USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Extracts from the minutes of the yearly meeting of Friends held in Philadelphia, 1921 > Part 4
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MINUTE OF EXERCISES.
Throughout our meetings this year there has been re- peated emphasis on the interrelation between personal
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and private life and outreaching service. This subject came forward in many ways during the different sessions. It was pointed out that if our lives were filled with Christ's spirit they would necessarily witness to Him. But in many ways we may as a group become more effective. We were urged to remember the injunction given to the Disciples to tarry in Jerusalem for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which alone could give the power. Back of all our corporate or individual efforts must be a membership in close and vital touch with God, living up to what we want to give forth to others. In doing this we shall often feel our weakness and our need as did the man to whom Jesus said, "Wouldst thou be made whole?" But we may find again that
The healing of His seamless dress Is by our beds of pain; We touch Him in life's throng and press, And we are whole again.
This personal experience of God was emphasized as the necessary preparation for the service to which we were called.
Thankfulness was expressed that our sense of group responsibility has been deepened. May we be granted a vision of our future service and be ready to move forward into it with gladness. What this service is already growing to be was shown as the various items of business claimed our attention.
The letters from Friends in different parts of the world as well as the work for the colored people call for an entire putting aside of all prejudices against any nation or race, kindred, tribe or people. They have enlarged our sympa- thy with people all over the world. They are a special call to us to help those whom others are unwilling to help.
If in our meetings we cherish a truly spiritual worship the seats would not be so empty as they sometimes are. Since they should be occasions for the sharing of our best we were urged to encourage all right ministry from the . body of the meeting, however brief or simple.
The honesty of the report on amusements was appre-
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ciated. While realizing the need we all have for recrea- tions, we were encouraged to select those that strengthen and foster the great purposes of life, that re-create and refresh our souls and bodies instead of casting a shadow between us and the Master's face. Older and younger Friends were urged to come into closer fellowship in the life of God, uniting in the great tasks for world better- ment which will prove to be so absorbing as to leave little time for the diversions that have no true value. We were reminded of the service already given by many of our young Friends during the past years and were urged to trust them to meet their problems conscientiously. May it not be that older Friends have not been sufficiently earnest to provide the needed recreation for our chil- dren and to train them as to the meaning of life and ser- vice? Let us pledge ourselves to be so mentally and spiritually alert that our young people can trust us in these matters.
In the work of the Peace Committee and of the Social Order Committee as well as in that of the newly appointed Publicity Committee there are increasing opportunities to interpret the spiritual message of the Gospels. Espec- ially in the activities of the Social Order Committee we feel that our mission has grown clearer as time goes on and that it entails a responsibility on every group of society. Although the problems are so great as sometimes to seem utterly discouraging, let us remember that we have at least developed a new conscience toward the ancient evils and let us look forward to the time when the every-day labor of each one of us shall be a social service to the world.
The reports from our schools were most encouraging; on their efficiency the life of the meetings in some places largely depends. Friends were especially called to con- sider the opportunity of the teacher's vocation. Educa- tion is a release of personality, and is a matter of slow growth. It is based on love and trust and a search for truth. It is a privilege we may all share for the ideals of . the community and the home determine its character. The standard of religious life at Westtown is a challenge to Friends everywhere and we are glad the scope of its
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influence is to be enlarged. All of our schools seem to be endeavoring to make our children good citizens of the kingdom of God and in the localities where they touch others than our own members they are little Quaker Em- bassies.
The opening periods of worship were times of refreshing in which we were able to lay aside our daily cares and seek for a realization of the presence of God. The prayers of many for this blessing were truly answered and we thank- fully record our sense of a unity of purpose which lies deeper and reaches further than any unanimity of method. Through all our gatherings the thought expressed at our first session that our primary duty was that of prophetic ministry has come up again and again. The Society of Friends is each day helping to feed nearly one million children in Europe, but there are everywhere men, women and children hungering for spiritual food. The Korean woman who sought a place where they could heal broken hearts is only one typical instance. So, too, is the train- master who, accosting a friend in a railway station, asked her, though a complete stranger, to pray for three of his friends who were in great distress. The call from Japan is not so much for material bread as for the Bread of Life. Surrounded as we are by so great a cloud of witnesses and looking unto Jesus the pioneer and finisher of Faith, we are summoned to our supreme task to assist men, women and children to find God.
Then adjourned to meet in joint session at the usual time next year, if it is in the Divine ordering.
ANNA RHOADS LADD, Clerk.
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ANSWERS TO QUERIES.
First .- With the exception of some small country meet- ings, all our meetings for worship and discipline have been held regularly. Meetings held on First-day morning are attended by most of the resident members and in many localities by some not in membership with us. Mid- week meetings continue to be relatively small except where the teachers and students of neighboring schools or colleges are present.
The hour for gathering is observed by most, but the lack of punctuality on the part of a few often hinders the prompt settlement of our meetings.
A reverent attitude is characteristic of both the mem- bers and attendants of our meetings.
Second .- While we all stand in need of Divine assistance rightly to fulfil the various requirements of this important Query, we believe that a spirit of love is upheld among our membership generally, and that a large measure of unity and fellowship prevails.
Our members endeavor to discourage remarks which would detract from the good reputation of any, as well as acts which might create discord. As differences arise and become known care is taken to end them.
Third .- We believe that most of our members uphold and cherish a waiting spiritual worship and a free Gospel ministry, which under some variety as befits our varying needs, is exercised in dependence upon the Head of the Church and in the fresh life and power of his Holy Spirit.
Many Friends, however, seem to have lost sight of the fact that one purpose of a religious meeting is to furnish an opportunity to share as well as to receive the good things of the Kingdom, and in consequence gifts in the ministry may be undeveloped that would bring blessing to the church and to the world.
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Fourth .-- We believe that most of our members endeavor to show forth in their lives the sincerity and the simplicity which accord with the Gospel of Christ and that they are frequent in the reverent reading of the Holy Scriptures, although greater faithfulness in this respect would benefit us all.
Most of those who have the care of children and young people also endeavor to impart to them the high ideals of our Christian profession, providing them with right reading, and guarding them from harmful associations.
We would stress the importance of so filling their lives with the spirit and service of Jesus Christ, that all their interests shall come to relate themselves to Him.
Fifth .- Most of our members are careful to discourage the use of intoxicants, and are concerned to do their full share in supporting, at this critical period, the anti-liquor legislation of our country.
A number of our members attend theatres, operas or dances, and against these diversions seem to feel no conscientious objection.
One meeting states that some of its younger members have come to feel that these things hinder their spiritual life and have therefore given them up.
Many among us are deeply concerned that we shall have a serious and wholesome understanding of the per- sonal responsibilities placed by this Query, and while the increased freedom to indulge, apparent among us, may be a reflex of world unsettlement, it makes even the more urgent the need there is to keep our standards high if we are to be an example of a true Christian Church.
A commendable simplicity is observed at marriages, burials and most other occasions.
Sixth .- Friends in need of assistance are relieved and their children helped to procure sufficient education to fit them for the duties of life.
All the answers show that a loving concern for the younger members is felt on the part of many of the older ones, but there is also the more significant reference in almost all the answers indicating a desire on their part
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to use greater effort and to extend more definite help in the home, in the school and in the meeting to advance their religious life and to give them a fuller understanding and appreciation of the principles and practices of Friends.
Seventh .- It appears that Friends generally maintain a faithful testimony in regard to the several particulars of this Query, with the exception of a few cases in the matter of bearing arms and engaging in training or other military service.
One report states that a few of their members do not agree with Friends on the subject of judicial oaths, and suggests that too many among us are satisfied with a merely negative testimony on the several subjects referred to in the Query.
When the general morality of the community is weak- ened, as now in this post-war period, it is felt that the influence of Friends should be redoubled against the in- sidious devices intended to entrap the unwary and thought- less.
A definite concern is expressed regarding the gambling devices increasingly to be seen at local "Carnivals" and "Fairs."
On the other hand, grateful expression is made of the willing service rendered by so many younger Friends in co-operating in the relief activities among the so-called enemies of our country.
Eighth .- We believe our members are in very large degree careful to live within the bounds of their circum- stances. With rare exception they keep to moderation in business, are punctual to their promises and honest in their dealings among men.
A concern exists to exert a restraining and helpful in- fluence toward any one who may give reason for anxiety on these grounds.
Ninth .- Care is taken to deal with transgressors in restoring love. We acknowledge, however, with regret, that many of us have fallen short of the standards called for.
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ADDITIONAL ANNUAL QUERIES.
First .- CHARLES W. KIRSCHT, a Minister and member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, deceased Sixth Month II, 1920, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.
JOSEPH ELKINTON, a Minister and member of Phila- delphia Monthly Meeting, deceased Sixth Month 19, 1920, in the sixty-second year of his age.
GEORGE W. THORP, an Elder of Frankford Monthly Meeting, deceased Third Month 1, 1920, in the ninetieth year of his age.
EMMA BOCKIUS ROBERTS, an Elder of Abington Month- ly Meeting, deceased Fourth Month 4, 1920, in the seventy-second year of her age.
SAMUEL EMLEN, a Minister of Germantown Monthly Meeting (recorded in 1864), deceased Twelfth Month 5, 1920, in the ninety-second year of his age.
PENNELL L. WEBSTER, an Elder and member of Chester Monthly Meeting (Pa.), deceased First Month 18, 1921, in the sixty-eighth year of his age.
ANN E. MAULE, an Elder of London Grove Monthly Meeting, deceased Eleventh Month 13, 1920, in the eighty- fourth year of her age.
SARAH A. LOVETT, an Elder and member of Falls Month- ly Meeting, deceased Fourth Month 23, 1920, aged seventy- three years.
WILLIAM BALDERSTON, an Elder and member of Falls Monthly Meeting, deceased Eighth Month 1, 1920, aged seventy-nine years.
Second .- Abington Quarterly Meeting reports that Horsham Particular Meeting was discontinued after Tenth Month 31, 1920.
Burlington and Bucks Quarterly Meeting reports that the mid-week meeting at Crosswicks, N. J., was laid down
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in Sixth Month, 1920, except Preparative Meetings, which are held when occasion requires.
No new meeting has been set up during the year.
Third .- All the Monthly Meetings report that care is taken to carry out the requirements of this Query.
Fourth .- There are eleven schools of the class queried after, under the oversight of Committees of Preparative or Monthly Meetings; two are under the care of joint committees of the local meetings of both bodies of Friends. Included in the list are two of the largest private schools in Philadelphia. In a few of the schools the teachers are not in membership with us, but are sympathetic toward our ideals. Each of the seven Quarterly Meetings has within its limits at least one school of the type under consideration.
Fifth .- The Queries addressed to our several meetings have been read and answered therein as directed.
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REPORT
OF COMMITTEE ON CHRISTIAN LABOR IN FOREIGN LANDS.
Second Annual Report to the Yearly Meeting :--
Two years ago Philadelphia Yearly Meeting considered a concern which rested with a number of its members, both older and younger, for a larger sharing in the bearing of the Christian message to foreign lands. A Committee representative of the various Quarterly Meetings was appointed to keep in touch with the whole Missionary Movement, and to foster in every right and proper way the missionary outreach of our membership. The report this year will deal with:
I. The work of the Committee.
2. The Missionary activity of our members.
3. The need for Expansion.
I. The Work of the Committee .- Your Committee feels that is has accomplished little that can be definitely measured during the year, and it is convinced that no com- mittee nor foreign missionary association, nor even a few consecrated missionaries from our membership, can ade- quately function until the Yearly Meeting as a whole enters more fully into the needs of other peoples and into the world implications of our faith.
The Committee has met as occasion required during the year and has concentrated chiefly in the matter of encouraging and arranging meetings. A delegation of three from our Foreign Missionary Association went to Japan last spring and has given publicity throughout the Quarterly Meeting neighborhoods to the facts of our Japanese obligation. Various missionaries on furlough have also addressed meetings. Numerous personal con- ferences have been held with some of our Young Friends, who are seriously facing the question of a life-vocation.
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The Committee has investigated the situation of chil- dren of missionaries in our Yearly Meeting Schools. There are seven of these at Westtown, all members of other Yearly Meetings. These children have received sympa- thetic attention from the Council of Westtown mothers with whom we have conferred. There are missionaries' children in our day-schools who are non-Friends. No mis- sionaries, members of this Yearly Meeting, have children of school age.
2 .- The Missionary Activity of Our Members .- The outstanding work of Philadelphia Friends in the foreign field, exclusive of Europe, is the Japanese mission admin- istered by the Foreign Missionary Association. Although the Yearly Meeting assumes no financial obligation for this, and although our interests should embrace all lands, and the fostering of the concerns of our Friends wherever called, Japan makes at this time an especial appeal to Friends because of the critical international situation. Furthermore, Japan Yearly Meeting looks to this as its mother Yearly Meeting and needs greatly the visitation of those who feel called in the ministry to carry the message across the sea and of other mature Friends who are quali- fied to give Quaker and Biblical instruction. In order to prevent duplication of effort and to work as extensively as possible, the Christian forces in Japan have assigned a por- tion of the province of Ibaraki Ken with a population of 720,000 to Friends. This constitutes a third reason for get- ting more seriously behind the Japanese work. Our recent delegation, after studying the situation at first-hand, feels that the present equipment and support are inadequate, and it seems urgent that our membership should face the immediate needs. Possibly the most obvious of these is the building of homes for Thomas C. and Esther Balder- ston Jones and for Herbert V. and Madeline W. Nicholson. For these and for improvements in the present Tokyo plant and in the country districts, fifty-eight thousand dollars ($58,000) are now required over and above the regular annual budget of about twenty thousand ($20,000).
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Of workers in our Japanese field the following are from our own membership:
EDITH F. SHARPLESS, HERBERT V. NICHOLSON,
ESTHER BALDERSTON JONES, MADELINE W. NICHOLSON.
We have in China the following members:
In Canton Christian College, Dr. William Cadbury, Catherine Jones Cadbury and their two little children; in Chengtu. West China, Jane Balderston Dye; in Tien Sein, Anna Brown Nipps. William Bacon Evans has. gone this year to Syria for an indefinite period.
Two Student Volunteers are expecting to go to the ‘ foreign field in the coming year: Esther B. Rhoads to Tokyo and Edith Stratton to Moukden, North China, Margaret W. Rhoads has volunteered a year's service in Japan, beginning this fall.
The work of Friends in Europe logically belongs within the scope of this report, except that it is presented this year as heretofore by the Peace Committee. Without repetition, however, two statements should be made here. Our European service has spoken so loudly of a way of life that expresses itself in love, that questions are being asked and doors of opportunity opened that require mes- sengers of spiritual qualifications. We may find ourselves unable to turn our backs upon this spiritual hunger even when material relief is no longer required. Indeed it looks at times as though the material need itself is interminable except as a new conscience is awakened in the nations and new spiritual resources drawn upon. This fundamental emphasis is broadening out our war-time service into a type of work that approximates more and more closely to that needed in the Orient, and may lead to the strength- ening of both the European and Oriental fields on the basis of practical experience and broader internationalism. In the past year six of our members have visited Europe, Australasia, Africa, England, etc., with minutes for re- ligious service, as follows: Joseph and Sarah W. Elkinton, William C. and Elizabeth C. B. Allen, Max I. Reich and Alfred Lowry. Seventy of our members have been or
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are now rendering service in Europe under the American Friends' Service Committee.
3 .- The Call for Expansion .- The Yearly Meeting is under a debt of gratitude to those who are giving life to foreign service in its name. When one considers the sense of world mission that has gripped us as Friends and also the resources of our own Yearly Meeting, not only financially but more especially in spiritual and educational privilege, one is humbled by the limits which we are put- ting upon our obligations toward the Kingdom of God on earth. Those who are anxious lest too great pressure be brought to bear upon mission work in foreign lands need only be reminded that out of a membership of 4,661 only eight are now working in Asia and that we have no rep- resentative in Africa or in the great Latin countries of Central and South America. Does this fulfil our complete obligation in personnel to the grave Oriental problem or to the unspeakable needs of those civilizations which have not yet even the leaven of the Christian program working in them? Appalled as we are by the needs in our congested city districts and isolated rural communities, by the dwarfing of personality in factory and prison, by the inequalities of privileges, by the special obligations to the colored people, the mountain-whites, the Indians, and immigrant populations, we dare not, however, neglect the more distant fields until our own America is Chris- tianized. The Orient will not wait; to limit our efforts to our own civilization is to imperil world civilization. The peoples of the world are so vitally articulated that world progress is conditional upon the stronger nations bearing the infirmities of the weak, and national and continental isolation is no longer possible, for any of us.
In loyalty to that in our own civilization which we cher- ish; in loyalty to our own undermanned project in Japan and to the undeveloped fields beyond, in loyalty to the Master who said: "The field is the world," and whose com- mission was to the uttermost part of the earth, we would press forward into greater ventures for God. Our confes-
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sion for staying here or for going afar must be nothing less than the love of God constraining us.
On behalf of the Committee. WM. B. HARVEY, Chairman.
PHILADELPHIA, Third Month 22, 1921.
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REPORT
OF THE EDUCATIONAL COMMITTEE.
To the Yearly Meeting :-
The past year has been one of quiet but steady accom- plishment in the eight schools under our care.
The pupils enrolled during the year numbered 408, of which 91 or 22 per cent. of the total are members of our Society. The enrollment is less than last year, largely because of the temporary closing of West Chester School, and the elimination of the Seventh Grades at Lansdowne and Media.
One of the notable changes during the year has been the raising of teachers' salaries and a corresponding increase in tuition. While these salaries are now not as large as we should like to see them, this increase brings them more nearly to the proper level. We are keenly aware of our indebtedness, as a Yearly Meeting, to these teachers, who turn aside from the financial inducements frequently offered in commercial occupations and spend their lives in devoted service in our schools.
While on this subject we must call the attention of the Yearly Meeting to a disquieting situation. Our teachers now number 36, of whom 26 are regular teachers, and 10 are instructors in special subjects, such as Manual Train- ing, etc., or apprentice teachers. Of these 36 teachers, only 15, or less than one-half, are members of our Society. When new teachers are needed, we often find that Friends are not available, and are compelled to seek suitable in- structors outside of our membership.
We trust that in the future when vacancies occur in our staff of teachers, Friends may be secured. Young Friends, about to take up a profession, are particularly. asked to give serious consideration to the great field of vital service that our schools afford.
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The report of our Treasurer, M. Albert Linton, is as as follows :
Receipts and Payments for Fiscal Year, 1920-21 as Esti- mated Third Month 18, 1921.
GENERAL FUND.
RECEIPTS.
Balance Ninth Month 1, 1920, increased by $1500
temporarily advanced to Gift Fund .
$2,886.00
Yearly Meeting appropriation. · 5,000.00
Interest on deposit and sums advanced to Gift Fund 100.00
$7,986.00
PAYMENTS.
Appropriations to Schools . $1,600.00
Salary of Superintendent . 1,800.00
Salary of Secretary to Superintendent 450.00
Traveling expenses of Superintendent
95.00
Telephone in Superintendent's office.
75.00
Postage and miscellaneous expenses of Superin- tendent. 100.00
Special teachers' salaries .
1,100.00
Traveling expenses of special teachers 200.00
Apprentice teachers. 350.00
Expenses of teachers' meetings
20.00
Carfare of teachers attending teachers' meetings .
165.00
Subscription to periodicals 60.00
Summer Schools . 300.00
Sundry expenses of committee officers 5.00
Estimated balance Eighth Month 31, 1921, in- creased by sums which may have been ad- vanced temporarily to Gift Fund 1,666.00
$7,986.00
GIFT FUND.
RECEIPTS.
Principal of matured investments $2,000.00
Interest on investments. 240.00
Interest on deposits. 15.00
$2,255.00
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PAYMENTS.
Appropriations to schools. $1,850.00
Special teachers' salaries. 1,100.00
School books and blank forms. 135.00
Superintendent's participation in Retirement
Fund . 106.00
Interest on temporary advances to General Fund 46.00
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