Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1861-08-02
ESSAY UPON HUMAN LIFE.
BY TIMOTHY TITCo1IB.


God loves Shakers, but do not think
He admres them. do not see how He
can, but, perhaps, this is not compe-
tent reason to offer in the premises.
saw a wagon load of what supposed to
be Shakers Of both sexes, riding along
the street, the other day and l Won
dered what should think of them If l
had made them | think / should have
been about equally vexed and amused to
see the lines that | had made beautiful
disguised, and every grace giving swell
of limb and bust, upon which had exer-
cised such exquisite toll, carefully hid
den. They sat up straight and prim, in
square wagon, beside a square trottng
horse, driven by right lines in pair
of hands that seemed to grow out of the
drivers stomach, while bis elevated, rec
tangular elbows cut rigidly against the
air on either side. II was a vision for a
paintsr--a house painter painter by
trade The ong-haired, meek looking
men, with their fat-crowned, broad brim-
med hats, straight coats and neutral col
lars, and the women with their sugar
SCOOP bonnets, white kerchiefs and straight
waists, looked like a case Of faded wax
figures in prison uniform, that had come
down to us from former generation.
l heaved a sigh as the wagon load Of
mortified and badly dressed flesh passed
out of sight, and wondered if the souls
inside of those bodies were as angular as
their covering. / did not believe i'll
do not believe i'll have no doubt under
meath those straight waistcoats hearts
have throbbed at the sight of woman and
longed for home and family life, with
yearnings that could no. be uttered.
Those straight laced senslbilities have
been thrilled by beauty, and bathed in
the grace and glory Of the life around
them. Trees have whispered to them,
flowers have looked up and rebuked
them, brooks have called to them with
laughter. rivera have smiled upon them
in sunshine, the great SKY has bent over
them with infinite tenderness and full
ness o. beauty, and they have felt what
they could not define. 1t was something
very wrong, they supposed, and so they
buttoned their straight jackets around
them, turned their eyes away from be-
holding vanity, and thought they had
done an excellent thing. | know that
those young women, with their abomin-
able clothing outside, and their crushed
and abused sympathies inside, are un-
happy, unless they have all been merci-
fully transformed into fanatics. 1t is use
less to tell me that a man can ignore or
trample to death the strongest passions
of his nature-the strongest, the purest
and the most ennobling-and be happy
man. 1t is useless to say that man or
woman can walk through a world Of
beauty--themselve the most beautiful
of all things-and bind themselves up in
unbecoming drapery, and smother all
their impulses to express the beauty with
which God Inspires them, and do it with
content and satisfaction. 1t cannot be
done.
So when the wagon load of shakers
drove out of sight, heaved a sigh, for
knew that not to be unhappy in the life
which was typifed in their dress and es-
tablishment, would be a greater misfor-
tune, essentially, than dissatisfaction and
content would be. If they were happy
in their life, they must have been per-
verted in their nature, or endurated, be-
yond the susceptibility to receive the i'm |
pressions of healthy men and women.
If God ever put anything majestic and
noble into man, and gave him fitting
frame for it, He never intended it should
be hidden in meal bag, or permanently
quenched under smock frock. In the
infinite variety which He has introduced
into human character, and into human
forms and faces, there is no warrant for
dressing men in uniform, but most en-
phatic protest against it. If God made
woman beautiful, Ie made her to be |
looked alto give pleasure to the eyes !
which rest upon her-and she has no
business to dress herself as if she was a /
hitching post, or to transform that which
should give delight to those among whom
she moves, into ludicrous caricature of
woman's form.
Irepeat that have every reason to
believe that God loves Shakers, but do
not think He admires them. IF God adj
mires the bodies He has made, He can
not admire them when they are covered
by the Shaker dress, for it spoils the looks
of them, and differs essentially from the
plan which He pursues in draping all