upon the water and they returned Spanish galleons laden with good
things to eat.

After dining, we were walked through the various buildings, up
stairs and down, through kitchens, pantries, and cellars,--a wise
exercise after so bountiful a repast. In the cellar we drank
something from a bottle labelled "Pure grape juice," one of those
non-alcoholic beverages with which the teetotaler whips the devil
around the stump; another glass would have made Shakers of us all,
for the juice of the grape in this instance was about twenty-five
per cent. proof. If the good sisters supply their worthy brothers
in faith with this stimulating cordial, it is not unlikely that
life in the village is less monotonous than is commonly supposed.
It certainly was calculated to add emphasis to the eccentricities
of even a "Shaking Quaker."

Although the oldest and the wealthiest of all the socialistic
communities, there are only about six thousand Shakers in the
United States, less than one-fourth of what there were in former
times.

At Mt. Lebanon, the first founded of the several societies in this
country, there are seven families, or separate communities, each
with its own home and buildings. The present membership is about
one hundred and twenty, nearly all women,--scarcely enough men to
provide the requisite deacons for each family.

Large and well-managed schools are provided to attract children
from the outside world, and so recruit the diminishing ranks of
the faithful; but while many girls remain, the boys steal away to