Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1874 — Child Life in Shakerdom. [ARTICLE]

Child Life in Shakerdom.

The Pittsfield (Mass.) Eacjle says that children placed with the Shakers at Lebanon are indentured to Benjamin Gates, or some authority, until they •“ become of age,” he agreeing in the papersto provide them food, clothing, etc. They are then placed in the “ children’s order,” under the charge of a sister designated to care for them, and she commences at once to instill into their minds the. glories of the creed. In their management never a blow is struck. Refractory ones are punished by being laid flat upon the floor, face down. When they have been kept thus prostrate for a length of time, they are taken up and “talked to,” the enormity of their offenses pointed out, and are exhorted to behave better in the future. Those from eight to a dozen years of age “go to confession” every Saturday, and “ own up” (or are supposed to) to the little sins of the week that have escaped the notice of their guardians. And as they receive special approval after an apparentlyvery full confession, they early learn to conjure up quite enormous stories, knowing that they “ gull” their confessors into a deeper belief in their pretense. “ Now don’t you feel better after confessing all that?” asks the ancient virgin who has heard the story. “ Yea, yea,” says the little miss, and tipping a wink to her companions she walks out as sedately as a spinster of seventy. Another mode of punishment is to put the youngster, into a large sack, tying it lightly around the neck. Should the child refuse to get into the bag it is drawn over the refractory one, and then, head, feet and all enveloped, he or she is left to repent of offensive disobedience. The children are sent to school four months each year —the boys in the winter and the girls in the summer. Coeducation hasn’t the slightest support there. The girls and boys must not converse together. If they happen to meet, and if a roguish youngster is bold enough to break the silence with some pretty maiden, the maiden must be deaf and dumb to him. “ Isn’t there some boy here that you are just a little fonder of than the others?” is a standing question in the confessional. The reply always is “ nay,” and the blind old goodies believe it I Porter, Me., prides itself because ithas already had ice almost thick enough to skate on.