Читать книгу A Beginner's History - William H. Mace - Страница 38

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Believed in simple things

57. How Quakers Differed from other Colonists. The people who formed Penn's colony were unlike those of any of the other settlements. They did not wear gorgeous clothes and jewelry like the Virginia cavaliers. The men carried no swords or pistols. They were not stern like the Puritans. Games and social pleasures were not to be seen among them as in Dutch New Netherland.

Quakers called themselves the Society of Friends

These people wore clothes of the plainest cut, made from dull gray or brown cloth. They were gentle and soft-spoken, and did not fight or quarrel among themselves. People who did not understand or like them called them Quakers, because some of them were so carried away at religious meetings that they fell to quaking. They themselves took the name of the Society of Friends. And Friends is a much better name, for they were friends to every man.

All religions welcomed by the Friends

The customs of the Quakers grew out of their religious views. Above all, they believed that every one should be free to do as his own conscience taught him. Their religious meetings were as simple as their own lives. They did not think it necessary to have ministers or priests. The men sat in one part of the church, the women in another. All was silence until some Friend felt called to speak. Some days no one spoke, and then they all sat in silence until the meeting was over. As a rule, not even a hymn was sung.

Opposed war and slavery

The Quakers have always believed that war is unnecessary and wrong, and only a few of them have ever carried arms. Because Friends speak only the truth, they do not take an oath. In the courts of law their simple word is as good as an oath. They have always been quick to help the poor and oppressed. The Quakers were the first to oppose slavery, and they did much to end it both in this country and in the English colonies. It is strange that these kind, gentle people should ever have been so cruelly persecuted.

The colony prospered

While the Quakers were strongly religious, they also took good heed of the things of this world. At first they cleared and planted farms in the fertile Schuylkill and Delaware valleys. Soon groups of them took up townships of five thousand acres each and built villages at their centers. The swift streams which tumbled down the mountain slopes they used to turn mills. In these they ground flour, sawed lumber, made paper, and wove woolen cloth.

The rich land and good climate of Pennsylvania and its liberal government attracted many people from outside. After a short time the Quakers were outnumbered by the other settlers, and to-day the Quakers are but a handful in that great state.