Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-07-20
JOHN WooLMAN.
A Quaker Tailor Of tho Days Of Ben
Franklin.

A Quaker Tailor Of tho Days Of Ben
Franklin.
President Eliot has placed John
Woolman's Journal on his famous five
foot shelf. Among many people this
has created wonder and stirred them
to ask, "Who was John Woolman?" and
what was John Woolman's Journal?'
Starting these questions, the president
has brought to the notice Of the people
book that has too long remained the
possession Of only few. Whittier re-
marks, TN one of my last interviews
with William Ellery Charming he ex-
pressed his very great surprise that
John Woolman's Journal was 80 little
known. He had himself just read the
book for the first time, and shall
never forget how his countenance
lighted up as he pronounced 1t, beyond
comparison, the sweetest and purest
autobiography In the language. He
wished to see 1t placed within the
reach Of all classes Of readers; 1t was
not a light to be hidden under the
bushel Of a sect"
This wish Of Channing's is now be-
ing fulfilled through President Eliot.
Although so far the number who have
read John Wooiman's Journal has been
small, yet they have not been confined
to America. Charles Lamb knew the
book and warmly commends 1t in his
Essays Of Ella" and in some Of his
letters. Henry Crabb Robinson, one
of the group which gathered about
Lamb, writes in his diary in 1924: II
have been reading John Woolman's
Journal. A perfect gem! His is a
'schone Seele,' beautiful soul. An IL
literate tailor, he writes In a style Of the
most exquisite purity and grace Had
he not been 80 very humble he would
have written q still better book; for
fearing to indulge In vanity, he con-
ceals the events in which he was a
great actor. His religion was love.
His whole existence and all his pas
sions were love. II one could venture
to impute to his creed and not to his
personal character the delightful frame
of mind he exhibited one could not
hesitate to be convert. His Chris
tianity is most inviting-it is. fascinat-
ing" This gives US a hint Of the high
regard In which the Journal was held
by the fine literary group Of which
Lamb was the leader and by the small
number who have since known and
loved John woolman. 80
All this perhaps adds livelier In
terest to that already excited by Pres
ident Eliot. And we may reasonably
expect an increased and eager desire
for information. who was John
Woolman, and what was his Journal? r.
In the first place, then, about John
Woolman. John Woolnan was In trade
a tailor, in religion a Quaker, and by
his calling q preacher in the Society of
Friends. He was born in Northamp-
ton, N. J., or West Jersey" as he calls
It in his journal, in 1929, just fourteen
years after Ben Franklin was born,
when George was king, when Pope
was the great poet, and when the coll
onies were fighting French and In
dams. His boyhood was quite the
same as that Of other Quaker boys in
the colony Of West Jersey, hard work
on the farm or plantation" He was
taught by his parents to read, he says,
as soon as he was capable, and he had
occasional schooling. His home was
a family where he grew up In the sim
pie piety and beautiful simplicity Of
the Friends.
1t is evident from the Journal that
his boyhood gave promise Of that re-
ligious genius which makes his book
SO noticeably record Of a pure spirit.
Between his sixteenth and eighteenth
years he confesses quite change in
his life, recording that his life was
wantonness and his ways were ways Of
wickedness This experience was
probably no more than a reaction, from
which he recovered himself and enter
ed those habits Of living and thinking
which eventually led him to his spirit
ual distinction.
When he was 81 he obtained permis-
sion from his father to embark on his
own business ventures. He began as
clerk to the storekeeper in Mount
Holly, five miles from Northampton.
Here he lived all his life, earning his
livelihood as a tailor, preaching in the
meeting and visiting the society in
other colonies. Two episodes may be
noticed now as significant Of his atti-
tude toward two great questions-slav-
cry and simplicity. His employer, who
owned a negro woman, asked Wool
man to write out q bill Of sale. He did
so reluctantly and under protest. This
was the beginning Of an opposition
which occupied his whole life. The
second episode was the increase In his
business. He had started a store in
connection with his tailoring trade and
"the way to large business appeared
open, but I felt stop in my mind.
Through the mercies of the Almighty
1 had to a good degree learned to be
content with a plain way Of living"
And he sold out his store and confined
himself to his trade. 1t Is perhaps not
out Of place to observe that his exam
pie is profitable to many now, If they
only "felt a stop In their mind"
When he was 26 he made his first
religious visit to the Quakers in Vir-
ginia, Maryland and Carolina. This
is significant, because for the first
time he saw slavery on a large scale.
1.-TWO things were remarkable to me
in this journey; first in regard to my
When I ate, drank and
lodged free of cost with people who
lived in ease on the hard labor Of their
slaves 1 felt uneasy; and as my mind
was inward to the Lord I found this
return upon me at times
through the whole visit. Where the
masters bore a good share Of the bur-
den and lived frugally so that their