Part 16 (2/2)
The Society is in Hartford County, about twelve miles from Springfield, Ma.s.sachusetts. It was founded in 1792; and the meeting-house then built, of brick, is still standing, but is now used for other purposes. There were formerly five families, and in 1823 this society had two hundred members. At present there are but four families, one of which is small, and contains only a few aged people, too much attached to their old home to be removed. There are in the four families one hundred and fifteen persons, of whom the Church Family has sixty, and the Gathering Family twenty-five. One third are males and two thirds females; and there are forty-three children and youth under twenty-one, of whom eighteen are boys and twenty-four girls. So late as 1848 this society numbered two hundred persons.
They own about three thousand three hundred acres of land, and make their living almost entirely by farming. Before the rebellion they had built up a large trade in the Southern States in garden seeds; but the outbreak of the war not only lost them this trade, but in bad debts they lost nearly all they had saved in thirty years. They now breed fine stock, which they sell; and they sell some hay, but only to buy Indian corn in its stead. They are careful and excellent farmers. The women make some articles of fancy work. They employ fifteen hired men constantly.
This society is prosperous. One of the families has just erected a large and, for Shakers, uncommonly stylish dwelling; and all the buildings are in good repair and well painted. Nevertheless they have not had an easy task to make a living. ”If we have got any thing here,” said an elder to me, ”it is because we saved it.” They have, however, the advantage of an excellent farm. In the beginning they raised garden seeds, and were among the first in this country to establish this business, and at one time they made lead pipe--but the invention of machinery drove them out of that business.
They eat meat, and use tea and coffee moderately; and a few of the old members take snuff. They are mostly Americans, with a few Scotch and English, and more than half of the adult members came in when they were full-grown. About forty years ago there was in Rhode 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” newspapers 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 injurious.
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.
There are four Shaker societies in Ma.s.sachusetts: at Harvard, s.h.i.+rley, Tyringham, and Hanc.o.c.k.
_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 families, containing in all ninety persons, of whom sixteen are 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 members, of whom forty-one are women and girls, and nine men and boys. It is usual among the Shakers to find more women than men in a society or family, but at Harvard the disproportion of the s.e.xes is uncommonly great.
The members are mainly Americans, but they have some Scotch, Germans, and Welsh. A considerable proportion of the present members.h.i.+p came in as adults, and these were, before becoming Shakers, for the most part Adventists, some however coming from the Baptist and Methodist denominations. 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 always been good; the _average_ age at death, I was a.s.sured, 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 Ma.s.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 employ 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 that ”blood will tell,” and that they can do much better with the children of religious parents than with those whose fathers or mothers were dissolute or irreligious.
This society has no debt, and is prosperous, though its buildings are not all in first-rate order according to the Shaker standard, which is very high. It has suffered from one defalcation.
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 s.h.i.+rley makes brooms; his predecessor made shoes. The leading female minister is a dress-maker.
_s.h.i.+rley_.
The Society of s.h.i.+rley lies about two miles from s.h.i.+rley Station, on the Fitchburg Railroad. It was gathered in 1793, the meeting-house having been built the year before. Mother Ann Lee pa.s.sed nearly two years among the people in this vicinity, preaching to them; and this accounts for the early building of the meeting-house. In 1823 the s.h.i.+rley 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 buildings 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 members.h.i.+p; 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 includes 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 tobacco in any shape. They are fond of flowers, but do not cultivate 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 settlement 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 sh.o.r.e 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 s.h.i.+rley physiology was taught, and with remarkable success as it seemed to me, with the help of charts; the children seemed uncommonly intelligent and bright. The 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 Hanc.o.c.k and Tyringham lie near the New York State line, among the Berks.h.i.+re hills. They are small, and have no noticeable features.
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