inculcate a celibate life; "honesty and integrity in all words and
dealings;" "humanity and kindness to friend and foe;" diligence in
business; prudence, temperance, economy, frugality, "but not parsimony;"
"to keep clear of debt;" "suitable education of children;" a "united
interest in all things," which means community of goods; suitable
employment for all; and a provision for all in sickness, infirmity,
and old age.
III.--THE ORDER OF LIFE AMONG THE SHAKERS.
A Shaker Society consists of two classes or orders: the Novitiate and
the Church Order. There is a general similarity in the life of these
two; but to the Novitiate families are sent all applicants for admission
to the community or Church, and here they are trained; and the elders of
these families also receive inquiring strangers, and stand in somewhat
nearer relations with the outer world than the Church families.
To the Church family or commune belong those who have determined to
seclude themselves more entirely from contact with the outer world; and
who aspire to live the highest spiritual life. Except so far as
necessary business obliges deacons and care-takers to deal with the
world, the members of the Church Order aim to live apart; and they do
not receive or entertain strangers or applicants for membership, but
confine their intercourse to members of other societies.
Formerly there was a considerable membership living in the world,
maintaining the family relation so far as to educate children and
transact business, but conforming to the Shaker rule of celibacy. This
was allowed because of the difficulty of disposing of property, closing
up business affairs, and perhaps on account of the unwillingness of
husband or wife to follow the other partner into the Shaker family.
There are still such members, but they are fewer in number than
formerly. The Novitiate elders and elderesses keep some oversight, by
correspondence and by personal visits, over such outside members.
The Shaker family, or commune, usually consists of from thirty to eighty
or ninety persons, men and women, with such children as may have been
apprenticed to the society. These live together in one large house,
divided as regards its upper stories into rooms capable of accommodating
from four to eight persons. Each room contains as many simple cot-beds
as it has occupants, the necessary washing utensils, a small
looking-glass, a stove for the winter, a table for writing, and a
considerable number of chairs, which, when not in use, are suspended
from pegs along the wall. A wide hall separates the dormitories of the
men from those of the women. Strips of home-made carpet, usually of very
quiet colors, are laid upon the floors, but never tacked down.
On the first floor are the kitchen, pantry, store-rooms, and the common
dining-hall; and in a Novitiate family there is also a small separate
room, where strangers--visitors--eat, apart from the family.
Ranged around the family house or dwelling are buildings for the various
pursuits of the society: the sisters' shop, where tailoring,
basket-making, and other female industries are carried on; the brothers'
shop, where broom-making, carpentry, and other men's pursuits are
followed; the laundry, the stables, the fruit-house, wood-house, and
often machine shops, saw-mills, etc.
If you are permitted to examine these shops and the dwelling of the
family, you will notice that the most scrupulous cleanliness is every
where practiced; if there is a stove in the room, a small broom and
dust-pan hang near it, and a wood-box stands by it; scrapers and mats at
the door invite you to make clean your shoes; and if the roads are muddy
or snowy, a broom hung up outside the outer door mutely requests you to
brush off all the mud or snow. The strips of carpet are easily lifted,
and the floor beneath is as clean as though it were a table to be eaten
from. The walls are bare of pictures; not only because all ornament is
wrong, but because frames are places where dust will lodge. The bedstead
is a cot, covered with the bedclothing, and easily moved away to allow
of dusting and sweeping. Mats meet you at the outer door and at every
inner door. The floors of the halls and dining-room are polished until
they shine.
[Illustration: SHAKER WOMEN AT WORK.]
Moreover all the walls, in hall and rooms, are lined with rows of wooden
pegs, on which spare chairs, hats, cloaks, bonnets, and shawls are hung;
and you presently perceive that neatness, order, and absolute
cleanliness rule every where.
The government or administration of the Shaker societies is partly
spiritual and partly temporal. "The visible Head of the Church of Christ
on earth is vested in a Ministry, consisting of male and female, not
less than three, and generally four in number, two of each sex. The
first in the Ministry stands as the leading elder of the society. Those
who compose the Ministry are selected from the Church, and appointed by
the last preceding head or leading character; and their authority is
confirmed and established by the spontaneous union of the whole body.
Those of the United Society who are selected and called to the important
work of the Ministry, to lead and direct the Church of Christ, must be
blameless characters, faithful, honest, and upright, clothed with the
spirit of meekness and humility, gifted with wisdom and understanding,
and of great experience in the things of God. As faithful embassadors of
Christ, they are invested with wisdom and authority, by the revelation
of God, to guide, teach, and direct his Church on earth in its spiritual
travel, and to counsel and advise in other matters of importance,
whether spiritual or temporal.
"To the Ministry appertains, therefore, the power to appoint ministers,
elders, and deacons, and with the elders to assign offices of care and
trust to such brethren and sisters as they shall judge to be best
qualified for the several offices to which they may be assigned. Such
appointments, being communicated to the members of the Church concerned,
and having received the mutual approbation of the Church, or the family
concerned, are thereby confirmed and established until altered or
repealed by the same authority." [Footnote: "Summary View," etc.]
"Although the society at New Lebanon is the centre of union to all the
other societies, yet the more immediate duties of the Ministry in this
place extend only to the two societies of New Lebanon and Watervliet.
[Groveland has since been added to this circle.] Other societies are
under the direction of a ministry appointed to preside over them; and in
most instances two or more societies constitute a bishopric, being
united under the superintendence of the same ministry."
Each society has ministers, in the Novitiate family, to instruct and
train neophytes, and to go out into the world to preach when it may be
desirable. Each family has two elders, male and female, to teach,
exhort, and lead the family in spiritual concerns. It has also deacons
and deaconesses, who provide for the support and convenience of the
family, and regulate the various branches of industry in which the
members are employed, and transact business with those without. Under
the deacons are "care-takers," who are the foremen and forewomen in the
different pursuits.
It will be seen that this is a complete and judicious system of
administration. It has worked well for a long time. A notable feature of
the system is that the members do not appoint their rulers, nor are they
consulted openly or directly about such appointments. The Ministry are
self-perpetuating; and they select and appoint all subordinates, being
morally, but it seems not otherwise, responsible to the members.
Finally, "all the members are equally holden, according to their several
abilities, to maintain one united interest, and therefore all labor
_with their hands_, in some useful occupation, for the mutual
comfort and benefit of themselves and each other, and for the general
good of the society or family to which they belong. Ministers, elders,
and deacons, all without exception, are industriously employed in some
_manual_ occupation, except in the time taken up in the necessary
duties of their respective callings." So carefully is this rule observed
that even the supreme heads of the Shaker Church--the four who constitute
the Ministry at Mount Lebanon, Daniel Boler, Giles B. Avery, Ann Taylor,
and Polly Reed--labor at basket-making in the intervals of their travels
and ministrations, and have a separate little "shop" for this purpose
near the church. They live in a house built against the church, and eat
in a separate room in the family of the first order; and, I believe,
generally keep themselves somewhat apart from the people.
The property of each society, no matter of how many families it is
composed, is for convenience held in the name of the trustees, who are
usually members of the Church family, or first order; but each family or
commune keeps its own accounts and transacts its business separately.
The Shaker family rises at half-past four in the summer, and five
o'clock in the winter; breakfasts at six or half-past six; dines at
twelve; sups at six; and by nine or half-past all are in bed and the
lights are out.
They eat in a general hall. The tables have no cloth, or rather are
covered with oil-cloth; the men eat at one table, women at another, and
children at a third; and the meal is eaten in silence, no conversation
being held at table. When all are assembled for a meal they kneel in
silence for a moment; and this is repeated on rising from the table, and
on rising in the morning and before going to bed.
When they get up in the morning, each person takes two chairs, and,
setting them back to back, takes off the bed clothing, piece by piece,
and folding each neatly once, lays it across the backs of the chairs,
the pillows being first laid on the seats of the chairs. In the men's
rooms the slops are also carried out of the house by one of them; and
the room is then left to the women, who sweep, make the beds, and put
every thing to rights. All this is done before breakfast; and by
breakfast time what New-Englanders call "chores" are all finished, and
the day's work in the shops or in the fields may begin.
Each brother is assigned to a sister, who takes care of his clothing,
mends when it is needed, looks after his washing, tells him when he
requires a new garment, reproves him if he is not orderly, and keeps a
general sisterly oversight over his habits and temporal needs.
In cooking, and the general labor of the dining-room and kitchen, the
sisters take turns; a certain number, sufficient to make the work light,
serving a month at a time. The younger sisters do the washing and
ironing; and the clothes which are washed on Monday are not ironed till
the following week.
[Illustration: SHAKER COSTUMES.]
Their diet is simple but sufficient. Pork is never eaten, and only a
part of the Shaker people eat any meat at all. Many use no food produced
by animals, denying themselves even milk, butter, and eggs. At Mount
Lebanon, and in some of the other societies, two tables are set, one
with, the other without meat. They consume much fruit, eating it at
every meal; and the Shakers have always fine and extensive vegetable
gardens and orchards.
After breakfast every body goes to work; and the "caretakers," who are
subordinate to the deacons, and are foremen in fact, take their
followers to their proper employments. When, as in harvest, an extra
number of hands is needed at any labor, it is of course easy to divert
at once a sufficient force to the place. The women do not labor in the
fields, except in such light work as picking berries. Shakers do not
toil severely.
They are not in haste to be rich; and they have found that for their
support, economically as they live, it is not necessary to make labor
painful. Many hands make light work; and where all are interested alike,
they hold that labor may be made and is made a pleasure.
Their evenings are well filled with such diversions as they regard
wholesome. Instrumental music they do not generally allow themselves,
but they sing well; and much time is spent in learning new hymns and
tunes, which they profess to receive constantly from the spirit world.
Some sort of meeting of the family is held every evening. At Mount
Lebanon, for instance, on Monday evening there is a general meeting in
the dining-hall, where selected articles from the newspapers are read,
crimes and accidents being omitted as unprofitable; and the selections
consisting largely of scientific news, speeches on public affairs, and
the general news of the world. They prefer such matter as conveys
information of the important political and social movements of the day;
and the elder usually makes the extracts. At this meeting, too, letters
from other societies are read. On Tuesday evening they meet in the
assembly hall for singing, marching, etc. Wednesday night is devoted to
a union meeting for conversation. Thursday night is a "laboring
meeting," which means the regular religious service, where they "labor
to get good." Friday is devoted to new songs and hymns; and Saturday
evening to worship. On Sunday evening, finally, they visit at each
other's rooms, three or four sisters visiting the brethren in each room,
by appointment, and engaging in singing and in conversation upon general
subjects.
In their religious services there is little or no audible prayer; they
say that God does not need spoken words, and that the mental aspiration
is sufficient. Their aim too, as they say, is to "walk with God," as
with a friend; and mental prayer may be a large part of their lives
without interruption to usual avocations. They do not regularly read the
Bible.
The Sunday service is held either in the "meeting-house," when two or
three families, all composing the society, join together; or in the
large assembly hall which is found in every family house. In the
meeting-house there are generally benches, on which the people sit until
all are assembled. In the assembly hall there are only seats ranged
along the walls; and the members of the family, as they enter, take
their accustomed places, standing, in the ranks which are formed for
worship. The men face the women, the older men and women in the front,
the elders standing at the head of the first rank. A somewhat broad
space or gangway is left between the two front ranks. After the singing
of a hymn, the elder usually makes a brief address upon holiness of
living and consecration to God; he is followed by the eldress; and
thereupon the ranks are broken, and a dozen of the brethren and sisters,
forming a separate square on the floor, begin a lively hymn tune, in
which all the rest join, marching around the room to a quick step, the
women following the men, and all often clapping their hands.
The exercises are varied by reforming the ranks; by speaking from men
and women; by singing; and by dancing as they march, "as David danced
before the Lord"--the dance being a kind of shuffle. Occasionally one of
the members, more deeply moved than the rest, or perhaps in some
tribulation of soul, asks the prayers of the others; or one comes to the
front, and, bowing before the elder and eldress, begins to whirl, a
singular exercise which is sometimes continued for a considerable time,
and is a remarkable performance. Then some brother or sister is
impressed to deliver a message of comfort or warning from the
spirit-land; or some spirit asks the prayers of the assembly: on such
occasions the elder asks all to kneel for a few moments in silent
prayer.
In their marching and dancing they hold their hands before them, and
make a motion as of gathering something to themselves: this is called
gathering a blessing. In like manner, when any brother or sister asks
for their prayers and sympathy, they, reversing their hands, push toward
him that which he asks.
[Illustration: SHAKER WORSHIP--THE DANCE]
All the movements are performed with much precision and in exact order;
their tunes are usually in quick time, and the singers keep time
admirably. The words of the elder guide the meeting; and at his bidding
all disperse in a somewhat summary manner. It is, I believe, an object
with them to vary the order of their meetings, and thus give life to
them.
New members are admitted with great caution. Usually a person who is
moved to become a Shaker has made a visit to the Novitiate family of
some society, remaining long enough to satisfy himself that membership
would be agreeable to him. During this preliminary visit he lives
separately from the family, but is admitted to their religious meetings,
and is fully informed of the doctrines, practices, and requirements of
the Shaker people. If then he still desires admission, he is expected to
set his affairs in order, so that he shall not leave any unfulfilled
obligations behind him in the world. If he has debts, they must be paid;
if he has a wife, she must freely give her consent to the husband
leaving her; or if it is a woman, her husband must consent. If there are
children, they must be provided for, and placed so as not to suffer
neglect, either within the society, or with other and proper persons.
It is not necessary that applicants for admission shall possess
property. The only question the society asks and seeks to be satisfied
upon is, "Are you sick of sin, and do you want salvation from it?" A
candidate for admission is usually taken on trial for a year at least,
in order that the society may be satisfied of his fitness; of course he
may leave at any time.
The first and chief requirement, on admission, is that the neophyte
shall make a complete and open confession of the sins of his whole past
life to two elders of his or her own sex; and the completeness of this
confession is rigidly demanded. Mother Ann's practice on this point I
have quoted elsewhere. As this is one of the most prominent
peculiarities of the Shaker Society, it may be interesting to quote here
some passages from their books describing the detail on which they
insist. Elder George Albert Lomas writes:
"Any one seeking admission as a member is required, ere we can give any
encouragement at all, to settle all debts and contracts to the
satisfaction of creditors, and then our rule is If candid seekers after
salvation come to us, we neither accept nor reject them; we _admit_
them, leaving the Spirit of Goodness to decide as to their sincerity, to
bless their efforts, if such, or to make them very dissatisfied if
hypocritical. After becoming thoroughly acquainted with our principles,
we ask individuals to give evidence of their sincerity, if really sick
of sin, by an honest confession of every improper transaction or sin
that lies within the reach of their memory. This confession of sin to
elders of their own sex, appointed for the purpose, _we_ believe to
be the door of hope to the soul, the Christian valley of Achor, and one
which every sin-sick soul seizes with avidity, as being far more
comforting than embarrassing. And this opportunity remains a permanent
institution with us--to confess, retract our wrongs as memory may recall
them; and aids individuals in so thoroughly repenting of past sins that
they are enabled to leave them in the rear, while they pass on to
greater salvations. It often takes years for individuals to complete
this work of _thorough confession and repentance_; but upon this,
more than upon aught else, depends their success as permanent and happy
members. Those who choose to use deceit, often do so, but _never_
make reliable members: always uncomfortable while they remain; and very
few do or can remain, unless they fulfill this important demand of
'_opening the mind.'_ If _we_ do not detect their insincerity,
God does, and they are tempted of the devil beyond their wish to remain
with the Shakers; while he that _confesseth_ and _forsaketh_
his sins shall find mercy. This is not a confession to mortality, but
unto God, witnessed by those who have thoroughly experienced the
practical results of the ordeal. 'My son, give glory to the God of
heaven; _confess unto him_, and _tell_ me what thou hast
done.'" [Footnote: "Plain Talks on Practical Religion," etc.]
Another authority says on this subject:
"All such as receive the grace of God which bringeth salvation, first
honestly bring their former deeds of darkness to the light, by
confessing all their sins, with a full determination to forsake them
forever. By so doing they find justification and acceptance with God,
and receive that power by which they become dead indeed unto sin, and
alive unto God, through Jesus Christ, and are enabled to follow his
example, and walk even as he walked." [Footnote: "Christ's First and
Second Appearing. By Shakers."]
A third writer reasons thus upon confession:
"As all the secret actions of men are open and known to God, therefore a
confession made in secret, though professedly made to God, can bring
nothing to light; and the sinner may perhaps have as little fear of God
in confessing his sins in this manner as he had in committing them. And
as nothing is brought to the light by confessing his sins in this
manner, he feels no cross in it; nor does he thereby find any
mortification to that carnal nature which first led him into sin; and is
therefore liable to run again into the same acts of sin as he was before
his confession. But let the sinner appear in the presence of a faithful
servant of Christ, and there confess honestly his every secret sin, one
by one, of whatever nature or name, and faithfully lay open his whole
life, without any covering or disguise, and he will then feel a
humiliating sense of himself, in the presence of God, in a manner which
he never experienced before. He will then, in very deed, find a
mortifying cross to his carnal nature, and feel the crucifixion of his
lust and pride where he never did before. He will then perceive the
essential difference between confessing his sins in the dark, where no
mortal ear can hear him, and actually bringing his evil deeds to the
light of one individual child of God; and he will then be convinced that
a confession made before the light of God in one of his true witnesses
can bring upon him a more awful sense of his accountability both to God
and man than all his confessions in darkness had ever done." [Footnote:
"Summary View," etc.]
Community of property is one of the leading principles of the Shakers.
"It is an established principle of faith in the Church, that all who are
received as members thereof do freely and voluntarily, of their own
deliberate choice, dedicate, devote, and consecrate themselves, with all
they possess, to the service of God forever." In accordance with this
rule, the neophyte brings with him his property; but as he is still on
trial, and may prove unfit, or find himself uncomfortable, he is not
allowed to give up his property unreservedly to the society; but only
its use, agreeing that so long as he remains he will require neither
wages for his labor nor interest for that which he brought in. On these
terms he may remain as long as he proves his fitness. But when at last
he is moved to enter the higher or Church order, he formally makes over
to the society, forever, and without power of taking it back, all that
he owns. The articles of agreement by which he does this read as
follows:
"We solemnly and conscientiously dedicate, devote, and give up ourselves
and services, together with all our temporal interest, to God and his
people; to be under the care and direction of such elders, deacons, or
trustees as have been or may hereafter be established in the Church,
according to the first article of this Covenant.