The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-11-15


J rid them of water. This was to shak
out whatever of an evil nature had re-
! manned in him. The three shaking wo
men followed his example, all keeping
| time in their movements to the RAPID
| ringing and all frequently clappins
| their hands loudly.
! Presently Dixie James started a low.
toned chant, in which, at times, the
! others joined Then of a sudden he
! would thrust his arms toward the peni-
/ tents, his fingers outstretched, with
drawing them quickly, all in time with
the deafening changing of the silver
bells The three shaker women fol-
lowed his movements for a time, then
each seemed to act upon a plan of her
own They rubbed the two women
possessed of the evil spirit; they rubbed
their heads, their necks, their breasts
! and backs, at times carrying the opera
ton down to the bottom of their dress
es. With such vigor was this rubbing
conducted that the subjects were some
times forcibly bent out of the perpen-
dicular, and their hands dropped and
hung loosely below their knees; at such
}
would beckon them to keep straight
and stretch their hands above their
heads as far as they possibly could.
Soon the minister and the shaking
women began to hop to the time of the
bells, their bodies swaylng with a side
wise motion Then they moved in a
circle around the trio of penitents, all
hopping in unison with a decidedly
graceful motion that must have been
long practised to have brought it to
such perfection.
Now Dixie James devoted himself
exclusively to Mrs. Wilson, the woman
with the Indigestion, shaking himself
at a wonderful rate, but she remained
still and motionless with her hands up
lifted. The shaking woman rubbed
Mrs. Springer, the backslider, both
shaking all the while. Suddenly they
closed their hands together and the
backslider gradually lowered her stiff
fened arms her fingers began to twitch,
her arms to shake, her hips to do the
same, her whole body quivered, her
feet took up the hopping movement
she was shaking all over. The evil
spirit, the want of faith, had been
shaken out of her, at least temporarily,
and she circled around the room in a
peculiar dancing, shaking manner for
the following hour, always in tune
with the bells, apparently oblivious to
everything else. The two squaws with
closed hands, moved slowly across the
room, in time as before, until they
reached the west wall, where there was
a small crevice, evidently made for the
purpose when they carefully opened
their hands and thrust the evil spirit
they had imprisoned into outer dark
ness Then they as slowly returned
and Joined the other shakers around the
obdurate dyspeptic, whose evil spirit
of sickness showed no signs of depart
ing from her
During this performance Lilly Frank
was the most active and aggressive of
the shakers. She had singled out Char
ley Stiltz as her particular subject.
She rubbed him on the head and on the
cheeks apparently affectionate taps.
She placed her left arm around his
body and her right hand upon his bo-
som, stroking him in a caressing man.
he succumbed. He began to
snake violently, yet seemed uncon-
scious of the presence of the girl who
continued to hop and shake before him
In the most bewitching manner, from
an Indians standpoint. He disposed of
his reluctant evil spirit, going to the
west wall ana throwing II through the
narrow aperture to JON the other pad
spirits that mad Just been cast out IN
-he dlfectlon OF the departed sum
Then he too joined the other Shakers
around the still quiet, upright ana op-
Stlnate Mrs. wilson.
The six redoubled their efforts to
bring the sick woman to show signs OF
he departure Of the bad spirit they
raised their chant to higher pitch;
hey cried aloud, they supplicated the /
Great Spirit vociferousIy, they danced |
around in a circle, their heels coming
Town hard on the floor with every hop, |
he bell ringers changing out their UNI
earthly sounds with increased Vlgor, |
hat seemed bordering on desperation; !
respiration rolled down the faces OF .
he shakers, while their arms were !
hrust back and forth so rapidly that
he eye could hardly follow them.
Suddenly the leader seized the single |
lighted candle, representing the Great |
Spirit, and passed 1T in fantastic move
nents before the face Of the woman
With the bad stomach, making rapid
viii hi ho1 n blow