1388 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



19 



mother was of the Hicksitc division. I remember 

 asliing aunt Ann Overman what the difference was 

 between the orthodox and the Hicksite Friends, 

 and she answered, laughingly, "The Orthodox be- 

 lieve that the 'eld fellow ' has horns, and the Hick- 

 sites believe he is a muly." Dear aunt Ann! she is 

 now in heaven; but her good works live after her. 



When I began teaching, at fifteen, I had to leave 

 the Friends' neighborhood. There were only two 

 schools there, and Friends' children are all educat- 

 ed, and most of them are teachers, and T went here 

 and there wherever duty seemed to call me, till I 

 finally landed in Illinois, among my mother's peo- 

 ple. There was a small Friends' meeting here, with 

 half a dozen members, but it was of the Hicksite 

 branch, and it was so different from what I had 

 been used to that I did not feel much at home 

 among them. I liked them though. I have a re- 

 spect for a tight silk lionnct and a big felt hat that 

 nothing can ev<^r tnke away. In teaching and 

 changing neighborhoods I always attended what- 

 ever church was nearest, but they all seemed wild 

 and ranting, and I wished that I had a good old 

 Orthodox Friends' meeting to go to. For years and 

 years I was homesick for the old Friends' meeting- 

 house on the hill at Mississiuewa. No other such 

 Sundays have ever been, nor ever will be to me, as 

 those spent in that old weather-beaten two-ended 

 meeting-house. The old oak-trees around it were 

 greener, the sky above was bluer, and the winds 

 more balmy than they have ever been since. The 

 old plank road was a royal highway leading past 

 the burying-ground where generations of departed 

 Friends lie buried, with the Mississinewa in sight, 

 if we chose to look that way, and the cultivated 

 fields and orchards on either side. On Wednesdays 

 school was dismissed at eleven, and we marched 

 two and two, the boys in one group, the girls in 

 another, and took our places, "quietly and in or- 

 der," in the meeting-house, where the fathers and 

 mothers and householders had already assembled; 

 and time and tinje again we sat in silence the whole 

 meeting through, without a word being spoken by 

 any one; but the still small voice was speaking to each 

 tieart; then the elder shook hands, and meeting was 

 over, and we went out, not quite so " quiet and 

 orderly," to our dinners and our play. It is of no 

 use for me to try to tell outsiders what it was that I 

 liked about those sHoit meetings. One who has 

 never been there can not be made to understand 

 it, so I shall not try. But I loved it well; and I 

 would give twenty dollars (if I had it to spare) to 

 go back there and sit for one hour and feel as I 

 used to feel. 



Some years ago I sent to that nieeting for a let- 

 ter, to be given to the Presbyterian church here. 

 The Presbyterians received my letter, but— now 

 here comes the rub— all Christians are going to the 

 same heaven, and a church letter ought to be a 

 legal tender anywhere, just as a gold dollar is; 

 but it seems that it is not. The Presbyterian 

 church said it would take me in on that church 

 letter if— what? if I would bo baptized with water! 

 Now, our religion— our orthodox Friends' kind of 

 religion— taught mc that I need not be baptized of 

 water, but of the Holy Spirit. Now, if I say that 

 I believe water baptism is necessary, I shall tell a 

 lie, because I do not think so, and I am not going 

 to tell a lie for any church. I know that you have 

 always talked to me as if I were an Infidel; but I 

 want to say now that I believe in religion, in 



churches, in prayer-meetings, and religious expe- 

 rience. Religion is a good thing. It seems to me 

 that anj- thing that will take the swear out of a 

 man. and make him stop beating his wife, must be 

 a good thing, and religion did this for one of my 

 neighbors, and it does seem as if religious people 

 were happier, and felt more at home, than out- 

 siders. It does not matter about creed— creed nev- 

 er saved anybody yet. I say, it does not matter 

 about the creed, but I'll make a few exceptions. 

 I'd rather not be a Thug in India, nor a Mormon in 

 Utah. Mahala B. Chaddock. 



Vermont, 111., Dec. 8, 1887. 



May God bless you, my dear Mend, for 

 this little talk you have given us ; and please 

 forgive me if I have, in any of my replies, 

 talked as if you were an infidel. I shall 

 never do it any more, especially if you don't 

 take back any thing you have said in the 

 above. I know there are objectionable 

 things about our sects and creeds ; but you 

 yourself have, in your concluding words, 

 indicated that a line must be drawn some- 

 where. I have myself been many times 

 tempted to think that it does not matter 

 about the creed ; but, where shall we draw 

 the dividing line ? Among the readers of 

 Gleanings there are many different ones, 

 and I fear they will feel hurt at what you 

 said ; but if Mormonism upholds polygamy, I 

 should say it will have to be hurt and ought 

 to be hurt ; but I am told by some of the 

 friends in Salt Lake that it does not. In 

 any case, we have not time to discuss this 

 question here. Well, is there a common 

 ground where we can all meet V I think 

 there is, and it is indicated in the text I 

 have put at the head of your article. God's 

 word says, the summing-up of the whole 

 mutter is to fear God and keep his com- 

 mandments. I confess I never knew be- 

 fore what a Quaker meeting is. Now, I 

 think I could enjoy a Quaker meeting with 

 you, if it were not too long. I am some- 

 thing like Huber at morning prayers. He 

 is an excellent boy when the prayer is not 

 too long. I guess I could enjoy a Quaker 

 meeting of fifteen minutes or perhaps twen- 

 ty ; and, to tell the truth, 1 believe that 

 sermons of fifteen or twenty minutes, have, 

 as a rule, done me more good than longer 

 ones. Are you not a little hard on the 

 Presbyterian church ? I am not very well 

 posted in these matters, for God has not 

 called me to look closely into this matter of 

 doctrine ; but without consulting our dea- 

 cons, I should say that, if some one applied 

 for admission to our church who is leading 

 a consistent life, and preferred not to be 

 baptized because he felt, as does our friend 

 Mrs. Chaddock, that he had been baptized 

 by the Holy Ghost, in his own Quaker 

 church, years ago, I should say, receive him 

 into the church. No w% may be it would be 

 a bad precedent ; and may be my position 

 is, on this point, an unwise one ; but I don't 

 believe it would do very much harm. God 

 has called me, with all my strength and all 

 my heart and with all my soul, to preach in 

 my own way the religion that, as you ex- 

 press it, " takes the swear out of a man," 

 and makes him stop beating his wife ; but 

 he has not called me to labor with people 

 who do not think as I do about baptism, or 



