ture are sufficiently powerful to render their dogmas innoxious. Anne Lee, an Englishwoman, was the founder she came from the old country many years ago; but whether she is any relation to a lady of the same name, but of a diametrically opposite notoriety, I cannot inform you. She established the first family at Niskayuna, near Albany. They regard her as nearly equal to the Saviour, or rather as a female Saviour; and assert themselves to be the only persons on whom the light of the spirit has shone! Celibacy they insist on as indispensable; and they profess the entire relinquishment of luxury and all ambitious views. Every one who joins them must, after a certain probation, give up all he possesses for the common good. I followed the superior after service into his comfortable abode: he was dry and testy in his replies to my numerous questions; and told me to come another day. He pointed out the burying-ground of his sect, and informed me that their number was about three hundred; that they had no laws; and that no one had ever been expelled from their society. This he said with a significant emphasis, adding that he believed there had been expulsions from other families. He assured me that it was quite at the option of every one to remain, or quit the community; and when any one was tired of their rules, there were plenty of long and dark nights to walk off in. They were well off, he said, as to funds; and did not put out their money to interest, but lent it to poor creatures. › Creature, by the bye, is a great word with them; and the noun sense they convert into a most comical verb-"I sense," or "She sensed him to do it." 1 Their grounds and establishments are rich and beautiful; and a fellow hard up DR. WAINWRIGHT'S SERMON. 108 might do worse than join them for a few months by way of a change. Their place of worship was characterised by the utmost cleanliness and purity. You might have eaten your dinner off their floor; and the abode of Mr. John Pease was a pattern of Quaker precision and neatness. Sobriety, regularity, cleanliness, and industry, are the ruling characteristics of this very singular community, which we left with mingled feelings of mirth and melancholy. By a singular coincidence, the text of Dr. Wainwright's sermon, which I had listened to with so much delight the preceding Sunday, had been Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;" but how great was the difference between his orthodox and eloquent exposition of it, and all the absurd doctrines and ceremonials by which the self-same precept had to-day been enforced! 104 THE CONNECTICUT. We returned to Springfield in time for dinner; after which I took a stroll on the luxuriant and winding banks of the Connecticut, which is here nearly as broad as the St. John's at Fredericton; and then, on the medical plan of counteracting one poison by another, I went to hear Dr. Peabody, a noted Unitarian preacher. 99 But I think I hear you exclaim, "Ohe jam satis!" "Enough is as good as a feast: so I will conclude by informing you that Springfield contains also a regular churchgoing population, and that Sunday in this place is devoutly kept. LETTER X. Journey to Mount Lebanon-Multiplied Deceptions of Coach Proprietors-Antiquated Travelling Companions Loss and Recovery of Baggage-West Springfield-Westfield-Dwarf-Railroad among the Hills-Blasting the Rock Portrait of John Pease the Shaker, and of a fair Fellow-travellerThe Green Mountains-Peru-Pittsfield-Mount Lebanon. MY DEAR S Hull's Hotel, Mount Lebanon, In this country time is money, and "go a-head" is the order of every working day. At seven o'clock we found the whole world collected at breakfast: the short periods devoted to feeding being the only time at which men and women meet; for at every inn you see written up those annoyingly exclusive words, "Ladies' Parlour." At. |