Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-07-20
ears the imprint of Benjamin Frank.

In 1749 he married What time
he could spare from home and trade,
was now given to preaching. to active
personal opposition to slavery, to
journeys visiting Friends meetings In
New England, the south and West
Indies. His love for humanity led
him on perilous journeys In the back
settlements and among the Indians.
On May 1, 1772, having had draw
ings in his mind" as ne would say, he
set sail for England to visit the
Friends there. 1t was characteristic
that he sailed not in the cabin, as in
vited, but In the steerage in order to
be with and help the poor sailors"
On June he reached London. Ev-
erywhere in England he saw poverty
and injustice. filth and crime. great
contrasts with wealth and luxury and
he was oppressed with the wrong and
VICE. His last public labor was a tes-
timony in the York meeting. He died
October Z. 1852. from smallpox and
was buried in the Friends burial
ground in York.
Now for the Journal" In his
quaint language he begins: II have
often felt motion Of love to leave
some hints in writing Of my expert
ence Of the goodness Of God, and now,
in the thirty sixth year Of my age,
begin this work" That was the year
1855. Il was continued to his last
illness in York. It was published first
in 1874. 1t has been reprinted many
times and was edited by Whittier In
1871. 80
First Of all, for the style Of the
Journal Charming says: The secret
Of Woolman's purity Of style is that
his eye was single and that conscience
dictated his words" Whittier, with
his warm sympathy and poetic feel
ing, gives utterance to the general
impression when he writes that "a
certain, indefnable purity pervades
the book. making one sensible. as he
reads, of 9. sweetness as Of Wolets.'
These two criticisms are glaideposts
as to woolman's style: Simplicity.
purity and the genuine representa-
tion Of genuine man. John Wool
man refused to wear clothes that
were dyed and a hat that was color
ed. That spirit is apparent In his
book. There Is no parade no show.
no ostentation. With singular refine
ment and modesty he writes TIE re-
cord Of an unusual life.
This honesty is enhanced with the
grace of vanishing speech. The
quaint phrases move across the
pages, visible "reminiscences Of hat
figure in the undyed, homespun
clothes. with the large hat In the nat
ural fur, which once moved 30 gra-
ciously through Mount Holly and
spoke so bravely in quarterly and
yearly meetings, and reasoned 90
gently with ''old Joseph Richison."
and travelled so heroicaIly to distant
colony and dangerous settlement.
Such phrases as these: Having had
drawings In my mind % 80 TO quar-
terly meeting This brought
mighty exercise upoI} me" Nv.
mind was drawn into oeep inward
stillness"-''into an inward awful
ness"-such phrases add much to
make what Whittier called a sweet
ness as of volets.
The contents Of the journal, apart
from its gracious and gentle utter
ances, is distinguished. to put It
briefly, for its opposition to slavery
and for its mysticism. John Wool
man was practical man and yet a
mystic-a man who could manage
his own affairs, who could briefly and
persistently work for his fellow men
and who could daily enter the mys-
terry of that inward stillnesa" have
already described the beginning of
his opposition to slavery. This oppo-
sition is only briefly and modestly re-
corded in his journal. But his me-
MORALS, his letters, his public words,
his private conversations, his work In
quarterly and yearly meetings, and
his services on committees led to this
noble and remarkable conclusion. In
1884 no slaves were held among
Friends, slavery was condemned and
any Quaker who persisted in this
course was voted out Of the society.
His feeling against slavery lifts his
words at times above the quiet and
quaint style into a fine eloquence.
when trade is carried on productive
Of much misery, and they who suffer
by 1t are many thousands Of miles on,
the danger is the greater of not lay
ing their sufferings to heart"
Were we for the term Of one year
only to be eye witnesses Of what pass-
eth in getting these slaves; were tho
blood that is shed to be sprinkled oa
our garments; were the poor captives
bound with thongs and heavily ladcn
with elephants teeth to pass before
our eyes on their way to the sea;
were their bitter lamentations day
after day to ring in our ears and their
mournful cries in the night to hinder
us from sleeping-were we to behold
and hear these things, what pious
heart would not be deeply affected
with sorrow?
This opposition to slavery had Its
source in his religion. Religion to
him was more than doctrine; 1t was
duty, founded on the faith that God
was the Father Of all men and all
men were brothers. And these, his
own words, offer perhaps the greatest
inducement to approach the shelf
where one will find the Journal of
John Woolman.-Boston Transcript.
Ia The legend Of the Cherokee rose ts
thus told by a writer in the Hartford
Post. younp Indian chief of the