thered by herself and
children in seasons of relaxation, and transferred from the coppices,
hedgerows and meadows, to the grounds, which appeared to her to be only
second in beauty to Earlham. Mrs. Fry was possessed of a keen eye for
Nature's beauties. Quick to perceive, and eager to relish the delights
of the fair world around, she took pleasure in them, finding relaxation
from the many duties which clustered about her in the spot of earth on
which her lot was cast. Her journal tells of trials and burdens, and
sometimes there peeps out a sentence of regret that the ideal which she
had formed of serving God, in the lost years of youth, had been absorbed
in "the duties of a careworn wife and mother." Yet what she fancied she
had lost in this waiting-time had been gained, after all, in
preparation. This quiet, domestic life was not what she had looked
forward to when in the first flush of youthful zeal. Still, she was
thereby trained to deal with the young and helpless, to enter into
sorrows and woes, and to understand and sympathize with quiet suffering.
But the time was coming for more active outward service, and when the
call came Elizabeth Fry was found ready to obey it.

Towards the end of 1809 her father died, after great suffering; summoned
by one of her sisters, Elizabeth hurried down to Earlham to catch, if
possible, his parting benediction. She succeeded in arriving soon enough
to bear her much-loved parent company during his last few hours of life,
and to hear him express, again and again, his confidence in the Saviour,
who, in death, was all-sufficient for his needs. As he passed away, her
faith and confidence could not forbear expression, and, kneeling at the
bedside, she gave utterance to words of thanksgiving for the safe and
happy ending of a life which had been so dear to her. The truth was, a
burden had been weighing her down for some time past, causing her to
question herself most seriously as to whether she were willing to obey
"the inward voice" which prompted her to serve God in a certain way.
This specific way was the way of preaching in Meeting, or "bearing
testimony," as she phrased it, "at the prompting of the Holy Spirit." It
will be remembered that this is a distinguishing peculiarity of the
society which George Fox founded. Preaching is only permitted upon the
spur of the moment, as people of the world would say, but at the
prompting of the inward voice, as Quakers deem. Certainly no one ever