New-York tribune., 1873-05-13
OU4KER MEETING.

Hickslte, go upon their annual pilgrimage
to their Jerusalem, the City Of Penn. We
confess to sudden sense Of relief and Sc
curity whenever our staid, shrewd brethren
and quiet sisters thus come to the frent. The
country, we think cannot during this week go
very far astray. There are certain parts Of
our body polite to which, when bribery and
corruption are most triumphant, we always
turn with complaceDcy, as one remem-
bers the sound timbers at the keel
of good ship when her pilot or
engineer threatens TO run her on the
shoals There is the steady, domestic farming
population, day or two behind the rest of
the world as to cable dispatches, perhaps, but
as a rule, drawing their morals from the Bible
and their politics from THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE.
There is the middle-aged German citizen,
money saving and money making poor and
honest, just as his children, by the slow pro-
cess of accretion and not fraud, will be
rich and honest. There are the keen, down.
right Maine lumberman; the dull downright
South Coast fisherman; the canny Scotch
Irish blood in Pennsylvania, the HuguenOt
in Carolina, the Cavalier iu Virginia tradi
tiOns all, but traditions with profound force
and meaning. And there is the body of i'll
paid, hard worked Christian clergymen every
where. 1t is a popular catch-wOrd now to
talk of priestcraft and sectarian bigOtry but
the Rev. Mr.. Ancient, dragging poor wrecked
creatures to shore at the risk of his own life,
simply because they were Gods children. is a
better type of his class nowadays than public
opinion is willing to acknowledge. These are
only few of the redeeming elements, but are
enough-m0re than ten righteous men at least
to save SOdOm.
The Friends, both in numbers and moral
force, weigh great weight, unestimated per-
haps, but appreciable. The broad -brimmed,
square -jawed Ephraim, and the dOye-clad DebO
rah, with her white hair parted smoothly over
her wrinkled, placid and still pink cheeks. who
are sitting in solemn cOnclave to-day IN Phil
adelphia, exercise q religious. political and So
cial influence which is altogether wholesome.
They have grown out of and above the type
of their founder, George Fox. Age and GUS
tom having confirmed and approved them as a
peculiar people, they will not squabble with
you on points of doctrine, or split hairs of
logic with regard to the virtue in a shad-
bellied coat or in the bad grammar of the
plain language, as that venerable pioneer of
their faith would probably have done. Their
Christianity is in the eyes of men simple
love to their brother man, and in the
showing of that they have exhibited
a strength and persistency and a quiet
disregard Of worldly considerations unsur-
passed by any other Christian sect. You
will seldom hear of the Friends work, yet
there is no reform in the country, from the
public school system to the abolition of
Slavery, of which they have not been in
auguratOrs. Our drab-coated friends, Isaac and
Deborah, in fact, appear to be so exactly the
opposite in private and public of the miserable
folles and vices which are now degrading us
as people in the eyes of the world. that we
are tempted to lift them up as examples to
this untOward generation. The bane the
aDtidOte are both before u.s. Are we brag
garts7 Here are stiffness and mOdesty. Do we
make sham show of wealth and prosperity
Go into their plain brick dwelling on Arch-st.
if you would know what reality is from the
welcome on the threshold to the dinner on
the kitchen fire. Here is no plated pewter
ware, no sleazy silks, no cheap Brussels. Are
we reckless in tradingf Make a penny from
Ephraim in bargain if you can. Do we squan-
der and drink and gamble our way headlong
to poverty Who ever saw begging Quaker
Are our bellies forward and scheming in
Irritation and match -makingf Does the
hare sometimes hunt the hounds The
daughters of Deborah wear not the
plain garb perhaps. but they are
clothed upon with wOndrous modesty
and self-respect. They are clear-eyed and
clear Drained, and always able, if need be, to
earn their own living by other modes than
marriage. The lover who woos them will not
pay homage as q carpet knight to a sham
queenship, but as the first man to the un-
known pure mystery of the first woman. Do
we find Free Love and spiritual affinities
necessary to solve the problem of marriage'
Who has heard of q divorced Quaker
Or to come to pettier matters (though
just as vitaD, does the worldly house
wife find her children nervous, her
husband driven day after day to restau-
rant for something to eat chambermaids a
perpetual thorn in her side. and cooks mere
messengers of Satan sent to buffet heri Let
her go into the noseless nurseries Of the
Friend Deborah, through her spotless kitchen,
and beholding tho serene brows of mistress
and maids, lay her hand upon her mouth
and her mouth in the dust and be silent.
Our Friendly brethren in Philadelphia are
about, we perceive, to give to the Indian
problem their gravest consideration. We are
tempted to wish that they would take all
these other muddles of life which prove too
much for US, and with their keen eyes and
placid fingers set them to rights-now and
forever.
Infinitely various have been the expedients Of
those bent upon suicides and everybody knows that
there are dignifed as well as undignihed ways of