THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. No. 4. THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE. sume the full stature, dignity, and responsibility anything from the truth, the beauty, or the It is a common thing among the various religious denominations generally to adhere with much strictness to established creeds and established forms. From generation to generation they go on without material change, thus forming an exception to the general law of progress which seems to obtain in everything else among civilized people. It may well be said that truth does not change; but among all the numerous sects, and their varying and contradictory creeds, and the various tenets and forms peculiar to each, it is not easy to believe that all are so perfect, and so exactly in accordance with fundamental truth, as to admit of no advancement, and no change for the better. does not belong to anything which depends Such perfection upon human agency; and this undue reverence for and acquiescence in the old and the past is to be traced to the absence, in matters of re- precepts and lessons of wisdom and experience, The past is valuable for its many excellent ligion, of that independence of thought and but these are only valuable in their application - action which we exercise in all business and to the present. other transactions, in which we are constantly do unto you, do ye even so unto them." Here "As ye would that men should seeking for better ways, and discontinuing the we have a precept, the truthfulness and surpassold whenever a better appears. If there being beauty of which will lose nothing down any error in this tenacious adherence to things to the end of time; but its value consists in its as they are in religious matters, without apply. applicability to the present, the present of a ing to them the test of individual understand-thousand years hence, equally with the present ing, enlightened by that light which appeareth to all, then Friends are not entirely clear of it as regards forms at least. of to-day. We hear sermons preached in regard to this or that portion of the Bible-matters knows the most-that are doubtless interesting as to which it will ever remain a question who to many; but what the people are most interested in, and want to know and be told about, is the present, and that which has some direct relation to the duties of the present; and he or she who would supply their wants in this particular, must not only seek for divine grace, but be willing to take the trouble to think. Mest of the principal religious sects took their rise some centuries ago, and our own Society is now more than two hundred years old. In the time of George Fox there existed in our mother country much less of general intelligence, morality, and social refinement, than exist now, both there and here. Bigotry, superstition, intolerance, and religious persecution then prevailed in the most cruel and relentless forms. That our Society was needed in the upon the past tends to beget a feeling of selfAn undue reverence for and dependence then existing state of things, is proven by the satisfaction and self-righteousness, incompatible alacrity with which its testimonies were espoused with the proper discharge of present duty. Our by the people, notwithstanding the barbarous forefathers did their duty in their day and time persecutions to which Friends were then sub-on their own account, and it is for us to do ours. jected, and by the remarkable success which Too long have we been content to satisfy ourattended their efforts in arresting the then selves upon the well-earned reputation of our rampant spirit of intolerance and persecution, ancestors. and laying the foundations of that liberty-civil as well as religious-which we now enjoy. But that the modes and forms and peculiarities that énabled us as a people successfully to meet the exigencies of a state of society bordering upon barbarism are equally adapted to the present day, is, to say the least of it, highly improbable. In addition to the vastly altered circumstances of our day, we of the present generation have had the benefit of two hundred years more of human experience than our progenitors; and ought we not only to take upon ourselves and as. I of our Society in its early days and now. There is a vast difference between the state Then Friends were an active, earnest, zealous people, seeking to spread their doctrines, establish meetings and add to their numbers whereever they could; but we of the present day have by some means arrived at the strange conclusion, that it is no part of our duty to attempt to make proselytes to our faith, or add to our numbers. This of not being a proselyting people, is at least one new article in our creed. It had no place with early Friends. The prevalence of this sentiment seems to indicate a feeling that tradict the traditions, and show that the unfallen we of the present generation are good enough man contends bravely with the fallen man in ourselves, and content to rest with what our the breasts of men of genius who are earnest forefathers have done in the past, in the way of and faithful to the inner light. Beauty, which spreading our testimonies for the good of others. is the expression of Genius, according to its In connection with this point an important degree, is always a combined expression of question arises as to our duty to the future. It Power, Love and Wisdom. No work can have is a common rule in matters of this sort that beauty which does not impress us with one or whatever is not made to go forward must go more of these attributes, and the better they backward, and it holds in regard to our Society. are harmonized, the more beautiful is the work. The necessary consequence of our ceasing to In the pre-raphaelite works, it is the expression make any effort for the upholding and spreading of these (notwithstanding all deficiencies in of our doctrines and increase of our numbers, proportion and in anatomy) which attracts, and in competition, so to speak, with other sects, is the deficiency of the expression of these, in the that we are losing ground; and whether in this, Dusseldorf school of art, cannot be made up by leaving out of view the general world, we are all their accuracy of imitation of the mere forms not failing in our duty to our immediate pos- of nature. The Dusseldorf art certainly has its terity, is a qustion worthy of serious considera- great merits, and the pictures are interesting tion. T. H. S. just as the memoirs of men and women are interesting which still lack the beautiful and sublime effect of great poems. Simple perception of natural forms, and appreciation of all material graces give us a degree of truth which it is doubtless worth while to represent, but the whole truth is something finer than the eye can see, the ear hear, or the heart of man con EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENCE. No. 12. MUNICH, Oct. 25th, 1867. I spent five most delightful weeks in Dresden, having found there two American families, with whom I was immediately domesticated as it were. Whilst there I made the acquaintanceceive. of a Miss Kunsté, who educated the daughters of the Duke of Somerset in a six years' residence in his family, and who therefore talked English perfectly. She is a superior woman in every way; she has a family school, and among her pupils are Russian, American and English girls, and it is an admirable place for those sent to Europe to be educated. They learn German surprisingly quick, and she has the best masters for French, drawing, etc. In the gallery of Dresden is the greatest Madonna-picture in the world. The story is, that Raphael prayed, when about to paint this picture, that the Madonna would reveal herself to his eyes; and such was the protoplastic power of his imaginative faith that he believed this image was objective to his senses. Certain it is that he placed upon the canvas a picture of the ideal mother and child which surprised even himself. It is said that he was afraid to elaborate his first sketch much, lest he should spoil the first felicity of his pencil. I think no engraving or photograph (probably there has been no photograph from the original) can fully convey this wonderful picture. In the same gallery are five of Correggio's largest Madonnas, among which is the first he ever painted, more wonderful by the head of the adoring St. Francis than by that of the Madonna or child, and very interesting as showing how this painter sprang at once to the height of his art. These great pictures express the short comings of the human understanding and of tradition, certainly, but also there perpetually breaks out in them the expression of insights which con A friend of mine, remarkable for his insights, once said that all art, even poetry, was the result of man's being cramped and hindered in his liberty of action, for that the true life of man was direct interaction with men. If Milton could have lived out his life as he desired to do on the theatre of humanity, we should not have had "Paradise Lost," but a better condition of society in England. So if Homer had not been blind, there would have been another hero in Greece, greater probably than any of whom he If Dante could sang, but no Iliad or Odyssey. have done as he listed in Florence, there would have been a better Florence, but no Divina Comedia. In Dresden, one feels that art is consolation. The kings of Saxony who gathered these treasures, together with the money wrung out of a hard-working people in the form of taxes, were only thinking of their own power and luxury; but a Divine power overruled the wrath of man to its own purposes of love. The power of taxation has found its limitation, for The government the people can do no more. has killed the hen that laid the golden egg, and now both kings and people exist by attracting foreigners to see these treasures of art. The King of Saxony lives in a dreary-looking castle when he is in Dresden. The Zurnger, a magnificent edifice, containing five different palaces, connected with immense orangeries, and built round a square of I should think) four acres, and adorned with fountains, was intended by Augustus II. for the vestibule of a palace which he did not live to build; it is now given up to the public for a pleasureground, and the palaces, containing a great gallery of pictures, a gallery of engravings, the collections of the Historical Society, of the Natural History Society, etc., are all now at the disposition of the public, and serve to attract foreigners to Dresden, which is a great source of revenue to the inhabitants. It is difficult to express the mingled feelings inspired in me by my residence in Dresden. It is certainly a beautiful city, and the number of its buildings is increasing; but this increase is in what is called the English quarter, where are streets of houses built of the soft sand stone of Saxony. All are to be let to foreigners, the owners living in the upper stories, each story below being complete in itself. Sometimes the owners underlet to persons who furnish the apartments and rent them, living in their small way on the profits. I rode over to the new city, on a beautiful road on the banks of the Elbe, extending two or three miles, with fine houses on each side surrounded by gardens. Here, I understood, lived the Saxon nobility, partly by means of letting out one story of the house. The most painful sight in Saxony was the hard-working peasant women, who throng the streets with heavy baskets and tubs on their backs; these baskets are filled with fruits, vegetables and other things, for sale, even kindling wood. The woman who brought these articles to the house where I lived had come into Dresden every day (whether rainy or clear) with that basket on her back for twenty-seven years. It was so heavy that her back was in an angle of fortyfive degrees to the rest of her body. We left Dresden to journey slowly through Saxon Switzerland, which is a country on the Elbe of most extraordinary formation, geologically speaking. Its most remarkable point is called The Baster, and consists of precipitous. perpendicular rocks, which are separated from each other by deep wooded ravines that are extremely beautiful. In the plates of the Governmental work of the Explorations for the Pacific railroad in our own West, there is something like this, though not quite so picturesque, I think. No one who goes to Dresden should omit taking this trip. It is quite worthy of a whole day's work, and one can go up the Elbe to it in a steamboat, or take the railroad, as we did. There is a hotel at the foot and one on the heights; the winding way up to the several heights has been rendered commodious to trav ellers by wooden steps, bannisters and galleries, and in one place a strong stone bridge. A very pleasant young gentleman accompanied us from Dresden, but it would be possible for a party of ladies to go alone, everything is so safe; and if one has time, a guide, who hurries one, can be dispensed with. At three o'clock in the afternoon we went on to the border-town of Saxony, (Bodenach,) where we staid all night, and the next day found ourselves in beautiful Bohemia, riding on the banks of the Elbe, and later on the Beraun, and still later on the Moldau, through beautiful valleys and picturesque towns. The church-spires of the villages, instead of being red as in Switzerland are painted black. We were just too late for the vintage, but it was a beautiful journey. Bohemia is entirely surrounded by mountains, not very high, and is, within the cincture of the mountains, a rolling country. The vicinity of Prague and the entrance to it are very handsome, and Prague itself looked fine as we approached, the river being very broad. The old city was surrounded by a wall, and the new city is built entirely round this wall. The hotel to which we were directed, the Blauer-Stern, is just outside of the old wall, and nearly opposite the now everopen gate. My first walk was through this gate to an open space between the old Hotel de Ville and the Zeyukirche. In this open space were executed some thirty Bohemian gentlemen, the leaders of the Protestant and National party of Bohemia when it was subjected to Austria and here, also, after the battle of Lutzen, Wallenstein caused about twelve more to be executed for alleged cowardice at the battle. Poor emasculated Bohemia, there is no sadder story in all the sad European history. E. P. P. For Friends' Intelligencer. DIRGE. In Memoriam-R. M. P. And on the bleak and wintry hill. And bring all gentle thoughts of peace Yet henceforth unto us less bright The glory on the grass shall lieA somewhat fainter splendor light The radiant summer sky. Henceforth the dawn's ethereal rose Shall open in a tenderer beam, While with a sweeter murmur flows The sad, continual stream. But far away from these, thou now That truly shall not fade. The radiance shall for aye endure Afar upon those shining plains Thy ransomed soul, with rapture stirred, Is now entranced with higher strains Than any ear hath heard. "Mid mysteris to no mortal known, Kneeling with more than earthly awe, Low down before the Great White Throne Which the rapt seër saw. Since this we hold, and thou art blest And dry these bitter tears. For, somewhere in the future vast, December, 1867. For Friends' Intelligencer. THE WIND-SWEPT HARP. H. W. G. It is related that in Germany there stood a great castle, from the towers of which huge wires were stretched, thus constructing an Eolian Harp. Ordinary winds produced no effect, but when fierce tempests arose, then the wires gave forth strains of glorious melody. On the summit of a mountain, From the battlements suspended, That the wind-god in his passage And the night-winds only murmured But when rose the mighty tempest- Then the wind-harp strains majestic Thus in hours of ease and pleasure, . Oft the heart grows cold and careless- But when clouds the sky have darkened, And our bark, the rudder broken, Flies before the gale; When no haven in the distance, Meets the loging eye, And, all earthly succor failing, Then each wail becomes a prayer- For the Father's help and guidance, Can the soul pour forth ascriptions, For the victory, shouts exultant, Ever in the fiery furnace Is the pure gold tried through the effect of "anxiety, watching, and sorrow," attendant upon the illness and death of his children, four of whom were taken from him in the space of three or four years. Repeated attacks of vertigo induced him to suspend his scientific labors for a time and seek relief in travelling. His health, however, was not re-established, though the journeys were doubtless salutary. The principal cause of his renewed vigor appears to have been a change of diet, of the nature and effect of which he gives the following instructive account: "When my health began to fail in 1821 and 1822, I was under the common delusion that debility and functional derangement must be overcome by a moderate use of stimulants. I had used the oxide of bismuth as an anti-dyspeptic remedy, but with no serious benefit. The muscular system was enfeebled along with the digestive, the nervous power was thrown out of healthy action, an indescribable discomfort deprived me in a great degree of physical enjoyment, and the mind became unequal to much intellectual effort. My spirits were, however, cheerful; and even when I was unable to sustain a conversation with a calling stranger, I still believed that I should recover, for my physicians, after careful examination, could find no proof of any organic disease, but only of functional derangement. I yielded for a time to the popular belief that good wine and cordials were the lever which would raise my depressed person; but the relief was only temporary: a flash of nervous excitement produced an illusive appearance of increased vigor with which the mind sympathized; the transient brightness was soon clouded again, and no permanent benefit followed; but often disturbed slumbers, with nocturnal spasms and undefined terrors in dreams, proved that all was wrong. No medical men informed me that I was pursuing a wrong course; but the same wise and good friend, to whom I had been already so much indebted, Daniel Wadsworth, convinced me, after much effort, that my best chance for recovery was to abandon all stimulants and adopt a very simple diet, and in such quantities, however moderate, as the stomach might be able to digest and assimilate. I took my resolution in 1823, in the lowest depression of health. I abandoned wine and every other stimulant, including, for the time, even coffee and tea. Tobacco had always been my abhorrence; and opium, except medically, when wounded, I had never used. With constant exercise abroad, I adopted a diet of boiled rice, bread and milk,-the milk usually boiled and diluted with water; plain animal muscle in small quantity, varied by fowl and fish, avoiding rich gravies and pastry, and occasionally using soups and farinaceous preparations. I persevered a year in this strict regimen, and after a For Friends' Intelligencer. No. XII. We have again been encouraged by the cheerful letters of our Teachers, and although some of the schools are not quite as well filled as we could desire, they generally express the opinion. that ere another month rolls round there will be a considerable incrcase in numbers. few weeks my unpleasant symptoms abated, my regular and sufficient sleep, and a due regulation strength gradually increased, and health, imper- of all propensities, physical, moral and intelceptibly in its daily progress, but manifest in lectual. With a good conscience and a its results, stole upon me unawares. While faithful discharge of duty, which will naturally this course of regimen was in progress, I met result from the course which I have sketched, at D. Wadsworth's the late William Watson, they will pass on agreeably and usefully who, as an invalid, had pursued a similar through life, and may expect, under the influcourse, and, although consumptive, had recover-ence of religious principles and the hopes which ed comfortable health. He gave me then they inspire, to meet death without dismay." beginning to recover strength-the fullest assurance that, as I had no organic disease, I should fully recover, provided I persevered; and that in his opinion I should by and by be able to ride all night in the stage, and to per form all the labors to which I had been accustomed in former years. I was then at the meridian of life, in my forty-fourth year; and in the almost thirty-six years that have elapsed since, I have resumed no stimulus which I then abandoned, except tea, and very rarely coffee. Tea is a cordial to me; "it cheers but not inebriates." Tea and water are my only constant drinks; milk I drink occasionally. I have not the smallest desire for wine of any kind, nor spirit, nor cider, nor beer; cold water is far more grateful than any of the drinks which I have named. I never used them more than moderately, as they were formerly used in the most sober families. If any person thinks that wine and brandy may be useful to him, he can not, at this day, have any assurance that they are not manufactured from whiskey, with many additions, and some of them noxious. Very little port wine has seen Portugal, or madeira wine Madeira, or champagne wine France. It should be borne in mind, that in the effort to be self-sustaining, the Freedmen must labor, and that diligently, whenever and as long as they can find work to do. This is increasingly the case since the assistance formerly rendered by the North has almost entirely ceased, and they are now left dependent upon their own exertions. CORNELIA HANCOCK Writes from Mount Pleasant, S. C: "This month (the Eleventh) the weather has been unusually fine, hence the extremely good average. Out of thirty-six pupils in my department, I have had an average attendance of thirty four! It looks formidable in the morning to see in the yard one hundred and fifty children who must be assembled and got iuto order by three teachers. We assemble "I cannot dismiss this topic without adding in one of the rooms below stairs, and read a that W. Watson's predictions have been ful- portion of the Bible to them, and ask them filled. Some of my most arduous labors have questions upon it. After the opening exercises, been performed since my recovery. I have not we separate to our respective rooms, and comonly been able, as he predicted, to travel all mence the lessons for the day; and if there can night in the stage, but to travel extensively be found in the city of Philadelphia a collection both at home and abroad; to lecture to popular of pupils more intent upon the task before them, audiences in many towns and cities,- -some of it must be in schools I have not visited. I was them far away; to write and publish books; to educated in the Public Schools of your city, and ascend the White Mountains of New Hampshire adhere as nearly as possible to the regulations in 1837; to explore copper mines in the Blue imposed there. The attendance and interest of Ridge of Virginia in 1856; twice to traverse the scholars continue so good, that we are able the Atlantic and portions of the Mediterranean; to make promotions, and keep up a thoroughly and to ascend Mount Bolca, near Verona, graded school. Mount Vesuvius, and Mount Etna, at seventytwo years of age, in 1851. I record these facts, not with any feeling of vanity or pride, but with deep gratitude to God; and I am influenced more than all by the wish to warn my children, and my children's children, to obey God's physical as well as moral laws, and so remember, that if they would enjoy health and long life, that they must not waste their physical powers upon extraneous indulgences, but must be satisfied with nutritious food, water, or watery fluids and milk for drink, How much I wish some of you could visit this school and see and know how much these pupils have accomplished for themselves in the space of two years." MARY A. TAYLOR, also at Mount Pleasant, remarks, "Little that is new can be said of our school, nor do I know that there should be anything new, only the old well persevered in. The average has been unusually good this month, (forty-three out of forty five.) In these schools. we do not have to make the ordinary allowance for sickness, for they come when they are sick, |