New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-05-11
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TWO MILITANT QUAKERS.

lint
,,ora Of mouth but also through actual deed and
,oaptv of ife-whose loving kindness is wide
enough to embrace the world of suffering and tender
and humble enough TO console and help It's meanes'
and poorest atom. The Quaker couple whose lives
ure described in this volume did not only preach
the doctrine of loving ones neghbor as ones sell
hcv practiced it. and with fulnesS OF sympathy
and heartineSs IN work that have made their names
memorable. Their religion was to them 'ni"s
that must be lived, not merely talked ABOUT anu
they lived it, careless often of the letter pu' hoiue
TO the spirit with rare and lofty courage
James Mott and Lucretia Collin came from ulioi-
ant branches of the same sturdy English ana New
English stock of which Benjamin Frank was alSo
a sc,on Their ancestors were well-to-do ana euu-
Gated members of the Society of Friends ana ,hey
were trained in all the sober, humane auu ,nli'!
habits and beliefs of their people 1hey were very
vonne and both were teachers when they married
the bridegroom a tall, stalwart, grave ana kihoiy
fellow the bride tiny, graceful girl with warm
heart. sparkling vivacity and sense OF hulhor
which all her Quaker breeding could not subdue III
was an ideal union In their later days they were
still lovers; the tenderness and courtesy with
which the old husband treated the old wife was
something beautiful to He wrote OF her as
one dearer TO me life :" he was the rock OF her
existence, as she was the sunbeam OF his. IheT
s,mple faith and their sympathy in work and ann
welded their very souls together. Dr. Furness re-
lates how he once heard the gentle old lazy te!l
young couple that she owed the happiness or her
welded life TO the fact that her husband and herself
were one in deep interest in the sacred cause VI
wronCed humanity" 1t true in the highest
meaning: the womans enthusiasm was always
seconded by the mans serene good sense, and IN
what was of greatest import to her the resolute
Ouakeress never had to fear disapproval or thwart
ing at home.
In the sobrcty, charity and industry that marked
their daily conduct the Motifs fulfilled the strictest
Interpretation of Quaker rules; otherwise they
thopght for themselves and their liberalty brought
down upon them the uneasy censure OF the more
debound members of their sect Their attitude con-
corning anti-slavery especially obnoxious john
Woolman was not the only Quaker who had testi-
fed eloquenty against the sin of slavery; but the
majority of the Society at the time when the Motifs
first became deeply interested III the struggle were
engaged in a cowardly effort to suppress discussion.
Mrs Mott had n remarkable gift of speech and was
for long an acceptable minister of the faith. Wheh'
like Woolman she began to mngle with her religious
exhortatiOns protests against slavery, the society
REGARDED her with disfavor which found ex-
preston in various endeavors to restrict her WORK
She was the president of the Philadelphia Female
Anti-Slavery Society during most of its existence.
and while publicly advocating abolition and prl-
yately succorng escaped slaves. she was often eX-
posed to cruel violence at the hands OF prosIavery
mobs The dignity and courage of the pale little
Ouakeress never failed nor did she ever give up in
the slightest degree her inherited principle OF non
resistance. She would face bowling mob with as
gentle a sef-posSession as she ever displayed IN
"meeting" or at her own Preside; and one DARK
night boldly pursued and demonstrated with party
O! men who had seized good old Daniel Ncall for the
purpose of tarring and foathering that dangerous
abolitionst Her fearessness and her absolute de-
yoton 10 what she believed right won respect even
from her prosecutors. There is pleasant story
told of meeting in this city which was broken up
Burroughs some of the speakers being rudely handled
as they left the hall "Perceiving this, Lucretla
Mott asked the gentleman who was escortng her 10
leave her and help some of the other ladies' VINO
were timid But who will take care of your said
ne This man, she answered. quietly laying her
hand on the arm of one of the toughest of the mob;
.he will see me safe through Though taken aback
for the moment by such unexpected confidence,
the man responded by conducting her respectfully
through the tumut to place of safety. The next
av she went into restaurant near the place oil the
meeting and recognizing the leader or the m0D at
one of the tables sat down by him and entered INTO
conversation with him. When he left the room he
asked gentleman at the door. who that lady was,
and on hearing her name remarked: Well' she 3 d
GOOD sensible woman
Mis-. MOIt was rs dCllNt anu PoAoAStNiAt 90 DIV ~
brave There was an irresistible spring OF hope ana
industry in that fragile little frame. Her sister said
of her that the striking traits Of her character were
remarkable energy that de6ed even time, I'M
swerving conscientiousness and "all those CHAR
acterstics that summed up in the few words,
love to man and love to Cod" In her mpulsige and
indefatigable activity she was, as has been said'
supported and encouraged by the large hearted and
tacturn husband who always her bulwark.
-, Lnl, do haFNV hat
alone she might not have been--the most useful
among the women who worked for abolition. As a
speaker Mrs Mott was acute practical and incsive.
She never dealt in smooth platitudeS nor in iowery
enthusiasms She discussed the inherent right and
wrong of question with plainness of argument a
perfect temper and womanly grace that were at
once winning and convincing. She gave no heed to
orthodox dicta, holding strenuousy to the motto,
which she used to write beneath her signature,
"Truth for authority. not authority for truth"
aTbere is a broad distinction" she said one day,
sbetween religion and theology. The one is a
natural human experience, common to all we'll
organized minds. The other is a system of specula-
lions about the unseen and the unknowabe which
the human mind has no power to grasp or explain
and these speculations vary with every sect, age
and type of civilization" She wore the demure and
dove-like Quaker dress but she did not hold to the
seyerer Quaker tenets She thought dancing a
harmless amusement and she once said with a
touch of the shred humor that never deserted her
" The Evangelical Alliance. that so readily passed
o resolution declaring dancing sin for church
member tabled a resolution declaring slavery a sin
for a bishop" Quick as she was to see the humor-
Gus side of things she was careful never TO wound
another; her sunny nature admitted OF honest
blows but not of stings Her home-life was one Of
beautiful simplicity and kindness Both husband
End wife had been trained to habits of rigid econ
omy but as their bographer says, they saved in
way only to be generous in another Writing of her
erandmother's thrift, Mrs. Hallowell says that a
o.Lnr Of he hnnsehnId rninQ into her ROOM fOnnd