Forest Absalom

introduced as "a dark, melancholy man, clad in homespun, whose peculiar mission was to turn his name hind part before and use as few words as possible." (1569) This character represents Abraham Everett, better known as Abraham Wood though he also reversed his name and was known at Fruitlands as Wood Abram/Abraham. He is the most positively characterized of the marginal figures and is later described as having "preserved his Pythagorean silence, cultivated his fine dark locks, and worked like a beaver, setting an excellent example of brotherly love, justice, and fidelity by his upright life. He it was who helped overworked Sister Hope with her heavy washes, kneaded the endless succession of batches of bread, watched over the children, and did the many tasks left undone by the brethren, who were so busy discussing and defining great duties that they forgot to perform the small ones." (1570)