Quakeresses.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 858, 10 August 1888, Page 5

Quakeresses.

Their yearly meeting has brought to London hundreds of members of the Society of Friends; and the piotyre which Charles Lamb presented has again been shown, though with a difference. " “ They come up in bands to their Whitsuntide Conferences, whitening the easterly streets of the metro, polis,” and “show like troops of the shining ones.” In the years that have passed since genial Elia wrote, a change has come over the spirit of the Society of Friends, and even the drees of the Quakeress has been altered; “Every Quakeress is a lily,” said Lamb, with a keen appreciation of the whiteness of the dress, and the light colors worn; but there is now a les3 conspicuous adoption of these light colours; and though with some they linger yet, the yearly meeting that has been holding its sittings has shown few examples of the almost stereotyped dress which once was the distinct mark of the Quakeress. In Devonshire house there have been examples of that combination of buckram and silk the proper name of which is distinctive-“Friends’ Bonnet’’—but few wear it now, and these few are invariably quakereases of the type of whom it was said that only on them did it look well—old lady Friends, That wonderful combination of spotless silk, of delicate light ribbons, and of drab or darker hue of outer cloth, is dying cut, and you may look through the whole of the Quaker periodicals and find only one advertisement of a “ Friends’ Bonnet Maker.” In the dress of the lady members of the Society of Friends, changes are certain, but less evident. There is some attempt to depart from the straightness of old days, and to adopt a toned-down presentation of the fashion of to-day. Personal adornments are more numerous than they were. The marriage riDg, which some of- the oldest married 1ad163 once did not wear, is now universal i

with those who have a claim to wear it. There is a fair display of jewellery, manybuttoned gloves have taken the place of those of old, and the hair is no longer simply smoothed away under that white cap which seemed incapable of receiving a spot. It is true that some of the old Quakeresses cling to the old usages, and you may see in the meeting an elderly lady now and then rise with stiff bonnet and light long veil, kerchief of pure white or fawn-colored satin ; dress simply and straightly made, but made of silk such as few of the “world’s people ” know of, who will from a text evolve a few sentences, clearly spoken in judiciously chosen words.

For the Quakeresses have rights beyond those oE the ladies of most religious bodies. They hold their own special meetings, appoint their own clerks thereto, issue epistles to their own sex in ‘the couutry and in America, and, as most people know, may take an equal part with men in the meetings of the society for worship. When the stream of friends enters the courtyard of their great gathering-place off Bishopsgate, it divides itself into two parts, filing in two divisions —tho male Friends going to their own meeting house to the right, and the Quakereases to the left to theirs, whilst, of course, both join when the meeting is for worship. But bsfcween the two meetings for business there is the courtyard, and across this pass doorkeepers with letters and other documents to be read in both gatherings, whilst a constant stream of lafce-comers and early-.goers, of attendants on. the committees, and of other 'Friends, makes the courtyard between, far from solitary. It is a wonderful sight that of the inner courtyard, when the meetings are breaking up, and when friends who have not met perhaps for years meet there and come as near to gossip as the Quaker rule allows. Longfellow, who wrote of the maiden who was “ pleased with the ‘ Thee ’ and the ‘ Thou’ of the Quakers,” would have had his ear gratified, for what is denominationally called the “plain language'’ predohiinates, and the inquiries are after “ thy daughter Jane,” or the health of “ thy son Edward.” Friendly invitations are given ; possibly friendly flirtations are begun, for in the thousands who attend many are young, and certainly introductions have been there made which have resulted in that most interesting and unique gathering, a Quaker marriage ; for the social element is one of the great bonds of Quakerdom. The great boarding schools of the society gather all the children of tho sect together— these at Ackworth, those at York ; some at Saffron Waldon ; others at Mount Mellick iu the Green Isle, and scholarship at any of these is introduotion usually to all Quaker homes, so that the eleven hundred boys and girls who are usually being taught in the great public schools form a continuous source whence the society is recruited. Quakeresses are entering far more into the world than they were, and thus their influence is widening, whilst the outward marks that distinguished them are decaying. Those , who have read the essay of Lamb already quoted from may regret the passing of some of the peculiarities, but it is a sentimental regret, tempered by the thought of the wider influence now exerted by that feminine force. —Queen.