“Did she wear the Friends’ cap and bonnet?” asked Ruth.
“No, she did not think them essential; but she drew the line at adornments for the production of which human life is imperiled or animal life recklessly destroyed,” replied Adelaide.
“And this is your mamma on the first page? How much you look like her!”
“Not mamma, but mother,” said Adelaide. “She wanted me to call her mother—to speak of her and think of her as mother, and I always have. I call my second mother, mamma.”
“How old were you when she died?” asked Ruth.
“Three years, and father married again when I was four.”
Ruth handed back the journal and Adelaide began reading in a low tuneful voice like that of a mother talking to her child.
“My Dear Daughter Adelaide:
“The doctors say that I have consumption—the incurable disease, and that I cannot live many years at the longest. I can hardly believe it—I feel so well and happy and have such a desire to live and be ever near thee to guard thee against the evils and perils of this world; but lest I may not I will try to make it plain to thee what the evils and perils are that encompass us around and about—plain to thee according to my light, received through the teachings that have been handed down to me through a long line of ancestry, from such good and wise men as George Fox and William Penn. Remember that I do not say that they were the only wise teachers in the world or that their light is the perfect light or rather all the light; but that it is good so far as it goes has not as yet been gainsayed. Even thy father who was not reared in my faith, can find no flaw in it except that it is impracticable in the present imperfect conditions of the world. I trust he is beginning to see the light of Christ as it is and will be. Keep near him, dear child, very near him. Seek for the living light together, hand in hand. It is needed everywhere, in our daily walk and conversation and even in our dress and adornments. I am not one who thinks that the cut or style of a dress or hat is of great importance and yet I have been led to perceive that there is a line beyond which it would be a sin to go—that we should use nothing for personal adornment which calls for the cruel slaughter of animals or for vicious and degrading work from our fellow creatures. Lest words fail to express my meaning, I will give thee an experience of my own as an illustration.
“Thy father gave me a set of pearls for a wedding gift. All my friends both in and out of Friends Society said it was a beautiful and appropriate gift. I thought so too. Their gentle lustre pleased me. They were in harmony with my silver-gray gown. We went to Paris for our wedding trip. One day we visited the famous oyster markets and parks which provide such a bountiful food supply for the sustenance of the human race.