to
bring some guests from a train to a certain house, spent half an hour
after meeting the guests in conversation with them in the railway
station before mentioning his errand; and would have made it an hour had
they not inquired of him for a conveyance. Yet a neighbor of his, in the
same social group, closely related, has unusual capacity for affairs.

The instincts of the people of the Hill are not, I think, so varied.
They involuntarily respect religion, when expressed with sincerity, and
incarnated in strength of character. It must have the authority,
however, of strength, at least passive strength, to appeal to local
instinct.

[35] In 1905-7 six Swedes and Poles also have come, as laborers.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.

The members of the community have organized themselves into associations
for the carrying on of special forms of activity to a degree which is
worthy of record. As one might expect, the societies of most vigor are
those maintained by the women, since the men have never been able
spontaneously to organize, or to maintain, any society on the Hill.

Central to all this organization, through the period of the Mixed
Community, has been Akin Hall Association, created by one man, and
endowed by him. Under its shelter a church and library live, and a
yearly Conference is maintained for five days in the month of September.
In this chapter we will consider first the incorporated, then the
unincorporated societies.

The chief incorporated institution on Quaker Hill is Akin Hall
Association, founded in 1880 by Albert J. Akin. It was his intention to
create an institution of the broadest purpose, through which could be
carried on activities of a religious, literary, educational, benevolent
and generally helpful order. "Albert Akin endowed," said a visitor, "not
a college or a hospital, but a community!" The charter of the
Association, which was from time to time, on advice, amended, up to the
time of Mr. Akin's death in 1903, provided for the most catholic
endowment of Quaker Hill, in every possible need of its population.

The particular directions in which this endowment has been used are two.
A library and a church are in active use by the neighborhood, the former
since 1883, and the latter since 1895, of which I will speak in detail
hereafter.

Akin Hall Association is a corporation consisting of five trustees, a
self-perpetuating body, and eleven other "members." The number