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Updated: June 23, 2025
"I say to any who know me, as Jesus said to the Pharisees, 'which of you convicteth me of sin." Where faults are committed, it is held to be the duty of the offender to confess to the elder, or, if it is a woman, to the eldress; and it is for these, too, to administer reproof.
I had to take her to Eldress Abby. She sat up in front of the little looking-glass as still as a mouse, while the curls came off, but when the last one fell into Abby's apron, she suddenly put her hands over her face and cried: 'Oh, Mardie, we shall never be the same togedder, you and I, after this! She seemed to see her 'little past, her childhood, slipping away from her, all in an instant.
At the same moment Nathan turned, and before he could conceal the telltale ardor of his glance, it had sped to Hetty. With the instinct of self-preservation he stooped instantly as if to steady the saw on the pole, but it was too late to mend matters: his tale was told so far as Susanna was concerned; but it was better she should suspect than one of the Believers or Eldress Abby.
I asked; and an eldress replied, "Yes, we like to take children but we don't like to take monkeys;" and, in general, the Shakers have discovered that "blood will tell," and that they can do much better with the children of religious parents than with those whose fathers or mothers were dissolute or irreligious.
Athalia listened breathlessly, her rapt, unhumorous eyes fixed on Eldress Hannah's still face. Now and then she asked a question, and once cried out that, after all, why wasn't it the way to live? Peace and self-sacrifice and love! "Oh," she said, turning to her husband, "can't you feel the attraction of it? I should think even you could feel it!"
"It isn't canny, exactly," Lewis told his wife, in a low voice. But she did not seem to hear him. She asked many questions of Eldress Hannah, who had taken them in charge, and once or twice she burst into impetuous appreciation of the idea of brotherhood, and even of certain theological principles which last diverted her husband very much.
Susanna's lip was trembling and her face was pale. She lifted her swimming eyes to the Sister's and asked, "Is it for us, Eldress Abby?" "Yee, it's for you," she answered; "there's always a Shaker supper on the table for all who want to leave the husks and share the feast. Come right in and help yourselves. I will sit down with you."
It was lighted by a small, deep, oriel window, with a broad sill, on which were arranged some flower-pots, sweet-scented flowers growing in them. No carpet covered the floor; but it was brightly polished, as was all the woodwork in the room. "Such will be your dormitory," observed the Mother Eldress. "Is there no fireplace?" asked Clara.
"Hetty dear, talk to me!" whispered Susanna, softly touching her shoulder, and wondering if she could somehow find a way to counsel the girl in her perplexity. Hetty started rebelliously to her feet as Nathan moved away farther into the orchard. "If you say a single thing to me, or a word about me to Eldress Abby, I'll run away this very day.
Eldress Hannah Matterson told the daughter to go into the room to her carnal mother, and say, What do you come here for? I dont want you to come and see me with your carnal affections! The mother being grieved, replied, I did not expect that a daughter of mine would ever address me in that manner.
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