The Coolidge examiner., 1933-07-14

~ Z near Beaconsfeld in Bucks England
N 4 great crowd 10 witness a pageant
which was given in the picturesque
. ! J !" !. ! ! !. : !" ! : ; ; !. ! !"
- NI courtyard of old Jordan's Hostel Al
ET<a&KSH though the locale of the pageant was
ET6&H English and the actors in il were
E& n II English. 1t was staged in celebra
EEAA&HH tion of an event in American history
4 A& A the 250th anniversary of the found
y n ing of Pennsylvania.
ezzzzzuS For, adjoining the broad grounds
which surround the old hostel is an ancient
graveyard and the inscription on one Of the sim
pie headstones in this graveyard tells the visitor
that underneath II lies the dust of what had
once been a man named William Penn. Just be-
yond this grave stands a small brick building
which had once been farm house but which Is
now used as a meeting house for those who call
themselves the Society of Friends but whom we
know as the Quakers. Nearby. also, is another
building which tells a tale from American his
tory. 1t is only a barn but the beams in it
once the timbers of the good ship "Mayflower'
in which the Pilgrim Fathers sailed to New Eng
land and this barn is now used as a recreation
room by the Society of Friends.
SO this pageant recalled once more TO both
England and America the name of an English
man whose influence in the history of their
tiOn is greater than most Americans realize
What that influence was is pointed out in a new
biography of the founder of Pennsylvania which
appeared recently. 1t is "William Penn. Quaker
and Pioneer by Bonamy Dobree, published by
the Houghton AIifflin company. In epilogue
which sums up the contribution of Penn to his
tory, the author points to the gigantic statue of
Penn which stands on the top of the cupola on
the city hall in Philadelphia and says:
He has, however every reason to be proud
of what he sees from his nhuman eminence-
the miles of habtats containing some two mil
lion people, spreading away from between the
rivers to the foothills; the factories; the
wharves; the great bridge which swings irresist-
ibly across the whole width of the Delaware ;
the structures growing ever higher, If less gra-
cious spaced out on the grid he had conceived.
Its history has been noble, for though ii hesi
tated at the beginning of the struggle against
England the still important Quakers being large
ly Indifferent and then loyalist, ii within its
precincts that the Declaration of independence
was signed and that the first flag of Stars and
Stripes was woven. Later in the Civil war the
Quaker influence came into its heritage, for Phil
adelphia was stoutly anti-slavery and, as Penn
would have wished. cOnvncedly anti-secessionist.
"The United States of America that name
would have pleased Penn, for in 1886. with his
startling capacity for seeing ahead, he had writ
ten booklet advocating the federation of all
the colonies, though not. he would have pro-
tested vehemently in opposition TO the crown.
Moreover, of those states his own has been one
of the most flourishing. =. 1t had been -four
ishing colony from the beginning. for with what
ever troubles Penn may have had in govern
ment (and his Province was not by any means
the only one to have such troubles) of all the
proprietary colonies. his easily the most
successful.
"And even in government he had not failed
so disappOintingly he supposed; for with all
the alterations and tamperings, his old and seem
!ngly battered Frame C''rhe Frame of Govern
ment." written by Penn in 1GSl) is yet the basis
of fundamental liberties.
Nor does his influence cease with the state
government, for the present Constitution of the
United States in many ways reflects Penns mind
notably in the executive being separate from the
legislature and in the Presidents appointment
of certain officers 1t is not Pennsylvania alone
that owes its shape to the constructive brain
of William Penn"
Such was the who began his pioneering
pioneering in departing from the beaten path
of most mems thinking-early in his life. Penn
was born in 1914 the of Admiral Sir Will
liam Penn of the British royal navy. He entered