Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/397

Rh here well practised also in grammar, writing, arithmetic, geography, and other ordinary branches of learning. As a reward for, and an inducement to industry and good behaviour, they receive small coloured cards, printed with proverbs or exhortations, among which an occasional spur to a praiseworthy ambition was not wanting.

From the school we went to the room where the fine weaving was done, for which this Shaker-community is celebrated.

We saw in one room a knitting-machine, which knit woollen jackets very cleverly, and could produce three in a shorter time than would be required for two pair of human hands to complete one. This machine, which seemed almost entirely to go on by itself, looked very curious and almost like an enchanted thing.

We next paid a visit to the Dairy, and to the room in which the cheese-making was done, and where a number of fresh, colossal cheeses testified to the good condition of the dairy-farm and all that appertained thereto. The handsome, clever sister who managed this department was so fond of her employment, that although she might have exchanged it for another, she had not done so, and had now been engaged in it for several years. From the Dairy we proceeded to the kitchen, where I saw six blooming and handsome young girls employed as kitchen-maids; they were at this moment engaged in baking large pies. These young girls were blooming as roses, and were ready to burst out into the gayest laughter when one gave them any occasion to do so.

“Look well after those sisters,” said I, jokingly, to the Sister President. And the six handsome girls laughed so loudly and merrily, that it was a pleasure to hear them.

From the medical garden, in which sarsaparilla and various other salutary herbs are cultivated, we went to the house where they were picked and kept, and where rosewater was being just now distilled.