56 VISIT OF IWAN ALEXIOWITZ 



recovering myself, I sat with it on, at the end of a bench. The 

 meeting-house was a square building, devoid of any ornament 

 whatever. The whiteness of the walls the conveniency of seats 

 that of a large stove, which in cold weather keeps the whole 

 house warm, were the only essential things which I observed. 

 Neither pulpit nor desk, fount nor altar, tabernacle nor organ, were 

 there to be seen : it is merely a spacious room, in which these good 

 people meet every Sunday. A profound silence ensued, which 

 lasted about half an hour ; every one had his head reclined, and 

 seemed absorbed in profound meditation, when a female Friend 

 arose, and declared, with a most engaging modesty, that the Spirit 

 moved her to entertain them on the subject she had chosen. She 

 treated it with great propriety, as a moral, useful discourse, and 

 delivered it without theological parade, or the ostentation of learn- 

 ing. Either she must have been a great adept in public speaking, 

 or had studiously prepared herself ; a circumstance that cannot well 

 be supposed, as it is a point, in their profession, to utter nothing 

 but what arises from spontaneous impulse : or else the Great Spirit 

 of the world the patronage and influence of which they all came 

 to invoke must have inspired her with the soundest morality. 

 Her discourse lasted three quarters of an hour. I did not observe 

 one single face turned toward her : never before had I seen a con- 

 gregation listening with so much attention to a public oration. I 

 observed neither contortions of body, nor any kind of affectation in 

 her face, style, or manner of utterance ; everything was natural, 

 and therefore pleasing, and, shall I tell you more ? she was very 

 handsome, although upward of forty. As soon as she had finished, 

 every one seemed to return to their former meditation for about a 

 quarter of an hour, when they rose up by common consent, and, 

 after some general conversation, departed. 



How simple their precepts, how unadorned their religious 

 system, how few the ceremonies through which they pass during 

 the course of their lives ! At their deaths they are interred by the 

 fraternity, without pomp, without prayers, thinking it then too 

 late to alter the course of God's eternal decrees ; and, as you well 

 know, without either monument or tomb-stone. Thus, after having 

 lived under the mildest government, after having been guided by 

 the mildest doctrine, they die just as peaceably as those who, being 

 educated in more pompous religions, pass through a variety of 

 sacraments, subscribe to complicated creeds, and enjoy the benefits 



