The Portland daily press., 1872-01-19
THE PRESS.
FRIDAY MORNING, JAN. 10, 1872.
Shaker Characters.

Sometimes the Shakers were ANNOYED by
false stories circulated by mischievous people
in the adjacent cities. At one time it was re-
ported that we, the little Shaker children,
were pale, unhealthy, and kept in Wisdom's
Valley against our wills. The society al
once invited the Governor and Legislature to
inspect the schools and question the children.
1t was bitter cold day when they arrived.
After hearty lunch they walked over to the
school-house. The moment the head of the
procession appeared, my sister Minnette cried
out: "Quick, quick, girls! every one of YOU
pinch your cheeks, for here come the worlds $
strutbugs." We pinched hard and presented
such an array of rosy cheeks that the doctor
who accompanied the legislators set them
laughing by declaring that we were better
subjects for the butcher than the doctor. One
of the company told Brother Frederic that
Minnette would never become a demure
Shakeress-he had talked with her and made
her eyes sparkle by tales of the great world,
and the city of her birth; and l believe the
eldresses were of the same opinion, after she
had been detected in making her bright metal
drinking-basin serve double purpose by re-
nectlng the boys who sat on the opposite side
of the dining-hall
The first order in the society at Wisdom's
Valley was composed chiefly of members who
had been educated there from childhood. The
fourth order contained married people and all
those who had reached maturity before en-
bracing Shakerism. After these have lived
for some time in the gathering ORDER they
are eligible IL be transferred into another
family or order. Those of the first order are
expected to conduct themselves with strict
regard to the rules; those who live ffom in
fancy in the community must set an example
worthy to be followed by "new believers" 1t
was in this first order that lived. All kinds
OF characters were represented among us
the humorous, the grave, the eccentric, the
educated, the ignorant, the refined, and the
abrupt. The leopard cannot change his
spots, neither can sober drab and brim con-
ceal or transform entirely the natural man.
How well recall these associates of my
youth; many of them, too, with tender and
respectful memory. There was the elder who
had been soldier in the war of 1912, also
local wit, an editor, and preacher. How full
of humorous incident were his stories of his
life before embracing the testimony" and
afterward when he became a Shaker mission
ary to the far West There were Brother
Dean and Brother Mortal, both aged Shakers
the one Wing, the other Democrat in
political principles-who would, CONTRARY to
order'' argue hotly, as worlds politicians are
wont to do, in advocacy of the principles and
leaders they admired. Brother Mortal was a
fiery little man, quick to resent opposition,
implacable to an opponent, with head like a
huge oak knob covered with thick black moss,
and small, keen, flashing gray eyes under
rugged and furrowed brow. One of his legs
xxyoo CHI fhorx f1,<~ \ L
brred under excitement he would try to
stretch and lengthen it by standing on tiptoe
He was from Georgia, and ,could give his
opinion upon 'ThurlOw Stink Weed, Billy
Seaweed, and the black abolitionists." "That
Beecher-Stowe book" he said-meanng
"Uncle Toms Cabin''-'ss nest of cocka.
trice; it amt fit for even you snips of gals to
read. The idea of making saint out of an
old nigger!' Letme explain here that ''chat-
tel slavery was abhorrent to the Shakers.
Consequently when "Uncle Toms Cabin
was making stir in the world because it por-
trayed the cruelty of slavery, the end for
once was allowed to sanctify the means, and
although its love scenes were altogether
Objectionable, the book was yet allowed to be
read in Wisdom's Valley. How eagerly Joy
and devoured its pages! And how aston
ished we were at the expressions of Brother
Mortal. A colored sister lived in the second
order, and when the two families met at the
meeting house on Sabbath day, she sadly an
noyed the Georgia brother by standing in the
ranks ''long side of white folks" He was,
indeed, a character and a natural politician
When he was eighty years of age and before /
left Wisdom's Valley, he began writing new
laws and constitution for the society, fear
lessly advocating the election of offices by
vo.e, and thereby causing doubt in the
minds ofthe ministry and elders of his sound
ness in the faith of Shakerism, and think it
would not have astonished some of the Be.
levers if he had returned to the "beggarly
elements" of the world at the age of four
score to fight the battles of the Little Giant
Fifteen Years Among the Shakers" in Feb
r,tary GALAXY.