Z699/192

Samuel May to Edward Harris Strange 22 May 1840 Kennington sixth day morning Dear Edward As thou wished to be informed of the proceedings of the meeting I will endeavour to give thee an outline of what has been done, the first meeting was occupied with calling out the representatives, by S.Grubb's visit, &c.- directing them to choose a Clerk & Assistant, the same as last year was concluded upon, & on sitting down in the afternoon the Epistles were taken up & most of them read - several of them particularly interesting, after they were gone through they were committed & the answers to queries was the next business & these were finished last evening - so that the business is quite as forward as usual, the answers to the queries claimed much attention & many pertinent remarks were made upon them, particularly on the acknowledged deficiency in keeping to the plain language, dress &c &c. W.Foster was engaged a long time on this subject in a weighty manner, pressing upon parents & heads of families to do their duty in these respects by earnestly endeavouring to convince their young people of the loss sustained by such deviations, he believed much responsibility rested on heads of families & that it behoves them to watch narrowly the conduct of our children & Youth & to be especially careful ourselves not to set them a bad example. I fear we have scarcely done our duty in allowing such departure from the plain language without further remonstrance, the example being likely to lead the young I fear we have scarcely done our duty in allowing such departure from the plain language without further remonstrance, the example being likely to lead the young into the same practice. into the same practice. S.Grubb in her communication was engaged to press friends to come out of the mixture, & she believed that unless we did that we should yet have a time of trial & perplexity to pass through, but if we upheld our testimonies that she believed there would be a survival amongst us, she was also very close on our rich friends, & believed there were those in the former ranks who was still much in the mixture.- Our sittings hitherto have been remarkably solemn & the business conducted in great condescension, nor anything of a contrary disposition has appear'd, the numbers are not so great as I have seen, but the womens quite as large, many friends have certificates but I do not hear of any coming our way.- I suppose thy mother told you all the news of the other side of the house & perhaps much of what I have related - I have attended to the orders sent & if thou dost not approve the shawls &c from Hansons they had better be returned soon.- I have looked out some 3/4 prints & calico's the latter are not what I liked but they came the nearest to thy order.- I suppose our gardens want me & I suppose the grass must want mowing, Henry Brown would do it for a triffle [sic] and it had better not be left to get too long. I was sorry to hear the horse had a cough he had better have warm mashes perhaps, should think light work would not hurt him. I conclude the Bibles I order'd came to hand, S.Hobson should have five sent & D.Mac wanted some thou wilt let him know they are come - I have been favour'd to bear the long sittings remarkably well, until this morning when my bowels were affected & I have been obliged to resort to some medicine & hope I shall not be prevented attending the sitting this afternoon, we have had a favour'd meeting this morning at Gracechurch St - Cordelia Baize & many others {assisted} the former weightily both in Testimony & in Supplication - We have had no lengthy communications, but what we have had has been few words & savory the true evidence attending,- I find W.D.Crewdson has resigned his membership also his wife, I believe there is no appeal nor has any proposition been announced, so that I hope the Y.M. will be short, I hope to get the extract of the speeches at Exeter Hall of the Bible Society, if I get them today {and} send them thou wilt forward them to {Mentham} directly. {Were] we to expect either of our young men I would have wished them to have been present at our last sitting - It is now over meeting time I must therefore bid thee farewell & with dear love to P. & a kiss for M.E..- believe me Thy affectionate Father Samuel May [florid underline] Thy mother is not here or she would join in dear love. I have just opened the Basket, but do not find that thou hast put the quantity of Carpet that you will want for the Parlour, Francis recommends that the Horse should be taken good care of - he should have some warm mash & it would be an advantage to let him hold his head over a pail of hot watter [sic] throwing a sack over his head to confine the steam, but it should be narrowly watched that his nostrils do not get ulcerated - as that would be dangerous. I hope thou wilt let me have the dimensions of the Parlour. What hast thou done about I.Mann - May & Strange Postmark : L[?] in Maltese cross. Penny Black on letter. Ampthill 22MY22 E.H.S. Beds 1840

22 May 1840

From: 1840 To: 1840

No. of pieces: 1

paper

item

Strange, Edward Harris,
May, Samuel,
Grubb, S,
Foster, W,
Brown, Henry,
Hobson, S.,
Mac, David,
Crewdson, W.D.,
Strange, Mary Ellen,
May, Francis,
Mann, I.,
May & Strange

horses, clothing, religious practices, May & Strange, household decoration, Kennington