The Portland daily press., 1884-08-16
Among "the Believers. I"
BY MRS. GEORGE A. oAswELL.

BY MRS. GEORGE A. CASWELL,
Now and then, especially since the ''Un-
discovered Country" appeared, it has oc-
Cured to me that there would be advantages
in joining the Shakers and sitting under an
apple tree all my life with peaceful shadows
fecking my prim dress and primmer bon
net, balm and solace sitting down through
the branches, gentle rapture pervading the
air, and apple sauce as regular diet These
moments have been rare and feeting; but
when found that in Poland I was under
the very shadow of the Shaker apple trees, |
was not long IN climbing the bills GU whose
tops these single and singular people Grave
come together for the purpose of solitude
The stillest of sunny Sunday mornings
brooded over the place. The little white
Westinghouse, prim as Shaker bonnet ard
not much larger, stood wreathed around
with apple trees-aDd green apples are not
bad 1 n wreath so arranged-the droning
of bees and buzzing of flies made a suitable
accompaniment to the song and dance that
we heard through the open windows, and
Sabbath Day P, nd" spread its blue waters
and deeply scaloped shores at the foot of
great green slopes studded with round
topped apple-trees. 1t was all too sunny
and peaceful and beautiful to shut out, and
| was glad to find that from my seat inside
the green slopes and Sabbath Day Pond"
were visible, framed round by an open win
dow.
All the men reminded me of Oscar Wilde
as he lectured in the United States. sup
pose it must have been due to their long hair
and "bangs:" certainly it wasn't on account
of their clothes. Their gait has something
of the Dundreary hop if one could associate
that hop with cowhide shoes. They seem
engaged in perpetual attempt to underval-
he themselves. Except the elder they all
look like Uriah Heep and their hnmbly iold-
ed hands seem forever saying eve are moth
ing; less than nothing; we are Dreams" The
waters have gone over the men. Having
| once been Shakers there isn't one of them
who could ever be anything else if he should
run away steadily for year. Sooner or
later. on the other side of the globe, he
would find himself folding the tips of his
fingers together or turning up the palms of
his hands and giving that spiritless little
hop. l say all this politely. l felt sorry for
the men. Then there were some premature
ly old boys, all calm and sad and long
haired, hopping about and shaking their
hands. At first felt sorry for the boys, but
when | learned that most of them were
cramps" by birth and early training, re-
joiced for them.
The women--but who does not know the
stiff waists, the three cornered muslin hand
kerchiefs, the long, straight sleeves aud
skirts, and above all the queer, close bon
nets that bespeak the Shaker woman? l am
told that the dress was selected with view
to its ugilness. If SO, it is success. But
there is one woman whose graceful figure
and elegant carriage even this dress can not
hide. Her speech is as elegant as her bear
ing. l felt myself impertinent as 1 won
dered what ''the world'' had in it so cruel
that she fed from it to "the Believers"
Does her heart never swell under The
| creamy folds of her handkerchief? Hers had
no "blueing," Twas thankful to see. She is
not young and she is as peaceful in seeming
as the Sabbath Day Pond itself.
All sorts of songs were sung accompanied
by their peculiar dance and the shaking of
the upturned hands. Some of the HYMNS
were very pleasing and there were fne, fresh
young voices that belonged to rosy, pleasant
looking girls. One hymn, seemingly made
up OF four-syllabled words accented on the
second syllable, like e-lim-i-nate, per pet-u-
ate, pre-en-!-nent, om-nip-o-tent, ETC., and
sung to an odd, quick movement, was very
beautiful. Then, after long silence, while
the air was still full of those four-syllabled
words, someone, with strong tragic sense,
am sure, began softly slow hymn, 30.
breathe for me one prayer" Instantly and
noiselessy every Shaker knelt on the white
floor, every stiff, ugly skirt fell into grace
full lines, and so, with uplifted faces radiant
in the sunlight that streamed in at the win
dows and fell back from whitewashed walls,
they sang the hymn-a scene that shall al
ways remember With pleasure and bit of
surprise.
Later, went several times TO the settle
ment from genuine interest. l found the
sisters intelligent as a whole, in no case be-
low the average, and in some cases decided
ly above. They are busy, alert, kindly. and.
If faces tell anything, happy. In the last
two years many women have said to me,
do tell me some way to take care of my
self. How can earn my own living?' 1t
is the cry of hundreds, ''genteel," superb
cial, helpless. Too many times in especial
ly helpless cases l have felt like saying can
dldly, "If you don't get married am afraid
you'll starve." have been saved from say
ing it so far, and l think shall say hereaf-
ers." There seems to be something there
for everybody to do, and everybody does it
well and cheerfully. If you can't make pin
| cushions aud feather fans, perhaps you can
bake applesauce or sugar bits of orange
peel This is better, surely, than standing
all day behind a counter for six dollars a
week, and then paying four dollars of it for
an attic in dingy, dreary boarding house.
True, ifyou sit under the low-drooping Sha-
ker apple-trees, you must take your work
with you. You can't spend YOUR life as /
had fancied, in being fecked with shadows,
or in gentle rapture drinking in balm and
solace; but neither can you do this in a store
at six dollars week. Here is community
where everybody looks CHEEKY and interest
ed. There are bright, pleasant rooms in
their houses with snowy folds at the win
dows, fresh, clean paint, comfortable, invit-
ing chairs, pretty, homemade desks and Ia
blss, braided rugs, books and papers, and,
dotted all about the house, great basins of
pond lilies and little plates of fragrant dried
rose leaves. The whole atmosphere is one
of comfort and cosiness and sweet, whole
some living. A few days after my visit to
these rooms it was my lot to see room that
its owner considered a triumph. 1t was
| furnished after directions found in the
"Household'' and kindred papers, where by
the aid of hammer, nails and few yards of
paper-cambric and cotton flannel. an midas
trlous, capable woman may make over dry
| goods boxes, broomstick handles, tincans
ana Washtuos into sofas, centre-tables and
1ootstoois, and so secure hundred and fifty
dollars worth OF furnishing for dollar and
half. AS looked at this shabby imita-
in rlnfA - T.ac.