{"id":3007,"date":"2022-05-19T17:15:15","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T16:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/?page_id=3007"},"modified":"2022-05-31T19:20:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T18:20:34","slug":"the-children-of-reading-quaker-meeting","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/june-2022\/the-children-of-reading-quaker-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"The Children of Reading Quaker Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jean Moir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Poet’s Note: In 1662 the children \u201ckept the meeting\u201d while all the adults were in prison. The individuals in this poem are imagined.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Dimity fidgeted, Dimity squirmed,
\nDimity sighed with unease.
\nThe Elders frowned and signalled her,
\nShe should not break the peace.<\/p>\n

We children find it hard indeed
\nTo sit in calm and ease,
\nYet sometimes like a sunshine shaft
\nWe felt deep Quaker peace.<\/p>\n

A loud knocking. John Bold stood up,
\nAnd opened wide: \u201cFriends, please,
\nCome ye all in, and sit ye down,
\nAnd taste our Quaker peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no, John Bold, we come for thee,
\nTo prison with all these
\nWho gather here to plot and plan
\nTo break the Royal peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, friends, we\u2019ll go along with thee,
\nAnd quickly \u2013 but please,
\nSpare ye the children, let them be,
\nAnd do not break their peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then young Timmy Bold came round:
\n\u201cFriends, Meeting shall not cease.
\nCome children, meet on First Day next
\nAnd keep the Quaker peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so to Meeting House we came
\nAnd sat there at our ease.
\nNot quite so quiet as was wont,
\nBut still a sense of peace.<\/p>\n

But six weeks later came the knock:
\n\u201cWe come for all of these
\nOf twelve or over, save this young girl
\nTo keep the babes at peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so I cared both night and day
\nWithout a moment\u2019s ease.
\nBut to the meeting house we went
\nAnd kept a kind of peace.<\/p>\n

Dimity fidgeted, Dimity squirmed,
\nRidden with gaol disease
\nThe Elders frowned and shook their heads
\nAnd held her in the peace.<\/p>\n

A knock upon the prison door.
\n\u201cThe King grants you release.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are all here, friend, but our child.
\nShe found eternal peace\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo by SL Granum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n\n\n\n
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Back to June 2022 Newsletter Main Page<\/a><\/p>\n

Forty-Three<\/em> Newsletter \u2022 Number 518 \u2022 June 2022
\n<\/strong>Oxford Friends Meeting
\n43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW<\/p>\n

newsletter@oxfordquakers.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2022, Oxford Quakers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jean Moir Poet’s Note: In 1662 the children \u201ckept the meeting\u201d while all the adults were in prison. The individuals in this poem are imagined. Dimity fidgeted, Dimity squirmed, Dimity sighed with unease. The Elders frowned and signalled her, She should not break the peace. We children find it hard indeed To sit in calm … Continue reading The Children of Reading Quaker Meeting<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"parent":3001,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3007","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3007"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3130,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3007\/revisions\/3130"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}