8
religion. The desires of each member were ruthlessly circumscribed.
Anything unnecessary was forbidden and the merest display of extravagance,
in taste as in behavior, was disliked. The Shakers did not want to accumulate
money or lands, but to live perfect lives in the sight of God. Their dress,
furniture, and buildings were austere and durable, models of elegant utility.
And the goods they produced, e.g., baskets, cloth, chairs, blankets, bon-
nets, brooms, were so well made they instantly found a market in the outside
world. Before long they attained complete self-sufficiency.
But the Shakers could not afford to t&e their spiritual fellowship for
granted. They were "a tiny island in an ocean of sin and depravity. " To
maintain the community T s distance from the world and to discourage the
members from backsliding, Meacham laid down a vast and complicated set
of rules. Celibacy, the foundation of the commonwealth, was scrupulously
observed. Equality of the sexes was a fundamental article of the Shaker
creed, and the brethren and sisters jointly presided over the government--
an uncompromising, rigidly hierarchical theocracy. At the summit of the
hierarchy stood "The Holy Anointed" (Father Meacham and his helpmate,
Mother Lucy Wright) who, as "the leading ministry, " were located in New
Lebanon, New York- This executive branch was later made up of two brothers
and two sisters and, with the aid and approval of associates, chose the leaders
of all other communities. Immediately below the leading ministry were the
Elders and Eldresses, who ruled over "families" of from 30 to 100 members