Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1859-02-17

41C 1GGACAs.
The resolution Of the members Of the So.
Getty OF Hi nds TO relax the stringsncy Of
their standards concerning plainness oil ap-
parel and plainness Of speech is not nearly sc
important in practical sense here as in the
norl Of England, where the body is SO na
mcruus aud so influential The original OBJ.
iject OF the Quaker mode of dress was to fix
on that form of costume which should mark
the wearcr's simplicity and modesty OF char
acter by being the least conspicuous and dis
cernable that could be put on. The conse
quen e, however, of adhering with pertinaei
ty to the letter of the FIRST arrangement, and
refusing in the slightest degree to yield tC
the varying currents of fashion and habit
among men, has been that by degrees the
garb chosen for its ordinaryness has become
signally conspicuous and extraordinary. d
a like tenor is the history of the theeing and
thouing. Men of sober, and, let us admit
so far sound and correct taste, took uGbragt
at the fashionable euphemisms and affectationl
of the age, and at the ambitious literary eff
fects which were embarrassing the plain Eng
lish tongue with tropes and pleonasms. TIKI
rule adopted by them was one of perfect sim
plicity-to speak in good grammar aud ust
no useless words. But forms of grammar
are liable to change, becoming first obsolete
and next Legitimate, until the good grammar
of one century is The bad grammar Of an
other, and in the mouths of the great grand
sons of those who adopted it for its goodness
and simplicity it becomes conspicuous for it,
badness and atfectedness. Those who would
be simple in mere human institutions must
90 in some measure with the world, remem
bering that the makers of all of them are but
men with imperfect capacities, and that it is
too much like an assumption of infalibilitJ
to maintain the handiwork of cur owa i'm
perfect faculties as absolutely right, and those
of the multitude as absolutely wrong. Non
are these pecularities of the surface all that
occurred to remind our friends that they
could not raise themselves on solid plat
form far above the sins and folies OF man
kind. They had their share of these, which
have presented themselves in all the more
grotesque and sometimes formidable an as.
lpcct from the antagonstic elements among
which they have developed themselves. Nc
external crust of broad brim or brown cloth
could keep pride, and vanity, and love o.
wealth and power-not to speak of the
lgrosser feelings OF humaDity-from entering
the Quaker heart; and when they got into
that guarded sanctuary, they made wild work
| IN ~ Tona,1c olocn rF rno hnwnvar
whose general characteristics have been noble.
ness and goodness, we are not going to take
the ungracious task OF casting up against
them the deeds of those sinful brethren who
have reminded them from time to time that
they arc not entirely removed above the leve
of the rest of mankind. The grotesquc
shape in which it has been found necessary
for those who kept themselves SO rigidly
apart from the ordinary forms Of human van
ity and weakness to yield to these failings
when they did yield, is more legitimate anc
less uncharitable subject for animadversion
aud we propose to conclude with charac
teristic little anecdote, not generally known
but to be found in a curious book of the las
century, called Douglass Description o
the East Coast of Scotland" 1t relates tx
Barclay of Mathers the father of the Apol
ogist, who had been colonel under Gustavu
Adolphus, but become Quaker in his old days
The descendant of a fierce race, which in late
days produced Russian feld-marshal and al
English pugilist, the colonel had strong, no
blood in him. A neighbor, trusting too i'm
plicitly to the restraints of the order, wa
found encroaching on Barclays marches IL
argued about justice and property in valn.-
The neighbor determined to support his en-
croachment by force, and brought followe
to the spot. Barclay also went thither witt
some of his people, and, marching forwan
with grim serenity, said, "Friend, | hav
long since renounced the wrathful principle
and wish not to quarrel with thee; but i
thou porsistest perchance thou mayest arous
the old Adam within me, and warn the
that he may prove too strong both tor M
and for thee" This ominous warning OF th
colonels continued liability to the frailties 0
the flesh was prudently noted and acted on
-SC0tSmdn