the prattling infant who may have been gathered within this ark of safety–this concatenated system of spiritual delegation is the river of life, whose salutary waters flow through the celestial sphere for the cleansing and redemption of souls.
“Great humility and simplicity of life is practiced by the first ministry–two of each sex–upon whom devolves the charge of subordinate bishoprics, besides that of their own immediate care, the societies of Niskeyuna and Mount Lebanon. They will not even (and this is good policy) allow themselves those expensive conveniences of life which are so common among the laity of their sect. But extreme neatness is the most prominent characteristic of both them and their subordinates. They speak much of the model enjoined by Jesus, that whosoever would be the greatest should be the servant of all.
“A simple song, of a beautiful tune, inculcating this spirit, is often sung in their assemblies. The words are these:
“‘Whoever wants to be the highest
Must first come down to be the lowest; And then ascend to be the highest
By keeping down to be the lowest.’
“It is common for the leaders to crowd down, by humiliation, and withdraw patronage and attention from those whom they intend to ultimately promote to an official station. That such may learn how it seems to be slighted and humiliated, and how to stand upon their own basis, work spiritually for their own food without being dandled upon the soft lap of affection, or fed with the milk designed for babes. That also they be not deceived by the phantoms of self-wisdom; and that they martyr not in themselves the meek spirit of the lowly Jesus. Thus, while holding one in contemplation for an office of care and trust, they first prove him–the cause unknown to himself–to see how much he can bear, without exploding by impatience or faltering under trial.
“Virtually for this purpose, but ostensibly for some other, have I known many promising young people moved to a back order, or lower grade of fellowship. By such trials the leaders think to try their souls in the furnace of affliction, withdraw them from earthly attachments, and imbue them with reliance upon God. In fact, to destroy terrestrial idols of every kind, to dispel the clouds of inordinate affection and concentrative love, which fascinatingly float around the mind and screen from its view the radiant brightness of heaven and heavenly things, is the great object of Shakerism.
“Whoever yields enough to the evil tempter to gratify in the least the sensual passions–either in deed, word, or thought–shall confess honestly the same to his elders ere the sun of another day shall set to announce a day of condemnation and wrath against the guilty soul. These vile passions are–fleshly lusts in every form, idolatry, selfishness, envy, wrath, malice, evil-speaking, and their kindred evils.
“The Sabbath shall be kept pure and holy to that degree that no books shall be read on that day which originated among the world’s people, save those scientific books which treat of propriety of diction. No idle or vain stories shall be rehearsed, no unnecessary labor shall be performed–not even the cooking of food, the ablution of the body, the cutting of the hair, beard, or nails, the blacking and polishing of shoes or boots. All these things must be performed on Saturday, or postponed till the subsequent week. All fruit, eaten upon the Sabbath, must be earned to the dwelling-house on Saturday. But the dormitories may be arranged, the cows milked, all domestic animals fed, and food and drink warmed on Sunday. No one is allowed to go to his workshop, to walk in the gardens, the orchards, or on the farms, unless immediate duty requires; and those who of necessity go to their workshops, shall not tarry over fifteen minutes but by the direct liberty of the elders. The dwelling-house is the place for all to spend the Sabbath; and thither all concentrate–elders, deacons, brethren, and sisters. If any property is likely to incur loss–as hay and grain that is cut and remaining in the field, and is liable to be wet before Monday, it may be secured upon the Sabbath.
“All shall rise simultaneously every morning at the signal of the bell, and those of each room shall kneel together in silent prayer, strip from the beds the coverlets and blankets, lighten the feathers, open the windows to ventilate the rooms, and repair to their places of vocation. Fifteen minutes are allowed for all to leave their sleeping apartments. In the summer the signal for rising is heard at half-past four, in the winter at half-past five. Breakfast is invariably one and a half hours after rising–in the summer at six, in the winter at seven; dinner always at twelve; supper at six. These rules are, however, slightly modified upon the Sabbath. They rise and breakfast on this day half an hour later, dine lightly at twelve, and sup at four. Every order maintains the same regularity in regard to their meals.
“In the Senior Order, at the ringing of a large bell, ten minutes before meal-time, all may gather into the saloons, and retire the ten minutes before the dining-hall alarm summons them to the table. All enter four doors and gently arrange themselves at their respective places at the table, then all simultaneously kneel in silent thanks for nearly a minute, then rise and seat themselves almost inaudibly at the table. No talking, laughing, whispering, or blinking are allowed while thus partaking of God’s blessings. After eating, all rise together at the signal of the first elder, kneel as before, and gently retire to their places of vocation, without stopping in the dining-hall, loitering in the corridors and vestibules, or lounging upon the balustrades, doorways, and stairs.
“The tables are long, three feet in width, highly polished, without cloth, and furnished with white ware and no tumblers. The interdict which excludes glass-ware from the table must be attributed to conservatism rather than parsimony, for in _most_ useful improvements the Shakers strive to excel. They tremble at adopting the _customs_ of the world. At the tables, each four have all the varieties of food served for themselves, which precludes the necessity of continual passing and reaching.
“At half-past seven P.M. in the summer, and at eight in the winter, the large bell summons all of every order to their respective dwellings, there to retire, each individual in his own room, half an hour before evening worship. To retire is for the inmates of every room–generally from four to eight individuals–to dispose themselves in either one or two ranks, and sit erect, with their hands folded upon their laps, without leaning back or falling asleep; and in that position labor for a true sense of their privilege in the Zion of God–of the fact that God has prescribed a law which humbles and keeps them within the hollow of his hand, and has favored them with the blessing of worshiping him, with soul and body, unmolested, and according to the dictation of an enlightened mind and a tender and good conscience. If any chance to fall asleep while thus mentally employed, they may rise and bow four times, or gently shake, and then resume their seats.
“The man who is now the archbishop of Shakerism was, when a youth, very apt to fall into a drowsy state in retiring time; but he broke up that habit by standing erect the half-hour before every meeting for six months. And there are many as zealous as he in supporting every order. No unnecessary walking in the corridors or passing in and out of doors are in this sacred time allowed. When the half-hour has expired, a small hand-bell summons all to the hall of worship. None are allowed to absent themselves without the elder’s liberty. If any are unwell or tired, it is but a little matter to rap at the elder’s door, or ask a companion to do it, where any one may receive liberty to retire to rest if it is expedient. All pass the stairs and corridors, and enter the hall, two abreast, upon tiptoe, bowing once as they enter, and pass directly to their place in the forming ranks.
“The house, of course, is vacated through the day, except by sisters, who take turns in cooking, making beds, and sweeping. When brethren and sisters enter, they must uncover their heads, and hang their hats and bonnets in the lower corridors, and walk softly, and open and shut doors gently, and in the fear of God. None are allowed to carry money into sacred worship. In a word, the sanctuary and the whole house shall be kept sacred and holy unto the Lord; and all shall spend the time allotted to be in the house mostly in their own rooms. Three evenings in the week are set apart for worship, and three for ‘union meetings.’ Monday evenings all may retire to rest at the usual meeting time, an hour earlier than usual. For the union meetings the brethren remain in their rooms, and the sisters, six, eight, or ten in number, enter and sit in a rank opposite to that of the brethren’s, and converse simply, often facetiously, but rarely profoundly. In fact, to say ‘agreeable things about nothing,’ when conversant with the other sex, is as common there as elsewhere. And what of dignity or meaning could be said? where talking of sacred subjects is not allowed, under the pretext that it scatters those blessings which should be carefully treasured up; and bestowing much information concerning the secular plans of economy practiced by your own to the other sex is not approved; and where to talk of literary matters would be termed bombastic pedantry and small display, and would serve to exhibit accomplishments which might be enticingly dangerous. Nevertheless, an hour passes away very agreeably and even rapturously with those who there chance to meet with an especial favorite; succeeded soon, however, when soft words, and kind, concentrated looks become obvious to the jealous eye of a female espionage, by the agonies of a separation. For the tidings of such reciprocity, whether true or surmised, is sure before the lapse of many hours to reach the ears of the elders; in which case, the one or the other party would be subsequently summoned to another circle of colloquy and union.
“No one is permitted to make mention of any thing said or done in any of these sittings to those who attend another, for party spirit and mischief might be the result. Twenty minutes of the union hour may be devoted to the singing of sacred songs, if desired.
“All are positively forbidden ever to say aught against their brother or their sister, whatever may be their defects; but such defects shall be made known to the elders, and to none else. ‘If nothing good can be said of one, say nothing,’ is a Shaker maxim. If one member is known by another to violate an ordinance of the Gospel, the witness thereto shall gently remind the transgressor, and request him to confess the deed to the elder. If he refuses, the witness shall divulge it; if he consents, then is the witness free, as having performed his duty.
“Brethren and sisters shall not visit each other’s rooms unless for errands; and in such cases shall tarry no more than fifteen minutes. A sister shall not go to the brethren’s work places unless accompanied by another. Brethren’s and sister’s workshops shall not be under one or the same roof; they shall not pass each other upon the stairs; nor one of each converse together unless a third person be present of more than ten years of age. They shall in no case give presents to each other, nor lend with the intention of never again receiving. If a sister desires any assistance, or desires any article made by the brethren, she must make application to the female deaconesses or stewards, and they will convey her wishes to the male stewards, who will provide the article or assistance requested. The converse is required of a brother; although it is more common for the brother to express his requests direct to the female steward, thus excluding one link of the concatenation. In each order a brother is generally appointed to aid the sisters in doing the heavy work of the laundry, dairy, kitchen, and similar places. All are required to spend their mornings and evenings, and their leisure time, in the performance of some good act.
“No one shall leave the premises of the family in which he lives without the consent of the elders; and he shall obtain the consent by stating the purpose or business which calls him away. This interdiction includes the act of going from one family to another. But on their own grounds _brethren_ may range at pleasure; and the families are so large that the territory included in the domain of each extends in some directions for miles around.
“No conversation is allowed between members of different families, unless it be necessary, succinct, and discreet.
“Before a brother enters a sister’s apartment, or a sister enters a brother’s, they shall rap and enter by permission. When they enter the apartment of their own sex, they may open the door and ask, ‘May I come in?’
“The name of a person shall never be used to designate a dumb beast. No one is allowed to play with or handle unnecessarily any beast whatever. Brethren and sisters may not unnecessarily touch each other. If a brother shakes hands with an unbelieving woman, or a sister with an unbelieving man, they shall make known the same to the elders before they attend worship. Such salutes are admissible, for the sake of civility or custom, if the world party first present the hand–never without. All visiting of the world’s people, even their own relations, is forbidden, unless there exist a prospect of making converts, or of gathering some one into the fold. All visiting of other societies of their own sect is under the immediate superintendence of the ministry, who prescribe the number, select the persons, appoint the time, define the length of their stay, and the routes by which they may go and come.
“The deacons are empowered to change the employment of an individual for an hour, a day, or a week, to perform a necessary piece of labor. But a permanent removal to another vocation can be required only by the elders.
“No trading is to be done by any save the trustees, and those whom the trustees may license. No new literary work or new-fangled article can be admitted, unless it be first sanctioned by the ministry and elders. Trustees may purchase any thing they believe may be admissible, and present the same for the inspection of the leaders. If they disapprove it, it must be sold. The property is all legally held by trustees, who may at any time be removed by the ministry. The trustees are to supervise all financial transactions with the world and other families and societies of their own denomination, and do all by knowledge and union of the ministry and elders. There must be two trustees in every order, and they shall make their financial returns known to each other every journey they perform. An exact book account of every cent of disbursement and income shall be presented to the ministry at the close of every year. The deacons are also to keep an exact account of every thing manufactured or produced for sale in the family, and these two registers are compared by the ministry.
“Not a single action of life, whether spiritual or temporal, from the initiative of confession, or cleansing the habitation of Christ, to that of dressing the right side first, stepping first with the right foot as you ascend a flight of stairs, folding the hands with the right-hand thumb and fingers above those of the left, kneeling and rising again with the right leg first, and harnessing first the right-hand beast, but that has a rule for its perfect and strict performance.
“The children, or all under the age of sixteen, unless very precocious, live, eat, work, play, sleep, and worship, accompanied only by their caretakers. Once upon the Sabbath do they worship with the adults. Their meetings are not so long, neither do they retire but fifteen minutes before them. They never attend union meetings until they emerge into the adult’s degree. Stubborn children are sometimes corrected with a rod; but any child or beast that requires an extreme severity of coercion to induce them to conform, the society are not allowed to keep. The contumacious child must be returned to his parents or guardian, and the perverse beast must be sold.
“Prayer, supplication, persuasion, and keen admonition constitute the only means used to incline the disposition and bend the will of those arrived to years of understanding and reason.”
* * * * *
“The boys’ shop, so called, is a building two stories in height. In the upper loft is a large room where the care-takers reside, and where the boys who wish to read, write, or reflect may retire from the jabbering and confusion below. Whenever they leave their house or shop, they are required to go two abreast and keep step with each other. No loud talking was allowable in the court-yards at any time. No talking or whispering when passing through the tasteful courts to their work, their school, their meetings, or their meals; a still, soft walk on tiptoe, and an indistinct closing of doors in the house; a gentle, yet a more brisk movement in the shops; a free and jovial conversation when by themselves in the fields; but not a word, unless when spoken to, when other brethren than their care-takers were present–such were the orders we saw rigorously enforced, and the lenities we freely granted. We allowed them to indulge in the _innocent_ sports practiced elsewhere. But wrestling and scuffling were rarely permitted. No sports were allowed in the courtyards, unless all loud talk was suppressed. We a few times permitted them to roll trucks there, but allowed no verbal communication only by whispering.
“All were taught to confess all violations of their instructions, and a portion of every Saturday was set apart for that purpose. They enter one at a time, and kneel before the care-taker; and, after confessing their faults, the care-taker makes some necessary inquiries in relation to other boys, gives them generally some good advice, and they depart. After eighteen years of age they are not required to kneel during the act of confession. To watch over a company of boys like these is, with a little tact, an easy task. The vigils must be incessant; but there are in so large a number those upon whom the care-taker may rely; and if ill conduct or bad habits are creeping in, it may soon be detected by a shrewd observer.”
The contracting of a special liking between individuals of opposite sexes is in some of the societies called “sparking.”
* * * * *
DETAILS OF THE SHAKER SOCIETIES.
To describe particularly each of the eighteen Shaker societies would involve a great deal of unnecessary repetition. In their buildings, their customs, their worship, their religious faith, their extreme cleanliness, their costume, and in many other particulars, they are all nearly alike; and the Shaker of Kentucky does not to the cursory view differ from his brother of Maine. But I have thought it necessary, to a complete view of the order, to present some particulars of each society, as to its location, numbers, the quantity of land it owns, its industries, and present and past prosperity, as also peculiarities of thought or custom; and these details will be found below.
There are two Shaker societies in Maine–one at Alfred, the other at New Gloucester.
_Alfred_.
The society is near Alfred, in York County, about thirty miles southwesterly from Portland. Its estate of eleven hundred acres lies in a pretty situation, between hills, and includes a large pond and an important water-power. The land is not very fertile or easily cultivated. They sold off last year an outlying tract of timber-land for $28,000, and were glad to be rid of it.
The society consists now of two families, having between sixty-five and seventy members, of whom two fifths are men and the remainder women. They are all Americans but two, of whom one is Irish and one Welsh.
The society was “gathered” in 1794; there were then three families; and in 1823 it had two hundred members. Twelve years ago one of the families, being small, was drawn in to the others, and the buildings it occupied have since been let out. The decrease began to be rapid about thirty years ago, when the founders, who had become very aged, died off, and new members did not come in in sufficient numbers to take their places. Two thirds of the present members were brought into the society as children, many being brought by their parents: others, orphans, adopted. Twenty per cent, of the present membership are over fifty years of age.
The two families now raise a few garden seeds, make brooms, hair sieves, dry measures, keep a tan-yard, and make besides most of their home supplies. They also farm their own land. They have leased to outside people a saw-mill and grist-mill which they own. The young women make small baskets, fans, and other fancy articles, which are sold during the summer at neighboring sea-side watering-places. They hire a few outside laborers.
About a quarter of the people eat no meat. They have improved their sanitary regulations in the last twenty years, and have almost extirpated fevers. Formerly cancer was a frequent disease among them, but since they ceased to eat pork this has disappeared.
They take nine or ten newspapers, and encourage reading; have a small library, and a good school, in which thirteen children are taught. The people have been long-lived; only a few weeks before I visited Alfred, died at the Church Family Lucy Langdon Nowell, aged ninety-eight. She was born on the 4th of July, 1776, and had lived almost all her life in the society, her father having been one of its founders, and the owner of some of the land on which the society now live. Had she lived long enough, she was to have been taken to the proposed Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.
In the last ten years this society has maintained its numbers, but has not gained. They do not receive many applications for membership; and of those who apply, not more than one in ten “makes a good Shaker.”
The Alfred Society desired a year or two ago to remove to a milder climate; they offered their entire property for $100,000, but found no purchaser at the price, and determined to remain. Their buildings are in excellent order; and they are prosperous, having, besides the income from their different industries, a fund at interest. They have never had any defalcation or loss from unfaithful agents or trustees, and they have no debt.
I was told that the first circular saw ever made in the United States was invented by a Shaker at Alfred.
_New Gloucester_.
The New Gloucester Society lies in Cumberland County, about twenty-five miles northwest of Portland. It consists of two families, having together about seventy members, of whom one third are men. In 1823 it had three families, the third being gathered in 1820, and broken up in 1831. The society had in 1823 one hundred and fifty members.
It was “gathered” in 1794; its members are now all Americans except two, who are Scotch. Among them are persons who were farmers, merchants, printers, wool-weavers, and Some mechanics.
The Church Family lives in a valley, the Gathering Family on a high ridge, about a mile off, and overlooking an extensive tract of country. The society has two thousand acres of land, and owns a saw-mill, grist-mill, and a very complete machine shop. The people raise garden seeds, make brooms, dry measures, wire sieves, and the old-fashioned spinning-wheel, which, it seems, is still used in Maine and New Hampshire by country-women to make stocking yarn. But its most profitable industry is the manufacture of oak staves for molasses hogsheads, which are exported to the West Indies. One of the elders of this society, Hewitt Chandler, a man of uncommon mechanical ingenuity, and the inventor of a mowing-machine which was made here for some years, has contrived a way of bending staves without setting them up in the cask, which saves much time and labor, and makes this part of their business additionally profitable. They made last year also a thousand dollars’ worth of pickles; and the women make fancy articles in their spare time.
They employ from fifteen to twenty laborers in their mills and other works, most of whom are boarded and lodged on the place.
The meeting-house at this place was built in 1794, and the dwelling of the Church Family in the following year. Both are of wood, are still in good order, and have never been re-shingled.
The second family at this place was “gathered” in 1808, at Gorham, in Maine, and removed to its present location in 1819. It had then twenty brethren and thirty-two sisters; and has now only twenty members in all.
Very few of the people here eat meat. Some drink tea, but coffee is not used. They have flower gardens, and would have an organ or melodeon if they could afford it. The young people promise well; and they have lately received several young men as members, sons of neighboring farmers, who had worked for them as hired people for a number of years.
This society is less prosperous than most of the others. It has met with several severe losses by unfaithful and imprudent agents and trustees, who in one case ran up large debts for several years, contrary to the wise rule of the Shakers to “owe no man any thing,” and in another case brought loss by defalcation. The hill family have built a large stone house, but owing to losses have not been able to complete it. The buildings at New Gloucester show signs of neglect; but the people are very industrious, and have in the last three years paid off a large sum which they owed through the default of their agents; and they will work their way out in the next two years. To prevent their being entirely crippled, the other societies helped them with a subscription.
At New Gloucester, also, the people are long-lived, some having died at the age of eighty-six; and very many living beyond seventy.
The societies at Alfred and New Gloucester were founded after a “revival” among the Free-will Baptists; and of the present members who came in later, there were Universalists, Baptists, Methodists, and Adventists or Millerites.
There are two societies in New Hampshire, both prosperous: one at Canterbury, the other at Enfield.
_Canterbury._
The society at Canterbury lies on high ground, about twelve miles north by east from Concord. It consists of three families, of which, however, two only are independent; the third, which has but fifteen members, receiving its supplies from the Church Family, which contains one hundred members. The three families have in all one hundred and forty-five members. In 1823 they had over two hundred, and forty years ago they had about three hundred.
Forty of the whole number are under twenty-one; and one third are males, two thirds females. The majority are young and middle-aged people; the oldest member is now eighty-three, and half a dozen are near seventy. The people have been generally long-lived, and one member lived to over one hundred years of age.
The greater part grew up in the society; but they have five young Scotch people, brought over by their parents. Of those who have joined in later years, the most were Adventists; others Free-will Baptists and Methodists. They have not gained in numbers in ten years, and few applicants nowadays remain with them.
This society is prosperous. It owns three thousand acres of rather poor farming land, some of which is in wood and timber. It has also a farm in Western New York, where it maintains eight hundred sheep. Its industries are varied: they make large washing-machines and mangles for hotels and public institutions, weave woolen cloths and flannels, make sarsaparilla syrup, checkerberry oil, and knit woolen socks. They also make brooms, and sell hay; have a saw-mill; make much of what they use; and they keep excellent stock, having one enormous and admirably arranged barn. The sisters also make fancy articles, for which they have a good market from the summer visitors to the mountains, with whom the Canterbury Shakers are justly favorites.
Their buildings are very complete and in excellent order. They have a steam laundry, with mangle, and an admirably arranged ironing-room; a fine and thoroughly fitted school-house, with a melodeon, and a special music-room; an infirmary for the feeble and sick, in which there is a fearful quantity of drugs; and they take twelve or fifteen newspapers, and have a library of four hundred volumes, including history, voyages, travels, scientific works, and stories for children, but no novels.
The Canterbury Society was “gathered” in 1792; the leading men owned the farm on which the buildings now stand, and gave the land to the community. The old gambrel-roofed meeting-house was built in 1792, and still stands in good order. The founders and early members were Free-will Baptists, who became Shakers after a great “revival.” They had some property originally; and soon began to manufacture spinning-wheels, whips, sieves, mortars, brooms, scythe-snaths, and dry measures; they established also a tannery. As times changed, they dropped some of these industries and took up others. One of their members invented the washing-machine which they now make, and they hold the patent-right for it.
They employ six mechanics, non-members, and occasionally others. The members mostly eat meat, drink tea but not coffee, and a few of the aged members are indulged in the use of chewing-tobacco. They take fewer children than formerly, and prefer to take young men and women from eighteen to twenty-four. They take great pains to amuse as well as instruct the children; for the girls, gymnastic exercises are provided as well as a flower garden; the boys play at ball and marbles, go fishing, and have a small farm of their own, where each has his own garden plot. Once a week there is a general “exercise” meeting of the children, and they are, of course, included in the usual meetings for worship, reading, and conversation.
The “shops” or work-rooms are all excellently fitted; in the girls’ sewing-room I found a piano, and a young sister taking her music-lesson.
The children are trained to confess their sins to the elders, in the Shaker fashion, and this is thought to be a most important part of their discipline.
In the dwelling-house and near the kitchen I noticed a great number of buckets, hung up to the beams, one for each member, and these are used to carry hot water to the rooms for bathing. The dwellings are not heated with steam. The dining-room was ornamented with evergreens and flowers in pots.
They have no physician, but in the infirmary the sisters in charge have sufficient skill for ordinary cases of disease.
The people are not great readers. The Bible, however, is much read. They are fond of music.
In summer they entertain visitors at a set price, and have rooms fitted for this purpose. In the visitors’ dining-room I saw this printed notice:
“At the table we wish all to be as free as at home, but we dislike the wasteful habit of leaving food on the plate. No vice is with us the less ridiculous for being fashionable.
“Married persons tarrying with us overnight are respectfully notified that each sex occupy separate sleeping apartments while they remain.”
They had at Canterbury formerly a printing-press, and printed a now scarce edition of hymns, and several books. This press has been sold.
The trustees here give once a year an inventory and statement of accounts to the elders of the Church Family. In the years 1848-9 they suffered severe losses from the defalcation of an agent or trustee, but they have long ago recovered this loss, and now owe no debts.
Agriculture they believe to be the true base of community life, and if their land were fertile they would be glad to leave off manufacturing entirely. But on such land as they have they cannot make a living.
The leading elder of the society remarked to me that, though in numbers they were less than formerly, the influence of the Canterbury Society upon the outside world was never so great as now: their Sunday meetings in summer are crowded by visitors, and they believe that often their doctrines sink deep into the hearts of these chance hearers.
_Enfield, N. H._
The Society at Enfield lies in Grafton County, about twelve miles southeast from Dartmouth College, and two miles from Enfield Station, on the Northern New Hampshire Railroad. It is composed of three families, having altogether at this time one hundred and forty members, of whom thirty-seven are males and one hundred and three females. This preponderance arises chiefly, I was told, from the large number of young sisters. There are thirty-five youth under twenty-one years of age, of whom eight are boys and twenty-seven girls. In 1823 the Enfield Society had over two hundred members; thirty years ago it had three hundred and thirty members. They do not now receive many applications for membership, and of those who apply but few remain.
This society was “gathered” in 1793, and consisted then of but one family or community. It arose out of a general revival of religion in this region. A second family was formed in 1800, and the third, the “North Family,” in 1812. They lost some members during the war of the Rebellion, young men who became soldiers, and some others who were drawn away by the general feeling of unrest which pervaded the country. They like to take children, but are more careful than formerly to ascertain the characters of their parents. “We want a good kind; but we can’t do without some children around us,” I was told.
The society has about three thousand acres of land, part of it being an outlying farm, ten or a dozen miles away. The buildings are remarkably substantial. The dwelling of the Church Family is of a beautiful granite, one hundred feet by sixty, and of four full and two attic stories; some of the shops are also of granite, others of brick, and in the other families stone and brick have also been used. There is an excellently arranged infirmary, a roomy and well-furnished school-room, a large music-room in a separate building; and at the Church Family they have a laundry worked by water-power, and use a centrifugal dryer, instead of the common wringer.
Nearly the whole of their present real estate was brought into the society as a free gift by the founders, who were farmers living there; and many of the early members brought in considerable means, for those days. When they gathered into a community they began to add manufacturing to their farming work, and the Enfield Shakers were among the first to put up garden seeds. Besides this, they made spinning-wheels, rakes, pitchforks, scythe-snaths, and had many looms. Until within thirty years they wove linen and cotton as well as woolen goods, and in considerable quantities.
At present they put up garden seeds, make buckets and tubs, butter-tubs, brooms, dry measures, gather and dry roots and herbs for medicinal use, make maple-sugar in the spring and apple-sauce in the winter; sew shirts for Boston, and keep several knitting-machines busy, making flannel shirts and drawers and socks. They also make several patent medicines, among which the “Shaker anodyne” is especially prized by them; and extracts, such as fluid valerian; and in one of the families the women prepare bread, pies, and other provisions, which they sell in a neighboring manufacturing village. Finally, they own a woolen-mill and a grist-mill; but these they have leased. One of their members has invented and patented for the society a folding pocket-stereoscope.
Besides all these industries, uncommonly varied and numerous even for the Shakers, they have carpenter, blacksmith, tailor, and shoemaker shops, and produce or make up a great part of what they consume. Moreover, as in most of the Shaker societies, the women make up fancy articles for sale.
The members of the society are almost all Americans, and the greater part of them came in as little children. Of foreigners, there are one Englishman, two of Irish birth, one of Welsh, and two French Canadians. As elsewhere, Baptists, Methodists, and Millerites or Second Adventists contributed the larger part of the membership.
They hire from twenty to thirty-five laborers, according to the season of the year.
Most of the members are under forty, and almost all are farmers. I heard of one lawyer; and one when he entered had been a law student. Almost all are meat eaters, and they use both tea and coffee. A few of the older men are allowed to chew tobacco. There are no fevers in the society, and their health is excellent, which arises partly I suppose from the fact that the ground upon which the buildings stand has thorough natural drainage. Some of their members have lived to the age of ninety–which is not an uncommon age, by the way, for Shakers–and on the register of deaths I found these ages: 89, 86, 86, 80, 80, 79, 76, 75, and so on.
They have a library of about two hundred volumes in each family, exclusive of strictly religious books; and almost all the younger people can read music, one of the members being a thorough teacher and good musical drill-master. They read the Bible a good deal, and sometimes pray aloud in their meetings. Once or twice a week they hold reading meetings, at which some one reads either from a book of history or biography, or extracts from newspapers.
There was some years ago a defalcation in one of the societies, which “came largely if not entirely through neglect of the rule not to owe money.” The family which suffered in this case has not entirely recovered from the blow; it still owes a small debt.
An annual business report is now made by the trustees to the ministry who are set over this society and that at Canterbury.
There is but one Shaker Society in Connecticut, at _Enfield, Conn._
The Society is in Hartford County, about twelve miles from Springfield, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1792; and the meeting-house then built, of brick, is still standing, but is now used for other purposes. There were formerly five families, and in 1823 this society had two hundred members. At present there are but four families, one of which is small, and contains only a few aged people, too much attached to their old home to be removed. There are in the four families one hundred and fifteen persons, of whom the Church Family has sixty, and the Gathering Family twenty-five. One third are males and two thirds females; and there are forty-three children and youth under twenty-one, of whom eighteen are boys and twenty-four girls. So late as 1848 this society numbered two hundred persons.
They own about three thousand three hundred acres of land, and make their living almost entirely by farming. Before the rebellion they had built up a large trade in the Southern States in garden seeds; but the outbreak of the war not only lost them this trade, but in bad debts they lost nearly all they had saved in thirty years. They now breed fine stock, which they sell; and they sell some hay, but only to buy Indian corn in its stead. They are careful and excellent farmers. The women make some articles of fancy work. They employ fifteen hired men constantly.
This society is prosperous. One of the families has just erected a large and, for Shakers, uncommonly stylish dwelling; and all the buildings are in good repair and well painted. Nevertheless they have not had an easy task to make a living. “If we have got any thing here,” said an elder to me, “it is because we saved it.” They have, however, the advantage of an excellent farm. In the beginning they raised garden seeds, and were among the first in this country to establish this business, and at one time they made lead pipe–but the invention of machinery drove them out of that business.
They eat meat, and use tea and coffee moderately; and a few of the old members take snuff. They are mostly Americans, with a few Scotch and