they
lowered them again, and went on with their work, laying the pig-weeds,
which they pulled out of the ground, in neat little piles along the
garden walk.

At the door of the principal building, a stout, butternut-colored
Elder stood waiting, as if to learn their business.

"We have driven over to see your village," said Miss Fitch, in her
pleasant voice, "and we should like dinner, if you can give it to us."

"Yea," said the Elder. He pronounced the word as if it were spelled
"ye." That was all he said; but he helped the children to get down
from the wagon, and led the way through a very clean, bare passage to
a room equally clean and bare, where four women in drab gowns with
wide collars and stiff white caps were sitting, each on a little
platform by herself, darning stockings, with a basket of mending
beside her.

One of these introduced herself to Miss Fitch as Sister Samantha. She
had a round, comfortable face, and the boys and girls, who had felt an
awe of the grave Elder, recovered courage as they looked at her. She
said they could "go round" if they wanted to, and called a younger
sister named Dorcas to show them the way.

Sister Dorcas had a pale, rather dissatisfied face. She did not seem
so happy as Sister Samantha. She showed the children all that there
was to see, but she said very little and took no pains to explain any
thing, or to make the visit pleasant. They saw the bedrooms where the
sisters slept, and the bedrooms where the brothers slept, all exactly
alike, comfortable, plain, and unadorned, except for wonderful
patchwork quilts on the beds, and the gay "pulled" rugs on the floors.
They were shown the kitchen where the food for all the community was
cooked, a kitchen as clean and shining as the waxen cell of a bee, and
the storerooms, full of dried fruits and preserved fruits, honey,
cheeses, beeswax, wooden ware, brooms, herbs, and soap. There was an
"office" also, where these things were for sale to any one who should
choose to buy, and great consultations took place among the children,
who had almost all brought a little shopping money. Some chose
maple-sugar, some, silk-winders, some, little cakes of white wax for
use in work-baskets. Molly Prime had a sudden bright thought, which
she whispered about, and after much giggling and mysterious
explanations in corners, they clubbed together and got a work-basket
for Miss Fitch. It cost a dollar and a quarter, and was a great
beauty, the chil