A Peculiar Sect.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 82, 27 December 1884, Page 5

A Peculiar Sect.

A Visit to the Shakers. j A few weeks ago I was in the New Forest, i and 1 thought that I would pay a visit to J the Shakers. After driving a few miles, I , stopped at a small roadside inn, and in- 1 quired for their whereabouts. I was told j that they were in a field about a mile furthor on, and that I could not miss them, as I should see a quantity of sheds. ] Having at last discovered them, I passed through a gate, which was opened by a decent-looking man. He said that he was ] one of the family, and conducted me into a shed. It was roofed with American cloth, j there were two or three long wooden tables ( in it, at which some women were seated j sewing and ironing, and there was a stove ] in the middle. "I will go and fetch the ( Mother, " said the man, and he disappeared. t Left with the women all I could get out of j them was "Yes" and I ' No." Soon, how- i ever, the door opened, and the Mother { entered. J had oxpected to see a weird j sibyl. I found mysolf in the presence of a 1 sharp-foatured, but not unpleasing, woman j of about fifty. Shewasarrayed in a clean white dross, on her fingor glittered a diamond j ring, and a voluminous gold chain j meandered over her breast. The Mother , was chatty, and we soon got upon friendly * terms, confronting each other on t"\v o chairs before the stove. Her conversation was a { mixture of shrewdness in temporal matters and ravings on spiritual matters. She ex- j plained to me, as one of the most ordinary of things, that she had heard a voice : this j voice had told hor that the Deity had once appeared in the form of a man, and that it . was about to appear in the form of a woman, j " And whose is this form to be ?" I asked. , " Mino," she replied, as she put a few coals on the fire. "I am the Deity." "Immortal, I suppose?" "Yes, I shall never die. Ido not feel a day older than I was ? twenty years ago." "Beautiful forever," ( I murmured, and she smiled at the compli- ] ment. " Are these ladies also immortals ?" , I said. " Well," she answered, "1 am not prepared to say so, for if I did, and they , were to die, what would be thought j of me? It dopend? upon their faith." "In you ?" "Of course." Some of , the ladies nodded to each other , in a dreary way at this announce- j ment. One was a crone, who sat 1 rocking herself on her chair and glaring at ( the ceiling. I havo seen Mich persons in lunatic a&ylums, and I make no doubt that { she was three parts an idiot. There are j two or three pretty girls, who had a sly, wild expression, but tho others seomed to i mo to bo much liko charwomen. "How ', many Shakers aro there ?" I asited the Mother. "We do not call ourselves ( Shakers, but Christitcs," die said. "The ( family consists of about fifty ; thirty-six ; arc women, and sixteen arc men." "And \ what do you live on?" "Our labour." " Do you manufacture any tiling, or sell ' your garden-stuff/" "No." "I suppose that you occasionally have to buy .something — the roof of this room, for instance ; < you could not havo manufactured the material?" "Well, we bought that." , " But where did you get the money ?" "The Lord provided it." "Yes, but I don't suppose that your American cloth came down direct from heaven ; through whose hands did it reach you?'" "Friends have been kind to us, but sometimes wo arc without dinner." "And are there to be no more births in this world ?" "Those who have faith ond who are immortal do not want to marry." " But suppose that young lady thero were to fall in love with some one, should you hinder her from marrying ?" and I pointed to one of the pretty young girls. "No, certainly not; but if she wore to fall in love, and if she were to wi&h to marry, it would bo a proof 0 Jhor want of faith." ''Immortality in single life, or mortality in married life?" 1 said. "Precisely." Then the Mother and I strolled out to look at the other sheds and the garden. There were two sheds with beds — one for the men, the other tor tho women. The beds looked clean and comfortable, but were crowded too closely together from a &auitary point of view. The Mother had a room to hen-elf, but she did not take mo into this sanctum, and there was a shed with a grand piano and a harmonium in it. "For your services, I presume?" "Wo have no services," .she said, " but on Sundays we meet together to sing and dance." " Dovotiuiwilly ?" " No, rather for amusement and e\t)ici&e. We often have a good many visitors." Just then a good-looking young man, somewhat of a rustic dandy, mado hits appearance " My son," said the Mother ; and the young man explained that he had been out for a walk. My divine guide now invited me to accompany her into the garden. It was well kept, and in the main devoted to vegetables, but each member of the family had a private flower-garden. The "Mother" seemed to me to know a good deal more about gardening than theology, but she occasionally reverted to the former, and I could not help thinking how very different wore the goddesses of old when they condescended to appear to mortals, and to discourse with them in woods and groves. On leaving the establishment, I saw a box for contributions, into which I deposited my mite. And 1 should say that the entire nonsense i? got up with a view to this box. Mrs Girling may have had a dream, but I hardly think that she herself believes in her divinity. She has no money. A few of tho men and women who joined her had a little, but this has been spent. They may not live in luxury, but they are comfortably clothed, and from their appear ance I should imagine they havo quite enough to eat. Were the "family" to break up, they would havo to work, some in the fields, others as domestic servants. They prefer to loaf about, gossiping, playing the piano, dancing, and occasionally doing a little light and easy work in a garden, and to be supported by those who visit them out of curiosity. As they have succeeded so far in this, lam only surprised that more "Mothers" do not found more "families." Wo live in an ago when a man or a woman has only to announce tho possession of,.some mystic gift in order to live on fools. This Mrs Girling, who lives by boldly aaying that she is a goddess and immortal, is not one whit worse than the host of clairvoyants, spiritualists, table turners, thought-readers, and other humbugs who live by quackery and deception ; nor is there ono atom more real evidence in favour of their pretensions i than of hers. The other day, a woman called Blavatsky turned up in London. She pretended to hold communication with an " astral " Thibetan named Koot Hoomi. In India sho had already obtained notorioty. She had there a " shrine," where, I suppose, offerings were deposited, and the astral Thibetan either appeared in person to her dupes, or answered letters they wrote to him. Unfortunately, howovcf, hor confederates there have revealed the mechanism with which she performed her tricks. Not in the least abashed, she, or one of her disciples, has written a letter to the "Times " to explain. The explanation is that these confederates had actually manufactured secret doors, &c, in order to revenge themselves on her. Whether this is more likely, or it is more likely that this owner of an astral Thibetan is an imgoator, any one may form an

opinion. But so credulous is the age, so utterly incompetent are those who love mysticism to understand by what evidence phenomena beyond the recognised laws of nature ought to be supported, that numbers will still swear by this Blavatsky woman and her "astral" visitant, and she probably will eat, drink, clothe herself, and enjoy all the comforts that she desires by means of this impudent and detected imposture. Where are the police?—" Truth."