The Friendly Persuation Author:Jessamyn West This is a heart-warming sotry of the Birdwell family Indiana, a Quaker family whose piety is matched by its relish in life, and whose lives are touched by rare wisdom and gaiety as well as tension adn suspense. All of the Bridwells, Jess, Eliza and their brood of six , lived according to the ways of William Penn, but there were many times when ... more »their human nature could not be denied. Jess Birdwell, nurseryman, loved good, fast horses as much as he loved people, trees, and peace. Eliza, his wife, was not only a Quaker but a minister, a rare mixture of femininity, temperament, and would-be austerity. Their sons' fiath undergoes its severest test when the Civil War breaks through the boundary of their land. And their youn daughter mattie is eager to take on the mantle of womanhood despite the lingering grasp of youth.« less