AWAKENING.
In the history of oppressed nations, it has often happened that
years of suffering have but kindled the desire for freedom and kept
it alive, fanned by every fresh act of cruelty and injustice, until,
at last, it has burst forth in a fire, which has destroyed the wrong,
illuminated the right, and the oppressed people have gone free.
In individual lives, there are not wanting those who have come
through the white heat of affliction, purified and made free from the
bitterness and selfishness of earth and crowned with a noble purpose--
to relieve the sufferings of others, to be, in a sense, God's voice,
God's messenger to the helpless, and to be in His hands for the
deliverance of the oppressed and enslaved. So in this temperance
cause. For years women had asked, as Paul had asked, "Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do?" and it had seemed that the answer came only in
the closer pressing to their lips of the cup of suffering. As they
still pleaded, spreading the white wings of prayer over their dear
ones, suddenly there came to them the inspiration, which led to the
crusade, an inspiration from the heart of God.
In years past, indications had not been wanting of some such
possible uprising, as drops precede the full shower, for, in 1856, at
Rockport, Mass., some 200 women had assembled and, proceeding to
several places where intoxicating liquor was sold, had entered and
destroyed the liquor they found. That was an impulse born of
suffering, and finding expression in action impulsive and unusual;
but, not being followed up by organization, it soon ended. In 1869,
in Rutland, Vt., and at Clyde, Ohio, the women organized to suppress
the liquor traffic, visiting saloons, securing pledges, holding
prayer meetings, etc., but the great movement, which has given to
woman new power in this temperance work, and opened up to her new
avenues of usefulness, so long closed, is known as the Woman's
Crusade. It began about the same time in three different places in
the month of December, 1873, Fredonia, N. Y., Hillsboro, Ohio, and
Washington Court House, Ohio, were the first scenes of action. There
the first contests were waged and the first victories won. Timid
Christian women, who had never heard their own voices in public
prayer, were suddenly called to the front and a message given them of
God. Dr. Dio Lewis visited Hillsboro in December, 1873, and there
gave two lectures, one of them a lecture on temperance, in which he
referred to his mother's struggles as a drunkard's wife, doing her
best to support her family, and finally, with a few other praying
women, visiting the saloon-keeper who sold liquor to her husband, and
pleading with him to give up his business, with which request he, at
last, complied. At the close of the lecture, Dr. Lewis called upon
all, who were willing to follow his mother's example, to rise, an
invitation to which about fifty ladies responded. Many gentlemen in
the audience promised to stand by them. A meeting was held the
following morning in the Presbyterian church, at which Mrs. Judge
Thomson was chosen leader. After much prayer and consultation, the
ladies started out in procession, seventy-five in number, and
proceeded, singing the familiar hymn, "Give to the winds thy fears,"
first to the drug stores, and then to the hotels and saloons, which
they fearlessly entered, asking permission to sing and pray. In
nearly every case, the permission was given during that first day,
and a few saloon-keepers yielded to the entreaties of these earnest
Christian women, and promised to give up selling liquor. As the days
went by, the thirteen drinking places of the town were reduced to
three, while in Washington Court House, Ohio, in one week, yielding
to the persistent appeals of the "praying women," all the drinking
places were closed, the three drug stores selling only on
prescription. Here, while the ladies went in bands from place to
place, meeting often with insult and abuse now that the saloon-keepers
had recovered from their first surprise, the gentlemen remained in the
church to pray. As the fresh toll of the bell announced that another
prayer had ascended to heaven in their behalf and for their success
and protection, these women were encouraged and became strong to do
all that they felt had been committed to them. After a time their
approach to a saloon or hotel was the signal for the doors to be
locked and entrance was denied them. Then, outside, on the public
pavement, in the snow of a bitterly cold December, they knelt and
prayed for the saloon-keeper and his family, that he might see his
error and be persuaded to do right, for those who were in the habit of
frequenting that saloon, and for the downfall of the liquor traffic.
It was not very long before the liquor-sellers found that prayer, even
outside their premises and outside of locked doors, was having its
effect, and in order to put a stop to it, they lodged complaints
against the women, the burden of which was that they were obstructing
the highway and interrupting business. Off the sidewalks, therefore,
the women went, and in deeper snows, and with more dauntless faith,
prayed on, singing, occasionally, a song of praise and thanksgiving.
To a few cities belongs the disgrace of imprisoning some of these
noble Christian women, yet in all this, "a form like unto the Son of
Man" was with them, and the unseen presence was their stay. They were
soon released, however, and found that the news of their arrest and
imprisonment had only increased the interest of all and the anxiety
of many concerning this work. Requests for assistance came from other
cities and States, to which the ladies of Hillsboro and other places
responded, till in almost all of the Northern States there was a
common crusade against the liquor traffic. For about six months this
remarkable movement lasted, meeting with varied success and closing
saloons and bars of hotels in 250 towns and villages.