to the public for the space of one year.
As nothing was to be urged in opposition to this reasonable
arrangement, we requested leave to make some trifling purchases of
Shaker goods; which was grimly conceded. We accordingly repaired
to a store in the same house and on the opposite side of the
passage, where the stock was presided over by something alive in a
russet case, which the elder said was a woman; and which I suppose
WAS a woman, though I should not have suspected it.
On the opposite side of the road was their place of worship: a
cool, clean edifice of wood, with large windows and green blinds:
like a spacious summer-house. As there was no getting into this
place, and nothing was to be done but walk up and down, and look at
it and the other buildings in the village (which were chiefly of
wood, painted a dark red like English barns, and composed of many
stories like English factories), I have nothing to communicate to
the reader, beyond the scanty results I gleaned the while our
purchases were making,
These people are called Shakers from their peculiar form of
adoration, which consists of a dance, performed by the men and
women of all ages, who arrange themselves for that purpose in
opposite parties: the men first divesting themselves of their hats
and coats, which they gravely hang against the wall before they
begin; and tying a ribbon round their shirt-sleeves, as though they
were going to be bled. They accompany themselves with a droning,
humming noise, and dance until they are quite exhausted,
alternately advancing and retiring in a preposterous sort of trot.
The effect is said to be unspeakably absurd: and if I may judge
from a print of this ceremony which I have in my possession; and
which I am informed by those who have visited the chapel, is
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perfectly accurate; it must be infinitely grotesque.
They are governed by a woman, and her rule is understood to be
absolute, though she has the assistance of a council of elders.
She lives, it is said, in strict seclusion, in certain rooms above
the chapel, and is never shown to profane eyes. If she at all
resemble the lady who presided over the store, it is a great
charity to keep her as close as possible, and I cannot too strongly
express my perfect concurrence in this benevolent proceeding.
All the possessions and revenues of the settlement are thrown into
a common stock, which is managed by the elders. As they have made
converts among people who were well to do in the world, and are
frugal and thrifty, it is understood that this fund prospers: the
more especially as they have made large purchases of land. Nor is
this at Lebanon the only Shaker settlement: there are, I think, at
least, three others.
They are good farmers, and all their produce is eagerly purchased
and highly esteemed. ‘Shaker seeds,’ ‘Shaker herbs,’ and ‘Shaker
distilled waters,’ are commonly announced for sale in the shops of
towns and cities. They are good breeders of cattle, and are kind
and merciful to the brute creation. Consequently, Shaker beasts
seldom fail to find a ready market.
They eat and drink together, after the Spartan model, at a great
public table. There is no union of the sexes, and every Shaker,
male and female, is devoted to a life of celibacy. Rumour has been
busy upon this theme, but here again I must refer to the lady of
the store, and say, that if many of the sister Shakers resemble
her, I treat all such slander as bearing on its face the strongest
marks of wild improbability. But that they take as proselytes,
persons so young that they cannot know their own minds, and cannot
possess much strength of resolution in this or any other respect, I
can assert from my own observation of the extreme juvenility of
certain youthful Shakers whom I saw at work among the party on the
road.
They are said to be good drivers of bargains, but to be honest and
just in their transactions, and even in horse-dealing to resist