putes had been
very bitter, and Rye and Bedford had revolted from New York's
jurisdiction. Their whipping-posts stood ready for the punishment of any
from the river settlements who committed even slight offenses within
their limits. As the two peoples naturally repelled each other they had
left a strip of land, comparatively unoccupied, between them. This
continued in nearly a north and south line, parallel with the river, and
a little more than midway between it and the Connecticut and
Massachusetts lines, as far as they extended. Into and through the strip
of land the Quaker stream flowed, like a liquid injected into a fissure
in the rocks. Each Quaker home as it settled became a resting place for
those who followed, for it was a cardinal principle of Quaker
hospitality to keep open house for all fellow members, under all
circumstances.

[4] "One First Day morning, in the mellow October days of that
year, the worshipping stillness of the Friends' Meeting was broken by
the tramp of horses, and the jangling of spurs, as a band of soldiers
rode up, dismounted and entered the building. They remained quiet and
reverent, till the handshaking of the elders closed the meeting; then
the commanding officer rose, and in the name of the Continental Congress
took possession of the building for a hospital for the troops, and as
such it was used all that winter. After this meetings were held in the
'great room' in the house of Paul Osborn, and were often frequented by
soldiers stationed in the place, who listened attentively to the
speaking, and left quietly at the close of the meeting."--Richard
Osborn--a Reminiscence, by Margaret B. Monahan, Quaker Hill Local
History Series, No. VIII.

[5] In the garret of the Meeting House rifle-ports, cut through
the original planks, were discovered by the present writer.

[6] "Bodily functions are facilitated by atmospheric conditions
which make evaporation from the skin and lungs rapid. That weak persons
whose variations of health furnish good tests, are worse when the air is
surcharged with water, and better when the weather is fine; and that
commonly such persons are enervated by residence in moist localities but
invigorated by residence in dry ones, are facts generally recognized.
And this relation of cause and effect, manifest in individuals,
doubtless holds in races."--Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology,
Vol. I, p. 21.

CHAPTER III.

THE ASSEMBLING OF THE QUAKERS.