“At 9 we eat breakfast & about 10 we went 3 Miles to Robert Tates a family of Jerkers. He is an elder of a Presbyterian society. 7 of his family have the Jerks with himself. 2 hours had conversations with several, & saw what was very wonderful….”
“I took the Jerks, & was the first person that had it in these parts. Sometimes I have had it in meditating on serious things when alone, sometimes by seeing the situation of the wicked, sometimes by reading, or hearing some striking expressions, sometimes in going about my common employment, & sometimes while in bed….”
“[T]he exercises by the invisible power of God went pointedly to the destruction of all antichristian forms, and inventions of men by such exercises as Jerking…& the restitution of, the true worship of God by such as dancing….”
“[O]ne circumstance contributed not a little to interrupt the harmony of the meeting…, which was the wild enthusiasm displayed by a certain female…. [S]he exhibited at some times the jerking exercise, at other times the dancing exercise, and not unfrequently the [barking] exercise….”
“[The Jerks consist] in a sudden inclination, or reclining, of the shoulders, and is so quick, that the head appears to move too slow for the shoulders…. This is common to both sexes, but with this difference, that men seldom have more than one jerk…; whereas, a woman will frequently continue a repetition of that motion…for ten or fifteen minutes, reclining backwards as far as her feet, or some other obstacle will permit her, and bending so far forwards, as almost to touch the floor with her head….”
