Dolly Madison. The Nation's Hostess (review)

BOOK REVIEWS89 and by the suspicions in England roused against Penn, and by the impatience of many in the province at the non-resistant policy of the Friends. The journal mixes with these public problems the poignant joys and sorrows of the tragic personal and domestic life of the heroine. There are many allusions to true incidents in history and an evident effort to use real biographical data as far as it was available. The notes indicate how extensively these have been woven into the text. Otherwise the story is an imaginative reconstruction of a Quakeress' childhood and love story. Much old fashioned English is used—and the story, as a whole, rings true to history. It would be nearly impossible in such an undertaking to avoid all historical inaccuracy. Doubtless a real diary would have been more Welsh. This story is a sequel to the same author's Quaker Seekers in Wales which dealt in a similar way with the Lloyds of Dolobran a generation earlier. Downright Dencey, though written primarily for children, is most readable for adults. It is a story of whaling days in Nantucket, and Dencey's father is absent for long years on whaling trips. The many delightful Quaker features are not held up for show as quaint, according to the custom of most non-Quaker story-tellers, nor are the few unattractive Quaker elements made cruel and harsh; but all are in a simple way taken for granted and appear incidentally in the course of the little girl's adventures . The author has created human beings who are at the same time Quakers, and she has successfully avoided the stock types so usually found in novels. Dean, Elizabeth Lippincott. Dolly Madison. The Nation's Hostess. Boston : Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company. 1928. Pp. 250. $3.00. This biography, written appropriately by a Friend, describes the great characters and stirring times in the midst of which moved a President's Quaker wife. Dolly Payne was born near New Garden meeting house in North Carolina, and her parents, who had joined Cedar Creek meeting four years earlier, were clerks and active workers in the Society of Friends. Dolly went to the Friends' school at Cedar Creek. Her girlhood was passed during the Revolutionary War. John Payne, her father, who was strongly affected by the Quaker anti-slavery feeling, in 1783 freed his slaves, sold his plantation and moved to Philadelphia. His family was at once taken in by the Friendly circle there. Dolly was married at twenty, in Pine Street meeting house, to John Todd, also a Friend, and lived at 83 Chestnut Street. Here the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 struck them and Dolly and her two sons took refuge at Gray's Ferry. Her husband and her baby died of the fever. Dolly was not long left a widow, for a year later she married the distinguished James Madison, an affair, as her biographer states, " in direct contrast to her first wedding, the simple ceremony of the Quaker marriage ." 90 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION There is no further reference to any Quakerism on the part of Dolly, even in her old age, except that two old Quaker friends attended her funeral. Whether she or any others of her family ever had any more Quakerism than is involved in a birthright membership we are not told. Quaker readers will wish for a more extensive study of the influences, if any, of her early years in the Society, and for her own opinions of war, slavery, or simplicity. They would have liked to know if the sober tone of her first marriage was congenial to her or if the gayer life of the Capitol brought a relief that she had longed for. There is no analysis of Dolly's mind and only the smallest reference to her Quaker connections. The main portion of the book is, as the title indicates, more about the times and events of Dolly's life than about Dolly herself. She lived through memorable years as the President's wife, witnessing the burning of the Capitol in 1814, and dying in poverty at eighty-one, beloved of her adopted city of...