"Sanding in the light of the tallow dip" - A Moravian Quote

History, to be really true, needs to take account of many things. My field has been limited, but I have lived with the

men of Wachovia in its Colonial and Revolutionary days (I sometimes really do feel as though I knew them personally!), and I have come to see that the first thing is not to judge men or actions by the standard of today, but to mentally stand in their shoes and see things as they saw them, not to call this or that right or wrong according to our judgment, but according to the light and the standard that they had when they had to face the circumstances of their lives.

So many would-be historians fail in this respect. They judge by their own standards, not by the light of the tallow dip! Or they draw their conclusions first and then start out to find history to prove them right.

— Adelaide Lisetta Fries
Archivist of the Moravian Church, 1911-49