The Republican journal., 1915-08-19
A Vacation Among the Mas
sachusetts Shakers.

SallluS6tlS olldhSIS.
More and more the leisure which we
Z all vacation appeals to busy men and
women, and more and more life IN the
open draws Its votaries from the crowd
ed and fashionable hotels and boarding.
houses.
But why vacation among the Shak-
aars, those quiet, dove-colored, demure
people? Come with me and see.
Early one June morning our goods and
echattels, our animals, human and other
wise, were put into the auto and start
made for the eighteen acres of Shaker
Land in Harvard, which we call our own.
The early morning air was inspiring and
all went merrily until we turned into the
State road in Concord, when we had
blow out, whatever that may mean, and
there was an opportunity of twenty
minutes for the passengers to inspect
surroundings. Then when we were safe
1y beyond all the repairs shops of Con-
cord, bang! went a punctured tire and
another opportunity occurred to inspect
he country while new tire was beng
adjusted
The poor, boxed-up cat cried all the
way. The nervous Airedale terrier re-
quired two attendants and almost " ag-
ged his stump of a tail off his amiable
body in his joyous contortions. but, as
we passed through the Shaker village
the peace of the place seem to fall upon
us and the woods enveloped US, shutting
out the heat and hurry, the anxieties and
zconventionalities of life for two restful
months.
The log bungalow in the woods is no
longer curiosity; it has been enlarged
and improved until our daily lives and
orr nightly slumbers are enjoyed in the
open Of screened piazza. The years have
fostered the forest growth amazingly and
the greenness, the odor of the pines, the
good air, to say nothing of the gallon of
s'ich milk at twenty cents per which we
consume every day-one must indeed be
h ard to please who would not enjoy such
environment. Add to this the society of
a people whose word is as good as their
bond, to whose upright dealing and
strict honesty all persons can testify
who have ever been brought into bust
mess relations with them and the super
structure is worthy the environment
The system of Shaker doctrine is COM
snunistic in that they hold all things in
common. Even so did Christina, Christ
of the Hindoos. and later, in the days of
Abraham, men dWelt in tents and held
their property in common. Moses was
% nee in fifty years, the year of Jubilee,
and every man was returned unto his
possessions, and Christ touched the key
note of communism in his injunction to
the rich young man. Today, probably
that of the Shakers is the most perfect
type of Christian communism we have
10 be pure and peaceable, gentle, easy
TO be entreated and without hypocricy"
is their idea of peace and happiness and
tneir communications are still yea, yea;
nay, nay. They are Christian celibates
practicing all the virtues and avoiding
all tae vices incident to mankind. Land
ing in America from England in 1774, a
little band of but nine individuals, they
have fourished for more than a century
and have accumulated excellent farming
Hand, and house, mill and other manufac-
turing property. They are thrifty,
strictly temperate in all things, and
offer no worldly inducements for indiv-
duals to join their order. Applicants
must come, if they come at all. of their
own volition, and before one would
DE admitted as one of their fraternity
they would be asked as one of the first
questions: "What is your motive in
wishing to join us? We are not con-
cerned about what you may have be-
lieved, but We ask you toAsquare your
life by Him whose life was without
blemish.''
Mother Ann Lee, their spiritual moth
er, embodying the second coming of
Christ, was born in Manchester, Eng,