﻿SHAKE 
  RELIGION 
  — 
  WATERMAN. 
  507 
  

  

  not 
  one 
  Buddhist 
  is 
  to 
  be 
  seen, 
  save 
  perhaps 
  pilgrims, 
  two 
  or 
  three 
  

   in 
  a 
  year. 
  Thus 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  two 
  of 
  the 
  world's 
  greatest 
  religions 
  

   is 
  reproduced 
  in 
  miniature 
  among 
  the 
  simple 
  Indians 
  of 
  our 
  own 
  

   Northwest. 
  

  

  The 
  shaking 
  which 
  thus 
  appears 
  in 
  both 
  the 
  old 
  and 
  the 
  new 
  

   religions 
  of 
  Puget 
  Sound 
  has 
  been 
  explained 
  psychologically. 
  I 
  

   do 
  not 
  recall 
  the 
  details, 
  but 
  it 
  is 
  something 
  about 
  nervous 
  tension 
  

   and 
  rhythmic 
  discharges, 
  resulting 
  in 
  one 
  movement 
  repeated 
  over 
  

   and 
  over 
  again 
  until 
  it 
  becomes 
  a 
  tremor. 
  I 
  have 
  remarked 
  already 
  

   that 
  it 
  is 
  by 
  no 
  means 
  new 
  in 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  religion; 
  quite 
  the 
  con- 
  

   trary. 
  Various 
  saints, 
  dervishes, 
  marabouts, 
  diviners, 
  deacons, 
  and 
  

   elders 
  in 
  various 
  religious 
  exercises 
  and 
  of 
  various 
  races 
  show 
  it. 
  

   The 
  Tarantism 
  of 
  the 
  Middle 
  Ages 
  (Saint 
  Vitus's 
  dance) 
  was 
  evi- 
  

   dently 
  something 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  sort. 
  I 
  can 
  do 
  no 
  better, 
  I 
  think, 
  than 
  

   to 
  quote 
  a 
  passage 
  from 
  Davenport's 
  Primitive 
  Traits 
  in 
  Religious 
  

   Revivals, 
  describing 
  what 
  happened 
  to 
  our 
  own 
  civilized 
  moun- 
  

   taineers 
  in 
  the 
  Cumberland 
  region 
  in 
  1842; 
  the 
  place, 
  I 
  believe, 
  

   where 
  the 
  Cumberland 
  Presbyterian 
  Church 
  took 
  its 
  origin. 
  He 
  

   gives 
  on 
  page 
  78 
  of 
  his 
  work 
  an 
  account 
  of 
  the 
  following 
  quaint 
  and 
  

   curious 
  behavior: 
  

  

  Next 
  to 
  the 
  " 
  falling 
  " 
  exercise, 
  the 
  most 
  notable 
  and 
  characteristic 
  Ken- 
  

   tucky 
  performance 
  was 
  the 
  " 
  jerks." 
  The 
  unhappy 
  victim 
  shook 
  in 
  every 
  joint. 
  

   Sometimes 
  the 
  head 
  was 
  thrown 
  from 
  side 
  to 
  side 
  with 
  great 
  rapidity. 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  

   Peter 
  Cartwright 
  declared 
  that 
  he 
  had 
  seen 
  more 
  than 
  five 
  hundred 
  persons 
  

   jerking 
  at 
  once 
  in 
  his 
  congregation. 
  And 
  Lorenzo 
  Dow, 
  writing 
  of 
  a 
  time 
  some 
  

   years 
  later, 
  when 
  the 
  epidemic 
  again 
  broke 
  out 
  in 
  this 
  section, 
  remarks 
  that 
  on 
  

   Sunday 
  at 
  Knoxville, 
  the 
  governor 
  being 
  present, 
  about 
  one 
  hundred 
  and 
  fifty 
  

   had 
  the 
  jerking 
  exercise. 
  In 
  1800 
  no 
  one 
  was 
  proof 
  against 
  it, 
  saint 
  or 
  sinner, 
  

   white 
  or 
  black, 
  except, 
  as 
  Lorenzo 
  Dow 
  naively 
  remarks, 
  those 
  who 
  wished 
  

   to 
  get 
  it 
  to 
  philosophize 
  upon 
  it 
  and 
  the 
  most 
  godly. 
  

  

  One 
  final 
  word 
  about 
  these 
  Shakers 
  will 
  not 
  be 
  out 
  of 
  place. 
  The 
  

   Congregationalists 
  and 
  Presbyterians, 
  under 
  whose 
  influence 
  they 
  

   fell, 
  took 
  a 
  strong 
  stand 
  against 
  drinking, 
  gambling, 
  horse-racing, 
  

   lying, 
  swearing, 
  and 
  smoking 
  tobacco. 
  Whatever 
  may 
  be 
  said 
  

   about 
  the 
  relative 
  rank 
  of 
  these 
  failings, 
  certain 
  it 
  is 
  that 
  to 
  the 
  

   Shakers 
  avoidance 
  of 
  them 
  is 
  an 
  essential 
  part 
  of 
  religion. 
  No 
  

   Shaker 
  will 
  swear, 
  no 
  Shaker 
  will 
  drink. 
  The 
  one 
  virtue 
  of 
  non- 
  

   indulgence 
  in 
  alcohol 
  has 
  served 
  to 
  make 
  the 
  members 
  of 
  the 
  Shaker 
  

   church 
  the 
  most 
  prosperous 
  of 
  the 
  Indians. 
  Outwardly 
  their 
  homes 
  

   are 
  clean 
  and 
  cheerful 
  and 
  inwardly 
  they 
  are 
  filled 
  with 
  a 
  kindly 
  

   feeling, 
  which 
  can 
  not 
  be 
  mistaken, 
  for 
  it 
  actually 
  radiates 
  from 
  their 
  

   faces. 
  It 
  makes 
  them, 
  to 
  my 
  way 
  of 
  thinking, 
  more 
  closely 
  resem- 
  

   ble 
  the 
  Christian 
  of 
  our 
  ideals 
  than 
  is 
  the 
  case 
  with 
  any 
  people 
  I 
  

   have 
  ever 
  seen, 
  Indian, 
  white, 
  or 
  otherwise. 
  

  

  