SIMPLE GIFTS : The Shaker Song <i> Photography by Solomon M. Skolnick (Hyperion: $9.95; unpaginated) </i>

“ Tis the gift to be simple . . . “

So begins this standard of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming, more commonly called Shakers because of the physical fervor exhibited during their religious services.

“Tis the gift to be free . . . “ Shakers came to America during the 1700s and have always been almost self-effacing.

“Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be.”

They are best known for the unadorned, spare furniture which is now highly sought after by collectors. Once numbering 6,000, the community has been reduced to only nine, largely due to their rule of celibacy.

The masonry, carpentry, needlework and pottery photographed here all are exquisite. They seem to embody the tenets of Shaker life: simplicity, orderliness, perseverance and a single-minded devotion to living an uncomplicated exsistence, the better to concentrate on more heavenly matters. And pure heaven is an apt description of this stocking-stuffer.

Hancock Shaker Village, the focus of this book, surely must be “ in the valley of love and delight.”