216 



MIDDLE STATES. 



12. Language. Though the English is the prevaihng language, and is spoken with far greai 

 er purity than in the remote counties of England, yet German, Spanish, and Italian are in more 

 extensive use than in any other section of the country. The German is difi'used over iarge 

 tracts of country, especially in Pennsylvania, where there are in that language, newspapers, 

 almanacs, and an edition ot the State laws, and there are many families who can speak no 

 other language than this. The English, however, is gradually gaining on the German, and 

 there is a law in Pennsylvania, that no one shall serve as a juror, who cannot read in that 

 language. Spanish and Italian are only spoken in the cities by foreigners. 



There is no patois in the Middle States, nor in any other section of the country ; and a 

 native of any part of the United States would not only be perfectly undeistood in his speech 

 at London, but he would be discovered to be a foreigner only by a few incorrect phrases, and 

 those generally cant words. His intonation too would be rather different from that in England. 

 It is in fact surprising, in looking over some remote or provincial paper, in which the notices 

 are written by the advertisers themselves, to discover so few inaccuracies even in spelling ; and 

 it is believed, that any such inaccuracy would be detected and mentioned at once by the great- 

 er number of children. The only dialect of the English, prevalent in America, is one acquir- 

 ed from England ; this is, the Doric of the Friends, in which it is true, that s(5me ungrammati 

 cal liberties are taken with the personal pronouns. 



men are stcirk as statues. There are at present va- 

 rious species of this sect; the starch primitives in faitli 

 and practice ; and the hickory, or half-blooded by inter- 

 marriages the world's people. Their largest meeting- 

 house is a plain, but neat and very capacious brick edifice, 

 without any paint ; which, with the adjoining yard, where 

 lie the dead buried in white deal coflins, is encompassed by 

 a high brick wall ; back from the noise of the streets, as 

 all churches should be in populous cities. Indeed, the an- 

 noyance to worship is too often but partially prevented, by 

 the iron chains hung across the pavements on the Sab- 

 bath. In public worship, the men, with their broad hats 

 on, sit on one side, and the women on the other side of the 

 house ; not in pews, but upon lonor benches. The Qua- 

 kers here seem to sit ruminating. This sect uses neither 

 of the two visible seals of other Christians, except by spir- 

 itual acceptation. There is, however, an august feeling 

 of the Divine Presence in this stillness of the spirit, often 

 superior to any worship manifested by the bodily organs. 

 As a signal •.vben the meeting is done, two elders upon 

 the upper high seat siiike liands. Notwithstandmg 

 Pope's ' Quaker Sly,' they are a quiet, indiistrious, benefi- 

 cent, amiable folk. They have, in common, plain, useful 

 educations ; but, with some liberal e.xceptions, are more 

 deficient than others in elegant literature and embellish- 

 ments. They have but little poetry or romance in their 

 natures. They labor to make no proselytes. In their in- 

 ternal government, they have wise regularity and simplici- 

 ty. In lieu of the lawyer, and the judge, they settle all 

 disputations by impartial referees. Appeals may be made 

 from their monthly, to their quarterly, and finally to their 

 yearly meetings; at which times the Quakeresses hold 

 separate meetings. They do not sufi'er a stranger of their 

 persuasion to lodge at a hotel, but welcome him to their 

 homes. They are enemies to every unnecessary form, in 

 gospel, or in law ; and, as they refuse to swear, they are 

 ineligible to any office or trust under government. In- 

 deed, their affirmation or signature, is deemed sufficient 

 for all secular obligations amongst themselves. Instead 

 of the ' Know all men by these presents,' they once had 

 their quaint and honest, 



' Warranted, 



' from me and mine, 



' To thee and thine, 



' Forever.' 



As to their not warring, and not voluntarily paying for 

 warring, as it is a matter of conscience, I have only to 

 remark, that, if all nations were to become Quakers, there 

 would be no more wars. The Quakers, emphatically, and 

 to their unfiding honor, have ever been the foremost 

 against sbivrry. Their phraseology is peculiar. They, 

 very properly, call tiie months and days of the week, 

 by fiist, second, third, and the other ordinals, as sim- 

 pler, and discarding Pagan derivation. They address a 



man as ' Friend Such-a-one,' if they beshrevv him ever so 

 deeply, or know him to be an enemy ; and they generally 

 adopt Bible appellations, using the diminutives, even to 

 adults, as more endearing. They refuse to use Blr., be- 

 cause they will call no man master, save the Savior; nor 

 will they sign themselves any one's ' humble or obedient 

 servant which, they rightly say, is an unmeaning form, 

 or hypocrisy. They do not say you, because it is tiatlery 

 to pluialize a person ; but many say tlicc for tliou and thy ; 

 as, ' Wilt titee go with me ?' ' A mote is on titees face.' 

 Their just so garb, which, when adopted, was the court 

 costume of the time, makes them appear like antedilu- 

 vians. This drab dress changes not. whether for a wed- 

 ding or a funeral. They tell you a cape is unnecessary; 

 but they wear three inches more brim of beaver than is 

 necessary. The Quaker lads look like little old men ; and 

 Quaker maids like little old women ; unless you glance 

 under their small dove-colored bonnets, and espy their bon- 

 ny round faces. Some of the young lasses, however, 

 tastefully refine upon too absolute simplicity. At the 

 yearly meeting, I saw one of their matrons. On her 

 small, brown shriveled head, was a man's broad out-flap- 

 ping white hat, the brim at least ten inches, with a sugar- 

 loaf crown. She wore a white, stiff lawn apron, and a 

 nice, three-cornered, white 'kerchief down her breast and 

 back in peaks, and had plump pin-ball, and scissors, dan- 

 gling down her right side. She walked in tall-heeled, 

 blunt-toed, brown, prunello shoes, and leaned her veiny, 

 skinny right palm firmly upon a smooth, oaken staff. How- 

 ever, she looked as if she covered a kind, old-fashioned 

 heart ; and would, ere long, bloom into heavenly beauty. 

 If a Quaker love a lady out of the society, he must ask 

 liberty, and pardon for the sin of lovinar one of the world's 

 people. Being published is called -passing meeting ; and 

 the Quakers marry themselves, in presence of witnesses. 

 In general, the Quakers disapprove both of singing, danc- 

 ing, and painting. 



" On a Saturday, the Jew's sabbath, you may, if intro- 

 duced, go and mourn in the synagogue. Here you may 

 hear the Rabbi, in his ephod, chant, or rather ululate, a 

 portion of the Levitical Law, from his unroilea parchment 

 scroll, and expound in Hebrew from the Targuni. Here 

 you see the deluded Jews, in their scarfs and fringes, turn 

 their faces to the east, and imitate their march to their ex- 

 pected Canaan. The Jews here sit in their seats below ; 

 the Jewesses in the galleries. From the synan-ogue, you 

 may walk to their burial-ground ; where, as with us, the 

 dead are laid with their heads to the west ; so as to be 

 upon their feet as the earth revolves on its axis ; or. to face 

 the Messiah as he appears in the east In token of mourn- 

 ing, the Jews, who in this country do not wear long 

 beards, walk unshaven for some weeks. The Jews lose 

 two secular days in each week, by their sabbath and 

 ours. " 



