owned, or for acknowledgment pardoned
and restored, are the following: "deviating from plainness of speech and
apparel"--"not keeping to the plain scripture language;" "going to
Frollicks," "going to places of amusement," "attending a horserace;"
"frequenting a tavern, being frequently intoxicated with strong liquor;"
"placing his son out apprentice with one not of our Society;" "leaving
his habitation in a manner disagreeable to his friends;" "to use profane
language and carry a pistol, in an unbecoming manner;" "bearing arms;"
"to challenge a person to fight;" "to marry with a first cousin;" "to
keep company with a young woman not of our Society on account of
marriage;" "to be married by a magistrate;" "to marry with one not of
our Society before a hireling priest;" "to join principles and practice
with another society of people;" "to be guilty of fornication;" "to be
unchaste with her who is now my wife" (the person afterward married by
the accused). Oblong minutes: "to have bought a negro slave," "to have
bought a negro wench and to be familiar with her."

It was the operation of this code of morals, and of its ecclesiastical
checks and curbs, that made the Quaker Hill man and the Quaker Hill
sentiment what they are. And having done its work this code at the last
tended to weaken the Meeting, as it had strengthened the public
conscience. In talking recently with a sweet old lady past eighty, I
asked her, "Did you ever hear anyone disowned in meeting?" "No," she
never had, and "doubted if there had been many." Later, her daughter
said, "Why, Grandmother, you married out of meeting yourself!" Whereupon
I asked again, "Well, what did they do with you then?" "Oh," she
replied, not at all embarrassed, "they turned me out!"

"But what was the outcome of it all?" asks James Wood, in the closing
sentences of his monograph, "The Purchase Meeting." He continues: "As a
church the Quakers here missed their great opportunity. As settlers
came among them in increasing numbers, the Friends became solicitous to
preserve the strictest moral observance among their members. They
withdrew from contact and association with the world about them and
confined their religious influence and effort to themselves. The
strictest watch was maintained over the deportment of old and young.
Members were dismissed for comparatively slight offences. Immigration
further reduced their numbers. Hypercriticism produced disagreements
among themselves. Fi