The Westerly echo, & Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1854-1858, 1856-10-02

vey OF the rsom. 1t was moderate
sized room, and furnished in the plainest
manner possible. An old-fasbioned box
stove, that shone with I" British Lustre,"
few old sat-backed chairs, looking
glass, and writing desk, constituted
the furniture but the most striking
feature was the cleanliness and perfect
order of everything and this | noticed
everywhere | went. We waited only
few moments, when the door opened,
and, goodness gracious, had | been alone
in the night, | should certainly have
fed for my life ! but being under the
protection of my female friend, and see-
ing her unmoved, l confess felt little
ashamed of my fright, and came near
bursting into laugh. But smothering
my /" risability," as best | could, and
putting on bold front, determined to
make a clean breast of it, and addressed
myself to the spectral form which stood
before me. informed her that was
a stranger, asked her pardon for intrud-
ing, and expressed desire to be shown
about the premises, providing it was
agreeable to her, and did not conflict
with their rules She expressed her
willingness to accommodate us, and re-
questcd us to register our names in a
large book, kept for the purpose. Hav-
ing affixed our autographs, in hotel
style, we followed our Shaker friend
through the different apartments
The appearance Of this " sister" was
ludicrous in the extreme. l cannet
compare her to anything else, but rail
with some cloth wound around it, being
all the way of size-a white cap on
her head "a white collar around her
neck, aside from the gown constituted
her whole apparrel-No hoopS-no
hounces-no ribbons no fowers-no
ornaments Of any kind about her person
in short, mother Eve in her garb of
palm leaves, could not have presented
more primeval appearance than did this
" sister" She first showed us a lot of
fancy articles in show case, with glass
doors, which had been made by the in-
dustrous sisters" and deposited there
for sale One thing I noticed in partic-
ular. The entire absence of all furDi-
ture except a few chairs. Instead of
bureaus. secretaries sc. drawers were
made attached to the partitions, and
shelves to accommodate whatever arti.
ccs were not Immediately wanted From
thence we were escorted into tho Dairy.
The cheese looked very finely, exhibit
ing the scrupulous regard to cleanliness,
that we noticed in other parts of the es-
tablishmcnt. Next to the wash house.
Here we were particularly Interested to
see the system with which everything
was performed, a large double washing
machine, one of IIollingworth's Knuckle
Ball Patent, was driven by a small steam
engine, dryer was also attached, driven
by the same engine. The water for
washing was heated by steam, and q
large cistern constantly full of cold wa
ter stood beside similar one filed with
hot water. The clothes after being
washed, rinsed and partially dried, were
conveyed to the second story in box,
which was drawn up and let down at
pleasure, through the floor, by rope
and pulley in the garret. The ironing
room was on the second floor, where
were also innumerable drawers for the
accommodation of the clean clothes when
ironed Hence to the seed house. Here
were men and women, boys and girls,
buslly employed in putting up seeds of
various kinds, some were making the
" papers, some filling and others closing
them. AS We passed large box Of
seeds in papers, among which I noticed
many different kinds Of beets, I asked
our escort if those were all this years
seed : She replied, "Most Of them,
some seed will grow as well the second
year as the first" From which I nat
uraly inferred, that they put up the old
seed with the new, and passed it off for
new seed. The sister" told us they
had no particular hours to work, but
each labored until they were tired, then
stopped to rest. The boys and girls
were usually kept steadily at work, and
were very strictly watched and guarded,
no minor was allowed to leave either
family, not even to visit another family.
without being accompanied by some of
the Elders. The Church family, num-
bcrs about so, a large majority of whom
are under twenty years of age, the other
families numbers much less, for instance
the East family number only eleven, the
youngest being 10 years old AS our
time was limited we could not visit as
much as we wished, so returning the
host our most sincere thanks, we wend-
I'd our way homewards, having fully sat
sfed ourselves, that shakerism did not
meet our entire appreciation, and each