THE CITY'S LIFE - 1175 lease. Government help would solve one of these problems and increased membership in the club would solve both. There is another handicap which holds back Cleveland yachting. The nearest desirable objective is Vermillion, thirty miles west of Rocky River, a three hours' run or more for the average power boat. That isn't much of a run for the motorist, but it is quite an undertaking for the yachtsman, who is subject to the whims of the weather. He may arrive at Vermillion Saturday afternoon, prepared for an overnight stay and a run home Sunday afternoon, only to wake up Sunday to find a fine nor'wester howling and kicking up such a sea that he cannot venture outside. The Cleveland yachtsman is in somewhat the same fix as a motorist who has a fine yard with driveways well paved, but leading out to a main highway which isn't paved at all and which is impassable when it rains. There's no place to go in bad weather. Detroit has one hundred miles of protected water in one stretch, and plenty of tributaries. Toledo has a fine river on which yachts can cruise in any weather. Buffalo and Erie and, better still, Sandusky, have fine facilities, far surpassing Cleveland's. The Rocky River yachtsmen have preserved the sport of sailing against the encroachments of power-driven craft, and they represent the last stand of sail in Cleveland. More than one-fifth of the Cleveland Yachting Club's hundred odd craft are these lovely white-winged creatures. Every year, in July, yachtsmen from Detroit, Toledo, Sandusky, Vermillion, Lorain, Cleveland and Erie gather at Put-in-Bay, sixty miles west of Cleveland, for their annual regatta, the season's high point. Cleveland has never shown adequate appreciation for the blessings Lake Erie has brought, but often displays surprising ignorance. A few years ago, before the bathhouse at Gordon Park was burned, the boatmen complained that the entrance to the creek, which was spanned by the bathhouse, was too low to admit any but the smallest boats. They asked the council to raise this entrance way. "Would it not be cheaper," asked one solemn councilman, 1176 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS "to dredge the channel and thus lower the water, so that boats could pass under the present structure?" Such ignorance and indifference has lost to private interests most of Cleveland's water front. The gift of W. J. Gordon provides half a mile on the east side, and Edgewater park and boulevard preserve a mile on the West Side, and Rocky River Park and Huntington and Cahoon Parks farther west add a little more, but that is all. There is but one bathhouse, that at Edgewater, although there is a good beach at Gordon. In the summer of 1932 the health authorities advised citizens not to use either beach for bathing because of the presence of dangerous bacteria, but the beaches were not closed and were filled to capacity on hot days, despite the warning. As for fishing, there is none worthy of the name. The polluted waters of the Cuyahoga drive all fish away. Some perch and sandpikes are caught, and great schools of white bass come inshore sometimes in the fall. But these are small. There is much better fishing in the small lakes inland than there is in Lake Erie near Cleveland. Lake steamers, too, will take fishermen to the good spots in Canada, by way of Port Stanley, and to the islands around Put-in-Bay or the marshes west of Sandusky. These marshes also provide good duck hunting, in season. There is a model yacht club, boasting a membership of 200 men and boys, devoted to building and sailing models of all types and classes, mostly sailing boats. Regattas are held twice a month at various beaches and lakes. Wade Park is a favorite spot, also the artificial lagoon at Edgewater. Eighty-one thousand a year use the public rowboats and power boats. Now, at last we get down to— GOLF This game does not get proper emphasis when it is ranked according to the figures of the Park Department. The official statement that 71,000 players enjoy the game in a year includes attendance only at Highland Park, and ignores Metro- THE CITY'S LIFE - 1177 politan Park, which is under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Park Board. There are nineteen golf clubs, private courses and fee courses in what may properly be called the Cleveland district, and scores more within easy reach. It is likely that at least half a million players would be counted in all these courses, in a single season. Still, golf must take a humble position when compared with a sport like baseball, which attracts more than two and one-half millions. All of those numbered as golfers are actual players, while most of those in the baseball column are spectators. But this chapter is endeavoring to show how Cleveland spends its spare time; and if it chooses to sit in a grandstand and abuse an umpire five times as much as it chooses to play golf, then umpire-baiting is the major pastime, by a ratio of five to one. There was a time not long ago when officials of the Cleveland Baseball Company gave very serious thought to the growing popularity of golf, and feared for its effect on attendance at baseball games; but present indications are that baseball is gaining more than golf, probably because of the more limited facilities for the latter. Golf, like tennis, started out as the game of the wealthy, but the city, (and its politicians) changed all that by building beautiful courses, larger than the private ones, and as fine and well kept, where the public can play eighteen holes for seventy cents, and hire a caddy, if desired, for seventy-five cents more. Or one can buy a season ticket for twenty-five dollars and play as often as desired. These courses are courteously policed and free from rowdyism. They are crowded on Sundays and holidays, but reservations may be made by telephone and play begun promptly on the scheduled hour. At Highland Park a player may have all the advantages of the private club, except exclusiveness, including showers and private lockers, restaurant and instruction. PONIES A check on the derision aimed at the councilman who asked for "nice ponies and birds" may be furnished in the 1178 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS fact that 62,769 devotees classify pony riding as a major sport, and next in order. It is a little brother of horseback riding, which has made astonishing progress in the last few years. The city has not gone in for horses, as it has for ponies, but private enterprise has provided hundreds of riding horses, and the park officials have included bridle paths in their programs, so that anyone may ride, under ideal circumstances, at a moderate cost. MISCELLANEOUS Dancing is usually considered an indoor sport rather than an outdoor recreation. But the parks, public and private, provide dance halls, the city provides inspectors, and hundreds of lads and lassies enjoy this amusement under city auspices. It would be difficult for anyone to name a sport for which Cleveland has not made provision. No one should take advantage of that statement to shout "Mountain Climbing" or "Surf-board Riding" to confound the historian, for the city cannot provide all things that Nature hag neglected. The city can provide some of them, like skating ponds, and the Elysium indoor skating rink with its artificial ice, but mountains and surf are not for park departments to build. Skiing has a few enthusiasts, hampered by lack of natural hills for jumping., but there is no tobogganing. Ice-boating used to be a conspicous winter sport, but it has not grown, but has rather decreased because of the uncertainties of the weather. Ice boats are expensive, and there are winters when they cannot be used at all. Indications point to the growth of rowing as a sport, now that the Edgewater lagoon is available. The Cleveland Rowing Club has moved its headquarters from the Municipal Dock to the Edgewater bathhouse, where club quarters and boat storage have been arranged. Plans are for future regattas and an offer by the National Rowing Association for a national championship meet here has been considered. Canoeing has long been popular, chiefly at the Shaker Lakes Canoe Club, where affiliation with the National Canoe Asso- THE CITY'S LIFE - 1179 ciation is being discussed, with a consequent national meet for Cleveland. At Rocky River in recent years the canoes have been discouraged by the speedboats. The Cleveland Casting Club is active at Rockefeller Park on Sunday morning's, and has a standing offer of instruction to those interested. Local championships are decided every year with keen competition. There is an annual horseshoe tournament with players in four classes. In four of the city parks, batteries of courts of standard design have been installed. There is rogue in Rockefeller park and cricket at four city parks, where 170 matches were played last year. Basketball, under municipal encouragement and support, numbers 230 teams, and is fast growing in favor. The city assists twenty-seven sports, including, besides those which have been mentioned, gymnastics, outboard motors, Gaelic football, model airplanes, volley ball, curling, archery, tumbling, bump ball and checkers. Polo is fast developing among the wealthy, ping-pong is coming back, handball is strong in gymnasiums and Cleveland is second only to New York as a bridge center. Billiards, bowling and the movies and theaters are commonplace amusements that need no special attention here. The big point is that Cleveland wants to play and wants to play outdoors. It prefers competitive sports and the more strenuous ones like baseball. It will cheerfully spend millions of dollars for beauty and health, indoors or out, but prefers the out-of-doors. The city is typically American in its tendency to organize everything, but its organization is not at all offensively evident, and serves to make its park and recreation facilities available to the largest number at the least cost and at maximum convenience. There is so much space ! Within half an hour from any given point in this community of more than a million, a family can drive to a picnic spot alongside a running stream or lake, sheltered by trees, and enjoy a full day in complete seclusion. If that doesn't appeal, there are more than thirty, nearer forty, standard and recognized recreation pursuits which can be enjoyed, and a tele- 1180 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS phone call to the City Hall will reveal where they can be found and when. All of them are provided without money and without price. And that is why the statement was made at the outset of this chapter that the reader would feel better after reading it. He feels as if he had looked into the city's heart and found it good and wholesome.—W. C. M. CHAPTER VIII THE SHAKER SETTLEMENT This is the story of the people who gave their name to Shaker Heights. There is something in the human mind which persuades it, every so often, that a communistic way of living is the method by which the Kingdom of God may be realized on this earth. The fact that no communistic society has ever succeeded is no deterrent. The plan then considered seems always a new one, always perfect and workable. The attempt is made. Sometimes the project closes up in a few years, as the Brook Farm experiment did in the time of Emerson and Hawthorne. It is not quite clear how long the early Christians tried to get on by pooling their labors and their worldly goods, but it is clear that they tried and then stopped trying. There are sisterhoods and brotherhoods of the Roman Catholic and a few other scattered faiths which seem to succeed on this principle and to maintain themselves thus for centuries. But closer examination proves that while they pool their labors and their worldly goods, some, at least, of their living usually comes from outside. The sisters teach the children whose living is earned under a capitalistic system. The brothers teach boys whose tuition is paid by capitalistic fathers. Or perhaps the community members sell the fruits of their toil, such as farm products or embroideries, to outsiders, and thus come into the stream of another economic system. This is a perfectly rational compromise. The spiritual and social life is a communal one in which the members are saved from "the mania for owning things" and thus acquire - 1181 - 1182 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS freedom for spiritual progress. The point is that the economic life is not wholly self-contained. These movements are likely to seem to their founders and adherents purely religious in character, but they are also likely to be influenced by economic developments. Thus, a war or a depression is often the forerunner of several of these undertakings. Thoughtful people see that something is wrong with economic life, and something is wrong with religious life. They try to integrate their own lives by harmonizing religion and economics. Greed seems to be one of the fundamental causes of all wrong, and they think by communal living they can eliminate greed. The theory underlying their efforts always sounds reasonable. The characters developed by the self-denial and group living are often very beautiful. The members work hard and their farms and gardens blossom and bear, yet somehow or other the self-contained systems always fail. "Fail" is perhaps the wrong word. Who shall measure the success in the inner lives of those who give up all selfish desires to live to the full their religious beliefs? Let us say rather that sooner or later the projects come to an end. They serve their time and go their way. Whether they leave bitterness or sweetness behind depends on the quality of the individuals composing the community and the degree of their honesty in giving up self for the common good. The Shaker Settlement on the Heights in Cleveland leaves behind it what the old books used to call "the odor of sanctity"—an odor composed in this case of sweet baking loaves, cellars full of apples, barns full of hay and grain, of flowers and of friendly lives. The Shaker experiment was one of many religious communistic movements which rose and fell in the nineteenth century. Its founder was Ann Lee, born in England in 1736. Her birthday was February 29; she is likely to have attached some spiritual significance to this leap-year date. Mother Ann "received the Revelation of Christ" in 1770. She came to America in 1774, and died ten years later, on September 8, 1784. The first church building was erected in 1785, and the THE CITY'S LIFE - 1183 first formal organization of the society was in September, 1787, at Mt. Lebanon, New York. The society called itself "The Millennium Church of United Believers." One of the main factors in. the ritual was dancing' before the Lord. Brisk marching was part of every service, with the singing of spirited tunes, and the march was apt to end in a lively dance. The Shakers also had special dances, some with hands stretched upward to catch divine love, then outward to dis-pense it; some with hands extended downward and a little out from the body, for the purpose of shaking sin. out of the body and off from the fingertips. Brothers marched in a long rank two abreast, far enough apart so that the arms when outstretched did not touch those of the nearest brother. The rank of sisters marched and danced in the same manner. In church and chapel brothers worshipped on one side of the room, sisters on the other. Because of this shaking of the body, onlookers naturally began to apply the epithet "Shak-ers" to the members of the new cult. And, as so often. hap-pens with nicknames of this sort, the term was soon taken up by the members themselves. The main tenets and practices of the religion of the Millennium Church, are given. by one of its members, James S. Prescott, were these : "First.—God is dual, male and female, Father and Mother ; these two attributes exist in the Deity and are exhibited throughout the universe of God ; these two principles, male and female, are found throughout the animal kingdom and the vegetable as well ; in the universal kingdom the two principles, of positive and negative, are found. The duality of God is established by Holy Writ, in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and in Genesis, I. 27. In the latter place Moses says : 'So God created man in his own image ; in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them.' "Second.—Christ was the Lord from heaven, a quickening Spirit ; created male and female in the image of God ; his first appearance was in the male, in the man Jesus ; his second appearance was in the female, Ann Lee. "Third.—There are two orders of people on the earth : the Adamic, all who marry and populate the earth. Marriage is not condemned where there are fit subjects to improve the race, if it be kept where it belongs, in the Adamic order. This is not a Christian institution but a civil right. The second is the Spiritual Order where all who enter are required to keep the higher law, the law of grace and truth —a virginal celibacy. The sexes are to have no intercourse except 1184 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS social and that which can be maintained in the spirit world. This is the highest and holiest life which can be attained while in the earthly form. "The two orders, Adamic and Spiritual, are to be kept separate, as are church and state. "Fourth.—Those of the Spiritual Order hold to a community of interest in all things, where 'no man has aught of the things he possesses he calls his own, but they have all things in common.' "Fifth.—Oral confession of sins to God, before living witnesses, is a door of hope into the church, and indispensable to finding the power of salvation. This is the first and initiating step into the order. When souls are laboring under deep conviction of sin, they want some confidential friend before whom they can open their whole lives, without fear or reservation, and make a clean breast of it before God. This friend they can always find in both sexes of the Shaker order. "Sixth.—Dancing is an act of divine worship. The first founders were led into it by spirit influence, and many times by an irresistible power, which attended them by night and day. For this they were persecuted by their orthodox neighbors. Dancing, the Shakers say, was the original mode of worship of God's ancient people, and it is only fulfilling ancient prophecies that it should be restored in the latter day. Dancing and marching are an important part of the established worship. "Seventh.—Resurrection is synonymous with regeneration : it is a gradual growth and rising out of the death of the first Adam, into the life and Spirit of Christ—a resurrection of the soul and not of the body. 'Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom. of God ;"There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body ;' when they put off the former, the natural, they put on the latter, the spiritual ; when the natural body once dies and returns to dust, it can never be resurrected, changed or transformed into spirit, without counteracting the immutable laws of nature. "Eighth.—God is just, and there is, consequently, a probationary state after this life. The millions of earth's inhabitants who have died and gone into the spirit world, who never had a chance to hear and obey the Gospel of salvation in this life, will have it there, as it is written : 'For Jesus Christ also hath once suffered, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit, by which he went and preached to the spirits in prison.' Also, from the same Epistle, I Peter, 'For this cause was the Gospel preached also to the dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, and live according to God in the Spirit.' "Ninth.—Christ is to judge the world through His people. 'Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world ? Know ye not that we shall judge angels?' This work of judgment has begun on the earth, the hour of his judgment is come. Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment ; some men they follow after. This work is also progressive and is inseparably connected with the resurrection of the soul. "Tenth.—Every man will have to atone for his own sins and work out his own salvation. Christ came to set an example, that we should follow his steps, and thereby save men from their sins, and not in them. Living the life of Christ is eating his flesh and drinking THE CITY'S LIFE - 1185 his blood and thus becoming incorporated into his spirit. Only this union, this at-one-ment, will ever avail a man anything, and everyone Will have to become personally righteous by doing right." Spirit manifestations, while not stated explicitly in these ten paragraphs, were assumed as part of the life and belief. The whole story of Ann Lee's life and the subsequent developments make an interesting study for the psychologist. A good many instances are quoted by J. P. Maclean, in his article "The Rise, Progress and Extinction of the Shakers" in the Ohio Archeological and Historical Society Publications, which sound to present-day readers like ordinary enough examples of hysteria or other simple forms of abnormal psychology. There were signs and visions, shakings and other motor impulses which seemed, at that time, unexplainable on any other ground than that of spirit control. The Shakers believed they had their own special revelations. First there was the revelation of Christ in Ann Lee. Then, in 1843, at Mt. Lebanon, New York, the head church of the order, there was given by inspiration the Sacred Roll and Book. A holy man of the church, reared from childhood in the Shaker doctrines, wrote and gave out these writings. The Shakers believed that they had as much evidence to support the fact that he wrote and spake as he was moved by the Holy Spirit as they had that any part of the New Testament was so written, and more, because their own teachings had never been perverted by commentators and translators from their original meaning. When the Roll and Book were given out, the Shakers were commanded to give the new Revelation to the World. They did so, in the manner commanded. They sent five hundred copies to the nations of the earth. One copy each was sent the President of the United States, the vice president, the various heads of departments at Washington, the governors of the states and territories, all the crowned heads of Europe and the heads of all foreign countries, as far as civilization extended and access could be had through their ministers and consuls at Washington. 1186 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS The King of Sweden remained in their minds as an example of courtesy. He alone, of all these, responded. A glance at the general Shaker theory and regime discloses some points worth noting. Most groups of people animated by psychic or spiritistic beliefs shortly develop a type of mentality a little unstable, if not actually morbid and pathogenic. Not so with the Shaker brotherhoods. In the first place every brother and sister was required to do a great deal of mentally-integrating manual labor. If a brother, sister or child received a revelation, he or she could not sit around and discuss it for hours, working himself and his hearers into some sort of frenzy. He could tell it, but it was not very exciting where revelations were so common. And between discussions he had to go out and milk or plow or work out a new pattern for the loom. The orderly routine of every day was full and absorbing. Also, there were many outlets for creative expression. In designing and making a chair, a blanket, a coverlet, a new song, a new dance figure, a better-balanced broom handle, in all sorts of mechanical invention, revelations might be a help instead of a hindrance; but with or without such definite manifestations, all the creative and artistic instincts were given outlet through wholesome channels. The bodily rhythm of song and dance, too, had many mental and physical values, as had the hours of labor in silence and the cheerful gayety of the recreation periods. The ideas in regard to food, sanitation and education were rather advanced for their time. The simple structure and wording of the songs to which the Shakers danced lent themselves to no orgiastic frenzies, but rather to a calm good humor and acceptance of the divine plan. It seems to have been fun to dance around the chapel a few times, perhaps out to the Holy Grove and back again, and then, freed from sin and full of grace, to proceed to the next task. In this pleasant and wholesome seriousness the brothers and sisters passed their well-ordered lives. These unusual doctrines spread rather rapidly for a time, deepened and strengthened, naturally, in the hearts of their THE CITY'S LIFE - 1187 believers, by the opposition they received from those of other faiths. Leaving the study of the esoteric aspects of Shaker theology and mental attitudes to those who care to delve into such deep and interesting. matters, this story must move on to the village of North Union. From Mount Lebanon, missionaries, called "The Three Witnesses," went forth into the West. One of their earliest and most influential converts was Malcomb Worley, through whom, in 1805, Union Village was founded in Warren County, Ohio. This was the first of the Shaker villages in the West, and its elders had general oversight of all the western Shaker societies. Ralph Russell was the founder of the North Union settlement, grouped near the Shaker Lakes in the region now known as Shaker Heights. Three brothers, John, Jacob and William Russell, came out from England sometime between 1730 and 1745 and settled in or near Hebron and West Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut. William's, son Samuel had five sons, of whom Samuel was ono. Samuel had six children, of whom Jacob was the eldest. Jacob married Esther Dunham of Hebron, Conn., and they had twelve children. Ralph was one of the sons of this Jacob who emigrated to Ohio with their father and mother in 1812. He was then twenty-three years old. The Russell families—there were a group of them including those of Elisha Russell and Nathaniel Risley—had to un-dergo the usual pioneering difficulties of rude shelter, limited food and danger of Indians. But they kept on with the usual pioneering grit, and lived, most of them, to ripe old age. They took root in and around Warrensville. In 1821 Ralph, then thirty-two years of age, visited Union Village and was charmed with the Shaker beauty of life. He soon became an ardent convert to all their doctrines. He rather expected to join the colony at Union Village, but the elders persuaded him to wait over the winter and then start a new community in his own neighborhood. He spent the intervening months in preaching and proselyting, with the re-sult that a number of converts were ready to join him in the new venture in the spring. 1188 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS For five years Ralph Russell was a "burning and shining light" in the new community. In 1826, however, Ashbel Kitchell came from Union Village with what seemed to the congregation a superior light and gift. From this time on, Ralph's influence began to wane. It is possible that after his first years of glowing enthusiasm Ralph began to suspect the soundness of the doctrine, for we find him some years later withdrawing entirely from the community, moving with his family to Solon, where he bought a farm and lived until his death in 1866. He is said to have been about six feet tall, straight, dark, well proportioned, "of a winning manner, mild and persuasive in argument, naturally of a sociable and genial disposition, kind and hospitable to strangers"—qualities, these, valuable either in or out of a religious community. Ashbel Kitchell was a powerful man who had no doubts. His good business methods and strong will contributed to the rapid and prosperous growth of the community during his five years of leadership. Richard Pelham, who seems to have divided his time between the two villages of Union and North Union for some years, and then went on to found other communities, left his mark more on the intellectual and theological sides than some of the other leaders. He was highly educated in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and made a translation of the Bible into English. The names of David Spinning, Lucy Faith, Lois Spinning, Vincy McNemar, Betsey Dunlavy, Matthew Houston, Riley Honey (notable as having been born on the Western Reserve), Chester Risley, William Andrews and ̊Oliver Wheeler were among those who, in Shaker phrase, "held positions of care and trust." The Russells alone make a long roster of devoted sisters and brothers. Among them were Return (elder brother of Ralph), his son Samuel, Elisha, Elijah, Rodney, Lydia, Betsey, Jerusha, Eunice, Esther, Caroline, Roxana, Huldah, Laura, Melinda. Several other family names persist, but none so strong in numbers as the Russell family. Sixteen of the first thirty-seven members who signed the Shaker covenant bore the Russell name. Lucy Faith seems to have been one of the strong, compe- THE CITY'S LIFE - 1189 tent and interesting women developed by the combination of New England stock, pioneer life and Shaker doctrine. She was also said to have been "remarkably gifted in song." Together with Anna Boyd and Thankful Stewart, "they seemed to sing with the spirit and understanding. There was an inspiration about their singing that would inspire a whole assemblage. The rich melody of their voices, at the little distance, could hardly be distinguished from a well tuned instrument. Those who heard them were extravagant in their praise." Besides composing words of most of their songs and hymns, the Shakers also composed a great many of the musical settings. They had a musical notation system of their own. The signing of the Shaker Covenant was not like the taking of perpetual vows in monastic orders. It pledged the services and worldly goods of the signers for such time as they remained members of the community; but if they wished later to withdraw from it, they were free to do so, according to the dictates of their consciences. There may have been grief at the withdrawal of a member, but no disgrace attached to the action. An interesting case came to court on this point. A woman member withdrew and married. She and her husband sued for wages for the services she had rendered the society during her membership. The Shakers engaged Governor Wood and Samuel Starkweather to defend their cause. The court decided that the Covenant was a binding contract in which the woman had voluntarily pledged her services to a consecrated purpose, and that the society, therefore, had no pecuniary obligation towards her. The Shakers did not go to court of their own volition, but when it was necessary they engaged eminent counsel. Samuel Starkweather, later judge, served them for forty years, and they are said never to have lost a case, because he would undertake none for them unless he was sure they were right and would be successful. They took no part in politics, nor did they vote at elec- 1190 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS tions, but paid their taxes and conducted themselves as good citizens. Intoxicating liquor was never used except on those rare occasions when prescribed by a physician. Food was simple, but abundant. Breakfast was regularly served at six, dinner at twelve and supper at six, summer and winter. Two long tables were set in the great kitchens, the brothers sitting at one, sisters at the other. Children were given their meals after the adults had finished. They wore a sort of uniform, the dress of the men being severely plain, and their hair was worn long behind. The women were distinguished by their white Shaker bonnets which concealed the hair. Their dress, not unlike that of the Quakers in form, was of dark blue or gray. Brothers and sisters lived either in separate houses or in separate sections of a large house. Children had quarters of their own under strict but tender supervision. Men and women were equal in all respects before the Shaker law. The government was dual, an elder and eldress serving together. Usually there were two elders, two eldresses, some deacons and deaconesses, and a minister whose duties were wholly religious. The property was held in common, at one time comprising about 1,370 acres together with buildings. For tax purposes ownership was vested in a legal trustee. During the sixty-eight years of the existence of North Union village, every trustee proved faithful and nothing was lost through the confidence thus reposed. "Gifts," spiritual, mechanical or artistic, were encouraged, so no member need hide his talent in a napkin. On the contrary, every aid was given to the development of any special powers, and many were the patents taken out by the Shaker societies for the inventions of their members. The community life was conducive to research along mechanical lines. Its sober and sparing ideas of comfort gave birth to great beauty in simplicity of line and pattern in the furniture and textiles. Speaking of gifts, this story is told of Ashbel Kitchell. Elder John Pomeroy Root was very sick and was expected to die by those around him. His mouth and limbs were cold, his THE CITY'S LIFE - 1191 jaw set. Kitchell returned home from a journey, entered the room and looked at him. "Pomeroy, live !" he commanded. "There is no gift for you to die." Whereupon Pomeroy recovered, presumably for the purpose of working further at something he did have a gift for. A vivid glimpse of Shaker life and practice was given by a. description of a Christmas Festival written by Sister Elmina Phillips. It is quoted here from Maclean. "Probably the English founders of Shakerism in America brought with them the English custom of celebrating Christmas, and introduced it among their American converts. Certainly fifty years ago, when the congregational descendants of the Puritans in New England were going about their usual employments on Christmas as on any other day, their Shaker descendants in northern Ohio were keeping it as the one great holiday of the year. "There was a stir of Christmas preparation in the air two or three weeks beforehand. Individual members had no money to spend for Christmas gifts, since all the purchasing for the community was done by the trustee deacons and deaconesses ; but it was understood that it was to be a day of good cheer and that there would be gifts for all. "The eldresses and trustee sisters might be found occasionally in private consultation, likely to result in a trip of the latter to the little town, now grown to be a great city, where such things as they could not raise or manufacture for themselves were obtained. And sometimes a rap at the eldress's door would bring the family deaconess to the door with an air of Christmas mystery, and through the crack she opened to receive your message might be heard the click of shears, indicating that new goods were being cut. "The kitchen deaconess was busy superintending the picking over of the apples, setting the barrels of choicest ones convenient for Christmas day, inspecting the pickles and preserves and honey, etc., consulting with the trustees and the cook and baker, which consultations were likely to result in cakes and puddings and chicken and other pies, etc., in due season. "You are thinking, perhaps, as is probably true, that the New England housewives must have brought recollections of Thanksgiving to Ohio, where Thanksgiving day had not yet been introduced. But this was only one phase of the preparation—chiefly the day was kept as holy day. Much of the worship of the Shakers consisted of singing, and they made their own hymns and tunes ; and Christmas would hardly have been Christmas if a company of the young people had not gone around in the early morning singing a Christmas song to awaken the family. So the favorite hymnist was quietly reminded, now by one young singer, then another, that a new song for Christmas morning would be wanted. And the company of singers must be chosen, and copies of the new song privately written and distributed to each one, with the music for those that could read it ; for opportunities must be caught to practice it on the quiet, since it would not be Christmas-like if there were no mystery about it. There were many 1192 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS musical young people among them at that time, and I have known one hymnist to be applied to for a new song for two separate companies of singers, neither company knowing of the other till they met on their rounds in the morning. "And, as the day drew near, the elders did not fail to counsel the people in meeting that if there were any differences among them they should be reconciled, that there might be nothing to mar the Christmas good-will. "On Christmas eve, at half-past seven, at the sound of the bell, all retired to their rooms, and one read aloud and the others listened to the story from John XIII of the washing of the disciples' feet. Then each two washed each others' feet, 'and when they had sung a hymn they went out,' if they chose, to make any final preparation for the morrow. "This was the time usually chosen by the Christmas singing band for the final, and probably the only full rehearsal of their morning song ; and, as if casually, by twos and threes, they took their way to some shop sufficiently remote from the dwelling house that their voices would not be heard there, and in which the brother in charge of the building had agreed to have a good fire, and to let the members of the company in by signal. When they were satisfied that all knew the song, some younger brother volunteered to waken all the company in due time in the morning, and they separated for the night. At nine o'clock all was dark and silent in the village. "Next morning as early as half-past four the singers met, perhaps in the kitchen, and partook of some light refreshment, set ready the night before just to put them in voice, and then started out to sing, first in the halls of the principal dwelling, then at every house in the little village, in which several people lived. "By the time they had gone all around the family, if there was sleighing, a span of horses and sleigh was likely to stand convenient, and the company merrily started off to sing their song at one of the other families a mile away. If they met a sleigh-load from the other family coming to sing to them, as they sometimes did, they hailed each other and kept on their way, sure of a warm welcome, though not of surprising and waking the friends where they were going. "And after breakfast, as all rose from the table and kneeled for a moment in silent thanksgiving together, the new song was probably sung again in the dining-room, the kitchen sisters coming in to listen or join in the singing. "At 9 A. M. the singers met to select and rehearse the hymns to be sung at the church meeting at the meeting-house. "At 10 A. M. came union meeting, which was a number of social meetings held at the same hour, the brethren usually going to the sisters' rooms. "The brethren, and sisters were seated in two rows facing each other at opposite sides of the room; doubtless it sounds more stiff to alien ears than to one brought up from childhood in the customs of the community. There was cheerful chat of this and other Christmas days, and singing of new and old songs, and passing around of pans of cracked nuts and popcorn, etc. "At 11 o'clock lunch was carried around to the rooms in big pans by some of the young brethren and sisters—great quarter sections of THE CITY'S LIFE - 1193 the most delicious cake, if memories may be trusted, and slices of creamy, homemade cheese and whitest bread and pie. "At 1 P. M. all the families assembled at the meeting-house. The services were the same as at the usual Sunday meetings, except that there were special hymns and special readings from scriptures, old and new. "After meeting baskets of choice apples were carried around, and the gifts which had been prepared for each one—usually some article of clothing somewhat nicer than common. "At 4 P. M. came the principal meal of the day, and afterwards a big basket was carried around to the rooms to receive offerings of clothing for the poor. All were expected to give something from their own store. And the day closed with quiet talk, probably interspersed with singing." A SHAKER CHRISTMAS SONG Hail, hail, the beautiful morn hath dawned, The joy of angels and men; The star of the East, with beauty beyond All others, has risen again. Awake, disciples of Christ, and sing, Your robes of gladness put on, And precious gifts and offerings bring Our loved Redeemer to crown. Not gold, nor myrrh, nor frankincense sweet Our Savior asks from our hands, But hearts that with love and tenderness beat To bless and comfort His lambs. Go seek and feed my wandering sheep. Forgive the erring and lost. Thus prove your love for Me, and thus reap The precious fruits of the cross. At its high point in numbers and prosperity, North Union Village was composed of three "Families"—the North, usually referred to as the Mill Family, the Middle Family and the East Family. The Mill Family was located near the present intersection of Coventry Road and North Park Boulevard; the Middle Family, sometimes called the Church Family, lived where Lee Road and Shaker Boulevard now come together; the location of the East Family was at Warrington 1194 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS Road and South Boulevard. Each family had a substantial group of buildings, orchard and woodlot besides its fields and gardens. The Mill Family built a dam at the lower end of Shaker Pond and utilized the waterpower for a sawmill. It is characteristic of the Shaker ingenuity that water was also run through the house in pipes for washing and bathing purposes. There was no plumbing as we understand the word, but it was a great gain in labor-saving to be able to tap a stream in the house instead of carrying every drop used for every purpose in pails from outdoor wells. Hygiene, too, was promoted by the free supply of water. Household and personal cleanliness become difficult when the use of water must be measured by the labor of carrying it. In addition to the large residence building and sawmill, the Mill Family, like any large and prosperous farm, had various outbuildings. There were a wash-house, through which ran a never-failing stream, a dry-house, a cheese-house built at Doan Brook's edge, a water-wheel shed, barns, wagon sheds, a blacksmith shop, a milk-house, a cow-stable, wood-shed and workshop, not to mention a bridge and a tenant house. The Middle Family had no sawmill. But it had a church, an elders' house, an office, hospital, girls' house, boys' house, schoolhouse, broom shop, woolen mill, carpenter shop and tan-nery, besides such buildings as were listed for the Mill Family. In the Middle establishment, also, were the cemetery and Holy Grove. Broom-making was the chief financial resource of the brethren here, the brush coming from Illinois. The sisters made and sold bonnets, socks, stockings, mittens, gloves, canned and dried fruit, apple butter and preserves. The Shaker products were famous here, as were those of the other communities for their sturdy and honest excellence. The East Family was also important in its own way. It was called the "Gathering Order," where new members lived at first while becoming familiar with the life and rules. Applicants for admission went there for information, and guests were taken care of. It is interesting that there were always THE CITY'S LIFE - 1197 novices in the fall who decided when spring days grew warm that they did not wish to remain permanently. The regular members called these "Winter Shakers," from which term one may deduce that they understood full well the nature of the autumnal religious zeal, but it is not on record that any who sought were turned away. It was a working order, however, and no member who wished to stay need think of refusing to take his trick in the broom shop, stable or dairy. For this Family, also, made brooms to sell, and its most important source of revenue was the selling of milk from door to door in the neighboring city. The middle of the century seems to have been the climax of development. When Samuel Russell was Presiding Elder, from 1840 to 1858, his executive powers were devoted to pushing the society's business, and progress was rapid and strong. When he took this office, there were about one hundred members in the Middle Family and about fifty in each of the other two. During his time a new church was built, a new stone grist mill, an addition to the residence; also a schoolhouse, furnished with the best equipment then known in the way of maps, books, globes and blackboards. The woolen factory went up in 1854. On the top floor of this building were a spinning mill of 160 spindles and two power looms for weaving cloth. The next floor below had carding machines for stocking yarn. Below this was a floor containing an iron lathe for turning broom handles, while the basement housed a grindstone and a buzz saw for sawing wood for fuel. This saw supplied forty or fifty fires. Perhaps some of the Winter Shakers got a chance to become expert in the matter of feeding the fire which warmed them. The machinery for the whole building was run by water power carried by an overshot wheel, with water drawn from the upper pond through an artificial mill-race. The grist mill, according to Maclean, was four stories high on the south side, the lowest built of sandstone four feet thick quarried near by. "The gearing was mostly of cast-iron. The penstock was hewn out of solid sandstone to a depth of fifty feet. The front 1198 - THIS CLEVELAND OF OURS was laid with heavy blocks of stone, mitred in, laid with hydraulic cement. There were three run of stone, cast-iron shafts, fifty feet long, running from the stones above down to the cast-iron wheels below. Besides all this there were two new bolts and screen, smut-mill, and a place for grinding coarse feed. When it was built, good judges pronounced it to be one of the best flouring-mills in Ohio, a monument of solid masonry and workmanship." Elder Samuel Russell turned his attention also to the farms, and greatly improved the stock of cattle and horses. He secured the best bred Durham and Devonshire cattle that were available either in England or the United States. Horses of Morgan, French, Canadian or Arabian stocks were added, and matched up in teams for size, speed and color. Russell left the community in 1858. His office was filled by John Root, who seems to have given more attention to the spiritual side than the practical, for financial difficulties soon began to appear. Richard Pelham was sent over from Union Village to straighten out the affairs, and remained two years doing that work, interfering not at all with the ministry of Root. From this time on, however, no special improvements were made. The financial distress of 1857 in the outside world doubtless had something to do with these troubles by shortening the markets and income. The withdrawal of Samuel Russell, like that of his uncle Ralph, the founder, is interesting. They were quite different types of men. Ralph was the flaming leader, inspired, like Paul, by a vision—a bright beam of light which came from Union and stopped on the spot where later stood the building of the Middle Family, becoming there a pillar of light, which finally turned, in his vision, into a beautiful tree. His withdrawal, like his entrance to the society, only five years earlier, seems to have been on religious grounds. Samuel had been a member some time before his election to the Presiding Eldership. He was a competent and foreseeing builder and organizer. It is likely that he began to be conscious of dissatisfaction on the part of some of the more THE CITY'S LIFE - 1199 mystical members with his large attention to practical matters, and that he left the scene of his labors disillusioned and unhappy by what would seem to him the ingratitude of those whose bread and butter he had been insuring. The Mary and Martha types of minds are found in all walks of life. Both are necessary to a well-balanced society, but neither ever understands the other. The extraordinary thing about Shaker history is not that there were disagreements among members or withdrawals from the community, but that disagreements and withdrawals were so few, peace was for the most part so all-prevailing, and the inner harmony of spirit so well reflected in the outer pleasantness of the Shaker faces, their kindness to each other and to outsiders, their integrity of life and real happiness. By 1870 the membership had dwindled to 125 brothers and sisters, counting all three families. In 1889 the community came to an end. Among the sisters still living in 1870, Maclean names : Lucy Cooper, then aged 97, Arabella Shepard, Phila Copley, Mariah Pilot, Hannah Addison, Laura Russell, Ruth Butson, Melinda Russell, Rhoda Watson, Jane Bearse, Harriet Shepard, Margaret Sawyer, Harriet Snooks, Elisabeth Deree, Laura Houghton, Sylvia Tyler, Emma Phillips, Henrietta Wallace, Harriet Snyder. Those holding places of care and trust among the sisters of that year were Rachel Russell, Abigail Russell, Candace Russell, Prudence Sawyer, Lisette Walker, Clymena Miner, Temperance Devan, Lydia Ann Cramer, Mary Pilot, Charlotte Pilot. Hannah Addison was the mother of H. M. Addison, of Cleveland, called "Father Addison" because of his interest in providing summer fresh air camps for the children of the poor. The brothers holding places of care and trust in 1870 were Freeman Phillips, Samuel S. Miner, Charles Sweet, Joseph Montgomery, Charles Taylor, George Hunt, Henry Summerfield, Sewell G. Thayer, Jacob Walker, Jacob Kimball, Curtis Cramer, Cornelius Bush, Christian Lyntz, and Thomas Giles.