To the Editor:

About 200 years ago, my denomination, the Religious Society of Friends (better known as the Quakers), built a meeting house (we use this term rather than "church") at Fourth and Arch streets in Philadelphia. The building is getting to be a problem, the roof leaks and the windows rattle, so we have been looking for a better building to use as a meeting house.

We have located a suitable building a couple of blocks away at Sixth and Chestnut streets. It is somewhat older than our present building, but at least the roof doesn't leak. That may be because, for years, it has been maintained by the U.S. Park Service, which does pretty good maintenance.

We are writing up new legislation to push through Congress to force the Park Service to sell us this building. We have already gotten several Quaker members of Congress to co-sponsor our bill.

When we get the building, we may make a few changes. We will remove the portrait of Benjamin Franklin from the wall and store it in the attic. We never did quite get along with him. After all, we Quakers had been in Philadelphia for about a century before Ben blew into town and started publishing his rag, "Poor Richard's Almanac."

So we will probably replace that portrait with one of William Penn, a Quaker who, after all, founded not only Philadelphia but also Pennsylvania.

Lots of tourists always keep flocking in to see this old building. We are assuring everyone that we will allow them to come through the building during times we are not using it. We will, of course, require them to wipe their feet and behave courteously; after all, this will be a place of worship.

Also, we will be renaming the building, so, henceforth, it will be called the Chestnut Street Meeting House instead of Independence Hall.

WILLIAM YOUNG, Medicine Bow
May 8, 2002