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The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman, Apostle of Abolition

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Twenty years ago, in circumstances I no longer recall, I came across and bought a somewhat worn and battered volume in original calf binding of "The Works of John Woolman", published in Philadelphia in 1774. (According to the inscription at the front of my copy, it had been bought and was signed by Samuel Garrett on December 3, 1774.) But I did not know much about John Woolman until I bought and read this biography.

Woolman (1720-1772) was the grandson of English Quaker immigrants to the New World. He grew up on a farm near Mount Holly, New Jersey, and as an adult he made his livelihood as a storekeeper, a tailor, and a teacher. But the core of his life was his interior spiritual quest, and its outward manifestation was his ministry. In furtherance of that ministry, he went on numerous travels or missions in the English colonies, primarily to Quaker congregations but also, memorably, once to fractious Indians. His last mission was to England, during which he contracted smallpox and died.

The publication for which he is best known is his Journal, which is his "spiritual autobiography" and is a landmark of that genre. Two other noted writings are two essays on "keeping Negroes", which are landmarks in abolition literature. Indeed, today Woolman is best known as an early voice in America against slavery, one which was frequently cited by abolitionists and, later, by those in the civil rights movement.

Woolman's anti-slavery stance was based in part on an underlying belief in the equality of all creatures, something which he extended to (non-human) animals. He also is noted for his firm and well-reasoned anti-mercantilism and his critique of the drive to accumulate capital, as well as having advocated refusing to pay taxes that would be used to finance militia activities or war. Other themes in Woolman's writing and thought are "an abhorrence of violence, an ascetic sensibility, [and] a mystical temperament."

Thomas Slaughter writes that he had been interested in Woolman for over twenty years and, in a sense, worked on this biography for the same period of time. The result is extensively researched and obviously a labor of love. It includes much interesting (and necessary to an understanding of Woolman) background information about the Quakers and the religious, cultural, and societal milieu that gave rise to Woolman and in which he lived. In many respects THE BEAUTIFUL SOUL OF JOHN WOOLMAN is an admirable biography.

But it cannot be recommended, at least for the general reader. Part of the problem is Woolman. As Slaughter states: "The essential John Woolman, the meaningful core, was elusive in life; the man barely lived inside his skin. He has not gotten easier to find. He largely succeeded in detaching himself from material objects--things as well as people and himself--before he died. His trail was faint and got fainter." To fill out this biography, then, Slaughter had to engage in all sorts of empathetic speculation. Among other things, Slaughter has resorted to a detailed exegesis and interpretation of Woolman's dreams and visions (of which Woolman wrote about to great extent) -- a process that leaves me cold and somewhat incredulous.

The other, and perhaps biggest, part of the problem has to do with Slaughter as a writer. It is overly difficult to follow and track the flow of the book from topic to topic, largely because many shifts in topic -- as for example from biographical facts to background discussion of religious or cultural context -- are not signaled sufficiently clearly. Although on a gross, macro level the book proceeds chronologically, otherwise the organization is not transparent and there is too much needless repetition. There are patches of overly saccharine, precious, and labored writing, bordering on the truly bad. To top it off, Slaughter liberally inserts relatively lengthy quotes from Woolman's writings or other contemporary sources, the syntax and vocabulary of which are rather alien and trying.

I confess that mid-way through the book I began to skim it. To fully absorb the book, from beginning to end, requires some of the rare qualities of a John Woolman -- diligence, patience, self-denial, and even a little saintliness. It would be nice if there were a readable modern biography of John Woolman. This does not fill the bill.

Friends' journals are a unique literary/religious genre. They are spiritual autobiographies and, I was once told, serve as an alternative for Quakers to a written dogma. You can buy many of them very cheaply on the used and rare book sites both because a lot of them were published and because they are generally stultifying, even if you are acquainted with the formulaic religious language in which they are written. There are some exceptions to the stultifying rule: George Fox's journal, sometimes; the neglected journal of Thomas Chalkey (though it's deservedly mentioned in the Oxford Comp. to Am. Lit.); and , of course, John Woolman's journal.

If you are approaching your dotage, you may have read selections from Woolman's journal in the course of your secular education. Being a Quaker, I read it a bit more closely. Impressionistically, I remember the episode about not dying his clothes and especially the picture of him on his porch one morning surveying his bustling store with wagons coming in and out and wondering, What have I done wrong? How un-American is that?

Of course, Woolman is also a great figure in the Abolitionist movement. From the first, in the 1600's, the thought that all partake in the divinity led many Quakers to a radical egalitarianism. Passing through the Barbados in the 17th cent., Wm. Penn was led to write that reversing the environments of his children with that of the plantation slaves' environment would result in black nobles and white slaves. This view that others are our equals in the extended human - not just "spiritual" - sense really wasn't accepted until the late 20th cent. by most Euro-Americans, though in 2009 it seems to be getting some traction. This tenderness resulted in Quakers (though not numerous) being seminal figures not just in the abolitionist movement , but in women's suffrage, prison reform and caring fro the mentally ill both in Great Britain and the

Consulting the journals of these figures is not a good way for the uninitiated to get a picture of their lives and times. If you (or, say, I) were writing about giving up drinking, nights on the town might be mentioned, fights in the kitchen, the reactions of the children and so on. Good reading, that. In a Quaker journal, however, the subject would be dealt with by saying something like "after long and increasing travail, I was favored by Him Who is the Source of all Truth with a purity of understanding of the dangers of toasts and outward conviviality and the use of spirituous drink, and was opened to put it from me by his Gracious Love and Dispensation." Dwelling on individuals, places, scenes and the like is not the point of these works. They are rather an account of the author's inner life and as Slaughter points out, if some irrelevant detail does slip in, a review committee would likely strike it out (there are exceptions). Though we can cipher quite a lot about Woolman's spiritual struggles from his writings, about the visible breathing human and his environment and family we find out little. A brother, for instance, shows up for a few lines as a traveling companion and is never seen again! And what his store looked like or what his family thought of his constant travels we know nothing.

So Slaughter takes an unusual tack. He doesn't try to fill in Woolman's life with the recreated sights and sounds of his time and place (cp. Shakespeare biographies) Instead he deliberately immersed himself in Woolman's own now antiquated reading list and in Woolman's religious milieu, Quakerism as it then was. Slaughter frequently refers to it as a "mystical" religion. Some of what Slaughter calls mystical experiences such as the interpretation of St. Elmo's fire as a divine sign and the belief that dreams can be a message from God seem more like superstition to me. (But one man's mysticism can be another woman's claptrap, I guess. You find a lot of this stuff in early Quaker writing. George Fox thought God punished his nastier jailors by making their children sick!)

Preparing himself in this way, Slaughter is able to present a coherent account of the sources, development, and resolution (when there is one) of Woolman's specific struggles and concerns. One sees that the central thought is the debasement of the self, the sense that true virtue means 100% commitment to the wellbeing of others, acting always, as we say, in the Light. Though William James (Varieties of Religious Experience) doesn't devote as much time to Woolman as this book may make you think, he does use him as one example of a "saint". Both James and Slaughter are also clear on the negative aspects of this personality type. Woolman was selfless from one point of view, he struggled mightily to be so. On the other hand, the saint can seem, or can be, immensely selfish as well and one's own obvious moral demands can seem like a deluded and obsessive nagging to others. John Woolman was very tender toward children but he also believed love of one's own children can easily become the root of all evil. True, but only in a sense. I think Slaughter has done a great service to students of Woolman by trying to explain him from the inside, by examining his "soul" I certainly got a much better handle on him.

On the other hand, I don't think this would be a very useful book to anyone who didn't have a pre-interest in John Woolman. And you really have to have a sense of the background history of the age to get your feet on the ground since the sights, sounds and smells are as missing in Slaughter (deliberately, as I said) as they are in Woolman.

The book's title kept me from buying it until the third time I saw it, though Border's had it shelved face out. It sounds like it's going to be a hagiography. Though it occasionally drifts in that direction, Slaughter's academic instincts save him in the end.

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Sociologists and theologians have long considered Quaker John Woolman a pioneer in the birth of contemporary social consciousness.

Woolman's relations with Indians, Africans and slave owners, his negotiating skills, his extensive travels, and his belief in the importance of the abolition of slavery, should have made this a fascinating book.

There is plenty of good information in this book. It is well-researched and not badly written, yet "The Beautiful Soul of John Woolman" lacks the spark of life. It is tedious reading.

According to 18th century accounts by those who knew him, Quaker John Woolman was highly-respected and much admired. In this version of Woolman's life, his strengths are overshadowed by the author's sense that Woolman was a droopy, neurotic, troubled and troubling person.

The text drifts around a bit aimlessly. My teacherly-instincts tell me that the manuscript needs to be pared down to about two-thirds the current length. Slaughter needs to decide if this is a general biography of Woolman or if it is a book about Woolman as an abolitionist.

The serious scholar may want to search out references to Woolman in the early records of local Friends Meetings, read John Woolman's own Journal, and leave this book on the shelf.

Kim Burdick
Stanton, Delaware
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Note: One minor detail especially bothers me. On page 147 Slaughter writes:

[The Woolmans] "named their daughter Mary (1750-97), perhaps because her birth came only a week before Christmas."

It should be noted that astronomers, Quakers, and most Yankee Protestants, were sceptical of the December date for Christmas. Quakers did not celebrate Christmas in the 18th century.

What can I say. This book changed my life. It also gave me great background in colonial American history, the early history of slavery in the colonies/states, early Quakers in the colonies/states, and lots more. It is written in a very interesting, involving way. Woolman's spiritual, social, and political concerns and struggles are made clear and poignant. This is a labor of love for this author, with whom I'd love to talk!!!