HOW THEY ARE RECRUITED. 269 



cheerful and content. They are taught during certain 

 hours in the day by the schoolmaster of the Society, 

 and there is a considerable library of general literature 

 for the use of all. 



The members of the Shakers are partly recruited by 

 individuals of both sexes, who occasionally leave the 

 world and join them 5 but their principal accessions are 

 from &quot; destitute parents and orphan children, who, as a 

 last resort, seek the Society.&quot; Until of age, young per 

 sons are bound as apprentices, and taught; and, when 

 they grow up, are received into the Society, if they are 

 so inclined. Among us at home, as a refuge for the 

 destitute, their societies would find no lack of members. 

 It is otherwise in the United States, where employment 

 is plenty, and the means of making a livelihood are 

 within the reach of almost every one inclined to be 

 industrious. 



Jan. 19. I went out this afternoon to Kinderhook, 

 about fifteen miles down the Hudson, a couple of miles 

 within its left bank, and commanding- a fine view of the 



o 



Catskill Mountains. This township is the native place 

 and present residence of Mr Van der Buren, the late 

 President of the United States. Sprung from an humble 

 origin, and commencing life as a village lawyer, he 

 gradually rose to the distinguished position which, fol 

 lowing nearly a similar career, the present President, Mr 

 Fillmore, has more unexpectedly attained. 



This district is rural, and not densely peopled ; but, 

 within the last twenty-five years, it has undergone 

 remarkable changes in its agricultural condition and 

 prosperity which are the more interesting from their 

 having arisen out of an important change in the social 

 state. In 1825, slavery was abolished in the State of 

 New York the emancipation to be gradual in certain 

 cases and from that period the changes I allude to com 

 menced. My host, Dr Beekman, remembered the times 



