The Crusade was an assault on the liquor traffic all along the lines,
by heroic, determined women, whose motto was, “Victory or death!”
Victory after victory was achieved, until the liquor oligarchy was
driven from the open field into its strong defences. And then the women
organized under the name of the Woman’s National Christian Temperance
Union, and began a siege--a well-planned, determined siege, that has
gone on with untiring zeal and energy for the last three years, and
will go on till the last redoubt of the enemy is captured.
One by one the strongholds of the foe have been weakened; one by one
the towers of strength are being taken down, till only one unbroken
line of defence is left--_governmental protection_. The press, that
mighty engine of power, that with its thousands of bands and wheels
moves the millions to thought and action, has been mainly won to this
cause. More than 800 newspapers have already agreed to give a column
weekly to the temperance cause, at the request of the besieging party.
And the press may yet reach John Bowring’s high ideal:
“But mightiest of the mighty means
On which the arm of progress leans,
Man’s noblest mission to advance,
His woes assuage, his weal enhance,
His rights enforce, his wrongs redress,
Mightiest of mighty is the press.”
_The Pulpit_ has turned its heavy guns against the enemy. Thousands of
ministers, who before the Crusade were silent and indifferent, are now
champions of the cause.
_The Church_ has been greatly purified, and Christian unity has been
promoted, and the moral forces consolidated.
_Fermented wine_ has been banished from thousands of churches, because
the women in the temperance work, many of them polished pillars in the
church of Christ, could not conscientiously partake of the alcoholic
cup, or invite the men redeemed through their efforts to do so.
_The Sunday-Schools_ are being reached. Temperance lessons have
been secured in many of them, and through this means and regularly
organized societies, tens of thousands of children are being trained to
temperance principles.
_The Public Schools_ have been visited, and many of the colleges of
learning, and the work has been greatly advanced. This will be felt at
the polls, and in our legislative hall a few years hence.
_Medical Bodies_ have been visited, and their co-operation secured.
The International Medical Congress, which met in Philadelphia in 1876,
the most influential body of medical men ever convened, numbering four
hundred and eighty delegates, many of them the ablest writers and
scientists in the profession, was visited by a delegation of ladies,
and an official letter presented.
Other communications had been received, and had been laid on the table.
But the letter from the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was not only
graciously received and referred to a committee, but carried all the
other communications with it for a respectful hearing and response.
The reading of the letter before the committee was followed by a round
of applause, and the whole subject was carefully and scientifically
considered. And I have heard nothing stronger on the temperance
platform in opposition to the use of alcohol, than in that discussion.
And the verdict against its use was unanimous, with the exception of
_one_ vote given by a man who receives special honors from the beer
congress because of his advocacy of the use of beer. And this action
was afterwards approved by the congress unanimously.
The following is the letter and reply:
_To the Chairman and Members of the International Medical Congress_:
HONORED SIRS:--I take the liberty, as a representative of the Woman’s
National Christian Temperance Union of the United States, to call
your attention to the relation of the medical use of alcohol to the
prevalence of that fearful scourge, _intemperance_.
The distinguished Dr. Mussey said, many years ago: “So long as
alcohol retains a place among sick patients, so long there will be
drunkards.”
Dr. Rush wrote strongly against its use as early as 1790. And at one
time the College of Physicians at Philadelphia memorialized Congress
in favor of restraining the use of distilled liquors, because,
as they claimed, they were “destructive of life, health, and the
faculties of the mind.”
“A Medical Declaration,” published in London, December, 1872, asserts
that “It is believed that the inconsiderate prescription of alcoholic
liquids by medical men for their patients has given rise in many
instances to the formation of intemperate habits.” This manifesto
was signed by over two hundred and fifty of the leading medical men
of the United Kingdom. When the nature and effects of alcohol were
little known, it was thought to be invaluable as a medicine. But in
the light of recent scientific investigations, its claims have been
challenged and its value denied.
We are aware that the question of the medical use of alcohol has not
been fully decided, and that there is a difference of opinion among
the ablest medical writers. But we notice that as the discussion and
investigation goes on, and new facts are brought out, its value as a
remedial agent is depreciated.
A great many claims have been brought forward in its favor, but one
by one they have gone down under the severe scrutiny of scientific
research, until only a few points are left in doubt. In view of this,
and the _startling fact_ that tens of thousands die annually from
its baneful effects, we earnestly urge you to give the subject a
careful examination.
You have made the study of the physical nature of man your life-work,
and you are the trusted advisers of the people in all matters
pertaining to the treatment of diseases, and the preservation of life
and health.
You are therefore in a position to instruct and warn the masses in
regard to its indiscriminate use, either as a medicine or a beverage.
We feel sure that, true to your professional honor, and the grave
responsibilities of your distinguished position, you will search out
and give us the facts, whatever they may be.
If you should appoint a standing committee from your own number, of
practical scientific men, who would give time and thought to this
question, it would be very gratifying to the _one hundred thousand_
women I represent, and most acceptable to the general public.
I am, with high considerations of respect,
Your obedient servant,
ANNIE WITTENMYER,
President Woman’s National Christian Temperance
Union, 1020 Arch street, Philadelphia.
_September 6th 1876._
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS,
PHILADELPHIA, _September 9th, 1876_.
DEAR MADAM:--I am instructed by the Section on Medicine,
International Medical Congress of 1876, to transmit to you, as the
action of the Section, the following conclusions adopted by it with
regard to the use of alcohol in medicine, the same being in reply to
the communication sent by the Woman’s National Christian Temperance
Union:
1. Alcohol is not shown to have a definite food value by any of the
usual methods of chemical or physiological investigation.
2. Its use as a medicine is chiefly that of a cardiac stimulant, and
often admits of substitution.
3. As a medicine, it is not well fitted for self-prescription by
the laity, and the medical profession is not accountable for such
administration, or for the enormous evils resulting therefrom.
4. The purity of alcoholic liquids is in general not so well assured
as that of articles used for medicine should be. The various
mixtures, when used as a medicine, should have definite and known
composition, and should not be interchanged promiscuously.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
J. EWING MEARS, M. D.,
Secretary of the Section of Medicine.
ANNIE WITTENMYER, President of the Woman’s National Christian
Temperance Union.
The medicine-chest has been a stronghold of the liquor traffic, but
this action rules it out of its long-cherished place.
The medical associations in very many of the States have been visited,
and urged to discontinue the use of alcoholic stimulants, and have
pledged themselves to do so.
The respectability of the drink traffic has been destroyed. No man who
has any regard for his personal reputation would go into the business,
or care to be seen coming out of a saloon.
And to stigmatize a business is to ruin it.
The State and National Legislatures have been appealed to, without any
apparent result, further than to keep the enemy at bay, and secure a
sharper rendering of the laws already on the statute books.
Where prohibitory laws existed, they have been strengthened. The
granting of licenses in some of the States has been prevented, and in
most of the States the laws are better enforced.
Liquors have been banished from the Presidential Mansion, and from the
National Capitol building, and all over the land are less common at
receptions and state dinners.
Ladies have had a gracious hearing before many of the State
Legislatures, and before the United States Senate Finance Committee.
Hope has revived in the heart of many a weary wife and night-weeping
mother.
The great Reform movement among drinking men, under the able leadership
of Murphy and Reynolds, was made possible and successful, under the
enthusiasm of this new dispensation of Gospel Temperance. And God has
honored faith and prayer, as a remedial agent for the salvation of men
from sin and appetite, throughout the land, as never before. But the
richest blessings have come to the women themselves. In the complete
consecration, the utter abnegation of self, needed for the work,
they have reached a higher plane of religious experience. They have
gained “a faith that will not shrink when pressed by every foe”--a
moral heroism that can stand serene in the presence of ridicule, and
contumely, and mocking.
Church doors have opened before them; the pulpit has welcomed them;
the dumb have spoken with new tongues; and woman, rising to her grand
possibility in the church, stands, to-day, centuries in advance of the
position she occupied before the Crusade.
And say what men will about the Crusade, it was the tidal wave
that lifted the temperance question to a gospel plane; it was the
Pentecostal baptism that sent the women of all denominations out to
plead the cause of God and humanity, with tongues of fire; it was
woman’s answer to the “prayer-test” of mocking scientists; it was the
staggering blow that sent the rum power reeling towards its fall.
And, under another name, it is honeycombing the entire drink system;
undermining its heaviest fortifications; planting its magazines of
power in every city and village; and the time will come when some hand
of faith will touch the battery of heaven, and this iniquitous business
will go down, socially, politically, and legally, to trouble the nation
no more.
But there will be many a hard-fought battle before the victory is won.
I cannot close this volume without calling attention to the relation
of the foreign emigration to the liquor traffic, and to crime and
pauperism.
Some of the best people in our land are foreigners, honored and
trusted by all. So I want it clearly understood that no reference
is made to that class of law-abiding Americanized citizens who came
from across the seas to find a home with us, and who respect our
institutions and obey our laws.
But we may not conceal the fact that _more than two-thirds_ of the
entire liquor business is in the hands of a low class of foreigners,
although the entire foreign population of the country constitutes _less
than one-sixth_.
A band of men connected with one of the Reform Clubs of Philadelphia,
investigating this matter, made a thorough canvass of this city in the
beginning of 1876, our Centennial year.
Many curious facts were brought to light by this private, quiet
canvass, bearing on the criminality of the business and the persons
engaged in it.
They ascertained that there were, licensed and unlicensed, 8,034 places
where intoxicating liquors were sold.
The nationality of those engaged in the business in this city at that
time was as follows:
Chinamen, 2; Jews, 2; Italians, 18; Spaniards, 140; Welsh, 160;
Americans, 205; Africans, 265; French, 285; Scotch, 497; English, 568;
German, 2,179; Irish, 3,041; unknown, 672; total, 8,034.
Of this number there were 3,782 which were directly or indirectly
connected with houses of ill-fame. Of the 8,034 liquor-sellers, as
nearly as could be ascertained, more than two-thirds had been inmates
of prisons and station-houses.
Of the 4,805 inmates received into the House of Correction,
Philadelphia, during the year 1875, according to official report,
2,234, nearly one-half, were foreign born, and 75 out of every 100 were
drunkards.
Of the 12,462 adults received into the almshouses of Pennsylvania, in
1875, more than one-half, 6,847, were foreign born, and 5,422 were
Irish and German; 77 unknown. We are slowly learning the fact that we
are building jails and almshouses that ought to have been built in
Germany and Ireland, and that America is rapidly becoming a sewer for
the moral filth of Europe.
The liquor traffic of New York city is mainly in the hands of
foreigners, and an undue proportion of arrests are recorded.
There were, as I learn by an official statement from the warden, 38,036
imprisoned in the Tombs, New York, during the year ending 1876; of this
number nearly two-thirds, 23,842, were foreign born, 14,194, native
born.
The work-house at Blackwell’s Island, New York, received, during 1876,
22,845 prisoners, of whom 11,250 were men and 11,595 were women. Of
these prisoners the commissioners say: “_Drunkenness was the immediate
cause of the incarceration of three-quarters of the former and
seven-eighths of the latter--the predisposing cause in the cases of all
the rest._” This is official, emphatic testimony as to the effects of
strong drink as a cause of crime.
All the mobs that insulted the women engaged in the Crusade were made
up largely of a criminal class of foreigners who were dealers or
drinkers.
The Alameda, California, outrage, which has no parallel in the history
of civilized nations, was perpetrated by members of the “San Francisco
German Saloon-Keepers’ Society.” One gentleman said, “It was simply
hell let loose. It was a constant series of howlings, cursing and
threats. I never witnessed such a scene of riot and confusion. The mob
actually took possession of the town, and kept it all day, howling,
yelling, and cursing, and evidently bent on inaugurating a reign of
terrorism to keep temperance people away from the polls.”
The sight of a lady was the signal for an outburst of obscenity and
insult, and one lady, Sallie Hart, came near losing her life, because
she had asserted her temperance principles. The mob were like a pack of
hyenas; if they had succeeded in getting her into their clutches, they
would have torn her limb from limb.
The _San Francisco Post_ says: “What makes this outrage the more
unendurable is, that all or nearly all of these women insulters and
women mobbers seem to have been foreigners, who, welcomed here to equal
privileges and the right to vote, presume to insult and mob American
women, who choose in a peaceable and orderly manner to exert their
influence in the settlement of a public question.”
It makes every drop of patriotic blood in my veins boil to know that
such things as are recorded in this book can be done under the flag,
for which my great-grandfather fought in the Revolutionary war, and for
which my grandfather fought in the war of 1812, and for which three of
my brothers fought in the recent civil war, and for which I have risked
life many times.
I am for peace, but not when it means submission to the wrong--not when
it means insult to the flag and the principles it symbolizes--not when
it means the triumph of the mob element of society over honest worth,
and the insult of virtuous American women. Then I am for war--war to
the knife, and the knife to the hilt. Let the sword of justice come
down like a surgeon’s knife, and cut away all this putrid mass that is
eating like a canker into the heart of the nation.
POLITICAL CORRUPTION.
I pass to notice briefly the corrupting influence of this class on our
political life.
They have come to be a marketable commodity in politics.
They make terms with party leaders, and always in the direction of
their own interests, without regard to the welfare of the country.
And as so large a number of them are engaged in the liquor business,
and control the votes of their customers, they have become the most
dangerous merchandise in which we deal--a very powder-magazine under
the bulwarks of the nation.
_The Liquor Men’s Advocate_, exhorting its whiskey cohorts to act
unitedly under the leadership of the bartenders, says:
“The good old German way of spending the Sabbath don’t suit their (the
temperance men’s) sublime taste. Five hundred million dollars passed
through the hands of dealers in liquors during the past year (1873).
This shows a powerful element, which, if united, might bid good-bye to
the fanatical prohibition laws. Every saloon averages eighty regular
customers, and these eighty customers have eighty votes, and, if
properly managed, every bartender might influence these eighty votes to
a given point, decided by bartenders _en masse_.”
The bartenders, then, are to decide the great moral and political
questions of this country by marching up an army of habitual drunkards
to the polls.
This is not only the _plan_, but the _practice_. For proof of the truth
of this, go to the polls on any general election day and see a hundred
and fifty thousand men reel up to the polls and deposit their bleared,
muddled ballots as the rum power dictates. Notice that the polling
places are in or near saloons, and the moral atmosphere about them
impregnated with tobacco, beer and whiskey.
To rescue this mighty power, the ballot, from the hands of men who have
given up their manhood, and have lost self-control, and are degraded
and crazed by drink, is the first duty of the government.
Let the privileges of the ballot be at once taken from all who can
be shown on evidence to be habitual drunkards, until there is proof
of thorough reformation. This will strip the liquor-dealers of their
mightiest weapon in politics, and take out of our party contests the
most combustible and dangerous element.
And what reasonable person can object to this? No man whose brain is
muddled by drink, who has brought himself down to the brute level,
ought to be clothed with the power to decide the destiny of a great
nation. If he is not capable of governing himself, he should not be
intrusted with the duty of governing a great Republic like ours, where
every man is a ruler.
And just here is the hiding of the liquor-dealers’ power. Unmask this
battery, and concentrate a mighty force that will capture it, and you
take the enemy’s heaviest guns, and its main political and social
stronghold.
SABBATH DESECRATION.
The proper observance of the Sabbath day is our “dead-line” as a
nation. And yet this very class of dealers and drinkers are aiming
their heaviest blows at the American Sabbath.
In 1874, when this class came into power in Chicago, their first act
was to repeal the Sunday law closing the saloons and beer-gardens on
the Sabbath day, just as they have done in the other large cities where
they have obtained power.
But this case was the more conspicuous because of the gross indignities
offered to Christian women by the filth-reeking, villanous mob gathered
from the saloons to insult them. It is this element that is laying
violent hands upon the Bible, to hurl it from the place accorded it by
the pilgrim fathers:
The Bible that came over in the Mayflower; the Bible whose teachings
form the ground-work of English common law; the Bible which was read in
our first Congress, and before which every officer of the government
from that day to this has stood in awe, and sworn fidelity to the
Constitution and to duty.
George Washington, Daniel Webster, Judge Storrer, and other
distinguished statesmen pronounce the public school, without the Bible,
an absurdity and an outrage.
President Hayes, on one occasion, made use of the following strong
language in regard to the Bible:
“To drive the Bible out of the school-house is a stigma and an insult.
What is the witness-stand, the jury-room, or the judicial bench worth
without the sanction of the Bible operating on the public? Degrade the
book as unfit for our children to read in school, and its authority
over the conscience is gone. This destroys the very foundations so
carefully laid--the organic law. A single generation thus trained will
be enough to accomplish that result.”
These are brave, strong words in the presence of an aggressive foe.
And we will do well to remember that the Bible is our magna charta of
Liberty; our Public Schools the chief corner-stone of the Republic;
and the sanctity of the Sabbath our strongest social bulwark. And that
taking the Bible out of our public schools this generation, means
bonfires of Bibles next generation; and the overthrow of our Public
School system, the overthrow of the Republic a few years later, and
the desecration of the Sabbath, the subversion of social virtue and
good order, and the _degradation of woman_. In the presence of these
facts is it not time for us to arouse ourselves, and take a firm stand
for our American Institutions, while we are strong enough to cope with
the power that threatens them? If those who come here to share the
blessings of a republic founded on Christian principles, do not like
our institutions, they are not obliged to stay. We can better afford
to part with them than we can with our Sabbaths, our Bibles, and our
Public Schools.
PERSONAL LIBERTY.
As a defence, this class has raised the cry of _personal liberty_.
There is no such thing as personal liberty except among savages. In all
civilized countries the dress, food, habits of life, and the business
of the people are more or less the subjects of legislation.
People are restrained by law from appearing on the public streets, at
watering-places, and in public assemblies without suitable clothing to
cover themselves with.
Men may not wear women’s clothing, and women may not appear in men’s
apparel. Some regard to common decency must be observed in public at
least.
In times of pestilence many things are ruled out of the market. Men
may not sell diseased or decayed food. Even the fish and the birds are
protected against the ravages of men at certain seasons.
When a well or fountain is deemed unfit for use, the people are
forbidden to drink of it, and a guard placed to secure obedience.
A druggist may not sell poisonous drugs, such as laudanum or opium, at
his discretion.
In most of the States gambling is forbidden, and although a man may
own the house in which the business is carried on, and the parties
visiting the house may make no complaint, yet the officers of the
law may step in, and the presence of the men and the appliances are
sufficient proof of guilt, and they are taken to jail. The lottery
business is forbidden in some States. Obscene books, and pictures,
and papers may not be exhibited or sold. Places of low resort may not
outrage common decency, unless it is done secretly and unlawfully, as
is often the case. Prize-fighters may not beat and bruise each other. A
man may not burn his own house, or barn, or beat his horse. He cannot
have the small-pox just when and where he pleases; he may be taken
from his own house forcibly and put in a pest-house, or he may be
detained in quarantine against his will. A grocer was tried and fined
in Philadelphia, not long ago, for keeping Limburger cheese, because
the people who lived next door were annoyed thereby; he was therefore
forced by law to discontinue that business. A man owning a lot in a
city may prefer to build a frame-house, but the town authorities step
in and stop the work, and he is forced to build of brick or stone. He
may not open a slaughter-house, or establish a powder-magazine where
he pleases. He may not mint his own money, although he may have any
quantity of silver or gold. He may not charge excessive interest. He is
taxed; is subject to military duty, and hedged about from the cradle to
the grave by-laws. The common good demands it, and there is no safety
for life or property without restrictive legislation.
With equal justice and propriety, the government (State and national)
has the same right to interfere with the liquor traffic. Every
principle involved in all these restrictive laws underlies the demand
for the abatement of liquor-saloons, and breweries, and distilleries.
The Brewers’ Congress, in their effort to go down to the bed-rock--the
basal principles of our Constitution--and rivet beer upon us, raised
this cry of personal liberty.
The people should not be deceived by it. There is no such thing as
personal liberty outside of savagism, and the demand is not for
personal liberty, but for a state of lawlessness.
And now, in conclusion, giving God the glory for our past successes,
and for the wonderful preservation of those who walked with the Master
in the furnace of the Crusade, let us work, and pray, and wait with
faith for the victory that will surely come.
“For though women’s hands are weak to fight,
Their voices are strong to pray;
And with fingers of faith they open the gates
To a brighter, better day.”
SUPPLEMENT.
NEW CASTLE, PENNSYLVANIA.
The Women’s Temperance League of New Castle, Pa., was formed April 8th,
1874. As our county was favored with the Local Option Law, our work
differed from that in many other places. Instead of visiting saloons
kept open by license, our only street work consisted in visiting the
distilleries and stores of such of our druggists as would not sign
our “Druggist’s Pledge.” Here we held prayer-meetings upon only four
different occasions. This work was not begun, however, until the last
of June, after having made a thorough canvass with our pledges.
In May, “Mother Stewart” visited us, and insisted upon the formation of
a “Band of Hope.” Feeling that if we could get the boys right, the men
would be right, we undertook the work. This society has proved a marked
success, comprising at present 900 members, while our league numbers
800. The meetings of the band and of the league have been continued
with little interruption and with great profit, until the present time,
1877.
In the winter of 1877-1878, we earnestly co-operated with the reformed
men in their work, though separate meetings are still held by the
ladies and children.
MARGARET L. AIKEN, ex-Sec.
BUFFALO, N. Y.
I am indebted to Mrs. L. M. Kenyon for the following facts:
When the tidal wave of the Crusade reached Buffalo the people said,
“What are we to do with this strange movement?” But God’s call was
heard by his own children, and at His command who said, “Let there be
light, and there was light,” the women went out into the highways and
the hedges, bearing the glad tidings of salvation.
The women of Fredonia had preceded us in the work, and their fire
kindled our enthusiasm. A meeting was held at the First Presbyterian
Church to consider the question, as to whether we should unite in the
work of the Crusade and try to save our city.
There had been formerly a ladies’ temperance society, but it had lain
dormant for years. It was thought this might again be revived, and form
a starting point for a new movement, but the president of that society
did not feel that she could unite in the Crusade, and so an independent
meeting was the result. God was with the women who engaged in the
work, in a wonderful manner, from the very beginning. They went out
into every part of the city two by two. In some sections churches were
opened for their meetings. The saloons were visited, and the women sang
and prayed, and read the Scriptures, and the power of God fell upon the
people, and law-breakers and men hardened in transgression were seen to
weep.
No regular plan of attack was made in the beginning, but the women went
as the Holy Spirit directed. In course of time a Woman’s Temperance
Union was organized, auxiliary to the State Union, which has brought
about a great change in public sentiment, although the opposition at
times was very violent and often discouraging. But, sustained by an
Almighty hand, they continued to push the work.
A committee of three ladies was appointed to visit the Board of Excise,
and ask them to withhold license. That body answered they had done all
they could, so the argument did not prevail. The mayor of the city
fixed a time when the ladies should meet the Excise Commission, but
when the hour arrived he was absent. The interview was unsatisfactory,
as there was a division of sentiment and a lack of courage. A long
petition was then presented to the city council, signed by over three
hundred of our prominent business men, several hundred prominent women,
and men of various occupations to the number of three thousand. But all
their efforts were of no avail. Though disappointed and discouraged,
they were not utterly cast down, but felt that God was with them, and
still prayed and worked on. There were not wanting those who opposed
the Crusade movement, and advised the women to stay at their homes, and
hinted that those who visited saloons were crazy or fanatical. Yet the
work of saloon visiting went on.
One incident in connection with this work was very touching: A
saloon-keeper had a lovely daughter. She had heard of their visits to
her father’s saloon, and upon the day she died, most eloquently did she
plead with him to sell no more intoxicating liquor; never again to
open his doors to sell, after they had carried her out to Forest Lawn.
The father’s heart was touched, and he could not resist the pleadings
of his dying child. He promised he would close, and he did not again
open his saloon, but soon found respectable business.
In one saloon there were about thirty men drinking and playing cards,
and women were there in a state of intoxication. Permission to pray was
asked, and granted; and the proprietor said, “Boys, take off your hats,
while these ladies conduct their service!” And the audience was very
attentive; sorrow seemed depicted upon their bloated faces, and their
thoughts were no doubt lifted up for a time, at least.
In one saloon a woman was very angry, and used insulting and indecent
language. Said we were spoiling her man’s business, and we had better
stay at home, and just mind our own business; while the husband treated
us kindly, and seemed ashamed of his wife’s conduct, and asked us to
come again. Since then the man has failed in his saloon business.
The ladies held Gospel Temperance Meetings in the Friendly Inn of
the Y. M. C. A. weekly, and one in Canterbury Varieties Theatre
weekly. These meetings were productive of good. We had encouragement
in our work from a man who was the owner of several saloons, and the
proprietor of the Varieties Theatre. He gave us the use of the theatre,
fire, light, and attention of the men attending to these things, and
the thanks of the women are to-day given Mr. Humphreys for this favor.
He opened his doors for the temperance women to hold meetings, and
good impressions were made upon the minds of hundreds. Several public
meetings were held, but the work has not been a decided success.
No large contributions of money have ever been received. The little
given has been distributed with care in aiding the families of
drunkards.
Election days have been days of prayer and fasting with them. “At one
election, we believe,” says the writer, “one candidate was defeated
because of our prayers.” He was a saloon-keeper. In the morning one
of the women of our city said to him, “You will not be elected.” “Why
not?” said the man. “Because the women of the praying band are in
their rooms praying for your defeat.” “I’ll take the risk upon it, and
you’ll see.” All day long we prayed and fasted; our room was full. In
the afternoon a gentleman came in and said, “Keep on praying: there
is confusion at the _polls_. Men are carrying their votes in their
hands--have not yet voted: they are confused.” “Praise God, from whom
all blessings flow” was then sung. Our meeting did not close till six
o’clock. The saloon-keeper was not elected. During the day a _third_
man had been put in and was elected. The saloon-keeper “cursed those
women and their prayers.”
We have had assistance from the Good Templars of our city. They have
extended courtesy toward us, especially making it pleasant for the
gathering of our State Union. They have always encouraged us in our
work. A committee of ladies visited the Roman Catholic bishop for
the purpose of getting the ladies of that church to co-operate in the
putting down of the traffic in Buffalo. He advised us to call upon them
ourselves, as he did not control the ladies of his churches--in fact
they did not take part in such organizations; but he most cordially
received the committee, and said he would do all in his power to aid
the people here to put down this curse of the church and State.
Voices cried unto us, saying: “When will deliverance come?” The reply
was, “Wait patiently upon the Lord.”
Ministers were visited, and requested to use unfermented wine at the
Lord’s Supper. To this several responded favorably; others said: If a
person is not so changed as to take his desire for strong drink away,
he would fall just as quickly out of the church as in it.
Sunday-schools were visited, and the children in these and day schools
pledged.
A Gospel Temperance meeting found many ready to listen. Said one man,
“I have drank liquor for forty years: forty years of hell have I had.
Why ask me to reform? I can’t!” Mothers said, “Pray for my son! Oh,
save him, Lord! by the help of these women.”
A man who was a noted gambler, jig-dancer, negro minstrel and
drunkard, gave himself up to the service of the Master, and went about
imploring men to reform. His own old mother, a depraved woman, he was
instrumental in saving.
The villages near us contributed their share of true Crusade fire, and
in some cases the liquor-dealers were prosecuted, and injunctions put
upon this accursed traffic. Angola, Eden, North Collins, Tonawanda,
Buffalo, amid every discouragement, struck for a release from the
license law, and, in a few cases, hotel and saloon-keepers did not
renew their licenses.
No effort was made to establish Friendly Inns, but in the ward meetings
men signed the pledge, especially at the Friendly Inn of the Y. M. C. A.
The wealthy women of the city were not generally enlisted, yet by the
power of God many a young man was saved and many homes made happy. The
Crusade fire is still burning, and only needs to be fanned to kindle a
blaze of temperance enthusiasm.
XENIA.
During the second week of the Crusade, Friday was set apart as a
day of fasting and prayer, services being held at the Presbyterian
Church during the entire day. While this meeting was going forward,
the ladies were on duty, and at nine o’clock the “Hole in the Wall,”
in the rear of the Ewing House, kept by Manus O’Donnell, capitulated
unconditionally, and in a few minutes, more than sixty gallons of bad
whiskey went to wash the sin-defiled alley of Whiteman; O’Donnell
himself, amid the cheers of a thousand spectators, and the band of
praying women, knocking out the bungs to give it flow.
It was a complete and unconditional surrender of a man of all his
earthly possessions, acknowledging his wrong and throwing himself upon
the public for support in some other calling. Still in the rear of
this saloon was the “Den of Iniquity,” from out of which, while yet the
rejoicing proceeded, Warwick, the colored proprietor, was seen emerging
with a little dirty white rag on a broomstick, bearing it aloft as a
token of his surrender. Cheer after cheer went up; the ladies filed
into his den, and brought forth his bottles and kegs of whiskey, and
emptied their contents into the gutter. The proprietor of another
saloon consented to close. His wife was temporarily absent; she was a
woman who had a very vile tongue, and when she returned she was very
indignant that the saloon should be closed, and immediately reopened
it. The ladies renewed their visits, and while they were praying before
the saloon, and she was indulging in a blasphemous tirade, one of the
women was led to pray _that the Lord would still her tongue_. The
prayer was answered. She was afterward struck dumb, and remained so for
two years, when she died.
Mrs. M. C. Bristow adds the following: Mass-meetings were held every
evening; union meetings in which all our ministers took part; also a
morning meeting which was largely attended not only by our temperance
women and ministers, but by many of our principal business men. A
mass-meeting was held Sabbath afternoon by the women. All these
meetings were well attended until the month of April, at which time
our city election took place. We had looked forward to this event with
much interest: the parties, instead of being as heretofore Republicans
and Democrats, were Temperance and Anti-Temperance. For mayor, the
most important office to be filled, the friends of temperance nominated
one of the best men in the city--Captain McDowell; not only an earnest
Christian temperance man, but a man whom everybody respected. The
other candidate was not only opposed to the new temperance movement,
but one who habitually used intoxicating liquors. To our sorrow and
disappointment Captain McDowell was defeated, and we were obliged
to accept for our highest city officer one whom we had every reason
to believe would do all in his power to oppose the progress of the
temperance movement.
The women were out upon the streets that day in full force, and at one
of our saloons a most shameful affair occurred. A middle-aged, highly
respectable woman, a member of one of our bands, having become weary
from long standing and frequent kneeling, seated herself upon the steps
of the saloon of John Glassinger, a German, to rest for a few moments.
She was immediately ordered by the proprietor to leave the premises,
and failing to obey as quickly as he thought she ought to, he kicked
her off the steps by main force, and afterwards gave her blows, which
confined her to her bed and house for several weeks.
The saloon-keeper was arrested, but being a man of means, gave bail,
and when his case finally came up before the grand jury, they being
entirely in sympathy with him, failed to find an indictment. And so for
four years he has been permitted to pursue his unholy traffic, without
let or hindrance. Times without number he has been arrested for
selling to minors, and otherwise violating the letter of his license,
but the judgment of our court has _always_ been lenient in his case.
We read in the word “that, though joined hand in hand, the wicked
shall not go unpunished.” And just now it really seems in the case
of this man, who has so long openly defied the laws of God and man,
the words of Holy Writ are about to be verified. A few weeks since,
in opening a beer barrel, the bung flew out and hit him in the eye,
entirely destroying the sight of that eye. The other out of sympathy is
also seriously affected, and there is every reason to believe he will
eventually lose the sight of both eyes. His first exclamation after the
accident was: “Now dem vimins will say, ‘dis is a judgment from God for
my selling liquor.’”
The day after the election it was a serious question with our earnest
Christian women whether they should go out upon the streets or not,
but after due deliberation they decided to do so. We met as usual at
eight o’clock in the morning for prayer, formed ourselves into bands,
and separated, each going to our appointed field of duty. We were very
sorrowful on that ever to be remembered morning: a deep solemnity and
unwonted fervor was apparent in every prayer that was offered. In the
language of the Psalmist, we were led to exclaim in our extremity,
“Vain is the help of man; unto Thee, O Lord! we lift our waiting eyes.”
Shortly after our city election an opposing band was organized,
composed entirely of Germans. Of all the saloon-keepers in the town,
only five were Americans--two white, and three black.
This German “_Mocking band_” was organized for the purpose of
disturbing and, if possible, breaking up the temperance bands. When
we came upon the street and commenced our labors, they came also and
commenced theirs; in derision they sang and prayed, and once in our
presence took communion, in their mocking, profane way, using beer
for wine. But these proceedings were kept up for only a brief period.
Seeing that we were undaunted, and could not be driven from the field
by this kind of persecution, they desisted, leaving us to go on with
our services undisturbed.
The full bands were out daily for nine weeks, including picket work;
but it was not in the nature of things that our labors on the street
should continue. Some had already been obliged to abandon the work on
account of failing health, others had young families requiring their
time and attention, and thus from various causes one and another
dropped out of our ranks.
During the month of July, the heat became so intense that it was deemed
unsafe to go out in the day time, and meetings were held in the early
part of the morning and evening.
Mrs. M. A. Wilson adds: “About this time a committee of liquor men
visited our business firms to ascertain who were in sympathy with this
Crusade movement, as they fully intended to withdraw their patronage
from all who were.
“The number of workers at this time was reduced to about twenty-five.
We held Gospel Temperance Meetings in various places on Saturday
evenings, also on Sabbath afternoons. During the active work a Woman’s
Temperance League was organized, with three hundred and twelve members,
which has since been merged into the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.
“The Sabbath four o’clock prayer-meetings have been held regularly
since the Crusade. A meeting is also held Sabbath at three P. M. in
the jail, where we have reason to believe very much good has been
accomplished.”
Among those who took part in the prayer-meetings and the work were Mrs.
Lowe; Mrs. Allen; Mrs. Monroe; Mrs. Moore; Mrs. Barr; Mrs. Hartwell;
Mrs. Bedell; Mrs. Turnbull; Mrs. Marley; Mrs. Wilson; Mrs. Drees;
Mrs. Bristol; Mrs. Wilson; Mrs. Luce; Mrs. Farber; Mrs. Finley; Mrs.
Meredith; Mrs. Shearer; Mrs. Watt; Mrs. Day; Mrs. Good; Mrs. Williams;
Mrs. Merrick; Mrs. Connable; Mrs. Ralston; Mrs. Shipley; Mrs. Conwell;
Mrs. Hutchinson; Mrs. Ormsby; Mrs. Barlow; Mrs. Trotter; Mrs. McMillan;
Mrs. Jacoby; Mrs. McPherson; Miss Williams; Miss Keaggy; Miss Allen;
Miss Lauman; Miss Allison.
There were scores of others, whose names we were not able to secure.
A GENERAL REVIEW.