Valiant Friend: The Life of Lucretia Mott (review)

Book Reviews57 planting of Hudson, N.Y., by Nantucket and Rhode Island whalers. I wish the undated outline map were less sketchy. The treatment of worship is valiant, but there are practically no records to go on. The index is useful, the notes stimulating, and the format plain and attractive. Worrall has set a high standard for die two volumes to follow. Burlington, VermontThomas Bassett Valiant Friend: The Life of Lucretia Mott. By Margaret Hope Bacon. New York, N.Y., Walker and Company. 1980. x, 265 pages. $14.95. The portrait drawn by Margaret Hope Bacon in Valiant Friend: The Life of Lucretia Mott is one which reminds us that Lucretia Mott was both an extraordinary and an ordinary woman. It is in the interplay, spaces and shadows between these two dimensions where Margaret Bacon works at understanding and interpreting this "gentle Quaker leader who fought to end slavery and win equality for women." Lucretia Coffin Mott (Jan. 3, 1793 -Nov. 11, 1880) was an extraordinary woman. At a time when women's roles were very prescribed and usually confined to the private domestic sphere, she spoke freely in public, took active leadership roles within the Society of Friends and other organizations, wrote and circulated petitions, testified before government bodies and endless conventions, traveled frequently, opposed violence in all quarters while working for peace, and always questioned all forms of authority which did not depict life as she had experience of it. As founder or early leader in many associations, Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society—1833; Women 's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls—1848; Association for the Relief of Poor Women—1849; Philadelphia Women's Medical College—1840; School of Design for Women—1852; Equal Rights Association—1866; Swarthmore College—1864; Philadelphia Peace Society—1866; and Free Religious Association—1867; she organized, institutionalized and brought to fruition uncountable reforms and changes in the society and its thinking. She set forth a social and religious agenda which still sets goals for our generation and probably will for generations yet to come. Lucretia Mott was also an ordinary woman. In keeping with the gender definition of that day, she learned, practiced and excelled in all of the domestic skills. She was an exceptional wife, mother, grandmother, cook, entertainer, decorator, nurse/doctor, and financial manager. She was responsive to the needs for family bonding, for ritualizing and bearing the grief of many deaths within her family and friends. She was a loyal member and leader of the Society of Friends, even though at times the Society of Friends was not loyal to her. In the picture drawn by Margaret Bacon we see that Lucretia Mott was in every way the nurturant, caring, civilizing and domestic woman proper to the nineteenth century. The form Margaret Bacon uses in presenting this portrait accentuates the relative ease with which Lucretia Mott moved between private (ordinary) and public (extraordinary) spheres. Bacon draws upon previous scholarship about Mott and other Quaker women and illustrates the way in which the affirmation of equality of the sexes within the Society of Friends influenced and aided Lucretia Mott. In addition Bacon describes particular clues which blend the private and public sphere in the life of Lucretia Mott. 58Quaker History Margaret Bacon finds that central to this integration is Lucretia Mott's spiritual awareness which tested all religious and moral beliefs by her own experience of the Light. This way of knowing gave rise to an "inner economy" which allowed Lucretia Mott to avoid activities and problems which merely wasted energy. There was also an "instinct for self-nurturing" which made it possible for Mott to bear severe criticism, periods of illhealth , and considerable grief and questioning. She seems always to have been supported by her belief in progress (if only humans would take care to observe and understand the intent of God and the laws of nature) which allowed her to be open to voices more radical than her own and able to hear her critics without rancor. She was sustained throughout all of this by her serious engagement in the day-to-day affairs of providing food, lodging , affection and joy for those within view. In keeping with the form...