Quaker Thought and Life Today
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Quaker Thought and Life Today VOLUME 11 APRIL 15, 1965 NUMBER 8 The People Behind the Psalms by Amelia W. Swayne t!}VERY past bravery of spirit lives in today's nobili ties. No life, no spirit is fu tile. No witness is ever lost. Science and Quakerism Nor does the spirit dry up by William D. Lotspeich with the body. Consider what we owe to past men of God. Consider the pure stream of spirit that for two thousand The Whittling Away of Fear years has flowed from the spring called ] esus. by Warren Griffiths - CARL F. WISE A Revolution at Bay by Maurice Webb THIRTY CENTS $5.00 A YEAR Courier of Friends Council on Education 186 FRIENDS JOURNAL April 15, 1965 FRIENDS JOURNAL QUAKER UNITED NATIONS PROGRAM Communist Chinese at the UN? F the Peking government should win its claim to I China's seat at the UN, it could send to New York a major "Permanent Mission" of some fifty or more diplo mats. The impact of China as a major power would affect not only the operation of the General Assembly Published semimonthly, on the first and fifteenth of each and the Security Council, but also the many formal and month, at 152-A North 15th Street, Philadelphia, Pa. informal caucuses, subcommittees, and operating units 19102, by Friends Publishing Corporation (LO 3-7669). FRANCES WILLIAMS BROWIN in the UN system. The People's Republic would auto Editor and Manager matically become a party to the Statute of the Inter ETHAN A. NEVIN Assistant Editor national Court of Justice; it would be offered a seat at WU..LIAM HUBBEN the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Conference. It would Contributing Editor have many debating platforms from which to put for RICHARD R. WOOD Contributing Editor ward its view of such issues as Formosa, Korea, Vietnam, MYRTLE M. WALLEN and Tibet. It also would become engaged in interna Advertising tional responsibilities and a network of communication. F. B. WALKER Subscriptions In the UN, China would engage in dialogues with BOARD OF MANAGERS the Soviet Union, with the Afro-Asian Group, and with 1963-1966: Howard H. Brinton, Ada C. Rose, Benjamin the USA. That within the Soviet voting bloc might be R. Burdsall, Walter Kahoe, Philip Stoughton, Gordon D. Whitcraft, Carl F. Wise. 1964-1967: Mary Roberts Cal the most significant, for, should attempts at a common houn, Eleanor Stabler Clarke, James Frorer, Francis Hortenstine, Emily Cooper Johnson, Elizabeth H. Kirk, policy fail, the UN could become the arena for bitter Elizabeth Wells. 1965-1968: Carol P. Brainerd, Arthur M. Dewees, Miriam E. Jones, Emerson Lamb, Daniel D. Sino-Soviet rivalry. Test, Jr., Winifred Cadbury Beer, Mildred Binns Young. Communist China probably would be, as Nationalist JOURNAL ASSOCIATES are those who add not less than five dollars to their subscriptions annually to China has not been, a member of the UN's Afro-Asian help meet the over-all cost of publication. Make checks payable to Friends Publishing Corporation. consultative group. In its drive for leadership of the Contributions are tax-exempt. developing nations, it might well find itself in rivalry SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States, possessions: $5.00 a year, $2.75 for slx months. Foreign countries, with India and the United Arab Republic. Including Canada and Mexico: $6.00 a year. Single copies: thirty cents, unless otherwise noted. Checks If accepted for the Chinese seat at the UN, the Peo should be made payable to Friends Journal. Sample copies sent on request. ple's Republic probably would be less a recipient than Second Class Postage Paid at Philadelphia, Pa. a giver of UN aid. (To receive assistance from UN field personnel, China would have to guarantee freedom of operation to such personnel.) But China could benefit Contents from the many UN-sponsored technical conferences, and Quaker UN Program . ..... ..... ....................... 186 in specialized fields it could take advantage of UN fel Clarence E. Pickett ............... ....................... 187 lowships for training in universities abroad. The People Behind the Psalms-Amelia W. Swayne ........ 189 The Whittling Away of Fear- Warren Griffiths .............. 191 The confrontation with the USA would not be only A Revolution at Bay (Letter from Southern Rhodesia)-Maurice on the formal diplomatic level. Chinese diplomats would Webb .................................................. 192 be reporting to Peking their impressions of America; Science and Quakerism-William D. Lotspeich .............. 193 A Question of Morality-Rachel Wolkin .................... 195 they would be the object of probing by US reporters. Blessed Are They Who Hunger and Thirst-Herta Rosenblatt 195 In a crisis, they could communicate informally with US This Inward Green and Glowing-Dan Wilson .............. 195 officials, perhaps through the Secretary-General. Ferment in Ann Arbor-Frances S. Eliot .................. 196 John Woolman School's Second Year-Madeleine Stephenson .. 196 In its formal confrontation with the US, the People's A Quaker Adventure in Education-Terry Evans ............ 197 Republic of China might bitterly contest (at least ini Book Reviews .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 198 tially) US strategy in East Asia. Ultimately, there could Courier of Friends Council on Education: be softening of the rigid positions on both sides. Freedom for the Young and the Old-William Hrtbbw .. 199 Children Unlimited-Francis Bosworth ...... ............ 200 Communist China's participation in the councils of Friends and Their Friends ................................. 203 the world might test not only the patience but also the Letters to the Editor . 205 ingenuity of Americans: to find ways of living at peace Announcements ............................................ 206 Coming Events .... .. ........ ............. ..... ... ........ 207 with 700 million neighbors on our shrinking globe. FRIENDS JOURNAL Successor to THE FRIEND (1827-1955) and FRIENDS INTELLIGENCER (1844--1955) ESTABLISHED 1955 PHILADELPHIA, APRIL 15, 1965 VOL. 11-NO. 8 Clarence E. Pickett 1884-1965 (From Henry]. Cadbury) Born in a Quaker family, reared in a Kansas Quaker HE death of Clarence Pickett on March 17 marks community, Clarence Pickett was committed to Quaker T the passing of a rare spirit. Impressive in retrospect concern. Before 1929 he was pastor to Friends meetings, as is the accomplishment of his full life, the spirit in teacher in Friends colleges, or Secretary to the Young which it was achieved deserves prior emphasis. The qual Friends Movement. When he was called to the AFSC ity was as important as the quantity. his influence on young people was already To the extent of his very great abilities marked. he gave himself unstintingly to the well When he "retired" to become honorary being of mankind at home and abroad. He or emeritus executive secretary he retained was involved in solving the complicated his concern and contact not only with the difficulties of rising above political and Service Committee but also with concerns international red tape and prejudice. Par of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and ticularly noteworthy was the way in which Friends General Conference. Much of his men of affairs or in public life, from the time and influence now extended to other highest circles down, respected his character causes whose advocates had discovered his and judgment and used him as a .consultant judgment and sympathy. They were not all -much like a religious pastor-for their popular causes. Here, too, he continued to own uneasy involvement in duties which interpret Quakerism and to present its they regretted. image to wider circles. I quote, for ex The solid middle years of his service ample, one of the many messages sent after were spent as executive secretary of the his death. It is from I. F. Stone, edit~r and American Friends Service Committee from 1929 to 1950. Washington correspondent: "To know Dr. Clarence This was the period during which that Committee, be Evan Pickett was to know what the Friends mean by the sides continuing its foreign relief work, extended into Inner Light. It shone from that most unassuming man. involvement in economic, educational, and racial mat It did not dazzle, but it warmed and was unforgettable. ters. An annual budget once as low as $70,000 expanded Those whom the world forgot, the Friends Service Com at times a hundred fold. It was in this period that the mittee under his direction remembered.... Dr. Pick Committee was sharing the administration of Civilian ett carried the torch of kindness from one generation to Public Service. (It also shared the Nobel Peace Prize.) another-a saintly figure in a ravaged world." Clarence Pickett was in the thick of these problems and contributed greatly to steady progress in both popu (From Colin W. Bell) lar and unpopular tasks. They, in turn, contributed " T ET us, then, try what love will do." So spoke Wil- much to his own growth-whether as much as he con L liam Penn, one of the earliest of those who had tributed to the tasks would be hard to decide. The great dreams for this land and its people and, indeed, for growth, in any case, was mutual. Fortunately he got all men. Let us give thanks for the life of Clarence Evan down in print in his autobiographical history of the Pickett, one who heard this call of God, even as William AFSC (For More than Bread, Little, Brown and Com Penn did before him. pany, 1952) the extraordinary variety and spiritual depth He left behind him the finest sort of legacy a man of the story. It is worth rereading. can bequeath-three-score years of selfless Christian serv- 187 188 FRIENDS JOURNAL April 15, 1965 ice to his fellow men. He was an indomitable servant is, is there not a more affirmative concern that we need of God who gave tirelessly of his mind and spirit even to sound? Instead of acquiescing when people say "You when, as in the last years, the flesh was growing weak.