CHAPTER XX 



SHAKERS AND RELIGIOUS MUMMERS IN AMERICA 



AN account of religious fanatics may at first sight appear 

 to be out of place in a work professing to deal with 

 the wildernesses of a country ; but the sects of religious 

 mountebanks in North America are so numerous and so 

 extraordinary in their antics that even a writer dealing 

 with the wild natural scenery of the country can easily 

 be pardoned, if not justified, in dealing with a subject so 

 interesting, especially in the face of the interest aroused 

 by the trouble the Doukhobors are giving in Manitoba at 

 the present moment. Moreover, many of these sects, 

 driven from among their fellow-men, have sought the 

 wilderness, like wild things of the earth, and there 

 prospered and gamed their strength. 



It may be objected, perhaps, that these sects did not 

 take their rise in America. That, in some cases, may 

 be true enough, but they all found a congenial soil there. 

 The American is excitable in his religion as in most 

 other things ; and a novelty in religion, or in vice, is 

 sure to attract his attention, and probably something 

 more than his attention. 



As to the Doukhobors of the present day, I know 

 nothing of them beside what, in common with the rest 

 of the public, I have gleaned from the newspapers. 

 They are said to be Russians by nationality, and have 

 probably taken root in American soil since I left this 

 part of America. I think I have read, or heard, some- 

 thing of their peculiar views many years ago, as being 

 prevalent among certain Asiatic tribes long before the 



231 



