Darrow School - Shaker Post Yearbook (New Lebanon, NY)

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The Peg Board 1936 i P r A SHAKER DOORYVAY 24

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1936 The Peg Board Photograph by Winthrop B. Coffin, '36 SPECIALLY DESIGNED STOVE FOR HEATING IRONS But I shall return to the story. For a long time things might go like magic, but then the wringer in the northwest corner might stop working. Neither oil nor hammering could repair this machineg therefore the sisters would have to pause and wait for a thorough mending of the wringer. Perhaps the main belt had been laced badly. When it was Hnally relaced, the wringer would start again. Then the sisters might be lucky for the rest of their washing day. When the work was finished, they would all enjoy a good hot dinner. This story shows what used to happen in the wash house and how the Shakers would over- come their diFticulties.' 1. The editors wish to note that Sinclair Hart's statements about the things which sometimes went wrong may be verified by con- sulting The Shaker, VII lMny 18777, 36. 23

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T936 The Peg Board The Inhrmary and Shaker Care of the Sick By SAMUEL PENDLETON COWARDIN, III Prize Article in the Middle Group CROSS from our school stands a medium-sized white building, plain and unpretentious, but embodying all the simple beauty which characterizes most Shaker architecture. This was the Shaker infirmary, which after its construction in 1857, served the whole Shaker community. We know of only one previous infirmary. Sister Emma tells us that this one stood near the spot where the dairy now stands. It was moved to a different place when the present infirmary was erected. The present inhrmary is of frame, two stories high, with a spacious attic and a large basement, Of the six rooms on the first floor the two which occupy the south end still contain things of in- terest which quickly arrest a stranger's curiosity. The walls of the first room are lined on two sides with shelves and drawers. The shelves are still well stocked with many carefully-labeled bottles of medicine, left there by the Shakers. The drawers, eighty-four in all, extend from the fioor to the ceiling, and are individually numbered. Next to this room is a somewhat smaller one, filled with many miscellaneous articles which a doctor or dentist might have used, such as charts of the human body, and an antiquated dental drill, operated by a foot pedal. Here also hangs the complete articulated skeleton that we all know as Sister Laura. The other ten rooms on the first and second floors were used largely for patients and are now bare, except for a few such things as beds and stoves. The basement is walled with stone and is noticeably cooler than the rest of the house, even on a warm day. In one very cool and narrow room in the basement is a well, at least two feet in diameter, drilled through the Hoor. The attic contains several rooms, some of which might have been used for storage. They are now filled with odds and ends of more or less uninteresting equipment. The infirmary was built in 1857 under the personal supervision of the Shaker physician, Dr. Barnabas Hinckley. It barely escaped destruction in the great fire of 1875 which laid waste THE INFIRMARY 25