John Woolman, American Quaker evangelist, author of this
autobiography, was born in West Jersey in 1720 and followed
the trade of a tailor. But all his interests lay in the
practice of piety, and in the uncompromising application of
religious Principles to the problems of social life. He
advocated incessantly two principal reforms--that members of
the Society of Friends should separate utterly from the
possession of slaves, and that they should return to their
primitive simplicity and moderation in the use of worldly
things. Like many economists before and after him, he saw in
luxury, extravagance and ostentation, the true cause of all
poverty and oppression; and a tract of his entitled "A Word of
Remembrance and Caution to the Rich," first published in 1793,
was republished a hundred years later by the Fabian Society.
His most important treatise, published in 1754, entitled "Some
Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes," was one of the
earliest indications of the growing Abolitionist feeling in
New England. His voyage across the Atlantic in May and Tune,
1772, to visit the English Quakers, was followed by his death
from small-pox, in the city of York, on October 7 in the same
year. The "Journal," which is marked by great simplicity and
sincerity, was published shortly afterwards and has been
issued in many subsequent editions.
_I.--The Curse of Slavery_
Having reached manhood, I wrought at my trade as a tailor; carefully
attended meetings for worship and discipline; and found an enlargement
of gospel love in my mind, and therein a concern to visit friends in the
settlements of Pennsylvania, Virginia and other parts. I expressed it to
my beloved friend, Isaac Andrews, who then told me that he had drawings
to the same places. I opened the case in our monthly meeting, and
friends expressing their unity therewith, we obtained certificates to
travel as companions.
Two things were remarkable to me in this journey. First, in regard to my
entertainment; when I ate, drank and lodged free of cost with people who
lived in ease on the hard labour of their slaves, I felt uneasy, and
this uneasiness returned upon me, at times, through the whole visit.
Secondly, this trade of importing slaves from their native country being
much encouraged among them, and the white people and their children so
generally living without much labour, was frequently the subject of my
serious thoughts. And I saw in these southern provinces so many vices
and corruptions, increased by this trade and this way of life, that it
appeared to me as a dark gloominess hanging over the land; and though
now many willingly run into it, yet in future the consequence will be
grievous to posterity.
About this time, believing it good for me to settle, and thinking
seriously about a companion, my heart was turned to the Lord and He was
pleased to give me a well-inclined damsel, Sarah Ellis, to whom I was
married the 18th day of the 8th month, in the year 1749.
_II--Among the Indians_
Having many years felt love in my heart towards the natives of this
land, who dwell far back in the wilderness, whose ancestors were the
owners of the land where we dwell, and being at Philadelphia in 1761, I
fell in company with some of those natives who live on the east branch
of the river Susquehannah, at an Indian town called Wehaloosing, 200
miles from Philadelphia; and in conversation with them by an
interpreter, as also by observations on their character and conduct, I
believed some of them were acquainted with that divine power which
subjects the rough and froward will of the creature.
At times I felt inward drawings toward a visit to that place, and laid
it before friends at our monthly and quarterly, and afterwards at our
general spring meeting; and having the unity of friends, I agreed to
join certain Indians, in 1763, on their return to their town. So I took
leave of my family and neighbours, and with my friend Benjamin Parvin,
met the Indians.
About four miles from Fort Allen we met with an Indian trader, lately
come from Wyoming; and in conversation with him I perceived that many
white people do often sell rum to the Indians, which is a great evil:
first, their being thereby deprived of the use of their reason, and
their spirits being violently agitated, quarrels often arise which end
in mischief; again their skins and furs, gotten through much fatigue in
hunting, with which they intended to buy clothing, when they become
intoxicated, they often sell at a low rate for more rum, and afterwards
are angry with those who, for the sake of gain, took advantage of their
weakness. To sell to people that which we know does them harm, manifests
a hardened and corrupt heart.
We crossed the western branch of the Delaware, having laboured hard over
the mountains called the Blue Ridge, and pitched our tent near the banks
of the river. Near our tent, on the sides of large trees peeled for that
purpose, were various representations of men going to, and returning
from the wars, and of some killed in battle, this being a path used by
warriors. As I walked about viewing those Indian histories, painted in
red and in black; and thinking on the innumerable afflictions which the
proud, fierce spirit produceth in the world; thinking on the toils and
fatigues of warriors, travelling over mountains and deserts; and of
their restless, unquiet state of mind, who live in this spirit, and of
the hatred which mutually grows up in the minds of the children of those
nations engaged in war; during these meditations, the desire to cherish
the spirit of love and peace among these people arose very fresh in me.
As I rode, day after day, over the barren hills, my thoughts were on the
alterations of the circumstances of the natives since the coming of the
English. The lands near the sea are conveniently situated for fishing;
the lands near the rivers are in many places fertile and not
mountainous. Those natives have, in some places, for trifling
considerations, sold their inheritance so favourably situated; and in
other places, have been driven back by superior force. By the extending
of English settlements, and partly by English hunters, the wild beasts
they chiefly depend upon for a subsistence are not so plentiful as they
were; and people too often open a door for them to waste their furs, in
purchasing a liquor which tends to the ruin of them and their families.
_III.--Across the Atlantic_
Having been for some time under a religious concern to cross the seas,
in order to visit friends in England, after weighty consideration I
thought it expedient to inform friends, at our monthly meeting at
Burlington, of it; who, having unity with me therein, gave me a
certificate; and I afterwards communicated the same to our general
meeting, and they likewise signified their unity by a certificate, dated
the 24th day of the third month, 1772, directed to friends in Great
Britain.
I was informed that my beloved friend Samuel Emlen, intended to go to
London, and had taken a passage in the cabin of the ship called Mary and
Elizabeth; and I, feeling a draft in my mind towards the steerage of the
same ship, went and opened to Samuel the feeling I had concerning it. My
beloved friend wept when I spake to him; and he offering to go with me,
we went on board, first into the cabin, a commodious room, and then into
the steerage, where we sat down on a chest and the owner of the ship
came and sat down with us. I made no agreement as to a passage in the
ship; but on the next morning I went with Samuel to the house of the
owner, to whom I opened my exercise in relation to a scruple I felt with
regard to a passage in the cabin.
I told the owner that on the outside of that part of the ship where the
cabin was, I observed sundry sorts of carved work and imagery; and that
in the cabin I observed some superfluity of workmanship of several
sorts; and that the monies received from the passengers are calculated
to answer the expense of these superfluities; and that I felt a scruple
with regard to paying my money to defray such expenses. After this, I
agreed for a passage in the steerage, and went on board with Samuel
Emlen on the first day of the fifth month.
My lodging in the steerage afforded me opportunities of seeing, hearing
and feeling, with respect to the life and spirit of many poor sailors;
and an inward exercise of soul hath attended me, in regard to placing
out children and youth where they may be exampled and instructed in the
fear of the Lord. Now, concerning lads being trained up as seamen, I
believe a communication from one part of the world to some other parts
of it, by sea, is at times consistent with the will of our heavenly
Father; and to educate some youth in the practice of sailing, I believe
may be right. But how lamentable is the present corruption of the world!
How impure are the channels through which trade hath a conveyance! How
great is that danger to which poor lads are now exposed, when placed on
shipboard to learn the art of sailing!
_IV.--Prices, Wages, and Religion_
On landing at London I went straight to the yearly meeting of ministers
and elders, which, by adjournments, continued near a week. I then went
to quarterly meetings at Hertford, Sherrington, Northampton, Banbury and
Shipston, and visited other meetings at Birmingham, Coventry, Warwick,
Nottingham, Sheffield, Settle, and other places.
On inquiry, I found the price of rye about five shillings, wheat about
eight shillings, per bushel; mutton threepence to fivepence per pound;
bacon from sevenpence to ninepence; cheese from fourpence to sixpence;
butter from eightpence to tenpence; house-rent, for a poor man, from
twenty-five shillings to forty shillings per year, to be paid weekly;
wood for fire very scarce and dear; coal in some places two shillings
and sixpence per hundredweight but near the pits not a quarter so much.
O may the wealthy consider the poor!
The wages of labouring men, in several counties toward London, is
tenpence per day in common business; the employer finds small beer and
the labourer finds his own food; but in harvest and hay times wages are
about one shilling per day and the labourer hath all his diet. In the
north of England poor labouring men do rather better than nearer London.
Industrious women who spin in the factories get some fourpence, some
fivepence, and so on to tenpence per day, and find their own house-room
and diet. Great numbers of poor people live chiefly on bread and water,
and there are many poor children not even taught to read. May those, who
have plenty, lay these things to heart!
Stage coaches frequently go upwards of an hundred miles in twenty-four
hours; and I have heard friends say, in several places, that it is
common for horses to be killed with hard driving. Post-boys pursue their
business, each one to his stage, all night through the winter. Some
boys, who ride long stages, suffer greatly on winter nights, and at
several places I have heard of their being frozen to death. So great is
the hurry in the spirit in this world, that in aiming to do business
quickly, and to gain wealth, the creation, at this day doth loudly
groan!