oken
china for the dishes, while tiny flat stones were the seats, and four
clothes-pins, tastefully clad in handkerchiefs, surrounded the table.

"Do they kneel in prayer before they eat, as all Believers do?" asked
Shaker Mary.

"I don't believe Adam and Eve was Believers, 'cause who would have
taught them to be?" replied Sue; "still we might let them pray, anyway,
though clothespins don't kneel nicely."

"I've got another one all dressed," said little Shaker Jane.

"We can't have any more; Adam and Eve did n't have only two children in
my Sunday-School lesson, Cain and Abel," objected Sue.

"Can't this one be a company?" pleaded Mary, anxious not to waste the
clothespin.

"But where could comp'ny come from?" queried Sue. "There was n't any
more people anywheres but just Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel. Put the
clothespin in your apron-pocket, Jane, and bimeby we'll let Eve have a
little new baby, and I'll get Mardie to name it right out of the Bible.
Now let's begin. Adam is awfully tired this morning; he says, 'Eve, I've
been workin' all night and I can't eat my breakfuss.' Now, Mary, you be
Cain, he's a little boy, and you must say, 'Fardie, play a little with
me, please!' and Fardie will say, 'Child'en should n't talk at the--'"

What subjects of conversation would have been aired at the Adamic family
board before breakfast was finished will never be known, for Eldress
Abby, with a firm but not unkind grasp, took Shaker Jane and Mary by
their little hands and said, "Morning's not the time for play; run over
to Sister Martha and help her shell the peas; then there'll be your
seams to oversew."

Sue watched the disappearing children and saw the fabric of her dream
fade into thin air; but she was a person of considerable individuality
for her years. Her lip quivered, tears rushed to her eyes and flowed
silently down her cheeks, but without a glance at Eldress Abby or a word
of comment she walked slowly away from the laundry, her chin high.

"Sue meant all right, she was only playing the plays of the world," said
Eldress Abby, "but you can well understand, Susanna, that we can't let
our Shaker children play that way and get wrong ideas into their heads
at the beginning. We don't condemn an honest, orderly marriage as a
worldly institution, but we claim it has no place in Christ's kingdom;
therefore we leave it to the world, where it belongs. The world's people
live on the lower plane of Adam; the Shakers try t