Phebe Anna Thorne, Quakeress (review)

Book Reviews71 Phebe Anna Thome, Quakeress. By Olive Floyd. Rye, New York: privately printed. 1958. xiii, 80 pages. Phebe Anna Thorne, who was the last plain Friend in the Fifteenth Street Meeting, New York, is introduced to us in this biographical sketch as the "doer of untold kind deeds" for causes, institutions, and, particularly , individuals. She was the third of the eleven children of Jonathan and Lydia Thorne and the only daughter who lived to grow up. The rural neighborhood of Nine Partners Meeting, where she was born, was dear to her throughout her long life. Especially she loved fine animals — cows, horses, and dogs. Her father, a thriving merchant, moved to New York City when it was growing its fastest and all sorts of improvements were being tried. In the midst of its gay life his family had "a care to keep in plainness." They sided with Elias Hicks in the division which tore the Society of Friends apart in the 1820's. Phebe Anna never married. After suffering a disappointment in her youth, she adopted the plain dress and devoted herself to her father's social concerns—education, equality of the sexes, manumission of slaves, the plight of the Indians, public health (both physical and mental), prison reform, and temperance. To these and other interests her father's affluence enabled her to be a substantial donor. In meeting matters her judgment was held in high regard and she more than once accompanied ministering Friends on religious visits. Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr Colleges received her largest benefactions. The Phebe Anna Thorne Model School (1913-1931) at Bryn Mawr has recently (1952) been resumed as a laboratory experiment in pre-school training. Olive Floyd, the author of this sketch, first heard the name of Phebe Anna Thorne when she was a freshman at Bryn Mawr. It is clear from the book that she has enjoyed delving into Quaker archives, and, though not herself a Friend, depicting her subject in the Quaker cultural environment . A devoted nephew, Samuel Thorne, is responsible for the publication . Pendle Hill Anna Brinton Friend of Life: The Biography of Rufus M. fones. By Elizabeth Gray Vining. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. 1958. 347 pages. $6.00. This biography of Rufus Jones is what his friends and all who loved him would want it to be. Rufus, the man, emerges from its pages. Rufus Jones as historian of Quakerism and mysticism, as a leader in the Society of Friends, as teacher, as chairman of the American Friends Service Committee, as philosopher, as editor, preacher, lecturer to innumerable audiences, and as writer of an endless list of articles and introductions to books both good and bad, receives adequate and detailed treatment. But most important of all, the character of Rufus Jones stands out clearly: his buoyancy, his ability to experience ...