The Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of Falls Monthly Meeting

CELEBRATION AT FALLS MONTHLY MEETING9 THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF FALLS MONTHLY MEETING For its spring meeting, the Friends' Historical Association joined the celebration organized by Bucks County Friends for Fifth month 20, 1933, commemorating the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Falls Monthly Meeting. The weather was perfect (though a storm iti the evening overtook many on the way home) ; the two meeting houses in their spacious grounds, the fine old trees, and the natural character of the ground made a surpassingly beautiful setting for the program; and Friends and others gathered in numbers variously estimated at 2,000, 2,500, or 3,000. The arrangements had been made with much foresight and thoughtfulness. Anticipating the possibility of rain, the Committee had provided for two sets of meetings, to run simultaneously in the two meeting houses ; but as the weather was fair, the two meetings were changed into one great open-air meeting on the lawn, and amplifiers carried the spoken words to the entire audience. For any individual visitor, the program opened upon arrival; for the old meeting houses and grounds, and the hip-roof schoolhouse , formerly a meeting house, are charming enough to justify one in whiling away many an hour merely in the enjoyment of their picturesque beauty. The Friends' Historical Association had prepared a bronze memorial tablet (see illustration, frontispiece), which well repaid a few moments' contemplation. For this tablet Fallsington Friends had provided a huge slab of native rock, a part of the rocky ridge which, continued into the near-by river, causes the very falls from which the place is named. This monument was set up in a commanding position at the intersection of two roads flanking the grounds, so that anyone driving either road commanded an easy view of it ; and, though the tablet had been very recently set in place, the foundation had been carefully graded, sodded, and planted with ornamental bushes actually in bloom, so that the usually inevitable effect of raw newness was completely overcome. 10 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION The program technically began at noon, with the opening to the public of a display of antiques, relics, and heirlooms in the hip-roof schoolhouse. Many owners of these relics had contributed to make a really notable display, of which perhaps a more detailed account can be given in the next number of the Bulletin. The care required in listing and describing these exhibits is such that there has not been time to do justice to this part of the day's pfogram in the current issue. The active "exercises" of the day began at 2.15, with the dedication of seven trees, planted on the grounds of the meeting houses in commemoration of seven of the near-by meetings, offshoots of Falls Monthly Meeting, and sprinkled with water from seven different neighboring sources, by children of the meetings. This part of the program was as follows : Bristol . .............. By Walter Leedora Sprinkled with water from the Delaware Children: Mary Townsend Davis, Anna Parr Haines MrDDLETOWN .............. By Sarah Allen Sprinkled with water from the Neshaminy Children: Paul Townsend, Jr., Sarah Cadwallader Wood Buckingham ............ By Ellen D. Atkinson Sprinkled with water from Ingham Spring Children: Ann Lenore Smith, James W. Atkinson Solebury ............. By William H. Hurley Sprinkled with water from the Cutallosa Children: Walter Rex, Donald Fetting Newtown ............ -By Dr. Arthur Roberts Sprinkled with water from Newtown Creek Children: Barbara Kenderdine, Adele Kenderdine Wsightstown ............ By Robert Atkinson Sprinkled with water from Powasinick Creek Children: Edith Parry, Kendell Tomlinson Makefield ........... By J. Augustus Cadwallader Sprinkled with water from Core Creek Children: Virginia Yardley, Newlen Ely Following the dedication of the trees came the dedication of a horse mounting block, which had been restored by former students, teachers, and friends of Fallsington Friends' School, with a roll call of former students down to 1910. The lawn between the two meeting houses was pretty well covered with an expectant audience by three o'clock, when the formal CELEBRATION AT FALLS MONTHLY MEETING11 meeting began. After brief addresses of welcome by the presiding officers, A. Russell Burton and Henry T. Moon, a letter of greeting was...