SHAKERS AND RELIGIOUS MUMMERS 239 



but the impression was left on my mind tliat they would 

 much rather be left to themselves; that they dislike 

 having strangers approach them, but would never say so 

 for fear of giving offence. They certainly are careful to 

 "give oflfence to none." 



The women avoided coming in contact with me as 

 much as they could, and in this they were aided by the 

 men, who drew my attention to other things. I could 

 not therefore learn much of the daily life of the women, 

 although I was permitted to look into a building used as 

 a laundry, and a room where a number of young girls 

 were busy sewing and making garments. All work seemed 

 to be going on with the regularity and silence usually 

 observed in prisons ; and these two rooms reminded me 

 of pictures I have seen of Dutch industrial schools. 

 There was no conversation or singing, even of hymns. 

 Two or three horrible old ogresses seemed to be watching 

 the young workers, whose ages ranged from about seven 

 to twenty years; and I supposed that this acted as a 

 spell on them. The " brother " who showed me round 

 uttered a word or two of explanation to me about the 

 work, but did not address or salute any of the women. 

 Only one of them looked up as we stood on the thres- 

 hold of the door (we did not pass beyond), and she was 

 instantly observed by one of the ogresses, who uttered 

 the single word, " Martha ! " in a tone so awful that it 

 shocked me more than a torrent of blasphemy would 

 have done. Mentally I exclaimed, " For God's sake, let us 

 go ! " and scarcely could refrain from uttering the words 

 aloud. Certainly it does not require flames to make a 

 hell. Perhaps the remark can scarcely be understood by a 

 person who has not visited a place of this kind, perhaps 

 I am too imaginative ; but the horrible constraint of this 

 place, with the cool, fiend-like nature of the discipline, 

 made me feel, long before my inspection was finished, 

 that it was a sia to live — a wickedness to have a being ; 

 and so far was the scene from provoking a single holy 



