John Greenleaf Whittier in 1885. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Eye - 23 August 2024
The discovery of a letter by John Greenleaf Whittier in a Scottish charity shop has presented a mystery, and a Friend shares how suspicious we Quakers are!
The case of the mysterious missive
A note penned by a prominent American Quaker from the 1800s has prompted a charity shop in Scotland to try and track down an elusive donor.
Jenness Mitchell, writing for Sky News, reported on 31 July that a volunteer at Gatehouse of Fleet YMCA discovered a letter from John Greenleaf Whittier inside a book. It was one of a number donated by one person on 8 July.
Fiona Cameron, who made the discovery, described how the letter, from the poet to his niece, was in a more modern envelope and fell out as she was flipping through a volume of poetry.
She told Jenness Mitchell: ‘We didn’t recognise this woman, but she brought in quite a number of antiquarian books. She looked round the shop while she was there, and I actually spoke to her about one of the books she’d brought in because it was quite a nice edition of an Arthur Ransome book (1922’s The Soldier and Death) – the guy who wrote Swallows and Amazons.’
John Greenleaf Whittier was famed for his poetry, but was also known as as an editor, a politician, and an abolitionist.
In a piece marking the 200th anniversary of his birth, Thomas Bracknell wrote in The Friends Journal that: ‘Whittier’s renown has understandably faded; his rhymes and subjects reflect the sensibilities of a bygone era. But the life of this Quaker humanist endures as an inspiring witness for our own times.’
The city of Whittier, in California, is named after him.
Whittier College and Maine Historical Society are following the story, keen to discover how the letter ended up in the UK.
Fiona Cameron added: ‘We would like to say to her, “do you want these back, do these have a family connection, what is the connection?”’
The article concludes with saying that, if the donor can’t be found, the letter and accompanying envelopes could be gifted to the Library of the Society of Friends in Friends House.
As Arthur Ransome also had Quaker connections, Eye wonders if a Friend might have been behind these donations. If so, Eye invites you to make yourself known so that the mystery behind the missive can be solved!
Beware Quakers!
We’re a suspicious bunch, Friends! At least, that’s what technology was telling Chrissy Allott and Mic Morgan, from Exeter Meeting, during Yearly Meeting.
They told Eye: ‘It took time to get into the Swathmore Lecture at the weekend, with our computer anti spam refusing to connect – and declaring that SCHED and BYM were, well, unsafe and suspicious.
‘Which, of course, we are! With our old leather breeches and shaggy shaggy locks, we are (still) pulling down the pillars of the world: into the Light, for truth, against war, for – and above all… for love.’
