He had partaken of the homely abundance of their tables , had quaffed the far-famed Shaker cider , and had joined in the sacred dance every step of which is believed to alienate the enthusiast from earth and bear him onward to heavenly purity and bliss . His brethren of the North had now courteously invited him to be present on an occasion when the concurrence of every eminent member of their community was peculiarly desirable . The venerable Father Ephraim sat in his easy-chair , not only hoary-headed and infirm with age , but worn down by a lingering disease which it was evident would very soon transfer his patriarchal staff to other hands . At his footstool stood a man and woman , both clad in the Shaker garb . `` My brethren , '' said Father Ephraim to the surrounding elders , feebly exerting himself to utter these few words , `` here are the son and daughter to whom I would commit the trust of which Providence is about to lighten my weary shoulders . Read their faces , I pray you , and say whether the inward movement of the spirit hath guided my choice aright . '' Accordingly , each elder looked at the two candidates with a most scrutinizing gaze . The man -- whose name was Adam Colburn -- had a face sunburnt with labor in the fields , yet intelligent , thoughtful and traced with cares enough for a whole lifetime , though he had barely reached middle age . There was something severe in his aspect and a rigidity throughout his person -- characteristics that caused him generally to be taken for a schoolmaster ; which vocation , in fact , he had formerly exercised for several years . The woman , Martha Pierson , was somewhat above thirty , thin and pale , as a Shaker sister almost invariably is , and not entirely free from that corpse-like appearance which the garb of the sisterhood is so well calculated to impart . `` This pair are still in the summer of their years , '' observed the elder from Harvard , a shrewd old man . `` I would like better to see the hoar-frost of autumn on their heads . Methinks , also , they will be exposed to peculiar temptations on account of the carnal desires which have heretofore subsisted between them . '' `` Nay , brother , '' said the elder from Canterbury ; `` the hoar-frost and the black frost hath done its work on Brother Adam and Sister Martha , even as we sometimes discern its traces in our cornfields while they are yet green . And why should we question the wisdom of our venerable Father 's purpose , although this pair in their early youth have loved one another as the world 's people love ? Are there not many brethren and sisters among us who have lived long together in wedlock , yet , adopting our faith , find their hearts purified from all but spiritual affection ? '' Whether or no the early loves of Adam and Martha had rendered it inexpedient that they should now preside together over a Shaker village , it was certainly most singular that such should be the final result of many warm and tender hopes . Children of neighboring families , their affection was older even than their school-days ; it seemed an innate principle interfused among all their sentiments and feelings , and not so much a distinct remembrance as connected with their whole volume of remembrances . But just as they reached a proper age for their union misfortunes had fallen heavily on both and made it necessary that they should resort to personal labor for a bare subsistence . Even under these circumstances Martha Pierson would probably have consented to unite her fate with Adam Colburn 's , and , secure of the bliss of mutual love , would patiently have awaited the less important gifts of Fortune .
But XXXXX , being of a calm and cautious character , was loth to relinquish the advantages which a single man possesses for raising himself in the world .
Adam Ephraim Father Harvard Martha North Pierson Providence school-days years