"Hat-honour" disappeared fairly early, as the removal of one's hat gradually became recognised more as a matter of courtesy than of deference. The rigid adherence in the l8th century to a particular form of "plain dress" (e.g. no lapels or buttons) did not survive the l9th.
Only the "plain speech", noticeably the use of 'thee' and 'thou' and of numbers for the days of the week and for the months continued into the present century. The use of 'thee/thou' was not unusual during the first half of this century among Friends who had been brought up in Friend families (then termed "birthright Friends") but was little used in public. The use of day and month numbers became largely confined to formal Minutes and announcements.
The idea of ‘birthright friends’ or ‘friend families’ is quite an unusual thing for you and me, but basically these terms mean that family members such as cousins, brothers and sisters are legally aloud to engage in sexual contact, and form close net families. This still happens in some Quaker communities today. Although its not rarely mentioned because in some communities its frowned upon.
Over the holidays I went to Florida and where as Florida is such a big state I noticed that a lot of the citizens there were Quakers. Like I said they are very easily recognised by their plain dress but yet another feature caught my eye. The men and boys in this family all had the same auburn coloured hair, which was very scraggy and untidy. The women and girls in the family had got head dresses on, which looked almost like the old Women’s Pagan hats. A small bonnet over the head, which was wrapped under the chin and was tided into a bow.
Quakers are not just a group that have singled them selves out from everyone else because they don’t like other Christians; they single them selves out because of reason. They feel that the Churches over the centuries have led people right away from the real aims of Christianity, and get bogged down with traditions and ritual and power politics.
Quakers try to lead a life of simplicity and truthfully ness, following Jesus' example more closely. So there's no doubt that Quakerism is rooted in Christianity, and many Quakers, centre their faith on Jesus.
On the other hand, some Quakers find that traditional religious language doesn't describe their inner experiences, and they look both within Christianity and beyond. The Society appears very different from any other Christian group, without the usual priests, services, creeds and church buildings.
