of wishes unfelt, sheer deceptions. She never invited a visit or
call not desired. If she said, "Stay longer," the words voiced a
wish felt. She could not be brought under bondage to any usage or
custom, any party watch-word, or shibboleth of a speculative
creed, or any mode of dress or address. In Charleston, she was
exact in her Quaker costume, because, to the last punctilio, it
was an anti-slavery document; and for that she would gladly make
any sacrifice of personal comfort. But, among the "Friends" in
Philadelphia, she would not wear an article of dress which caused
her physical inconvenience, though it might be dictated by the
universal usage of "Friends." Upon first exchanging the warmth of
a Carolina winter for the zero of a Northern one, she found the
"regulation" bonnet of the "Friends" a very slight protection
from the cold. So she ordered one made of fur, large enough to
protect both head and face. For this departure from usage, she
was admonished, "It was a grief to 'Friends,'" "It looked like
pride and self-will," "It was an evil example," etc. While
adhering strictly to the principles of "Friends," neither she nor
her sister Sarah could conform to all their distinctive usages,
nor accept all their rules. Consequently, their examples were
regarded as quiet protests against some of the settled customs of
the Society. Such they felt bound to make them in word and act.
Thus they protested against the negro-seat in their
meeting-house, by making it their seat. They also felt
constrained to testify against a rule requiring that no Friend
should publish a book without the sanction of the "Meeting for
Sufferings"; so, also, the rule that any one who should marry out
of the Society should, unless penitent, be disowned.
Consequently, when Angelina thus married, she was disowned, as
was Sarah for sanctioning the marriage by her presence. The
committee who "dealt" with them for those violations of the rule,
said that if they would "express regret," they would relieve the
meeting from the painful necessity of disowning them. The sisters
replied that, feeling no regret, they could express none; adding
that, as they had always openly declared their disapproval of the
rule, they could neither regret their violation of it, nor
neglect so fit