Mary Latham emails from Glasgow: 'Jennifer Kavanagh (Eye 7 July on the inadequacies of the English verb to live) should come to Scotland. Here we have live and stay corresponding to the French vivre and habiter. So "where do you stay?" is the polite conversation opener – and quite unambiguous.'

Before we finally close the chapter on Luke Howard, a little more information has reached us of another meteorologist John Dalton whose parents were Quakers. Dalton was born in 1766 and was known for his atomic theory and his particular interest in auroras. Donald S. Gill of Reading PM sent us Dalton’s details and also something of Thomas Young, another Quaker son, but his career in meteorology seems to have foundered. We are quite interested in a 20th century meteorologist called Lewis Fry Richardson. 'He was a Quaker who worked out the equations of motion of the atmosphere whilst serving with the FAU in the first world war' writes Donald. 'These form the basis of all modern forecasting using computers.'
We think our real fascination with Quaker scientists lies not so much in the finer detail of their observation as their unique philosophical questioning and perspectives.

Peter Elbra, who signed himself 'your sincere ex-Friend' has sent us the delightful story of a First Nation matriarch called Agnes Sutton who lived by the Skeena River in British Columbia. Agnes was a Quaker and a friend of Peter’s cousin Nadine.
'Although I am a lapsed Friend I still have an interest in the Society' says Peter 'and I thought this little bit of Quaker history might interest someone in the UK'.
Nadine was a journalist and wrote up her friendship with the remarkable Indian who reared 40 children (not her own!). She had been raised in sobriety and rather a lot of back-breaking work by a British missionary who appeared to believe he was a good Christian.
'Agnes epitomized all that is noble in humankind,' writes Nadine in her story 'she loved without reservation, she worked unendingly with or without reward, she laughed with her whole being, she thought profoundly and by the example of her lifestyle she gave unstintingly to her God and anyone in need.' A charitable dinner organised by the journalist gave Agnes, aged 89 at the time, her first experience of running water at home.
Eye is asking the editor if this story can be placed on our newly expanded website.

Staying with words, the Quaker writer Jennifer Kavanagh has talked to us about an anomaly in English which annoys her. We’ll let Jennifer explain -
'In French they have vivre and habiter; in German leben and wohnen. In English, an immensely rich language, we have suppressed the distinction. In current usage is only the verb to live. No distinction between being alive on the one hand and dwelling/abiding on the other, as if being alive depended on being contained within four walls.
'"Where do you live?": a mainstay of introductory conversation. But I live here and now, no matter where. Why do we define identity by an address, with all the deprivation that its absence implies? The vote, access to credit, public libraries.
I have an address therefore I am? I think not.'

Social status is not something we Quakers are concerned with of course, but Eye would like to share news of a project academics have undertaken at University College London to map surnames. This is part of a study which it is hoped will throw light on regional economic development and cultural identity. There is a website which can tell you something about your name – where it is most commonly found, and what social status is accorded to it. Who could resist such intriguing information!
Eye thought this a little bit of academic nonsense until we discovered that the poshest name on the block turns out to be Cadbury!
The UCL researchers say that they have made their calculations by cross-referencing postcodes from the electoral roll with educational attainment, employments levels, financial data and health statistics to arrive at average status for each name.
The lead researcher Paul Longley says that while some may feel the results are not true of their family, the results do tend to be true in aggregate. ‘People may have anecdotal evidence about their family doing well, but the family line can still have done badly,’ he says.
Eye was amused to see among the blog-responses to this story on the BBC web magazine, one from possibly a Quaker explaining the Cadbury connections –‘it is beyond ironic that Cadburys should now be deemed top of the social pile by academics!’
For those of you who can’t resist, here is the weblink!
www.spatial-literacy.org

Eye is feeling a bit evangelical about promoting Quaker literature. By this we mean encouraging those Friends who may be harbouring skills of artistic communication. Our recent short story competition, and the editor’s series of transforming poetry, are but two examples of what we mean. Now a reader has suggested that there should be a Friends Writers Group.
Ian Prior, who is actually Greek Orthodox but an occasional attender at Meeting, was impressed with the piece in The Friend by the poet Herbert Lomas (26 May). He tells Eye ‘I am trying to write whilst having to teach full time, and thought it would be helpful to be in touch with some like-minded people trying to do the same thing.’ Ian’s novel is a third finished but halted by marking exam papers. ‘I’d certainly like to explore the idea of a group,’ he says enthusiastically.
Ian will be outlining his ideas for us soon – scribblers take note.