A Quaker Weekly VOLUME 1 D E c E M B E R 2 4 I . f .9 .5 s. ' NUMBER 26 I . ,, ()7. U HE U!ord is infinitely lN THIS ISSUE more powerful than the \ ' sword. He who knows how to handle it wisely and strongly is mightier than the mightiest •• !j of all kings. When the hand The Father dies which held the sword, by Florence E; Taylor the sword· will be buried with it. And as the hand becomes dust so will rust eat the sword. But when death closes the Japan Yearly Meeting mouth fn)m which came the word, it w'ill remain free and . by Esther B. Rhoads living; death has no power over it, and it cannot be put away in the grave. God's serv­ ants may be tied in chains Friends World Com~ittee Holds Its Sixth and locked in irons, but the word of God remains free. Session Annual Meeting of the Friends - JEREMIAS GOTI'HELF Journal Associates Books-Poetry-Our London Letter FIFTEEN CENTS A COPY $4.00 A YEAR FRIENDS JOURNAL December 24, 1955 Friends World Committee Holds· Its FRIENDS JOURNAL Sixth S~ssion HE Yearly Meeting representatives comprising the Friends TWorld Committee hold sessions approximately every three years. The sixth such session of the Committee was recently held at Germantown, Ohio, with 103 persons present, repre­ senting 34 Yearly Meetings and 15 countries. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was represented by Mary Hoxie Jones, Emma Cadbury, William Eves, Ill, Anna Griscom Elkinton, J. Pass­ more Elkinton, Dorothy B. Hallowell, Lawrence McK. Miller, Jr,. , and Joseph R. Karsner. Also present were Cl'arence E. Published weekly at 1616 Cherry Street, Philadelphia 2, Pennsylvania (Rittenhouse 6-7669) Pickett, Allen J. White, Colin W. Bell, Harold J. Chance, By Friends Publishing Corporation and Bertram Pickard. WILLIAM HUBBEN JEANNE CAVIN Editor and MaRager . Advertisements Most of the 25 overseas Friends visited Meetings and fami­ MILDRED A. PURNELL LOUISE K. CLEMENT A1180Ciate Editor Subscriptions lies over a wide area both before and after the meeting, thus helping to deepen spiritual life and strengthen the bonds of CONTRIBUTING CORRESPONDENTS RICHARD R. WOOD, Philadelphia fellowship. The services of these visitors have been spoken of Africa ...................... ... .. Maurice Webb, Durban EOKland ................. .. Joan Hewitt, London many times with deep appreciation. Horace B. Pointing, London There was in the meeting a growing awareness that Quaker­ Germa117 .................. Wilhelm KlShle.::, BraunachweiK India ... ......................Benjamin Polk, New Delhi ism is not the exclusive possession of a few Anglo-Saxons, -but Japan .......................... Bruce L. Pearson, Osaka Tatsun011uke Ueda, Tokyo that it extends to the ends of the earth. The Friends in Asia, Jordan ................ ...... Graham Leonard, Ramallah Scandinavia ................ Ole Olden, Stavan&er, Norway Africa, and Australasia are a full part of this great family and Switzerland .. ......... ...... .... Robert J. Leach, Geneva Turkey ........... .. .. ........ William L. Nute, Ankara have much to contribute to the group life. A warm invitation Lake Erie Association ...... Winthrop M. Leeds, Pittsbur&h to hold the next meeting of the Committee in East Africa and Midwest (Five Years) ... ...... Ruaaell E. Rees, Richmond New England .......... ..... Thomas R. Bodine, Hartf&rd another invitation that it be held in Tokyo remind us that West Coast ............... Ferner Nuhn, Claremont, Calif. not all the concerned Friends live in London, Richmond, and BOARD OF MANAGERS Philadelphia. Ranjit and Doris Chetsingh plan a seven-week 1955-1956: Howard H. Brinton, Sarah P . Brock, Mar&aret L. Matthews, Lawrence McK. Miller, Jr., Sarah F. Splint. visit to East African Friends on their return to India next 1966-1957 : Eleanor S. Clarke, Barbara L. Curtis, Arthur M. Dewees, Irving Hollingshead, Emily C. Johnson. 1966- summer. 1958: Carol P. Brainerd, Willla H. Satterthwaite, Lydia F. Taylor, Daniel D. Teat, Jr., Anna Wood. Appreciation was expressed to Ranjit M. Chetsingh for THE JOURNAL ASSOCIATES are friends who add five his two years of efficient service to the Committee, and a wel­ dollars or more to their subscriptions annually to help meet the over-all cost of publication. come was given to Herbert M. Hadley, who has been selected SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States and possessions: $4.00 a year, $2.00 for six months. Foreign countries: as the new general secretary. The H adley family plans to $4.50 a year. Sina-le copies: fifteen cents. Check• should be made payable to Friends Publ!shina- Corporation. move next April to Birmingham, England, which has been Sample copies sent on request. selectei:i as the location for the Central Friends World Com­ Re-entered aa second-class matter July 7, 1965, at the post office at Philadelphia, PennsYlvania, under the Act of mittee office during the ensuing three years. The new secre­ March 8, 1879. tary will be guided in his service by a small Advisory Com­ mittee, which may call together a somewhat larger Interim Committee should occasion demand it. The Committee reaffirmed the Quaker "objection to all Contents Page wars" and recorded its conviction "that committing ourselves Friends World Committee Holds Its Sixth to God leads us to oppose conscription for military service. Session . 406 We urge our various countries to move from an armed truce Editorial Comments . 407 to confidence and good will for our security. We plead for the The Father- Florence E. Taylor .... ..... ... 408 elimination of atomic bomb tests, and advocate the use of Our London Letter- Joan H ewitt .. ........ 409 atomic energy for peaceful purposes." Mary's Journey to Church (poem) .......... 410 A growing interest was expressed in Friends peace work at Love Came Down at Christmas (poem)- the United Nations, and an Advisory Committee was ap­ pointed to be available for consultation with the agencies Christina Rossetti .... ............. .. 410 carrying on the active service. This committee is composed of J apan Yearly Meeting- Esther B. Rhoads .. .. 411 13 persons who have had experience in peace work at the Annual Meeting of the Friends Journal Asso· international level. ciates . ... .. ..... ..... ............... 411 A concern was laid before the Committee for the abolish­ Books .............. ...... ...... ........ 412 ment of capital punishment. Groups of Friends both in Friends and Their Friends . 414 Europe and America have been active in this field. After dis­ Letters to the Editor . ...... ............ 415 (Continued on page 412) FRIENDS JOURNAL Successor to THE FRIEND (1827-1955) and FRIENDS INTELLIGENCER (1844-1955) ESTABLISHED 1955 PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER 24, 1955 VOL. 1 - No. 26 Editorial Comments Our Public Schools Our Anonymous Educators HE White House Conference on Education may not Miss Dunn's observations on the prevalence of bored~ T have served all the purposes for which it was in­ rude, and spoiled children does, likewise, not need to be tended. It has, nevertheless, dramatized some of the most considered typical. But her observations indicate trends urgent needs in our nation that seem to us far more noticeable in the spirit and conduct of American youth serious in their general, cultural significance than may that bear watching. We have outgrown the excesses of appear on the surface. We learned from the Conference the kind of progressive education that permitted the that the United States needs right now 203,000 more child to accept or reject work according to the weather classrooms and an additionall70,000 rooms by 1960. An in his soul. We are, just the same, still facing the task of even more pressing question is how to find the teachers convincing many pupils and students that it demands to staff our elementary and high schools. We lack at systematic labor to acquire an education. This has present 165,000 elementary and 40,000 high school teach­ always been necessary. Yet we know that in our time we ers. Probably more than 60,000 teachers are leaving their have to extend this effort also to the ranks of many par­ profession each year either to take less burdensome jobs ents. Understanding and cooperation exist in a most or to enter a career promising a salary more in keeping encouraging degree in many, many communities. But with their training and effort. Among these, many are some observers are becoming doubtful whether such likely to quit school work because of the unbearable con­ communities are still typical for the whole country. ditions under which they have to work. Joan Dunn's Even if the home wants to cooperate, it remains a fact recent book, Retreat from Learning (McKay, New York), that too many invisible educators are at work undermin­ illustrates the disillusioning experiences of one young ing or weakening its influence. Films and TV with their teacher who left because the unpleasant working condi­ emphasis on violence and sex, the comics, neighborhood tions exhausted her energy and the children's imperti­ gangs, the drugstore atmosphere- these are potent fac­ nence had consumed her nerves to the breaking point. tors in the formation of the youthful mind. The lack of We hope to get more complete information on the supervision at home and the growing incidence of broken findings of the Conference than newspapers have so far families are apt to breed cynicism and the spirit of re­ supplied. But whatever we may yet hear about ways and volt. Again we must beware of generalizing rashly, but means of securing adequate funds for teachers and the presence of these deplorable factors in too many schoolrooms, it is emphatically important that all of us communities has become a national problem. realize now the seriousness of this problem as a cultural crisis of first magnitude. This question is not to be The Abuse of Freedom solved by schoolmen, or the Federal government, or the In such circumstances the cry for strict discipline is, states only. We may eventually rally to the enormous of course, bound to be heard.