Lyceum Phoenix of Friends School - Phoenix Echo Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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were between the fires of two persecutors-the British and Ameri- cans-because they were non-combatants, and their property a prey to both. The following brief record will assist us to realize their experi- ences: The amount of Friends suffering within Rhode Island government o11 account of our religious testimony against war and fighting, brought up since our last Yearly Meeting, is 53,456- and upwardsfl This was f17,28o, which was large for one year, in those times of poverty. It is a memorable fact that Friends School is coeval with, in- deed, antedates the government of our country. The legislature of Virginia took the first step which finally led to the formation of the Constitution of the United States on 2ISt of First Mo., 1786, two years after our Alma Mater began her benelicent mission. The government was 11ot, however, in force until Fourth Mo., 6th, 1739. S ' The School originated at the same time with the government, and has had a purifying and ennobling influence in its ever-extend- ing territory and population, with its lessons of self-government constantly imparted. One purpose, that is revealed everywhere in the accounts of the early organization of the School, is the elevation of the poor and helpless children. If these people could be awakened by the power of religion and of education, it would be at once the most beautiful achievement of our Christian democracy. Society is mobile like the drops of the ocean, and, as ceaseless agitation may raise the waters from the lowest depths to sparkle on the crest of the loftiest wave, so education may elevate the poor child to the highest service of his race. It is a significant circumstance that Moses Brown placed his own son Obadiah in the same school with poor children from remote and rural regions of New England, and with the rich from the abodes of luxury. This son was the donor of jgIO0,000 to the School in 1822. We have preserved with miser care his Latin grammar, which he began to study at the School on the Third day of the Fourth Mo., 1787. The thirst for learning was not great among the people. Those persons who need it and religion most are often the last to realize the situation or to appreciate their opportunities. No doubt the expenses of travel were great. A worthless paper currency and

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A4134-IQS, for the first year, which sum we think sufficient to attempt opening the schoolpwithf'-XII.for Szj Rec., Vol. f, jf. 190. The committee, and indeed the meeting, were in great doubt and perplexity about the location of the School, and about the teacher. The real solid man was not yet visible to the eyes of Friends, and, like Diogenes, they were searching for him. They at last concluded, after much examination of places and persons, to begin at the Portsmouth Friend's meeting-house, tradition says in the north-east chamber of it, with Isaac Lawton, preacher and poet, as teacher. Eleventh Mo., Sth, 1 784.-flf.f01' Szgjf. Ref., Vol. f, jf. 217, 218. ,1 ilM l llllllllllllllilllllMilQlllmllwlIIWWQQIQlwwlmllwllllllllwlHilllllillllliIlIllHllllilllllllllllllllllllllmllllllliilllllllllll l'l' W .',f f-f1:..?2i'5'EZ'f:3E'? 15 21422 r r 4- - X I- -:il -M J. Le: Ll: if aL.fqa,:::+f1 - n f l l .. lulunlllululluuullllllllmxullullllllllulullluulmulllluilllumIulluulumumlmllulmllunlulumuullluulwmuuluunuxuuullluvlununmeammnmnlnmlllulluxulllulmluuuululawlululululllllllullinmlt 1 1 Here, on this spot, o11 this day, the career of Friends School began, an event Which can never cease to interest the children of Alma Mater, now scattered world-wide over sea and land. Neither are we a great part of the human i11terest which will centre here. Generations upon generations yet unborn will arise with grateful hearts to commemorate this natal hour and these hallowed associa- tions. The School which then became an established fact in history, had arisen amidst difliculties of the most distressing nature. The Yearly Meeting of 1779, in which the cause began to shape itself, sat at Smithfield because the British army was in possession of Newport, and had been since 1776 during three years, terminating with Tenth Mo., 25th, 1779, the date of evacuation of the English from Newport. This date was about the middle, of the revolutionary War, as peace was secured by the treaty of Ninth Mo., gd, 1783. Friends - 3

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the distress of disastrous war had pressed down upon parents with a burden hard to be borne. They with difficulty secured twenty children, and it is doubtful if the School, while there, ever much exceeded that numberg yet they break out with an indomitable spirit of triumph, in their report in 1786, after two years of ex- perience, as follows: We doubt not but a diligent perseverance in Society, to promote the Institution, will with a Divine blessing, continue the School to be useful not only to this present, but future ge1ieratio11s. -171.for Szgjf, Vol. f, fl. 233. A prophecy how well fulfilled E The Meeting for Sufferings, on the 12th of Third Mo., 1787, ap- pointed Thomas Lapham and Moses Brown to solicit, by letter, do- nations to the School from England. This was their last hope in the critical situation. They had exhausted their resources of ap- peal to their own members. The letter was prepared and presented to the meeting the next day. It was then approved, and Moses Brown was requested to make a fair copy of it and forward it to the Meeting for Sufferings in London. The letter recites the trials arising from the war, paper currency, distracted government, and other things, and then proceeds as fol- lows : It is with reluctance we commence our correspondence on a subject of this nature, being sensible of the exertions of Friends in establishing that highly useful and honorable Institution at Ack- worth. But we hope the reasons mentioned will apologize for the asking for an extension of the charity and benevolence of those, whom Providence has made stewards of those things which their brethren stand in need of, and the spending of which may and we hope will be a means of their enjoying the satisfaction of greater riches. Signed by Moses Brown, Clerk.-XII. for Szj, Vol. f, jf. 2718. The reply from the Meeting for Sufferings in London to the Meeting for Sufferings in New England was presented to the meet- ing in Dartmouth, Mass., on the Tenth day of the Tenth Mo., 1787. They express much cordial sympathy with the Institution in Amer- ica, and with the efforts of their American brethren, and suggest and hope that later they may be able to contribute. Robert Burns has neatly described their condition: A man may tak a neebor's part, Yet hae uae cash to spare him. ' Our English Friends have been so importuned, without mercy,