Friday, July 13, 2007

Still Small Voice

I wanted to call this blog "Still Small Voice," but of course that name has already been taken up. The pun appeals to me: even after many years as a Quaker, I feel I am still a small voice, yet the beauty and mystery of that other still, small voice which emerges unexpectedly and randomly forms the ground on which I stand.

Several years ago I came across some information about an ancestor who lived during the time of George Fox. His name was Stephen Horsey and he had emigrated to the Eastern Shore of Virginia (and later Maryland) where he had been elected to the House of Burgesses. Even before he had taken up his seat, though, he was dismissed for acting "after the manner of a Quaker."

This is also a delightful pun: I have long hoped and wished to be able to find in myself the immense quiet and wisdom of the Friends who gave me respect and dignity during my Young Friends years decades ago. You could say that I search after the manner of a Quaker.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. I would love to be accused of behaving after the manner of a Quaker.

Marty Calliham

Robin said...

Yea, me too. And those were tough times for Quakers. According to the records I read, Stephen Horsey literally galloped his horse across the state line into Maryland, to avoid being arrested at one point. William Coulbourn, Ambrose London, George Johnson, the Maddox family (ancestors of mine) and several other Quaker families moved to Maryland after the Toleration Act was passed in 1667, but they had just spent about 20 years in uncertain circumstances in New England, New Amsterdam, and the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Sort of puts my little troubles in perspective.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this.