Briefer Notices

Briefer Notices By Henry J. Cadbury Howard H. Brinton contributes to a series of articles in Religion in Life, XXIX (I960), marking the half-century since Edinburgh (1910), one on "The World Council and the Creedless Church" (pp. 383-393). Writing for one sector of Quakerism, he explains how difficult it has been for such a group in all sincerity and good conscience to join the World Council. This useful article points up some of die quandaries of Quakerism and indeed of Protestantism. It has been separately reprinted by Friends General Conference. * * * Cecil D. Eby, Jr., writing on "Whittier's 'Brown of Ossawatomie' " in the New England Quarterly, XXXIII (I960), 452-461, deals with two episodes attributed in the poem to the last hours of Brown's life. He did not kiss a colored child on the way to execution nor was he attended at the gallows by a slave mother and her children. By including these unhistorical traits in his poem Whittier was destined to be understood as approving Brown's action, which as a pacifist he never did sanction. Eby shows, however , where Whittier got his misinformation. * * * Of interest to Friends is a recently discovered manuscript of an English ode in imitation of Horace's Integer vitae (Odes i.22) honoring John Bartram, whose innocence would protect him from beast and savage in his travels. It was apparently written by his friend and fellow Quaker Joseph Breintnall and in his handwriting. The false attribution of this manuscript to Benjamin Franklin and the probability tbat it came from James Madison led Whitfield Bell, Jr., and Ralph L. Ketcham, in collaboration as editors of Franklin's and Madison's papers respectively, to discuss the matter in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, LXXXIII (1959), 446-451. * * * A Quaker Boy Growing Up: Memories of Life on the Farm and Around the World is the title of a book by Charles Allen Rowe (New York: Exposition Press, 1961, 170 pages). This is a "folksy" story in which the author depicts memories of his own life and of his family, and also of happenings during the period, that impressed him. He is a Friend born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, an active member of his Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings, who has traveled extensively in the United States and abroad. Unfortunately, there are errors in some dates, names, and facts about the Society of Friends. 121 122Bulletin of Friends Historical Association A well-documented and interesting Historical Sketch of Grange Meeting in County Tyrone, Ireland, was compiled by George R. Chapman (28 pages, illustrations) and issued in connection with die tercentenary in I960. A feature which other such histories could well copy is a description of the meeting in I960 and a list of its members. This meeting near Dungannon, also described as Upper Grange or "beyond Charlemont," became one of the most important in Ulster. In 1657 a Robert Turner, perhaps the correspondent of William Penn of that name, convinced some people there. Many of the Irish immigrants to Pennsylvania came from this meeting, and in 1778 they raised a sum of money for relief of Friends in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. They diemselves had also suffered in war and received help in 1692, including £100 from Barbados. The pamphlet quotes from minutes what can be learned of the building of Grange meetinghouse as well as about persecution and misdemeanors of members. * * * The Story of the Old Quaker Meeting House at Dolobran, and the Rise of the Quaker Faith in Mid-Wales is printed wittiout place or date (Foreword reads "Birkenhead, June, 1959", 24 pages) as told by George H. Edwards. The presentation is simple and effective. The house, built in 1700 in a singularly remote spot on Dolobran, the estate of the Lloyd family, with a burial ground dose by, was abandoned about 1780, until it was repaired and re-opened in the 1950's. Charles Lloyd is a central figure in the early story, brother of the Pennsylvania statesman, Thomas Lloyd. The diaries of Richard Davies and John Kelsall supply information . Persecution, emigration, and unsuccessful iron founding enter the rather sombre narrative. * * * Memoirs of a Quaker Childhood in Ireland and Pennsylvania...