There is a beautiful Memorial Minute for Phil Hailey published on our meeting website. You can access it by clicking on this link.
Phil lived a varied, exciting, adventurous life. Those of us who were acquainted with him only in his declining years knew him as a good-natured, gentle soul. He was quick to smile and offer or receive a helping hand. I, for one, will continue to feel his presence in our worship room when we meet together in the silence.
I recently was impressed by a video which I found at the Marion
County Public Library. This is a movie about overcoming injustice which
occurred not one or two hundred years ago but took place in 1987 in Alabama.
It clearly portrays the suffering of individuals on death row who are
there because of a judicial system which punishes and executes people
because of their race without determining their guilt of committing a
crime.
One irony of the story is that it occurred in the same county where the fictional account of a white attorney, Atticus Finch, took place. In To Kill a Mockingbird he was defending a black defendant accused of raping a white woman. Harper Lee's story which was published in 1960 was based on people and events in Monroeville, Alabama when she was a child in 1936.
Although Harper Lee's story was fictionalized, Just Mercy is an account of events that happened in the way in which they are portrayed. We watch as a young Black lawyer who graduated from Harvard Law School confronts the authorities in a white dominated society for the sake of a man who is unjustly on death row. We are exposed to the prejudice and brutality which are necessary to keep a system of white supremacy functioning. This movie is not likely to be one that you 'enjoy' but one you are likely to remember because of scenes of the death row prisoners in support of one of their who is being executed. Equally impressive are scenes of the Black community as they experience the sorrow of disappointment and the joy of successfully confronting the oppressive system.
This movie should be watched with the consciousness that we are not watching a past which no longer exists. We are blind to our complicity in allowing similar abuses of justice to happen now.
Scenes from Just Mercy.
Mary has a dear friend who is suffering from multiple problems. Her
friend is presently undergoing detox for alcoholism. With medical
problems, losses of family members, job insecurity, and other stresses
she has not been able to shake alcohol dependence. Mary is asking us to
pray for her friend to receive the kind of healing which only God can
give. My prayer is that Danny may receive the blessing of knowing God's
love can overcome her addiction.
We are all in need of forgiveness for we all fail to measure up to
the full potential which God has placed in us. We have within us the
ability to live with compassion for one another. As we forgive the
failures we recognize in our brothers and sisters, we also forgive our
own past failures. In doing so we can begin life anew understanding that
our hearts need not be troubled or afraid for God is present with us.
John 14
[25] These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
[26]
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send
in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
[27] Peace I
leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I
unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
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| A military vehicle makes it way through a mountainous region of the Jiangsu province, 1946 |
By 1945, the Qing dynasty had collapsed and China had experienced communist revolution, civil war and global conflagration. War between the nationalists and Communists would resume in 1946, and a final image of a military truck, tiny against the rolling hills, provides a portent of the strife to come.
Harriett 'Hap' Taylor
Nov 10, 1930 - Nov 2, 2020
She died on Nov 2nd a few days before her 90th birthday Nov 10, 2020.
Hap was born in China where her
parents were missionaries. She fondly
remembered the Chinese Nursemaid who cared for her when she was
young and taught her to speak Chinese. When the Chinese Communists took over
the government after 1949 religion was suppressed. Hap's father
was imprisoned and the family was expelled. When they left China the
family probably returned to Massachusetts and her father
rejoined them after his release. Hap later graduated from Mount Holyoke College, a liberal arts women's college in Hadley,
Massachusetts.
Hap came
to Florida more than 50 years ago to work as a volunteer for
AmeriCorps VISTA. Volunteers In Service To America was the
brainchild of President Kennedy and initiated by President
Johnson in the effort to alleviate poverty in America. Hap
became involved with obtaining services for migrant workers. She
was active in providing medical care for migrants by helping to found ACORN Clinic in Brooker, FL. In addition she did substitute teaching.
During the time that I knew Hap she was active in the Meeting. She liked to participate in everything that was going on. She was a vital part of the Bible Study group when Larry was leading it. When she learned of our interest in Blake, she found among the books she had been saving a small copy of Blake's Songs of Innocence which she gave to us.
Most of us would agree that Hap
Taylor liked being independent. That's why she clung so
tenaciously to living in a dilapidated trailer when we would
have liked for her to be nearer the Meetinghouse. Walter and
Mona did their best to make the trailer more livable by
repairing, rewiring and making what improvements that they
could, but they couldn't convince Hap that she should get rid of
the accumulation of clutter which she treasured. Hap was far
away from her family so the meeting was the family who loved and
supported her.
In an email from Hap's niece we read
of Hap's last year when she resided in Cross City Nursing Home:
"I’ve been relieved to know that, in this last year, she’s been
comfortable, well fed, and surrounded by kind faces. She was up
and in her wheel chair pretty much every day until her last
decline at the end of October. The staff was fond of her, and
laughed about the fact that, even though she was very hard of
hearing of late, she seemed to be able to correct people’s
grammar. And they all heard her stories of China. Her spirit
shone through to the end."
Writing this post depended on memories of Hap from various people who knew her. If you remember an incident or story from Hap's life please leave a comment on the post or send an email to eachone@earthlink.net.
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Thomas Kelly, 1914 Friends Journal Courtesy of Haverford College |
Thomas Kelly, a Quaker mystic, wrote this passage which was published in a tract available on the internet. Thomas Kelly, a birthright Quaker, lived from 1893 until 1941. He is best know as an author and professor of philosophy at Haverford College.
"The crux of religious living lies in the will, not in transient and variable states. Utter dedication of will to God is open to all, for every man can will. Where such a will is present, there is a child of God. When there are graciously given to us such glimpses of glory as aid us in softening our will, then we may be humbly grateful. But glad willing away of self, that the will of God, so far as it can be discerned, may become our own—that is the basic condition. In that steadiness of spirit one walks serene and unperturbed praying only “Thy will be done.” Confident that we are in His hands, and that He educates us in ways we do not expect by means of dryness as well as by means of glory, we walk in gratitude if His sun shines upon us, and in serenity if He leads us in valleys and dry places.
And as individual mystics who are led deep into the heart of devotion learn to be weaned away from reliance upon special times of vision, learn not to clamor perpetually for the heights but to walk in shadows and valleys and dry places for months and years together, so must group worshippers learn that worship is fully valid when there are no thrills, no special sense of covering. The disciplined soul and the disciplined group have learned to cling to the reality of God's presence, whether the feeling of presence is great or faint. If the wind of the Spirit, blowing whither He wills, warms the group into an inexpressible sense of unity, then the worshippers are profoundly grateful. If no blanket of divine covering is warmly felt, and if the wills have been offered together in the silent work of worship, worshippers may still go home content and nourished and say, “It was a good meeting.” In the venture of group worship, souls must learn to accept spiritual weather without dismay and go deeper in will into Him who makes all things beautiful in their time."
This is a hymn as sung by Mennonites. 'Where He leads he I will follow' expresses the sentiment of one who wills to take whatever path which is lain before one. As Kelly says praying only 'that the will of God, so far as it can be discerned, may become our own.' The conservative Mennonites use music as integral to their worship. Their only instrument of music is the human voice. The whole congregation joins in song in accordance with New Testament methods of worship in Spirit.
John 4
[24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth.
Matthew 26
[30] And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into
the mount of Olives.
Colossians 3
[16] Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord.
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David Chalmers Born May 16,1927 Died October 25, 2020 |
Although with the loss of David Chalmers, we have lost a precious piece of our meeting, we can be comforted in the knowledge that David left a legacy which continues to speak. Among the ways in which David's influence continues to live is through his book, And the Crooked Places Made Straight: The Struggle for Social Change in the 1960s.
David chose as the title for his book, words from the 45th chapter of Isaiah which Martin Luther King had included in his March on Washington speech. David was immersed in the civil rights movement himself, but he brought his experience as a historian and a college professor to the task of describing the forces which defined the period as well. David was looking back on the 1960's from the perspective of 2013.
Kelley Rouchka wrote a thorough review of David's book on the struggle for social change. In it Rouchka states, "Chalmers has successfully crafted an engaging and thoughtful overview of a period defined by tumultuous social change. His rendering of the New Left, particularly the later, radical strains of SDS, as a failure, is outdated, though. 'The campus and antiwar dissent,' he maintains, 'failed to create the theory and organizational means for developing a Left tradition or an enduring student political culture' (p. 68). While Chalmers sees a failing student political culture, it should be noted that this position neglects to acknowledge that SNCC, SDS, and other organizations paved an avenue of dissent for such movements as gay rights and the environmental movement."
From a news article published in the Gainesville Sun:
"Canadian-born Jean Chalmers [in the early 60's] was newly arrived in Gainesville with her history professor husband, David. Chalmers realized she was in a different world when she was walking downtown on a very rainy day sheltered by the overhang outside Rice Hardware.
“An elderly black couple was walking the other way,” she says, “and they stepped off the sidewalk into the street so I could pass."
“I went home and told David ‘I can’t live in a society like this’,” Chalmers recalls.
“And I told her,” David Chalmers says, “that we can leave or you can do something about it.” Chalmers co-founded the Gainesville Women for Equal Rights, a coalition of faculty wives and east Gainesville women. Over the course of nearly 15 years GWER campaigned to desegregate local recreational facilities, stop the segregation of black and white patients at Alachua General Hospital, shine a light on appalling housing conditions in east Gainesville and conduct black voter registration drives.
“We were unemployed faculty wives,” she laughs, “and a dangerous bunch.”
I think that David knew that he was unleashing a mighty force when he
told Jean and through her the women of Gainesville to "do something
about it."
Susan J. who worshiped with us in Gainesville several time last
December wrote her thesis at Earham School of religion in 1999. Huntington Museum
The Conversion of Saul
By William Blake
"After several years of carrying questions and answers back and forth between the texts, it began to dawn on me that Fox was not merely 'using' the Bible, quoting from it of alluding to it as a way of explaining or supporting his position. George Fox was actually living the Bible, and apparently succeeding in communicating how and why others might do so. ...Fox and his followers believed that they were themselves continuing the story that scripture told, becoming apostle and prophets, and so continuing to bring Scripture to fulfillment."
Susan quoted from Fox's Journal:
"After I had received that opening from the Lord, that to be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not sufficient to make a man a minister of Christ, I regarded the priests less, and looked more after the dissenting people. Among them I saw there was some tenderness; and many of them came afterwards to be convinced, for they had some openings. But as I had given up on the priests, so I also left the separate preachers and those called the most experienced people; for I saw there was none among them all that could speak to my condition. And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could anyone tell me what to do; then, Oh! Then I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to your condition.' When I heard it, my heart leaped for joy. Then the Lord let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition; namely, that I might give him all the glory. For all are bound under sin, and shut up in unbelief, as I had been, and to become free, each person must know that Christ is the creator and he alone understands us; he who enlightens, and gives grace, faith, and power. And when God does work, who shall hinder it? This I knew experimentally.
My desires after the Lord grew stronger, and zeal in the pure
knowledge of God, and of Christ alone, without the help of any
man, book, or writing. For though I read the scriptures that spoke
of Christ and of God, yet I knew him only by revelation,
as he who has the key did open, and as the Father of life drew me
to his son by his spirit."
Susan wrote:
"This incident was clearly a watershed in Fox's life. In he received the core of the message that he would spend the rest of his life proclaiming: that Christ speaks directly to people, and that knowledge of God comes directly, 'without the help of any man, book or writing.' And after the incident, Fox stopped looking for answers from other people, no matter how learned or how well respected they might be. Christ had spoken directly to him, and the message was that Christ speaks directly to people, speaks to our condition and answers our need. He had been 'shut up in unbelief' until he who has the key did open."
Fox
wrote:
"Then the Lord gently led me along, and let me see his love, which was endless and eternal, surpassing all the knowledge that men have in the natural state, or can get by history or books."
Symmetry - Four Motifs
Speaking from her own life experience Sandy provided this statement about individuals being a part of something more.
Sandy:
I often look at life situations like a large puzzle where all the
pieces are needed from the anchoring corners to the containing
(hopefully not constraining) edges. The remaining pieces are often
clear and obvious, sometimes colorful, but it is frequently the
plain, odd, misshapen pieces that complete and bring together that
particular puzzle. It is necessary try to value and appreciate all the
pieces. Furthermore the puzzle analogy shows that
the loss of a single piece is truly a loss. Another thing I like
is that I can remind myself that I do not need to be more than the
piece I was called to be. If I try to fit in another slot, I not
only don't fit well, but also deny that spot to the true piece.
For people of faith, the puzzle imagery speaks of living our faith in
the manner that we were lovingly designed. We seek to cultivate a
living faith
which transcends time, medium, and culture.
Philippians 4
[8] Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.Luke 12 [RSV]
[48] But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more.
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| Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana Goose Creek Meetinghouse Statue of Mary Dyer Pictures from George Newkirk's collection. |
When I came across this Picture of Mary Dyer I had little knowledge
of her story. Learning more I see a woman was willing to forfeit her
life in order to force change in a rigid, oppressive society. Mary Dyer
was executed in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
by the Puritan authorities. At the time she was a practicing Quaker
whose offense was refusing to withdraw from the Puritan colony.
Information from Wikipedia - Antinomian Controversy - Mary Dyer
"On 1 June 1660, at nine in the morning, Mary Dyer once again departed the jail and was escorted to the gallows. Once she was on the ladder under the elm tree she was given the opportunity to save her life. Her response was, "Nay, I cannot; for in obedience to the will of the Lord God I came, and in his will I abide faithful to the death."
Ultimately, Dyer's martyrdom did have the desired effect. Unlike
the story of Anne Hutchinson, that was narrated for more than a
century by only her enemies, the orthodox Puritans, Dyer's story
became the story of the Quakers, and it was quickly shared in
England, and eventually made its way before the English King, Charles II. The king ordered
an end to the capital punishments, though the severe treatment
continued for several more years.
...
According to Myles, Dyer's life journey during her time in New
England transformed her from "a silenced object to a speaking
subject; from an Antinomian monster to a Quaker martyr".
The evidence from a personal standpoint and from the standpoint of
all Quakers, suggests that Dyer's ending was as much a spiritual
triumph as it was a tragic injustice.
...
While news of Dyer's hanging was quick to spread through the American colonies and England, there was no immediate response from London because of the political turbulence, resulting in the restoration of the king to power in 1660. One more Quaker was martyred at the hands of the Puritans, William Leddra of the Barbadoes, who was hanged in March 1661. A few months later, however, the English Quaker activist Edward Burrough was able to get an appointment with the king. In a document dated 9 September 1661 and addressed to Endicott and all other governors in New England, the king directed that executions and imprisonments of Quakers cease, and that any offending Quaker be sent to England for trial under the existing English law."
The Burghers of Calais, an 1889 sculpture by Auguste Rodin
Thanks to Helen for sending this passage by Howard Thurman from his book Meditations of the Heart.
TWO AREAS OF NEED - One Family
"There are at least two areas of need in which all men are involved.
One is the insistence upon finding something to worship. It is not
optional. It is not the result of some particularly significant
spiritual bias in personality. There is something native in the
human spirit that insists upon the offering of one's precious gifts,
precious possessions - offering them to something outside of
oneself, something that is regarded as supremely worthwhile. What
happens when you get a wonderful piece of good news? What do you do?
You want to tell somebody - somebody who means enough to you to
accept tidings as a symbol of nearness and devotion. What do you
worship? To what do you bring the most precious increments of your
spirit, your need and your possessins? The need is ever present.
Whatever it is that holds so central a place in your reaction to
living, that is your God! There is also the need of being a part of the family, the human family, the human race. I am aware that all the race, in some meaningful sense, breathes through me - that I am a part of the pulsating rhythm of existence. I am not a thing apart, I am not a separate unit; I am deeply involved in the collective experience of aliveness, and of human aliveness. If I am cut off so that only my little life breathes through me, only my little hopes course through my mind and spirit, only my little thoughts penetrate my brain, then life for me is not worth living. I must have a sense of deep corporate vitality, nothing less than that will satisfy. Therefore I must manage somehow to keep open the lines of communication between myself and the human family. How wonderful it is if I can do this by love, by warmth, by kindling flames of abiding fellowship! Often, it cannot be done that way, there is a resort to hate, to antagonism, to beligency. The shouting of defiance is the call of my heart for kinship. If a man cannot become the center of an increasing affection, in his desperation he become the core of a great rejection. For better or for worse, there is only one family under God and I am a member of it."
Howard Thurman played an important but indirect role in the Civil
Rights Movement. The commitment of Martin Luther King to
nonviolence was under the influence of Thurman's mysticism.
To learn about the history of the movement with an emphasis on
interaction of Thurman and King, read this Smithsonian article
which includes these statements from Christianity Today:
"The relationship of Thurman’s mysticism and King’s activism provides a fascinating model for how spiritual and social transformation can work together in a person’s life. And in society more generally."
You will notice how the passage Helen selected - Two Areas of
Need - applies to the Civil Rights Movement. If King had tried to
lead the movement without the underpinning of a strong commitment
to acting out his love of God, his desire to bring together the
human family through social activism may have failed. However
Thurman's mysticism alone could not have impelled people to take
the steps necessary for change.
An influential book by Thurman can be read by using the INTERNET ARCHIVE:
Seeger used the words from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes when writing Turn, Turn, Turn. The author of the book of Ecclesiastes
had learned from his experience that many things occur in a
person's lifetime.The way he saw it, life was cyclical. We do
the things that are possible according the season, or our age,
or the conditions which exist. When the circumstance recurred
the activities would be repeated. Man went form activity to
activity without discerning how it all fit together. The
author was interested in the cycle of time; although he
acknowledged that God had also put eternity into the minds of
men he did not concern himself with it. Since man has no
direct physical knowledge of the beginning or the ending, he
chose to focus his attention on what he could see and do, and
not on what he could think or understand. Although he knew
that man is spiritual by the gift of God, he turned toward
outer things and neglected his inner life.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus
teaches the alternative attitude. If we cling to the ordinary
cyclical life, it will be lost to us because it is temporal. The
soul which is eternal is more valuable that anything that the
ever circling time and space can offer.
.jpg)
Minneapolis Institute of Art description
"King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon failed to heed the prophet Daniel’s warning to mend his sinful ways and show mercy to the poor. God stripped the king of his realm and drove him to “eat grass as oxen, . . . his body . . . wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws” (Daniel 4:33). Poet-painter William Blake’s luminous exploration of depravity is part of his extended investigation of the Sublime, the irrational realm of visceral, overwhelming emotion—the flip side of the Enlightenment—where God and nature tower over even the most powerful human being."
When QUAKERS IN GAINESVILLE was begun on March 28 as a way for our meeting to be in touch with one another, I didn't know what to expect. At that time everyone's hopes were that the spread of virus could be stopped before it caused so much damage. But here we are near the beginning of October finding that we are rarely able to have face to face contact with the dear Friends with whom we shared so much a few months ago.
It has done my heart good that so many folks from the Meeting
have shared thoughts, interests, and concerns through contributing
to the blog posts. Rereading what Friends have written gives me a
sense that the love and kindness we share will carry us through
our period of isolation until we can see and hear one another in
person. I look forward to the songs, smiles, hugs, and the shared
silence. In the meantime I look forward to receiving whatever you
choose to send so that Peter and I will have more to post.
Click on the name to read the post that each created. I am sure I am not the only one wishing to say THANK YOU for writing and reading.
PBS Amanpour and Company Originally aired on June 26, 2020.
How Could a Slaveholder Write
"All Men Are
Created Equal"?
As European Americans we are both connected
and divided by our history, who we believe we are and who we believe we should
be. African Americans too have differing ideas about how we should remember our history without somehow inadvertently or surreptitiously honoring those who sought to perpetuate slavery, or who enslaved their ancestors and who did nothing to end slavery.
We need to remember our history. Our history needs to be honest and truthfully told. Removing monuments can open space to celebrate our history in ways we can be proud of that strengthen democracy, while never forgetting the crimes we (our ancestors) have committed or that we might commit (heaven forbid) in the present or in the future.
Peter
* * * * *
Christiane Amanpour asks the question "Could a slaveholder also be an advocate for equality for all?"
That is the riddle left behind by one of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson. Pulitzer Prize-winning historians Annette
Gordon-Reed and Jon Meacham have teamed up for a study in contradiction.
"In the Hands of the People: Thomas Jefferson on Equality, Faith, Freedom,
Compromise and the Art of Citizenship" was edited by Meacham and has an afterword
by Gordon-Reed. They talk with our Walter Isaacson about the problem of
Jefferson's monuments--and those of so many others--and whether or not they
should come down.
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The name Olaudah Equiano will sound familiar to anyone who has
watched the movie Amazing Grace. He was prominent in in the movement to
abolish the slave trade since he had been a slave himself and was
familiar with the slave ships which transported blacks from Africa
to the Americas. You can become familiar with Equiano's experiences
by reading his book, THE INTERESTING NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF
OLAUDAH EQUIANO, OR GUSTAVUS VASSA, THE AFRICAN. WRITTEN BY
HIMSELF, published in 1789.
Equiano was born in an African village to an elder or chief of the tribe in 1745. He was captured by blacks from a different tribe at the age of 11 and turned over to white slavers who transported him to the Caribbean and then to Virginia to be sold.
The book is available online through Gutenberg Press. Equiano's autobiography can be searched by using the FIND process on your computer. I learned that there were eight matches for the word 'Quaker' in the book. This led me to information about Equiano's connection with Quakers. Although young Equiano suffered some of the brutal treatment typical of enslaved Africans he eventually was purchased by a Quaker merchant from whom Equiano learned his master's business. He was allowed to do some trading on his own, and accumulated enough money to purchase his freedom in 1766 although his master was reluctant to give him up.
These are quotes from Equiano, who went by the name Gustavus Vassa, which was given to him by one of his owners during the years when he was a slave.
"[O]ne day the captain of a merchant ship, called the Industrious Bee, came on some business to my master's house. This gentleman, whose name was Michael Henry Pascal, was a lieutenant in the royal navy, but now commanded this trading ship, which was somewhere in the confines of the county many miles off. While he was at my master's house it happened that he saw me, and liked me so well that he made a purchase of me. I think I have often heard him say he gave thirty or forty pounds sterling for me; but I do not now remember which. However, he meant me for a present to some of his friends in England: and I was sent accordingly from the house of my then master, one Mr. Campbell, to the place where the ship lay; I was conducted on horseback by an elderly black man, (a mode of travelling which appeared very odd to me). When I arrived I was carried on board a fine large ship, loaded with tobacco, &c. and just ready to sail for England."
...
"With fluttering steps and trembling heart I came to the captain, and found with him one Mr. Robert King, a quaker, and the first merchant in the place. The captain then told me my former master had sent me there to be sold; but that he had desired him to get me the best master he could, as he told him I was a very deserving boy, which Captain Doran said he found to be true; and if he were to stay in the West Indies he would be glad to keep me himself; but he could not venture to take me to London, for he was very sure that when I came there I would leave him. I at that instant burst out a crying, and begged much of him to take me to England with him, but all to no purpose. He told me he had got me the very best master in the whole island, with whom I should be as happy as if I were in England, and for that reason he chose to let him have me, though he could sell me to his own brother-in-law for a great deal more money than what he got from this gentleman. Mr. King, my new master, then made a reply, and said the reason he had bought me was on account of my good character; and, as he had not the least doubt of my good behaviour, I should be very well off with him. He also told me he did not live in the West Indies, but at Philadelphia, where he was going soon; and, as I understood something of the rules of arithmetic, when we got there he would put me to school, and fit me for a clerk."
...
"We set sail once more for Montserrat, and arrived there safe; but much out of humour with our friend the silversmith. When we had unladen the vessel, and I had sold my venture, finding myself master of about forty-seven pounds, I consulted my true friend, the Captain, how I should proceed in offering my master the money for my freedom. He told me to come on a certain morning, when he and my master would be at breakfast together. Accordingly, on that morning I went, and met the Captain there, as he had appointed. When I went in I made my obeisance to my master, and with my money in my hand, and many fears in my heart, I prayed him to be as good as his offer to me, when he was pleased to promise me my freedom as soon as I could purchase it. This speech seemed to confound him; he began to recoil: and my heart that instant sunk within me. 'What,' said he, 'give you your freedom? Why, where did you get the money? Have you got forty pounds sterling?' 'Yes, sir,' I answered. 'How did you get it?' replied he. I told him, very honestly. The Captain then said he knew I got the money very honestly and with much industry, and that I was particularly careful. On which my master replied, I got money much faster than he did; and said he would not have made me the promise he did if he had thought I should have got money so soon. 'Come, come,' said my worthy Captain, clapping my master on the back, 'Come, Robert, (which was his name) I think you must let him have his freedom; you have laid your money out very well; you have received good interest for it all this time, and here is now the principal at last. I know Gustavus has earned you more than an hundred a-year, and he will still save you money, as he will not leave you:—Come, Robert, take the money.' My master then said, he would not be worse than his promise; and, taking the money, told me to go to the Secretary at the Register Office, and get my manumission drawn up."
...
[The manumission read in part:]
"for ever, hereby giving, granting, and releasing unto him, the said Gustavus Vassa, all right, title, dominion, sovereignty, and property, which, as lord and master over the aforesaid Gustavus Vassa, I had, or now I have, or by any means whatsoever I may or can hereafter possibly have over him the aforesaid negro, for ever. In witness whereof I the abovesaid Robert King have unto these presents set my hand and seal, this tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six.
[Signed] Robert King."
[After years had passed:]
"We refitted as well as we could the next day, and proceeded on our voyage, and in May arrived at Philadelphia. I was very glad to see this favourite old town once more; and my pleasure was much increased in seeing the worthy quakers freeing and easing the burthens of many of my oppressed African brethren. It rejoiced my heart when one of these friendly people took me to see a free-school they had erected for every denomination of black people, whose minds are cultivated here and forwarded to virtue; and thus they are made useful members of the community. Does not the success of this practice say loudly to the planters in the language of scripture—"Go ye and do likewise?"
In October 1785 I was accompanied by some of the Africans, and presented this address of thanks to the gentlemen called Friends or Quakers, in Gracechurch-Court Lombard-Street:
Gentlemen,
By reading your book, entitled a Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies, concerning the Calamitous State of the enslaved Negroes: We the poor, oppressed, needy, and much-degraded negroes, desire to approach you with this address of thanks, with our inmost love and warmest acknowledgment; and with the deepest sense of your benevolence, unwearied labour, and kind interposition, towards breaking the yoke of slavery, and to administer a little comfort and ease to thousands and tens of thousands of very grievously afflicted, and too heavy burthened negroes.
Gentlemen, could you, by perseverance, at last be enabled, under God, to lighten in any degree the heavy burthen of the afflicted, no doubt it would, in some measure, be the possible means, under God, of saving the souls of many of the oppressors; and, if so, sure we are that the God, whose eyes are ever upon all his creatures, and always rewards every true act of virtue, and regards the prayers of the oppressed, will give to you and yours those blessings which it is not in our power to express or conceive, but which we, as a part of those captived, oppressed, and afflicted people, most earnestly wish and pray for.
These gentlemen received us very kindly, with a promise to exert themselves on behalf of the oppressed Africans, and we parted."
Equiano concluded his book with these words:
"My life and fortune have been extremely chequered, and my adventures various. Even those I have related are considerably abridged. If any incident in this little work should appear uninteresting and trifling to most readers, I can only say, as my excuse for mentioning it, that almost every event of my life made an impression on my mind and influenced my conduct. I early accustomed myself to look for the hand of God in the minutest occurrence, and to learn from it a lesson of morality and religion; and in this light every circumstance I have related was to me of importance. After all, what makes any event important, unless by its observation we become better and wiser, and learn 'to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God?' To those who are possessed of this spirit, there is scarcely any book or incident so trifling that does not afford some profit, while to others the experience of ages seems of no use; and even to pour out to them the treasures of wisdom is throwing the jewels of instruction away."
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| Almost Heaven, I guess. (photographer unknown) |
Ein Traum, ein Traum ist unser Leben auf Erden hier.
Wie Schatten auf den Wolken schweben und schwinden wir.
Und messen unsre trägen Tritte nach Raum und
Zeit;
Und sind (und wissen's nicht) in Mitte der Ewigkeit.
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 – 1803)
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| Williston, FL. I think. (photographer unknown) |
A Dream, A Dream
A dream, a dream is our life on earth here.
Like shadows on clouds we float and disappear.
And measure our slothful steps through space and time;
And are (and know it not) in the midst of eternity.
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 – 1803)
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| "Baby Carolina mantis hatchlings on my front porch, underneath roof edge." (photograph: Jolene Kesson-Jackson, Facebook) |
* I
was studying Chemistry and German at George Washington University
during the
Watergate scandal. I took a German class during that
summer. The professor assigned
us the task of memorizing a German
poem.
Fortunately, for me I had recently bought
a German / English bilingual
book (“a reader" for learners like me) of poems and various kinds of
excerpts
from German authors such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(I still remember his “Was
Ist Heilig?” – “What is Holy?”) published by
Bantam.
As I remember it “Ein Traum,
Ein Traum” was the shortest poem in the
entire book and that certainly was why I chose it.
More importantly,
however, I actually did like the poem and still do; and I can still recite
it
from memory.
I hope you like it too.
Peter