Living in the Light: Some Quaker Pioneers of the 20Th Century
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LIVING IN THE LIGHT SOME QUAKER PIONEERS OF THE 20th CENTURY Volume II - In the Wider World LEONARD S. KENWORTHY, Editor F'ruENns GENERAL CoNFERENCE and QUAKER PuJ3LICATIONS Box 726 Kennett Square, Pa. 19348 Copyright © 1985 Leonard S. Kenworthy Library of Congress Number: 85-081053 Table of Contents PAGES Introduction to Volumes I and II 1 1. Pierre Ceresole: Pick and Shovel Peacemaker, by Leonard S. Kenworthy 6 2. Arthur S. Eddington: "Our Most Distinguished Astrophysicist," by S. Jocelyn Burnell 22 3. Emilia Fogelklou: Swedish Mystic and Friend, by Howard T. Lutz . 36 4. Sok-Hon Ham: "A Wandering Albatross," by Yoon-Gu Lee . 52 5. Fred Haslam: "Mr. Canadian Friend," by Dorothy Muma 70 6. Henry T. Hodgkin: Statesman of the World Church, by John Ormerod Greenhood 85 7. John Somervell Hoyland: Joyful Giant, by L. Hugh Doncaster 100 8. Margarethe Lachmund: Radiant Friend and Reconciler, by Leonard S. Kenworthy 113 9. Kathleen Lonsdale: Eminent Scientist and Concerned Quaker, by Leonard S. Kenworthy . 129 10. Sigrid Lund: Portrait of a Norwegian Friend, by Margaret S. Gibbins 145 11. Thomas G. Lung'aho: East Africa Quaker Educator and Administrator, by Harold V. Smuck 160 12. Inazo Nitobe: A Bridge Across the Pacific, by Tadashi Yuasa .. 174 13. Philip Noel-Baker: Prophet of Peace and Disarmament, by Kenneth Lee 190 14. Heberto Sein: International Interpreter, by Suzanne Fehr Sein . 206 15. Suzanne Stephen: South African Friend of Prisoners, by W. Scarnell Lean 222 16. Will Warren: An Instrument of Peace, by John Lampcn 236 17. Margaret Watts: An Australian Friend in Action, by Eileen Barnard-Kettle 2.5.'3 Biographical Sketches of the Authors 269 iii Introduction to Volumes I and II The Background for These Books In the more than 300 years of its history, the Religious Society of Friends has helped to develop or has attracted an unusually large number of prominent people, many of them pioneers in one or more significant movements or causes. Some readers may wish to speculate on why this is so. My sur mise is that because Quakerism has stressed a highly personal approach to life and religion, it has helped to develop or has drawn to itself many individualists. However, Quakerism has also emphasized the caring community and has urged its members to translate into concrete action the commandment of Jesus to love your neighbors. Consequently, many of its members have worked zealously in a wide variety of movements to improve the condition of human beings. Furthermore, Quakerism has contended that creation continues and revelation persists, and it has encouraged its adherents to pursue truth rigorously. Hence many Friends have been creative in their pioneering efforts. In addition, Quakerism has released the talents of women more than most groups. Thus, there has been a high percentage of Quaker women as leaders in various causes, outside as well as inside the Religious Society of Friends. Much has been written about the Quaker pioneers of the 17th century and some about the outstanding men and women of the 18th and 19th centuries. Not nearly enough, however, has been written yet about the Quaker pioneers of the 20th century. There are books and/or booklets about some of the well-known persons of that period, but many of the pioneers have been neglected. Hence the appearance of these two volumes on Living in the Light: Some Quaker Pioneers of the 20th Century. Volume I deals with several such individuals in the United States and Volume II with some in the wider world. It has been my concern that essays should be published about these people before those of us who knew them pass from this earthly scene. For example, there are very few Friends alive who knew Emily Greene Balch, Frederick J. Libby, or Inazo Nitobe. Even Rufus M. Jones is only a name to most Friends today. Then there are several outstanding Friends from the recent past or today who are not known even in Quaker circles. Some Criteria Used in Selecting the Persons for These Volumes With so many outstanding Friends in various parts of the world in the 20th century, the task of selecting 40 persons for inclusion in these two volumes has been extremely difficult. Consequently, 1 many individuals who deserve a place in these books had to be omitted. Because more than half of the present members of the Religious Society of Friends live in the United States, and because these books are being printed primarily for American readers, Volume I is devoted to 23 Americans, whereas Volume II contains the life stories of 17 Friends from other parts of Quakerdom. Many readers will be interested in the criteria used in selecting these 40 individuals. Obviously each person in these two volumes had to be a pioneer in at least one field; several were pioneers in more than one move ment or concern. And the fields they represent are numerous. Some are traditional concerns of Quakers, such as peace, educa tion, and race relations. Others are causes which Friends have not championed in the past but which are of increasing interest and importance today, such as human sexuality, relations with the people of other faiths, and the United Nations and its specialized agencies. Some of the individuals included in these two books were at the height of their effectiveness early in the 20th century, while others became prominent later in that period. Some are no longer living; others are still alive and active in promoting their concerns. Most of the Quakers depicted in these two volumes have worked primarily within the Religious Society of Friends, but several of them have worked largely outside the Quaker circle, even though their efforts have been based on their beliefs as Friends. Several of the chapters are on well-known Quakers, but a few are on Friends who are not yet well-known even to members of our Society. That is especially true of persons in the newer and smaller yearly meetings around the world. Because of the prominence of Quaker women, there is a good balance between men and women in both volumes of Living in the Light. In selecting persons for these books, I did not distinguish between "birthright" and "convinced" Friends. However, in Volume I there is a good balance between these two groups. In Volume II, a majority are "convinced Quakers." Often one person serves as an example of a group of individuals. For instance, Jack Hoyland is the only British Friend included in Volume II who worked in India. But there are several others who devoted themselves with distinction to the people of that nation or sub-continent-such as Horace Alexander, Agatha Harrison, and Marjorie Sykes. Furthermore, each of the persons selected for these two books had an interesting life and their stories are well worth telling. 2 Each devoted himself or herself creatively, effectively, and often passionately to people and to the creation of a more peaceful, just, and humane world. In different ways all of them lived, or are living, in the Light. And in different ways all of them have carried out, or are carrying out, the prayer "Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." If any reader has felt there was a Quaker "type," a reading of these books should disabuse him or her from that opinion. The people portrayed here represent a fascinating variety of indi viduals-differing in their backgrounds, their education, their careers, their concerns, their life styles, and their theological beliefs. Yet they are all Quaker pioneers. Many readers will realize that the title for these two volumes is taken from George Fox's admonition to "walk in the Light." Conspicuous and Inconspicuous Quakers Reading about these outstanding men and women should make us aware that "there were giants in the earth in those days" and that there are giants on our globe today, too. And, as Joseph Fort Newton once said, "We stand on the shoulders of giants." Commenting on greatness in his book on Contemporary Immor tals, Archibald Henderson described such people in these words: The great man is one who lives for aims other than personal and local ones, who gives himself for posterity, who senses the future and strives for the race's betterment. The great man is one who procures for humanity a larger liberty, a freer release of vital energies, a wider horizon, a completer mastery of the forces of nature, and a deeper understanding of mankind. For us such men and women can serve as role models-and how we need them. As Joshua Liebman commented in his volume on Peace of Mind: Man loses his sense of direction when the compass of his soul is not magnetized by some great human star within the orbit of his experience. But they do not differ greatly from us, except in degree. As Archibald Henderson pointed out: The greatest men on earth are men who think as I do, but deeper; and see as I do, but clearer; who work to the goal that I do, but faster; and serve humanity as I do, but better. Reading about these individuals should not discourage us; it should encourage us. The men and women portrayed here are among the Everests, Matterhoms, and Kilimanjaros of Quaker ism. But the world is not composed solely of mountain peaks; it includes lesser mountains, hills, valleys, and plains. Humanity desperately needs common as well as uncommon individuals, ordi- 3 nary as well as extraordinary people, inconspicuous as well as conspicuous men and women. At the Friends World Conference in 1937 Fred Tritton, an English Quaker, spoke of that fact in this way: No one can deny the brightness of the planets and the stars of first magnitude, but the glory of the heavens is not in these alone, but also in the infinite number of tiny stars.