154 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET. 



" I think during the first quarter of this century that 

 the society here on the island attained its greatest 

 sway and power, religiously and numerically, and at 

 one time composed at least one fifth of all the inhabit- 

 ants, numbering quite 1,400, having two houses of wor- 

 ship, where many attended who were not members of 

 the society, or possibly had been and could not shake 

 off easily their love and regard for the quiet and sim- 

 ple ways and teachings of their parents. 



" The Friends were a respected and honored part of 

 the community, and had an influence for good. They 

 lived frugally and peacefully, and prospered, and they 

 gradually ceased to be aggressive in their way of spread- 

 ing their views and principles. 



" Theological speculation, in some measure, took the 

 place of quiet faith; and a discussion of opinions, 

 rather than a statement of true faith and belief, sure 

 hope and trust, broke in on the quiet of their homes 

 and religious life, and many were bewildered, rather 

 than really advanced in a Christian course and life, 

 by the claims that a greater light was dawning upon 

 mind and conscience, which would dispel error and 

 blind faith, or show that the society had grown be- 

 yond and outgrown their simple tenets, and would 

 again arise in new and fairer beauty and power. But 

 whatever may have been the desire and hope for a 

 permanent good and blessing to the society, all this 

 tended to scatter and divide, as the years of the last 

 half -century have witnessed, until but few remain 

 among us; but the seed is not lost, for when any do 

 go out from among them, they make the old leaven 



