with a good deal of vivacity.

After dinner Mr. Sturge desired me very much to go into the meeting of
the women; for it seems that, at the time of the yearly meeting among
the Friends, the men and women both have their separate meetings for
attending to business. The aspect of the meeting was very
interesting--so many placid, amiable faces, shaded by plain Quaker
bonnets; so many neat white handkerchiefs, folded across peaceful
bosoms. Either a large number of very pretty women wear the Quaker
dress, or it is quite becoming in its effect.

There are some things in the mode of speaking among the Friends,
particularly in their public meetings, which do not strike me
agreeably, and to which I think it would take me some time to become
accustomed; such as a kind of intoning somewhat similar to the manner
in which the church service is performed in cathedrals. It is a
curious fact that religious exercises, in all ages and countries, have
inclined to this form of expression. It appears in the cantilation of
the synagogue, the service of the cathedral, the prayers of the
Covenanter and the Puritan.

There were a table and writing materials in this meeting, and a circle
of from fifty to a hundred ladies. One of those upon the platform
requested me to express to them my opinion on free labor. In a few
words I told them I considered myself upon that subject more a learner
than a teacher, but that I was deeply interested in what I had learned
upon this subject since my travelling in England, and particularly
interested in the consistency and self-denial practised by their sect.

I have been quite amused with something which has happened lately. It