SHAKERS AND RELIGIOUS MUMMERS 237 



lay them open to all sorts of evil surmises on the part of 

 men whose chief guide in life is unlimited self-indulgence, 

 is not surprising. I believe those evil surmises to be 

 groundless : these people really live celibate lives. But 

 there is something wrong somewhere in the community. 

 The women are a wretched -looking lot of creatures. I 

 spoke just now of a possible buxom Shakeress. There is 

 no such thing among them. They are as ugly, without 

 exception, as their dresses are unbecoming. Moreover, 

 they all have the look of being out of health. The men, 

 on the contrary, and the children, are ruddy, well fed, and 

 cheerful- looking to a high degree. The impression strongly 

 stamped on my mind was, that if I were compelled to 

 live among these creatures I should certainly fall into 

 most of their habits until my reason failed. I could not 

 possibly fall in love with, or desire to marry any of these 

 most repulsive specimens of womanhood, if indeed they 

 deserve to have the revered name of womanhood applied 

 to them in any form. There is something picturesque in 

 Macbeth's hags : there is nothing picturesque in a female 

 Shaker. 



Among the Doukhobors of this day (more than thirty 

 years later than the time of which I have been writing) 

 it is recorded that no garment made of the wool or hair 

 of animals or the feathers of birds is used. I do not 

 think that the Shakers paid any such silly, but pitiful, 

 respect to the animal creation ; but I remember running 

 my eye along the clothes-lines (my impudence is bound- 

 less), and noticing that there were no articles of flannel 

 suspended to dry, though the time was late autumn, 

 when the weather was something more than chilly. 



Another circumstance that struck me much was that 

 there were stores on this remarkable estate, stuffed with 

 goods which had all been made by this more than remark- 

 able community, and which were worth many thousands 

 of dollars. The stock was so extensive that not a fifth 

 of it could possibly have been consumed by the com- 



