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

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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,

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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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to aid American institutions, that I can never cease to be grateful that no money appears to have come from them to build up Zion here. But there is a record of an incidental event of some interest fif- teen years later, in a correspondence between the very same meet- ings. There was, it seems, great scarcity of provisions in England and Ireland, due to Napoleon, perhaps, we are not informed, but the following extract from a letter from the London Meeting to our own tells a portion of the fraternal interest and sympathy rarely called forth from east to west in our denomination: The sums received from the different Meetings on your continent amounted to 58,326-18s-5d, which appear to have been applied to the relief of 81o cases of Friends, and 420 of those not in membership, exclu- sive of the number of both classes relieved in Ireland, which we ap- prehend to be about one-seventh more. The proportion of the above sum received from you was A928-2S-6d. from the attention of our committee we have reason to believe the distribution has been made in a manner conformable to your view, with care and judgment and it is comfortable to us to be able to inform you that the assistance has been in most instances seasonable and very gratefully accepted. This Meeting is now much relieved from its pressure, and in a thankful sense thereof and of your sympathy and benevolence we are your affectionate friends. Signed on behalf of the meeting Geo. Stacey, Qlerk. Meeting for Sufferings of London. Third of oth Mo. ISO2.H This collection of money in the wilderness of America in 1802, to feed the destitute Friends in the metropolis of England, mem- bers of the oldest organizations of the Society, brings irresistibly to our minds Barnabas and Saul bearing relief from the Gentile churches at Antioch and elsewhere, to the poor saints of the mother church at Jerusalem. Acts 11: 29. For it hath been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor that are among the saints that are at Jerusalem. Rom. 15: 26. Isaac Lawton, during four years, from 1784 to 1788, was the chief and probably only teacher. He was not only a preacher and poet, but he had been clerk of the Yearly Meeting as long as it had been attractive to him, also the first clerk of the first Meeting, for Sufferings i11 177 5. - He received by no means extravagant com- pensation for his services, considering that he was in his proper