Yearly Meeting

“ According to a minute of the advice of the Last Yearly Meeting concerning the settling of schools in the country, it is agreed for the encouragement thereof that the several and respective clerks of the monthly meetings belonging to this quarterly meeting do inquire and bring in a true report of all legacies, donations or estates which have been heretofore given to their respective meetings and of the uses to which the moneys arising therefrom are applied, and bring the account thereof to our next meeting. ”

“ In addition to these yearly meetings, which draw together people from a distance, there are monthly meetings which are held either in the high school buildings, or in the village assembly buildings, or in the halls connected with the village gymnasiums. ”

“ Where the meetings are only quarterly or annual, the society should be properly represented at each meeting, and their best interests are subserved by following the practice of Congress, and letting the effect of the reconsideration terminate with the session. ”

“ The local circle keeps warm and vigorous through the year the spirit of the summer assemblies. Indeed, to the local circles we believe we are indebted for much of the enthusiasm of the summer meetings. Their students garner rich harvests of thought and feeling in the long months of study, and the assemblies are but the meeting places to compare work, rest weary brains, gather fresh zeal and plan new undertakings. They are becoming necessary elements in the work. Students are feeling we must have an assembly. ”

“ In the case of a permanent society, having regular meetings every week, month, or year, for example, each meeting constitutes a separate session of the society, which session however can be prolonged by adjourning to another day. ”

“ So it quickly came about that if nothing was announced for a given meeting little or nothing was offered, and the council was thus compelled to provide a stated program for each meeting, which contributed to cut out the last remnant of spontaneity in offering the many small things which go to make up the daily life of the teacher, investigator or reader, and which, fresh from his own life, are of greatest interest to his associates. ”

“ But the meetings are only one feature of the work. We stop along the way and search out all the leading men in each voting precinct, and secure the names of those who will work on election day. We do more talking out of meeting than in. ”

“ Many members regret the transfer of the annual meeting of the association from the summer to the winter. It is certainly true that the large meetings in a city are likely to sacrifice the social pleasures to business efficiency and to neglect one of the main objects of the association—the diffusion of science. ”

“ We provide for an annual meeting to be held in the month of January in each year, the day and place to be determined by the Society in general meeting, or by the Executive Council in case the Society fails to do so. Special meetings of the Society may be called at any time by the Executive Council. A quorum for the transaction of business at all meetings of the Society is fixed at thirty-five, instead of ten, as at present. ”

“ In meetings consisting of a half dozen or more people, it has been found advisable to have, in addition to a chairman and a secretary, more rules and more formality than in a meeting of three or four persons. ”

“ ARRANGEMENTS FOR OUR ANNUAL MEETING.
A partial and tentative programme of our Annual Meeting has been prepared. Times are provided for open discussion or the "free parliament." But it is deemed necessary to secure some able writers and speakers to prepare reports and deliver addresses on special and important topics.
We are happy to announce that at this writing a number such have promised attendance. ”

“ Every one of the 3,000,000 meetings held annually, even in this country, depends upon the voluntary giving up of the time and effort of working-men and women who have in most cases to hurry from work to home, and from home to meeting-place, after a hard day's labour. ”

“ For the poor, orphans, orderly walking, integrity to their profession, births, marriages, burials, sufferings, &c. And that these monthly meetings should, in each county, make up one quarterly meeting, where the most zealous and eminent friends of the county should assemble to communicate, advise, and help one another, especially when any business seemed difficult, or a monthly meeting was tender of determining a matter. ”

“ Business in Meetings Designed for Other Purposes. In many societies there is practically no business transacted except at the annual meeting when the reports for the year are received and acted upon, officers are elected, and committees appointed, etc. Other societies find it convenient also to have regular business meetings quarterly, or even monthly, these meetings frequently being in connection with, and at the close of, the regular literary, musical, scientific, social, or religious meeting. These business meetings are under the rules of deliberative assemblies. ”

“ She is in touch with, has, as we have seen, her stake and her responsibility in regard to every single activity of the meeting of which she is a member. Through every meeting and through every home, moreover, there is the cleansing and ventilating ebb and flow of the life of the whole society, and this not merely by means of the circulation of matter relating to the deliberations and the work of the society, but also in the form of personal contact. ”

“ The meeting was very orderly conducted, and the business managed in much harmony and condescension. The public meetings have been very large, favoured seasons, and all the meetings we have attended in our passing along have been generally very large. Seldom any houses were found large enough to contain the people. Often hundreds were under the necessity of standing out doors. Many of the people without came a great way to be at our meeting. ”

“ The place of meeting, and rules of the society, shall be established, revoked or altered, and new members admitted, at any of the stated meetings, by a majority of the attending members, if they be a majority of those present, not being less than one-fourth of the whole. ”

“ When I had got the pledge from him I told the people that Thursday’s meeting would only be a prayer meeting. But after this some of the people went to him and he turned round again, and said it was a business meeting. I know that he said no business should be done at that meeting, and afterwards said it should be a business meeting. I then saw that this was a deep and cunning plan laid to divide the best people that ever lived. ”

“ This audience characteristic of small open-air meetings, also quite mixed, from labourers on their Sunday lounge to 'respectable' people coming from church: the latter inclined to grin: the working men listening attentively trying to understand, but mostly failing to do so: a fair cheer when I ended, of course led by the three or four Branch members present....
"Feb. 12th. I have been on League business every night this week till to-night" (Saturday) . "Monday the Council meeting peaceable enough, and dull.... ”

“ They make provision for their poor, none of whom are ever known to require parochial relief. At the monthly meetings also marriages are sanctioned. Monthly meetings being limited to a certain circuit, several monthly meetings compose a quarterly meeting, at which general reports are given and appeals heard. ”

“ The old chairman will retain his seat until the new one is elected. When it is intended to have performances of different kinds, as essays, orations, debates, etc., it is well to appoint a committee to draw up a regular order in which these will be called for. The society being now organized, may proceed to business, or fix the time for next meeting and adjourn.
WARD, DISTRICT, OR TOWNSHIP MEETINGS. When one or more persons desire to call a meeting for any purpose, there is often great confusion and uncertainty as to the mode of procedure. ”

“ The subject spread and led to communication, in which the people were invited to acquaint themselves [Pg 325] with God, and be at peace with him by doing his will, and not our own, whereby good would come unto us; hence we should please one another to our mutual edification and comfort.
On fifth day our monthly meeting was held. It was a season of exercise, occasioned by a case of difficulty being improperly introduced into the meeting. ”

“ A monthly meeting is usually composed of several particular congregations, situated within a convenient distance from each other. Its business is to provide for the subsistence of the poor, (for they maintain their own poor,) and for the education of their offspring ”

“ Now concerning those that do go to the Quarterly Meeting as representatives, they must be substantial friends that can give a testimony of your sufferings and how things are amongst you in every particular meeting. ”

“ When the question is somewhat of a burning one, and the meeting begins to grow warm, all speak at once, and none listen. On these occasions the assembly breaks up into groups, each of which discusses the subject on its own account. ”

“ Romer. The Social Meeting is an old institution of this village; and though it is not exactly a church affair, I believe it is almost entirely frequented by church-goers. I have always felt that it served an invaluable purpose in this place. It is indeed the only occasion when priest and people can meet on equal terms and discuss these great questions man to man. No—no, Lickwit, I cannot for a moment consent to the closing of the Social Meeting. ”

“ The Town Meeting, in form, is a group of men and women who are organized to discuss such measures as would be introduced into a real town meeting, a city council or a state legislature, to relieve social ills. The ordinance or bill, as the case may be, is not a mere declaration of a theory, but a definite programme for carrying some theory of betterment into action. ”

“ Spent this week mostly in the busy round of outward cares, in my temporal concerns; except attending our monthly meeting on fifth day, and our select meeting for Ministers and Elders on sixth day. In both of these my mind was exercised on account of the apparent languor respecting the right management and want of firmness in the execution of our discipline, even in Ministers and Elders; by which reason the society were very much enveloped in a state of weakness. ”

“ Every man that belongs to these quorums should be on hand at the time appointed, and not say, "I will work to the last minute, before I start for the meeting." Take time, prepare yourselves, be at the place of gathering promptly, to the minute, that you may hear the first word, then you will hear every word that is spoken and every counsel that is given. ”

“ The advantages of a weekly meeting for conversation might be great enough to repay attendance, if they consisted only in supplying a point of union to well-educated and thinking women, in a city which, with great pretensions to mental refinement, boasts at present nothing of the kind ”

“ We had a very interesting and solemn meeting; truth appeared to gain the victory, and reigned over all. On first day I attended Friends’ meetings for the Western District, both in the forenoon and afternoon. They were very large; and I had a full opportunity in the morning of clearing myself among them. We had a precious, powerful meeting; and among the divers states addressed, the slave-holders were peculiarly the objects of my exercise and concern. ”

“ Our Annual Meeting in the Broadway Church, Norwich, awakened, in the minds of many, encouraging comparison with the Anniversary of this Association held in the same place 19 years ago. It was in the fall of 1861. Our country was just settling into the heavy tug of war. And yet one of the headings of the Annual Report was: “Enlargement demanded.” See how God has fulfilled that aspiration in the enlargement of our finances, of our constituency, of our field, of our work. ”

“ Three gradations of meetings or synods,—monthly, quarterly, and yearly, administer the affairs of the Society, including in their supervision matters both of spiritual discipline and secular polity. The MONTHLY MEETINGS, composed of all the congregations within a definite circuit, judge of the fitness of new candidates for membership, supply certificates to such as move to other districts, choose fit persons to be Elders to watch over the ministry, attempt the reformation or pronounce the expulsion of all such as walk disorderly, and generally seek to stimulate their members to religious duty. ”