422 



iNEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



his term expired, a fact that tends to prove, either 

 that education is universally diffused throughout 

 our borders, or that we convict an undue propor- 

 tion of the educated ! 



Meeting at Concord David Parker, one of the 

 Canterbury "Believers," as they style themselves, 

 — known among the "world's people'' as shakers, 

 I accepted his invitation to call on them. I sup- 

 pose their peculiar tenets, and their simple, peace- 

 ful mode of life, are well understood by our read- 

 ers. A quiet, sheltered eddy in the rushing stream 

 of busy life, is this little community. 



Two-thirds of the trials of ordinary life grow 

 out of the cave and vexation, the toil and respon- 

 sibility, incident to acquiring and retaining what 

 may be deemed an adequate amount of this world's 

 goods, and half the other third arises directly or 

 indirectly from domestic relations, and the exer- 

 cise of affections, in which the "Believers" profess 

 to have no part. 



They have no separate property, and their soci- 

 ety is wealthy beyond the fear of want. 



They have no care, or responsibility, for food or 

 raiment or shelter, no apprehension of poverty in 

 old age, and the labor is light. They have no 

 wife, or husband, or child, or lover. As a mathe- 

 matical conclusion, other things being equal, they 

 must enjoy a vastly greater amount of happiness 

 than we unbelievers. But, alas, "the lesson 

 learned so long, so oft, so vainly," must yet be 

 read once more, that freedom from care is not hap- 

 piness. You see in this community on every hand 

 — in the staid unchanging costume of the men and 

 women — in the utilitarian plainness of their houses, 

 in the absence of all ornaments within or without, 

 Conservatism written in characters of ice. 



Their husbandry bears the same impress. Here- 

 tofore, they have been held up to the world as 

 model farmers, and they have by no means re- 

 ceded in their actual skill in cultivating the earth. 

 Their farms are now models of neatness — their 

 gardens and fields are planted and sowed with a 

 care and skill far beyond those of the world around 

 them, they are sj'steinatic and thorough in all their 

 operations. They have good judgment and good 

 taste, too, though that is a word not found in their 

 vocabulary, in the selection and rearing of live 

 stock. I noticed among their fine herds of cows, 

 some fine specimens of thorough bred Devons, in the 

 symmetrical forms and bright eyes of which my 

 young conductor, who by the way is a natural 

 born gentleman, however he may have chanced 

 into Shakerdom, seemed to manifest the same 

 interest which we "outside barbarians" should 

 feel in the graces which lie hid under the unruffled 

 primness of the short-waisted, straight-sided gowns 

 and coal-scuttle bonnets of their "sisters." 



The difference between their husbandry and 

 that of their neighbors is, that the former do every- 

 thing as well as they know how. They lay out no 

 more work than they can thoroughly perform, and 

 their days run on like an eight day clock, and 

 every stroke is at the right time, and tells as it 

 should, while we poor harrassed outsiders have 

 either "married a wife," or have a baby to tend, 

 to the manifest detriment of all previous well laid 

 schemes. The Believers do their best according to 

 their knowledge, and the rest of us do not. 



Hence they do their common work better than 

 we, but they make very little progress. The 

 scientific cultivators among us are far in advance 



of them, while the rank and file of the farmers are 

 as far behind. .Grafting, and planting, and sow- 

 ing, were understood in the time of Job, and most 

 of the arts of husbandry were "talked up" as 

 faithfully in Virgil's time as in ours, among the 

 educated. 



It is true, that knowledge is more generally dif- 

 fused among us than it has ever been elsewhere, but 

 the great obstacle now to improved agriculture, is the 

 want of the general diffusion of knowledge of facts 

 and principles already familiar to the educated far- 

 mer. 



In spite of the Procrustes bed of conservatism 

 to which the "Believers" are bound — in spite of 

 the iron cap of utility, which is designed to crush 

 down every bump of taste and sentiment, it is 

 quite observable that under the yea, yea, and nay, 

 nay, stiffness and severity of their outer man, 

 there are human feelings — aspirations for beauty, 

 and "something to love" welling up even in the 

 deserts of Shakerdom. Upon my suggestion that 

 a little attention to planting shade trees would add 

 much to the comfort as well as beauty of their 

 ample grounds, the chilling reply was, "Shade 

 trees are not of much wse,"but soon after we came 

 to a little garden filled with flowers, with a curi- 

 ous frame work carefully erected, sheltered by a 

 roof, with the posts covered with tin, evidently to 

 prevent the ascent of cats and similar blood- 

 thirsty animals. "And what is this," I inquired. 

 My friend, with a good deal of manifest interest, in- 

 formed me, that it was "a robin stand," a place 

 built up amid the flowers cultivated by "the sis- 

 ters" for the protection of the small birds, which 

 had gratefully accepted the offering, and filled it 

 with their nests and young. 



Among other curiosities, I was introduced to 

 the oldest shaker, Peter Ayer, who is ninety-two 

 years of age. He was a soldier in the revolution, 

 and like Solomon did not clearly discern the "van- 

 ity and vexation of spirit" of "the world," until 

 he had given it a pretty thorough trial. Peter 

 urged me strongly to join the Believers, and in 

 reply to my inquiry whether he did not think he 

 was doing his duty faithfully to his Maker, when 

 he fought for the liberty of his country, he safely 

 said, "No doubt it was all over-ruled for good." 



On the whole, to return to my text, there is not 

 enough, in this community, to develop mankind, 

 physically, morally or intellectually. It is not the 

 place to raise great men, which is no disparage- 

 ment, inasmuch as they make no pretensions to 

 raising any. Their life must be monotonous and 

 wearisome. I cannot believe that enough of spirit- 

 uality can be developed in so dull and unemotion- 

 al a mode of life, to satisfy the cravings of the 

 human heart. 



However, as I told Peter Ayer, if thejr would 

 pay a little more attention to architecture and 

 landscape gardening, and cultivate the social affec- 

 tions more assiduously, I don't know but I should 

 be willing to wear long hair and a badly-fitting 

 coat, and join them when I am old enough. 



My ink has already flowed too freely, and with- 

 out further attempt to find an end to my subject, 

 I will make an end of my letter. 



Your friend, n. f. f. 



Reclaiming Meadows. — In our recent brief sug- 

 gestions of work to be done in August, we made 

 some remarks upon reclaiming meadows. In work- 



