The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1886-04-27 00:00:00

MRS. 43IRLIN0

lt is rather More than two years since the Pell Malt
• wry 'published two artier. I" Starvilig Swig".
it: Now Forest "1 descielung the condition .4 the
shaker community, mended •der Ipy that rensarkable
w Diristig. The riffais•.4th. 'tette body .4
eat now in a ina.l.b r.ls•cs•os• loom nesstely
• wit, than mond. tOrlpiii: is ill. haa
trite •ill Oncd e the neon year, mid enoWee not bets. r tag
To unerstand all thin ...eats to "tie family," whose
•• asether and ruler elm ia, oho luel4 leeer en mho' the.
maitre she has always held a ..... lig tli, in, and the
opiritual whi..lle le is.. hero
th.- estr4 an.l hitheeto unquesti••:i...l sanction ..f li.r
Sh.• claims to le tile Lent hall. n .4
tant
he Wily, and in viitue of this rising t.... .v... 1.1. I
alvolut, control for more than fifteen yea.. "vol. the
brother.• and " sisters ' forinnig the •
14, never ni die, and her •' chilihen,'• if town faith
maili are b. enjoy With her Ihe dal owe.,
of living I. .r ever and vier on this
1
.4 „, • Due .1 the girl. died recently. Imt
meet
the inotner A , Igoe rest by mooning them hat
••• nos! not and would not hate plied if she luid
kept her faith." They hay. ii heir thar.•
....cation and of ridicule, and are better •tiongern
than to want.; but their ilay of er..•l timers
eoine. when their horn will he esalt,3l over Dm
of creation in general. Thl3 what SI., iiirle,eg
kas roo er crowd to inculcate umoi li..r Shaken., mid
their invintible belief in her and her godhead, coupled
with the driers antscipatinn of ale eternity •
~.go tor all New Forest Shaker., has lin.vailml
keep the octet! together (luring fifteen } ~,„
▪ rty. hunger. and neglect. If I did lent hel cede.-
I am...going to live for ever," mid ot the ojecda.,..
the eller day, " I would leave the camp to-morrow."
moo .4 them rank little above the is assist or small
farvaer clam, and have no conspietiosia knowledge.
• perhaps .4 the aiming sertne .4 Stiokeristii,
• leiethrtir, irldeett, if of opin 00000 that Ow smaller
their acquaintance with the things that may Is.
leased in honks the better for their spiritual health,
*ad a piing Shakerras who WSJ. follllll as ith a Ihe‘ ci
which a fanner in the neighbourhood hail lent
her war promptly told that such naughty readmit
miuld not open for her the gat., 11 eternity. It would
be unfair to en.dit Mrs. Dialing with • notion that
authority ouch as hers is Ils•st Kew, ccii iii ale at n 0...
1.1,,,r,„' intellectual I.3xe, but it may 1m suppowvt tb.a.
the Inter irolation of the c, y from the is 'rid
mid the Iss.km .4 the world cc Wet With...lt its
influence on their life. and faith. I hey lime Mrs.
(iirfing and her prophecies ; they i.e.. What she West.
thialt what she thinks, and do what aim bids them.
• however, the mother and ruler herself, who,
bairn' iminortal. should sandy i.e. exempt from mortal
aidwwww, his stricken down: Deity .w no Deity, she has
hem bedridden these three =Gotha, the victim of a
painful and peculiarly human malady. It is such •
eme.ar has never before reelllTed in the hietory
the society ; Shaker faith has not endured such
another test as this. Very tin, and sick with entire.
benoon their beans are, kw there is only out. 'Mrs.
thrllng, and her summer is nut to be looked for
among her followers. "o nee w.... 1.11 attempt to
replace her "is what they all say. Nl.wenver„ il the
e„miiion It .4 humanity should be Mr.. Girling'a,
what hone for the poor rest of them .4 tal
prolonged to all eternity iMra. I :whew knows their
lean, and f her sick bed she now all the energy
of that indomitable will •if hem to combat them.
She canto m her as ists that death is a. far fro ever.
She says that even though she should s.s.m to die it
would be hut counterfeit ; a temporary *unnerving
m 1... vital forma, a trance ; and that they must on DO
aetnalit layenala to bury her. Thum the sturdy
Shakere3., even after a quarter of /Wear's exhausting
twin ; snd sh.s saya it so nsoloitely that her children
(-notions it hope against hope. She govei, from
her little chamber In the centre of tho collecthitt of
hots and .heds quite stringently an if • lA, and the
younger Shakeremes wait on her. She sees neither
doctor nor clergym•n.