I had Quaker relatives through the marriage of a
connection of my mother, and the original of Benn Claridge, the uncle of
David, is still alive, a very old man, who in my boyhood days wore the
broad brim and the straight preacher-like coat of the old-fashioned
Quaker. The grandmother of my wife was also a Quaker, and used the "thee"
and "thou" until the day of her death.
Here let me say that criticism came to me from several quarters both in
England and America on the use of these words thee and thou, and
statements were made that the kind of speech which I put into David
Claridge's mouth was not Quaker speech. For instance, they would not have
it that a Quaker would say, "Thee will go with me"--as though they were
ashamed of the sweet inaccuracy of the objective pronoun being used in
the nominative; but hundreds of times I have myself heard Quakers use
"thee" in just such a way in England and America. The facts are, however,
that Quakers differ extensively in their habits, and there grew up in
England among the Quakers in certain districts a sense of shame for false
grammar which, to say the least, was very childish.
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