Timothy Nicholson, Master Quaker: a Biography (review)

46 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION The discussion of Mysticism and Organization gives, as would be expected , large place to Quakerism. I have the feeling that Rufus Jones tends to idealize seventeenth century Quakerism in such passages. Was it really "just a fellowship of persons seeking to form a living organism through which the Life of God could reveal itself ? " The vigor and originality of early Quakerism call out our admiration, but there was the ' lunatic fringe ' too. Considerable realism in such matters is beneficial. I cannot help wishing, also, that the book included a chapter on the technique of educating for mystical experienca I thought Chapter III would fill this need, but it does not. We want to know how a primrose by the river's brim can come to be more than a mere yellow primrose to Peter Bell. D. Elton Trueblood Guilford College, N. C. Woodward, Walter C. Timothy Nicholson, Master Quaker: a Biography . Richmond, Indiana: The Nicholson Press. 1927. Pp. 252. Cloth. $1.65 postpaid. Timothy Nicholson was happy in his long life of service, and he has been happy in his biographer. Closely associated with him in many of his interests, Dr. Walter C. Woodward has rendered a labor of love as well as an authoritative account of one of the most distinguished Friends America has produced. Born in 1828 in North Carolina, Timothy Nicholson threw in his lot with the large and influential body of Friends in Indiana, and from his home in Richmond radiated his participation in the affairs of the nation, the state, and his Society which he so dearly loved. The long span of ninety-six years covered by his life was parallel with the development of the State in which he finally made his permanent home, and where for about sixty years he published and sold books. One might wish that there had been included for those who knew the Master Quaker some familiar picture of him among his books such as Dr. Woodward could have given us. But the interests to which Timothy Nicholson gave his attention with fidelity and unsparing generosity were of such importance that we cannot regret the space which has been devoted to them. Peace, temperance, education , prison reform, relief work, and Meeting affairs offered ample opportunities for the exercise of his judgment, devotion, tact and humor,— all dictated by a lively concern for the welfare of his fellow-men. What progress he saw in his time, and how great was his personal contribution to this progress ! Probably no American Friend has had such prolonged personal influence upon public affairs. The younger generations can find inspiration in reading this biography. It shows what one man, if acting with the fixed purpose of applying his faith to public business, and if gifted with intelligent insight, can accomplish single-handed. To read his life is to follow the trend of the public conscience during the second half of the last century and the opening of the twentieth. BOOK REVIEWS47 The present writer cherishes the memory of the charming and simple hospitality of Friend Nicholson shortly before his death in 1924. It was a First Day evening and we had supper together. We spoke of the changes at Haverford, where he had been superintendent back in the 50's, and of Earlham College, of which he was a trustee for forty-nine years. His tall, gaunt figure, his kindly face, his abounding hospitality and keen interest in affairs will remain a permanent memory to many of us who had the opportunity of seeing this Quaker gentleman in the simplicity of his home. William Wistar Comfort Haverford, Pa. Busbey, L. White. Uncle Joe Cannon. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1927. Pp. 362. $5.00. Uncle Joe Cannon, according to the editor's note, is practically Joseph Gurney Cannon's (1836-1926) autobiography. The author, for twenty years during the most important part of Joe Cannon's public career, was his private secretary. The book is written in the first person and Joseph Cannon wrote a foreword in which he said that it was his own story but his secretary's book. Thus the book is not in the...