The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-09-19
A DESERTED VILLAGE.

not only because of the number of its
members, but because of the value OF
the property owned in common, is
iast sinking into oblivion. Not a
great. many years ago 600 Shakers
called Mount Lebanon their home
There were five prosperous families
here, with acres of seed producing
crops and mills and factories which
were never idle. Now there are four
families, with only 100 members.
The women outnumber the men five
to one, and the majority, of both
sexes, are old. The fierce competi-
ton of the modern market has closed
the mills and factories, and the seed
business has been abandoned because
oSher seed raisers appropriated the
na1ae Shaker" and cut prices.
lie article against marrying and
giving i'll marriage is an imperative
one lrlthe Shaker constitution, and
the ranks Of the sect have to be filled
by recruits from the outside world.
The recruits are no longer coming in,
and the ab;ence of children to perpet-
uate the faith of their fathers makes
it apparent that with the death of
the present dwellers in Shaker COM
munities Their sect will practically
disappear.
There are today in the fifteen Sha-
ker settlements of the United States
between 500 and 900 "believers.
One hundred years ago the Shakers
numbered 1862. Twenty-Five years
later they had added 900 to their
membership. In IS4o the entire
membership of the Shaker societies
was 5000, but since the Civil War
the decrease has been rapid. Only
the unusually long lives of the faith
ful has kept the sect from being al
most entirely obliterated.
The Shakers themselve admit that
they are losing ground, but they are
not losing hope. They say that when
life becomes less strenuous than it is
now, when the contest between capt.
tai and labor is ended, the minds of
men will have time to turn again to
religion, and then prosperity will re-
turn to the communities.
Despite their failing fortunes the
Shakers never become shiftless.
Their community may look like de-
serted village, but it is not tumble
down village. Cleanliness and neat
ness are with them indeed next to
godliness.
Of the four families comprising this
community each has its special duties.
The North family, which lives in sew
eral frame houses painted white with
grean shutters, the first met with on
entering the village, looks after the
entertainment and instruction of visi-
tors. The Church family occupies a
large modern brick dwelling adjoin-
ing the houses of the North family.
This family forms higher branch of
the order and holds services every
Sunday, the secrets of which are
closely guarded. Near their house is
the old church in which public ser
vices used to be held, but of late
strangers have tried to break up the
meetings, and they have been discon-
tinued. The Second and South fam
lilies live in houses like those of the
North family still farther along the
road.
Each family is presided over by an
elder and an eldress. The women
have equal rights with the men. The
women do the housework and make
the fancy articles from which so much
of their income is derived, while the
men are expected to farm the 5000
acres which comprise the communi-
ty's real estate holdings. There are
not enough men to farm the land as it
should be done, and the difficulty of
hiring male help renders much of the
land useless.
Plenty of old and disabled persons
apply for membership in the commu-
nifty, but these are not wanted. The
Shakers work for one another, and
those who cannot work, they say,
must not expect 10 COme lntO the
order and enjoy in idleness the COM
forts the labor of others bring.
To join the Shakers persons must
first sever every worldly tie. Debts
must be paid, and if the applicant is
married legal divorce must be OBJ
tanned. If persons have relatives de-
pendent upon them they must be pro-
vided for. All property that remains
is turned into the common treasury of
the order. 1t is not necessary, how
ever, for an applicant to bring in
funds; most of those who join now
have nothing.
The Shakers and Shakeresses dress
very simply. They wear no jewelry,
and the women garb themselves in
blush gray, with large white collars.
Their hair is hidden under peculiarly
shaped bonnets something like those
worn by Salvation Army lasses. In
each house there are separate living
sections for the "brothers" and for
the "sisters. "-A. ". Fe,71n.