PENSYLVANIA 15 



siderably eased, to the advantage of his country. From 

 the plan of the first machine, however, it should not 

 be a hard matter to divine that of the second. I pass 

 over other experiments, magnetick and electrical, 

 which employ the leisure hours of Mr. Henry in a use- 

 ful and agreeable way, and show him to be a thinking 

 and self-examining man. 



The very bad condition of the road and of the 

 weather, with other hindrances, prevented a visit to 

 Ephrata, the seat of a small religious body which lies 

 near to Lancaster almost unremarked, but by reason 

 of its distinct customs, opinions, and manner of life 

 deserves to be better known than it is in America, even 

 at a little distance from its sequestered retreat. The 

 account I set down here is borrowed, but is the most 

 complete I could obtain, and from the hand of a faith- 

 ful and attentive observer. 



Ephrata or Dunkard-Town is a little village of mid- 

 dling size ; stands in a small but so much the pleasanter 

 valley, by a small stream 15 miles from Lancaster. 

 Along with a part of the lands adjacent, it is the prop- 

 erty of a small society of people who call themselves 

 Dunkards or Dunkers, and are for the most part of 

 German descent. The place is triangular in shape and 

 in the middle there is a large orchard. The little brook 

 which runs through most of the village is a natural 

 protection on one side, just as on the other, a ditch 

 and dike planted with fruit-trees. They get the name 

 Dunkard, it is said, from their manner of baptizing 

 their new converts ; that is to say, they dip (tunken or 

 tauchen) them in a stream, as is the custom also of 

 the Anabaptists, from which sect however they are 

 distinct. The founder of the sect was a German who. 



