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Archiver > QUAKER-ROOTS > 2001-02 > 0981122287


From: "Chris Dickinson" <>
Subject: Re: [Q-R] WHAT IS A QUAKER
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 13:58:07 -0000
References: <F102LVKi3s1wsXZZTHf00007406@hotmail.com> <001301c08d1a$0613c940$234d78c7@default>


Connie Street writes:

>We had a granddaughter who was told in school that Quakers were
>rude because they refused to remove their hats (and her teacher
>didn't know any better).



Well, no doubt many have considered Friends to be rude or
arrogant. After all, they were abandoning social norms in the
early days and not reinforcing their shared identity with the
rest of the community by going to the local steeple service. And,
to cap it all in the eyes of many, they were gaining at everyone
else's expense by not paying tithes.

And there were many excesses as individual Quakers were finding
and developing their beliefs: from nudity to blasphemy (James
Naylor)

As William Edmundson has been the subject of another thread, here
is his comment on his experiences:

"In those days, to use the true, plain and proper speech, as thee
and thou to a single person, and keeping on the hat, were strange
things to people, and few could suffer them to be used on
occasion but would reflect in abusive words, and sometimes use
blows, or throw stones."


Chris


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