Sixty-five and Over. A Study Based on a Survey of the Care of the Aged in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends (review)

BOOK REVIEWS35 Collection of sphagnum moss is the subject of one of the interesting historical chapters. It will probably surprise many to learn of the use of this moss in surgery as well as in greenhouses. Shipbuilding on the Mullica River was doubtless very common up to seventy years ago, although it is questionable whether many large vessels were built there. As a boy of eight to ten years I was nearly every weekday on the boat of the Custom Inspector in Little Egg Harbor. Sometimes as many as fifty vessels were anchored there, and more often than not the Mullica boats were fifty-ton sloops, with only occasionally a schooner with two masts. In conclusion there is some ground for hope that multiplication of books on the order of Jersey Genesis will create an appetite for real history of which the monumental work of Professor Wertenbaker is a perfect example. J. Henry Bartlett Tuckerton, New Jersey Sixty-five and Over. A Study Based on a Survey of the Care of the Aged in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends, by Leon Thomas Stern, Philadelphia, Social Service Committee, 1945, 35 pp., Revised edition, 1946, 36 pp. Twenty-five cents. [Copies may be obtained from the Social Service Committee, 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia 2, Pa.] FRIENDS have long been pioneers in social work. Thus far no adequate history of the various contributions of Quakers to social work in America has been published. Some years ago the late Thomas K. Brown, Jr., translated the original book in this field written by Auguste Jörns entitled Studien über die Sozialpolitik der Quäker. Dr. Jörns did not have available American resource material to any extent but with this exception her book, with its significant foreword by Amelia Mott Gummere, is an important contribution to the literature of social work. The care of the aged among the Religious Society of Friends is the particular concern of the Monthly Meeting and usually this responsibility has been remanded to the Overseers or a special committee. But in many American communities superior Meetings have taken upon themselves the establishment of Friendly homes for better care of our aged members. Here again the Friendly procedure and policy has been of a pioneering nature. It is so recognized by historians and students of social work although very little has been written about this field of Friendly social service. Now another chapter has been added to the record. Leon Thomas Stern, member of Providence United Monthly Meeting, has just completed a comprehensive study which might become a landmark. It certainly is a guidepost showing where we have come from and the directions in which Quakers ought to go in meeting this problem that statisticians tell us will become increasingly important in our civilization. Vol. 35, Spring 1946 36 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION In the Philadelphia area today there is one person out of fourteen in the age group over sixty-five. Within a few decades it is estimated that our vital statistics will show one person out of seven will be in this class. It is a fact that the ratio of older persons among Friends is much higher than in the general population enumeration. The material for this study is based upon information obtained from only one American Yearly Meeting, yet the presentation of the findings and the observations of the author, a trained social research worker, will be of value to Friends and non-Friends everywhere. Not the least important part are sections on the establishing of Friends Boarding Homes and some very penetrating conclusions regarding open doors of opportunity for all Friends who seek to meet the needs of older people. We are all members of one community and the good of the least of us is the good of all. Richmond P. Miller Philadelphia A Searching Time for Quakers. Being a Miscellany Collected by Horace Mather Lippincott. Philadelphia, published by the author, 1945. 80 pp. $1.00. ' I 'HIS pamphlet is in substance a clarion call to a return to the "simple faith" of the founders of Quakerism, a "spiritual conception of the world arising as an attempt to explain a revelatory experience." This may...