A Day With the Shakers (1843)
AUTHOR: Lane, Charles
PUBLICATION: "A Day with the Shakers." The Dial. Vol. IV no. 2 (October 1843): 165-174.
https://archive.org/details/dial03riplgoog/page/164/mode/2up
KEYWORDS: animal welfare, economy, food, property, religion, spirituality, women’s rights
Alcott, A. Bronson. The Doctrine and Discipline of Human Culture
---. “Social Tendencies"
---. ”Untitled”
Lane, Charles and A. Bronson Alcott. "The Consociate Family Life"
Nichols, Mary Sargeant Gove. Mary Lyndon
SUMMARY (Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen):
In this short piece, published in The Dial, Lane gives an account of life in a small Shaker village not far from Fruitlands, exploring this attempt at alternative communal living. Implicitly and in passing, Lane broaches questions of animal welfare, diet, and women's status in society.
Lane's first impression is dominated by “a large stone barn, having very much the appearance of a prison, which for the animals contained therein probably it is” (165). This is symptomatic of his negative impression of the community's carnism. Lane explicitly mentions that “most of the members, except the children, consume flesh-meat; much milk is used; and the aged amongst them still drink tea, or coffee, and the like” (167). However, he is positively impressed by the village's “orchards and gardens,” which he thinks are “the most striking achievements” (166). He also notes the readiness with which the Shakers are happy to engage in conversations about their “distinguishing practice of self-sacrifice,” namely “abstinence from marriage” (166, 165). While disagreeing with the way they do business, which he believes requires “more extensive interchanges of money, and more frequent intercourse with the world, than seems compatible with a serene life,” Lane is impressed with the “repose, quiet, and cleanliness” of the place (167). After describing the settlement buildings, he provides both a brief history of the Shakers and a somewhat longer account of their “theological system” (169), which leads him to conclude:
To literary minds the Shaker principles may present little of an attractive nature; as to the artist their external appearances may indicate but a moderate love for the beautiful. Yet the truth must be affirmed that in the absence of much literature, of the fine arts, and of those studies which are thought to be essential in human progress, they seem to be far on the road, if they have not already attained the solution of a chaste, scientific, and self-sustained life (171-172).