termination as within the bounds of possibility.

Union Village is composed of substantial buildings which are scattered for half a mile along the public road which passes through the Shaker estate. The buildings are principally of brick, of plain, solid appearance, and wholly free from any hint of architectural ornamentation. Some of the larger ones might be taken for country hotels, or for asylum buildings of some

sort.

The houses stand near the street, which is pleasantly shaded by a row of fine maples on either side, and a neat but narrow walk of flagstones runs beneath the trees for the entire length of the village. The buildings consist of the family houses, each capable of accommodating from a dozen to fifty or more members; of these, the house of the trustees is the largest, and contains the "office" where strangers are entertained, and business with the outer world transacted. There is also a chapel, blacksmith-shop, broom factory, tenant houses, etc., together with numerous large barns and stables, and some buildings that have fallen into disuse because of an insufficient membership to occupy them all.

While there is absolute community of interest, so far as ultimate profit or loss is concerned, there is yet "a wheel within a wheel": the community being divided into families, each occupying certain buildings and lands, and having individual interests. In this manner the farm management is simplified, and possibly a generous spirit of rivalry is instituted that redounds to the greatest benefit of the whole.

At the head of the community is the ministry, composed of four of the leading members-two brethren and two sisters as in this sect women have equal voice with the men. These have the general control and supervision of all interests. At the head of each family are four elders or properly, elder brethren and sisters - who have charge of the spiritual affairs of the family; and four deacons and deaconnesses who control the temporal affairs. The title to property is vested in trustees, who hold it in trust for the whole.

To each family is allotted, by the ministry, a certain portion of the land, with the necessary buildings, at a fixed rental. Upon this the family may pursue such a course of agriculture as seems to them the most desirable. The profits which result, after providing for the family maintenance, may be expended upon the improvement of the land, the purchase of stock, or may be invested. But always and in everything subject to the final control of the ministry. As they are not wholly devoid of human nature, there is a natural ambition with each family to prove the correctness of their methods. Should a year, or a series of years prove unremunerative, the family is not dispossessed from its land, but such aid is extended by the community as seems just and desirable. Each family keeps its own accounts, and an account is kept between each and the community.

The first and leading tenet of Shakerism is the maintenance of celibacy. To effect this they do not lead cloistered lives, nor do they depend upon vows. In entering the community one must express a willingness to conform to this requirement. If, afterwards, any wish to marry, as will sometimes happen, no hindrance is placed in the way; but before doing so their relations with the community must be dissolved. Cleanliness is next to godliness with them, and idleness and wastefulness are vicious habits that will not be tolerated. Abstinence from holding or acquiring private property is obligatory upon all who come into full fellowship. into full fellowship. War, oaths, debts, and seeking after the honors of the world, must be avoided.

In joining the community, the convert must make an open confession of all sins, pay all debts, and so far as possible make restitution for all wrongs done. All private property must be given into the general fund, and all legal claim upon the same renounced; and henceforth all labor performed must be for the good of the whole.

No husband or wife is permitted to separate, except legally or by mutual consent, in order to be received into the Shakers. And no one who abandons his

or her partner without just or legal cause, will be received. And in case of a parent separating from his children, or a husband from his wife, in order to join them, an equitable division of property must first be made.

Any one who fulfils these requirements is eligible for membership; but they are at first only received on probation into the "novitiate" family - the family keeping up the closest relations with the "world," as distinguished from the church family, which more nearly concerns itself with the spiritual welfare of the community. Here they are tried, by the test of constant companionship, to determine if they are willing to conform wholly to the requirements and the lives of the sect, as well as to give them an opportunity for withdrawing if they find the life uncongenial.

At the end of the period of probation, if both parties are fully satisfied, the novitiate renounces family ties and all affiliation with the outer world, and consecrates himself, his property, and his labor to the community. After this, if he desires to sever his connection with them he cannot legally take anything away, however much he may have brought in. As a matter of fact, however, the Shakers claim that no member who goes away in peace is ever allowed to leave with empty hands.

The sect of Shakers had its origin in the grafting of spiritualism upon the sober practices of the Quakers.

About the middle of the last century some members of the society of Quakers, in England, who had became subjects of the revival begun by spiritualists in Europe about that time, associated themselves together into a society, from which sprang directly the American Shakers, through Ann Lee, who became a member of it.

This society had no forms, creeds, rules of faith, or of worship. Their one article of belief was that of the second coming of Christ, and on all occasions they testified that His appearance was near at hand.

From their practices when meeting together they were contemptuously given the name of Shakers. After sitting a

These performances, which brought them into ridicule, and which certainly must have appeared ridiculous enough to lookers-on, they claimed to be the manifestations of the spirit acting within them.

In 1774, Ann Lee, then a young woman and a member of this society, who claimed that she had before seen Christ in a vision, had a revelation in which she was commanded to come to America and establish the church in the new world.

In obedience to this command she gathered a few friends and came to the United States, and established the first Shaker settlement at Watervliet, seven miles from Albany, New York; and from this has sprung the seventeen or eighteen communities now in existence in the United States.

It is a rather singular fact that this people have never attempted to spread themselves beyond the limits of the Union; their explanation of this is, that they need that freedom of person and of speech-liberty of the press and of conscience science and separation of Church and State, that can be obtained here and not elsewhere.

The Shakers are spiritualists, and believe that communication may be established between the two worlds, and that we may receive the outward and visible manifestation of this by means of signs; they claim Shakerism to be the ultimate Christian Church, and that the redemption of the race lies within them; they condemn marriage as not a Christian institution, but that men and women should live together as brethren and sistersthe members of one great household.

Among the misconceptions under which the Shakers have labored in the

eyes of the world, but which are now generally removed, are: that they believed Ann Lee to be a witch, "because she was known (sic) to possess supernatural powers"; and that they thought her more than human — equal to Christ; and that they worship her.

The fact is, that they are not at all a mysterious people, although they have some peculiarities—which most of the outside world might do well to imitate. Their dress, with its sober hues, and the broad-brimmed hats for the men and the Shaker bonnets for the women, has a reason for its being. It was adopted as best conforming to the conditions of modesty, health, and comfort; and they never change their fashions unless they can better these conditions.

They practise such homely virtues as simplicity of dress, purity, temperance, neatness, industry, peace, charity, and economy. They are prudent and frugal, not from motives of selfishness, but because they believe such conduct to be enjoined on all men. Wastefulness is abhorred to such a degree that a conspicuous rule of the dining-room is, that nothing shall be left upon the plates. In support of which they give equal prominence to the command to "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing is lost."

Since 1850 they have not used swine as food, and many abstain from meat altogether. And as temperance in eating is specially enjoined, it is not to be supposed that they are intemperate in drink.

They are cheerful in disposition, though not given to wordiness; and use yea and nay in conversation, but not thee and thou. They observe the most scrupulous neatness and order in everything; the walls are whitewashed and floors scrubbed so that not a speck of dirt can be seen upon either. Narrow strips of home-made carpet are laid upon the floors where most used, but are never fastened down, as that would aid in the accumulation of dust beneath.

One peculiarity of the family relationship is worth mentioning, each of the brethren is under the domestic care of a certain sister, who attends to his clothing,

mends, darns, and advises him when and what new garments are needed.

Each of the family buildings is divided. by a roomy hall, upon one side of which are the apartments of the sisters, and upon the others those for the brethren. Each room contains from four to eight single cots, and are all furnished plainly and exactly alike. The members of a family all dine at once, and in the same room, but at separate tables; and in all their meetings the men and women sit apart.

Their method of worship has been the subject for much levity and misrepresentation. Dancing, which was formerly indulged in, has now been abandoned for a more sedate march. But the dance was never more than a series of measured turnings and convolutions. And in justification of the practice they quote the Hebrews" who rejoiced with music and with dancing"; and how in olden days "they praised God with the timbrel and the dance."

While the indications are evident that the sect is rapidly declining, and that it will eventually perish, as must any order which aims to live in contravention to the established order of society, no matter how pure or high its purpose, it is worth noting that it has now existed longer than any other purely communistic society on this continent, if not in the world. A community which has existed for a century, maintaining a close adherence to its first principles, been self-sustaining, and kept itself respected in the eyes of the world, is at least sufficiently rare to be noteworthy. And this has been effected, too, without any of that elaboration of plans and ideas that marked the schemes of Fourier and Saint Simon as the work of unpractical dreamers. Divested of the supernatural, the sect owes its being to an idea born in the brain of a woman of energy and lofty purpose. The idea took upon itself form, because it came at a time when society was ripe for such experiments; and while the time has gone by when men are largely attracted by such ideas, were it not for ignoring the law upon which all human institutions must rest their hope of perpetuity, there is no reason why the society might not

The coming in of desirable new members is becoming more and more infrequent. They can receive plenty of accessions of the class known as "Winter Shakers," persons who will protest that they honestly desire to become Shakers, in order to secure a comfortable haven during the season when it is most difficult to procure subsistence in the "world," and when the least labor will be demanded of them in the community. While it is against their principles to turn any away who come professing an honest intention, repeated unpleasant experience with such impostors has made them more cautious than formerly. Yet the line that they now draw for the admission of novitiates cannot be said to be severe or arbitrary. Whereas they would formerly admit any, those coming now in the winter "must have at least two coats to their back." "In order," said a kindly gray-haired sister, of whose seventy-five years, sixty-seven had been passed in viewing the world from under a Shaker bonnet, "in order that they shall not eat up and wear out more than they can earn

before it is time to go." That is, when spring opens, and every able hand in the community is set at work - the signal for "Winter Shakers" to be on the road.

No new societies have been organized since 1830, and the tendency now is toward the consolidation of those now existing. Recently, a small community near Cleveland has disposed of its property, a valuable farm close to the city limits, and united themselves with the societies at Union Village and at Watervliet, near Dayton, Ohio; while, some years ago, the single community of Indiana was consolidated with this at Union Village.

The strict and temperate habits of the Shakers and their observance of the laws of morality and hygiene are conducive to health and long life, as may be seen from the inscriptions in their cemeteries. The proportion of those who have attained the age of severty-five and upward is strikingly large, while very many live to be ninety. So, barring the possibility of new recruits, there is not much temptation to join them in the expectation of becoming an heir to their wealth the last man in a Shaker com

munity.

And shouts