Quaker Hill Part 12

The next category is that of the Dogmatic-Emotional, in which I observe twenty-two families. These are composed of persons in whom austere and domineering character proceeds from a dogmatic fixity of mind, and expresses itself in the same inconstant application shown by the former cla.s.s.

A few of the more notable of the personalities produced by Quaker birth and breeding belong, I think, in the Ideo-Motor cla.s.s. I find only seven families of that type, but the forceful character, of aggressive bent, moderate intellect and strong but well-controlled emotion, is distinctly present; and this cla.s.s has furnished some of the most successful of the sons of Quaker Hill.

I have known only six persons resident on the Hill in the twelve years under study who could be described as Critically-Intellectual. Of these, four have been bred in the larger school of the city, and only two have lived their lives upon the Hill. Of these six, five are women.

There is, of course, only one language spoken in Quaker Hill. Indeed only one or two persons have any other than English as their native tongue.[35] And very few have acquired any other as a matter of culture.

The vocabulary used is limited. An intelligent observer says: "The vocabulary of the native community is the meagerest I have ever known, except that of the immigrant." There are, however, very few illiterates; none, indeed, in the literal meaning of the term.

Manners on the whole are uniform for the resident population. Of course the summer people have the conventional manners, or lack of manners, of the city. So far as religion has shaped the manners of the old Quaker group, they are often gentle and refined; but as often blunt and imperious. The Irish have the best manners, I observe, and the more transient summer people and farm-hands the worst. In both the last two cla.s.ses there is too often a pride in rudeness and vulgarity which the native of mature years never exhibits. The Quaker and the Catholic are equally ceremonious in inclination. The latter always desires to please.

The Quaker, when he desires to please, is capable of very fine courtesy; but he does not always desire, and he has less insight into the essence of a social situation.

The community has had a history, of course, in the matter of costume.

The Meeting House law made costume a matter of ethics for a century. But to-day there is great diversity. Probably this is a sign of the transition from the Quaker to the broader human order. But all one can say upon costume is that there is now no dress prescribed for any occasion. At one extreme there are a few, in 1905 only three, in 1907 only one, who wear the Quaker garb. At the other extreme are outsiders who dress as the city tailor and milliner clothe them. And between these there is liberty.

The dispositions again are varied. One finds the aggressiveness of five stirring men and three capable women sufficient to give character to the place. Many functions of the community are still vigorously upheld, yet the number of aggressive spirits is diminishing. The instigative type is present in three, and its processes give pleasure to all who behold. The domineering type is present in eight members, especially in those families which claim by right of inheritance either social or religious leadership. And, as to others, as I quoted an observer above, "They are an obedient people." I do not know any creative minds, much less any cla.s.s with original initiative. If there had been any such, Quaker Hill would have produced artists, great and small, and writers, not a few.

There is a consciousness of material for creation, and in certain families the culture which creation presupposes; but something in Quakerism has quieted the muse and banked the fires.

As to types of character, there are forceful persons, a very few, nine at the utmost being of this type. Austere persons, who have in the past given to the Hill much of its character, have almost disappeared, not more than four being within that category, among the population under study in this part of the book.

The number of the rationally conscientious is as small as is that of the convivial. The Meeting, which was for over a century the organ of conscience for the community, denied to the convivial their license, and released the conscientious from any obligation to be rational. The Meeting has now but recently pa.s.sed away, and its standards of character speak as loudly as ever. I find three women who may be called rationally conscientious, one a Quakeress, one a New Yorker, and one of Quaker birth and worldly breeding. I find also three who are truly convivial in type, one a son of Quakers, and two who are Irish Catholics; while to these might be added two whose designation ought to be Industrious-Convivial, hard-working men who are fond of social pleasure as an end of life.

A few in certain households, three in number, are intellectually aesthetic in a pa.s.sive way, fond of art and books, but creating nothing.

Two artists of note have in the past twelve years come to the Hill, bought places and made it at least a summer home.

It must not be inferred from the foregoing that there is not a wide range of mental difference among Quaker Hill men and women. In the matter of quickness and slowness of action this variation appears even among the members of any one group. In the same family are two brothers, both farmers, both tenants. One is able to farm a thousand acres more successfully than the other can cultivate two hundred. The one is instant in judgment, swift in action, able to compress into an hour heavy physical labor and also the control of many other men. The other is leisurely, indolent in movement, though a diligent man, and is as much burdened by increase of responsibilities as the former is stimulated. These two men are not exceptional, but typical. The extreme of slowness is indeed represented in one man whose tortoise pace in all matters dependent on the mind and will is oddly contrasted with his vigor and energy of manner. His movements are a provocation of delighted comments by his neighbors; I think partly because they are felt to be representative of what is latent in other men, and partly because he is surrounded by others more alert. Such men are the outcropping of a vein of degenerate will. It is not immoral degeneracy, but its weakness is incapacity for action of any kind, inability to see and do the specific task. This degenerate will does not extend to traditional morals, and does not always affect whole families. But its pervasive effects are seen in almost all the representatives of three large families of the old Quaker stock. Contrasted to these are some of the old stock, who though slow of thought and barren of mental initiative, are swift of action, sure in synthesis of a situation, and instant in performance of precisely the requisite deed.

One finds on the Hill many examples of native administrative ability of a high order--for a farm is as complicated a property as a railway is.

There are fully as many others who would be burdened with the cares of a ticket-chopper.

Not a few on the Hill are like the farmer who, sent on an errand to bring some guests from a train to a certain house, spent half an hour after meeting the guests in conversation with them in the railway station before mentioning his errand; and would have made it an hour had they not inquired of him for a conveyance. Yet a neighbor of his, in the same social group, closely related, has unusual capacity for affairs.

The instincts of the people of the Hill are not, I think, so varied.

They involuntarily respect religion, when expressed with sincerity, and incarnated in strength of character. It must have the authority, however, of strength, at least pa.s.sive strength, to appeal to local instinct.

[35] In 1905-7 six Swedes and Poles also have come, as laborers.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.

The members of the community have organized themselves into a.s.sociations for the carrying on of special forms of activity to a degree which is worthy of record. As one might expect, the societies of most vigor are those maintained by the women, since the men have never been able spontaneously to organize, or to maintain, any society on the Hill.

Central to all this organization, through the period of the Mixed Community, has been Akin Hall a.s.sociation, created by one man, and endowed by him. Under its shelter a church and library live, and a yearly Conference is maintained for five days in the month of September.

In this chapter we will consider first the incorporated, then the unincorporated societies.

The chief incorporated inst.i.tution on Quaker Hill is Akin Hall a.s.sociation, founded in 1880 by Albert J. Akin. It was his intention to create an inst.i.tution of the broadest purpose, through which could be carried on activities of a religious, literary, educational, benevolent and generally helpful order. "Albert Akin endowed," said a visitor, "not a college or a hospital, but a community!" The charter of the a.s.sociation, which was from time to time, on advice, amended, up to the time of Mr. Akin's death in 1903, provided for the most catholic endowment of Quaker Hill, in every possible need of its population.

The particular directions in which this endowment has been used are two.

A library and a church are in active use by the neighborhood, the former since 1883, and the latter since 1895, of which I will speak in detail hereafter.

Akin Hall a.s.sociation is a corporation consisting of five trustees, a self-perpetuating body, and eleven other "members." The number of trustees was originally sixteen, but Mr. Akin early yielded to legal advice in concentrating authority in five persons; while continuing the remaining eleven as a quasi-public to whom the five report their doings, and with whom they regularly confer. The annual meeting of the a.s.sociation is upon the birthday of the founder, August 14th. At that time the trustees a.s.semble at two p. m. for the transaction of business, election of members and of officers; and at 3 p. m. the members' meeting is called to order, the officers of the trustees being officers of the whole body. Members are permitted and expected to inquire as to activities of the a.s.sociation, its funds and its work in general, and to vote on all matters coming before the body for its action. Only no action involving the expenditure of money, or the election of trustees, shall be valid without the concurrence in majority opinion of a majority of the trustees.

The chief interest of the trustees has always been the care of the property of the a.s.sociation, which includes invested funds, and the following buildings, with about thirty acres of land: a hotel, having rooms for two hundred guests, a stone library, a chapel, and seven cottages. The hotel is usually rented to a "proprietor," and the duties of the library and church are laid upon a minister, the earliest of whom, Mr. Chas. Ryder, was called the "Agent."

The Akin Free Library, consisting of about three thousand books, selected with uncommon wisdom by committees of ladies through about twenty-five years, was originally established by the ladies of the Hill, in the early eighties, through a popular fund. It has ever since been funded by the Akin Hall a.s.sociation, who have also given it quarters, and care, in the Chapel known as Akin Hall. It will soon be moved into the stone Library, erected in 1898, but only finished in 1906, and it is reasonable to suppose that it will there have a wider scope and an increasing use.

The Library has been managed primarily for the use of "the Summer people," and the books have the excellence of their selection, as well as the proportion of certain kinds of books, determined by the preferences of the Summer residents. No adequate records are kept of the books used; so that it is impossible to give statistics of the specific utility of the library. But it occupies a real place in the community, and is drawn upon by families from every section of the population.

The fact that it was originally a.s.sembled by popular subscription, and only later sustained by the Akin endowment is a token of the exceptional latent interest in literature, and the pa.s.sive culture, to which tribute has been paid in this study of the Quaker Hill population. It is fair to say, however, that such interest has been confined to a small group of the population, now fast disappearing.

There is a small corporation, formed for the purpose of holding and caring for the "Old Meeting House." It is known as Oblong Meeting House, Incorporated. To this corporation, consisting of three trustees, a self-perpetuating body, the Yearly Meeting of Friends[36] handed over in 1902 the building and grounds known as the "Old Meeting House," at Site 28. This ancient building, erected in 1764, is probably the oldest edifice on the Hill, and is the embodiment of the religious and historical traditions of the community. These trustees attend to the repair of the Meeting House, which is maintained in exactly the condition in which it was used for over a century. No meeting of worship is held now in this building, the "monthly meeting" having been "laid down" in 1885. The building is, however, the center of frequent pilgrimages during the summer, by the visitors to the Hill and boarders, who delight in its quaint interior. It is used for occasional "sales"

for the "benefit" of some public interest. Once a year at the close of Quaker Hill Conference, it is the place of "Quaker Hill Day" exercises, at which addresses and papers are presented, in celebration and commemoration of the past history of the community.

The Hill has record of few revivals. Quaker ways preclude surprises, and revivals usually arise from new things. There was, however, during five years, 1892-1897, a religious awakening, prolonged month after month, for five years with undiminished force. The cause of it seems to have been the study of the Bible in the historic method; a new mode of awakening traditional religious interest. During that time the whole community was keenly alive, old and young; and in certain cases a change of life became permanent. In many young persons a definite religious impulse was the result.

This quickened religious interest involved all the Quaker influence, both Orthodox and Hicksite, and it was reinforced by several strong personalities from outside the Hill, persons trained in church work in New York and elsewhere. It crystallized in the organization of "Christ's Church, Quaker Hill," in the Spring of 1895, which received at the beginning adherents of all the religious groups represented on the Hill.

Within three years it had grown to a membership of sixty-five, among whom were members or adherents of the following religious bodies, Protestant Episcopal Church, Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, Quakers, Hicksite and Orthodox, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Congregational, Disciples and Lutheran.

This church is served by the minister employed in Akin Hall, and it has therefore a peculiar place. Its membership is drawn from the population resident on the Hill. Its doctrinal truths are simple, namely the Apostles' Creed. Its ordinances are elastic, baptism being waived in the case of those who, being trained as Quakers, do not believe in water baptism; and by the conditions affixed to Mr. Akin's endowment, that no denominational use should ever be made of Akin Hall, it is without sectarian connections.

The religious services in Akin Hall have in Summer been attended since 1880 by numbers of "summer people," from Mizzen-Top Hotel and the boarding-houses. A Sunday School was maintained from 1890 to 1905, a Christian Endeavor Society from 1894 to 1903. Both have been discontinued, owing to lack of members.

The church has also a diminished membership, especially since 1903, owing in part to mere removal of population; and even more to the death and removal from the Hill of persons of forceful, aggressive type, and the impoverishment of the population in respect of initiative and coherence.

The other agency carried on under the patronage of Akin Hall a.s.sociation is the Quaker Hill Conference. Founded in 1899 by Mr. Akin, entertained by Miss Monahan, this a.s.sembly has made September of each year a focal point in local interest. For five days of public meetings, Bible study, addresses upon religion, social and economic topics, culminating in a great dinner, of which four hundred partake, it is the modern successor of the now extinct Quaker Quarterly meetings. It expended in 1907 about $1,400, of which about half was contributed by Akin Hall a.s.sociation, and the remainder by individuals.

The groups in which the women of the Hill are a.s.sociated are of great interest. The Roman Catholic women have only their kinship a.s.sociations, and no voluntary a.s.sociations, being generally in the employ of Protestants, and having their church center away from the Hill in Pawling village.

The King's Daughters is the largest a.s.sociation, and most representative of the Hill, both in its numbers, frequency of meetings and variety of interests; though it is not the oldest. It has a membership of forty, and is actively devotional, charitable and benevolent. It serves also a useful purpose in providing social meetings, bazaars, sales and other occasions throughout the year which bring neighbors together; and uses their a.s.sembling for the a.s.sisting of the poor, ignorant or needy.

This society, as well as the one to be mentioned next, exemplifies the real democracy in which the women of the Hill meet and plan for common local interests; a fine spirit and practical efficiency characterizing their meetings, and each woman, however, humble, having a part with the best in the general result.

The Wayside Path a.s.sociation is smaller in number of members, as well as older than the King's Daughters; indeed, it has perhaps no fixed membership, but is an a.s.sembling of the women of the place about a small group as a working center for a yearly duty. Its purpose is to maintain a dirt sidewalk, over three miles in length, which follows the road northward and southward, from the Glen to the Post Office, with branches. Once a year the a.s.sociation meets, gathers funds by a "sale"

or by subscription, hires a laborer to repair the Wayside Path; then for a year lies dormant. In 1898 there was a general effort made to transform this a.s.sociation into a general Village Improvement Society, with diversified interests, into which men would come, but it failed, and no such society exists.

The West Mountain Mission is an a.s.sociation of ladies of the Hill, who through sales and bazaars, supplemented by gifts, contribute to the support of a chapel of the Protestant Episcopal Church, two miles west of Pawling. This a.s.sociation draws its membership from the hotel guests and from residents in the cottages; and but little from the essential Quaker Hill households.

The same may be said of whist clubs maintained in the summer at the hotel and cottages.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBY OSBORN RICHARD OSBORN]

[36] The Hicksite or Unitarian body held possession of the Meeting House in 1828, and until the above action.