ECONOMISTS* 1ATIONISTS, A PERFECTIONISTS. ICARIA: BETHEL, AURORA. AND OTHER COM. BANCROFT LIBRARY VIEWS IN ZOAU. THE COMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES OP THE UNITED STATES; FROM PERSONAL VISIT AND OBSERVATION: INCLUDING DETAILED ACCOUNTS OF THE ECONOMISTS, ZOARITES, SHAKERS, THE AMANA, ONEIDA, BETHEL, AURORA, ICARIAN, AND OTHER EXISTING SOCIETIES, THEIR RELIGIOUS CREEDS, SOCIAL PRACTICES, NUMBERS, INDUSTRIES, AND PRESENT CONDITION. BY CHARLES NORDHOFF, AUTHOR OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, OREGON, AND THE SANDWICH ISLANDS," "CALIFORNIA: FOR HEALTH, PLEASURE, AND RESIDENCE," ETC. JHhistrations. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE. 1875. \\7U TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page INTRODUCTION 1 1 SUBJECTS OP THE INQUIRY 11 THE CONDITION AND NECESSITIES OP LABOR 15 MISTAKE OF THE TRADES-UNIONS 17 REASONS FOR rr * 18 LABOR SOCIETIES, AS AT PRESENT MANAGED, MISCHIEVOUS 21 THE AMANA SOCIETY , 25 ITS HISTORY AND ORIGIN 26 AMANA IN 1874 31 SOCIAL HABITS AND CUSTOMS 32 RELIGION AND LITERATURE 43 THE HARMONISTS AT ECONOMY ... 63 ECONOMY IN 1874 65 HISTORY OF THE HARMONY SOCIETY 69 ITS RELIGIOUS CREED 85 PRACTICAL LIFE 81 SOME PARTICULARS OF " FATHER RAPP " 91 THE SEPARATISTS OF ZOAR 99 ORIGIN AND HISTORY 99 THEIR RELIGIOUS FAITH 103 PRACTICAL LIFE AND PRESENT CONDITION 1 10 THE SHAKERS 117 " MOTHER ANN ". 118 THE ORDER OF LIFE AMONG THE SHAKERS 135 A VISIT TO MOUNT LEBANON 151 DETAILS OF ALL THE SHAKER SOCIETIES 179 SHAKER LITERATURE 214 "SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS".. . 232 viii Contents. Page THE ONEIDA AND WALLINGFORD PERFECTIONISTS 259 ORIGIN AND HISTORY : 259 THEIR RELIGIOUS BELIEF 268 DAILY LIFE AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 277 SUNDAY AT ONEIDA 287 " CRITICISM" AND " PRAYER-CURES " 293 THE AURORA AND BETHEL COMMUNES 305 AURORA IN OREGON 305 BETHEL IN MISSOURI 324 THEIR HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS FAITH 329 THE ICARIANS 333 THE BISHOP HILL COLONY 343 ITS ORIGIN AND HISTORY 344 CAUSES OF ITS FAILURE 349 THE CEDAR VALE COMMUNE 353 THE SOCIAL FREEDOM COMMUNITY 357 THREE COLONIES NOT COMMUNISTIC 361 ANAHEIM, IN CALIFORNIA 361 VlNELAND, IN NEW JERSEY ' 366 SILKVILLE PRAIRIE HOME, IN KANSAS 375 COMPARATIVE VIEW AND REVIEW 385 STATISTICAL 385 COMMUNAL POLITICS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY 392 CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE 399 INFLUENCES OF COMMUNISTIC LIFE 406 CONDITIONS AND POSSIBILITIES OF COMMUNISTIC LIVING 409 BIBLIOGRAPHY.... 431 INDEX . 435 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. VIEWS IN ZOAR Frontispiece. MAP SHOWING LOCATION OP COMMUNISTIC SOCIETIES To face p. 22 GBACE BEFORE MEAT AMANA ; " 28 SCHOOL-HOUSE AMANA. ' 28 AMANA, A GENERAL VIEW u 40 CHURCH AT AMANA " 54 INTERIOR VIEW OF CHURCH - " 54 PLAN OF THE INSPIRATIONIST VILLAGES " 54 ASSEMBLY HALL ECONOMY " 64 CHURCH AT ECONOMY. " 64 A STREET VIEW IN ECONOMY " 88 FATHER RAPP'S HOUSE ECONOMY 4i 88 CHURCH AT ZOAR " 108 SCHOOL-HOUSE AT ZOAR * 108 A GROUP OF SHAKERS u 118 THE FIRST SHAKER CHURCH, AT MOUNT LEBANON 130 SHAKER ARCHITECTURE MOUNT LEBANON " 134 SHAKER ARCHITECTURE ENFEELD, N. H ... u 134 SHAKER WOMEN AT WORK 137 SHAKER COSTUMES 141 SHAKER WORSHIP. THE DANCE 144 SISTERS IN EVERY-DAY COSTUME 150 ELDER FREDERICK W. EVANS lk 153 VIEW OF A SHAKER VILLAGE 154 THE HERB-HOUSE MOUNT LEBANON 155 MEETING-HOUSE AT MOUNT LEBANON.. . 156 io List of Illustrations. Page INTERIOR OF MEETING-HOUSE AT MOUNT LEBANON 157 SHAKER TANNERY MOUNT LEBANON 161 SHAKER OFFICE AND STORE AT MOUNT LEBANON 162 A SHAKER ELDER, 165 A GROUP OF SHAKER CHILDREN. To face p. 166 SHAKER DINING-HALL " 166 A SHAKER SCHOOL " 214 SHAKER MUSIC-HALL " 214 J. H. NOTES, FOUNDER OF THE PERFECTIONISTS " 260 COSTUMES AT ONEIDA " 282 THE BETHEL COMMUNE, MISSOURI " 324 CHURCH AT BETHEL, MISSOURI " 328 INTRODUCTION. THOUGH it is probable that for a long time to come the mass of mankind in civilized countries will find it both nec- essary and advantageous to labor for wages, and to accept the condition of hired laborers (or, as it has absurdly become the fashion to say, employes), every thoughtful and kind-hearted person must regard with interest any device or plan which promises to enable at least the more intelligent, enterprising, and determined part of those who are not capitalists to be- come such, and to cease to labor for hire. Nor can any one doubt the great importance, both to the security of the capitalists, and to the intelligence and happiness of the non-capitalists (if I may use so awkward a word), of in- creasing the number of avenues to independence for the latter. For the character and conduct of our own population in the United States show conclusively that nothing so stimulates intelligence in the poor, and at the same time nothing so well enables them to bear the inconveniences of their lot, as a rea- sonable prospect that with industry and economy they may raise themselves out of the condition of hired laborers into that of independent employers of their own labor. Take away entirely the grounds of such a hope, and a great mass of our poorer people would gradually sink into stupidity, and a blind discontent which education would only increase, until they be- came a danger to the state ; for the greater their intelligence, the greater would be the dissatisfaction with their situation- just as we see that the dissemination of education among the 1 2 Communistic Societies of the United States. English agricultural laborers (by whom, of all classes in Chris- tendom, independence is least to be hoped for), has lately aroused these sluggish beings to strikes and a struggle for a change in their condition. Hitherto, in the United States, our cheap and fertile lands have acted as an important safety-valve for the enterprise and discontent of our non-capitalist population. Every hired work- man knows that if he chooses to use economy and industry in his calling, he may without great or insurmountable difficulty establish himself in independence on the public lands; and, in fact, a large proportion of our most energetic and intelli- gent mechanics do constantly seek these lands, where with pa- tient toil they master nature and adverse circumstances, often make fortunate and honorable careers, and at the worst leave their children in an improved condition of life. I do not doubt that the eagerness of some of our wisest public men for the acquisition of new territory has arisen from their convic- tion that this opening for the independence of laboring men was essential to the security of our future as a free and peace- ful state. For, though not one in a hundred, or even one in a thousand of our poorer and so-called laboring class may choose to actually achieve independence by taking up and tilling a portion of the public lands, it is plain that the knowledge that any one may do so makes those who do not more contented with their lot, which they thus feel to be one of choice and not of compulsion. Any circumstance, as the exhaustion of these lands, which should materially impair this opportunity for independence, would be, I believe, a serious calamity to our country ; and the spirit of the Trades-Unions and International Societies appears to me peculiarly mischievous and hateful, because they seek to eliminate f rom the thoughts of their adherents the hope or ex- pectation of independence. The member of a Trades-Union is taught to regard himself, and to act toward society, as a Introduction. 1 3 hireling for life ; and these societies are united, not as men seeking a way to exchange dependence for independence, but as hirelings, determined to remain such, and only demanding better conditions of their masters. If it were possible to in- fuse with this spirit all or the greater part of the non-capitalist class in the United States, this would, I believe, be one of the gravest calamities which could befall us as a nation ; for it would degrade the mass of our voters, and make free govern- ment here very difficult, if it did not entirely change the form of our government, and expose us to lasting disorders and at- tacks upon property. We see already that in whatever part of our country the Trades-Union leaders have succeeded in imposing themselves upon mining or manufacturing operatives, the results are the corruption of our politics, a lowering of the standard of intel- ligence and independence among the laborers, and an unrea- soning and unreasonable discontent, which, in its extreme de- velopment, despises right, and seeks only changes degrading to its own class, at the cost of injury and loss to the general public. The Trades-Unions and International Clubs have become a formidable power in the United States and Great Britain, but so far it is a power almost entirely for evil. They have been able to disorganize labor, and to alarm capital. They have succeeded, in a comparatively few cases, in temporarily in- creasing the wages and in diminishing the hours of labor in certain branches of industry a benefit so limited, both as to duration and amount, that it can not justly be said to have inured to the general advantage of the non-capitalist class. On the other hand, they have debased the character and lowered the moral tone of their membership by the narrow and cold-blood- ed selfishness of their spirit and doctrines, and have thus done an incalculable harm to society ; and, moreover, they have, by alarming capital, lessened the wages fund, seriously checked 14 Communistic Societies of the United States. enterprise, and thus decreased the general prosperity of their own class. For it is plain that to no one in society is the abundance of capital and its free and secure use in all kinds of enterprises so vitally important as to the laborer for wages to the Trades-Unionist. To assert necessary and eternal enmity between labor and capital would seem to be the extreme of folly in men who have predetermined to remain laborers for wages all their lives, and who therefore mean to be peculiarly dependent on cap- ital. Nor are the Unions wiser or more reasonable toward their fellow-laborers ; for each Union aims, by limiting the number of apprentices a master may take, and by other equally selfish regulations, to protect its own members against compe- tition, forgetting apparently that if you prevent men from be- coming bricklayers, a greater number must seek to become car- penters ; and that thus, by its exclusive policy, a Union only plays what Western gamblers call a " cut-throat game " with the general laboring population. For if the system of Unions were perfect, and each were able to enforce its policy of ex- clusion, a great mass of poor creatures, driven from every de- sirable employment, would be forced to crowd into the lowest and least paid. I do not know where one could find so much ignorance, contempt for established principles, and cold-blood- ed selfishness, as among the Trades-Unions and International Societies of the United States and Great Britain unless one should go to France. While they retain their present spirit, they might well take as their motto the brutal and stupid say- ing of a French writer, that " Mankind are engaged in a war for bread, in which every man's hand is at his brother's throat." Directly, they offer a prize to incapacity and robbery, compel- ling their ablest members to do no. more than the least able, and spoiling the aggregate wealth of society by burdensome regulations restricting labor. Logically, to the Trades-Union leaders the Chicago or Boston fire seemed a more beneficial Introduction. 1 5 event than the invention of the steam-engine ; for plenty seems to them a curse, and scarcity the greatest blessing.* * Lest I should to some readers appear to use too strong language, I append here a few passages from a recent English work, Mr. Thornton's book " On Labor," where he gives an account of some of the regulations of English Trades-Unions : " A journeyman is not permitted to teach his own son his own trade, nor, if the lad managed to learn the trade by stealth, would he be per- mitted to practice it. A master, desiring out of charity to take as ap- prentice one of the eight destitute orphans of a widowed mother, has been told by his men that if he did they would strike. A bricklayer's assist- ant who by looking on has learned to lay bricks as well as his principal, is generally doomed, nevertheless, to continue a laborer for life. He will never rise to the rank of a bricklayer, if those who have already attained that dignity can help it." " Some Unions divide the country round them into districts, and will not permit the products of the trades controlled by them to be used ex- cept within the district in which they have been fabricated. . . . At Man- chester this combination is particularly effective, preventing any bricks made beyond a radius of four miles from entering the city. To enforce the exclusion, paid agents are employed ; every cart of bricks corning to- ward Manchester is watched, and if the contents be found to have come from without the prescribed boundary the bricklayers at once refuse to work. . . . The vagaries of the Lancashire brickmakers are fairly paral- leled by the masons of the sanie county. Stone, when freshly quarried, is softer, and can be more easily cut than later : men habitually employed about any particular quarry better understand the working of its partic- ular stone than men from a distance ; there is great economy, too, in trans- porting stone dressed instead of in rough blocks. The Yorkshire masons, however, will not allow Yorkshire stone to be brought into their district if worked on more than one side. All the rest of the working, the edg- ing and jointing, they insist on doing themselves, though they thereby add thirty-five per cent, to its price. ... A Bradford contractor, requiring for a staircase some steps of hard delf-stone, a material which Bradford masons so much dislike that they often refuse employment rather than undertake it, got the steps worked at the quarry. But when they arrived ready for setting, his masons insisted on their being worked over again, at an expense of from 5s. to 10s. per step. A master-mason at Ashton ob- tained some stone ready polished from a quarry near Macclesfield. His men, however, in obedience to the rules of their club, refused to fix it un- til the polished part had been defaced and they had polished it again by hand, though not so well as at first. ... In one or two of the northern counties, the associated plasterers and associated plasterers' laborers have come to an understanding, according to which the latter are to abstain from all plasterers' work except simple whitewashing ; and the plasterers in return are to do nothing except pure plasterers' work, that the labor- ers would like to do for them, insomuch that if a plasterer wants laths or plaster to go on with, he must not go and fetch them himself, but must send a laborer for them. In consequence of this agreement, a Mr. Booth, of Bolton, having sent one of his plasterers to bed and point a dozen win- dows, had to place a laborer with him during the whole of the four days he was engaged on the job, though any body could have brought him all 1 6 Communistic Societies of the United States. Any organization which teaches its adherents to accept as inevitable for themselves and for the mass of a nation the condition of hirelings, and to conduct their lives on that pre- mise, is not only wrong, but an injury to the community. Mr. Mill wisely says on this point, in his chapter on " The Future of the Laboring Classes :" " There can be little doubt that the status of hired laborers will gradually tend to confine itself to the description of work-people whose low moral qualities ren- der them unfit for any thing more independent ; and that the relation of masters and work-people will be gradually super- seded by partnership in one of two forms : in some cases, as- sociation of the laborers with the capitalist ; in others, and per- haps finally in all, association of laborers among themselves." I imagine that the change he speaks of will be very slow and gradual ; but it is important that all doors shall be left open for it, and Trades-Unions would close every door. Professor Cairnes, in his recent contribution to Political Economy, goes further even than Mr. Mill, and argues that a change of this nature is inevitable. He remarks : " The modi- fications which occur in the distribution of capital among its several departments, as nations advance, are by no means for- tuitous, but follow on the whole a well-defined course, and move toward a determinate goal. In effect, what we find is a constant growth of the national capital, accompanied with a nearly equally constant decline in the proportion of this cap- ital which goes to support productive labor. . . . Though the fund for the remuneration of mere labor, whether skilled or unskilled, must, so long as industry is progressive, ever bear a he required in half a day. ... At Liverpool, a bricklayer's laborer may legally carry as many as twelve bricks at a time. Elsewhere ten is the greatest number allowed. But at Leeds ' any brother in the Union pro- fessing to carry more than the common number, which is eight bricks, 1S*I*> ^S^ ? 5 3 ' 3 5 3 tO J*i3^ p ?^H / - : THE INSPIRATIONISTS, AT THE AMANA COMMUNITY. THE " True Inspiration Congregations," as they call them- selves (" Wahre Inspiration's Gemeinden "), form a commu- nistic society in Iowa, seventy-four miles west of Davenport. The society has at this time 1450 members; owns about 25,000 acres of land; lives on this land in seven different small towns ; carries on agriculture and manufactures of sev- eral kinds, and is highly prosperous. Its members are all Germans. The base of its organization is religion; they are pietists; and their religious head, at present a woman, is supposed by them to speak by direct inspiration of God. Hence they call themselves " Inspirationists." They came from Germany in the year 1842, and settled at first near Buffalo, on a large tract of land which they called Eben-Ezer. Here they prospered greatly; but feeling the need of more land, in 1855 they began to remove to their present home in Iowa. They have printed a great number of books more than one hundred volumes; and in some of these the history of their peculiar religious belief is carried back to the beginning of the last century. They continue to receive from Germany accessions to their numbers, and often pay out of their com- mon treasury the expenses of poor families who recommend themselves to the society by letters, and whom their inspired leader declares to be worthy. 26 Communistic Societies of the United States. They seem to have conducted their pecuniary affairs with eminent prudence and success. II. HlSTOEICAL. The " Work of Inspiration " is said to have begun far back in the eighteenth century. I have a volume, printed in 1785, which is called the "Thirty-sixth Collection of the Inspira- tional Records," and gives an account of "Brother John Frederick Kock's journeys and visits in the year 1719, where- in are recorded numerous utterances of the Spirit by his word of mouth to the faithful in Constance, Schaffhausen, Zurich, and other places." They admit, I believe, that the "Inspiration" died out from time to time, but was revived as the congregations be- came more godly. In 1749, in 1772, and in 1776 there were especial demonstrations. Finally, in the year 1816, Michael Krausert, a tailor of Strasburg, became what they call an "instrument" (werltzeug), and to him were added several others : Philip Mdrschel, a stocking-weaver, and a German ; Christian Metz, a carpenter.; and finally, in 1818, Barbara Heynemann, a "poor and illiterate servant-maid," an Alsa- cian (" eine arme ganz ungelehrte Dienstmagd "). Metz, who was for many years, and until his death in 1867, the spiritual head of the society, wrote an account of the so- ciety from the time he became an "instrument" until the removal to Iowa. From this, and from a volume of Barbara Heynemann's inspired utterances, I gather that the congrega- tions did not hesitate to criticise, and very sharply, the con- duct of their spiritual leaders ; and to depose them, and even expel them for cause. Moreover, they recount in their books, without disguise, all their misunderstandings. Thus it is recorded of Barbara Heynemann that in 1820 she was con- The Amana Community. 27 demned to expulsion from the* society, and her earnest entreat- ies only sufficed to obtain consent that she should serve as a maid in the family of one of the congregation ; but even then it was forbidden her to come to the meetings. Her exclusion seems, however, to have lasted but a few months. Metz, in his "Historical Description," relates that this trouble fell upon Barbara because she had too friendly an eye upon the young men ; and there are several notices of her desire to marry, as, for instance, under date of August, 1822, where it is related that " the Enemy " tempted her again with a desire to marry George Landmann ; but " the Lord showed through Brother Rath, and also to her own conscience, that this step was against his holy will, and accordingly they did not marry, but did repent concerning it, and the Lord's grace was once more given her." But, like Jacob, she seems to have wrestled with the Lord, for later she did marry George Landmann, and, though they were for a while under censure, she regained her old standing as an " inspired instrument," came over to the United States with her husband, was for many years the assistant of Metz, and since his death has been the inspired oracle of Amana. In the year 1822 the congregations appear to have attracted the attention of the English Quakers, for I find a notice that in December of that year they were visited by William Allen, a Quaker minister from London, who seems to have been a man of wealth. He inquired concerning their religious faith, and told them that he and his brethren at home were also sub- ject to inspiration. He persuaded them to hold a meeting, at which by his desire they read the 14th chapter of John ; and he told them that it was probable he would be moved of the Lord to speak to them. But when they had read the chapter, and while they waited for the Quaker's inspiration, Barbara Heynemann was moved to speak. At this Allen became im- patient and left the meeting ; and in the evening he told the 28 Communistic Societies of the United States. brethren that the Quaker inspiration was as real as their own, but that they did not write down what was spoken by their preachers ; whereto he received for reply that it was not neces- sary, for it was evident that the Quakers had not the real in- spiration, nor the proper and consecrated " instruments" to de- clare the will of the Lord ; and so the Quaker went away Km his journey home, apparently not much edified. The congregations were much scattered in Germany, and it appears to have been the habit of the "inspired instru- ments " to travel from one to the other, deliver messages from on high, and inquire into the spiritual condition of the faith- ful. Under the leadership of Christian Metz and several others, between 1825 and 1839 a considerable number of their fol- lowers were brought together at a place called Armenburg, where manufactures gave them employment, and here they prospered, but fell into trouble with the government because they refused to take oaths and to send their children to the public schools, which were under the rule of the clergy. In 1842 it was revealed to Christian Metz that all the con gregations should be gathered together, and be led far away out of their own country. Later, America was pointed out as their future home. To a meeting of the elders it was reveal- ed who should go to seek out a place for settlement ; and Metz relates in his brief history that one Peter Mook wanted to be among these pioneers, and was dissatisfied because he was not among those named ; and as Mook insisted on going, a message came the next day from God, in which he told them they might go or stay as they pleased, but if they remained in Ger- many it would be "at their own risk;" and as Mook was not even named in this message, he concluded to remain at home. Metz and four others sailed in September, 1842, for New York. They found their way to Buffalo ; and there, on the ad- vice of the late Mr. Dorsheimer, from whom they received much kindness, bought five thousand acres of the old Seneca GKACE BEFORE MEAT AMAXA. SCHOOL-HOUSE AMANA. The Amana Community. 29 Indian reservation at ten dollars per acre. To this they added later nearly as much more. Parts of this estate now lie within the corporate limits of Buffalo ; and though they sold out and removed to the West before the land attained its present value, the purchase was a most fortunate one for them. Metz records that they had much trouble at first with the Indians ; but they overcame this and other difficulties, and by industry and ingenu- ity soon built up comfortable homes. Three hundred and fifty persons were brought out in the first year, two hundred and sev- enteen in 1844 ; and their numbers were increased rapidly, un- til they had over one thousand people in their different villages. Between 1843 and 1855, when they began to remove to Iowa, they turned their purchase at Eben-Ezer (as they called the place) into a garden. I visited the locality last year, and found there still the large, substantial houses, the factories, churches, and shops which they built. Street cars now run where they found only a dense forest ; and the eight thousand acres which they cleared are now fertile fields and market-gardens. An- other population of Germans has succeeded the Amana Socie- ty ; their churches now have steeples, and there is an occasional dram-shop; but the present residents speak of their predeces- sors with esteem and even affection, and in one of the large stores I found the products of the Iowa society regularly sold. A few of the former members still live on the old purchase. They appear to have had considerable means from the first. Among the members were several persons of wealth, who con- tributed large sums to the common stock. I was told that one person gave between fifty and sixty thousand dollars; and others gave sums of from two to twenty thousand dollars. They were not Communists in Germany ; and did not, I was told, when they first emigrated, intend to live in community. Among those who came over in the first year were some fami- lies who had been accustomed to labor in factories. To these the agricultural life was unpleasant, and it was thought advis- C 30 Communistic Societies of the United States. able to set up a woolen factory to give them employment. This was the first difficulty which stared them in the face. They had intended to live simply as a Christian congregation or church, but the necessity which lay upon them of looking to the temporal welfare of all the members forced them pres- ently to think of putting all their means into a common stock. Seeing that some of the brethren did not take kindly to agricultural labor, and that if they insisted upon a purely ag- ricultural settlement they would lose many of their people, they determined that each should, as far as possible, have em- ployment at the work to which he was accustomed. They be- gan to build workshops, but, to carry these on successfully, they had business tact enough to see that it was necessary to do so by a general contribution of means. "We were commanded at this time, by inspiration, to put all our means together and live in community," said one to me ; " and we soon saw that we could not have got on or kept together on any other plan." Eben-Ezer is a wide plain ; and there, as now in Iowa, they settled their people in villages, which they called " Upper," " Lower," and " Middle " Eben-Ezer. From the large size of many of the houses, I imagine they had there, commonly, sev- eral families in one dwelling. At Amana each family has its own house ; otherwise their customs were similar to those still retained in Iowa, which I shall describe in their proper place. In 1854 they were " commanded by inspiration " to remove to the West. They selected Iowa as their new home, because land was cheap there ; and in 1855, having made a purchase, they sent out a detachment to prepare the way. It is a remarkable evidence of the prudence and ability with which they conduct their business affairs, that they were able to sell out the whole of their eight-thousand-acre tract near Buffalo, with all their improvements, without loss. Usually such a sale is extremely difficult, because the buildings of a The Amana Community. communistic society have peculiarities which detract from their value for individual uses. The Rappists, who sold out twice, were forced to submit to heavy loss each time. I do not doubt that several of the northern Shaker societies would have removed before this to a better soil and climate but for the difficulty of selling their possessions at a fair price. The removal from Eben-Ezer to Arnana, however, required ten years. As they found purchasers in one place they sent families to the other; meantime they do not appear to have found it difficult to maintain their organization in both. III. AMANA 1874. " The name we took out of the Bible," said one of the officers of the society to me. They put the accent on the first syllable. The name occurs in the Song of Solomon, the fourth chapter and eighth verse : " Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon : look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards." Amana in Iowa, however, is not a mountain, but an exten- sive plain, upon which they have built seven villages, conven- iently placed so as to command the cultivated land, and to form an irregular circle within their possessions. In these villages all the people live, and they are thus divided : Name. Popula- tion. Business. Amana , . . 450 (Woolen-mill, saw and grist mill. East Amana . .... 125 I and farming. Farming Middle Amana 350 Woolen-mill and fanning Amana near the Hill West Amana South Amana 125 150 150 Farming, saw-mill, and tannery. Grist-mill and farming. Saw-mill and farmin cp Homestead 135 { Railroad station, a saw-mill, farm- ( ing, and general d6pot. 32 Communistic Societies of the United States. The villages lie about a mile and a half apart, and each has a store at which the neighboring farmers trade, and a tavern or inn for the accommodation of the general public. Each village has also its shoemakers', carpenters', tailors', and other shops, for they aim to produce and make, as far as possible, all that they use. In Middle Amana there is a printing-office, where their books are made. The villages consist usually of one straggling street, outside of which lie the barns, and the mills, factories, and work- shops. The houses are well built, of brick, stone, or wood, very plain ; each with a sufficient garden, but mostly stand- ing immediately on the street. They use no paint, believing that the wood lasts as well without. There is usually a nar- row sidewalk of boards or brick; and the school-house and church are notable buildings only because of their greater size. Like the Quakers, they abhor "steeple-houses;" and their church architecture is of the plainest. The barns and other farm buildings are roomy and convenient. On the boundaries of a village are usually a few houses inhabited by hired laborers. Each family has a house for itself ; though when a young couple marry, they commonly go to live with the parents of one or the other for some years. As you walk through a village, you notice that at irregular intervals are houses somewhat larger than the rest. These are either cook-houses or prayer-houses. The people eat in common, but for convenience' sake they are divided, so that a certain number eat together. For Amana, which has 450 people, there are fifteen such cooking and eating houses. In these the young women are employed to work under the super- vision of matrons ; and hither when the bell rings come those who are appointed to eat at each the sexes sitting at separate tables, and the children also by themselves. " Why do you separate men from women at table ?" I asked. The Amana Community. 33 " To prevent silly conversation and trifling conduct," was the answer. Food is distributed to the houses according to the number of persons eating in each. Meal and milk are brought to the doors; and each cooking-house is required to make its own butter and cheese. For those whom illness or the care of small children keeps at home, the food is placed in neat baskets; and it was a curious sight to see, when the dinner-bell rang, a number of women walking rapidly about the streets with these baskets, each nicely packed with food. When the bell ceases ringing and all are assembled, they stand up in their places in silence for half a minute, then one says grace, and when he ends, all say, " God bless and keep us safely," and then sit down. There is but little conversation at table ; the meal is eaten rapidly, but with decorum ; and at its close, all stand up again, some one gives thanks, and there- upon they file out with quiet order and precision. They live well, after the hearty German fashion, and bake excellent bread. The table is clean, but it has no cloth. The dishes are coarse but neat ; and the houses, while well built, and possessing all that is absolutely essential to comfort ac- cording to the German peasants' idea, have not always carpets, and have often a bed in what New-Englanders would call the parlor; and in general are for use and not ornament. They breakfast between six and half-past six, according to the season, have supper between six and seven, and dinner at half-past eleven. They have besides an afternoon lunch of bread and butter and coffee, and in summer a forenoon lunch of bread, to which they add beer or wine, both home-made. They do not forbid tobacco. Each business has its foreman ; and these leaders in each village meet together every evening, to concert and arrange the labors of the following day. Thus if any department needs for an emergency an extra force, it is known, and the 34 Communistic Societies of the United States. proper persons are warned. The trustees select the temporal foremen, and give to each from time to time his proper charge, appointing him also his helpers. Thus a member showed me his "ticket," by which he was appointed to the care of the cows, with the names of those who were to assist him. In the summer, and when the work requires it, a large force is turned into the fields ; and the women labor with the men in the har- vest. The workmen in the factories are, of course, not often changed. The children are kept at school between the ages of six and thirteen ; the sexes do not sit in separate rooms. The school opens at seven o'clock, and the children study and recite until half-past nine. From that hour until eleven, when they are dismissed for dinner, they knit gloves, wristlets, or stockings. At one o'clock school reopens, and they once more attend to lessons until three, from which hour till half-past four they knit again. The teachers are men, but they are relieved by women when the labor-school begins. Boys as well as girls are required to knit. One of the teachers said to me that this work kept them quiet, gave them habits of industry, and kept them off the streets and from rude plays. They instruct the children in musical notation, but do not allow musical instruments. They give only the most element- ary instruction, the " three Ks," but give also constant drill in the Bible and in the Catechism. " Why should we let our youth study ? "We need no lawyers or preachers ; we have al- ready three doctors. What they need is to live holy lives, to learn God's commandments out of the Bible, to learn submis- sion to his will, and to love him." The dress of the people is plain. The men wear in the winter a vest which buttons close up to the throat, coat and trousers being of the common cut. The women and young girls wear dingy colored stuffs, mostly of the society's own make, cut in the plainest style, and often The Amana Community. 35 short gowns, in the German peasant way. All, even to the very small girls, wear their hair in a kind of black cowl or cap, which covers only the back of the head, and is tied under the chin by a black ribbon. Also all, young as well as old, wear a small dark-colored shawl or handkerchief over the shoulders, and pinned very plainly across the breast. This peculiar uni- form adroitly conceals the marks of sex, and gives a singularly monotonous appearance to the women. The sex, I believe, is not highly esteemed by these people, who think it dangerous to the Christian's peace of mind. One of their most esteemed writers advises men to " fly from inter- course with women, as a very highly dangerous magnet and magical fire." Their women work hard and dress soberly; all ornaments are forbidden. To wear the hair loose is pro- hibited. Great care is used to keep the sexes apart. In their evening and other meetings, women not only sit apart from men, but they leave the room before the men break ranks. Boys are allowed to play only with boys, and girls with girls. There are no places or occasions for evening amusements, where the sexes might meet. On Sunday afternoons the boys are permitted to walk in the fields; and so are the girls, but these must go in another direction. " Perhaps they meet in the course of the walk," said a member to me, " but it is not allowed." At meals and in their labors they are also separated. With all this care to hide the charms of the young women, to make them, as far as dress can do so, look old and ugly, and to keep the young men away from them, love, courtship, and marriage go on at Amana as elsewhere in the world. The young man " falls in love," and finds ways to make his passion known to its object; he no doubt enjoys all the delights of courtship, intensified by the difficulties which his prudent brethren put in his way ; and he marries the object of his af- fection, in spite of her black hood and her sad-colored little shawl, whenever he has reached the age of twenty-four. 36 Communistic Societies of the United States. For before that age tie may not marry, even if his parents consent. This is a merely prudential rule. " They have few cares in life, and would marry too early for their own good food and lodging being secured them if there were not a rule upon the subject;" so said one of their wise men to me. Therefore, no matter how early the young people agree to marry, the wedding is deferred until the man reaches the proper age. And when at last the wedding-day comes, it is treated with a degree of solemnity which is calculated to make it a day of terror rather than of unmitigated delight. The parents of the bride and groom meet, with two or three of the elders, at the house of the bride's father. Here, after singing and prayer, that chapter of Paul's writings is read wherein, with great plainness of speech, he describes to the Ephesians and the Christian world in general the duties of husband and wife. On this chapter the elders comment " with great thoroughness " to the young people, and " for a long time," as I was told ; and after this lecture, and more singing and prayer, there is a mod- est supper, whereupon all retire quietly to their homes. The strictly pious hold that marriages should be made only by consent of God, signified through the " inspired instrument." While the married state has thus the countenance and sanc- tion of the society and its elders, matrimony is not regarded as a meritorious act. It has in it, they say, a certain large de- gree of worldliness ; it is not calculated to make them more, but rather less spiritually minded so think they at Amana and accordingly the religious standing of the young couple suffers and is lowered. In the Amana church there are three "classes," orders or grades, the highest consisting of those members who have manifested in their lives the greatest spirit- uality and piety. Now, if the new-married couple should have belonged for years to this highest class, their wedding would put them down into the lowest, or the " children's order," The Amana Community. 37 for a year or two, until they had won their slow way back by deepening piety. The civil or temporal government of the Amana commu- nists consists of thirteen trustees, chosen annually by the male members of the society. The president of the society is chosen by the trustees. This body manages the finances, and carries on the tem- poralities generally, but it acts only with the unanimous con- sent of its members. The trustees live in different villages, but exercise no special authority, as I understand, as individ- uals. The foremen and elders in each village carry on the work and keep the accounts. Each village keeps its own books and manages its own affairs ; but all accounts are finally sent to the head-quarters at Amana, where they are inspected, and the balance of profit or loss is discovered. It is supposed that the labor of each village produces a profit ; but whether it does or not makes no difference in the supplies of the people, who receive every thing alike, as all property is held in common. All accounts are balanced once a year, and thus the produc- tiveness of every industry is ascertained. The elders are a numerous body, not necessarily old men, but presumably men of deep piety and spirituality. They are named or appointed by inspiration, and preside at religious assemblies. In every village four or five of the older and more experi- enced elders meet each morning to advise together on business. This council acts, as I understand, upon reports of those younger elders who are foremen and have charge of different affairs. These in turn meet for a few minutes every evening, and ar- range for the next day's work. Women are never members of these councils, nor do they hold, as far as I could discover, any temporal or spiritual au- thority, with the single exception of their present spiritual head, who is a woman of eighty years. Moreover, if a young 38 Communistic Societies of the United States. man should marry out of the society, and his wife should de- sire to become a member, the husband is expelled for a year at the end of which time both may make application to come in, if they wish. They have contrived a very simple and ingenious plan for supplying their members with clothing and other articles aside from food. To each adult male an annual allowance is made of from forty to one hundred dollars, according as his position and labor necessitates more or less clothing. For each adult female the allowance is from twenty-five to thirty dollars, and from five to ten dollars for each child. All that they need is kept in store in each village, and is sold to the members at cost and expenses. When any one re- quires an article of clothing, he goes to the store and selects the cloth, for which he is charged in a book he brings with him ; he then goes to the tailor, who makes the garment, and charges him on the book an established price. If he needs shoes, or a hat, or tobacco, or a watch, every thing is in the same way charged. As I sat in one of the shops, I noticed w r omen com- ing in to make purchases, often bringing children with them, and each had her little book in which due entry was made. " Whatever we do not use, is so much saved against next year ; or we may give it away if we like," one explained to me ; and added that during the war, when the society contributed be- tween eighteen and twenty thousand dollars to various be- nevolent purposes, much of this was given by individual mem- bers out of the savings on their year's account. Almost every man has a watch, but they keep a strict rule over vanities of apparel, and do not allow the young girls to buy or wear ear-rings or breastpins. The young and unmarried people, if they have no parents, are divided around among the families. They have not many labor-saving contrivances ; though of course the eating in common is both economical and labor- The Amana Community. 39 saving. There is in each village a general wash-house, where the clothing of the unmarried people is washed, but each fam- ily does its own washing. They have no libraries ; and most of their reading is in the Bible, and in their own " inspired " records, which, as I shall show further on, are quite voluminous. A few newspapers are taken, and each calling among them receives the journal which treats of its own specialty. In general they aim to with- draw themselves as much as possible from the world, and take little interest in public affairs. During the war they voted ; " but we do not now, for we do not like the turn pol- itics have taken" which seemed to me a curious reason for refusing to vote. Their members came originally from many parts of Ger- many and Switzerland ; they have also a few " Pennsylvania Dutch." They have much trouble with applicants who desire to join the society ; and receive, the secretary told me, some- times dozens of letters in a month from persons of whom they know nothing ; and not a few of whom, it seems, write, not to ask permission to join, but to say that they are coming on at once. There have been cases where a man wrote to say that he had sold all his possessions, and was then on the way, with his family, to join the association. As they claim to be not an industrial, but a religions community, they receive new members with great care, and only after thorough investiga- tion of motives and religious faith ; and these random appli- cations are very annoying to them. Most of their new mem- bers they receive from Germany, accepting them after proper correspondence, and under the instructions of "inspiration." Where they believe them "worthy they do not inquire about their means ; and a fund is annually set apart by the trustees to pay the passage of poor families whom they have deter- mined to take in. Usually a neophyte enters on probation for two years, sign- 40 Communistic Societies of the United States. ing an obligation to labor faithfully, to conduct himself ac- cording to the society's regulations, and to demand no wages. If at the close of his probation he appears to be a proper per- son, he is admitted to full membership ; and if he has property, he is then expected to put this into the common stock ; sign- ing also the constitution, which provides that on leaving he shall have his contribution returned, but without interest. There are cases, however, where a new-comer is at once ad- mitted to full membership. This is where " inspiration " di- rects such breach of the general rule, on the ground that the applicant is already a fit person. Most of their members came from the Lutheran Church ; but they have also Catholics, and I believe several Jews. They employ about two hundred hired hands, mostly in ag- ricultural labors ; and these are all Germans, many of whom have families. For these they supply houses, and give them sometimes the privilege of raising a few cattle on their land. They are excellent farmers, and keep fine stock, which they care for with German thoroughness; stall-feeding in the winter. The members do not work hard. One of the foremen told me that three hired hands would do as much as five or six of the members. Partly this comes no doubt from the interrup- tion to steady labor caused by their frequent religious meet- ings ; but I have found it generally true that the members of communistic societies take life easy. The people are of varying degrees of intelligence ; but most of them belong to the peasant class of Germany, and were originally farmers, weavers, or mechanics. They are quiet, a little stolid, and very well satisfied with their life. Here, as in other communistic societies, the brains seem to come easily to the top. The leading men with whom I conversed appeared to me to be thoroughly trained business men in the German fashion ; men of education, too, and a good deal of intelli- The Amana Community. 41 gence. The present secretary told me that he had been dur- ing all his early life a merchant in Germany ; and he had the grave and somewhat precise air of an honest German mer- chant of the old style prudent, with a heavy sense of respon- sibility, a little rigid, and yet kindly. At the little inn I talked with a number of the rank and file, and noticed in them great satisfaction with their method of life. They were, on the surface, the commoner kind of German laborers ; but they had evidently thought pretty thor- oughly upon the subject of communal living ; and knew how to display to me what appeared to them its advantages in their society : the absolute equality of all men " as God made us ;" the security for their families; the abundance of food; and the independence of a master. It seems to me that these advantages are dearer to the Ger- mans than to almost any other nation, and hence they work more harmoniously in communistic experiments. I think I noticed at Amana, and elsewhere among the German com- munistic societies, a satisfaction in their lives, a pride in the equality which the communal system secures, and also in the conscious surrender of the individual will to the general good, which is not -so clearly and satisfactorily felt among other na- tionalities. Moreover, the German peasant is fortunate in his tastes, which are frugal and well fitted for community living. He has not a great sense of or desire for beauty of surround- ings; he likes substantial living, but cares nothing for elegance. His comforts are not, like the American's, of a costly kind. I think, too, that his lower passions are more easily regu- lated or controlled, and certainly he is more easily contented to remain in one place. The innkeeper, a little to my sur- prise, when by chance I told him that I had spent a winter on the Sandwich Islands, asked me with the keenest delight and curiosity about the trees, the climate, and the life there ; and wanted to know if I had seen the place where Captain Cook, 42 Communistic Societies of the United States. " the great circumnavigator of the world," was slain. He re- turned to the subject again and again, and evidently looked upon me as a prodigiously interesting person, because I had been fortunate enough to see what to him was classic ground. An American would not have felt one half this man's inter- est ; but he would probably have dreamed of making the same journey some day. My kindly host sat serenely in his place, and was not moved by a single wandering thought. They forbid all amusements all cards and games what- ever, and all musical instruments; "one might have a flute, but nothing more." Also they regard photographs and pict- ures of all kinds as tending to idol- worship, and therefore not to be allowed. They have made very substantial improvements upon their property ; among other things, in order to secure a sufficient water-power, they dug a canal six miles long, and from five to ten feet deep, leading a large body of water through Amana. On this canal they keep a steam-scow to dredge it out annually. As a precaution against fire, in Amana there is a little tower upon a house in the middle of the village, where two men keep watch all night. They buy much wool from the neighboring farmers; and have a high reputation for integrity and simple plain-dealing among their neighbors. A farmer told me that it was not easy to cheat them ; and that they never dealt the second time with a man who had in any way wronged them ; but that they paid a fair price for all they bought, and always paid cash. In their woolen factories they make cloth enough for their own wants and to supply the demand of the country about them. Flannels and yarn, as well as woolen gloves and stock- ings, they export, sending some of these products as far as New York. The gloves and stockings are made not only by the children, but by the women during the winter months, when they are otherwise unemployed. The Amana Community. 43 At present they own about 3000 sheep, 1500 head of cattle, 200 horses, and 2500 hogs. The society has no debt, and has a considerable fund at in- terest. They lose very few of their young people. Some who leave them return after a few years in the world. Plain and dull as the life is, it appears to satisfy the youth they train up ; and no doubt it has its rewards in its regularity, peacefulness, se- curity against want, and freedom from dependence on a master. It struck me as odd that in cases of illness they use chiefly homeopathic treatment. The people live to a hale old age. They had among the members, in March, 1874, a woman aged ninety-seven, and a number of persons over eighty. They are non-resistants; but during the late war paid for substitutes in the army. " But we did wrongly there," said one to me ; " it is not right to take part in wars even in this way." To sum up : the people of Amana appeared to me a remark- ably quiet, industrious, and contented population ; honest, of good repute among their neighbors, very kindly, and with re- ligion so thoroughly and largely made a part of their lives that they may be called a religious people. IV. RELIGION AND LITERATURE. " If one gives himself entirely, and in all his life, to the will of God, he will presently be possessed by the Spirit of God." " The Bible is the Word of God ; each prophet or sacred writer wrote only what he received from God." "In the New Testament we read that the disciples were 4 filled with the Holy Ghost,' But the same God lives now, and it is reasonable to believe that he inspires his followers now as then ; and that he will lead his people, in these days as in those, by the words of his inspiration." D 44 Communistic Societies of the United States. "He leads us in spiritual matters, and in those temporal concerns which affect our spiritual life ; but we do not look to him for inspired directions in all the minute affairs of our daily lives. Inspiration directed us to come to America, and to leave Eben-Ezer for Iowa. Inspiration sometimes directs us to admit a new-comer to full membership, and sometimes to expel an unworthy member. Inspiration discovers hidden sins in the congregation." " We have no creed except the Bible." " We ought to live retired and spiritual lives ; to keep our- selves separate from the world ; to cultivate humility, obedi- ence to God's will, faithfulness, and love to Christ." " Christ is our head." Such are some of the expressions of their religious belief which the pious and well-instructed at Amana gave me. They have published two Catechisms one for the instruc- tion of children, the other for the use of older persons. From these it appears that they are Trinitarians, believe in "justifi- cation by faith," hold to the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, but not to eternal punishment, believing rather that fire will purify the wicked in the. course of time, longer or shorter according to their wickedness. They do not practice baptism, either infant or adult, hold- ing it to be a useless ceremony not commanded in the New Testament. They celebrate the Lord's Supper, not at regular periods, but only when by the words of " inspiration " God or- ders them to do so ; and then with peculiar ceremonies, which I shall Describe further on. As to this word " Inspiration," I quote here from the Cate- chism their definition of it : " Question. Is it therefore the Spirit or the witness of Jesus which speaks and bears witness through the truly inspired persons ? "Answer. Yes ; the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Jesus, which The Amana Community. 45 brings to light the hidden secrets of the heart, and gives wit- ness to our spirits that it is the Spirit of truth. " Q. When did the work of inspiration begin in the later times ? " A. About the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century. About this time the Lord began the gra- cious work of inspiration in several countries (France, England, and, at last, in Germany), gathered a people by these new messengers of peace, and declared a divine sentence of pun- ishment against the fallen Christian world. " Q. How were these c instruments' or messengers called ? "A. Inspired or new prophets. They were living trumpets of God, which shook the whole of Christendom, and awakened many out of their sleep of security. * # * # * * * " Q- What is the word of inspiration ? " A. It is the prophetic word of the New Testament, or the Spirit of prophecy in the new dispensation. " Q. What properties and marks of divine origin has this inspiration ? "A. It is accompanied by a divine power, and reveals the secrets of the heart and conscience in a way which only the all-knowing and soul-penetrating Spirit of Jesus has power to do ; it opens the ways of love and grace, of the holiness and justice of God ; and these revelations and declarations are in their proper time accurately fulfilled. " Q. Through whom is the Spirit thus poured out ? "A. Through the vessels of grace, or 'instruments' chosen and fitted by the Lord. " Q. How must these ( instruments' be constituted ? " A. They must conform themselves in humility and child- like obedience to all the* motions and directions of God within them ; without care for self or fear of men, they must walk in the fear of God, and with attentive watchfulness for the inner 46 Communistic Societies of the United States. signs of his leading; and they must subject themselves in every way to the discipline of the Spirit." Concerning the Constitution of the Inspiration Congrega- tions or communities, the same Catechism asserts that it " is founded upon the divine revelation in the Old and New Tes- tament, connected with the divine directions, instructions, and determinations, general and special, given through the words of the true inspiration." " Question. Through or by whom are the divine ordinances carried out in the congregations ? "Answer. By the elders and leaders, who have been chosen and nominated to this purpose by God. " Q. What are their duties ? "A. Every leader or elder of the congregation is in duty bound, by reason of his divine call, to advance, in the measure of the grace and power given him, the spiritual and temporal welfare of the congregation ; but in important and difficult circumstances the Spirit of prophecy will give the right and correct decision. " Q. Is the divine authority to bind and loose, intrusted, according to Matt, xvi., 19, to the apostle Peter, also given to the elderstof the Inspiration Congregations ? "A. It belongs to all elders and teachers of the congrega- tion of the faithful, who were called by the Lord Jesus through the power of his Holy Spirit, and who, by the authority of their divine call, and of the divine power within them, rule without abuse the congregations or flocks intrusted to them. " Q. What are the duties of the members of the Inspiration Congregations ? "A. A pure and upright walk in the fear of God ; heartfelt love and devotion toward their brethren, and childlike obedi- ence toward God and the ciders." These are the chief articles of faith of the Amana Com- munity. The Amana Community. 47 They regard the utterances, while in the trance state, of their spiritual head as given from God ; and believe as is as- serted in the Catechism that evils and wrongs in the congre- gation will be thus revealed by the influence, or, as they say, the inspiration or breath of God; that in important affairs they will thus receive the divine direction ; and that it is their duty to obey the commands thus delivered to them. There were "inspired instruments" before Christian Metz. Indeed, the present "instrument," Barbara Landmann, was accepted before him, but by reason of her marriage fell from grace for a while. It would seem that Metz also was married ; for I was told at Amana that at his death in 186T, at the age of sixty-seven, he left a daughter in the community. The words of "inspiration" are usually delivered in the public meetings, and at funerals and other solemn occasions. They have always been carefully written down by persons specially appointed to that office; and this appears to have been done so long ago as 1719, when " Brother John Frederick Rock" made his journey through Constance, Schaffhausen, Zu- rich, etc., with " Brother J. J. Schulthes as writer, who wrote down every thing correctly, from day to day, and in weal or woe." When the "instrument" "falls into inspiration," he is often severely shaken Metz, they say, sometimes shook for an hour and thereupon follow the utterances which are believed to proceed from God. The " instrument" sits or kneels, or walks about among the congregation. " Brother Metz used to walk about in the meeting with his eyes closed ; but he always knew to whom he was speaking, or where to turn with words of re- proof, admonition, or encouragement" so I was told. The "inspired" words are not always addressed to the general congregation, but often to individual members ; and their feelings are not spared. Thus in one case Barbara Land- mann, being " inspired," turned upon a sister with the words, 48 Communistic Societies of the United States. " But you, wretched creature, follow the true counsel of obedi- ence ;" and to another : " And you, contrary spirit, how much pain do you give to our hearts. You will fall into everlasting pain, torture, and unrest if you do not break your will and re- pent, so that you may be accepted and forgiven by those you have offended, and who have done so much for you." The warnings, prophecies, reproofs, and admonitions, thus delivered by the " inspired instrument," are all, as I have said, carefully written down, and in convenient time printed in yearly volumes, entitled " Year-Books of the True Inspiration Congregations : Witnesses of the Spirit of God, which happen ed and were spoken in the Meetings of the Society, through the Instruments, Brother Christian Metz and Sister B. Land- mann," with the year in which they were delivered. In this country they early established a printing-press at Eben-Ezer, and after their removal also in Iowa, and have issued a con- siderable number of volumes of these records. They are read as of equal authority and almost equal importance with the Bible. Every family possesses some volumes ; and in their meetings extracts are read aloud after the reading of the Scriptures. There is commonly a brief preface to each revelation, re- counting the circumstances under which it was delivered ; as for instance : "No. 10. Lovier Eben-Ezer, November 7, 1853. Monday morning the examination of the .congregation was made here according to the command of the Lord. For the opening service five verses were sung of the hymn, ' Lord, give thyself to me;' the remainder of the hymn was read. After the prayer, and a brief silence, Sister Barbara Landrnann fell into inspiration, and was forced to bear witness in the following gracious and impressive revival words of love." The phrase varies with the contents of the message, as, on another occasion, it is written that " both ' instruments' fell into The Amana Community. 49 inspiration, and there followed this earnest admonition to re- pentance, and words of warning ;" or, again, the words are de- scribed as " important, 5 ' or " severe," or " gentle and gracious and hope inspiring." During his wanderings in Germany among the congrega- tions, Metz appears to have fallen into inspiration almost daily, not only in meetings, but during conversations, and even occa- sionally at dinner whereupon the dinner waited. Thus it is recorded that u at the'Rehmiihle, near Hambach, June 1, 1839 this afternoon the traveling brethren with Brother Peter came hither and visited friend Matthias Bieber. After con- versation, as they were about to sit down to eat something, Brother Christian Metz fell into inspiration, and delivered the following words to his friend, and Brother Philip Pe- ter." The inspired utterances are for the most part admonitory to a holier life ; warnings, often in the severest language, against selfishness, stubbornness, coldness of heart, pride, hatred toward God, grieving the Spirit; with threats of the wrath of God, of punishment, etc. Humility and obedience are continually inculcated. " Lukewarmness " appears to be one of the pre- vailing sins of the community. It is needless to say that to a stranger these homilies are dull reading. Concerning violations of the Ten Commandments or of the moral law, I have not found any mention here ; and I do not doubt that the members of the society live, on the whole, uncommonly blameless lives. I asked, for instance, what punishment their rules provided for drunkenness, but was told that this vice is not found among them; though, as at Economy and in other German communities, they habitually use both wine and beer. When any member offends against the rules or order of life of the society, he is admonished (ermahnf) by the elders ; and if he does not amend his ways, expulsion follows; and 50 Communistic Societies* of the United States. here as elsewhere in the communities I have visited, they seem vigilantly to purge the society of improper persons. The following twenty-one " Rules for Daily Life," printed in one of their collections, and written by one of their older lead- ers, E. L. Gruber, give, I think, a tolerably accurate notion of their views of the conduct of life: " I. To obey, without reasoning, God, and through God our superiors. " II. To study quiet, or serenity, within and without. " III. Within, to rule and master your thoughts. " IY. Without, to avoid all unnecessary words, and still to study silence and quiet. " Y. To abandon self, with all its desires, knowledge, and power. " YI. Do not criticise others, either for good or evil, neither to judge nor to imitate them ; therefore contain yourself, remain at home, in the house and in your heart. " VII. Do not disturb your serenity or peace of mind hence neither desire nor grieve. "VIII. Live in love and pity toward your neighbor, and indulge neither anger nor impatience in your spirit. " IX. Be honest, sincere, and avoid all deceit and even se- cretiveness. " X. Count every word, thought, and work as done in the im- mediate presence of God, in sleeping and waking, eating, drink- ing, etc., and give him at once an account of it, to see if all is done in his fear and love. " XI. Be in all things sober, without levity or laughter ; and without vain and idle words, works, or thoughts ; much less 'heedless or idle. " XII. Never think or speak of God without the deepest rev- erence, fear, and love, and therefore deal reverently with all spiritual things. "XIII. Bear all inner and outward sufferings in silence, The Amana Community. 5 1 complaining only to God ; and accept all from him in deepest reverence and obedience. " XIY. Notice carefully all that God permits to happen to you in your inner and outward life, in order that you may not fail to comprehend his will and to be led by it. "XV. Have nothing to do with unholy, and particularly with needless business affairs. "XVI. Have no intercourse with worldly -minded men; never seek their society ; speak little with them, and never without need ; and then not without fear and trembling. " XVII. Therefore, what you have to do with such men, do in haste; do not waste time in public places and worldly soci- ety, that you be not tempted and led away. XVIII. Fly from the society of women-kind as much as possible, as a very highly dangerous magnet and magical fire. "XIX. Avoid obeisance and the fear of men; these are dangerous ways. " XX. Dinners, weddings, feasts, avoid entirely ; at the best there is sin. "XXI. Constantly practice abstinence and temperance, so that you may be as wakeful after eating as before." These rules may, I suppose, be regarded as the ideal stand- ard toward which a pious Inspirationist looks and works. Is it not remarkable that they should have originated and found their chief adherents among peasants and poor weavers ? Their usual religious meetings are held on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, and every evening. On Saturday, all the people of a village assemble together in the church or meeting-house ; on other days they meet in smaller rooms, and by classes or orders. The society consists of three of these orders the highest, the middle, and the lower, or children's order. In the latter fall naturally the youth of both sexes, but also those older and married persons whose religious life and experience are not 5 2 Communistic Societies of the United States. deep enough to make them worthy of membership in the higher orders. The evening meeting opens a little after seven o'clock. It is held in a large room specially maintained for this purpose. I accompanied one of the brethren, by permission, to these meet- ings during my stay at Amana. I found a large, low-ceiled room, dimly lighted by a single lamp placed on a small table at the head of the room, and comfortably warmed with stoves. Benches without backs were placed on each side of this cham- ber ; the floor was bare, but clean ; and hither entered, singly, or by twos or threes, the members, male and female, each go- ing to the proper place without noise. The men sat on one side, the women on the other. At the table sat an elderly man, of intelligent face and a look of some authority. Near him were two or three others. When all had entered and were seated, the old man at the table gave out a hymn, reading out one line at a time ; and after two verses were sung in this way, he read the remaining ones. Then, after a moment of decorous and not unimpres- sive silent meditation, all at a signal rose and kneeled down at their places. Hereupon the presiding officer uttered a short prayer in verse, and after him each man in his turn, be- ginning with the elders, uttered a similar verse of prayer, usually four, and sometimes six lines long. When all the men and boys had thus prayed and their little verses were very pleasant to listen to, the effect being of childlike simplicity the presiding elder closed with a brief extemporary prayer, whereupon all arose. Then he read some verses from one of their inspired books, admonishing to a good life ; and also a brief homily from one of Christian Metz's inspired utterances. Thereupon all arose, and stood in their places in silence for a moment; and then, in perfect order and silence, and with a kind of military pre- cision, benchful after benchful of people walked softly out of The Amana Community. 53 the room. The women departed first ; and each went home, I judge, without delay or tarrying in the hall, for when I got out the hall was already empty. The next night the women prayed instead of the men, the presiding officer conducting the meeting as before. I noticed that the boys and younger men had their places on the front seats ; and the whole meeting was conducted with the utmost reverence and decorum. On Wednesday and Sunday mornings the different orders meet at the same hour, each in its proper assembly-room. These are larger than those devoted to the evening meetings. The Wednesday -morning meeting began at half -past seven, and lasted until nine. There was, as in the evening meetings, a very plain deal table at the head, and benches, this time with backs, were ranged in order, the sexes sitting by themselves as before ; each person coming in with a ponderous hymn-book, and a Bible in a case. The meeting opened with the singing of six verses of a hymn, the leader reading the remaining verses. Many of their hymns have from ten to fourteen verses. Next he read some passages from one of the inspira- tional utterances of Metz ; after which followed prayer, each man, as in the evening meetings, repeating a little supplicatory verse. The women did not join in this exercise. Then the congregation got out their Bibles, the leader gave out the fifth chapter of Ephesians, and each man read a verse in his turn; then followed a psalm; and the women read those verses which remained after all the men had read. After this the leader read some further passages from Metz. After the reading of the Xew Testament chapter and the psalm, three of the leaders, who sat near the table at the head of the room, briefly spoke upon the necessity of living accord- ing to the words of God, doing good works and avoiding evil. Their exhortations were very simple, and without any attempt at eloquence, in a conversational tone. The Amana Community. 55 too, any disputes which may have occurred are brought up and healed, and an effort is made to revive religious fervor in the hearts of all. Not unfrequently the examination of a class is adjourned from day to day, because they are found to be cold and unimpressible ; and I notice that on these occa- sions the young people in particular are a cause of much grief and trouble on account of their perverse hardness of heart. The celebration of the Lord's Supper is their greatest relig- ious event. It is held only when the " inspired instrument " directs it, which may not happen once in two years ; and it is thought so solemn and important an occasion that a full ac- count of it is sometimes printed in a book. I have one such volume : " Das Liebes- und Gedachtniszmahl des Leidens und Sterbens unsers Herrn und Heilandes Jesu Christi, wie sol- ekes von dem Herrn durch Sein Wort und zeugnisz angeJcun- digt, angeordnet und gehalten worden 7 in Vier Abtheilungen, zu Mittel und Nieder Eben-Ezer, im Jahr 1855 " (".The Sup- per of Love and Remembrance of the suffering and death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : How it was announced, ordered, and held by his word and witness, in four parts, in Middle and Lower Eben-Ezer, in the year 1855 "). It is a neatly printed volume of 284 pages. The account begins with the announcement of the Lord's command : " Middle Eben-Ezer, April 21st, 1855, Saturday, in the general meeting, in the beginning, when the congregation was assembled, came the following gracious word and deter- mination of the Lord, through Brother Chr. Metz." There- upon, after some words of preface, the " instrument " kneeled down, the congregation also kneeling, and said : " I am com- manded humbly to reveal, according to the sacred and loving conclusion, that you are to celebrate the supper of love and remembrance in the presence of your God. The beginning and the course of it shall be as before. There will be on this 56 Communistic Societies of the United States. occasion humiliations and revelations, if in any the true Worker of righteousness and repentance has not been allowed to do his work. The Lord will make a representation of the lack of his understanding in many of you ; his great love will come to light, and will light up every one." After more of this kind of address, the " instrument " said : " You are to be- gin the Lord's Supper on Ascension-day, make ready then all your hearts, clean out all filth, all that is rotten and stinks, all sins and every thing idle and useless; and cherish pious thoughts, so that you shall put down the flesh, as you are com- manded to," and so on. On a following Sunday, the " instrument " recurred to the subject, and in the course of his remarks reproved one of the elders for disobedience to the Lord and resistance to grace, and displaced him in the assembly, calling another by name to his place. At the close, he spoke thus, evidently in the name and with the voice of God : " And I leave it to you, my servants, to take out of the middle order here and there some into the first, and out of the third into the second, but not according to favor and prejudice, but according to their grace and con- duct, of which you are to take notice." A day was given to admonitions and preparation'; the " in- strument" speaking not only to the congregation in general, in the morning and afternoon meetings, but to a great many in particular admonishing, exhorting, blaming, encouraging them by name. The next morning there was a renewal of such hortatory remarks, with singing and prayer; and in the afternoon, all being prepared, the elders washed the feet of the brethren. This is done only in the higher orders. Thereupon tables are brought in, and bread and wine are placed. After singing, the " inspired " person blesses these, and they are then received by the brethren and sisters from the hands of the elders, who pronounce the customary words of Scripture. The Amana Community. 57 This being accomplished, the assembly temporarily adjourns, and persons previously appointed for this office spread on the tables a modest supper of bread and cake, coffee, chocolate, and a few other articles of food, and to this all sit down with solemn joy. At the conclusion of this meal, a hymn is sung, and the assembly retire to their homes. When the three regular orders have gone through this cele- bration, there is a fourth, consisting of children under sixteen years, and of certain adult members who for various reasons have been thought unworthy to partake with the rest; and these also go through a thorough examination. I asked one of their leading elders whether they believed in a " prayer-cure," explaining what the Oneida communists un- derstand by this phrase. He replied, " No, we do not use prayer in this way, to cure disease. But it is possible. But if God has determined death, ten doctors can not help a man." The present inspired instrument being very aged, I asked whether another was ready to take her place. They said No, no one had yet appeared ; but they had no doubt God would call some one to the necessary office. They were willing to trust him, and gave themselves no trouble about it. It remains to speak of their literature. They have a somewhat ponderous hymnology, in two great volumes, one called " The Yoice from Zion : to the Praise of the Almighty," by "John William Petersen (A.D. 1698)," printed at Eben-Ezer, N. Y., in 1851, and containing 958 pages. The hymns are called Psalms, and are not in rhyme. They are to be sung in a kind of chant, as I judge from the music prefixed to them ; and are a kind of commentary on the Scripture, one part being taken up with the book of Revelation. The other volume is the hymn-book in regular use. It con- tains 1285 pages, of which 111 are music airs to which the different hymns may be sung. The copy I have is of the third E 58 Communistic Societies of the United States. edition, and bears the imprint, "Amana, Iowa, 1871." Its title is " Psalms after the manner of David, for the children of Zion." It has one peculiarity which might with advantage be introduced in other hymn-books. Occasional verses are marked with a *, and it is recommended to the reader that these be taught to the children as little prayers. In practice, I found that in their evening meetings the grown persons as well as the children recited these simple and devotional little verses as their prayers : surely a more satisfactory delivery to them and the congregation than rude and halting attempts at extemporary utterance. Many of the hymns are very long, having from twelve to twenty-four verses; and it is usual at their meetings to sing three or four verses and then read the remainder. They dc not sing well ; and their tunes those at least which I heard are slow, and apparently in a style of music now disused in our churches. The hymns are printed as prose, only the verses being separated. I was told that they were " all given by the Spirit of God," and that Christian Metz had a great gift of hymn-writing, very often, at home or elsewhere, writing down an entire hymn at one sitting. They are all deeply devotional in spirit, and have not unfrequently the merit of great sim- plicity and a pleasing quaintness of expression, of which I think the German language is more capable than our ruder and more stubborn English. Their writers are greatly given to rhyming. Even in the inspirational utterances I find frequently short admonitory paragraphs where rude rhymes are introduced. Among their books is one, very singular, called " Innocent Amusement " (" Unschuldiges Zeitvertreib "), in a number of volumes (I saw the fifth). It is a collection of verses, making pious applica- tions of many odd subjects. Among the headings I found Cooking, Bain, Milk, The Ocean, Temperance, Salve, Dinner, A Mast, Fog, A Net, Pitch, A Rainbow, A Kitchen, etc., etc. The Amana Community. 59 It is a mass of pious doggerel, founded on Scripture and with fanciful additions. Another is called " Jesus's ABC, for his scholars," and is also in rhyme. Another is entitled " Rhymes on the sufferings, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ." There are about twelve hundred pages of the ABC book. They have printed also a miniature Thomas a Kernpis, " for the edification of children ;" two catechisms ; a little work en- titled " Treasure for those who desire God," and other works of similar character. A list, not complete, but containing all the books I have been able to collect, will be found in the Bibliography at the end of this volume. At the end of the Catechism are some pages of rules for the conduct of children, at home, in church, at school, during play hours, at meals, and in all the relations of their lives. Many of these rules are excellent, and the whole of them might well be added to the children's catechisms in use in the churches. Piety, orderly habits, obedience, politeness, cleanliness, kind- ness to others, truthfulness, cheerfulness, etc., are all inculcated in considerable detail, with great plainness of speech, and in sixty-six short paragraphs, easily comprehended by the young- est children. The fifty-fourth rule shows the care with which they guard the intercourse of the sexes : " Have no pleasure in violent games or plays; do not wait on the road to look at quarrels or fights ; do not keep company with bad children, for there you will learn only wickedness. Also, do not play with children of the other sex" THE HARMONY SOCIETY, AT ECONOMY, 3P.A.. THE HARMONY SOCIETY. I. ECONOMY IN 1874. TRAVELING from Cleveland to Pittsburgh by rail, yon strike the Ohio Kiver at Wellsville ; and the railroad runs thence, for forty-eight miles, to Pittsburgh, along the river bank, and through the edge of a country rich in coal, oil, potters' clay, limestone, and iron, and supporting a number of important manufactures. To a traveler in search of the Rappist or Harmony settle- ment at Economy, the names of the towns along here seem to tell of the overshadowing influence of these communists ; for, passing Liverpool, you come to Freedom, Jethro (whose houses are both heated and lighted with gas from a natural spring near by), Industry, and Beaver ; you smile at the sign of the " Golden Rule Distillery ;" and you wonder at the broken fences, unpainted houses, and tangled and weed - covered grounds, and that general air of dilapidation which curses a country producing petroleum and bituminous coal. Presently, however, you strike into what is evidently a large and well-kept estate : high and solid fences ; fields without weeds, and with clean culture or smooth and rich grass ; and if you ask the conductor, he will tell you that for some miles here the land is owned by the " Economites ;" and that the town or village of Economy lies among these neatly kept fields, but out of sight of the railroad on the top of the steep bluff. Economy has, in truth, one of the loveliest situations on the Ohio River. It stands in the midst of a rich plain, with swell- 64 Communistic Societies of the United States. ing hills behind, protecting it from cold winds in winter ; a magnificent reach of the river in view below ; and tall hills on the opposite shore to give a picturesque outlook. The town begins .on the edge of the bluff ; and under the shade-trees planted there benches are arranged, where doubtless the Har- monists take their comfort on summer evenings, in view of the river below them and of the village on the opposite shore. Streets proceed at right-angles with the river's course; and each street is lined with neat frame or brick houses, surround- ing a square in such a manner that within each household has a sufficient garden. The broad streets have neat foot-pave- ments of brick; the houses, substantially built but unpreten- tious, are beautified by a singular arrangement of grape-vines, which are trained to espaliers fixed to cover the space between the top of the lower and the bottom of the upper windows. This manner of training vines gives the town quite a peculiar look, as though the houses had been crowned with green. As you walk through the silent streets, and pass the large As- sembly Hall, the church, and the hotel, it will occur to you that these people had, when they founded their place, the ad- vantage of a sensible architect, for, while there is not the least pretense, all the building is singularly solid and honest ; and in the larger houses the roof -lines have been broken and man- aged with considerable skill, so as to -produce a very pleasing and satisfactory effect. Moreover, the color of the bricks used in building has chanced to be deep and good, which is no slight advantage to the place. Neatness and a Sunday quiet are the prevailing character- istics of Economy. Once it was a busy place, for it had cot- ton, silk, and woolen factories, a brewery, and other indus- tries ; but the most important of these have now ceased ; and as you walk along the quiet, shady streets, you meet only oc- casionally some stout, little old man, in a short light-blue jacket and a tall and very broad-brimmed hat, looking amazingly ASSEMBLY HALL ECONOMY. CHURCH AT ECONOMY. The Harmony Society. 65 like Hendrick Hudson's men in the play of Eip Yan Winkle ; or some comfortable-looking dame, in Norman cap and stuff gown; whose polite "good -day" to you, in German or En- glish as it may happen, is not unmixed with surprise at sight of a strange face ; for, as you will presently discover at the hotel, visitors are not nowadays frequent in Economy. The hotel is one of the largest houses in the place ; it is of two stories, with spacious bed-chambers, high ceilings, roomy fire-places, large halls, and a really fine dining-room, all scrup- ulously clean. It was once, before the days of railroads, a fa- vorite stopping-place on one of the main stage routes out of Pittsburgh ; in the well-built stable and barns opposite there was room for twenty or thirty horses ; the dining-room would seat a hundred people ; and here during many years was a favorite winter as well as summer resort for Pittsburghers, and an important source of income to the Economists. When I for the first time entered the sitting-room on a chilly December morning, the venerable but active landlord was dusting chairs and tables, and looked up in some amaze- ment at the intrusion of a traveler. " I can stay here, I sup- pose," said I, by way of introduction ; and was answered : " That depends upon how long you want to stay. We don't take people to board here." My assurance that I meant to re- main but two or three days, and that I had been recommended by Mr. Henrici, the head of the society, secured me a room ; and the warning, as I went out for a walk, that I must be in by half-past eleven, promptly, to dine ; and by half-past four for supper, because other people had to eat after me, and ought not to be kept waiting by reason of my carelessness. " For which reason," added the landlord, " it would be well for you to come in and be at hand a quarter of an hour before the times I have mentioned." When I had dined and supped and slept, I saw what a loss to Pittsburghers was the closing of the Economy hotel ; for the Harmonists live well, and are 66 Communistic Societies of the United States. substantial eaters in their German fashion. Nor was any cer- emony omitted because of the fewness of guests ; and old Joseph, the butler and head-waiter, who, as he told me, came to serve here fifty years ago, and is now seventy-eight years old, attended upon my meals arrayed in a scrupulously white apron, ordered the lass who was his subordinate, and occa- sionally condescended to laugh at my jokes, as befitted his place, with as much precision and dignity as when, thirty or forty years ago, he used to serve a houseful of hungry trav- elers. Later in the afternoon I discovered the meaning of my landlord's warnings as to punctuality, as well as the real use of the " Economy Hotel." As I sat before the fire in my own room after supper, I heard the door-bell ring with a frequency as though an uncommon number of travelers were applying for lodgings ; and going down into the sitting-room about seven o'clock, I discovered there an extraordinary collection of persons ranged around the fire, and toasting their more or less dilapidated boots. These were men in all degrees of rag- gedness ; men with one eye, or lame, or crippled tramps, in fact, beggars for supper and a night's lodging. They sat there to the number of twenty, half naked many of them, and not a bit ashamed ; with carpet-bags or without ; with clean or dirty faces and clothes as it might happen ; but all hungry, as I presently saw, when a table was drawn out, about which they gathered, giving their names to be taken down on a register, while to them came a Harmonist brother with a huge tray full of tins filled with coffee, and another with a still bigger tray of bread. Thereupon these wanderers fell to, and having eaten as much bread and coffee as they could hold, they were consigned to a house a few doors away, peeping in at whose windows by and by, I saw a large, cheerful coal fire, and beds for the whole company. The Harmony Society. 67 " You see, after you have eaten, the table must be cleared, and then we eat ; and then come these people, who have also to be fed, so that, unless we hurry, the women are belated with their work," explained the landlord of this curious inn to me. "Is this, then, a constant occurrence?" I asked in some amazement; and was told that they feed here daily from fif- teen to twenty-five such tramps, asking no questions, except that the person shall not have been a regular beggar from the society. A constant provision of coffee and bread is made for them, and the house set apart for their lodging has bed ac- commodations for twenty men. They are expected to wash at the stable next morning, and thereupon receive a breakfast of bread, meat, and coffee, and are suffered to go on their way. Occasionally the very destitute, if they seem to be deserving, receive also clothing. " But are you not often imposed upon ?" I asked. " Yes, probably ; but it is better to give to a dozen worth- less ones than to refuse one deserving man the cup and loaf which we give," was the reply. The tramps themselves took this benevolence apparently as a matter of course. They were quiet enough ; some of them looked like decent men out of work, as indeed all professed to be going somewhere in search of employment. But many of them had the air of confirmed loafers, and some I should not have liked to meet alone on the road after dark. Economy is the home of the "Harmony Society," better known to the outside world as the followers of Rapp. It is a town of about one hundred and twenty houses, very regularly built, well-drained, and paved ; it has water led from a reservoir in the hills, and flowing into troughs conveniently placed in every street; abundant shade-trees; a church, an assembly hall, a store which supplies also to some extent the neighbor- ing country ; different factories, and a number of conveniences which villages of its size are too often without. Moreover, it 68 Communistic Societies of the United States. contains a pleasant pleasure-garden, and is surrounded by fine, productive orchards and by well-tilled fields. At present Economy is inhabited by all that remain of the society which was founded by George Rapp in 1805. These number one hundred and ten persons, most of whom are aged, and none, I think, under forty. Besides these, who are the owners of the place and of much property elsewhere, there are twenty-five or thirty children of various ages, adopted by the society and apprenticed to it, and an equal number living there with parents who are hired laborers; of these hired laborers, men and women, there are about one hundred. The whole population is German ; and German is the language one com- monly hears, and in which on Sunday worship is carried on. Nevertheless all the people speak English also. The Harmonists themselves are sturdy, healthy - looking men and women, most of them gray haired ; with an air of vigorous independence; conspicuously kind and polite; well- fed and well-preserved. As I examined their faces on Sun- day in church, they struck me as a remarkably healthy and well-satisfied collection of old men and women ; by no means dull, and very decidedly masters of their lives. Their work- ing dress has for its peculiarity the roundabout or jacket I have before mentioned; on Sunday they wear long coats. The women look very well indeed in their Norman caps ; arid their dress, wholesome and sensible, is not in any way odd or inappropriate. Indeed, when Miss Rapp, the grand- daughter of the founder of the society, walked briskly into church on Sunday, her bright, kindly face was so well set off by the cap she wore that she seemed quite an admirable object to me ; and I thought no head-dress in the world could so well become an elderly lady. The Harmony Society. 69 II. HISTORICAL. George Rapp, founder and until his death in 1847 head of the " Harmony Society," was born in October, 1757, at Iptin- gen in Wiirtemberg. He was the son of a small farmer and vine-dresser, and received such a moderate common-school education -as the child of parents in such circumstances would naturally receive at that time in South Germany. When he had been taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography, he left school and assisted his father on the farm, working as a weaver during the winter months. At the age of twenty- six he married a farmer's daughter, who bore him a son, John, and a daughter, Rosina, both of whom later became with him members of the society. Rapp appears to have been from his early youth fond of reading, and of a reflective turn of mind. Books were proba- bly not plentiful in his father's house, and he became a student of the Bible, and began presently to compare the condition of the people among whom he lived with the social order laid down and described in the New Testament. He became dis- satisfied especially with the lifeless condition of the churches ; and in the year 1787, when he was thirty, he had evidently found others who held with him, for he began to preach to a small congregation of friends in his own house on Sundays. The clergy resented this interference with their office, and per- secuted Rapp and his adherents ; they were fined and im- prisoned ; and this proved to be, as usual, the best way to in- crease their numbers and to confirm their dislike of the pre- vailing order of things. They were denounced as " Separatists,'' and had the courage to accept the name. Rapp taught his followers, I am told, that they were in all things to obey the laws, to be peaceable and quiet subjects, and to pay all their taxes, those to the Church as well as to the 70 ' Communistic Societies of the United States. State. But he insisted on their right to believe what they pleased and to go to church where they thought it best. This was a tolerably impregnable platform. In the course of six years, with the help of the persecutions of the clergy, Rapp had gathered around him not less than three hundred families; and had hearers and believers at a distance of twenty miles from his own house. He appears to have labored so industriously on the farm as to accumulate a little property, and in 1803 his adherents determined upon emi- grating in a body to America, where they w T ere sure of free- dom to worship God after their own desires. Rapp sailed in that year for Baltimore, accompanied by his son John and two other persons. After looking about in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, they concluded to buy five thousand acres of wild land about twenty-five miles north of Pittsburgh, in the valley of the Connoquenessing. Fred- erick (Reichert) Rapp, an adopted son of George Rapp, evi- dently a man of uncommon ability and administrative talent, had been left in charge in Germany ; and had so far perfected the necessary arrangements for emigration that no time was lost in moving, as soon as Rapp gave notice that he had found a proper locality for settlement. On the 4th of July, 1804, the ship Aurora from Amsterdam landed three hundred of Rapp's people in Baltimore ; and six weeks later three hundred more were landed in Philadelphia. The remainder, coming in another ship, were drawn off by ITaller, one of Rapp's travel- ing companions, to settle in Ly coming County, Pennsylvania. The six hundred souls who thus remained to Rapp appear to have been mainly, and indeed with few exceptions, of the peasant and mechanic class. There were among them, I have been told, a few of moderately good education, and presuma- bly of somewhat higher social standing than the great body ; there were a few who had considerable property, for emigrants in those days. All were thrifty, and few were destitute. It The Harmony Society. 71 is probable that they had determined in Germany to establish a community of goods, in accordance with their understanding of the social theory of Jesus ; but for the present each family retained its property. Rapp met them on their arrival, and settled them in differ- ent parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania ; withdrawing a cer- tain number of the ablest mechanics and laborers to proceed with him to the newly purchased land, where he and they spent a toilsome fall and winter in preparing habitations for the remainder; and on the 15th of February, 1805, these, and such as they could so early in the season gather with them, formally and solemnly organized themselves into the "Har- mony Society," agreeing to throw all their possessions into a common fund, to adopt a uniform and simple dress and style of house ; to keep thenceforth all things in common ; and to labor for the common good of the whole body. Later in the spring they were joined by fifty additional families ; and thus they finally began with about one hundred and twenty-five families, or, as I am told, less than seven hundred and fifty men, women, and children. Rapp was then forty-eight years of age. He was, accord- ing to the best accounts I have been able to gather, a man of robust frame and sound health, with great perseverance, enterprise, and executive ability, and remarkable common- sense. It was fortunate for the community that its members were all laboring men. In the first year they erected be- tween forty and fifty . log-houses, a church and school-house, grist-mill, barn, and some workshops, and cleared one hundred and fifty acres of land. In the following year they cleared four hundred acres more, and built a saw-mill, tannery, and storehouse, and planted a small vineyard. A distillery was also a part of this year's building ; and it is odd to read that the Harmonists, who have aimed to do all things well, were famous among Western men for many years for the excellence F 72 Communistic Societies of the United States. of the whisky they made; of which, however, they always used very sparingly themselves. Among their crops in suc- ceeding years were corn, wheat, rye, hemp, and flax ; wool from' merino sheep, which they were the first in that part of Penn- sylvania to own ; and poppies, from which they made sweet- oil. They did not rest until they had established also a woolen- mill. It was a principle with Rapp that the society should, as far as possible, produce and make every thing it used ; and in the early days, I am told, they bought very little indeed of provisions or clothing, having then but small means. Rapp was, with the help of his adopted son, the organizer of the community's labor, appointing foremen in each depart- ment; he planned their enterprises but he was also their preacher and teacher; and he taught them that their main duty was to live a sincerely and rigidly religious life; that they were not to labor for wealth, or look forward anxiously for prosperity ; that the coming of the Lord was near, and for this they were waiting, as his chosen ones separated from the world. At this time they still lived in families, and encouraged, or at any rate did not discourage, marriage. Among the mem- bers who married between 1805 and 1807 was John Rapp, the founder's son. and the father of Miss Gertrude Rapp, who still lives at Economy ; and there is no doubt that the elder Rapp performed the marriage ceremony. During the year 1807, however, a deep religious fervor pervaded the society ; and a remarkable result of this " revival of religion " was the deter- mination of most of the members to conform themselves more closely in several ways to what they believed to be the spirit and commands of Jesus. Among other matters, they w r ere persuaded in their own minds that it was best to cease to live in the married state. I have been assured by older members of the society, who have, as they say, often heard the whole of this period described by those who were actors in it, that this The Harmony Society. 73 determination to refrain from marriage and from married life originated among the younger members ; and that, though "Fa- ther Rapp " was not averse to this growth of asceticism, he did not eagerly encourage it, but warned his people not to act rashly in so serious and difficult a matter, but to proceed with great caution, and determine nothing without careful counsel together. At the same time he, I am told, gave it as his own conviction that the unmarried is the higher and holier estate. In short, there is reason to believe that he managed in this matter, as he appears to have done in others, with great pru- dence and judgment. He himself, and his son, John Rapp, set an example which the remainder of the society quickly followed ; thenceforth no more marriages were contracted in Harmony, and no more children were born. A certain number of the younger people, feeling no voca- tion for a celibate life, at this time withdrew from the so- ciety. The remainder faithfully ceased from conjugal inter-' course. "Husbands and wives were not required to live in different houses, but occupied, as before, the same dwelling, with their children, only treating each other as brother and sister -in Christ, and remembering the precept of the apostle : " This I say, brethren, the 'time is short ; it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none," etc. These are the words of one of the older members to the Reverend Dr. Aaron Williams, from whose interesting account of the Harmony Society I have taken a number of facts, being refer- red to it by Mr. Henrici, the present head of Economy. The same person added : " The burden was easier to bear, because it became general throughout the whole community, and all bore their share alike." Another member wrote in 1862: " Convinced of the truth and holiness of our purpose, we volun- tarily and unanimously adopted celibacy, altogether from re- ligious motives, in order to withdraw our love entirely from the lusts of the flesh, which, with the help of God and much 74 Communistic Societies of the United States. prayer and spiritual warfare, we have succeeded well in doing now for fifty years." Surely so extraordinary a resolve was never before carried out with so simple and determined a spirit. Among most people it would have been thought necessary, or at least pru- dent, to separate families, and to adopt other safeguards against temptation ; but the good Harmonists did and do noth- ing of the kind. "What kind of watch or safeguard did or do you keep over the intercourse of the sexes," I asked in Economy, and received for reply, " None at all ; it would be of no use. If you have to watch people, you had better give them up. We have always depended upon the strength of our religious convictions, and upon prayer and a Christian spirit." " Do you believe the celibate life to be healthful ?" I asked ; and the reply was, " Decidedly so ; almost all our people have lived to a hale old age. Father liapp himself died at ninety ; and no doubt many of our members would have lived longer than they did, had it not been for the hardships they suffered in Indiana, where we lived in a malarious region." I must add my own testimony that the Harmonists now living are almost without exception stout, well-built, hearty people, the women as well as the men. At the same time that the celibate life was adopted, the community agreed to cease using tobacco in every form a deprivation which these Germans must have felt almost as se- verely as the abandonment of conjugal joys. The site of the Pennsylvania settlement proved to have been badly chosen in two respects. It had no water communica- tion with the outer world ; and it was unfavorable to the growth of the vine. In 1814, after proper discussion, the society de- termined to seek a more desirable spot ; and purchased thirty thousand acres of land in Posey County, Indiana, in the Wa- bash valley. Thither one hundred persons proceeded in June, 1814, to prepare a place for the remainder ; and by the summer The Harmony Society. 75 of 1815 the whole colony was in its new home, having sold six thousand acres of land, with all their valuable improve- ments, in their old home, for one hundred thousand dollars. The price they received is said to have been, and no doubt was, very much below .the real value of the property. It is impossible to sell off a large and expensively improved estate like theirs all at once. It is probably true that the machinery and buildings were worth all they received for the whole prop- erty; and it would not be an overestimate to give the real value of what they sold at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. They had begun, ten years before, with one hundred and twenty-five families ; as after the second year they had bred no children, and as they then lost some members who left on account of their aversion to a celibate life, it is probable that they had not increased in numbers. If they had property worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, they would then Have been able to divide, at the end of ten years, at the rate of twelve hundred dollars to each head of a family a considerable sum, if we remember that they began with probably less than five hundred dollars for each family ; and had not only lived comfortably for the greater part of ten years, but enjoyed society, had a good school for their children, a church, and all the moral and civil safeguards created by and incident to a well-settled community or town. Setting aside these safeguards and enjoyments of a thoroughly organized society, it seems to me doubtful if the same number of families, settling with narrow means at random in the wil- derness, each independently of the others, could at that period, before railroads were built, have made as good a showing in mere pecuniary return in the same time. So far, then, the Harmony Society would seem to have made a pecuniary suc- cess a fact of which they may have made but little account, but which is important to a general and independent consider- ation of communistic experiments. 76 Communistic Societies of the United States. On the Wabash they rapidly built up a town ; but, possess- ing now both experience and some capital, they erected larger factories, and rapidly extended their business in every depart- ment. " Harmony," as they called the new town, became an important business centre for a considerable region. They sold their products and manufactured goods in branch stores as well as at Harmony ; they increased in wealth ; and, what was of greater importance to them, they received some large accessions of members from Germany friends and relatives of the founders of the colony. In 1817 one hundred and thirty persons came over at one time from Wiirtemberg. I was told that before they left Indiana they had increased to between seven and eight hundred members. "Father Rapp" appears to have guided his people wisely. He continued to exhort them not to care overmuch for riches, but to use their wealth as having it not ; and in 1818, " for the purpose of promoting greater harmony and equality be- tween the original members and those who had come in re- cently," a notable thing was done at Rapp's suggestion. Orig- inally a book had been kept, in which was written down what each member of the society had contributed to the common stock. This book was now brought out and by unanimous consent burned, so that no record should thenceforward show what any one had contributed. In 1824 they removed once more. They sold the town of Harmony and twenty thousand acres of land to Robert Owen, who settled upon it his New Lanark colony when he took pos- session. Owen paid one hundred and fifty thousand dollars not nearly the value of the property, it is said ; but the Har- monists had suffered from fever and ague and unpleasant neighbors, and were determined to remove. They then bought the property they still hold at Economy, and in 1825 removed to this their new and final home. One of the older members told me that the first detachment which came up from Indiana The Harmony Society. 77 consisted of ninety men, mechanics and farmers; and these " made the work fly." They laid out the town, cleared the tim- ber from the streets and house places ; and during some time completed a log-house every day. Many of these log-cabins are still standing, but are no longer used as residences. The first church, now used as a storehouse, was a log-house of un- commonly large dimensions. I think it probable, from what I have heard from the older members, that when they were comfortably settled at Economy, the Harmony Society was for some years in its most flourish- ing condition. All had come on together from Indiana ; and all were satisfied with the beauty of the new home. Those who had suffered from malarious fevers here rapidly recovered. The vicinity to Pittsburgh, and cheap water communication, encouraged them in manufacturing. Economy lay upon the main stage-road, and was thus an important and presently a favorite stopping -place ; the colonists found kindly neigh- bors; there was sufficient young blood in the community to give enterprise and strength ; and " we sang songs every day, and had music every evening," said old Mr.Keppler to me, recounting the glories of those days. They erected woolen and cotton mills, a grist-mill and saw-mill ; they planted or- chards and vineyards ; they began the culture of silk, and with such success that soon the Sunday dress of men as well as women was of silk, grown, reeled, spun, and woven by them- selves. In building the new town of Economy they displayed thanks, I believe, to the knowledge and skill of Frederick Rapp a good deal of taste, though adhering to their ancient plainness ; and their two removals had taught them valuable lessons in the convenient arrangement of machinery; so that Economy is even now a model of a well-built, well-arranged country village. As soon as they began to substitute brick for log houses, they insisted upon erecting for "Father Rapp" a 78 Communistic Societies of the United States. house somewhat larger and more spacious than the common dwelling-houses, though not in any other way different. This was advisable, because he was obliged to entertain many visit- ors and strangers of distinction. The house stands opposite the church ; and has behind it a spacious garden, arranged in a somewhat formal style, with box-edgings to the walks, and summer-houses and other ornaments in the old geomet- rical style of gardening. This was open to the people, of course ; and here the band played on summer evenings, or more frequently on Sunday afternoons ; and here, too, flowers were cultivated, I am told, with great success. How rapidly they made themselves at home in Economy ap- pears from the following account of the Duke of Saxe -Wei- mar, who visited the place in 1826, only a year after it was founded : " At the inn, a fine, large, frame house, we were received by Mr. Rapp, the principal, at the head of the community. He is a gray-headed and venerable old man ; most of the members immigrated twenty-one years ago from Wiirtemberg along with him. " The warehouse was shown to us, where the articles made here for sale or use are preserved, and I admired the excellence of all. The articles for the use of the society are kept by themselves ; as the members have no private possessions, and every thing is in common, so must they, in relation to all their wants, be supplied from the common stock. The clothing and food they make use of is of the best quality. Of the latter, flour, salt meat, and all long -keeping articles, are served out monthly; fresh meat, on the contrary, is distributed as soon as it is killed, accord- ing to the size of the family, etc. As every house has a garden, eacli family raises its own vegetables and some poultry, and each family has its own bake-oven. For such things as are not raised in Economy, there is a store provided, from which the members, with the knowledge of the directors, may purchase what is necessary, and the people of the vicinity may do the same. " Mr. Rapp finally conducted us into the factory again, and said that the girls had especially requested this visit that I might hear them sing. When their work is done, they collect in one of the factory rooms, to the The Harmony Society. 79 number of sixty or seventy, to sing spiritual and other songs. They have a peculiar hymn-book, containing hymns from the old Wurtemberg col- lection, and others written by the elder Rapp. A chair was placed for the old patriarch, who sat anfid the girls, and they commenced a hymn in a very delightful manner. It was naturally symphonious, and exceed- ingly well arranged. The girls sang four pieces, at first sacred, but after- ward, by Mr. Rapp's desire, of a gay character. With real .emotion did I witness this interesting scene. "Their factories and workshops are warmed during the winter by means of pipes connected with the steam-engine. All the workmen, and especially the females, had very healthy complexions, and moved me deeply by the warm-hearted friendliness with which they saluted the elder Rapp. I was also much gratified to see vessels containing fresh sweet-scented flowers standing on all the machines. The neatness which universally reigns is in every respect worthy of praise."* This account shows the remarkable rapidity with which they had built up the new town. But perfect happiness is not for this world. In 1831 came to Economy a German adventurer, Bernhard Miiller by right name, who had assumed the title Graf or Count Maximilian de Leon, and had gathered a following of visionary Germans, whom he imposed, with himself, upon the Harmonists, on the pretense that he was a believer with them in religious matters. He proved to be a wretched intriguer, who brought ruin on all who connected themselves with him ; and who began at once to make trouble in Economy. Having secured a lodgment, he began to announce strange doctrines, marriage, a livelier life, and other temptations to worldliness ; and he finally succeeded in effecting a serious division, which, if it had not been pru- dently managed, might have destroyed the community. After bitter disputes, in which at last affairs came to such a pass that a vote had to be taken, in order to decide who were faithful to the old order and to Rapp, and who were for Count Leon, * " Travels through North America, during the years 1825-26, by His Highness, Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach." Philadelphia, 1828. 8o Communistic Societies of the United States. an agreement was come to. " We knew not even who was for and who against us," said Mr. Henrici to me ; " and I was in the utmost anxiety as I made out the two lists ; at last they were complete ; all the names had been called ; we counted, and found that five hundred were for Father Rapp, and two hundred and fifty for Count Leon. Father Rapp, when I told him the numbers, with his usual ready wit, quoted from the book of Revelation, 'And the tail of the serpent drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.' r The end of the dispute was an agreement, under which the society bound itself to pay to those who adhered to Count Leon one hundred and five thousand dollars, in three install ments, all payable within twelve months ; the other side agree- ing, on their part, to leave Economy within three months, tak- ing with them only their clothing and household furniture, and relinquishing all claims upon the property of the society. This agreement was made in March, 1832 ; and Leon and his fol- lowers withdrew to Phillipsburg, a village ten miles below Economy, on the other side of the river, which they bought, with eight hundred acres of land. Here they set up a society on communistic principles, but permitting marriage ; and here they very quickly wasted the large sum of money they received from the Harmonists ; and after a desperate and lawless attempt to extort more money from the Economy people, which was happily defeated, Count Leon absconded with a few of his people in a boat to Alexan- dria on the Red River, where this singular adventurer perished of cholera in 1833. Those he had deluded meantime divided the Phillipsburg property among themselves, and set up each for himself, and a number afterward joined Keil in forming the Bethel Community in Missouri, of which an account will be found in another place. In 1832, seven years only after the removal to Economy, the society was able, it thus appears, to pay out in a single year The Harmony Society. 8 1 one hundred and five thousand dollars in cash a very great sum of money in those days. This shows that they had large- ly increased their capital by their thrift and industry at Xew Harmony in Indiana, and at Economy. They had then ex- isted as a community twenty-seven years; had built three towns ; and had during the whole time lived a life of comfort and social order, such as few individual settlers in our Western States at that time could command. III. DOCTRINES AND PEACTICAL LIFE IN ECONOMY; WITH SOME PARTICULARS OF "FATHER KAPP." The Agreement or Articles of Association under which the " Harmony Society " was formed in 1805, and which was sign- ed by all the members thenceforward, read as follows : "ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION. " Whereas, by the favor of divine Providence, an association or com- munity has been formed by George Rapp and many others upon the basis of Christian fellowship, the principles of which, being faithfully derived from the sacred Scriptures, include the government of the patriarchal age, united to the community of property adopted in the days of the apostles, and wherein the simple object sought is to approximate, so far as human imperfections may allow, to the fulfillment of the will of God, by the ex- ercise of those affections and the practice of those virtues which are es- sential to the happiness of man in time and throughout eternity : " And wTiereas it is necessary to the good order and well-being of the said association that the conditions of membership should be clearly un- derstood, and that the rights, privileges, and duties of every individual therein should be so defined as to prevent mistake or disappointment, on the one hand, and contention or disagreement on the other ; " Therefore be it known to all whom it may concern that we, the un- dersigned, citizens of the County of Beaver, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, do severally and distinctly, each for himself, covenant, grant, and agree, to and with the said George Rapp and his associates, as follows, viz. : 82 Communistic Societies of the United States. " ARTICLE I. We, the undersigned, for ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, do hereby give, grant, and forever convey to the said George Rapp and his associates, and to their heirs and assigns, all our property, real, personal, and mixed, whether it be lands and tenements, goods and chattels, money or debts- due to us, jointly or severally, in pos- session, in remainder, or in reversion or expectancy, whatsoever and where- soever, without evasion, qualification, or reserve, as a free gift or donation, for the benefit and use of the said association or community ; and we do hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, and administrators, to do all such other acts as may be necessary to vest a perfect title to the same in the said association, and to place the said property at the full disposal of the superintendent of the said community without delay. " ARTICLE II. We do further covenant and agree to and with the said George Rapp and his associates, that we will severally submit faithfully to the laws and regulations of said community, and will at all times mani- fest a ready and cheerful obedience toward those who are or may be ap- pointed as superintendents thereof, holding ourselves bound to promote the interest and welfare of the said community, not only by the labor of our own hands, but also by that of our children, our families, and all others who now are or hereafter may be under our control. " ARTICLE III. If contrary to our expectation it should so happen that we could not render the faithful obedience aforesaid, and should be in- duced from that or any other cause to withdraw from the said associa- tion, then and in such case we do expressly covenant and agree to and with the said George Rapp and his associates that we never will claim or demand, either for ourselves, our children, or for any one belonging to us, directly or indirectly, any compensation, wages, or reward whatever for our or their labor or services rendered to the said community, or to any member thereof; but whatever we or our families jointly or severally shall or may do, all shall be held and considered as a voluntary service for our brethren. " ARTICLE IV. In consideration of the premises, the said George Rapp and his associates do, by these presents, adopt the undersigned jointly and severally as members of the said community, whereby each of them obtains the privilege of being present at every religious meeting, and of receiving not only for themselves, but also for their children and families, all such instructions in church and school as may be reasonably required, both for their temporal good and for their eternal felicity. " ARTICLE V. The said George Rapp and his associates further agree The Harmony Society. 83 to supply the undersigned severally with all the necessaries of life, as clothing, meat, drink, lodging, etc., for themselves and their families. And this provision is not limited to their days of health and strength ; but when any of them shall become sick, infirm, or otherwise unfit for la- bor, the same support and maintenance shall be allowed as before, to- gether with such medicine, care, attendance, and consolation as their sit- uation may reasonably demand. And if at any time after they have be- come members of the association, the father or mother of a family should die or be otherwise separated from the community, and should leave their family behind, such family shall not be left orphans or destitute, but shall partake of the same rights and maintenance as before, so long as they re- main in the association, as well in sickness as in health, and to such ex- tent as their circumstances may require. " ARTICLE VI. And if it should so happen as above mentioned that any of the undersigned should violate his or their agreement, and would or could not submit to the laws and regulations of the church or the community, and for that or any other cause should withdraw from the association, then the said George Rapp and his associates agree to refund to him or them the value of all such property as he or they may have brought into the community, in compliance with the first article of this agreement, the said value to be refunded without interest, in one, two, or three annual installments, as the said George Rapp and his associates shall determine. And if the person or persons so withdrawing them- selves were poor, and brought nothing into the community, notwithstand- ing they depart openly and regularly, they shall receive a donation in money, according to the length of their stay and to their conduct, and to such amount as their necessities may require, in the judgment of the superintendents of the association." In 1818, as before mentioned, a book in which was recorded the amount of property contributed by each member to the general fund was destroyed. In 1836 a change was made in the formal constitution or agreement above quoted, in the fol- lowing words : "1st. The sixth article [in regard to refunding] is entirely annulled and made void, as if it had never existed, all others to remain in full force as heretofore. 2d. All the property of the society, real, personal, and mixed, in law or equity, and howsoever contributed or acquired, shall be 84 Communistic Societies of the United States. deemed, now and forever, joint and indivisible stock. Each individual is to be considered to have finally and irrevocably parted with all his former contributions, whether in lands, goods, money, or labor, and the same rule shall apply to all future contributions, whatever they may be. 3d. Should any individual withdraw from the society or depart this life, neither he, in the one case, nor his representatives in the other, shall be entitled to demand an account of said contributions, or to claim any thing from the society as a matter of right. But it shall be left altogether to the discretion of the superintendent to decide whether any, and, if any, what allowance shall be made to such member or his representatives as a donation." These amendments were signed by three hundred and nine- ty-one members, being all who then constituted the society. No other changes have been made ; but on the death of Father Rapp, on the 7th of August, 1847, the whole society signed the constitution again, and put in office two trustees and seven elders, to perform all the duties and assume all the authority which Father Rapp had relinquished with his life. Under this simple constitution the Harmony Society has flourished for sixty-nine years ; nor has its life been threatened by disagreements, except in the case of the Count de Leon's in- trigue. It has suffered three or four lawsuits from members who had left it ; but iji every case the courts have decided for the society, after elaborate, and in some cases long-continued trials. It has always lived in peace and friendship with its neighbors. Its real estate and other property was, from the foundation until his death in 1834, held in the name of Frederick (Reich- ert) Rapp, who was an excellent business man, and conducted all its dealings with the outside world, and had charge of its temporalities generally ; the elder Rapp avoiding for himself all general business. Upon Frederick's death the society form- ally and unanimously imposed upon Father Rapp the care of the temporal as well as the spiritual affairs of the little com- monwealth, placing in his name the title to all their property. The Harmony Society. 85 But, as he did not wish to let temporal concerns interfere with his spiritual functions, and as besides he was then growing old, being in 1834 seventy-seven years of age, he appointed as his helpers and subagents two members, R. L. Baker and J. Hen- rici, the latter of whom is still, with Mr. Jonathan Lenz, the head of the society, "Mr. Baker having died some years ago. The theological belief of the Harmony Society naturally crystallized under the preaching and during the life of Father Rapp. It has some features of German mysticism, grafted upon a practical application of the Christian doctrine and theory. At the foundation of all lies A strong determination to make the preparation of their souls or spirits for the future life the pre-eminent business of life, and to obey in the strict- est and most literal manner what they believe to be the will of God as revealed and declared by Jesus Christ. In the fol- lowing paragraphs I give a brief summary of what may be called their creed : I. They hold that Adam was created "in the likeness of God ;" that he was a dual being, containing within his own person both the sexual elements, reading literally, in confirma- tion of this, the text (Gen. i. 26, 27) : "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion ;" and, " So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them ;" which they hold to denote that both the Creator and the first created were of this dual nature. They believe that had Adam been content to remain in his original state, he would have increased without the help of a female, bringing forth new beings like himself to replenish the earth. II. But Adam fell into discontent ; and God separated from his body the female part, and gave it him according to his de- sire ; and therein they believe consisted the fall of man. III. From this they deduce that the celibate state is more 86 Communistic Societies of the United States. pleasing to God ; that in the renewed world man will be re- stored to the dual Godlike and Adamic condition ; and, IV. They hold that the coming of Christ and the renovation of the world are near at hand. This nearness of the millennium is a cardinal point of doctrine with them; and Father Rapp firmly believed that he would live to see the wished-for reap- pearance of Christ in the heavens, and that he would be per- mitted to present his company of believers to the Saviour whom they endeavored to please with their lives. So vivid was this belief in him, that it lead some of his followers to fondly fancy that Father Rapp would not die before Christ's coming ; and there is a touching story of the old man, that when he felt death upon him, at the age of ninety, he said, " If I did not know that the dear Lord meant I should present you all to him, I should think my last moments come." These were indeed his last words. To be in constant readiness for the reappearance of Christ is one of the aims of the society ; nor have its members ever faltered in the faith that this great event is near at hand. Y. Jesus they hold to have been born " in the likeness of the Father" that is to say, a dual being, as Adam before the fall. VI. They hold that Jesus taught and commanded a com- munity of goods ; and refer to the example of the early Chris- tians as proof. VII. They believe in the ultimate redemption and salvation of all mankind ; but hold that only those who follow the celi- bate life, and otherwise conform to what they understand to be the commandments of Jesus, will come at once into the bright and glorious company of Christ and his companions ; that of- fenders will undergo a probation for purification. VIII. They reject and detest what is commonly called " Spiritualism." As the practical application to their daily lives of the re- ligious faith which I have concisely stated, Father Rapp The Harmony Society. 87 taught humility, simplicity in living, self-sacrifice, love to your neighbor, regular and persevering industry, prayer and self-examination. In the admission of new members, they exact a complete confession of sins to one of the elders of the society, as being a wholesome and necessary part of true repentance, requisite to secure the forgiveness of God. On Sunday two services are held, besides a Sunday-school for the children ; and the preacher, who is the head of the so- ciety, does not stand up when delivering his discourse, but sits at a table on a platform. The church has two doors, and the men enter at one, the women at the other, each sex occupying one end of the building by itself ; the pulpit being in the mid- dle, and opposite a raised and inclosed space wherein sit the elders and the choir. They observe as holy days Christmas, Good Friday and Easter, and Pentecost ; and three great festivals of their own the 15th of February, which is the anniversary of their foundation ; Harvest-Home, in the autumn ; and an annual Lord's Supper in October. On these festival occasions they assemble in a great hall ; and there, after singing and addresses, a feast is served, there being an elaborate kitchen adjacent to the hall on purpose for the preparation of these feasts, while in the cellars of the same building are stores of wine of differ- ent ages and kinds. They live well ; all of them eat meat, and but a few abstain from pork. They rise between five and six, according to the season of the year ; eat a light breakfast between six and seven ; have a lunch at nine ; dinner at twelve ; an afternoon lunch, called "vesper brodt" at three $ to which, when they have la- bored hard in the fields, they add wine or cider; supper be- tween six and seven ; and they go to bed by nine o'clock. Father Eapp taught that every one ought to labor with his hands, and at agricultural labor where this was possible. He G 88 Communistic Societies of the United States. was himself fond of out-door employments, and liked to be in the fields, helping the plowmen or harvesters. The women attend to the housekeeping ; and as this is simple and quickly done, they are fond of working in the gardens attached to the houses. In the old times, women as well as men labored in the fields in harvest time, or at other times when work was pressing ; and the younger women still follow this habit, which was probably brought over from Germany. Each household consists of men and women to the number of from four to eight, and usually in equal numbers. The houses have but one entrance door from the street. They car- pet their floors, and generally deny themselves no comforts compatible with simplicity of life. Father Rapp taught them to love music and flowers ; almost all the people can read music, and there are but few who have not learned to play upon some instrument. In their worship they use instrumental music; and it forms an important part in their feasts. They do not practice dancing, to which they have always felt opposed. As they study plainness of dress, they use no jewelry. They once had a museum, which has been sold. Father Rapp's house contains a number of pictures, among them a fine copy of Benjamin West's " Christ Healing the Sick ;" the church and assembly hall have no works of art. The people read the newspapers ; and those who wish for books have them, there being a library ; but "the Bible is the book chiefly read among us," I was told. Father Rapp taught that it was advisable for the society to make all it could for itself; and he had an intelligent appreci- ation of the value of labor-saving machinery. Economy has therefore complete and well -furnished shops of various kinds. Its steam-laundry is admirably contrived ; and its slaughter- house, with piggery and soap-boiling house near by ; its ma- chine shop, with a cider-boiler annexed ; its saw-mill, w r agon A STREET VIEW IN ECONOMY. FATHER RAPP'S HOUSE ECONOMY. The Harmony Society. 89 shop, blacksmith shop, tannery, carpenter's shop, bakery, vine- gar factory (where much cider is utilized), hattery, tailor's and shoemaker's shops, tin shop, saddlery shop, and weaver's shop, show how various were and are the industries followed here, and how completely furnished the society was, from within, for all the wants of daily life. I saw even a shop for the repair of clocks and watches, and a barber's shop ; the barber serving the aged and sick, and being otherwise foreman of the tailor's shop. In this long list I have not specified the brewery, grist-mill, a large granary, a cotton and a woolen mill ; nor the two great cellars full of fine wine casks, which would make a Californian envious, so well-built are they. There is also a school, and the Harmony people have always kept up a good school for the children in their charge. They aim to give each child an elementary education, and afterwards a trade ; and as the boys learn also agricultural labors of dif- ferent kinds, they are generally self-helpful when they pass into the world. The instruction is in German and English ; and the small girls and boys whom I examined wrote very well. Each family cooks for itself. There were formerly bake- ovens in every block, one being used by several families ; but there is now a general bakery, whence all carry bread in in- definite and unlimited supplies. Milk, too, is brought to the houses, and from what each household receives, it saves the cream for butter. When the butcher kills a beef, a little boy is sent around the village, who knocks at each window and cries out "Solltfleisch kolen" " Come and get meat" and the butcher serves to each household sufficient for its wants. Oth- er supplies for the household are dealt out from the general storehouse at stated periods ; but if any one needs more, he has only to apply. Tea is not generally used. Clothing is given out as it is needed by each person ; and I was told that the tailor usually keeps his eye upon the people's 90 Communisjti Societies of the United States. coats and trousers, the shoemaker upon their shoes, and so on ; each counting it a matter of honor or pride that the brethren shall be decently and comfortably clad. " As each labors for all, and as the interest of one is the in- terest of all, there is no occasion for selfishness, and no room for waste. We were brought up to be economical ; to waste is a sin ; we live simply ; and each has enough, all that he can eat and wear, and no man can nse more than that" This was the simple explanation I received from a Harmonist, when I wondered whether some family or person would not be waste- ful or greedy. In the season, all the people who are not too old labor more or less in the fields and orchards. This is their habit, and is thought healthful to body and soul. The Harmonists have usually attained a hale and happy old age. I had access to no mortuary records, and there are no monuments in the cemetery, but a great part of the people have lived to be seventy and over ; and they die without fear, trusting that they are the chosen people of the Lord. Such is Economy at this time. Its large factories are closed, for its people are too few to man them ; and the members think it wiser and more comfortable for themselves to employ labor at a distance from their own town. They are pecuniar- ily interested in coal-mines, in saw-mills, and oil-wells; and they control manufactories at Beaver Falls .notably a cutlery shop, the largest in the United States, and one of the largest in the world, where of late they have begun to employ two hundred Chinese ; and it is creditable to the Harmony people that they look after the intellectual and spiritual welfare of these strangers as but too few employers do. "Is there any monument to Father Kapp?" I asked; and the old man to whom I put the question said, quietly, " Yes, all that you see here, around us." His body lies in a grave undistinguishable from other? The Harmony Society. 91 surrounding it. There is no portrait of him for he always refused to sit for one. But his memory is most tenderly and reverently cherished by his followers and survivors. From a number of persons I gathered the following personal details, which give a picture of the man : He was nearly if not quite six feet high ; well-built, with blue eyes, a somewhat stately walk, and a full beard, which he was the first in the society to wear. He was extremely industrious, and never wasted even a minute ; knew admirably how to use every spare moment. He was cheerful, kindly, talkative ; plain-spoken when he had to find fault ; not very enthusiastic, but somewhat dry and very practical. In his earlier years, in Germany, he was witty ; and to the last he was ready and apt in speech. His conver- sation centred always upon religion and the conduct of life ; and no matter with whom he was speaking, or what was the character of the person, Rapp knew very well how to lead the talk to these topics. The youn^ people were very fond of him. " He was a man before whom no evil could stand." " When I met him in the street, if I had a bad thought in my head, it flew away." He was constantly in the fields or in the factories, cheering, en- couraging, or advising the people. " He knew every thing how to do it, what was the best way." " Ah, he was a man ; he told us what to do, and how to be good." In his spare moments he studied botany, geology, astronomy, mechanics. " He was never idle, not even a quarter of an hour." He be- lieved much in work ; thought hard field-work a good cure for spiritual as well as bodily diseases. He was an " extraordinarily eloquent preacher ;" and it is a singular fact that, dying at the great age of ninety, he preached in the church twice but two Sundays before his death ; and on the Sunday before he died addressed his people from the window of his sick-room. He was " a good man, with true, honest eyes." He " always la- bored against selfishness, and to serve the brethren and the 92 Communistic Societies of the United States. Lord." He appears to have abhorred ostentation and needless forms and ceremonies, for he sat while preaching ; never pre- scribed any uniform dress or peculiar form of speech ; and neither in their worship nor in their daily lives taught the peo- ple to make merely formal differences between themselves and the world at large. That he did not feel the necessity of such outward protests against " the world/' and relied for the bond of union in the community so entirely upon the effect of his teachings, seems to me one of the surest and most significant proofs of his real power. Such is the report of their founder and guide from the older men now living, who knew him well. That he was a man of great force and high character it seems to be impos- sible to doubt. It has often been reported that he was tyran- nical and self-seeking; and that he chose his people from among the most ignorant, in order to rule them. But the pres- ent members of the Harmony Society can not be called igno- rant : they are a simple and pious people, but not incapable of taking care of their own interests ; and their opinion of their founder is probably the correct one. Their love and reverence for him, their recital of his goodness, of his abilities, and of his intercourse with them, are the best testimony as to his charac- ter; and their continuance in the course he laid out for them, for more than a quarter of a century since his death, shows that not only did his teaching and life inspire confidence, but also that his training bore wholesome fruit in them. He- made religion the most important interest in the lives of his followers. Not only did he preach on Sundays, but he ad- monished, encouraged, reproved, and advised constantly dur- ing the week ; he divided the people into companies or classes, who met on week-day evenings for mutual counsel in religious matters, and with these he constantly met ; he visited the sick ; he buried the dead with great plainness and lack of cere- mony. He taught that they ought to purify the body, and he The Harmony Society. 93 was himself a model of plain and somewhat rigid and prac- tical living, and of self-abnegation ; and I think no thoughtful man can hear his story from the older members of the society who were brought up under his rule, and consider the history of Economy, and the present daily life of its people, without conceiving a great respect for Father Rapp's powers and for the use he made of them. Pecuniarily Rapp's experiment has been an extraordinary success. The society is now reported to be worth from two to three millions of dollars. By an investigation into all its affairs and interests, made in the Pennsylvania courts in 1854, by rea- son of a suit brought by a seceding member, it was shown to be worth at that time over a million. In these days of default- ing bank officers and numerous breaches of trust, it is a singu- lar commentary upon the communal system to know that the society has never required from its chiefs any report upon their administration of the finances. The investigation in the courts was the first insight they had since their foundation into the management of their affairs by Rapp and his successors ; and there the utmost efforts of opposing lawyers, among whom, by the way, was Edwin M. Stanton, afterward Secretary of War, failed to discover the least maladministration or misap- propriation of funds by the rulers ; and proved the integrity of all who had managed their extensive and complicated busi- ness from the beginning. As Father Rapp grew older, his influence over his people became absolute. His long life among them bore fruit in an unwavering confidence in his sound judgment and unselfish devotion. He appears to have led them in right paths ; for, though probably few will be found to subscribe to their pecul- iar religious tenets, all their neighbors hold them in the high- est esteem, as just, honest, kindly, charitable, patriotic ; good citizens, though they do not vote ; careful of their servants and laborers ; fair and liberal in their dealings w r ith the world. 94 Communistic Societies of the United States. Of Economy as it now is, what I have written gives a suffi- ciently precise view. The great factories are closed, and the people live quietly in their pretty and simple homes. The en- ergies put in motion by their large capital are to be found at a distance from their village. Their means give employment to many hundreds of people in different parts of Western Pennsylvania ; and wherever I have come upon their traces, I have found the " Economites," as they are commonly called, highly spoken of. They have not sought to accumulate wealth ; but their reluctance to enter into new enterprises has probably made them in the long run only more successful, for it has made them prudent ; and they have not boen tempted to work on credit; while their command of ready money has opened to them the best opportunities. The present managers or trustees (" verwalter ") are Jacob Henrici and Jonathan Lenz. The first, who is also the religious head, being in this respect the successor of R. L. Baker, who was the successor of Father Rapp, is a German by birth, and a man of culture and of deep piety. He was educated to be a teacher ; and entered the Harmony Society in 1826, a year after its removal to Economy. Rapp appears to have appre- ciated from the first his gentle spirit, piety, and sincere devo- tion to the community, as well as the importance of his culture and talents. He lived long in the house with Father Rapp, and was his intimate and confidant. Upon Frederick Rapp's death, Father Rapp appointed Baker and Henrici to attend to the temporal concerns with which he was then charged ; and upon the Elder Rapp's death, these two were chosen to take his place. When Mr. Baker died, Mr. Henrici was chosen to fill his place, and he selected Mr. Lenz to be his coadjutor. Mr. Lenz was born in the society in 1807, and has lived in it all his life. He also is a man of some culture, of gentle and pleasant manners, and an excellent business man. Botli are aged, Henrici being seventy, and Lenz sixty- The Harmony Society. 95 seven. Both are tall, firmly built, and fine-looking men, with a peculiarly gentle and lovable expression of face. They live together in the house built for Father Kapp, where also live several of the older members, among them Miss Gertrude Rapp, a granddaughter of the founder, a charming old lady, with a very bright, intelligent face. All these old people are so w r ell preserved, and have so free and wholesome an air, that intercourse with them is not a slight argument to the visitor in favor of their simple manner of life. There, is a council of seven persons, from among whom the trustees are chosen. It is a curious fact that among .the hired people of the so- ciety, living in Economy, are a number whom they adopted as children and brought up, and who conform their lives in all respects, even to the celibate condition, to the rules of the society, but prefer to labor for wages rather than become members. The society does not seek new members, though I am told it would not refuse any who seemed to have a true vocation. As to its future, little is said. The people look for the coming of the Lord ; they await the appearance of Christ in the heav- ens ; and their chief aim is to be ready for this great event, when they expect to be summoned to Palestine, to be joined to the great, crowd of the elect. Naturally there are not want- ing, among their neighbors in Pittsburgh, people who are tor- mented with curiosity to know what is to become of the large property of the Harmonists when these old people finally, in the course of nature, pass away. " The Lord will show us a way," is the answer at Economy to such inquiries. " We have not trusted him in vain so far ; we trust him still. He will give us a sign." THE SOCIETY OF SEPARATISTS, AT ZOA.R, OHIO. THE SOCIETY OF SEPARATISTS AT ZOAR. I. HlSTOKY. THE village of Zoar lies in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, about half-way between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, on a branch of the railroad which connects these two points. It is situated on the bank of the Tuscarawas Creek, which affords at this point valuable water-power. The place is irregularly built, and contains fewer houses than a village of the same number of inhabitants usually has ; but the dwellings are mostly quite large, and each accommodates several families. There is a commodious brick church, a large and well-fitted brick school- house, an extensive country tavern or hotel, and a multitude of sheds and barns. There are, besides, several mills and fac- tories ; and in the middle of the village a somewhat elaborate, large, square house, which was the residence of the founder and head of the society until his death, and is now used in part as a storehouse. Zoar is the home of a communistic society who call them- selves " Separatists," and who founded the village in 1817, and have here become quite wealthy. They originated in Wiirtem- berg, and, like the Harmony Society, the Inspirationists, and oth- ers, were dissenters from the Established Church. The Sepa- ratists of southern Germany were equivalent to what in K^ew England are called "Come Outers" protestants against the prevailing religious faith, or, as they would say, lack of faith. i oo Communistic Societies of the United States. These German "Come Outers" were for the most part mystics, who had read the writings of Jacob Boehm, Gerhard Terstegen, and Jung Stilling; they cherished different religious or doc- trinal beliefs, were stigmatized as fanatics, but were usually, I judge, simple-hearted, pious people, desirous to lead a more spiritual life than they found in the churches. Their refusal to send their children to the schools which were controlled by the clergy and to allow their young men to serve as soldiers, brought upon them persecution from both the secular and the ecclesiastical authorities, resulting in flog- ging, imprisonment, and fines. The people who finally emi- grated to Zoar, after enduring these persecutions for ten or twelve years gathered together in an obscure part of Wiirtem- berg, where, by the favor of a friend at court, they were per- mitted to settle. But even from this refuge they were hunt- ed out after some years ; and, finding no other resource left, they at last determined to remove in a body to America, those few among them who had property paying the passage of those who were without means. Their persecutions had, it seems, attracted the attention of some English Quakers, who aided them to emigrate, and with kindly forethought sent in advance of them to certain Quakers in Philadelphia a sum of money, amounting, I have been told, to eighteen dollars for each person of the company, with which their Philadelphia friends provided for them on their landing. This kind care is still acknowledged at Zoar as an " inestimable blessing." They arrived at Philadelphia in August, 1817, and almost immediately bargained with one Hagar for a tract of five thousand six hundred acres of land, which they were, with the help of their Quaker friends, enabled to buy on favorable terms. It was a military grant in the wilderness of Ohio, and they agreed to give for it three dollars per acre, with a credit of fifteen years, the first three years without interest. The Society of Separatists at Zoar. 101 Joseph Baumeler, whom they had chosen to be their leader, went out to take possession with a few able-bodied men, and these built the first log-hut on the 1st of December, 1817. During the following spring the remainder of the society fol- lowed ; but many were so poor that they had to take service with the neighboring farmers to earn a support for their fam- ilies, and all lived in the poorest possible way. At this time they had no intention of forming a communist- ic society. They held their interests separately; and it was expected that each member should pay for his own share of the land, which had been purchased in order to be thus subdi- vided. Their purpose was to worship God according to their faith, in freedom, and to live, for that end, in a neighbor- hood. But, having among them a certain number of old and feeble people, and many poor who found it difficult to save money to pay for their land, the leading men presently saw that the en- terprise would fail unless it was established upon a different foundation; and that necessity would compel the people to scatter. Early in 1819 the leaders after consultation deter- mined that, to succeed, they must establish a community of goods and efforts, and draw in to themselves all whom poverty had compelled to take service at a distance. This resolution was laid before the whole society, and, after some weeks of discussion, was agreed to ; and on the 15th of April articles of agreement for a community of goods were signed. There were then about two hundred and twenty-five persons men, women, and children. The men were farm-laborers, weavers, carpenters, bakers, but at first they had not a blacksmith among them. From this time they began to prosper. "We could never have paid for our land, if we had not formed a community,' 1 the older people told me ; and, from all I could learn, I believe this to be true. II IO2 Communistic Societies of the United States. At first they prohibited marriage, and it was not until 1828 or 1830 that they broke down this rule. On forming a community, Joseph Baumeler, who had been a leading man among them, was chosen to be their spiritual as well as temporal head. His name probably proved a stum- bling-block to his American neighbors, for he presently began to spell it Bimeler a phonetic rendering. Thus it appears in deeds and other public documents ; and the people came to be commonly spoken of as " Bimmelers." Baumeler was origin- ally a weaver, and later a teacher* He was doubtless a man of considerable ability, but not comparable, I imagine, with Rapp. He appears to have been a fluent speaker ; and on Sundays he delivered to the society a long series of discourses, which were after his death gathered together and printed in German in three ponderous octavo volumes. They concern themselves not only with religious and communistic thoughts, but largely with the minor morals, manners, good order in housekeeping, cleanliness, health observances, and often with physiological details. In March, 1824, an amended constitution was adopted. Be- tween 1828 and 1830 they began to permit marriage, Baum- eler himself taking a wife. In 1832 the Legislature formally incorporated the " Separatist Society of Zoar," and a new constitution, still in force, was signed in the same year. " As soon as we adopted community of goods we began to prosper," said one of the older members to me. Having abun- dance of hands, they set up shops ; and, being poor and in debt, they determined to live rigidly within their means and from their own products. They crowded at first into a few small log- cabins ; some of which are still standing, and are occupied to this da}^. They kept cattle ; were careful and laborious farm- ers ; and setting up blacksmith's, carpenter's, and joiner's shops, they began to earn a little money from work done for the neigh- boring farmers. Nevertheless their progress was slow, and they The Society of Separatists at Zoar. 103 accounted it a great piece of good fortune when in 1827 a canal was built through their neighborhood. What with put- ting their own young men upon this work, and selling supplies to the contractors, they made enough money from this enter- prise to pay for their land ; and thenceforth, with free hands, they began to accumulate wealth. They now own in one body over seven thousand acres of very fertile land, including extensive and valuable water- power, and have besides some land in Iowa. They have es- tablished a woolen factory, where they make cloth and yarn for their own use and for sale. Also two large flour-mills, a saw-mill, planing-mill, machine shop, tannery, and dye- house. They have also a country store for the accommoda- tion of the neighborhood, a large hotel which receives summer visitors ; and for their own use they maintain a wagon shop, blacksmith's and carpenter's shops, tailors, dressmakers, shoe- makers, a cider-mill, a small brewery, and a few looms for weaving linen. They employ constantly about fifty persons not members of the community, besides " renters," who man- age some of their farms on shares. They have now (in the spring of 1874) about three hundred members, and their property is worth more than a million dollars. II. RELIGIOUS FAITH AND PRACTICAL LIFE. The " Principles of the Separatists," which are printed in the first volume of Joseph Baumeler's discourses, were evident- ly framed in Germany. They consist of twelve articles : " I. We believe and confess the Trinity of God : Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. "II. The fall of Adam, and of all mankind, with the loss thereby of the likeness of God in them. " III. The return through Christ to God, our proper Father. IO4 Communistic Societies of the United States. " IY. The Holy Scriptures as the measure and guide of our lives, and the touchstone of truth and falsehood. " All our other principles arise out of these, and rule our conduct in the religious, spiritual, and natural life. "V. All ceremonies are banished from among us, and we declare them useless and injurious; and this is the chief cause of our Separation. "VI. We render to no mortal honors due only to God, as to uncover the head, or to bend the knee. Also we address every one as ' thou ' du. " VII. We separate ourselves from all ecclesiastical connec- tions and constitutions, because true Christian life requires no sectarianism, while set forms and ceremonies cause sectarian divisions. " VIII. Our marriages are contracted by mutual consent, and before witnesses. They are then notified to the political authority ; and we reject all intervention of priests or preachers. " IX. All intercourse of the sexes, except what is necessary to the perpetuation of the species, we hold to be sinful and contrary to the order and command of God. Complete vir- ginity or entire cessation of sexual commerce is more com- mendable than marriage. " X. We can not send our children into the schools of Baby- lon [meaning the clerical schools of Germany], where other principles contrary to these are taught. " XI. We can not serve the state as soldiers, because a Chris- tian can not murder his enemy, much less his friend. " XII. We regard the political government as absolutely necessary to maintain order, and to protect the good and hon- est and punish the wrong-doers ; and no one can prove us to be untrue to the constituted authorities." For adhering to these tolerably harmless articles of faith, they suffered bitter persecution in Germany in the beginning of this century. The Society of Separatists at Zoar. 105 Subject to the above declaration they have a formal consti- tution, which divides the members into two classes, the noviti- ates and the full associates. The former are required to serve at least one year before admission to the second class, and this is exacted even of their own children, if on attaining majority they wish to enter the society. The members of the first or probationary class do not give up their property. They sign an agreement, " for the further- ance of their spiritual and temporal welfare and happiness," in which they "bind themselves to labor, obey, and execute all the orders of the trustees and their successors," and to " use all their industry and skill in behalf of the exclusive benefit of the said Separatist Society of Zoar ;" and to put their minor chil- dren under the exclusive guardianship and care of the trustees. The trustees on their part, and for the society, agree to se- cure to the signers of these articles " board and clothing free of cost, the clothing to consist of at any time no less than two suits, including the clothes brought by the said party of the first part to this society." Also medical attendance and nurs- ing in case of sickness. " Good moral conduct, such as is en- joined by the strict observance of the principles of Holy Writ," is also promised by .both parties; and it is stipulated that " no extra supplies shall be asked or allowed, neither in meat, drink, clothing, nor dwelling (cases of sickness excepted) ; but such, if any can be allowed to exist, may and shall be obtained [by the neophytes] through means of their own, and never out of the common fund." All money in possession of the probationer must be deposited with the society when he signs the agreement ; for it a receipt is given, making the deposit payable to him on his demand, without interest. Finally, it is agreed that all disputes shall be settled by arbitration alone, and within the society. When a member of the first or probationary class desires to io6 Communistic Societies of the United States. be received into full membership, he applies to the trustees, who formally hear his demand, inquire into the reasons he can give for it, and if they know no good cause why he should not be admitted, they thereupon give thirty days' notice to the so- ciety of the time and place at which he is to sign the covenant. If during that interval no member makes charges against him, and if he has no debts, and is ready to make over any property he may have, he is allowed to sign the following COVENANT : " We, the subscribers, members of the Society of Separatists of the second class, declare hereby that we give all our property, of every kind, not only what we already possess, but what we may hereafter come into possession of by inheritance, gift, or otherwise, real and personal, and all rights, titles, and expecta- tions whatever, both for ourselves and our heirs, to the said society forever, to be and remain, not only during our lives, but after our deaths, the exclusive property of the society. Also we promise and bind ourselves to obey all the commands and orders of the trustees and their subordinates, with the ut- most zeal and diligence, without opposition or grumbling ; and to devote all our strength, good-will, diligence, and skill, dur- ing our whole lives, to the common service of the society and for the satisfaction of its trustees. Also we consign in a simi- lar manner our children, so long as they are minors, to the charge of the trustees, giving these the same rights and powers over them as though they had been formally indentured to them under the laws of the state." Finally, there is a formal CONSTITUTION, which prescribes the order of administration ; and which also is signed by all the members. According to this instrument, all officers are to be elected by the whole society, the women voting as well as the men. All elections are to be by ballot, and by the majority vote ; and they are to be held on the second Tuesday in May. The society is to elect annually one trustee and one member of the standing committee or council, once in four years a The Society of Separatists at Zoar. 107 cashier, and an agent whenever a vacancy occurs or is made. The time and place of the election are to be made public twenty days beforehand by the trustees, and four members are to be chosen at each election to be managers and judges at the next. The trustees, three in number, are to serve three years, but may be indefinitely re-elected. They have unlimited power over all the temporalities of the society, but are bound to pro- vide board, clothing, and dwelling for each member, " without respect of persons ;" and to use all confided to their charge for the best interests of the society. They are to manage all its industries and affairs, and to prescribe to each member his work ; " but in all they do they are to have the general con- sent of the society." They are to appoint subordinates and superintendents of the different industries ; are to consult in difficult cases with the Standing Committee of Five, and are with its help to keep the peace among the members. The agent is the trader of the society, who is to be its inter- mediate with the outside world, to buy and sell. This office is now held by the leading trustee. The standing committee is a high court of appeals in cases of disagreement, and a general council for the agent and trustees. The cashier is to have the sole and exclusive control of all the moneys of the society, the trustees and agent being obliged to hand over to his custody all they receive. He is also the book-keeper, and is required to give an annual account to the trustees. The constitution is to be read in a public and general meet- ing of the society at least once in every year. The system of administration thus prescribed appears to have worked satisfactorily for more than forty years. " Do you favor marriage ?" I asked some of the older mem- bers, trustees, and managers. They answered " Xo ;" but they io8 Communistic Societies of the United States. exact no penalty nor inflict any disability upon those who choose to marry. " Marriage," I was told, " is on the whole unfavorable to community life. It is better to observe the celibate life. But it is not, in our experience, fatally adverse. It only makes more trouble ; and in either case, whether a community permit or forbid marriage, it may lose members." About half of their young people, who have grown up in the society, become permanent members, and as many young men as girls. They do not permit members to marry outside of the society ; and require those who do to leave the place. " Men and women need to be trained to live peaceably and contentedly in a community. Those who have been brought up outside do not find matters to their taste here." Baumeler taught that God did not look with pleasure on marriage, but that he only tolerated it ; that in the kingdom of heaven " husband, wife, and children will not know each other;" "there will be no distinction of sex there." Neverthe- less he married, and had a family of children. When a young couple wish to marry, they consult the trustees, whose consent is required in this as in the other emergencies of the community life ; and the more so as they must provide lodgings or a dwelling for the newly married, and furniture for their housekeeping. Weddings, however, are economical- ly managed, and the parents of the parties usually contribute of their superfluities for the young couple's accommodation. When marriages began among them, a rule was adopted that the children should remain in the care of their parents until they were three years old ; at which time they were placed in large houses, the girls in one, boys in another, where they were brought up under the care of persons especially ap- pointed for that purpose ; nor did they ever again come under the exclusive control of their parents. This singular custom, which is practiced also by the Oneida communists, lasted at Zoar until the year 1845, when it was found inconvenient. CHURCH AT ZOAR. SCHOOL -HOUSE AT ZOAR. The Society of Separatists at Zoar. 1 09 The sixty or seventy young persons under twenty-one now in the community live with their parents. Until the age of fifteen they are sent to school, and a school is maintained all the year round. Usually the instruction has been in German ; but when I visited Zoar they had an American teacher. On the blackboard, when I visited the school, a pupil had just completed an example in proportion, concerning the di- vision of property among heirs ; and I thought how remarkable it is that the community life ever lasts, in any experiment, be- yond the first generation, when even the examples by which children of a community are taught arithmetic refer to divis- ion of property and individual owrership, and every piece of literature they read tends to inculcate the love of " me " and " mine." I do not wonder that general literary studies are not encouraged in many communities. As for the Zoar people, they are not great readers, except of the Bible and the few pi- ous books which they brought over from Germany, or have imported since. The Zoar communists belong to the peasant class of South- ern Germany. They are therefore unintellectual ; and they have not risen in culture beyond their original condition. Nor were their leaders men above the general level of the rank and file ; for Baumeler has left upon the society no marks to show that he strove for or desired a higher life here, or that he in the least valued beauty, or even what we Americans call com- fort. The little town of Zoar, though founded fifty-six years ago, has yet no foot pavements ; it remains without regularity of design ; the houses are for the most part in need of paint ; and there is about the place a general air of neglect and lack of order, a shabbiness, which I noticed also in the Aurora com- munity in Oregon, and which shocks one who has but lately visited the Shakers and the Rappists. The Zoarites have achieved comfort according to the Ger- man peasant's notion and wealth. They are relieved from 1 10 Communistic Societies of the United States. severe toil, and have driven the wolf permanently from their doors. Much more they might have accomplished ; but they have not been taught the need of more. They are sober, quiet, and orderly, very industrious, economical, and the amount of ingenuity and business skill which they have developed is quite remarkable. Comparing Zoar and Aurora with Economy, I saw the ex- treme importance and value in such an experiment of leaders with ideas at least a step higher than those of their people. There is about Economy a tasteful finish which shows a desire for something higher than mere bread and butter, a neatness and striving for a higher kind of comfort, which makes Econ- omy a model town, while the other two, though formed by peo- ple generally of the same social plane, are far below in the scale. Yet, when I had left Zoar, and was compelled to wait for an hour at the railroad station, listening to men cursing in the presence of women and children ; when I saw how much roughness there is in the life of the country people, I conclud- ed that, rude and uninviting as the life in Zoar seemed to me, it was perhaps still a step higher, more decent, more free from disagreeables, and upon a higher moral scale, than the average life of the surrounding country. And if this is true, the com- munity life has even ,here achieved moral results, as it certain- ly has material, worthy of the effort. Moreover, considering the dull and lethargic appearance of the people, I was struck with surprise that they have been able to manage successfully complicated machinery, and to carry on several branches of manufacture profitably. Their machine shop makes and repairs all their own machinery ; their grist- mills have to compete with those of the surrounding country ; their cattle, horses, and sheep of the latter they keep no less than 1400 head are known as the best in the county ; their hotel is a favorite summer resort; their store supplies the The Society of Separatists at Zoar. 1 1 1 neighborhood ; and they have found among themselves ability enough to conduct successfully all these and several other call- ings, all of which require both working skill and business acute- ness. They rise at six, or in summer at daylight, breakfast at sev- en, dine at twelve, and sup at six. During the long summer days they have two " bites " between meals. They do not eat pork, and a few refrain entirely from meat. They use both tea and coffee, and drink also cider and beer. Tobacco is for- bidden, but it is used by some of the younger people. In the winter they labor in their shops after supper until eight o'clock. Each family cooks for itself ; but they have a general bake- house, and make excellent bread. They have no general laun- dry. They have led water into the village from a reservoir on a hill beyond. Most of the houses accommodate several fami- lies, but each manages its own affairs. Tea, coffee, sugar, and other " groceries," are served out to all householders once a week. The young girls are taught to sew, knit, and spin, and to do the work of the household. The boys, when they leave school, are taught trades or put on the farm. In their religious observances they studiously avoid forms. On Sunday they have three meetings. In the morning there is singing, after which the leading trustee reads one of Baum- eler's discourses, which they are careful not to call sermons. In the afternoon there is a children's meeting, where there is singing, and reading in the Bible. In the evening they meet to sing and hear reading from some work which interests them. They do not practice audible or public prayer. There are no religious meetings during the week ; but the boys meet occa- sionally to practice music, as they have a band. The church has an organ, and several of the houses have pianos. They .do not allow dancing. There is no " preacher," or clergyman. They have printed a hymn-book, which is used in their wor- ship. 1 1 2 Communistic Societies of the United States. Baumeler had some knowledge of homoeopathy, and was during his life the physician of the community, and they still use the system of medicine which he introduced among them. Like all the communists I have known, they are long-lived. A number of members have lived to past eighty the oldest now is ninety-one ; and he, strangely enough, is an American, a native of New Hampshire, who, after a roving life in the West, at last, when past fifty, became a Shaker, and after eleven years among that people, came to Zoar twenty -eight years ago, and has lived here ever since. The old fellow showed the shrewd intelligence of the Yankee, asking me whether we New- Yorkers were likely after all to beat the Tammany Ring ; and declaring his belief that the Roman Catholics were the worst enemies of the United States. He appeared to be, what a person of his age usually is if he retain his faculties, a sort of adviser-general ; he sat in the common room of the hotel, and when any one came in he asked him about his business, and gave him advice what to do. The oldest German member is now eighty-six; and there are still between thirty and forty people who came over from Germany with Baumeler. The latter died in 1853, at the age of seventy-five. Most of the members now are middle-aged people, and the society is prosperous. Thirty-five years ago, however, it had double the number it now counts. Occasionally members leave ; and in the society's early days it had much trouble and suffered some losses from suits for wages brought against it by dissatisfied persons. Hence the stringent terms of the cove- nant. They use neither Baptism nor the Lord's Supper. In summer the women labor in the fields, to get in hay, po- tatoes, and in harvesting the grain. They address each other only by the first name, use no title of any kind, and say thou (du) to all. Also they keep The Society of Separatists at Zoar. 1 1 3 their hats on in a public room. The church has two doors, one for the women, the other for the men, and the sexes sit on different sides of the house. The hotel contains a queer, old-fashioned bar, at which the general public may drink beer, cider, or California wine. In the evening the sitting-room is filled with the hired laborers of the society, and with the smoke of their pipes. Such is Zoar. Its people would not attract attention any where ; they dress and look like common laborers ; their lead- ing trustee, Jacob Ackermann, who has carried on the affairs of the society for thirty years and more, might easily be taken for a German farm-hand. It is the more wonderful to compare the people with what they have achieved. Their leader and founder taught them self-sacrifice, a desire for heavenly things, temperance, or moderation in all things, pref- erence of others to themselves, contentment and these vir- tues, together with a prudence in the management of their af fairs which has kept them out of debt since they paid for their land, and uprightness in their agents which has protected them against defalcations, have wrought, with very humble in- telligence, and very narrow means at the beginning, the result one now sees at Zoar. THE SHAKERS T H E .8 H A K E R S. THE Shakers have the oldest existing communistic societies on this continent. They are also the most thoroughly organ- ized, and in some respects the most successful and flourishing. Mount Lebanon, the parent society, and still the thriftiest, was established in 1792, eighty-two years ago. The Shakers have eighteen societies, scattered over seven states; but each of these societies contains several families; and as each "family" is practically, and for all pecuniary and property ends, a distinct commune, there are in fact fifty- eio-ht Shaker communities, which I have found to be in a more O ' or less prosperous condition. These fifty-eight families con- tain an aggregate population of 2415 souls, and own real estate amounting to about one hundred thousand acres, of which nearly fifty thousand are in their own home farms. Moreover, the Shakers have, as will be seen further on, a pretty thoroughly developed and elaborate system of theology ; and a considerable literature of their own, to which they at- tach great importance. The Shakers are a celibate order, composed of men and women living together in what they call "families," and hav- ing agriculture as the base of their industry, though most of them unite with this one or more other avocations. They have a uniform style of dress ; call each other by their first names ; say yea and nay, but not thee or thou ; and their so- cial habits have led them to a generally similar style of house 1 1 8 Communistic Societies of the United States. architecture, whose peculiarity is that it seeks only the useful, and cares nothing for grace or beauty, and carefully avoids ornament. They are pronounced Spiritualists, and hold that " there is the most intimate connection and the most constant com- munion between themselves and the inhabitants of the world of spirits." They assert that the second appearance of Christ upon earth has been ; and that they are the only true Church, " in which revelation, spiritualism, celibacy, oral confession, community, non-resistance, peace, the gift of healing, miracles, physical health, and separation from the world are the foundations of the new heavens." * In practical life they are industrious, peaceful, honest, highly ingenious, patient of toil, and extraordinarily cleanly. Finally, they are to a large extent of American birth, and English is, of course, their language. II. "MOTHER ANN." The " Millennial Church, or United Society of Believers, commonly called Shakers," was formally organized at New Lebanon, a village in Columbia County, New York, in Sep- tember, 1787, three years after the death of Ann Lee, whose followers they profess themselves, and whom they revere as the second appearance of Christ upon this earth, holding that Christ appeared first in the body of Jesus. Ann Lee, according to the account of her accepted among and published by the Shakers, was an English woman, born of humble parents in Manchester, February 29th, 1736. Her fa- ther was a blacksmith ; she was one of eight children ; in her * " Autobiography of a Shaker," etc., by Elder Frederick W. Evans. The Shakers. 119 childhood she was employed in a cotton factory, and later as a cutter of hatters' fur. She was also at one time cook in a Manchester infirmary ; and to the day of her death she could neither read nor write. About the year 1747, some members of the Society of Quakers, under the influence of a religious revival, formed themselves into a society, at the head of which was a pious couple, Jane and James Wardley. To these people Ann Lee and her parents joined themselves in 1758, Ann being then twenty-three years of age and unmarried. These people suf- fered persecution from the ungodly, and some of them were even cast into prison, on account of certain unusual and vio- lent manifestations of religious fervor, which caused them to receive the name of " Shaking Quakers ;" and it was while Ann Lee thus lay in jail, in the summer of 1770, that " by a special manifestation of divine light the present testimony of salvation and eternal life was fully revealed to her," and by her to the society, " by whom she from that time was acknowl- edged as mother in Christ, and by them was called Mother Ann"* She saw the Lord Jesus Christ in his glory, who revealed to her the great object of her prayers, and fully sat- isfied all the desires of her soul. The most astonishing visions and divine manifestations were presented to her view in so clear and striking a manner that the whole spiritual world seemed displayed before her. In these extraordinary mani- festations she had a full and clear view of the mystery of in- iquity, of the root and foundation of human depravity, and of the very act of transgression committed by the first man and woman in the garden of Eden. Here she saw whence and wherein all mankind were lost from God, and clearly realized the only possible way of recovery ."f " By the immediate rev- * " Shakers' Compendium of the Origin, History, etc., with Biographies of Ann Lee," etc. By F. W. Evans, 1859. t " A Summary View of the Millennial Church," etc. Albany, 1848. 1 20 Communistic Societies of the United States. elation of Christ, she henceforth bore an open testimony against the lustful gratifications of the flesh as the source and founda- tion of human corruption ; and testified, in the most plain and pointed manner, that no soul could follow Christ in the regen- eration while living in the works of natural generation, or in any of the gratifications of lust."* In a volume of " Hymns and Poems for the Use of Believ- ers" (Watervliet, Ohio, 1833), Adam is made to confess the nat- ure of his transgression and the cause of his fall, in a dialogue with his children : " First Adam being dead, yet speaketh, in a dialogue with his children. "Children. First Father Adarn, where art thou ? With all thy num'rous fallen race; We must demand an answer now, For time hath stript our hiding-place. Wast thou in nature made upright Fashion'd and plac'd in open light? "Adam. Yea truly I was made upright: This truth I never have deni'd, And while I liv'd I lov'd the light, But I transgressed and then I died. Ye've heard that I transgressed and fell This ye have heard your fathers tell. li Ch. Pray tell us how this sin took place This myst'ry we could never scan, That sin has sunk the human race, And all brought in by the first man. 'Tis said this is our heavy curse Thy sin imputed unto us. "Ad. When I was plac'd on Eden's soil, I liv'd by keeping God's commands To keep the garden all the while, And labor, working with my hands. I need not toil beyond my pow'r, Yet never waste one precious hour. * " A Summary View of the Millennial Church," etc. The Shakers. 1 2 1 u But in a careless, idle frame, I gazed about on what was made : And idle hands will gather shame, And wand'ring eyes confuse the head : I dropp'd my hoe and pruning-knife, To view the beauties of my wife. u An idle beast of highest rank Came creeping up just at that time, And show'd to Eve a curious prank, Affirming that it was no crime: 4 Ye shall not die as God hath said Tis all a sham, be not afraid.' "All this was pleasant to the eye, And Eve affirm'd the fruit was good ; So I gave up to gratify The .meanest passion in my blood. horrid guilt ! I was afraid : 1 was condemn'd, yea I was dead. " Here ends the life of the first man, Your father and his spotless bride; God will be true, his word must stand The day I sinn'd that day I died : This was my sin, this was my fall ! This your condition, one and all. "Ch. How can these fearful things agree With what we read in sacred writ That sons and daughters sprung from thee, Endu'd with wisdom, power, and wit ; And all the nations fondly claim Their first existence in thy name ? 4 l Ad. Had you the wisdom of that beast That took my headship by deceit, I could unfold enough at least To prove your lineage all a cheat. Your pedigree you do not know, The SECOND ADAM told you so. 122 Communistic Societies of the United States. " When I with guile was overcome, And fell a victim to the beast, My station first he did assume, Then on the spoil did richly feast. Soon as the life had left my soul, He took possession of the whole. "He plunder' d all my mental pow'rs, My visage, stature, speech, and gait ; And, in a word, in a few hours, He was first Adam placed in state : He took my wife, he took my name ; All but his nature was the same. " Now see him hide, and skulk about, Just like a beast, and even worse, Till God in anger drove him out, And doom'd him to an endless curse. O hear the whole creation groan ! The Man of Sin has took the throne ! "Now in my name this beast can plead, How God commanded him at first To multiply his wretched seed, Through the base medium of his lust. O horrid cheat ! O subtle plan ! A hellish beast assumes the man ! " This is your father in my name : Your pedigree ye now may know : He early from perdition came, And to perdition he must go. And all his race with him shall share Eternal darkness and despair." The same theory of the fall* is stated in another hymn * It is curious that the Jewish Talmud (according to Eisenmenger) has a somewhat similar theory namely, that Eve cohabited with devils for a period of one hundred and thirty years ; and that Cain was not the child of Adam, but of one of these devils. The Shakers. 123 " We read, when God created man, He made him able then to stand United to his Lord's command That he might be protected ; But when, through Eve, he was deceiv'd, And to his wife in lust had cleav'd, And of forbidden fruit receiv'd. He found himself rejected. " And thus, we see. death did begin, When Adam first fell into sin, And judgment on himself did bring, Which he could not dissemble : Old Adam then began to plead, And tell the cause as you may read ; But from his sin he was not freed, Then he did fear and tremble. " Compeird from Eden now to go, Bound in his sins, with shame and woe, And there to feed on things below His former situation : For he was taken from the earth, And blest with a superior birth, But, dead in sin, he's driven forth From his blest habitation. u Now his lost state continues still, In all who do their fleshly will, And of their lust do take their fill, And say they are commanded : Thus they go forth and multiply, And so they plead to justify Their basest crimes, and so they try To ruin souls more candid." The "way of regeneration" is opened in another hymn in the same collection : 1 24 Communistic Societies of the United States. " Victory over the Man of Sin. " Souls that hunger for salvation, And have put their sins away, Now may find a just relation, If they cheerfully obey ; They may find the new creation. And may boldly enter in By the door of free salvation, And subdue the Man of Sin. "Thus made free from that relation, Which the serpent did begin, Trav'ling in regeneration, Having pow'r to cease from sin ; Dead unto a carnal nature, From that tyrant ever free, Singing praise to our Creator, For this blessed jubilee. " Sav'd from passions, too inferior To command the human soul ; Led by motives most superior, Faith assumes entire control : Joined in the new creation, Living souls in union run, Till they find a just relation To the First-born two in one. "But this prize can not be gained. Neither is salvation found, Till the Man of Sin is chained, And the old deceiver bound. All mankind he has deceived, And still binds them one and all, Save a few who have believed, And obey'd the Gospel call. " By a life of self-denial, True obedience and the cross, We may pass the fiery trial, Which does separate the dross. The Shakers. 125 If we bear our crosses boldly, Watch and ev'ry evil shun, We shall find a body holy, And the tempter overcome. * * * * * * "By a pois'nous fleshly nature, This dark world has long been led ; There can be no passion greater This must be the serpent's head : On our coast he would be cruising, If by truth he were not bound : But his head has had a bruising, And he's got a deadly wound. ''And his wounds can not be healed, Light and truth do now forbid, Since the Gospel has revealed Where his filthy head was hid: With a fig-leaf it was cover'd, Till we brought his deeds to light : By his works he is discover'd, And his head is plain in sight." It should be said that Ann Lee had married previously to these manifestations, her husband being Abraham Stanley, like her father, a blacksmith. By him she had four children, all of whom died in infancy. It is related that she showed from girl- hood a decided repugnance to the married state, and married only on the long-continued and urgent persuasion of her friends : and after 1770 she seems to have returned to her parents. She and her followers were frequently abused and perse- cuted ; and in 1773 " she was by a direct revelation instructed to repair to America ;" and it is quaintly added that " per- mission was given for all those of the society who were able, and who felt any special impressions on their own minds so to do, to accompany her."* She had announced, says the * " Shakers' Compendium." 126 Communistic Societies of the United States. same authority, that " the second Christian Church would be established in America; that the colonies would gain their in- dependence ; and that liberty of conscience would be secured to all people, whereby they would be able to worship God without hinderance or molestation." Accordingly Ann Lee embarked at Liverpool in May, 1774, eight persons accompany- ing her, six men and two women, among them her husband and a brother and niece. They landed in New York in Au- gust ; and, after some difficulties and hardships on account of poverty, finally settled in what appears to have been then a wilderness, " the woods of Watervliet, near Niskeyuna, about seven miles northwest of Albany." In the mean time Ann Lee had supported herself by washing and ironing in New York, and her husband had misconducted himself so grossly toward her that they finally separated, he going off with an- other woman. At Niskeyuna, Ann Lee and her companions busied them- selves in clearing land and providing for their subsistence. They lived in the woods, and Ann was their leader and preacher. She foretold to them that the time was near when they should see a large accession to their numbers ; but they had so long to wait that their hearts sometimes failed them. They settled at Watervliet in September, 1775, and it was not until 1780 that, by a curious chance, their doctrines were at last brought to the knowledge of persons inclined to receive them. In the spring of that year there occurred at New Lebanon a religious revival, chiefly among the Baptists, who had a church in that neighborhood. Some of the subjects of this revival wandered off, seeking light and comfort from strangers, and found the settlement of which Ann Lee was the chief. Her doctrines, which inculcated rigid self-denial and repression of the passions, were at once embraced by them ; they brought others to hear Ann Lee's statements, and thus a beginning was at last made. The Shakers. 127 JSew Lebanon, where the new converts lived, lies upon the border of Massachusetts and Connecticut ; and into these states, particularly the first, the new doctrine spread. Ann Lee, now called by her people Mother Ann, or more often Mother, travel- ed from place to place, preaching and advising ; in Massachu- setts she appears to have remained two years. It is asserted, too, that she performed miracles at various places, healing the sick by laying on of hands, and revealing to others their wick- edness and concealed sins. For instance : " Mary Southwick, of Hancock [in Massachusetts, where there was a colony of Ann Lee's followers], testifies: That about the beginning of August, 1783 (being then in the twenty- first year of her age), she was healed of a cancer in her mouth, which had been growing two years, and which for about three weeks had been eating, attended with great pain and a con- tinual running, and which occasioned great weakness and loss of appetite. " That she went one afternoon to see Calvin Harlowe, to get some assistance ; that Mother being at the house, Calvin asked her to look at it. That she accordingly came to her, and put her finger into her mouth upon the cancer; at which instant the pain left her, and she was restored to health, and was never afflicted with it afterward. " Taken from the mouth of the said Mary Southwick, the '23d day of April, 1808. In presence of Jennet Davis, Rebec- ca Clarke, Daniel Cogswell, Daniel Goodrich, and Seth Y. Wells. (Signed) MARY SOUTHWICK." The volume from which this formal statement is extracted* contains a number of similar affidavits, which show that mi- raculous powers of healing diseases are claimed to have been * " Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing," etc. Published by the United Society of Shakers. Albany, 1 856. [The first edition was printed in 1808.] 128 Communistic Societies of the United States. exercised during Ann Lee's life, not only by her, but by her chief followers, Elder William Lee her brother, John Hock- nell, Joseph Markham, and others. It does not appear that Ann Lee made any attempts to settle her followers in colonies or communities, or that she inter- rupted the family life, except that she insisted on celibacy. But she seems to have gathered her followers in congregations, because she from the first required, as a sign of true repentance and a condition of admission, that " oral confession of all the sins of the past life, to God, in the presence of an elder brother," which is still one of the most rigorous rules of the order. She is reported to have said : " When I confessed my sins, I labored to remember the time when and the place where I committed them. And when I had confessed them [to Jane and James Wardley, in Manchester], I cried to God to know if my confession was accepted ; and by crying to God contin- ually I traveled out of my loss."* Also she said : " The first step of obedience that any of you can take is to confess your sins to God before his witnesses." " To those who came to confess to her she said : ' If you confess your sins, you must confess them to God ; we are but his witnesses.' To such as asked her forgiveness, she used to say : ' I can freely forgive you, and I pray God to forgive yon. It is God that forgives you ; I am but your fellow-servant.' "f Ann Lee died at Watervliet, N. Y., on the 8th of September, 1784, in the forty -ninth year of her age. In the " Summary View of the Millennial Church," as well as in some other works published by the Shakers, there are recorded details of her life and conversation, from which one gets the idea that she was a woman of practical sense, sincere- ly pious, and humble-minded. She was "rather below the common stature of woman, thickset but straight, and other- * u Shakers' Compendium." A " Summary View," etc. The Shakers. 129 wise well-proportioued and regular in form and feature. Her complexion was light and fair, and her eyes were blue, but keen and penetrating; her countenance mild and expressive, but grave and solemn. Her manners were plain, simple, and easy. She possessed a certain dignity of appearance that in- spired confidence and commanded respect. By many of the world who saw her without prejudice she was called beautiful ; and to her faithful children she appeared to possess a degree of dignified beauty and heavenly love which they had never before discovered among mortals."* She never learned to read or write. Aside from her strictly religious teachings, she ap- pears to have inculcated upon her followers the practical vir- tues of honesty, industry, frugality, charity, and temperance. " Put your hands to work and give your hearts to God." " You ought never to speak to your children in a passion ; for if you do, you will put devils into them." " Do all your work as though you had a thousand years to live ; and as you would if you knew you must die to-morrow." " You can never enter the kingdom of God with hardness against any one, for God is love, and if you love God you will love one another." " Be diligent with your hands, for godliness does not lead to idle- ness." " You ought not to cross your children unnecessarily, for it makes them ill-natured." To a woman : " You ought to dress yourself in modest apparel, such as becomes the people of God, and teach your family to do likewise. You ought to be industrious and prudent, and not live a sumptuous and glut- tonous life, but labor for a meek and quiet spirit, and see that your family is kept decent and regular in all their goings forth, that others may see your example of faith and good works, and acknowledge the work of God in your family." To some farmers who had gathered at Ashfield, in Massachusetts, in the winter, to listen to her instructions : " It is now spring * " Summary View." K 1 30 Communistic Societies of the United States. of the year, and you have all had the privilege of being taught the way of God ; and now you may all go home arid be faith- ful with your hands. Every faithful man will go forth and put up his fences in season, and will plow his ground in sea- son, and put his crops into the ground in season ; and such a man may with confidence look for a blessing." These are some of the sayings reported of her. They are not remarkable, except as showing that with her religious en- thusiasm she united practical sense, which gave her doubtless a power over the people with whom she came in contact, most- ly plain farmers and laborers. Mother Ann was succeeded in her rule over the society, or " Church," as they preferred to call it, by Elder James Whittaker, one of those who had come over with her. He was called Father James ; and under his ministry was built, in 1785, " the first house for public wor- ship ever built by the so- ciety." He died at En- field in July, 1787, less than three years after Mother Ann ; and was succeeded by Joseph Meacham, an American, a native of Connecticut, in 'early life a Baptist preacher; and with him was associated Lucy ag fog fir g t lea( J. THE FIRST SHAKEK CHURCH, AT MOUNT LEBA- NON, NOW A SEED-HOUSE. ing character in the fe- male line," as the "Summary" quaintly expresses it. She was a native of Pittsfield, in Massachusetts. Joseph Meach- am died in 1796, at the age of fifty-four, and it seems that Lucy Wright then succeeded to the entire administration and " lead of the society." She died in 1821, at the age of sixty- The Shakers. 131 one. " During her administration the several societies in the states of Ohio and Kentucky were established, and large acces- sions were made to the Eastern societies."* While Joseph Meacham was elder, and in the period between 1787 and 1792, eleven societies were formed, of which two were in New York, four in Massachusetts, two in New Hamp- shire, two in Maine, and one in Connecticut. Meantime, in the first year of this century broke out in Kentucky a remarkable religious excitement, lasting several years, and attended with extraordinary and in some cases hor- rible physical demonstrations. Camp-meetings were held in different counties, to which people flocked by thousands ; and here men and women, and even small children, fell down in convulsions, foamed at the mouth and uttered loud cries. " At first they were taken with an inward throbbing of the heart ; then with weeping and trembling ; from that to crying out in apparent agony of soul ; falling down and swooning away, until every appearance of animal life was suspended, and the person appeared to be in a trance." " They lie as though they were dead for some time, without pulse or breath, some 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 to- gether and laid out in order in two squares of the meeting- house ; which, like so many dead corpses, covered a consider- able part of the floor." At Concord, in Bourbon County, in June, 1801, " no sex or color, class or description, were exempt- ed from the pervading influence of the Spirit ; even from the age of eight months to sixty years." In August, at Cane Ridge, " Shakers' Compendium." 132 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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. Hearing of these extraordinary events, the Shakers at New Lebanon sent out three of their number John Meacham, Ben- jamin 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, fortu- nately for themselves, violently opposed and in some cases at- tacked 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 elabora- ted 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 fe- male." II. That Christ is a Spirit, and one of the highest, who ap- * " 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. The Shakers. 133 peared first in the person of Jesus, representing the male, and later in the person of Ann Lee, representing the female ele- ment 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 forma- tion," 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. Y. 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 Pente- cost Church were, first, common property ; second, a life of celi- bacy; 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 con- fidently 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. 1 34 Communistic Societies of the United States. VI. They reject the doctrine of the Trinity, of the bodily resurrection, and of an atonement for sins. They do not wor- ship 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.* 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 Gos- pel Order, as they call it, is supported by and has for its com- plement 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 * " Plain Talks upon Practical Religion ; being Candid Answers," etc. By Geo. Albert Lomas (Novitiate Elder at Watervliet). 1873. ii i mi H minn HUH mi SHAKER DWELLING MOUNT LEBANON. GRANITE DWELLING, OF THE ENFIELD SHAKERS. The Shakers. 135 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 ;" suit- able 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 ORDEE OF LIFE AMONG THE SHAKERS. A Shaker Society consists of two classes or orders : the No- vitiate 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 re- ceive inquiring strangers, and stand in somewhat nearer rela- tions 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 spirit- ual 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 per- haps 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 former- ly. The Novitiate elders and elderesses keep some oversight, 1 36 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 look- ing-glass, a stove for the winter, a table for writing, and a considerable number of chairs, which, w T hen not in use, are sus- pended 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 dwell- ing 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 The Shakers. 137 SHAKER WOMEN AT WORK. table to be eaten from. The walls are bare of pictures; not only because all ornament is wrong, but because frames are places where dnst will lodge. The bedstead is a cot, covered with the bedelothing, and easily moved away to allow of dust- ing 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. Moreover all the walls, in hall and rooms, are lined with rows of wooden pegs, on which spare chairs, hats, cloaks, bon- nets, 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, con- sisting of male and female, not less than three, and generally 138 Communistic Societies of the United States. four in number, two of each sex. The first in the Ministry stands as the leading elder of the society. Those who com- pose the Ministry are selected from the Church, and appointed by the last preceding head or leading character ; and their au- thority is confirmed and established by the spontaneous union of the whole body. Those of the United Society who are se- lected and called to the important work of the Ministry, to lead and direct the Church of Christ, must be blameless char- acters, faithful, honest, and upright, clothed with the spirit of meekness and humility, gifted with wisdom and understand- ing, and of great experience in the things of God. As faith- ful embassadors of Christ, they are invested with wisdom and au- thority, 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 of- fices 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."* "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 in- stances two or more societies constitute a bishopric, being united under the superintendence of the same ministry." * " Summary View," etc. The Shakers. 1 39 Each society has ministers, in the Novitiate family, to in- struct 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 spir- itual concerns. It lias also deacons and deaconesses, who provide for the support and convenience of the family, and regulate the various branches of industry in which the mem- bers 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 ap- point 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 occupa- tion, 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 with- out exception, are industriously employed in some manual oc- cupation, except in the time taken up in the necessary duties of their respective callings.?' So carefully is this rule ob- served 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 Eeed labor at basket-making in the intervals of their travels and ministra- tions, 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. 140 Communistic Societies of the United States. The property of each society, no matter of how many fami- lies 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 ac- counts 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 mo- ment ; 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 bedcloth- ing, 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 The Shakers. 141 SHAKER COSTUMES. 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. 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 vege- table gardens and orchards. After breakfast every body goes to work ; and the " care- takers," 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. 144 Communistic Societies of the United States. SHAKER WORSHIP. THE DANCE. selves : this is called gathering a blessing. In like manner, when any brother or sister asks for their prayers and sym- pathy, they, reversing their hands, push toward him that which he asks. 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 fam- ily, but is admitted to their religious meetings, and is fully in- The Shakers. 145 formed of the doctrines, practices, and requirements of the Shaker people. If then he still desires admission, he is ex- pected 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 pos- sess 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 Shak- er 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 satisfac- tion 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 mem- ory. 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 val- 142 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 re- ceive 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 pre- fer such matter as conveys information of the important po- litical 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 as- sembly 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 appoint- ment, and engaging in singing and in conversation upon gen- eral 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 avo- cations. They do not regularly read the Bible. The Shakers. 143 The Sunday service is held either in the " nieeting-house," when two or three families, all composing the society, join to- gether ; or in the large assembly hall which is found in every family house. In the meeting-house there are generally bench- es, on which the people sit until all are assembled. In the as- sembly 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 consecra- tion 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 clap- ping their hands. The exercises are varied by reforming the ranks ; by speak- ing 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 tribula- tion 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 them- L' 146 Communistic Societies of the United States. ley of Achor, and one which every sin-sick soul seizes with avidity, as being far more comforting than embarrassing. And this opportunity re- mains a permanent institution with us to confess, retract our wrongs as memory may recall them ; and aids individuals in so thoroughly repent- ing 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 4 opening the mind.' 1 If we do not detect their insincerity, God does, and they are tempted of the devil beyond their wish to remain with the Shak- ers; while he that confesseth andfarsaketh 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.' "* 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.' 1 1 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 * "Plain Talks on Practical Religion," etc. f " Christ's First and Second Appearing. By Shakers." The Shakers. 147 the sinner appecir 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 dis- guise, 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 cru- cifixion 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 witness- es 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."* 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 al- lowed 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 fol- lows : " We solemnly and conscientiously dedicate, devote, and give up ourselves and services, together with all our temporal in- terest, to God and his people ; to be under the care and direc- tion of such elders, deacons, or trustees as have been or may * " Summary View," etc. 148 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 afore- said, 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 pur- poses 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 hon- estly to receive, improve, arid 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 conscientious- ly, 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 The Shakers. 149 whatever against the Church, nor against any member or mem- bers 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 fam- ilies 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 1 50 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 consid- ered 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 com- pletely hides the hair, and so encroaches upon the face, that a stranger is at first unable to distinguish the old from the SISTEUS IN EVERY-DAT COSTUME. The Shakers. 1 5 1 young. Out of doors they wear the deep sun-bonnet known in this country commonly as a Shaker bonnet. They do not pro- fess 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. 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 appoint- ment, 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 bon- nets, 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 slip- ped 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 news- 152 Communistic Societies of the United States. papers. In one corner of the room was a bell, used, as I after- ward 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 se- cured 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 prevent- ing 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 cult- ure, 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 ELDEH FREDERICK W. EVANS. The Shakers. 153 sometimes quite noisy ; scrupulously neat, and much given to attend to their own business. 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 after- wards that an eternal Sabbath stillness reigns in a Shaker family there being no noise or confusion, or hum of busy in- dustry 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 Leb- anon, and the most noted of all the Shakers, because he, often- er 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 communi- ties 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 aggres- sive temperament, but with a practical and logical side to his mind, and with a hobby for science as applied to health, com- fort, and the prolongation of life. In person he is tall, with a stoop as though he had overgrown his strength in early life; 154 Communistic Societies of the United States. with brown eyes, a long nose, a kindly, serious face, and an at- tractive manner. He was dressed rigidly in the Shaker costume. VIEW OF A SHAKER VILLAGE. Mount Lebanon lies beautifully among the hills of Berk- shire, 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, abun- dant 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 to- gether, as in its interior arrangements it is one of the most The Shakers. 155 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 in- dustries ; 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 re- main while they are on trial; near this an enormous wood- shed, 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 ma- chinery, and a granary, with rooms for hired men over it. The whole establishment is built on a tolerably steep hillside. 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 156 Communistic Societies of the United States. community, with industries of its own, and a complete organ- ization for itself. MEETING-HOUSE AT MOUNT LEBANON. The illustrations show sufficiently the character of the dif- ferent buildings and the style of architecture, and make more detailed description needless. It need only be said that where- as 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 eacli other. All stood up, there being no seats. A brief address by Elder Frederick opened the serv- The Shaker s. 157 INTERIOR OF MEETING-HOUSE AT MOUNT LEBANON. ices, after which there was singing; different brethren and sisters spoke briefly; a call was made to the spirit of the de- parted 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." 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 communica- tions 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 com- munities of Shakers there, under the instruction of living M 158 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 doc- trinal 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 sum- mer 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 num- The Shakers. 159 bers ; 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 pen- sions for army service." With their management, he said, they had not much difficul- ty 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 senti- mental 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 be- fore 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 re- ligion, 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 constant- 160 Communistic Societies of the United States. ly proving." He afterward gave me a file of the Shaker, a monthly paper, in which the deaths in all the societies are re- corded; and I judge from its reports that the death rate is low, and the people mostly long-lived.* " We look for a tes- timony 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 knowl- edge of true physiological laws ; and this knowledge is spread- ing 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 ex- cept the Roman Catholic; they have even Jews. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Adventists furnish them the greatest proportion. They have always received colored peo- ple, and have some in several of the societies. " Every commune, to prosper, must be founded, so far as * 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. The Shakers. 161 its iodratiy goes, *m 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 manu- jfactokig, 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. *Wc used to itaTe more looms than now, but cloth is sold so cheaply that we gradually began to buy. It is a mistake ; we foray more efoeaply litLan we can make, but our home-made cloth is much better than that we can buy ; and we have now to snake three pairs of trousers, for instance, where before we oiae, Unas oor little looms would even now be more say nothing of the independence we secure in working them." In the beginning, iae said, the societies were desirous to own land: and he thought _ immoderately so. They bought to tfoe extent their aneans ; being eco- iMMaieaL, industrious, and finest, they eared money impidSy. and always in- Tested their sorplos m more land. Then to eul- tiTate these farms they adopted children and yoong people. Twenty yeare ago the Legisla- ture of Xew York had before it a MM. to limit tfee quantity of land the Shakers should be allowed to hold, and the number of apprentices they should take. It was in- troduced, he said, by their enemies, but they at once agreed to fiTTAFF.B TAJTKEET. MOU5TT LEBASOS 1 62 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 hun- dred acres. SHAKEK 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 usu- ally 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, The Shakers. 163 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 reputa- tion of being wealthy. , In their daily lives many profess to have attained perfec- tion : these are the older people. I judge by the words I have heard in their meetings that the younger members have oc- casion 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 sin- less life. " I say to any who know me, as Jesus said to the Pharisees, 6 which of you convicteth me of sin.' " Where faults are committed, it is held to be the duty of the offender to con- fess 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 be- fore 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 knowl- edge in the universe, he could not thereby gain either the knowledge or power of salvation from sin, nor redemption from a sinful nature."* Elder Frederick's library is of ex- tremely limited range, and contains but a few books, mostly concerning social problems and physiological laws. The Swed- ish brother, who had been a student, said in answer to my * " Christ's First and Second Appearing." 1 64 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 de- voted his life ; that he still read much of the newest investiga- tions, 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 so- ciety. 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 anything 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 ask- ed Elder Frederick whether, if they were to build anew, they would not aim at some architectural effect, some beauty of de- sign. 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 The Shakers. 165 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 distribu- tion of heat, and a more general care* for pro- tection 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 recep- tacles of dust. " You people in the world are not clean accord- ing to our Shaker notions. And what is the use of pictures ?" he added scornfully. 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 A SHAKER ELDER. 1 66 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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, stand- ing 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 rela- tions 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 A GROUP OF SHAKER CHILDREN. The Shakers. 167 left off as standing in the way of a perfect life. The follow- ing notice in the Shaker shows that even some very old sin- ners 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 TOBACCO-CHEWING HABIT, aged respectively, In D. S. 51 years' duration. InC.M. 57 In A. G. 15 In T. S. 36 In OLIVER PRENTISS 71 In L. S. 45 In H. C. 53 In C. K. 12 No funeral ceremonies, no mourners, no grave-yard ; but an honorable RECORD thereof made in the Court above. Ed. 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 ear- nestly in love with an ascetic life and deeply disgusted with the world, Shakerism would be unendurable ; and I believe in- sincerity to l>e 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 deacon- esses 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 1 68 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 al- ways, 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 The Shakers. 169 TABLE MONITOR. GATHER UP THE FRAGMENTS THAT REMAIN, THAT NOTHING BE LOST.-CHEIST. Here then is the pattern Which Jesus has set ; And his good example We can not 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 thev 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' SR VILLAS*.]! 1 70 Communistic Societies of the United States. their lives, these visits are prearranged for them a certain group of sisters visiting a certain group of brethren. The sis- ters, 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 ar- ranged, 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 gen- tle 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. 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 un- turned 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.) The Shakers. 171 " Those who have committed deeds cognizable by the laws of the land, shall never be admitted, until those laws have dealt with their transgres- sions 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 with- out their husbands' consent, or until they are lawfully released from the marriage contract, and vice versa. They may confess their sins, but can not 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 No- vitiate, 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 pur- pose. " This instrument is legally and skillfully formed, and none are per- mitted to sign it until they have counted well the cost ; or, at least, pon- dered 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 mili- tary. All shall look for counsel and guidance to those immediately be- fore 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 amend- N 172 Communistic Societies of the United States. merit, 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 Ms 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 bish- oprics, besides that of their own immediate care, the societies of Niske- yuna and Mount Lebanon. They will not even (and this is good policy) allow themselves those expensive conveniences of life which are so com- mon 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 ulti- mately 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 The Shakers. 173 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 aroiind 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 pas- sions 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 perform- ed 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 carried 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 concen- trate 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 Sab- bath. "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 win- dows to ventilate the rooms, and repair to their places of vocation. Fif- teen 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 1 74 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 Sab- bath. They rise and breakfast on this day half an hour later, dine light- ly 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 be- fore 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, with- out 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, The Shakers. 175 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 com- panion 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 al- lotted 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 face- tiously, but rarely profoundly. In fact, to say ' agreeable things about nothing,' when conversant with the other sex, is as common there as else- where. 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 f o exhibit accomplishments which might be enticingly dan- gerous. Nevertheless, an hour passes away very agreeably and even rapt- urously 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 sur- 176 Communistic Societies of the United States. mised, is sure before the lapse of many hours to reach the ears of the eld- ers ; 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 er- rands ; 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 *me 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 as- sistance, or desires any article made by the brethren, she must make ap- plication 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 stew- ard, 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 per- formance of some good act. " No one shall leave the premises of the family in which he lives with- out the consent of the elders ; and he shall obtain the consent by stating the purpose or business which calls him away. This interdiction in- cludes 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 direc- tions for miles around. The Shakers. 177 " 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 broth- er's, they shall rap and enter by permission. "When they enter the apart- ment 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 what- ever. 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 im- mediate superintendence of the ministry, who prescribe the number, se- lect 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 indi- vidual for an hour, a day, or a week, to perform a necessary piece of la- bor. 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 178 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 as- cend 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 care- takers. Once upon the Sabbath do they worship with the adults. Their meetings are not so long, neither do they retire but fifteen minutes be- fore 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 move- ment 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 rigor- ously 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 court- yards, 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 The Shakers. 179 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 con- duct 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 Ken- tucky 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 Xew 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 1 80 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 sum- mer at neighboring sea-side watering-places. They hire a few outside laborers. About a quarter of the people eat no meat. They have im- proved their sanitary regulations in the last twenty years, and have almost extirpated fevers. Formerly cancer was a fre- quent 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 The Shakers. 181 children are taught. The people have been long-lived ; only a few weeks before I visited Alfred, died at the Church Fam- ily 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 in- dustries, a fund at interest. They have never had any defal- cation 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 Ameri- cans except two, who are Scotch. Among them are persons who were farmers, merchants, printers, wool- weavers, and some mechanics. 1 82 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 meas- ures, wire sieves, and the old-fashioned spinning-wheel, which, it seems, is still used in Maine and New Hampshire by coun- try-women to make stocking yarn. But its most profitable in- dustry 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 addition- ally 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 peo- ple 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. The Shakers. 183 This society is less prosperous than most of the others. It has met with several severe losses by unfaithful and impru- dent 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 iSTew 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 so- cieties helped them with a subscription. At 2s ew Gloucester, also, the people are long-lived, some hav- ing 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 fam- ilies, 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 mem- bers. 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 1 84 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 ; oth- ers Free-will Baptists and Methodists. They have not gained in numbers in ten years, and few applicants nowadays re- main with them. This society is prosperous. It owns three thousand acres of rather poor farming land, some of which is in wood and tim- ber. It has also a farm in Western New York, where it main- tains eight hundred sheep. Its industries are varied: they make large washing-machines and mangles for hotels and pub- lic institutions, weave woolen cloths and flannels, make sarsapa- rilla sirup, 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 Canter- bury 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-rojom ; a fine and thoroughly fitted school- house, with a melodeon, and a special music-room ; an infirm- ary for the feeble and sick, in which there is a fearful quanti- ty of drugs ; and they take twelve or fifteen newspapers, and have a library of four hundred volumes, including history, voy- ages, travels, scientific works, and stories for children, but no novels. The Canterbury Society was " gathered " in 1792 ; the lead- The Shakers. 185 ing 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 a revival." They had some prop- erty 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 cof- fee, 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 in- struct the children ; for the girls, gymnastic exercises are pro- vided 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, in- cluded in the usual meetings for worship, reading, and conver- sation. The "shops" or work-rooms are all excellently fitted; in the girls' sewing-room I found a piano, and a young sister tak- ing 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 impor- tant 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 mem- ber, and these are used to carry hot water to the rooms for bathing. The dwellings are not heated with steam. The 1 86 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 respect- fully 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 state- ment 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 can not 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. The Shakers. 187 Enfield, N. H. The Society at Enfield lies in Graf ton 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 preponder- ance 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 re- vival 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, O 1 88 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 farm- ers 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 farm- ing 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 wool- en 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 sev- eral 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 so- ciety a folding pocket-stereoscope. Besides all these industries, uncommonly varied and numer- ous 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 foreign- ers, there are one English man, two of Irish birth, one of Welsh, The Shakers. 189 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 biog- raphy, or extracts from newspapers. There was some years ago a defalcation in one of the socie- ties, 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 ow$s 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 Canter- bury. There is but one Shaker Society in Connecticut, at 1 90 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 pres- ent there are but four families, one of which is small, and con- tains only a few aged people, too much attached to their old home to be removed. There are in the four families one hun- dred 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 chil- dren 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 ejected a large and, for Shakers, uncommonly stylish dwell- ing ; and all the buildings are in good repair and well paint- ed. 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 ad- vantage of an excellent farm. In the beginning they raised garden seeds, and were among the first in this country to es- The Shakers. 191 tablish this business, and at one time they made lead pipe but the invention of machinery drove them out of that busi- ness. 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 English, and more than half of the adult members came in when they were full-grown. About forty years ago there was in Ehode Island a religious revival among a sect of Baptists who call themselves " Christians," and many of these entered the Enfield Society. They now adopt a good many children, and do not seem displeased at the result. They have a school, and are fond of music, having a cabinet- organ in their music - room, and holding a weekly singing- school for the young people. They take " a great many " news- papers and magazines, and have a variety of books, but no regular library. The elders have the selection of reading- matter, and, as in all the societies, exclude what they think in- jurious. They have been, they told me, somewhat careless of sanitary regulations, and have had typhus fever in their houses; but they are now generally healthy. They make very few articles for themselves, but buy a good deal. They make no regular business statement, and owe no debts. They once had a defalcation, but only of a trifling amount. Tliere are four Shaker societies in Massachusetts: at Har- vard, Shirley, Tyringham, and Hancock. Harvard. The Harvard Society lies in Worcester County, about thirty miles northwest from Boston. It was founded in 1793 ; and had in 1823 two hundred members. It has now four fam- ' ilies, containing in all ninety persons, of whom sixteen are 192 Communistic Societies of the United States. children and youth under twenty-one four boys and twelve girls. Of the seventy-four adult members, seventeen are men and fifty-seven women. The Church Family has fifty mem- bers, of whom forty-one are women and girls, and nine men and boys. It is usual among the Shakers to find more wom- en than men in a society or family, but at Harvard the dispro- portion of the sexes is uncommonly great. The members are mainly Americans, but they have some Scotch, Germans, and Welsh. A considerable proportion of the present membership came in as adults, and these were, be- fore becoming Shakers, for the most part Adventists, some however coming from the Baptist and Methodist denomina- tions. The elder of the Gathering Family was a Baptist, and the leading minister was an English Wesleyan. The people are mostly in middle life. The health of this society has al- ways been good; the average age at death, I was assured, ranged for a great number of years between sixty to sixty- eight. One sister died at ninety-three, and other members died at from eighty to eighty-six. Their home farm consists of about eighteen hundred acres ; and they have besides a farm in Michigan, and another in Mas- sachusetts. Their living is made almost entirely by farming ; and they have drained very thoroughly a considerable piece of swamp, which yields them large crops of hay. They make brooms, have a nursery, and press and put up herbs ; and em- ploy sixteen or seventeen hired laborers. They have a small library, but " do not let books interfere with work ;" there is a school, but no musical instrument ; most of the people eat meat, and drink tea and coffee ; and a few are indulged in the practice of chewing tobacco. They are not very musical, but they take a great many newspapers. " Do you like to take children ?" I asked ; and an eldress replied, " Yes, we like to take children but we don't like to take monkeys ;" and, in general, the Shakers have discovered The Shakers. 193 that " blood will tell," and that they can do much better with the children of religious parents than with those whose fa- thers or mothers w r ere dissolute or irreligious. This society has no debt, and is prosperous, though its build- ings are not all in first-rate order according to the Shaker standard, which is very high. It has suffered from one defal- cation. The ministry among the Shakers usually occupy their spare time in some manual labor, as I have explained in a previous chapter. The leading minister over Harvard and Shirley makes brooms ; his predecessor made shoes. The leading fe- male minister is a dress-maker. Shirley. The Society of Shirley lies about two miles from Shirley Station, on the Fitchburg Kailroad. It was gathered in 1793, the meeting-house having been built the year before. Mother Ann Lee passed nearly two years among the people in this vi- cinity, preaching to them; and this accounts for the early building of the meeting-house. In 1823 the Shirley Society had one hundred and fifty members. At present it has two families, numbering altogether forty-eight persons ; of these twelve are children and youth under twenty-one eight girls and four boys. Of the adults, six are men and thirty women. Until a year ago there were three families, but decreasing numbers led them to call in one ; and they now let the build- ings formerly used by that one. Thirty-five years ago this society numbered one hundred and fifty persons ; twenty-four years ago, seventy-five ; twenty years ago it had sixty. As the old people, the founders, died off, new members did not come in. They have not now many applications for member- ship ; and of the children they adopt and bring up, not one in ten becomes a Shaker. The society owns two thousand acres of land, which in- 194 Communistic Societies of the United States. eludes several outlying farms. They employ nine or ten hired laborers; and their main business is to make apple-sauce, of which they sell from five to six tons every year. One family makes brooms ; and they all preserve fruit, make jellies and pickles, dry sweet corn, and in the spring make maple-sugar. The women make fancy articles for sale. Farming is also a considerable business with them, and they have good orchards. Most of the members grew up in the society, and the greater number of them are, I believe, past middle age. Like all the Shakers, they are long-lived one sister, a colored woman, is eighty, and another eighty-eight and their mortality rate is low. Most of the members are Americans, but they have a few Nova-Scotians. Most of them eat meat, and drink tea, but no coffee ; and they are especially fond of oatmeal. One old member both smokes and snuffs, but none others use to- bacco in any shape. They are fond of flowers, but do not cul- tivate any; have "plenty" of books and newspapers, but no regular library ; like music, but have no musical instrument ; and they are fond of the Bible. Among their meetings is one for singing. Their buildings are not so large as those of a Shaker settle- ment usually are, but they are in excellent order, and include an infirmary, a house for aged and feeble members, a nice school-room, and a laundry. They have the reputation in the neighborhood of being wealthy ; and had the enterprise once to build a large cotton factory, on the shore of a pond which they then owned. This building they have sold. It ran them into debt ; and this they did not like. They were poor at first ; have never had any defalcation ; have no debt now ; and make no regular business statement, trusting to the ministry to keep a proper oversight of their accounts. In the school at Shirley physiology was taught, and with re- markable success as it seemed to me, with the help of charts ; the children seemed uncommonly intelligent and bright. The The Shakers. 195 school is open three months in the summer and three in the winter two hours in the forenoon and two in the afternoon ; and the teacher, a young girl, was also the care-taker of the girls. Singing-school is held, for the children, in the evening. The societies at Hancock and Tyringham lie near the New York State line, among the Berkshire hills. The} 7 are small, and have no noticeable features. There are three Shaker societies in New York : at Mount Lebanon, Watervliet, and Groveland. Mount Lebanon. The Mount Lebanon Society lies in Columbia County, two miles from New Lebanon. It is the parent society among the Shakers, and its ministry has a general oversight over all the societies. It is also the most numerous. The Mount Lebanon Society was founded in 1787. In 1823 it numbered between five hundred and six hundred persons ; at this time it has three hundred and eighty-three, including forty-seven children and youth under fifteen. This society is divided into seven families ; and its membership has one hun- dred and thirty-six males and two hundred and forty-seven females, including children and youth. It owns about three thousand acres of land within the State of New York, besides some farms in other states ; and several of its farms in its own neighborhood are in charge of tenants. The different families employ a considerable number of hired laborers. They raise and put up garden seeds, make brooms, dry medicinal herbs and make extracts, dry sweet corn, and make chairs and mops. The women in all the families also make mats, fans, dusters, and other fancy articles for sale ; and one of the families keep some sheep. In a previous chapter I have given so many details concern- ing the Mount Lebanon Society that I need here say nothing 196 Communistic Societies of the United States. further about it, except that it is in a highly prosperous condition. Watervliet. The society at Watervliet lies seven miles northwest from Albany, and upon the ground where Ann Lee and her follow- ers first settled when they came to America. Her body lies in the grave-yard at Watervliet. No monument is built over it. The society there has now four families, containing two hundred and thirty-five persons, of whom sixty are children and youth under twenty-one. Of the adult members, seventy- five are men and one hundred women. In 1823 it had over two hundred members ; between 1837 and 1850 it had three hundred and fifty. It has in its home estate twenty-five hundred acres of land, and owns besides about two thousand acres in the same state, and thirty thousand acres in Kentucky. Its chief industry is farming, and the families keep a large number of sheep and cattle. They shear wool enough to supply all their own needs in cloth and flannel, but have these woven by an outside mill ; they raise large crops of broom-corn and sweet corn : the first they make into brooms, and the other they put up dry in barrels for sale ; they put up fruits and vegetables in tin cans, and also sell garden seeds. They have given up their tan-yard, which was once a source of income. Finally, they make in their own shops, for the use of the society, shoes, carpets, cloth- ing, furniture, and almost all the articles of household use they require. They hire about seventy-five laborers. Most of the members are Americans, and three quarters of them grew up from childhood in the society. Among the membership are some Germans, English, Irish, Swedes, Scotch, and two or three French people. Some among them were orig- inally clergymen, others lawyers, mechanics, and gardeners; but the greater number are farmers by occupation. Some of those The Shakers. 197 who came in as adults had been " Infidels," some Adventists, others Methodists. The society at this time contains more young than old people. Most of the people eat meat, and drink tea and coffee. Some use tobacco, but this is discouraged. They had formerly a good many colored members; and have still some, as well as several mulattoes and quadroons. One colored sister is ninety years of age. The members here have been long-lived ; the register proves this : it shows deaths at ninety-seven, ninety-four, ninety-three, ninety, and so on. They are careful to have thorough drain- age and ventilation, and pay attention to sanitary questions. They were formerly subject to bilious fevers ; but since reject- ing the use of pork, these fevers have disappeared. They take a number of newspapers, and have a library of four hundred volumes, but the people are not great readers, and are fonder of religious books and works of popular science than of any other literature. There is a school ; and the chil- dren are now to have instruction in music, as one of the families has bought an organ, and asked a musical brother from New Hampshire to come down and give lessons. Instrumental mu- sic, however, has been opposed by the older members, and here as in some of the other societies it has been introduced only after prolonged discussion. This society has no debts, and has never suffered from the unfaithfulness of agents or trustees. It is in a very prosperous condition. Each family makes a detailed annual report to the presiding ministry, and a daily diary of events is kept. They have baths in the dwellings, and well-arranged laun- dries. The Watervliet and Mount Lebanon Societies have a num- ber of members living in the outer world, but holding to Shak- er principles, and maintaining by correspondence a connection with them. Some of these are inhabitants of cities, and " above 1 98 Communistic Societies of the United States. the average in wealth and culture," I was told. The Water- vliet Society has also a branch at Philadelphia, consisting of twelve colored women, who live together in one house under the leadership of an old woman, who was moved about twenty years ago to leave this society and go to Philadelphia to preach among her people. The members find employment as day serv- ants in different families, going home every night. They main- ly support themselves, and have never asked for help from the society ; but this occasionally makes them presents, and keeps a general oversight over them. Groveland. The Groveland Society lies near Sonyea, in Livingston Coun- ty, thirty -seven miles from Rochester on the Dansville and Mount Morris branch of the Erie Railway. This society was founded at Sodus Point in 1826, and removed from there to its present location in 1836. They had at that time one hun- dred and fifty members ; and were most numerous about twen- ty-five years ago, when they had two hundred members. At present they have two families, with fifty-seven members in all, of whom nine are children under twenty-one; of these last, six are girls and three boys. Of the adults, thirty are females and eighteen males. They own a home farm of two thousand acres, and an out- lying farm of two hundred and eighty acres, mostly good land, and very well placed, a canal and two railroads running through their home farm. They have a saw-mill and grist-mill, which are sources of income to them ; and they raise broom-corn, make brooms, and dry apples and sweet corn. The women make fancy articles for sale. They also keep fine cattle, and sell a good deal of high-priced stock. Farming and garden- ing are their chief employments, as they have a ready sale for all they produce. They employ eight hired laborers. The members are mostly Americans, raised in the society ; The Shakers. 199 but they have French Canadians, Dutch, German, Irish, and English among them. The French Canadians were Catholics, and some of their other members were Episcopalians, Presby- terians, and Methodists. Most of those who came in as adults were farmers. They are long-lived living to beyond seventy in a considerable number of cases. They eat meat, drink tea and coffee, and some aged mem- bers who came in late in life, with confirmed habits, are al- lowed to use tobacco. One sister smokes. They have a school, and a good miscellaneous library of about four hundred volumes, in a case in the dwelling-house of the Church Family. They sing finely, but are opposed to the introduction of musical instruments. In some of their evening meetings they read aloud, and the last book thus read was Mr. Seward's " Journey around the World." They do not adopt as many children as formerly, and ex- perience has taught them the necessity of knowing something of the parentage of children, in order to make judicious selec- tions. " Formerly we had one or two physicians among our members, and then there was much sickness; now that we have no doctor there is but little illness, and the health of the society is good." One of the families is in debt, through an imprudent pur- chase of land made by a trustee, without the general knowl- edge of the society. Moreover they have suffered severely from fires and by a flood. Once seven of their buildings were burned down in a night. In this way a fund they had at in- terest was expended in repairs. But the society seems now to be prosperous ; its buildings are in excellent order, and the brick dwelling of the Church Family, built in 1857, is well ar- ranged and a fine structure. They have a steam laundry and a fine dairy. In their shops they carry on blacksmithing, car- pentry, tailoring, and dress-making. 2OO Communistic Societies of the United States. They make a regular annual business statement to the pre- siding ministry. At intervals they send out one or two brethren to preach to the outer world upon Shakerism. There are four Shaker societies in Ohio: Union Village, near Lebanon ; Worth Union, near Cleveland ; Water vliet, near Dayton ; and Whitewater, near Harrison. Union Village. The society at Union Village lies four miles from Lebanon, in Warren County, Ohio. It is the oldest Shaker settlement in the West ; the three " witnesses " sent out from Mount Leb- anon in 1805 were here received by a prosperous farmer named Malchas Worley, who became a " Believer," and whose influ- ence greatly helped to spread the Shaker doctrines among his neighbors. His small dwelling still stands near the large house of one of the families, and is kept in neat repair ; it lies in the heart of the society's present estate. The ministry of Union Village, while subordinate to that at Mount Lebanon, rules or has a general oversight of the western societies in Ohio and Kentucky ; and in former times there has been a good deal of printing done there, a number of Shaker publications having been written and published at Union Village. The society at Union Village consists of four families, con- taining at this time two hundred and fifteen persons, of whom ninety-five are males and one hundred and twenty females. Of the whole number, forty -eight are children and youth under twenty-one, and of these twenty are boys and twenty- eight girls. Between 1827 and 1830 it had six hundred mem- bers, and at that time there were six families. It had, however, about that time received sudden and considerable accessions from the dissolution of the Shaker Society in Indiana, which The Shakers. 201 left that state on account of the unhealthf ulness of the country, and whose members were divided among the Ohio societies. In the last ten years I was told there had been neither gain nor loss of numbers, taking the average of the year ; for here, as elsewhere, there is usually a swelling of the ranks in the fall, from what are called " winter Shakers." The society at Union Tillage was " gathered " between 1805 and 1810. The oldest building dates from 180T, and others, of brick and still in excellent preservation, bear the dates of 1810 and 1811. All the buildings are in good order; and this society is among the most prosperous in the order. Its families own a magnificent estate of four thousand five hun- dred acres lying in the famous Miami bottom, a soil much of which is so fertile that after sixty years of cropping it will still yield from sixty to seventy bushels of corn to the acre, and without manuring. They have also some outlying farms. They have no debt, and one of the families has a fund at interest. They let much of their land to tenants, having not less than forty thus settled and working the soil on shares. Besides this, the different families employ about thirty hired laborers. Their industries are broom-making, raising garden seeds and medicinal herbs, and preparing medicinal extracts. They also make a sirup of sarsaparilla, and one or two other patent medicines; they have a saw and a grist mill; the women make small fancy articles and baskets. But their most profit- able business is the growth of fine stock thoroughbred Dur- ham cattle chiefly. They have, of course, shops in which they make and mend what they need for themselves tailor's, shoe- maker's, blacksmith's, wagon-maker's, etc. Formerly they man- ufactured more than at present having made at one time, for the general market, steel, leather, hollow- ware, pipes, and wool- en yarn. Prosperity has lessened their enterprise. Three of the families have very complete laundries. 2O2 Communistic Societies of the United States. They eat meat, but no pork ; and only a very few of the aged members use tobacco. They have an excellent school, of which one of the ministry, an intelligent and kindly man, is the teacher. They have a small library " not so many books as we would like ;" and one of the sisters told me that she got books from a circulating library at Lebanon, and as a special indulgence was allowed to read novels sometimes, which, she remarked, she found useful to set her to sleep. They have two cabinet-organs, and believe in cultivating music. The founders of this society were mostly Presbyterians. Their successors have been Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, and I found, to my surprise, several Catholics, one of whom was originally a Spanish priest. Almost all are Americans, but there are a few Germans and English. They do not care to take children unless they are accom- panied 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 sur- vived 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 Eoll and Book " The Shakers. 203 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 so- cieties 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 fe- male, 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 in- terest 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 sub- ject 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 vari- ety, and thought women might do some other things besides P 204 Communistic Societies of the United States. cooking. One thought it would be an improvement to abolish the caps, and let the hair have its natural growth and appear- ance but I am afraid she might be called a radical. The founders of Union Tillage 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 di- vided 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 dimi- nution 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 con- nection 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 The Shakers. 205 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 moderate- ly, 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 out- lying 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 cov- ering 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 de- pend 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 de- faulting agents or trustees. Watervliet and Whitewater. The two societies of Watervliet and Whitewater, in Ohio, I 206 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 fe- males ; 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 hun- dred 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 Harrods- burg. 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 gath- ering taking place in 1809. Some of the log cabins then built by the early members are still standing, and the first meeting- house, 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 The Shakers. 207 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 per- sons* in all the families ; they had at one time but one hun- dred 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. 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 remain- der 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 consid- erable source of income to them. Some of their land they let * The "Millennial Church" gives their number at four hundred about 1825, but I follow the account given me at South Union. 208 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 " pre- serves " 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 tai- loring, 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 de- scendants 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 Mon- roe and Andrew Jackson stopped for a day at the country tav- ern 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 Ken- tucky, Clay was held to be the greatest character of the three. Here, too, as I am upon antiquities, T saw old men who in The Shakers. 209 their youth had taken part in the great " revival," and had seen the " jerks," which were so horrible a feature of that re- ligious 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 proceed- ings, 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 won- der 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 in- voluntary 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 McXemar'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 2io Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 else- where 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 tolera- bly well." The founders of this society were "New-Light Presbyteri- ans ;" since then they have been reinforced by " Infidels," Spir- itualists, 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 al- ways anti- slavery and Union people. Formerly they hired negro laborers from their masters, which, I suppose, kept the masters quiet ; it did not surprise rne 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 be- sides 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. The Shakers. 211 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 wor- ship. After the war, the South Union elders sought out twen- ty 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. Consider- ing the small number who stay with them after they are grown up, this charity is surely admirable. And though the educa- tion which children receive among the Shaker people is limit- ed, the training they get in cleanliness, orderly habits, and mor- als is undoubtedly valuable, and better than such orphans would receive in the majority of cases among the world's peo- ple. K~or 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 2 1 2 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 per- sons, 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 so- ciety 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, Ad- ventists, 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 li- brary, 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 dwell- The Shakers. 213 ings 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 can not walk abreast. Agriculture, the raising of fine stock, and preserving fruit in summer are the principal industries pursued at Pleasant Hill for income. The) 7 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 meas- ures, etc. At present their numbers are inadequate to carry on manufactures, and their wealth makes it unnecessary. They let & 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 col- ored 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. The}- 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 2 1 4 Communistic Societies of the United States. returned after the war ended, and were reinstated in the soci- ety 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 Con- federate general John Morgan, who was born near here, al- ways 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 de- falcation 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, re- late particulars of her teaching and conduct, and not a few give instances of so-called miraculous cures of diseases or in- juries, 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 corne from the same source. There are, how- A bHAKElt SCHOOL. SHAKER MUSIC-HALL. The Shakers. 215 ever, 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. u 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." 216 Communistic Societies of the United States. As a note to this temperance rhyme, stands the follow- ing: " CH. RULE. All spirituous liquors should be kept under care of the nurses, that no drams in any case whatever should be dispensed to per- sons 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 wrapVl 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 1 !! 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. The Shakers. 217 "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 : Q 2 1 8 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 hatfi 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 Ivnown 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 can not into meeting go; And if he comes he's half asleep, That no good fruit from him we reap: The Shakers. 219 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 faithM may give thanks That poor old Slug has quit the ranks. "When the spectators are address 1 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 2 2O Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 f^ip 3 To eat seven times in a day ! what a mess ! I hate the old glutton for his hoggishness. The Shakers. 2 2 1 "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* in the peach ; We'll starve the old glutton, and send him adrift; Then like good Believers we'll eat in a gift." 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 illustra- ted," 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. * To eat like a hog. 222 Communistic Societies of the United States. "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. The Shakers. 223 "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. * 4 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 confessed 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 aU ?" 224 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 congrega tion: "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. The Shakers. 225 " Tho' the sinner may plead, that it was not decreed For a man to take up a full cross, Yet in hell he must bum, or repent and return, And be sav'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 ? 226 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 hindered, 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 The Shakers. 227 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 : u 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. 228 Communistic Societies of the United States. "Ah! them 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 can not travel Through a lake of boiling oil." In those earlier days, as in these, idle persons seern to have troubled the Shakers with the question " What would be- come 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 ex- cluded 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. The Shakers. 229 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 whicL 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, adapt- ed to the present Order of the Church," and printed at Canter- bury, 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 : 230 Communistic Societies of the United States. " 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 full and perfect, my trouble but light, My gifts very many in which I delight. The Shakers. 231 "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 232 Communistic Societies of the United States. 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 inter- course 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 " vis- ions " 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 med\a 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 un- adulterated ' foolishness,' or as inexplicable mysteries." In a recent number of the ShaJcer and Shaker ess (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 : " It was in the year 1838, in the latter part of summer, some young sisters were walking together on the bank of the creek, not far from the hem- lock grove, west of what is called the Mill Family, where they heard some beautiful singing, which seemed to be in the air just above their heads. " They were taken by surprise, listened with admiration, and then has- tened home to report the phenomenon. Some of them afterwards were chosen mediums for the ' spirits.' We had been informed, by letter, that there was a marvelous work going on in some of the Eastern societies, par- ticularly at Mt. Lebanon, New York, and Watervliet, near Albany. And when it reached us in the West we should all know it, and we did know it ; The Shakers. 233 in the progress of the work, every individual, from the least to the great- est, did know that there was a heart-searching God in Israel, who ruled in the armies of heaven, and will yet rule among the inhabitants of earth. " It commenced among the little girls in the children's order, who were assembled in an upper room, the doors being shut, holding a meeting by themselves, when the invisibles began to make themselves known. It was on the Sabbath-day, while engaged in our usual exercises, that a messenger came in and informed the elders in great haste that there was something uncommon going on in the girls' department. The elders brought our meeting to a close as soon as circumstances would admit, and went over to witness the singular and strange phenomena. " When we entered the apartment, we saw that the girls were under the influence of a power not their own they were hurried round the room, back and forth as swiftly as if driven by the wind and no one could stop them. If any attempts were made in that direction, it was found impossible, showing conclusively that they were under a controlling in- fluence that was irresistible. Suddenly they were prostrated upon the floor, apparently unconscious of what was going on around them. With their eyes closed, muscles strained, joints stiff, they were taken up and laid upon beds, mattresses, etc. "They then began holding converse with their guardian spirits and others, some of whom they once knew in the form, making graceful mo- tions with their hands talking audibly, so that all in the room could hear and understand, and form some idea of their whereabouts in the spiritual realms they were exploring in the land of souls. This was only the be- ginning of a series of 4 spirit manifestations,' the most remarkable we ever expected to witness on the earth. One prominent feature of these mani- festations was the gift of songs, hymns, and anthems new, heavenly, and melodious. The first inspired song we ever heard from the ' spirit world,' with words attached, was the following, sung by one of the young sisters. while in vision, with great power and demonstration of the spirit, called by the invisible 'THE SONG OF A HERALD. ' Prepare, O ye faithful, To fight the good fight; Sing, O ye redeemed, Who walk in the light. Come low, O ye haughty, Come down, and repent. Disperse, O ye naughty, Who will not relent. R 234 Communistic Societies of the United States. 1 For Mother is coming Oh, hear the glad sound To comfort her children Wherever they're found ; With jewels and robes of fine linen To clothe the afflicted withal.' " Given by inspiration, at North Union, August, 1838, ten years prior to the ' Rochester Rappings.' " The gifts continued increasing among the children. Among these were the gift of tongues, visiting the different cities in the ' spirit world,' holding converse with the indwellers thereof, some of whom they once knew in the body. And in going to these cities they were accompanied by their guardian angels, and appeared to be flying, using their hands and arms for wings, moving with as much velocity as the wings of a bird. " All of a sudden they stopped, and the following questions and an- swers were uttered through their vocal organism : Question What city is this ? Answer ' The City of Delight.' Question Who live here ? Answer The colored population. Question Can we go in and see them ? Answer Certainly. For this purpose you were conducted here. They were admitted, their countenances changed. Question Who are all these ? Answer They are those who were once slaves in the United States. Question Who are those behind them ? Answer They are those who were once slaveholders. Question What are they doing here ? Answer Serving the slaves, as the slaves served them while in the earth life. God is just ; all wrongs have to be righted. Question Who are those in the corner ? Answer They are those slaveholders who were unmerci- ful, and abused their slaves in the world, and are too proud to comply with the conditions. Question What were the conditions ? Answer To make confession and ask forgiveness of the slaves, and right their wrongs ; and this they are too proud to do. Question What will be done with them ? Answer When their time expires they will be taken away and cast out, and will have to suffer until they repent ; for all wrongs must be righted, either in the form or among the disembodied spirits, before souls can be happy. And when the girls came out of vision, they would relate the same things, which corresponded with what they had previously talked out. " Now, we will leave the girls for the present and go into the boys' de- partment. Here we find them holding meetings by themselves, under The Shakers. 235 the safe guidance of their care-takers, going in vision, some boys and some girls, for the work had progressed so as to reach adults, and all were called immediately into the work whose physical organizations would possibly admit of mediumship. The peculiar gift at this time was in visiting the different cities in the ' spirit world,' and in renewing ac- quaintances with many of their departed friends and relatives, who were the blissful and happy residents therein. " But before we go any further we will let our mediums describe the first city they came to after crossing the river. Question What city is this ? Answer The Blue .City. Question Who lives here ? Answer The Indians. Question What Indians ? Answer The American Indians. Question Why are they the first city we come to in the spirit-land, on the plane, and most accessible ? Answer Because the Indians lived more in accordance with the law of nature in their earth life, according to their knowledge, and were the most abused class by the whites except the slaves, and many of them now are in advance of the whites in ' spiritu- ality,' and are the most powerful ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. " At another time these same mediums, fifteen in number, of both sexes, sitting on benches in the meeting-house, saw a band of Indian spirits coming from the 'Blue City' in the spirit world to unite with them in their worship, and said, ' They are coming ;' and as soon as the spirits entered the door they entered the mediums, which moved them from their seats as quick as lightning. Then followed the Indian songs and dances, and speaking in the Indian tongue, which was wholly unintelligi- ble to us except by spiritual interpreters." Some of the most curious literature of the Shakers dates from this period ; and it is freely admitted by their leading men that they were in some cases misled into acts and publi- cations which they have since seen reason to regret. Their belief is that they were deceived by false spirits, and were un- able, in many cases, to distinguish the true from the false. That is to say, they hold to their faith in " spiritual commu- nications," so called ; but repudiate much in which they for- merly had faith, believing this which they now reject to have come from the Evil One. Little has ever become authentically known of the so-called 236 Communistic Societies of the United States. "spiritual" phenomena, which so profoundly excited the Shak- er societies during seven years that, as Elder Frederick relates, they closed their doors against the world. Hervey Elkins, a person brought up in the society at Enfield, New Hampshire, in his pamphlet entitled " Fifteen Years in the Senior Order of Shakers," from which I have already quoted, gives some curious details of this period. It will be seen, from the passages I extract from Elkins, that he came under what he supposed to be " spiritual " influences himself : " In the spring succeeding the winter of which I have treated, a re- markable religious revival began among all the Shakers of the land, east and west. It was announced several months prior to its commence- ment that the holy prophet Elisha was deputized to visit the Zion of God on earth, and to bestow upon each individual those graces which each needed, and to baptize with the Holy Ghost all the young who would prepare their souls for such a baptism. " The time at length arrived. No one knew the manner in which the prophet would make himself known. The people were grave and con- cerned about their spiritual standing. Two female instruments from Canterbury, N. H., were at length ushered into the sanctuary. Their eyes were closed, and their faces moved in semigyrations. Their countenances were pallid, as though worn by unceasing vigils. They looked as though laden with a momentous and impending revelation. Throughout the assembly, pallid faces, tears, and trembling limbs were visible. Anxiety and excitement were felt in every mind, as all believed the instruments sacredly and superhumanly inspired. The alternate redness and pallor of every countenance revealed this anxiety. For the space of five minutes the spacious hall was as silent as the tomb. One of the mediums then advanced in the space between the ranks of brethren and sisters, and an- nounced with a clear, deep, and sonorous voice, and in sublime and au- thoritative language, the mission of the holy prophet. The ministry then bade the instruments to be free and proceed as they could answer to God ; and conferred on them plenary power to conduct the meetings as the prophet should direct. " After marching a few songs, the prophet requested the formation of two circles, one containing all the brethren, the other the sisters. The two mediums were first inclosed by the circle of brethren. They both The Shakers. 237 were young women between twenty and twenty-five years of age, and had never before been at Enfield. They had probably never heard the names of two thirds of the younger members. They moved around in these cir- cles, stopping before each one as though reading the condition of every heart. As they passed some, they evinced pleasure ; as they passed oth- ers, they bespoke grief; others, yet, an obvious contempt ; by which it seemed they looked within, and saw with delight or horror the state of all. From our knowledge of the members, we knew they passed and noticed them as their works merited. Little was said to separate indi- viduals in the first meeting. In the second, we were requested to form six circles, three of each sex, and those of a circle to be connected togeth- er by the taking hold of hands ; and in this manner to bow, bend, and dance. In this condition an influence was felt, upon which psychologists and biologists would differ. It would be needless to enumerate the many gifts, the prophecies, the extempore songs, the revelations, the sins ex- posed, and the hypocrites ejected from the society during this period of two months. But, as near as we could estimate, four hundred new songs were sung in that time, either by improvisation or inspiration, of which I have my opinion. I doubt not but that many were inspired by spirits congenial with themselves, and consequently some of the songs evinced a fatuity and simplicity peculiar to the instrument. On the other hand, many songs were given from spheres above, higher in melody, sentiment, and pathos than any originating with earth's inhabitants. " I recollect that the first spiritual gift presented to me was a ' Cup of Solemnity.' I drank the contents, and felt for a season the salutary ef- fects. During the revival I became sincerely converted. I for a time, by reason of prejudice and distrust, resisted the effect of the impressions, which at length overwhelmed me in a flood of tears, shed for joy and gladness, as I more and more turned my thoughts to the Infinite. At last a halo of heavenly glory seemed to surround me. I drank deep of the cup of the waters of life, and was lifted in mind and purpose from this world of sorrow and sin. I soared in thought to God, and enjoyed him in his attributes of purity and love. I was wafted by angels safely above the ocean of sensual enjoyment which buries so many millions, but into which I had never fallen. I explored the beauties of ineffable bliss, and caught a glimpse of that divinity which is the culmination of science and the end of the world. The adoration and solemnity of the sanctuary enveloped me as with a mantle, even when employed in manual labor and in the company of my companions. The frivolity of some of my com- 238 Communistic Societies of the United States. panions disgusted me. The extreme and favorable change wrought within me in so short a time was often remarked by the elders and mem- bers of the society ; but the praise or the censure of mortals were to me like alternate winds, and of little avail. " Two years thus passed, in which my highest enjoyments and pleas- ures were an inward contemplation of the beauty, love, and holiness of God, and in the ecstatic impressions that I was in the hollow of his hand, and owned and blessed of him. Still later in life I retained and could evoke at times the same profoundly religious impressions, con- taminated, however, by other favorite objects of study and attachment. Even the expression of my countenance wore an aspect of deep, tender, and benignant gravity, which the reflection of less holy subjects could not produce. It was my delight to pray fervently and tacitly, and this I often did besides the usual time allotted for such devotion. (Vocal prayer is not admissible among the Shakers.) I loved to unite in the dance, and give myself up to the operations of spirits even, if it would not thwart my meditative communion with God and with God alone. Though in- struments or mediums were multiplied around me, dancing in imitation of the spirits of all nations, singing and conversing in unknown tongues, some evincing a truly barbarian attitude and manners, I stood in mute thanksgiving and prayer. At times I was asked by the elders if I could not unite and take upon me an Indian, a Norwegian, or an Arabian spirit ? I would then strive to be impressed with their feelings, and act in con- formity thereto. But such inspiration, I found, was not the revelation of the Holy Ghost. It was not that which elevated and kept me from all trials and temptations. But my inward spontaneous devotion was the kind I needed. I informed the elders of my opinion, and they concurred in it, only they regarded the inspiration of simple and unsophisticated spirits as a stepping-stone to a higher revelation, by virtue of removing pride, vanity, and self-will, those great barriers against the accession of holy infusions. * * * * # # * * * . " In the fall of that season this revival redoubled its energy. The gifts were similar to those of the spring previous, but less charity was shown to the hypocrite and vile pretender. It was announced that Jehovah Power and Wisdom the dual God, would visit the inhabitants of Zion, and bestow a blessing upon each individual as their works should merit. A time was given for us to prepare for his coming. Every building, ev- ery apartment, every lane, field, orchard, and pasture, must be cleansed of The Shakers. 239 all rubbish and needless encumbrance ; so that even a Shaker village, so notorious for neatness, wore an aspect fifty per cent, more tidy than usual. To sweep our buildings, regulate our stores, pick up and draw to a cir- cular wood-saw old bits of boards, stakes, and poles that were fit for naught but fuel, and collect into piles to be burned upon the spot all such as were unfit for that, was the order of the day. Even the sisters debouched by scores to help improve the appearance of the farm and lake shores, on which were quantities of drift-wood. Thus was passed a fort- night of pleasant autumnal weather. As the evenings approached, we set fire to the piles of old wood, which burned, the flames shooting upward, in a serene evening, like the innumerable bonfires which announce the ingress of a regal visitant to monarchical countries. Viewed from the plain below, in the gray, dim twilight of a soft and serene atmosphere, when all nature was wrapped in the unique and beautiful solemnity of an unusually prorogued autumn, these fires, emerging in the blue distance from the vast amphitheatre of hills, were picturesque in the highest de- gree. How neat ! how fascinating ! and how much like our conceptions of heaven the whole vale appeared ! And then to regard this work of cleansing and beautifying the domains of Mount Zion as that preparatory to the visitation of the Most High, is something which speaks to the heart and says : ' Dost thou appear as beautiful, as clean, and as comely in the sight of God as do these elements of an unthinking world ? Is thine heart also prepared to be searched with the candles of him from whom no unclean thing is hidden ?' " The following words were said to have been brought by an angel from Jehovah, and accompanied by a most beautiful tune of two airs : ' I shall march through Mount Zion, With my angelic band; I shall pass through the city With my fan in my hand ; And around thee, O Jerusalem, My armies will encamp, While I search my Holy Temple With my bright burning lamp.' "It was during this revival that Henry, of whom I have spoken, was ejected from the society. During this, as also during the previous excite- ment, he had exhibited an aversion which often found vent in bitter taunts and jeers. Sometimes, however, a simulated unity of feeling had prevented his publicly incurring the imputation of open rebellion. He 240 Communistic Societies of the United States. had learned some scraps of the Latin language, and on the occasion of the evening worship in which he was expelled, he afterward informed us that, at the time he was arraigned for expulsion, he was pretendedly uniting with those who were speaking in unknown languages by employ- ing awful oaths and profanity in the Latin tongue. A female instrument, said to be employed by the spirit of Ann Lee, approached him while thus engaged, and uttered in a low, distinct, and funereal accent a denunciation which severed him as a withered branch from the tree of life. He sud- denly bowed as if beneath the weight of a terrible destiny, smiting his breast and ejaculating, ' Pardon ! pardon ! Oh, forgive forgive me my transgressions !' The elders strove to hush his cries, and replied that ' all forbearance is at an end.' His ardent vociferations now degenerated into inarticulate yells of horror and demoniacal despair. He rushed from the group which surrounded him, he glided like one unconscious of the presence of others from one extremity of the hall to another, he smote with clenched fists the walls of the apartment, and reeled at last in convul- sive agony, uttering the deep, hollow groan of inexorable expiation. In this situation he was hurried for the last time from the sanctuary which he had so often profaned, and from the presence of those moistened eyes and commiserative looks which he never would again behold. The con- fession of his blasphemous profanity he made at the trustees' office prior to his leaving the society, which occurred the subsequent morning." At another time such scenes as the following are described : " Shrieks of some one, apparently in great distress, first announced a phenomenon, which caused the excitement. The screeching proceeded from a girl of but thirteen years of age, who had previously among the Shakers been a clairvoyant, and who has since been a powerful medium for spiritual manifestation elsewhere. She soon fell upon the floor, utter- ing awful cries, similar to those we had often heard emanating from in- struments groaning under the pressure of some hidden abomination in the assembly. She plucked out entire handfuls of her hair, and wailed and shrieked like one subjected to all the conceived agonies of hell. The ministry and elders remarked that they believed that something was wrong ; something extremely heinous was covered from God's witnesses somewhere in the assembly. All were exhorted to search themselves, and see if they had nothing about them that God disowns. The meeting was soon dismissed, but the medium continued in her abnormal and deplora- ble condition. Near the middle of the succeeding night we were all The SJiakers. 241 awakened by the ringing of the alarm, and summoned quickly to re- pair to the girls' apartments. We obeyed. The same medium lay upon a bed, uttering in the name of an apostate from the Shaker faith, and who was still living in New England, tremendous imprecations against himself, warning all to beware of what use they make of their privilege in Zion, telling us of his awful torments in hell, how his flesh (or the sub- stance of his spiritual body) was all to strings and ringlets torn, how he was roasted in flames of brimstone and tar, and, finally, that all these ca- lamities were caused by his doleful corruptions and pollutions while a member, and professedly a brother to us. This, it was supposed by many, was by true revelation the anticipation of the future state of this victim of apostasy and sin. Two or three more girls were soon taken in the same manner, and became uncontrollable. They were all instruments for reprobated spirits, and breathed nothing but hatred and blasphemy to God. They railed, they cursed, they swore, they heaped the vilest epithets upon the heads of the leaders and most faithful of the members, they pulled each other's and their own hair, threw knives, forks, and the most danger- ous of missiles. When the instruments were rational, the elders entreated them to keep off such vile spirits. They would weep in anguish, and reply that, unless they spoke and acted for the spirits, they would choke them to death. They would then suddenly swoon away, and in strug- gling to resist them would choke and gasp, until they had the appear- ance of a victim strangled by a rope tightly drawn around her neck. If they would then speak, the strangulation would cease. In the mean time two females of adult age, and two male youths, were seized in the same manner. Unless confined, they would elope, and appear to all intents the victims of insanity. One of the young women eloped, fled to a lake which was covered with ice, was pursued by some of the ox teamsters, and carried back to the infirmary. Two men could with difficulty hold a woman or a child when thus influenced. To prevent mischief and elopement, we were obliged to envelop their bodies and their arms tightly in sheets, and thus sew them up and confine them until the spell was over. Such delirium generally lasted but a few hours. It would seize them at any time and at any place. " The phenomena to which we allude was the source of much facetious pleasantry with the young brethren. One of the infernal spirits had one evening declared that i before morning they would have the deacon and Lupier.' 'Deacon' was an epithet applied to myself, as a token of fa- miliarity. The tidings of the declaration of this infernal agent were soon 242 Communistic Societies of the United States. conveyed to me. It happened that my companion of the dormitory, a middle-aged man, had that evening gone to watch with the mediums, and I was left alone. I replied to my companions, who interrogated and sarcastically congratulated me on my prospects for the night, that ' if the corporeal influence of incarnate devils could be kept from the room, I would combat without aid all other influences and answer for my own safety." I accordingly locked myself into my room, and enjoyed, unmo- lested for the night, except by occasional raps upon the door by my pass- ing comrades, some of whom were up all night by reason of the excite- ment, a sound and pleasant sleep. One or two instances occurred in which a superhuman agency was indubitably obvious. One of the ab- normal males lay in a building at some distance from the infirmary where the female instruments were confined. Suddenly one of the last, who had been for some time in a quiescent state and rational, was seized by one of these paroxysms, which were always accompanied by dreadful contortions and sudden twitchings of the body, and, speaking for the spirit, said that ' Old S had bound him with a surcingle, and he had left E ,' one of the male instruments. The physician instantly re- paired to the building where E lay, and he was perfectly rational. S , the watch, informed the physician that E raved so violently a moment before that he bound his arms to his body by passing a surcingle around both, and he quickly became himself. At another time one of the females took a handful of living coals in her bare hands, and thus carried them about the room without even injuring the cuticle of the skin. " The phenomena and excitement soon dwindled away by the tre- mendous opposition directed against them ; and when afterward spoken about, were designated by the sinister phrase ' The Devil's Visitation.' "Other ministrations and gifts, original and perfectly illustrative of the inspirations of crude and uncivilized spirits, continued as usual to ex- ist. They were truly ludicrous. I have seen female instruments in un- couth habits, and in imitation of squaws, and a few males acting as sun- eps, glide in groups on a stiffly frozen snow, shouting, dancing, yelling, and whooping, and others acting precisely the peculiar traits of a Negro, an Arab, a Chinese, an Italian, or even the polite gayety of a Frenchman. And, what is still more astounding, speaking the vernacular clialects of each race. Their confabulation, aided by inspired interpreters, was truly amusing and interesting. On one occasion I saw a sister, inspired by a squaw, her head mounted with an old hat of felt, cocked, jammed, and The Shakers. 243 indented in no geometrical form, rush to a pan containing a collection of the amputated legs of hens, seize a handful of the raw delicacy, and de- vour them with as much alacrity as a Yankee woman would an omelet or a doughnut." In general, Elkins relates : " I have myself seen males, but more frequently females, in a superin- duced condition, apparently unconscious of earthly things, and declaring in the name of departed spirits important and convincing revelations. Speaking in foreign tongues and prophesying were the most common gifts. In February, 1848, a medium became abstracted from earthly scenes, and announced the presence of an angel of God. The angel de- clared, through her, that he was sent on a mission to France, and that before many days we should hear of his doings in that nation. This an- nouncement was in presence of the whole family, and it was then and there noted down. France at that time was, for aught we knew, resting upon a permanent political basis ; or as nearly in that condition as she ever was. In a few days the revolution of the 24th of February precipi- tated the monarchy into an interregnum, which philanthropists hoped was bottomless. " Turning rapidly upon the toes, bowing, bending, twisting, and reel- ing like one a victim to the fumes of intoxication ; swooning and lying prostrate with limbs stiff and unyielding, like a corpse, and to all out- ward appearance the vital spark extinct ; then suddenly resuscitating the mind still abstracted from scenes below and rising to join in the jubilancy of the dance, in company with and in imitation of the angels around the throne of God, singing extemporaneous anthems and songs, or those learned direct of seraphs in the regions of bliss such are the many exercises, effusions of devotion, and supernatural illapses of which I was for fifteen years at intervals an eye and ear witness. Also the ex- posure of sin, designating in some cases the transgressor, the act, and the place of perpetration, of which the accused was most generally found culpable. " More than a score of new dances were performed, with an attitude of grace and with the precision of a machine, by about twenty female clair- voyants. They said they learned them of seraphs before the throne of God. " I was doubtful of their assertions, for such things were to me novel. I however determined not to overstep the bounds of prudence, and de- clare the work an illusion, for fear that I might blaspheme a higher pow- 244 Communistic Societies of the United States. er. I communicated my doubts to a few of my companions, and one, less cautious than myself, immediately broke forth in imprecations against it. I never was secretly opposed, but a turbulent disposition or a love for dramatic scenes, prompted by the hope of detecting either the validity or deception of such phenomena, impelled me to wink opposition to my reckless companion. In the devotional exercises, which served as a pre- liminary to the entrance of the mind into a superior condition, such as whirling, twisting, and reeling, we all took a part. Henry, for that was the name of the youth who was so zealous in his aspersions, united awk- wardly and derisively in these exercises. Amid so many arms, legs, and bodies, revolving, oscillating, staggering, and tripping, it is not remarka- ble that a few should be thrown prostrate (not violently, however) upon the floor. One evening, in a boy's meeting at a time of great excitement, when the spirits of some of our companions were reported to be in spir- itual spheres, and other departed spirits were careering their mortal la- dies in the graceful undulations of a celestial dance, Henry and many others, among whom I was seen, were whirling, staggering, and rolling, striving in vain, by all the humility we could assume, to be also admitted into the regions of spiritual recognition, Henry suddenly tripped and fell. One of his visionary companions instantly sprang, passed his hands with great rapidity over him, as though binding him with invisible cords, and then returned to his graceful employment. The clairvoyant's eyes were closed, as indeed were the eyes of all while in that condition. In vain Henry struggled to rise, to turn, or hardly to move. He was fettered, bound fast by invisible manacles. The brethren were summoned to wit- ness the sight. In the space of perhaps half an hour the clairvoyant re- turned, loosened his fetters, and he arose mortified and confounded. Singularly disposed, he ever after treated these gifts with virulent ridi- cule, and never was heard to utter any serious remarks concerning this transaction. The clairvoyant after this event was the butt of his satire and jests, and received them without revenge so long as Henry remained, which was about .five years a reckless, abandoned, evil-minded person, eventually severed by that same power which he strove incessantly to ridicule. All these strange operations and gifts are attributed by the Shakers to the influence of superhuman power like that manifested in the Primitive Church." Some of the hymns which date from this period have frag- ments of the "strange tongues" in which the "mediums" The Shakers. 245 spoke. Here is one, dated at New Lebanon, and printed in the collection called " Millennial Hymns :" "HEAVENLY GUIDE. u Lo all vo, hark ye, dear children, and listen to me, For I am that holy Se lone' se ka' ra an ve'; My work upon earth is holy, holy and pure, That work which will ever, forever endure. "Yea, my heavenly Father hath se-ve'-ned to you That power which is holy and that faith which is true ; O then, my beloved, why will ye delay ? O la ho' le en se' ren, now while it is day. "The holy angels in heaven their trumpets do raise, And with saints upon earth sound endless praise. Blessed, most blessed, your day, and holy your call, O ven se' ne ven se' ne, yea every soul. "All holy se ka' ren are the free blessings given And bestowed on you from the fountain of heaven; Yea, guardian spirits from the holy Selan', Bring you heavenly love, vi' ne see', Lin' se van'. "Press ye on, my dear children, the holy Van' la hoo' Is your heavenly guide, and will safely bear you through All volen tribulation you meet here below; Then be humble, dear children, be faithful and true. "For God, your holy, holy HEAVENLY FATHER, will never, Never forsake his holy house of Israel on e.a.r.t.h., But the blessings of heaven will continue to flow On you, my beloved Ar' se le be low. (n-o-t-e-8.)" The most curious relics of those days are two considerable volumes, which have since fallen into discredit among the Shakers themselves, but were at the time of their issue re- garded as highly important. One of these is entitled " A Holy, Sacred, and Divine Roll and Book, from the Lord God of Heaven to the Inhabitants of Earth : Revealed in the Unit- ed Society at New Lebanon, County of Columbia, State of 246 Communistic Societies of the United States. New York, United States of America. Received by the Church of this Communion, and published in union with the same." It is dated Canterbury, IS". H., 1843 ; contains 405 pages ; and is in two parts. The first part contains the revela- tion proper ; the second, various " testimonies " to its accuracy and divine origin. Of these evidences, some purport to be by the prophets Elisha, Ezekiel, Malachi, Isaiah, and others ; from Noah, St. Peter, St. John ; by " Holy and Eternal Mother Wis- dom," and a " holy and mighty angel of God," whose name was Ma'ne Me- rah VaJ&'na Si'na Jah ; but the greater num- ber are by living Shakers. As a part of the revelation, the Shakers were commanded to print, " in their own society, five hundred copies " of this book, to be " given to the children of men," and " it is my requirement that they be printed before the 22d of next September. To be bound in yellow paper, with red backs ; edges yellow also." Moreover, missionary so- cieties were commanded to translate the book into foreign tongues, and I have heard that a copy was sent to every ruler or government which could be reached by mail. The body of the book is a mixture of Scripture texts and " revelations of spirits ;" and the absurdity of it appears to have struck even the so-called "holy angel" who was sup- posed to have superintended the writing, as appears from the following passage : " We are four of the holy and mighty angels of God, sent from before his throne, to pass and repass through the four quarters of the earth ; and many are the holy angels that bear us company. And thus we shall visit the earth in partial silence, as this Roll goes forth, until we have marked the door-posts of all, as our God hath commanded, who shall humble themselves and repent at his word, by proclaiming a solemn fast, and cease from their awful crimes of wickedness, and turn to him in righteousness. " My name, says the angel whose quarter is eastward, and stands as first, is HOLY ASSAN' DE LA JAH'. The second, whose part is sec- ond, and quarter westward, is MI'CHAEL VAN' CE VA' NB. The The Shakers. 247 third, whose part is third, and quarter northward, is GA' BRY VEN' DO VAS' TER REEN'. The fourth, whose part is fourth, and quarter southward, is VEN DEN' DE PA' ROL JEW LE JAH'. " These are our names in our own tongues, and we are sent on earth to prepare the way for the Most High ; and the whole human family will be convinced of this before the final event of our mission shall arrive. " And although we know that the words of this book will be consid- ered by many as being produced in the wildest of enthusiasm, madness, blasphemy, and fanaticism, and by others as solemn, sacred, and awful truths ; yet do we declare unto all flesh that this Roll and Book contains the word of the God of heaven, your Almighty Creator, sent forth direct from his eternal throne now in this your day. " And by this word shall every soul on earth be judged, in mercy or in judgment, whether they believe or disbelieve. We are not sent forth by our God to argue with mortals, but to declare his word and his work. And we furthermore declare unto all the inhabitants of earth that they have no time to lose in preparing for their God. " If there be any who can not understand to their souls' satisfaction (though the requirements are plain), yet they may apply wheresoever they believe they can be correctly informed." As a sample of the book, here is an account by one of the mediums of her "interview with a holy angel :" " It was in the evening of the twenty-second of January, eighteen hun- dred and forty-two, while I was busily employed putting all things in readiness for the close of the week, that I distinctly heard my name called very loudly, and with much earnestness. I could not go so well at that moment, and I answered, ' I will come soon,' for I supposed it to be some one in the adjoining room that wished to see me ; but the word was repeated three times, and I hastened to the place from whence the sound seemed to come, but there was no one present. "I soon saw in the middle of the room four very large and bright lights, or balls of fire, as they appeared to be ; they moved slowly each way, and after a little time joined together in one exceedingly large light, or pillar of fire. At this moment I heard a loud voice, which uttered many words with such mighty force that I feared to stay in the room, and attempted to go out ; but found that I had not power to move my feet, "For some time I could not understand one word that was sounded 248 Communistic Societies of the United States. forth ; but the first that I did understand were as follows : * Hark ! hark ! hearken, O thou child of mortality, unto the word that is and shall be sounded aloud in thine ears, again and again, even until it is obeyed. " ' And lo, I say a time, and a time, and a half-time shall not pass by before my voice shall be heard, and my word sounded forth to the na- tions abroad. But in the Zion of my likeness and true righteousness shall it be received first, and from thence shall it go forth ; for thus and thus hath the God of heaven and earth declared and purposed that it should be. " ' Then why will you, O why will you, yet fear to obey ? What would you that your God would do in your presence, that you might fear his power rather than that of mortal man ?' " From this moment I was not sensible where I was ; and after a little time of silence the body of light, or pillar of fire, dispersed, and I saw a mighty angel coming from the east, and I heard these words : " ' Woe, woe, and many woes shall be upon the mortal that shall see and will not stop to behold.' " And so on, for a good many pages. The second work is called " The Divine Boole, of Holy and Eternal Wisdom, revealing the Word of God, out of whose mouth goeth a sharp Sword. Written by Paulina Bates, at Watervliet, 1ST. Y., United States of America ; arranged and prepared for the Press at New Lebanon, K Y. Published by the United Society called Shakers. Printed at Canterbury, N". H., 1849." This book contains 718 pages ; and pretends also to be a series of revelations by angels and deceased persons of note. In the Preface by the editors its origin is thus described : " During a number of years past many remarkable displays of divine power and heavenly gifts have been manifested among the children of Zion in all the branches of the United Society of Believers in the second appearing of Christ. Much increasing light has been revealed on many subjects which have heretofore remained as mysteries ; and many prophet- ic revelations have been brought forth, from time to time, through mes- sengers chosen and inspired by heavenly power and wisdom. " Among these it has pleased God to select a female of the United So- ciety at Wisdom's Valley (Watervliet), and indue her with the heavenly light of revelation as an instrument of divine Wisdom, to write by divine The Shakers. 249 inspiration those solemn warnings, prophetic revelations, and heavenly instructions which will be found extensively diffused through the sacred pages of this book. " These were written in a series of communications at various times during the year 1841, '42, '43, and '44, with few exceptions, which will be seen by their several dates. But the inspired writer had no knowledge that they were designed by the Divine Spirit to be published to the world until a large portion of the work was written ; therefore, whenever she was called upon by the angel of God, she wrote whatever the angel dicta- ted at the time, without any reference to the connective order and regular arrangement of a book ; for she was not directed so to do, for reasons which were afterwards revealed to her and other witnesses then unknown to her. " Hence it was made known to be the design of the Divine Spirit that these communications should be transmitted to the Holy Mount (New Lebanon), there to be prepared for publication by agents appointed for that purpose, in union with the leading authority of the Church. Ac- cordingly they were conveyed to New Lebanon, and the subscribers were appointed as editors, to examine and arrange them in regular and con- venient order for the press, and divine instructions were given for that purpose. " Having therefore faithfully examined the manuscripts containing these communications, we have compiled them into one book, in two general divisions or volumes, agreeably to the instructions given. We have also, for convenient arrangement, divided the whole into seven parts, accord- ing to the relative connection which appeared in the different subjects. And for the convenience of the reader we have divided each part into chapters, prefixing an appropriate title to each. " Some passages and annotations have been added by The Angel of Prophetic Light, who by inspiration has frequently assisted in the prepa- ration and arrangement of the work, for the purpose of illustrating and confirming some of the original subjects by further explanations. A few notes have also been added by the editors for the information of the reader. These are all distinguished in their proper places from the origi- nal matter. " But although it was found necessary to transcribe the whole, in order to prepare it properly and intelligibly for the press, yet we have used great care to preserve the sense of the original in its purity ; and we can testify that the substance and spirit of the work have been conscientiously preserved in full throughout the whole. s 250 Communistic Societies of the United States. " This work is called ' Holy Wisdom's Book,' because Holy and Eternal "Wisdom is the Mother, or Bearing Spirit, of all the works of God ; and because it was especially revealed through the line of the female, being WISDOM'S Likeness ; and she lays special claim to this work, and places her seal upon it. " An Appendix is added, containing the testimonies of various divine and heavenly witnesses to the sacred truth and reality of the declarations and revelations contained in the work. The most of these were given before the inspired writers who received them had any earthly knowledge concerning the book or its contents. A testimony is also affixed to the work by the elders of the family in which the inspired writer resides, bearing witness to the honesty and uprightness of her character, and her faithfulness in the work of God." The main object of the book is to warn sinners of all kinds from the "wrath to come." Especial woes, by the way, are denounced against slaveholders and slavetraders : "Whether they be clothed in tenements of clay, or whether they be stripped of their earthly tabernacles, the same hand of Justice shall meet them whithersoever they flee." It must be remem- bered to the honor of the Shakers that they have always and every where consistently opposed human slavery. The "Divine Book of Holy Wisdom" contains the "testi- monies " of the " first man, Adam," of the " first woman, Eve," of Noah and all the patriarchs, and of a great many other ancient worthies; but, alas! what they have to say is not new, and of no interest to the unregenerate reader. These two volumes are not now, as formerly, held in honor by the Shakers. One of their elders declared to me that I ought never to have seen them, and that their best use was to burn them. But I found them on the table of the visitors' room in one or two of the Western societies, and I suppose they are still believed in by some of the people. At this day most (but not all) of the Shaker people are sin- cere believers in what is commonly called Spiritualism. At a Shaker funeral I have heard what purported to be a message The Shakers. 251 from the spirit whose body was lying in the coffin in the ad- joining hall. In one of the societies it is believed that a mag- nificent spiritual city, densely inhabited, and filled with pal- aces and fine residences, lies upon their domain, and at but a little distance from the terrestrial buildings of the Church fam- ily ; and frequent communications come from this spirit city to their neighbors. " When I was a little girl, I desired very much to have a hymn sent through me to the family from the spirit-land ; and after waiting and wishing for a long time, one day when I was little expecting it, as I was walking about, a hymn came to me thus, to my inexpressible delight " so said a Shaker eldress to me in all seriousness. " We have frequently been visited by a tribe of Indians (spirits of Indians), who used to live in this country, and whose spirits still come back here occasionally," said another Shaker sister to me. On the other hand, when I asked one of the elders how far he believed that their hymns are inspired, he asked me whether it did not happen that I wrote with greater facility at one time than at another; and when I replied in the affirmative, he said, " In that case I should say you were inspired when your words come readily, and to that degree I suppose our hymn- writers are inspired. They have thought about the sub- ject, and the words at last come to them." I think I have before said that the Shakers do not attempt to suppress discussion of the relations of the sexes ; they do not pretend that their celibate life is without hardships or difficul- ties ; but they boldly assert that they have chosen the better life, and defend their position with not a little skill against all attacks. A good many years ago Miss Charlotte Cushman, after a visit to Watervliet, wrote the following lines, which were published in the Knickerbocker Magazine : " Mysterious worshipers ! Are you indeed the things you seem to be, Of earth yet of its iron influence free 252 Communistic Societies of the United States. From all that stirs Our being's pulse, and gives to fleeting life What well the Hun has termed "the rapture of the strife?" " Are the gay visions gone, Those day-dreams of the mind, by fate there flung, And the fair hopes to which the soul once clung, And battled on; Have ye outlived them? Ail that must have sprung, And quickened into life, when ye were young ? "Does memory never roam To ties that, grown with years, ye idly sever, To the old haunts that ye have left forever Your early homes? Your ancient creed, once faith's sustaining lever, The loved who erst prayed with you now may never? "Has not ambition's paean Some power within your hearts to wake anew To deeds of higher emprise worthier you, Ye monkish men, Than may be reaped from fields? Do ye not rue The drone-like course of life ye now pursue ? "The camp the council all That woos the soldier to the field of fame That gives the sage his meed the bard his name And coronal Bidding a people's voice their praise proclaim ; Can ye forego the strife, nor own your shame ? "Have ye forgot your youth, When expectation soared on pinions high, And hope shone out on boyhood's cloudless sky, Seeming all truth When all looked fair to fancy's ardent eye, And pleasure wore an air of sorcery ? " You, too ! What early blight Has withered your fond hopes, that ye thus stand, A group of sisters, 'mong this monkish band ? The Shakers. 253 Ye creatures bright! Ras sorrow scored your brows with demon hand, Or o'er your hopes passed treachery's burning brand? "Ye would have graced right well The bridal scene, the banquet, or the bowers Where mirth and revelry usurp the hours Where, like a spell, Beauty is sovereign where man owns its powers, And woman's tread is o'er a path of flowers. "Yet seem ye not as those Within whose bosoms memories vigils keep: Beneath your drooping lids no passions sleep; And your pale brows Bear not the tracery of emotion deep Ye seem too cold and passionless to weep !" A " Shaker Girl," in one of the Kentucky societies, publish- ed soon afterward the following " Answer to Charlotte Gush- man," which is certainly not without spirit : " We are, indeed, the things we seem to be, Of earth, and from its iron influence free : For we are they, or halt, or lame, or dumb, 4 On whom the ends of this vain world are come.' We have outlived those day-dreams of the mind Those flattering phantoms which so many bind; All man-made creeds (your 'faith's sustaining lever') We have forsaken, and have left forever ! To plainly tell the truth, we do not rue The sober, godly course that we pursue ; But 'tis not we who live the dronish lives, But those who have their husbands or their wives ! But if by drones you mean they're lazy men, Then, Charlotte Cushman, take it back again ; For one, with half an eye, or half a mind, Can there see industry and wealth combined. If camps and councils soldiers' ' fields of fame 1 Or yet a people's praise or people's blame, 254 Communistic Societies of the United States. Is all that gives the sage or bard his name, We can ' forego the strife, nor own our shame.' What great temptations you hold up to view For men of sense or reason to pursue ! The praise of mortals ! what can it avail, When all their boasted language has to fail ? And ' sorrow hath not scored with demon hand, 1 Nor ' o'er our hopes pass'd treachery's burning brand ;' But where the sorrows and the treachery are, I think may easily be made appear. In * bridal scenes,' in ' banquets and in bowers !' 'Mid revelry and variegated flowers, Is where your mother Eve first felt their powers. The ' bridal scenes,' you say, ' we'd grace right well ! ? 'Lang syne' there our first parents blindly fell ! The bridal scene! Is this your end and aim? And can you this pursue, ' nor own your shame ?' If so weak, pithy, superficial thing Drink, silent drink the sick hymeneal spring. ' The bridal scene ! the banquet or the bowers, Or woman's [bed of thorns, or] path of flowers,' Can't all persuade our souls to turn aside To live in filthy lust or cruel pride. Alas ! your path of flowers will disappear ; E'en now a thousand thorns are pointed near ; Ah ! here you find ' base treachery's burning brand,' And sorrows score the heart, nor spare the hand ; But here * Beauty's sovereign ' so say you A thing that in one hour may lose its hue It lies upon the surface of the skin Aye, Beauty's self was never worth a pin ; But still it suits the superficial mind The slight observer of the human kind ; The airy, fleety, vain, and hollow thing, That only feeds on wily flattering. ' Man owns its powers ?' And what will not man own To gain his end to captivate dethrone ? The truth is this, whatever he may feign, You'll find your greatest loss his greatest gain ; The Shakers. 255 For like the bee, he will improve the hour, And all day long he'll hunt from flower to flower, And when he sips the sweetness all away, For aught he cares, the flowers may all decay. But here, each other's virtues we partake, Where men and women all their ills forsake : True virtue spreads her bright angelic wing, While saints and seraphs praise the Almighty King. And when the matter's rightly understood, You'll find we labor for each other's good ; This, Charlotte Cushman, truly is our aim Can you forego this strife, ' nor own your shame ?' Now if you would receive a modest hint, You'd surely keep your name at least from print ; Nor have it hoisted, handled round and round, And echoed o'er the earth from mound to mound, As the great advocate of (Oh, the name !). Now can you think of this, ' nor own your shame ?' But, Charlotte, learn to take a deeper view Of what your neighbors say or neighbors do ; And when some flattering knaves around you tread, Just think of what a SHAKER GIRL has said." The Shaker and Shaker ess, a monthly journal, edited by Elder Frederick Evans and Eldress Antoinette Doolittle, is the organ of the society ; and in its pages their views are set forth with much shrewdness and ability. It is not so generally in- teresting a journal as the Oneida Circular, the organ of the Perfectionists, because the Shakers concern themselves almost exclusively with religious matters, and give in their paper but few details of their daily and practical life. 256 Communistic Societies of the United States. 2 & S a ?s -T3 a *"| g !l -fl o I 1 05 S a si g 1 1 o || EH -g t- o> j Si '" It! g < 2 - il 8 I u of II J S 2 2| t3 3 as $ il ^ O O *O O 1 O O O *O O^ "*& SO KJ O jOOOOCi O OOOUl-^- rH'cO^-li-i^CO l| w] rl i-ir-l