FRIENDS, OR QUAKERS. 151 



"The society of Friends on the island, during the 

 first seventy years of the century, furnished many able 

 men and women who were true ministers of the gos- 

 pel of Christ oar Lord; they travelled extensively in 

 this country and England, preaching the glad tidings 

 and good words of life. 



" The society of Friends as a body have been averse 

 to holding office under the general government. It has 

 been stated, and is no doubt true, that the peaceable 

 and quiet principles and lives of Friends have had in 

 past time a great influence on the ways and manners 

 of the people of the island generally; and the strong 

 Quaker leaven has had such an influence upon the 

 lives of many, though not numbered with the soci- 

 ety, that their views and acts have been greatly modi- 

 fied by its principles and traditions. 



" The society, in its earliest years, very strongly 

 advocated the general education of its members, and 

 it has always been one of its positive rules that every 

 child capable of receiving or learning the common 

 branches of an English education should be so edu- 

 cated; and when the parents were unable to bear the 

 expense, the body at large must assist. And those 

 who needed aid to labor at or attend to some business 

 which they were capable of transacting always had 

 aid and counsel, socially and pecuniarily. These facts 

 made a stronger mutual interest in the welfare of 

 families and in each other. 



" The greater social equality of women among Friends, 

 and their equal share in the administration of the 

 affairs of the society over that enjoyed by women in 

 other religious organizations, and the quiet simplicity 



