The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-04-30
THE PURITANS DID SMILE
REV. F.. r. P-IRKER'S LECTURE BE-
 FORE YALE KENT CLUB.


 stern-Puritan Judged Too Much by His Outward Garb and Manner-Plea Made
 for a Closer and More Sympathetic Study
 of His Character.
 The Kent club of the Yale law school was addressed last evening by Rev. E. P. Parker of Hartford on "The Gentler Side of Puritan Character"
 One hears much about the old and stern side of Puritan character these days that it was decided relief to hear of the gentler side. Dr. Parker amply illustrated the truth of his subject and was listened to with the keenest interest by large audience
 MT. T. H. Cobb of the Kent club in troduced the speaker, who said in part:
 "The New Englander is commonly known as person of sad and austere appearance, and doubtless the Pur- itans did give evidence of the in tolerance they had met with in England and to which they themselves gave expression in this country think, however, that we judge the Puritan too much from his outward garb and manners.
 Underneath the stern and sombre ex- terior of the Puritan may be discerned tender nature. The reason why we do not have an account of the gentler phases of their lives is not because they did not have them, but because there was no artist to put them in words The warm side of the Puritan fife was the interior rather than the exterior, the private rather than the public.
 "The Puritans of that day were taken up with theological and similar discus sions. Let them step down from this pedestal and they seem quite full of a healthy human life.
 Washington has never been the same example of stately propriety to us since we have read the letters of the lady who recalled being dandled on Wash | ingtons knee when a six year old child, while he sang to her of the Old, old men, and the old, old women who lived in a vinegar bottle.'
 50, then, these men were not men whose lives were sealed in helmet. | Their theology was doubtless severe, and yet we know there were some of | that day even as at present who wear their theology as they wear their | clothes, with special regard to the cut and color And there were many, too, whose hearts we're warm with the love of life and humanity.
 Yet these people had no little re- alxation, We read in the letter of one of them of certain centennarian, who continued agreeable until the last hour of his life more than can be said of most of the centennarians of our own time.
 "The elder John Winthrop was of ex- ceedingly gentlemanly character and it was with the greatest repugnance that he consented to the punishment of the non- -conformist. Of the younger Win throp Bancroft says: There was no intolerance in Connecticut and the reason of this was due largely to John Winthrop and Margaret, his wife.
 "There were gentle women among the, Puritains. Lady Kenwick, who is buried at Say brook and Lady Arabella John son, of whom Hawthorne said: She was a pale English flower fading away in the shadow of the American for ests'
 q have not time to more than men ton as men of cheerful character Tim othy Edwards, Higginson, Roger Will Hams and John Elliott, of whom Ban croft says: Since the days of Christian ity there has been no one more worthy to be remembered with the apostles than Elliott
 There was the irrepressible love of pleasure which kept the general court busy enacting laws and the clergy busy preaching against in the women and youth of the day. Then they had hi- larious weddings at which the tables were bountifully spread and t,.ey got substantial enjoyment out of the funer- al feasts. And we cannot but sympa- thize with one old man who remarked that the temperance movement knocked the fun out of funerals.
 "The ordination of the minister of rare occurrence, 1t is true, yet a grand affair was often followed by an ordna- | ton ball in the minister's house at which sometimes the expense for drink was more than for food. A chromcler haS remarked of the clergy of the day that they died filled with honor, simplicity and rum.
 They would have considered one of our congregational banquets decidedly dry. One of them remarked that Adam and Eve were rightly damned for eat ing the apples in the Garden of Eden. They ought to have made them into cider.
 If I may digress somewhat, I will say, What went ye out into the wilder ness for to see? That is the question. | Do you expect to find in the forests of New England women and youth gaily | dancing about the May pole, as you would in the sunshine of prosperity. 1 Such things were to be expected in 1 England, but the Puritans were here to found a new kingdom. They were re- | ligious and intelligent and they are characterized by an intelligent regard for the commonwealth | Dr. Parker closed his address with an earnest appeal that people be edu- 1 cated to know the cheerful side of Pur- itan character as well as the cold and austere.
 1 DEMOCRATS TO REORG4NIZE, TT