Chapter I (4)

They do not care to take children unless they are accompanied by their parents; and refuse to take any under nine years, unless they come as part of a family. Not more than ten per cent of the children they train up remain with them; but they said it was not uncommon to see them return after spending some years in the world, and in such cases they often made good Shakers. During the war a number of their young men went off to become soldiers. Several of those who survived returned, and are now among them.

They have no provision for baths.

In 1835 they suffered from the defalcation of a trustee, to the amount of between forty and fifty thousand dollars.

I looked over a list of deaths during the last thirty years, and was surprised to find how many members had lived to ninety and past, and how large a proportion died at over seventy.

"Are you all Spiritualists," I asked, and was answered, "Of course;" but presently one added, "We are all Spiritualists, in a general sense; but there are some _real_ Spiritualists here;" and I judge that here as in some of the other societies Spiritualism is not much thought of. I saw the "Sacred Roll and Book" on a table, but was told it was not much read nowadays, but that they read the Bible a good deal.

I found that for the last three years they have had here what they call a Lyceum: a kind of debating club which meets once a week, for the discussion of set questions, reading, and the criticism of essays written by the members. The last question discussed was, "Whether it is best for the Shaker societies to work on cash or credit."

This Lyceum has produced another meeting in the Church Family, in which, once a week, all the members--male and female, young and old--are gathered to overhaul the accounts of the week, and to discuss all the industrial occupations of the family, agricultural and mechanical, as well as housekeeping and every thing relating to their practical life. These weekly meetings are found to give the younger members a greater interest in the society, and they were established because it was thought necessary to make efforts to keep the youth whom they bring up. "We will never change the fundamental principles and practices of Shakerism," said one of the older and official members, an uncommonly intelligent Shaker, to me. "Celibacy and the confession of sins are vital; but in all else we ought to be changeable, and may modify our practices; and we feel that we must do something to make home more pleasant for our young people--they want more music and more books, and shall have them; they are greatly interested in these weekly business meetings; and I am in favor of giving them just as much and as broad an education as they desire."

The business meeting lasts an hour, and the "Elder Brother in the Ministry" presides. I saw some evidences that this meeting aroused thought. Any member may bring up a subject for discussion; and I heard some of the sisters say that one matter which had occupied their thoughts was the too great monotony of their own lives--they desired greater variety, and thought women might do some other things besides cooking. One thought it would be an improvement to abolish the caps, and let the hair have its natural growth and appearance--but I am afraid she might be called a radical.

The founders of Union Village were evidently men who did their work thoroughly; the dwellings and houses they built early in the century, all of brick, have a satisfactory solidity, and are not without the homely charm which good work and plain outlines give to any building. Two of these old houses in the Church Family are now used as the boys' and the girls' houses, and are uncommonly good specimens of early Western architecture. The whole village is a pattern of neatness, with flagged walks and pleasant grassy court-yards and shade-trees; but I noticed here and there a slackness in repairs which seemed to show the want of a deacon's sharp eyes.

_North Union._

The North Union Shaker Society lies eight miles northeast from Cleveland. It was founded in 1822, in what was then a thickly timbered wilderness, and the people lived for some years in log cabins. The society was most numerous about 1840, when it contained two hundred members. It is now divided into three families, having one hundred and two persons, of whom seventeen are children and youth under twenty-one. Of these last, six are boys and eleven girls. Of the adult members, forty-four are women and forty-one men. Their numbers have of late increased, but there was a gradual diminution for fifteen years before that.

About a third of the present members were brought up in the society; of the remainder, the most were by religious connection Adventists, Methodists, and Baptists. They have among them persons who were weavers, whalemen, and sailors, but most of them were farmers. The greater number are Americans, but they have some Swiss, Germans, and English. They do not like to take in children unless their parents come with them. The health of the society has been very good. Many of their people have lived to past eighty; one sister died at ninety-eight. In the last fifty years they have buried just one hundred persons.

They eat but little meat; use tea and coffee, but moderately, and "bear against tobacco," but permit its use in certain cases. But they allow no one to both smoke and chew the weed. They have a school, and like to sing, but do not allow musical instruments.

Less than a quarter of the young people whom they bring up remain with them.

They own 1355 acres of land in one body, and have no outlying farms. They have a saw-mill, and make brooms, broom-handles, and stocking yarn. But their chief sources of income arise from supplying milk and vegetables to Cleveland, as well as fire-wood, and some lumber, and they keep fine stock. They used to make wooden ware. Their dairy brought them in $2300 last year. They employ nine hired men.

The buildings of this society are not in as neat order as those of Groveland or others eastward. I missed the thorough covering of paint, and the neatness of shops. They have no steam laundry, and make no provision for baths. But they have the usual number of "shops," among them an infirmary, or in Shaker language a "nurse-shop." They have a small library, and take two daily newspapers, the New York _World_ and _Sun_. They read the Bible "when they have a gift for it," but depend much upon their own revelations from the spirit-land.

They owe no debts, and have a fund at interest. They make a detailed annual report to the presiding ministry. They have never suffered serious loss from mismanagement and defaulting agents or trustees.

_Watervliet and Whitewater_.

The two societies of Watervliet and Whitewater, in Ohio, I did not visit. They are small, and subordinate to that of Union Village.

The society at Watervliet has two families, containing fifty-five members, of whom nineteen are males and thirty-six females; and seven are under twenty-one. They own thirteen hundred acres of land, much of which they let to tenants. They have a wool-factory, which is their only manufactory.

This society was founded a year after that at Union Village; it had in 1825 one hundred members; and is now prosperous, pecuniarily, having no debt, and money at interest. One of its families once suffered a slight loss from a defalcation.

The society at Whitewater has three families, and one hundred members, of whom fifteen are under twenty-one. There are forty males and sixty females. It was founded in 1827, and many among its members came from the society which broke up in Indiana. It had at one time one hundred and fifty members.

It owns fifteen hundred acres of land, and has no debt, but a fund at interest in each family. The families put up garden seeds, make brooms, raise stock, and farm.

There are two societies in Kentucky, one at South Union, in Logan County, on the line of the Nashville Railroad, and one at Pleasant Hill, in Mercer County, seven miles from Harrodsburg. They are both prosperous.

_South Union._

The society at South Union was founded nearly on the scene of the wild "Kentucky revival" in the year 1807, the gathering taking place in 1809. Some of the log cabins then built by the early members are still standing, and the first meetinghouse, built in 1810, bears that date on its front. I judge that the early members were poor, from the fact that they lived for some time in cabins. Some who came into the society at an early date were slaveholders; and as the Shakers have always consistently opposed slavery, these set their slaves free, but induced them to the number of forty to join them. For many years there was a colored family, with a colored elder, living upon the same terms as the whites. From time to time some of these fell away and left the society; but I was told that a number became and remained "good Shakers," and died in the faith; and when the colored family became too small, the remnant of members was taken in among the whites. There are at present several colored members.

There were originally three families, but now four, one of which, however, is small. The society numbers two hundred and thirty persons, of whom one hundred are males and One hundred and thirty females, and forty of these are under twenty-one--twenty-five girls and fifteen boys. In 1827 they were most numerous, having three hundred and forty-nine persons in all the families; they had at one time but one hundred and seventy-five, and have risen from that in the last twenty years to their present number. For some years they have neither increased nor diminished, except by the coming and going of "winter Shakers," and "we sift pretty carefully," they told me. [Footnote: The "Millennial Church" gives their number at four hundred about 1825, but I follow the account given me at South Union.] Most of the members are Americans, but they have some Germans and a few English, and they had at one time several French Catholics.

They own nearly six thousand acres of land, of which three thousand five hundred acres are in the home farm, the remainder about four miles off. The South Union Shakers were early famous for fine stock, which they sold in Missouri and in the Northwestern states and territories. They still raise fine breeds of cattle, hogs, sheep, and chickens, and this is a considerable source of income to them. Some of their land they let to tenants, among whom I found several colored families; they have also extensive orchards; the remainder they cultivate, raising--besides the pasturage of their stock--corn, wheat, rye, and oats. They have also a good grist-mill, from which they ship flour; they own a large brick hotel at the railroad station, which, I was told, is a summer resort, there being a sulphur spring near it, also a store, both of which they rent to "world's people;" and they make brooms, put up garden seeds--which was formerly an important business with them--and prepare canned and preserved fruits, which they sell largely in the Southern States. I saw here on the table those very sweet "preserves" which a quarter of a century ago were to be found on every farmer's table in New England, if he had a thrifty wife, and which, after breeding a kind of epidemic of dyspepsia, have now, I think, entirely disappeared from our Northern tables. It seems they are still served on "company occasions" in the South.

They have for their home use a tannery, and shops for tailoring, shoemaking, carpentering, and blacksmithing; and they employ fifteen hired people, all Negroes.

Their buildings, which are both brick and frame, are all in excellent condition; and the large pines and Norway spruces growing near the dwellings (and "trimmed up"--or robbed of their lower branches, as the abominable fashion has too long been in this country), show that the founders provided for their descendants some grateful shade. Near the Church Family they showed me two fine old oaks, under which Henry Clay once partook of a public dinner, while at another time James Monroe and Andrew Jackson stopped for a day at the country tavern which once stood near by, when the stage road ran near here. "Monroe," said one of the older members to me, "was a stout, thickset man, plain, and with but little to say; Jackson, tall and thin, with a hickory visage." Naturally, this being Kentucky, Clay was held to be the greatest character of the three.

Here, too, as I am upon antiquities, I saw old men who in their youth had taken part in the great "revival," and had seen the "jerks," which were so horrible a feature of that religious excitement, and of which I have previously quoted some descriptions from McNemar's "Kentucky Revival." To dance, I was here told, was the cure for the "jerks;" and men often danced until they dropped to the ground. "It was of no use to try to resist the jerks," the old men assured me. "Young men sometimes came determined to make fun of the proceedings, and were seized before they knew of it." Men were "flung from their horses;" "a young fellow, famous for drinking, cursing, and violence, was leaning against a tree looking on, when he was jerked to the ground, slam bang. He swore he would not dance, and he was jerked about until it was a wonder he was not killed. At last he had to dance." "Sometimes they would be jerked about like a cock with his head off, all about the ground." The dancing I judge to have been an involuntary convulsive movement, which was the close of the general spasm. Of course, the people believed the whole was a "manifestation of the power of God." There is no reason to doubt that McNemar's descriptions are accurate; from what I have heard at South Union, I imagine that his account is not complete.

The South Union Shakers have no debt, and mean to obey the rule in this regard; they have a very considerable fund at interest. They eat meat, but no pork; drink tea and coffee, and some of them use tobacco--even the younger members. They have as their minister here a somewhat remarkable man, who studied Latin while driving an ox team as a youngster, and later in life acquired some knowledge of German, French, and Swedish while laboring successively as seed-gardener, tailor, and shoemaker. His mild face and gentle manners pleased me very much; and I was not surprised to find him a man greatly beloved in other societies as well as at South Union. Nevertheless his example does not appear to have been catching, for I was told that they have no library. They read a number of newspapers, but the average of culture is low.

They have no baths; have lately bought a piano, and had a brother from Canterbury to instruct some of the sisters in music. The singing was not so good as I have heard elsewhere among the Shakers. They have a school during five months of the year; and they like to take children--"would rather have bad ones than none." They have brought children from New Orleans and from Memphis after an epidemic which had left many orphans. The young people "do tolerably well."

The founders of this society were "New-Light Presbyterians;" since then they have been reinforced by "Infidels," Spiritualists, Methodists, and others.

It is certainly to their credit that, living in a slave state, and having up to the outbreak of the war a great part of their business with the states farther south, these Shakers were always anti-slavery and Union people. Formerly they hired Negro laborers from their masters, which, I suppose, kept the masters quiet; it did not surprise me to hear that they always had their choice of the slave population near them. A Negro knew that he would nowhere be treated so kindly as among the Shakers. During the war they suffered considerable losses. A saw-mill and grist-mill, with all their contents, were burned, causing a loss of seventy-five thousand dollars. They fed the troops of both sides, and told me that they served at least fifty thousand meals to Union and Confederate soldiers alike. There was guerrilla fighting on their own grounds, and a soldier was shot near the Church dwelling. "The war cost us over one hundred thousand dollars," said one of the elders; and besides this they lost money by bad debts in the Southern States. Since the war they lost seventy-five thousand dollars in bonds, which, deposited in a bank, were stolen by one of its officers; but the greater part of this they hope to recover. Like all the Shakers, they are long-lived. A man was pointed out to me, now eighty-seven years of age, who plowed and mowed last summer; two revolutionary soldiers died in the society aged ninety-three and ninety-four; one member died at ninety-seven; and they have now people aged eighty-seven, eighty-five, eighty-two, eighty, and so on.

During "meeting" on Sunday I saw the children, many of them small, and all clean and neat, and looking happy in their prim way. They came in, as usual, the boys by one door, the girls by another, each side with its care-taker; and took part in the marching, kneeling, and other forms of the Shaker worship. After the war, the South Union elders sought out twenty orphans in Tennessee, whom they adopted. Last fall, when Memphis suffered so terribly from yellow fever, they tried to get fifty children from there, but were unsuccessful. Considering the small number who stay with them after they are grown up, this charity is surely admirable. And though the education which children receive among the Shaker people is limited, the training they get in cleanliness, orderly habits, and morals is undoubtedly valuable, and better than such orphans would receive in the majority of cases among the world's people. Nor must it be forgotten that the Shakers still, with great good sense, teach each boy and girl a trade, so as to fit them for earning a living.

_Pleasant Hill._

The Pleasant Hill Society lies in Mercer County, seven miles from Harrodsburg, on the stage road to Nicholasville, and near the Kentucky River, which here presents some grand and magnificent scenery, deserving to be better known.

They have a fine estate of rich land, lying in the midst of the famous blue-grass region of Kentucky. It consists of four thousand two hundred acres, all in one body. They have five families; but the three Church families have their property in common. In 1820 they had eight families, and between 1820 and 1825 they had about four hundred and ninety members. At present the society numbers two hundred and forty-five persons, of whom seventy-five are children or youth under twenty-one. About one third are males and two thirds females.

Pleasant Hill was founded in 1805, and "gathered into society order" in 1809; at which time community of goods was established.

The members are mostly Americans, but they have in one family a good many Swedes. These are the remnant of a large number whom the society brought out a number of years ago at its own expense, in the hope that they would become good Shakers. The experiment was not successful. They have also two colored members, and some English. They have among them people who were Baptists, Methodists, Adventists, and Presbyterians. A considerable number of the people, however, have grown up in the society, having come in as children of the founders; and one old lady told me she was born in the society, her parents having entered three months before she came into the world.

They eat meat, but no pork; use tea and coffee, and tobacco, but "not much;" have baths in all the families; have no library, except of their own publications, of which copies are put into every room, and a good supply is on hand, especially of the "Sacred Roll and Book," and the "Divine Book of Holy Wisdom," which appear to be more read here than elsewhere. They have no musical instruments, but mean to get an organ "to help the singing." They receive twenty newspapers of different kinds; and they are Spiritualists.

The buildings at Pleasant Hill are remarkably good. The dwellings have high ceilings, and large, airy rooms, well fitted and very comfortably furnished, as are most of the Shaker houses. Most of the buildings are of stone or brick, and the stone houses in particular are well built. In most of the dwellings I found two doorways, for the different sexes, as well as two staircases within. The walks connecting the buildings are here, as at South Union, Union Village, and elsewhere, laid with flagging-stones--but so narrow that two persons cannot walk abreast.

Agriculture, the raising of fine stock, and preserving fruit in summer are the principal industries pursued at Pleasant Hill for income. They make some brooms also, and in one of the families they put up garden seeds. They have, however, very complete shops of all kinds for their own use, as well as a saw and grist mill, and even a woolen-mill where they make their own cloth. Formerly they had also a hatter's shop; and in the early days they labored in all their shops for the public, and kept besides a carding and fulling mill, a linseed-oil mill, as well as factories of coopers' ware, brooms, shoes, dry measures, etc. At present their numbers are inadequate to carry on manufactures, and their wealth makes it unnecessary. They let a good deal of their land, the renters paying half the crop; and they employ besides fifteen or twenty hired hands, who are mostly Negroes.

Hired laborers among the Shakers are usually, or always so far as I know, boarded at the "office," the house of the trustees; and this often makes a good deal of hard work for the sisters who do the cooking there. At Pleasant Hill they had two colored women and a little boy in the "office" kitchen, hired to help the sisters; and this is the only place where I saw this done.

They have a school for the children, which is kept during five months of the year. They do not like to take children without their parents; and very few of those they take remain in the society after they are grown up. They are troubled also with "winter Shakers," whom they take "for conscience' sake," if they show even very little of the Shaker spirit, hoping to do them good. They were Union people during the war, and a few of their young men entered the army, and some of these returned after the war ended, and were reinstated in the society after examination and confession of their sins. During the war both armies foraged upon them, taking their horses and wagons; and they served thousands of meals to hungry soldiers of both sides. Their estate lies but a few miles from the field of the great battle of Perryville, and this region was for a while the scene of military operations, though not to so great an extent as the country about South Union. The Confederate general John Morgan, who was born near here, always protected them against his own troops, and they spoke feelingly of his care for them.

This society has no debt, and has never suffered from a defalcation or breach of trust. Some years ago they lost nearly ten thousand dollars from the carelessness of an aged trustee.

They are long-lived, many of their members having lived to past ninety. They have one now aged ninety-eight years.

* * * * *

SHAKER LITERATURE, SPIRITUALISM, ETC.

"It should be distinctly understood that special inspired gifts have not ceased, but still continue among this people:" so reads a brief note to the Preface of "Christ's First and Second Appearing," the edition of 1854.

In the "Testimonies concerning the Character and Ministry of Mother Ann Lee," a considerable number of her followers who had known her personally, being her contemporaries, relate particulars of her teaching and conduct, and not a few give instances of so-called miraculous cures of diseases or injuries, performed by her upon themselves or others.

The hymns or "spiritual songs" they sing are said by the Shakers to be brought to them, almost without exception, from the "spirit-land;" and the airs to which these songs are sung are believed to come from the same source. There are, however, two collections of Hymns, to most of whose contents this origin is not attributed, though even in these some of the hymns purport to have been "given by inspiration."

In the older of these collections, "A Selection of Hymns and Poems for the Use of Believers," printed at Watervliet, in Ohio, 1833, one can trace some of the earlier trials of the societies, and the evils they had to contend with within themselves. The Western societies, for instance, appear to have early opposed the drinking of intoxicating beverages. Here is a rhyme, dated 1817, which appeals to the members in the cause of total abstinence:

"From all intoxicating drink
Ancient Believers did abstain;
Then say, good brethren, do you think
That such a cross was all in vain?

"Inebriation, we allow,
First paved the way for am'rous deeds;
Then why should poisonous spirits now
Be ranked among our common needs?

"As an apothecary drug,
Its wondrous virtues some will plead;
And hence we find the stupid _Slug_
A morning dram does often need.

"Fatigue or want of appetite
At noon will crave a little more,
And so the same complaints at night
Are just as urgent as before.

"By want of sleep, and this and that,
His thirst for liquor is increased;
Till he becomes a bloated sot--
The very scarlet-colored beast.

"Why, then, should any soul insist
On such pernicious, pois'nous stuff?
Malignant _spirits_, you're dismissed!
You have possessed us long enough."

As a note to this temperance rhyme, stands the following:

"CH. RULE.--All spirituous liquors should be kept under care of the nurses, that no drams in any case whatever should be dispensed to persons in common health, and that frivolous excuses of being unwell should not be admitted. Union Village, 1826."

"Slug," in the third of the preceding verses, seems to have been a cant term among the early Shakers for a sluggard and selfish fellow, a kind of creature they have pretty thoroughly extirpated; and presumably by such free speech as is used in the following amusing rhymes:

"The depth of language I have dug
To show the meaning of a Slug;
And must conclude, upon the whole,
It means a stupid, lifeless soul,
Whose object is to live at ease,
And his own carnal nature please;
Who always has some selfish quirk,
In sleeping, eating, and at work.

"A lazy fellow it implies,
Who in the morning hates to rise;
When all the rest are up at four,
He wants to sleep a little more.
When others into meeting swarm,
He keeps his nest so good and warm,
That sometimes when the sisters come
To make the beds and sweep the room,
Who do they find wrap'd up so snug?
Ah! who is it but Mr. Slug.

"A little cold or aching head
Will send him grunting to his bed,
And he'll pretend he's sick or sore,
Just that he may indulge the more.
Nor would it feel much like a crime
If he should sleep one half his time.

"When he gets up, before he's dress'd
He's so fatigued he has to rest;
And half an hour he'll keep his chair
Before he takes the morning air.
He'll sit and smoke in calm repose
Until the trump for breakfast blows--
His breakfast-time at length is past,
And he must wait another blast;
So at the sound of the last shell,
He takes his seat and all is well."

"Slug" at the table is thus satirized:

"To save his credit, you must know
That poor old Slug eats very slow;
And as in justice he does hate
That all the rest on him should wait,
Sometimes he has to rise and kneel
Before he has made out his meal.
Then to make up what he has miss'd,
He takes a luncheon in his fist,
Or turns again unto the dish,
And fully satisfies his wish;
Or, if it will not answer then,
He'll make it up at half-past ten.

"Again he thinks it quite too soon
To eat his dinner all at noon,
But as the feast is always free,
He takes a snack at half-past three.
He goes to supper with the rest,
But, lest his stomach be oppress'd,
He saves at least a piece of bread
Till just before he goes to bed;
So last of all the wretched Slug
Has room to drive another plug.

"To fam'ly order he's not bound,
But has his springs of union round;
And kitchen sisters ev'ry where
Know how to please him to a hair:
Sometimes his errand they can guess,
If not, he can his wants express;
Nor from old Slug can they get free
Without a cake or dish of tea."

"Slug" at work, or pretending to work, gets a fling also:

"When call'd to work you'll always find
The lazy fellow lags behind--
He has to smoke or end his chat,
Or tie his shoes, or hunt his hat:
So all the rest are busy found
Before old Slug gets on the ground;
Then he must stand and take his wind
Before he's ready to begin,
And ev'ry time he straights his back
He's sure to have some useless clack;
And tho' all others hate the Slug,
With folded arms himself he'll hug.

"When he conceits meal-time is near,
He listens oft the trump to hear;
And when it sounds, it is his rule
The first of all to drop his tool;
And if he's brisk in any case,
It will be in his homeward pace."

Here, too, is a picture of "Slug" shirking his religious duties:

"In his devotions he is known
To be the same poor lazy drone:
The sweetest songs Believers find
Make no impression on his mind;
And round the fire he'd rather nod
Than labor in the works of God.

"Some vain excuse he'll often plead
That he from worship may be freed--
He's bruis'd his heel or stump'd his toe,
And cannot into meeting go;
And if he comes he's half asleep,
That no good fruit from him we reap:
He'll labor out a song or two,
And so conclude that that will do;
[And, lest through weariness he fall,
He'll brace himself against the wall],
And well the faithful may give thanks
That poor old Slug has quit the ranks.

"When the spectators are address'd,
Then is the time for Slug to rest--
From his high lot he can't be hurl'd,
To feel toward the wicked world;
So he will sit with closed eyes
Until the congregation rise;
And when the labor we commence,
He moves with such a stupid sense--
It often makes spectators stare
To see so dead a creature there."

The satire closes with a hit at "Slug's" devotion to tobacco:

"Men of sound reason use their pipes
For colics, pains, and windy gripes;
And smoking's useful, we will own,
To give the nerves and fluids tone;
But poor old Slug has to confess
He uses it to great excess,
And will indulge his appetite
Beyond his reason and his light.
If others round him do abstain,
It keeps him all the time in pain;
And if a sentence should be spoke
Against his much-beloved smoke,
Tho' it be in the way of joke,
He thinks his union's almost broke.
In all such things he's at a loss,
Because he thinks not of the cross,
But yields himself a willing slave
To what his meaner passions crave.

"This stupid soul in all his drift
Is still behind the proper gift--
With other souls he don't unite,
Nor is he zealous to do right.
Among Believers he's a drug,
And ev'ry elder hates a Slug.

"When long forbearance is the theme,
A warm believer he would seem--
For diff'rent tastes give gen'rous scope,
And he is full of faith and hope;
But talk about some good church rule,
And his high zeal you'll quickly cool.
Indulge him, then, in what is wrong,
And Slug will try to move along;
Nor will he his own state mistrust,
Until he gets so full of lust
His cross he will no longer tug,
Then to the world goes poor old Slug."

"Hoggish nature" comes in for a share of denunciation next in these lines:

"In the increasing work of the gospel we find,
The old hoggish nature we will have to bind--
To starve the old glutton, and leave him to shift,
Till in union with heaven we eat in a gift.

"What Father will teach me, I'll truly obey;
I'll keep Mother's counsel, and not go astray;
Then plagues and distempers they will have to cease,
In all that live up to the gospel's increase.

"The glutton's a seat in which evil can work,
And in hoggish nature diseases will lurk:
By faith and good works we can all overcome,
And starve the old glutton until he is done.

"But while he continues to guzzle and eat,
All kinds of distempers will still find a seat--
The plagues of old Egypt--the scab and the bile,
At which wicked spirits and devils will smile.

"Now some can despise the good porridge and soup,
And by the old glutton they surely are dup'd--
To eat seven times in a day! What a mess!
I hate the old glutton for his hoggishness.

"No wonder that plagues and distempers abound,
While there is a glutton in camp to be found,
To spurn at the counsel kind Heaven did give--
And guzzle up all, and have nothing to save.

"When glutton goes in and sits down with the rest,
His hoggish old nature it grabs for the best--
The cake and the custard, the crull and the pie--
He cares not for others, but takes care of I.

"His stomach is weak, being gorg'd on the best,
He has had sev'ral pieces secret from the rest;
He'll fold up his arms, at the rest he will look,
Because they do eat the good porridge and soup.

"Now all that are wise they will never be dup'd;
They'll feed the old glutton on porridge and soup,
Until he is willing to eat like the rest,
And not hunt the kitchen to find out the best.

"We'll strictly observe what our good parents teach:
Not pull the green apple, nor hog [1] in the peach;
We'll starve the old glutton, and send him adrift;
Then like good Believers we'll eat in a gift."
[Footnote: To eat like a hog.]

Following these verses are some reflections, concluding:

"Away with the sluggard, the glutton, and beast,
For none but the bee and the dove
Can truly partake of this heavenly feast,
Which springs from the fountains of love."

Obedience to the elders and ministry also appears to have been difficult to bring about, for several verses in this collection inculcate this duty. In one, called "Gospel-virtues illustrated," an old man is made the speaker, in these words:

"Now eighteen hundred seventeen--
Where am I now? where have I been?
My age about threescore and three,
Then surely thankful I will be.

"I thank my parents for my home,
I thank good Elder Solomon,
I thank kind Eldress Hortency,
And Eldress Rachel kind and free.

"Good Elder Peter with the rest--
By his good works we all are blest;
His righteous works are plainly shown--
I thank him kindly for my home.

"From the beginning of this year,
A faithful cross I mean to bear,
To ev'ry order I'll subject,
And all my teachers I'll respect.

"With ev'ry gift I will unite--
They are all good and just and right;
If mortifying they do come,
I'll still be thankful for my home.

"When I'm chastis'd I'll not complain,
Tho' my old nature suffer pain;
Tho' it should come so sharp and hot,
Even to slay me on the spot.

"I will no longer use deceit,
I will abhor the hypocrite;
His forged lies I now will hate--
His portion is the burning lake.

"My vile affections they shall die,
And ev'ry lust I'll crucify;
I'll labor to be clean and pure,
And to the end I will endure.

"Th' adulterous eye shall now be blind--
It shall not feed the carnal mind;
My looks and conduct shall express
That holy faith that I possess.

"I will not murmur, 'tis not right,
About my clothing or my diet,
For surely those who have the care,
Will give to each their equal share.

"I will take care and not dictate
The fashion of my coat or hat;
But meet the gift as it may come,
And still be thankful for my home.

"I will be careful and not waste
That which is good for man or beast;
Or any thing that we do use--
No horse or ox will I abuse.

"I will be simple as a child;
I'll labor to be meek and mild;
In this good work my time I'll spend,
And with my tongue I'll not offend."

Again, in "Repentance and Confession," a sinner confesses his misdeeds in such words as these:

"But still there's more crowds on my mind
And blacker than the rest--
They look more dark and greater crimes
Than all that I've confess'd
With tattling tongues and lying lips
I've often bore a part:
I frankly own I've made some slips
To give a lie a start.

"But worse than that I've tri'd to do,
When darken'd in my mind;
I've tri'd to be a Deist too--
That nothing was divine.
But O, good elders, pray for me!
The worst is yet behind--
I've talk'd against the ministry,
With malice in my mind.

"O Lord forgive! for mercy's sake,
And leave me not behind;
For surely I was not awake,
Else I had been consign'd.
Good ministry, can you forgive,
And elders one and all?
And, brethren, may I with you live,
And be the least of all?"

In "A Solemn Warning" there is a caution against the wiles of Satan, who tries Believers with a spirit of discontent:

"This cunning deceiver can't touch a Believer,
Unless he can get them first tempted to taste
Some carnal affection, or fleshly connection,
And little by little their power to waste.
The first thing is blinding, before undermining,
Or else the discerning would shun the vile snare;--
Thus Satan hath frosted and artfully blasted
Some beautiful blossoms that promis'd most fair.

"This wily soul-taker and final peace-breaker
May take the unwary before they suspect,
And get them to hearken to that which will darken,
And next will induce them their faith to reject;
He'll tell you subjection affords no protection--
These things you've been tau't are but notions at best;
Reject your protection, and break your connection,
And all you call'd faith you may scorn and detest."

"The Last Woe" denounces various sins of the congregation:

"In your actions unclean, you are openly seen,
And this truth you may ever remark,
That in anguish and woe, to the saints you must go,
And confess what you've done in the dark.

"From restraint you are free, and no danger you see,
Till the sound of the trumpet comes in,
Crying 'Woe to your lust--it must go to the dust,
With the unfruitful pleasures of sin.'

"And a woe to the liar--he is doom'd to the fire,
Until all his dark lies are confess'd--
Till he honestly tell, what a spirit from hell
Had its impious seat in his breast.

"And a woe to the thief, without any relief--
He is sentenc'd in body and soul,
To confess with his tongue, and restore ev'ry wrong,
What he ever has robbed or stole.

"Tho' the sinner may plead, that it was not decreed
For a man to take up a full cross,
Yet in hell he must burn, or repent and return,
And be say'd from the nature of loss."

In the following "Dialogue" "confession of sins" is urged and enforced:

_Q_. Why did you choose this way you're in, which all mankind despise?

_A_. It was to save my soul from sin, and gain a heav'nly prize.

_Q_. But could you find no other way, that would have done as well?

_A_. Nay, any other way but this would lead me down to hell.

_Q_. Well, tell me how did you begin to purge away your dross?

_A_. By honestly confessing sin, and taking up my cross.

_Q_. Was it before the Son of man you brought your deeds to light?

_A_. That was the mortifying plan, and surely it was right.

_Q_. But did you not keep something back, or did you tell the whole?

_A_. I told it all, however black--I fully freed my soul.

_Q_. Do you expect to persevere, and ev'ry evil shun?

_A_. My daily cross I mean to bear, until the work is done.

_Q_. Well, is it now your full intent all damage to restore?

_A_. If any man I've wrong'd a cent, I'll freely give him four.

_Q_. And what is now the greatest foe with which you mean to war?

_A_. The cursed flesh--'tis that, you know, all faithful souls abhor.

_Q_. Have you none of its sly deceit now lurking in your breast?

_A_. I say there's nothing on my mind but what I have confess'd.

_Q_. Well, what you have proclaim'd abroad, if by your works you show, You are prepar'd to worship God, so, at, it, you, may, go."

"The Steamboat" seems to me a characteristic rhyme, which no doubt came home to Believers on the western rivers, when they were plagued with doubters and cold-hearted adherents:

"While our steamboat, Self-denial,
Rushes up against the stream,
Is it not a serious trial
Of the pow'r of gospel steam?
When Self-will, and Carnal Pleasure,
And Freethinker, all afloat,
Come down snorting with such pressure,
Right against our little boat.

"Were there not some carnal creatures
Mixed with the pure and clean,
When we meet those gospel-haters,
We might pass and not be seen;
But the smell of kindred senses
Brings them on us fair broadside,
Then the grappling work commences--
They must have a fair divide.

"All who choose the tide of nature,
Freely take the downward way;
But the doubtful hesitater
Dare not go, yet hates to stay.
To the flesh still claiming kindred,
And their faith still hanging to--
Thus we're held and basely hinder'd,
By a double-minded few.

"Wretched souls, while hesitating
Where to fix your final claim,
Don't you see our boiler heating,
With a more effectual flame!--When
the steam comes on like thunder,
And the wheels begin to play,
Must you not be torn asunder,
And swept off the downward way?

"Tho' Self-will and Carnal Reason,
Independence, Lust, and Pride,
May retard us for a season,
Saint and sinner must divide;
When releas'd from useless lumber--
When the fleshly crew is gone--
With our little faithful number,
O how swiftly we'll move on!"

The "Covenant Hymn" was publicly sung in some of the Western societies, "so that no room was left for any to say that the Covenant [by which they agree to give up all property and labor for the general use] was not well understood." I quote here several verses:

"You have parents in the Lord, you honor and esteem,
But your equals to regard a greater cross may seem.
Where the gift of God you see,
Can you consent that it should reign?
Yea I can, and all that's free may jointly say--Amen.

"Can you part with all you've got, and give up all concern,
And be faithful in your lot, the way of God to learn?
Can you sacrifice your ease,
And take your share of toil and pain?
Yea I can, and all that please may freely say--Amen.

"Can you into union flow, and have your will subdu'd?
Let your time and talents go, to serve the gen'ral good?
Can you swallow such a pill--
To count old Adam's loss your gain?
Yea I can, and yea I will, and all may say--Amen.

"I set out to bear my cross, and this I mean to do:
Let old Adam kick and toss, his days will be but few.
We're devoted to the Lord,
And from the flesh we will be free;
Then we'll say with one accord--Amen, so let it be."

It is evident from these verses that the early Shakers had among them men who at least could make the rhymes run glibly, and who besides had a gift of plain speech. Here, for instance, is a denunciation of a scandal-monger:

"In the Church of Christ and Mother,
Carnal feelings have no place;
Here the simple love each other,
Free from ev'ry thing that's base.
Therefore when the flesh is named,
When impeachments fly around,
Honest souls do feel ashamed--
Shudder at the very sound.

"Ah! thou foul and filthy stranger!
What canst thou be after here?
Thou wilt find thyself in danger,
If thou dost not disappear.
Vanish quick, I do advise you!
For we mean to let you know
Good Believers do despise you,
As a dang'rous, deadly foe.

"Dare you, in the sight of heaven,
Show your foul and filthy pranks?
Can a place to you be given
In the bright angelic ranks?
Go! I say, thou unclean devil!
Go from this redeemed soil,
If you think you cannot travel
Through a lake of boiling oil."

In those earlier days, as in these, idle persons seem to have troubled the Shakers with the question "What would become of the world if all turned Shakers," to which here is a sharp reply:

"The multiplication of the old creation
They're sure to hold forth as a weighty command;
And what law can hinder old Adam to gender,
And propagate men to replenish the land?
But truly he never obey'd the lawgiver,
For when the old serpent had open'd his eyes,
He sought nothing greater than just to please nature,
And work like a serpent in human disguise."

"Steeple houses" are as hateful to the Shakers as to the Quakers and the Inspirationists of Amana, and they are excluded in an especial manner from the Shakers' Paradise:

"No sin can ever enter here--
Nor sinners rear a steeple;
'Tis kept by God's peculiar care,
For his peculiar people.
One faith, one union, and one Lord,
One int'rest all combining,
Believers all, with one accord,
In heav'nly concert joining.

"Far as the gospel spirit reigns,
Our souls are in communion;
From Alfred to South Union's plains,
We feel our love and union.
Here we may walk in peace and love,
With God and saints uniting;
While angels, smiling from above,
To glory are inviting."

Occasionally the book from which I am quoting gives one of those lively brief verses to which the Shaker congregation marches, with clapping hands and skipping feet; as these, for instance:

"I mean to be obedient,
And cross my ugly nature,
And share the blessings that are sent
To ev'ry honest creature;
With ev'ry gift I will unite,
And join in sweet devotion--
To worship God is my delight,
With hands and feet in motion."

"Come, let us all be marching on,
Into the New Jerusalem;
The call is now to ev'ry one
To be alive and moving.
This precious call we will obey--
We love to march the heav'nly way,
And in it we can dance and play,
And feel our spirits living."

In the newer collection, entitled "Millennial Hymns, adapted to the present Order of the Church," and printed at Canterbury, New Hampshire, in 1847, a change is noticeable. The hymns are more devotional and less energetic. There are many praises of Mother Ann--such lines as these:

"O Mother, blest Mother! to thee I will bow;
Thou art a kind Mother, thou dost teach us how
Salvation is gained, and how to increase
In purity, union, in order and peace.

"I love thee, O Mother; thy praise I will sound--
I'll bless thee forever for what I have found,
I'll praise and adore thee, to thee bow and bend,
For Mother, dear Mother, thou art my known friend."

Or these:

"I will walk in true obedience, I will be a child of love;
And in low humiliation I will praise my God above.
I will love my blessed Mother, and obey her holy word,
In submission to my elders, this will join me to the Lord.

"I will stand when persecution doth around like billows roll;
I will bow in true subjection, and my carnal will control.
I will stand a firm believer in the way and work of God,
Doubts and fears shall never, never in me find a safe abode.

"When temptations do surround me, floods of evil ebb and flow,
Then in true humiliation I will bow exceeding low.
I will fear the God of heaven, I will keep his holy laws,
Treasure up his blessings given in this pure and holy cause.

"Tho' beset by wicked spirits, men and devils all combin'd,
Yet my Mother's love will save me if in faithfulness I stand:
No infernal crooked creature can destroy or harm my soul,
If I keep the love of Mother and obey her holy call."

Or this hymn, which is called "Parents' Blessing:

"My Father does love me, my Mother also
Does send me her love, and I now feel it flow;
These heavenly Parents are kind unto me,
And by their directions my soul is set free.

"They fill up my vessel with power and strength--
Yea, make my cross easy, my peace of great length;
My joy fall and perfect, my trouble but light,
My gifts very many in which I delight.

"I truly feel thankful for what I receive,
In each holy promise I surely believe;
They're able and willing to do all they've said,
And by my kind Parents I choose to be led.

"I love to feel simple, I love to feel low,
I love to be kept in the path I should go;
I love to be taught by my heavenly lead,
That I may be holy and perfect indeed."

I add another, which has the lively, quick rhythm in which the Shakers delight. It is called "Wisdom's Path:

"I'll learn to walk in wisdom's ways,
And in her path I'll spend my days;
I'll learn to do what Mother says
And follow her example.
All pride and lust this will subdue,
And every hateful passion too;
This will destroy old Satan's crew
That's seated in the temple.

"Come, honest souls, let us unite
And keep our conscience clear and white,
For surely Mother does delight
To own and bless her children.
In Father's word let us go on,
And bear our cross and do no wrong,
In faith and love then we'll be strong
To conquer every evil.

"For love and union is our stay,
We'll be strong and keep it day by day;
Then we shall never go astray,
We'll gain more love and union.
Obedience will still increase,
And every evil work will cease,
We'll gain a true and solid peace,
We'll live in Mother's union."

I make no excuse for these quotations of Shaker hymns, for the books from which they are taken have been seen by very few outside of the order, and not even by all its members, as they are not now in common use.

The Shakers have always professed to have intimate intercourse with the "spirit world." Elder Frederick Evans says in his autobiography that from the beginning the exercises in Shaker meetings were "singing and dancing, shaking, turning, and shouting, _speaking with new tongues and prophesying_." Elder Frederick himself, as he remarks, "was converted to Shakerism in 1830 by spiritual manifestations," having "visions" for three weeks, which converted him, as he relates, from materialism. He adds:

"In 1837 to 1844 there was an influx from the 'spirit world,' 'confirming the faith of many disciples' who had lived among Believers for years, and extending throughout all the eighteen societies, making media by the dozen, whose various exercises, not to be suppressed even in their public meetings, rendered it imperatively necessary to close them all to the world during a period of seven years, in consequence of the then unprepared state of the people, to which the whole of the manifestations, and the meetings too, would have been as unadulterated 'foolishness,' or as inexplicable mysteries."

In a recent number of the _Shaker and Shakeress_ (1874), Elder James S. Prescott, of the North Union Society, gave a curious account of the first appearance of this phenomenon at that place, from which I quote what follows: