WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA.
During the Crusade in Ohio a deep interest was felt among the Christian
and temperance people of West Virginia for the success of the work.
Indeed, the sympathy and excitement was so great that the
liquor-dealers were alarmed lest the tidal wave that was so rapidly
overthrowing the traffic in Ohio should overwhelm them.
I visited the State at that time, and aided in the work. Mass-meetings
were being held, the women were deeply stirred, and Temperance was the
theme of conversation in every circle.
In Wheeling, especially, the enthusiasm of temperance people was very
great.
A wealthy gentleman, Mr. Hornbrooke, rented the Opera House, the
largest public hall in the place, and offered it, free of charge, to
the ladies, as long as they wished to use it. All classes attended
these temperance meetings, which were held twice a day. Dealers,
drinkers, and manufacturers were conspicuous in almost every gathering,
and those who spoke had the privilege of speaking face to face with
the men they desired to reach.
“There are no less than eight of our heaviest liquor-dealers in the
audience,” whispered one of the prominent ladies to me, just before the
meeting commenced.
“Notice that young man, standing by the pillar, with his hat in his
hand. He is the son of one of our heaviest distillers; he is anxious
that his father should get out of the business; he says it is becoming
so disreputable that he is ashamed to be known as the son of a
distiller,” was the passing comment of another lady.
There was great freedom of speech in these gatherings.
One evening I was speaking to an immense audience in the Opera House,
about the awful harvest of crime and pauperism, the liquor traffic
yielded annually, when I was startled by a man in the audience calling
out:
“If you don’t stop that kind of talk you will ruin my business.”
I promptly replied: “If you are in the liquor business, I hope I will.”
“No, I’m not in the liquor business; but I keep the jail--and the
success of the jail business depends mainly on that.”
The effect was electrical--the audience saw the point in a moment, and
cheered enthusiastically.
During the Crusade in Wheeling, among the saloon-keepers visited was
one Laramie, who kept in connection with his saloon, a variety theatre.
As soon as it was known that the women were going to visit the saloons,
Laramie invited them to begin their work at his saloon, and assured
them that they should be treated with respect, and that he would see
that they were not harmed.
They accepted his invitation, and a large company of ladies marched
from the church to his saloon. A great crowd followed them. The saloon
door was closed against them, for the dance was still going on, and
they could not admit respectable women to _such a dance_.
While the ladies stood outside, and the wild, devilish revelry went on,
they could plainly hear the dancing men and women, who were nude, at
the pauses in the mad whirl, slapping each other, and the rude, vulgar
crowd of men and boys cheering the indecent performances.
The ladies looked at each other in utter horror and amazement, for a
moment, and then all knelt on the pavement, and one of the number led
in earnest prayer.
After the prayer they sang, “Nearer, my God, to Thee.” While they were
singing, the dance closed, the saloon door opened, and Mr. Laramie
appeared to conduct them into the theatre. The stifling fumes of
tobacco and whiskey that met them as they entered made them feel that
they were near the brink of hell.
They were taken at once on to the stage, where the wild, hurdy-gurdy
dancers had so recently been, and facing the same vile audience, began
their meeting.
There was a great deal of noise and disorder at first, but as the
meeting progressed, the attention of the most degraded was gained, and
silence and respect were secured.
On the third day of the meetings in this theatre, Mr. Laramie, who
began to feel that they were interfering with his business, said: “Now,
ladies, I have heard your side, and treated you with respect. I want
you to stay and hear my side.” As they could but choose to hear, they
lifted their hearts in prayer that the Holy Spirit might take hold on
his heart.
He came forward with a document in his hand, which he read. It was full
of the most abusive and insulting statements. He advised the ladies to
go home and attend to their own business. The vulgar crowd cheered him
lustily. But the women were unmoved, for they felt that their business
just then was to close up that den of vice, and rescue the souls he was
dragging down to death.
The power of God took hold of the man, and he trembled so he could
hardly finish reading the paper. The moment his part of the performance
was over, one of the ladies went to him, and taking him by the hand,
said: “My brother, I have one request to make of you--I want you before
you sleep to-night to take that paper and get down on your knees and
ask God to forgive you for that false, insulting statement. You’ve got
to meet that paper in the judgment, if you do not meet it here. You
know you are in a bad business, and that you’re ruining souls. I beg
you, my brother, to give up this warfare against God and humanity.” The
man was so deeply moved that the tears streamed over his face, and he
promised her that he would seriously consider the matter.
This theatre became a regular meeting-place, and daily these pure, true
women, some of them of high social position and influence, preached
the gospel of the Son of God to the lost besotted men, who congregated
there, and won many of them as trophies of the cross.
When these meetings had been going on for some time, Miss Boyd and Miss
Humphryville called on Mr. Laramie to have a quiet personal talk. He
invited them down into the dining-room, and talked very freely with
them. He confessed that he was in a mean business, but he was in it
because of the money he could make.
“The Lord can take the money out of it, my brother. Besides, there are
things of more value than gold. Think of the value of an immortal soul;
for the little money you get, you are ruining scores and hundreds of
souls. Think of the young women you are degrading. How would you like
your daughters to be led into such a life? Remember, these girls are
daughters of fathers and mothers who loved them in the days of their
purity as much as you do yours.”
“I don’t want my children to come to such a life--I don’t allow them to
come to this place at all.”
He was deeply moved, and promised again to consider the matter, and
urged them to visit his wife.
The ladies asked the privilege of talking with the girls, and they were
shown into their apartment.
Only two of the girls were in, and the ladies sitting down beside them
engaged in personal conversation with each. They were beautiful, and
behaved themselves well in presence of these visitors.
The ears of the Christian women tingled, as they listened to the story
of folly and sin that had shadowed these two young lives.
One of the girls had been induced to run away from home when she was
little more than a child.
“Do your friends know where you are?”
“No; and I wouldn’t have my Christian mother know where I am, and what
I am doing, for the world.”
She revealed some of the horrors of the life she was living, the mock
marriages at each theatre, the mating of the men and women of the
troupe, the marrying and unmarrying at pleasure.
The women were horrified and amazed that such things could be done in
a land of Bibles and churches. Say not, gentle reader, that Wheeling
was a Gomorrah, and this place an exception. Every large city almost
in the land has its low dens where just such vile men and women, amid
the fumes of liquor and tobacco, corrupt the youth of the land by their
vile performances. And in some of these dens the girls are as much
prisoners as though they were in a penitentiary. Once in these dens
they can never get away.
A friend of mine went into one of the low dance-houses of New York
city. She managed to speak with one of the young girls:
“Why do you lead this awful life?”
“I can’t help it, I can’t get away from it.”
“Oh, yes, you can. There is the door. Can’t you walk right out?”
“No. Do you see that man beside the door? It’s his business to see to
it that none of the girls slip away.”
“But couldn’t you get out at some back door or window?”
“Every door and window is barred. There is no hope for us but in death.”
These prison dens, and the whole vile system of amusements connected
with them, find their chief stimulant in alcoholic drinks, and could
not exist without them.
But to return. The ladies went down to Laramie’s one day, to find the
house closed up. The burning eye of the public had been turned upon the
place, and villains who moved in respectable society didn’t like to be
seen going there; the patronage fell off, and Laramie was financially
ruined. God had taken the money out of it in answer to the women’s
prayers.
From Wheeling Laramie went to Cincinnati and opened the same kind of a
house, but the women’s prayers followed him, and the Crusade was raging
in Cincinnati, and in a very short time he became a bankrupt and closed.
From Cincinnati he went to Cleveland, attended the temperance meetings
led by women, signed the pledge, and resolved to lead a new life.
In course of time, he returned to Wheeling, joined the reformed club,
and made a public confession of his wrong-doing, and begged to be
forgiven. He said the prayers of the Christian women offered in his
theatre had followed him, and been constantly ringing in his soul,
and he desired to lead a better life. He offered his large hall, over
his temperance restaurant, free of charge to the ladies, for their
meetings, and he has remained steadfast to his purpose to lead a better
life.
A saloon-keeper of Wheeling, named Savegaut, invited the ladies to hold
a meeting in his saloon. The band, in their rounds among the saloons,
entered his place. They were graciously received, and chairs were
brought for their accommodation. The crowd of drinking men maintained
quiet during the religious services. The ladies sang, prayed, and
talked kindly to the men, telling them of the power of Christ to save,
and the joys of a Christian life. When they were about to leave the
saloon, Savegaut said:
“Now, ladies, I’ve listened to you; you must listen to me--you can’t
leave here till I’m through.”
The roughs, who had been previously instructed, immediately crowded in
between them and the door, so that escape would have been impossible,
if an attempt had been made; but no attempt was made. They all sat
serene and self-possessed amid the disgraceful scenes that followed.
Savegaut mounted the counter, where he was accustomed to deal out
drink, and heaped upon the ladies such a tirade of abuse as none but
those who have the poison of asps under their tongues could find
language to express:
One lady who was present says:
“He literally exploded, and it was as if a putrid carrion had bursted
and poured out a mass of corruption.”
Immediately there was a row--fights, knock-downs, wounds and bruises,
and one broken nose, and one broken finger. The police rushed in and
cleared the way with their clubs, and delivered the ladies. They were
unharmed and unterrified, and a peace that passeth understanding filled
their hearts.
Such treatment of respectable women, by any other man than a
liquor-dealer, would have been visited by an indignant public with
sudden vengeance, and the man would have been glad to have escaped with
his life. But liquor-dealers seem to have the privilege to commit all
kinds of enormities without reproof.
That man was not even censured, but has gone on from that day to this,
by the authority of the city, in his business of criminal-making.
Oh, chivalry, where art thou?
One of the wards of Wheeling was free from saloons, and the women were
determined to keep it clean. In the midst of their fancied security,
however, they learned that application had been made for license,
and the applicant had received such positive assurance from the city
council that license would be granted, that he had rented a building at
heavy cost, and was preparing to open a saloon.
The council was to meet in two days. There was no time to be lost.
The women got out a remonstrance at once, and, the men of the ward
assisting them, every family was visited, and the name of every man and
woman solicited. And out of a population of 3,000 over 2,200 signed the
remonstrance.
When the council met it was presented, and in the presence of such
strong, decided action the council did not dare to grant the license
they had promised. So the saloon man was left with a heavy rent to pay,
without hope of returns.
The battle goes on with varying success.
The women were somewhat diverted from their own legitimate work,
however, by an attempt, on the part of the temperance men, to organize.
They wanted the women to aid them in this. But, as it usually is in
such cases, the men assumed the management, and took most of the
offices, and nothing was done. So the women were left to gather up
their wasted energies, and form their own plans and manage their own
work, if the work was to go on.
CAPTAIN JACK AND TEMPERANCE.
I am indebted to Mrs. J. McK. Riley, for the following incident,
connected with the work in Wheeling, West Virginia, in the spring of
1877:
“There was a large meeting in the Opera House. Francis Murphy had
spoken and left for the train. How could the crowd be held and the
cause advanced?
“A prayer was breathed to God for help. Just then there was a stir--a
parting of the crowd, and a stalwart man in Indian costume came
forward, and, with a wild Indian war-whoop, that made the blood fairly
curdle in one’s veins, signed the pledge. Facing the audience, and
holding up the pen, he challenged ‘Buffalo Bill’ to do the same.
“‘Come on and sign, Bill: you know you ought to--you know you drink
more whiskey than is good for you--you and all your company ought to
come forward and sign this pledge.
“‘I don’t sign it because I drink--I never drank a drop in my life. My
mother died when I was only a little child, and she said to me just
before she died, ‘Little Jack, I want you to promise me that you will
never drink a drop of intoxicating drinks,’ and I promised her, and I
have kept sacred the promise I made to my mother.’”
Then turning to the audience he made a thrilling address, full of
original thought. The audience was electrified. Mrs. Riley talked
with him, urged him at once to abandon the stage, and give himself to
Christ and his work. He was almost persuaded, but he pleaded previous
engagements. He said that he was to pilot a company through the wilds
of the Rocky Mountains this summer, and then he would throw himself
into the temperance cause.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
I am indebted to Anna L. Davidson, Secretary of one of the local
societies, for the following facts:
January, 1874, two ladies, themselves sufferers by reason of
intemperance, requested the President of the Woman’s Christian
Association to hold meetings in the interest of temperance. She deeming
it advisable to make it more general, called the women of the various
churches to meet for prayer in the chapel of the Y. M. C. A., on
the first day of the week of prayer, January, 1874. This room being
too small, the meeting was removed to Wesley Chapel, where, from day
to-day, for two weeks, large and intensely interesting temperance
meetings were held, under the auspices of the Woman’s Christian
Association. Many special subjects of prayer were presented; a deep
feeling pervaded every meeting; the influence of the Holy Spirit was
manifest. On Sabbath afternoon a public meeting was held in Lincoln
Hall, Dio Lewis addressing a large audience. As now, the Christian mind
of Washington seemed thoroughly roused on the temperance question, a
representative meeting of ministers and members of the various churches
was held in the parlors of the Y. M. C. A. to organize for temperance
work. A resolution was adopted requesting the ministers of Washington
and Georgetown to appoint, each, three active women to represent the
different churches, forming a general committee, to conduct meetings
and attend to the business of a temperance union. This was carried out.
A meeting was also called in the Congregational Church to interest the
masses and perfect a general temperance organization. This was largely
attended, and after much discussion among the brethren the following
plan was proposed:
That the field be divided into five districts (embracing Georgetown),
in each of which a daily morning prayer-meeting should be conducted by
the women. A daily Union meeting in the afternoon, conducted in Central
district by various ministers in rotation. A weekly meeting in Central
district, representing the whole, at which reports from the different
districts should be presented and other business of the Union attended
to. This plan was afterward perfected, and successfully carried out
for many months. Great enthusiasm prevailed. The Union meetings were
largely attended and very interesting. Many ministers entered into the
work and took part in the exercises. Numerous requests for prayer were
sent to the women’s meetings held every morning in the five districts.
Very successful mass-meetings, presided over and conducted by women,
were held in various churches, which were crowded to their utmost
capacity.
Saloons were visited, in a quiet, unobtrusive manner, with some
success. I mention one marked case of rescue from one of these dens of
iniquity. Two of our women entering a saloon were shown into a back
room by the keeper “to hold a meeting,” he said. They were appalled by
the sight of a young man stretched upon a table dead-drunk; they fell
upon their knees and poured out heartfelt prayers for all under that
roof. Rising from their devotions they found the room filled with men
from the bar-room, the keeper standing among them. They had entered
so silently that the ladies were not aware of their presence. All
seemed deeply impressed. Coming front they perceived an old and very
respectable gentleman under the influence of liquor, a younger man
trying in vain to persuade him home. They joined their entreaties; he
finally consented to go if they would accompany him; they hesitated but
a moment, then each giving him an arm conveyed him to a sorrowful wife,
who met them at the door. They retired, with the promise of calling
next day. They did so; found him sick. On a subsequent visit he saw
them, expressed his gratitude and signed the pledge, which he kept. Two
others went into a saloon kept by a woman; she was extremely abusive,
ordered them out, would listen to nothing they had to say. On leaving,
one remarked: “_We_ cannot reach you, but _God can_.” “God cannot shut
me up,” was her reply. A few weeks afterwards, she was thrown from her
carriage near her own premises and instantly killed. One of the ladies
in passing that door found it closed, with crape on; an unfinished
building, that she was rearing as the fruit of her gains and to enlarge
her means of doing mischief, was also hung with mourning. A token of
_God’s visitation_.
Committees, also, waited upon grocers and druggists to reason with and
persuade them to desist from the unholy traffic.
In May a large public meeting was held in Lincoln Hall, addressed very
effectively by Thane Miller. As summer approached, the meetings became
smaller--“the love of many waxed cold.” Some of the ministers, who
at first took active part, withdrew their influence. The odium which
always attaches to any extraordinary effort for the salvation of men
(especially woman’s effort) operated upon many, even Christian minds,
and produced a great falling off in numbers. The Union meeting was
relinquished; finally the faithful few reorganized, and gathered weekly
for prayer, with the deep conviction, that the race is not to the swift
nor the battle to the strong; the word expressly declaring that God
hath chosen the weak things to confound the things that are mighty,
and things that are not to bring to nought things that are. Prayer,
earnest, persevering prayer, ascended week after week for special
cases presented, and for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this
city, in the salvation of the intemperate and in the overthrow of the
rum traffic. We were favored, in many instances, by hearing of marked
answers to prayer in special cases. Of the general effect, I cite one
or two remarkable instances:
During the week of prayer, January, 1875, a minister, who had been
opposed to the woman’s movement, spoke to a crowded audience in
Lincoln Hall on the effect of prayer, and said two young men of
former intemperate habits called upon him to converse on the subject
of their soul’s salvation. They had thrown away the cup and were
deeply impressed by hearing that a few women met weekly to pray for
the intemperate. Also, during the progress of the daily meetings, a
liquor-dealer called on a friend, and said he intended giving up the
sale of liquor. “Why,” said the other, “doesn’t it pay?” “Oh, yes,
it pays well enough, but how can I continue to sell when 300 women
are on their knees every day praying against the traffic!” What a
responsibility this one fact throws upon those who weary in the work,
as well as upon the whole Church!
During the sweeping revival in this city, commencing in February, 1875,
and continuing several months, scores and hundreds of drinking men,
many of the most abandoned, were brought to the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in their right mind. Some of these had been special subjects of
prayer. The almost universal testimony of these was, that the appetite
for strong drink had been removed. In one of the large churches, a
minister stated, that he believed God was now answering the prayers
that had been ascending for two years from the circle of godly women,
and remarked, alluding to the experience of reformed men, as mentioned,
that he had often attended their meetings, and heard repeatedly the
fervent petition that the appetite might be removed.
Though prayer has been the foundation and top-stone of our work, we
have not been otherwise idle. The license law of the district makes it
necessary that the applicant for license to open a saloon shall have
the consent or signature of the majority of the property-holders and
residents on each side of the square in which the saloon is located.
By consent of authorities, we obtained, in the summer of 1874, the
applications for license, with names of signers attached. These were
all copied. Circulars were printed, calling upon these signers, in the
name of God and humanity, not to lend their names and influence to such
a destructive business. With directory in hand, four thousand of these
circulars found their way, by mail, to as many citizens. Among the
patrons of the saloon-keeper we found the names of many church members,
deacons, elders, vestrymen, class-leaders, and one parson.
A number of answers were received, some insolent, but mostly denials
of ever having perpetrated so foul an act; many protesting that
forgery had been committed. The same course was pursued the next
year. Protests, or remonstrances were carried over the city to obtain
signatures, but few were found willing to put their names in opposition
to the liquor interest. Some were afraid of having their premises
fired; others feared loss in business, etc.
Repeated efforts have been made upon police commissioners, calling
their attention to the frauds practised, and to the loose manner of
proceeding in granting licenses without the legal requirement having
been met. A committee was appointed to meet similar committees of the
various temperance organizations, to investigate more closely the
license system. In the spring of 1876 a public meeting was held, in
which many facts we had brought to light were presented; one very noted
was this: Of thirteen licenses examined, after thoroughly canvassing
the districts represented, only one was found to have been legally
obtained. Other facts equally strong were brought to prove that rum
influence in the district dominates the law.
In the latter part of General Grant’s term of office, 1877, our
President, Mrs. Linville, and Vice-President, Mrs. Dr. Noble, with Mrs.
Dr. Newman, called on President Grant, with reference to a bill which
had passed both houses of Congress, and which we considered detrimental
to the interests of temperance in the District. They requested that he
would interpose the veto power, and thus prevent its becoming a law.
They were politely and cordially received. The bill was vetoed.
The same ladies, with Mrs. General Birney added, called at the White
House soon after the inauguration of President Hayes, and, in an
interview with Mrs. Hayes, represented the views of the Woman’s
Christian Temperance Union on the subject of the use of wine at State
dinners, respectfully requesting her influence in abolishing it. We all
know how nobly and successfully she accomplished it.
A committee also waited upon Vice-President Wheeler, with regard
to the sale of liquors in the Capitol. It is a notable fact that a
Congressional temperance society of forty years standing has not yet
succeeded in ridding the national legislative halls of this accursed
traffic.
An effort was made upon churches and ministers, with regard to the use
of alcoholic wines in the administration of the Lord’s Supper. But
little has as yet been accomplished in that direction.
An interesting feature in our work has been, and continues to be, the
work-house and jail visitation. This committee is composed of godly,
self-sacrificing women, whose one object is to seek and to save the
lost. Upon close inquiry, it has been found that nine-tenths of those
confined in the jail, found their way there through the influence of
strong drink.
The Washington correspondent of the _Hartford Times_ has furnished that
paper with some interesting facts, in regard to these paupers, which we
give:
“One of the first men he met there had been at one time
Attorney-General of Virginia. In his office a number of now
distinguished lawyers were students, and they owe much to his advice.
His father had been Attorney-General of the United States and left his
son wealth. But he drank, and sacrificed distinction, fortune, and
everything to his love for drink. Another distinguished pauper was an
ex-Judge of the Supreme Court of California, and had been esteemed one
of the most eloquent men of his time. He came to Washington expecting
to get an office, was disappointed, took to drink, and drank himself
out of pocket, mind, and friends, and into the poor-house. In his
company the correspondent found a once wealthy newspaper editor and
proprietor of New York--a man of great ability and political influence.
This man also sunk all he possessed in whiskey, and has been for three
years in the almshouse. Sometimes his friends take him out, but,
says the correspondent, ‘he drinks so much that he lies about the
streets and is returned by the police.’ A fourth pauper had been only
a few years ago a political power, special agent of the Post Office
Department, and owner of much property in Washington and Arkansas. At
one time he was a United States detective, but while drunk he ‘gave
away’ the details of a case that would have resulted in the capture of
two or three hundred thousand dollars in counterfeit money, presses,
plates, etc. For this he was retired. When sober he was capable of
doing remarkable work. In fact, fortune and fame were his if he had
not allowed the taste for liquor to grow on him. In another branch
of the institution the correspondent found an ex-Attorney-General of
North Carolina. He made many friends, drank much whiskey, neglected
his business and everything else, and drifted to the poor-house. Says
the correspondent: ‘The principal reason for his being put where he
now is, is that he stole a friend’s vest and sold it for whiskey.’ To
such depths of degradation will whiskey bring the strongest and ablest
of us. A man who was Stephen A. Douglas’ intimate friend, and who
used to speak from the same platforms with him, is also a Washington
pauper. When fortune smiled on him he used liquor as a relish, and when
her smiles turned to frowns, he took it as an antidote for sorrow.
It brought him temporary relief and permanent ruin. Coming into the
almshouse in the ‘Black Maria,’ as the correspondent left it, was an
old, white-haired man, ‘who was at one time one of the leading men of
the Michigan bar. He is the man who backed Zach Chandler, and made him,
politically speaking, what he is to-day.’ And this man of great legal
ability, political influence sufficient to make and un-make men, and
much wealth, is now a pauper. Why? Because he allowed whiskey to obtain
the mastery over him, as did all the others herein referred to.”
In the work-house, a still larger proportion, if not all, are addicted
to this vice. The latter place has been removed to the county; but
a marked change was visible in their appearance and deportment. The
jail is now the object of special attention, and the women visiting
are truly welcome, not only to the prisoners, but the keepers express
their approbation and afford every facility for the instruction of
inmates. The success attendant upon the faithful labors of our women
is truly wonderful. Many cases of undoubted conversion and reformation
have taken place; some that had fallen into a snare through strong
drink and were unjustly incarcerated, have been restored to liberty,
to society, and to the church; here we would observe that in the Young
Men’s Christian Association we find ready helpers in restoring the
lost. These same women do not let go the restored ones, but follow them
up, and strive to find employment for them. Many from that prison will
bless God to all eternity for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
Another branch of our work which has occupied considerable time and
attention has been the establishment and operation of the temperance
lunch-rooms. The Holly Tree, at the time of its opening, was the only
place of the kind in Washington, and was exactly fitted to meet a great
want in this community. Life in Washington is more superficial than
elsewhere. Men and women, separated from home and friends, a floating
population, found here a rest and quiet not to be met elsewhere. No
smell of rum, or fumes of tobacco, pervaded the air; no unsightly
spittoon offended the eye; cleanliness, comfort, woman’s influence,
gave refinement and elevation to the character of the place. Nor is
this all. We could give you instances of entire reformation in the life
of those brought under its kindly, genial influence.
The popularity of this lunch-room (its patrons numbering hundreds) has
led to the establishment of others, free from the temptation of the
cup. Temperance dining-rooms at cheap rates, and dairy-rooms where
cheap, wholesome lunch can be procured at all hours, are springing up
in every part of the city, so that we almost feel as if our work in
that direction was accomplished, and that we shall soon be at liberty
to give our whole attention elsewhere.
We have been striving this past year to enlarge our borders by forming
auxiliaries, and have clearly seen the hand of the Lord in directing
our way, have acknowledged His agency in removing obstructions and
overcoming opposition. Churches that were closed upon us have been
opened, ministers in opposition have not only yielded, but rendered
assistance, and in those places where the greatest obstacles obtained,
great favor is shown. We have gone out of the city into neighboring
villages, held successful and interesting mass-meetings. Ministers
have yielded their churches for Sabbath evening service, as we could
reach a larger portion of the people on that evening. We go through the
audiences to privately warn, and entreat to sign the pledge; some who
publicly asked for prayers have since been converted. We can say of our
work, as Mr. Wesley did of his, “The best of all is, God is with us.”
I add the following from the report of the Secretary of one of the
societies, Miss R. E. Hartwell:
“We have been granted interviews by various officials of the United
States and municipal government, in regard to framing new laws, and the
more vigorous execution of those already existing. In every instance
our petitions and statements have been courteously received, and we
believe that in the new plans which are being developed at police
head-quarters God is honoring the many prayers we have offered in this
direction.
“And who shall determine how much the recent revival of religion in
this, as well as in other cities, is owing to the prayers of earnest,
faithful, loving women, who are so continually besieging the Throne
of Grace for the descent of the Spirit of God and the overthrow and
subjection of that monster--appetite for strong drink.
“More than two hundred letters have been written to various persons on
the temperance question; and in almost every instance where information
has been solicited the replies have been satisfactory. I would refer
to those addressed to committees of Congress, the Police Board, Board
of Health, and others, and thank them for their uniform kindness and
courtesy.
“The use of fermented wine at the Lord’s Supper has deeply engaged
our attention; and last autumn we addressed an appeal to Christian
ministers, urging them to discard it, as several cases have come to our
knowledge, where the recently reformed have been tempted at the very
altar to which they had gone for strength to battle against the foe,
and have fallen, in some instances never again to regain their lost
manhood.”
PENNSYLVANIA