Primary tabs
i
Pictures and Illustrations.
Signatureiv
Dedication.
IS DEDICATED
WITH GRATITUDE AND LOVE
TO OUR
ROUND THE WORLD MISSIONARIES;
THOSE INTREPID WOMEN WHOSE FAITH AND WORKS
HAVE GIRDLED THE GLOBE WITH THE
White Ribbon.
v
Resolution.
The general spirit of the Organization on behalf of which this Book has been prepared is shown in the following Resolution, adopted by the National Women's Christian Temperance Union, at its first meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, November, 1874:
"Resolved: That, recognising the fact that our cause is, and will be, combatted by mighty, determined, and relentless forces, we will, trusting in Him who is the Prince of Peace, meet argument with argument, misjudgment with patience, denunciation with kindness, and all our difficulties and dangers with prayer."
"I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all alcoholic liquors as beverages, whether distilled, fermented or malted; from opium in all its forms; and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same."
"FOR GOD AND HOME AND EVERY LAND."
TWELVE O'CLOCK NOON.
THE WHITE RIBBON.
WOMAN'S TEMPLE, CHICAGO, U.S.A.
AND
MEMORIAL HALL. FARRINGDON ST., LONDON, ENGLAND.
vii
Preface.
WHEN we began the delicate, difficult, and dangerous operation of dissecting out the alcohol nerve from the body politic, we did not realise the intricacy of the undertaking, nor the distances that must be traversed by the scalpel of investigation and research. More than twenty years have elapsed since the call to battle sounded its bugle note among the homes and hearts of Hillsboro', Ohio. One thought, sentiment, and purpose animated those saintly "Praying Bands," whose name will never die out from human history: "Brothers, we beg of you not to drink, and not to sell!" This was the single wailing note of these moral Paganinis, playing on one string. It caught the universal ear, and set the key of that mighty orchestra, organised with so much toil and hardship, in which the tender and exalted strain of the Crusade violin still soars aloft, but upborne now by the clanging cornets of science, the deep trombones of legislation, and the thunderous drums of politics and parties. The "Do Everything Policy" was not of our choosing, but is an evolution, as inevitable as any traced by the naturalist, or described by the historian. Woman's genius for details, and her patient steadfastness in following the enemies of those she loves "through every lane of life," have led her to antagonise the alcohol habit, and the liquor traffic, just where they are, wherever that may be. If she does this, since they are everywhere, her policy will be, "Do Everything."
A one-sided movement makes one-sided advocates. Virtues, like hounds, hunt in packs. Total abstinence is not the crucial virtue in life that excuses financial crookedness, defamation of character, or habits of impurity. The fact that one's father was, and one's self is, a bright and shining light in the total abstinence galaxy, does not give one a vantage ground for high-handed behaviour toward those who have not been trained to the special virtue that forms the central idea of the Temperance Movement. We have known persons who, because they had "never touched a drop of liquor," set themselves up as if they belonged to a royal line, but whose tongues were as biting as alcohol itself, and whose narrowness had no competitor,
viii
save a straight line. An all-round can be carried forward by all-round advocates; a scientific age requires the study of every subject in its correlations. It was once supposed that light, heat, and electricity wholly separate entities; it is now believed, and practically proved, that they are but different modes of motion. Standing in the valley, we look up and think we see an isolated mountain; climbing to its top, we see that it is but one member of a range of mountains, many of them of well-nigh equal altitude.Some bright women who have opposed the "Do Everything Policy," used as their favourite illustration, a flowing river, and expatiated on the ruin that would follow if that river (which represents their Do One Thing Policy) were diverted into many channels; but it should be remembered that the most useful of all rivers is the Nile, and that the agricultural economy of Egypt consists in the effort to spread its waters upon as many fields as possible. It is not for the river's sake that it flows through the country, but for the sake of the fertility it can bring upon the adjoining fields, and this is pre-eminently true of the Temperance Reform.
Let us not be disconcerted, but stand bravely by that blessed trinity of movements, Prohibition, Woman's Liberation, and Labour's uplift.
Everything is not in the Temperance Reform, but the Temperance Reform should be in everything.
"Organised Mother Love," is the best definition of the White Ribbon Movement, and it can have no better motto than: "Make a chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes and the city of violence."
If we can remember this simple rule, it will do much to unravel the mystery of the much controverted "Do Everything Policy," viz.: that every question of practical philanthropy or reform has its temperance aspect, and with that we are to deal.
EASTNOR CASTLE, LEDBURY, ENGLAND,
June 15th, 1895.
1
Chapter I.
Declaration of Principles of the World's W.C.T.U.
WE believe in the coming of His Kingdom whose service is the highest liberty because His laws, written in our members as well as in nature and in grace, "are perfect, converting the soul."
We believe in the gospel of the Golden Rule, and that each man's habits of life should be an example safe and beneficent for every other man.
We therefore formulate, and for ourselves adopt, the following pledge, asking our brothers of a common danger and a common hope to make common cause with us, in working its reasonable and helpful precepts into the practice of every-day life.
Pledge.
"I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all Alcoholic Liquors as beverages, whether distilled, fermented or malted; from Opium in all its forms, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same."
To confirm and enforce the rationale of the pledge, we declare our purpose to educate the young; to form a better public sentiment; to reform, so far as possible, by religious, ethical and scientific means the drinking classes; to seek the transforming power of Divine grace for ourselves and all for whom we work, that they and we may wilfully transcend no law of pure and wholesome living; and finally we pledge
2
ourselves to labour and pray that all these principles founded upon the Gospel of Christ, may be worked out the customs of Society and the Laws of the Land.To this end we plead with all good women throughout Christendom to join with us heart and hand in the holy endeavour to protect and sanctify the Home as that Temple of the Holy Spirit which, next to the human body itself, is dearest of all to our Creator; that womanhood and manhood in equal purity, equal personal liberty and peace, may climb to those blest heights where there shall be no more curse.
We ask all women like-minded with us in this sacred cause, to wear the white ribbon as the badge of loyalty; to lift up their hearts with us to God at the noontide hour of prayer; to take as their motto, "For God and Home and Every Land," and to unite with us in allegiance to the foregoing declaration of principles and to the summary of our plans and purposes, as embodied in the Preamble of our Constitution adopted in Faneuil Hall, Boston, U.S.A., November 11th, 1891.
Preamble.
In the love of God and of Humanity, we, representing the Christian women of the world, band ourselves together with the solemn conviction that our united faith and works will, with God's blessing, prove healthful in creating a strong public sentiment in favour of personal purity of life, including total abstinence from the use of all narcotic poisons; the protection of the home by outlawing the traffic in alcoholic liquors, opium, tobacco and impurity; the suppression by law of gambling and Sunday desecration; the enfranchisement of the women of all nations, and the establishment of courts of national and international arbitration which shall banish war from the world.
3
Chapter II. How It All Began.
"ONCE upon a time long ago," there lived in New England a family by the name of LEWIS, whose son DIO became a famous Boston doctor and one of the best writers on health topics that America has produced. About twenty years back, near the close of his career, he made a lecture trip in the West, taking as his subject, "Our Girls," and treating of their possibilities as the "coming women" of culture and achievement, and their disadvantages by reason of the handicap involved in the unequal laws relating to marriage, to property rights, and the danger of intemperance in their homes. In the course of this lecture DR. DIO LEWIS was wont to tell the following story of his own mother's hardships: —
"There was a house full of us little folks, and my father was given over to strong drink. Every day my mother went up to the garret after he had left the house, and when she came back to us her face shone with such a heavenly light that we knew she had been talking with God.
"At last, as things grew worse with us at home, our mother one day put on her faded bonnet and shawl, and taking in her hand the Bible, that Book from which divine strength came to her, she went to the saloon where my father spent most of his time and money, and putting the sacred volume on the bar whence he was wont to lift the glass of liquor that made him and us miserable, she read in her clear voice these words, ‘Woe unto him that putteth the bottle to his neighbour's lips.’ In her mild face and tones there was such a sense of God's presence that when she asked the man behind the bar if she might pray, he not
4
only gave permission but knelt beside his casks and demijohns while she poured out her soul in fervent petition that the Holy Spirit would work in him a change of heart. That prayer was answered, and that publican never again sold intoxicating liquor to my father or to anybody else; our home became a happy one, and no child of that saintly mother, now in heaven, has ever tasted strong drink or profaned the name of God."This simple recital, coming warm from his heart, was wont to touch every heart in the assembly, and DR. LEWIS made his application with great fervor, which was that he felt confident that if the women present would unite to make to the saloon-keepers in every town and village the same appeal that had redeemed his childhood home from sin and misery, the same blessed result would follow their devotion and faith.
In many an audience DR. LEWIS urged good women to do this, and in two isolated instances they rallied to the call with encouraging results. But when at last he told his story in the little village of Hillsboro', Ohio, not far from Cincinnati, the metropolis of that great State, on December 23rd, 1873, the clock of God struck the hour for the women's Temperance Pentecost, and the movement has marched steadily on until it is now organized in every civilized country of the world.
From Hillsboro' the "Cradle," and Washington Court House the "Crown of the Crusade," the wave of sacred fire flowed out and on to every hamlet, town, and village of the West. A divine contagion was in the air; a spirit such as the people had never felt before. Bands of praying women passed and repassed, between their homes, their churches and the saloons. Sometimes they numbered a dozen or a score, but often a hundred or several times that number. They thronged the public-houses, keeping up perpetual prayer meetings; when they were not allowed to enter they
5
knelt in groups around the door. Often the publican, yielding to the mysterious influence that brooded like a dove of peace over the place, would invite the leader of the band to knock in the heads of his barrels, and while the liquid flowed into the gutter songs of praise were sung, and church bells pealed forth the people's joy. Every evening these same churches were packed with the habitues of the public-house, who came to hear more of the Gospel story; the attendance at church and Sunday school increased 100 per cent.; the saloons were well-nigh empty in many places, and in 250 towns and villages the liquor traffic was completely routed. The wildfire of the Women's Temperance Crusade spread throughout the entire Republic and Canada, and to lands beyond the sea; Australia and India, China and Japan, felt the impulse of the great rising wave. In Oriental cities many English-speaking ladies took up Gospel methods akin to those of the Crusade, and from that day a new impulse had been given to the organized work of women against the foes of God and Home and Every Land.The praying Band of Hillsboro' was led by MRS. JUDGE THOMPSON, daughter of a Governor of Ohio, a Presbyterian lady of the highest character and culture, and the famous "Crusade Psalm" was given to MRS. THOMPSON by her daughter, a young and lovely girl of eighteen, who, knowing that it was a grievous sacrifice for her conservative mother to take up work so new and strange, brought her little Bible with the words, "Mother, I have been praying for you, and then I opened my Bible to this Psalm which seems to me to contain God's marching orders for you in this crisis hour." That Psalm (the 146th) is now familiar to White Ribbon women in all lands as the "Magna Charta of the Crusade."
In the early morning this first band gathered in the
6
Presbyterian Church, and after reading this Psalm, and praying earnestly to God, marched forth two by two, with gentle "MOTHER THOMPSON" at the head, all singing, "Give to the winds thy fears," and so entered the nearest house where intoxicants were sold, and made their first appeal.The next autumn (November, 1874,) the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organized at Cleveland, Ohio, by the heroic souls who had participated in the "Whiskey War," and is now a felt force throughout the world for total abstinence, prohibition of the alcohol and opium trades, social purity, temperance education in the schools, woman's franchise, and many other forms of Christian work based on the same great principles.
The first public mention of organizing the women of the Crusade, and those like-minded with them in a world-wide movement was made in an article in Our Union, the official organ of the National W.C.T.U. in 1875 by the Corresponding Secretary of the Society. But the time was evidently not ripe for such a movement. Seven years later (1883) when on an organizing trip to the Pacific Coast and Puget Sound region I visited, in company with my true yoke-fellow, MISS ANNA GORDON, the famous "Chinatown" of San Francisco under the escort of Rev. DR. GIBSON. We there saw the opium den in all its loathsome completeness, and next door stood the house of shame. Respectable Chinese women were not allowed to accompany their husbands to California, but here were Chinese girls, one in each of many small cabins with sliding doors and windows on the street, constituting the most flagrantly flaunted temptation that we have ever witnessed. In presence of these two object lessons, the result of occidental avarice and oriental degradation, there was borne in upon my spirit a distinct illumination resulting in this solemn vow:
7
But for the Intrusion of the sea the shores of China the Far East would be part and parcel of our own. We are one world of tempted humanity; the mission of the White Ribbon women is to organize the motherhood of the world for the peace and purity, the protection and exaltation of its homes. We must send forth a clear call to our sisters yonder and our brothers too. We must be no longer hedged about by the artificial boundaries of states and nations; we must utter as women what good and great men long ago declared as their watchword: The whole world is my parish and to do good my religion.In my Annual Address the next Autumn at Detroit, this, which I believe to be one of those revelations from GOD which come to us all in hours of special spiritual uplift, was frankly placed before my comrades who, although they had no special enthusiasm, agreed to have the five General Officers constitute a committee to see what could be done. Two months later MRS. MARY CLEMENT LEAVITT of Boston, Massachusetts, who was already one of our National Organizers, and who was on her way to the Pacific Coast when the sights of San Francisco had burned themselves into my brain, had accepted a commission to make a tour of reconnoisance around the world. She started early in 1884 from San Francisco for the Hawaiian Islands. She was a brave woman or she would not have done this; she was a self-sacrificing woman or she would not have started out with the full understanding that, so far as I knew, there was no money to be had, not even for expenses. When she had organized the Hawaiian Islands and visited Australia and New Zealand, and was, I think, on her way to India, our practical women began to feel that the new enterprise was not altogether a chimera, and responded heartily to my urgent request sent broadcast throughout the land that they should contribute
8
a fund for MRS. LEAVITT. But our Intrepid pioneer to have the fund called by her name, so that it was to the "World's Fund," and applied in part to the aid of MISS GREY of London, who worked in Scandinavia, MRS. LEAVITT receiving in all about $2,000. For eight years or more MRS. LEAVITT went on unwinding the White Ribbon in Australia and New Zealand, South Africa and Madagascar, Burma, India, China, Madeira, Mauritius, Ceylon, Siam, the Straits Settlements, Corea, Japan and Europe, returning to Great Britain in 1890, and to America in 1891; since which time she has laboured in South America, revisited the Hawaiian Islands, and spent a winter in Mexico, besides making several lecture trips in the United States. No woman in the history of the world has made an expedition at once so long, varied and productive of beneficent results. In 1885, a year after MRS. LEAVITT'S departure, while following her in my thought, I read a book on the Opium Trade in India and China, and under the impulse of its unspeakable recitals I wrote the Polyglot Petition, feeling that MRS. LEAVITT must have not only the Crusade story to tell with its sober second thought of organization under the W.C.T.U., the plan of organization to describe, the White Ribbon to pin above ten thousand faithful women's hearts, the noon hour of prayer to impress upon their spirits the sense of that divine uplift which alone can give an enduring enthusiasm in any cause — but she must speak to them of something to be done and to be done at once, in which all were alike engaged in England, America, the Oriental nations, the islands of the sea and so far as possible the continent of Europe, with its great wine-growing countries which render it the least and last of all in the Temperance reform. A petition against the Liquor Traffic and the Opium Trade and asking that the statutes of the world should9
be lifted to the level of Christian morals, thus involving "White Life for Two" which had now become an integral part of our work, realized to my thought "the tie that binds" thousands of hearts and hands in one common work for the uplift of humanity. MRS. LEAVITT carried that petition to all the countries that she traversed. In 1892 she visited and worked in South America and re-visited Honolulu, and has since been engaged in lecturing before the local and state Unions of her native country, and building them up in the most holy faith of the Gospel Temperance movement. MISS ACKERMAN, the dauntless young woman who went out from California in 1888, followed in MRS. LEAVITT'S footsteps, deepening the impression made by her and adhering strictly to the same principles and plans. MISS ACKERMAN, besides having now travelled 150,000 miles, going twice around the world, organized the Australasian W.C.T.U. and became its President.The second triennial Convention of this Union was held in Sydney, May 25th, 1891, at which six Colonial Societies reported an aggregate of 290 local Unions and MRS. NICHOLLS was chosen President.
MISS ACKERMAN formed 207 local Unions in the course of her work, and from first to last has never received a penny from the World's W.C.T.U. This is not mentioned save with deep regret that the financial basis has not permitted us to put the work and workers on a firm business foundation, for as a matter of course the labourer is worthy of his hire, and we strongly desire to meet the expenses of those whom we send out; but this was not done for the first twelve years of the National W.C.T.U., nor for a longer time in most of our national auxiliaries. The annual payment of an English half-penny by every White Ribbon woman will, if faithfully followed up, give us the nucleus of
10
a fund for sending out missionaries accompanied by free literature for distribution; and until we have these we shall be at a great disadvantage in lengthening our cords and strengthening our stakes; but every new departure in the name of God and Humanity has received its impetus from the personal devotion of its adherents, and this was not more true in New Testament days than it has been in these new days of the White Ribbon.These two heroic women with MRS. ELIZABETH WHEELER ANDREW and DR. KATE BUSHNELL
Miss MARY ALLEN WEST went out to Japan in 1892, and in the few weeks before her death in that distant land she wrought with such devoted energy, that the name and memory of the White Ribbon movement is engraved on the heart of that sympathetic nation in lines never to be effaced.
Miss ALICE PALMER, of Indiana, was sent out in the spring of 1892, in response to the request of our enterprising workers in South Africa. She remained nearly three years, and placed the Society on a firm and enduring basis.
11
The policy of the World's W.C.T.U. has been to send out two classes of missionaries: one on tours of inspection and inspiration, the other to specified countries to remain as long as seemed mutually desirable. We think this is a wiser method, because these missionaries who move more rapidly form a living link between all the countries that they visit, while those who go to some one country, and become acclimated, not only in a physical, but in a mental and moral sense, carry with them the best expert knowledge of methods worked out in the countries where the reform originated, and where the most study and experience have been applied to perfect its methods of work.
In the winter of 1894, MRS. JOSEPHINE BUTLER went to Italy as Superintendent of the Purity work of the World's W.C.T.U., and in Rome she had already enlisted the interest and help of leaders of world-wide reputation and power when severe illness obliged her to relinquish her post; but in reading the recent letter of POPE LEO XIII to the English people, in which he rejoices in their "opportune measures for the repression of the degrading vice of intemperance, of Societies formed among the young men of the upper classes, for the promotion of the purity of morals, and for sustaining the honour due to womanhood," — wherein he also says, "For alas, in regard to the Christian virtue of continence, pernicious views are subtly creeping in as though it were believed that a man were not so strictly bound by the precept as a woman," — I cannot but believe that the great character and work of MRS. BUTLER bore a part in bringing this chief of ecclesiastical leaders to such a public declaration.
It would be a delight to dwell upon the pioneer work of the COUNTESS WEDEL-JARLSBERG and her friend Miss ESMARK in Norway, where a National W.C.T.U. has been
12
founded; the work of MRS. ELIZABETH SELMER, our pioneer in Denmark and organizer for the Scandinavian countries; of REV. ADAMA VON SCHELTEMA who first made known the animus of our Society in Holland, where we have now an organization with Miss M.W. DE RANITZ as Vice-President; in Germany, where MRS. MARY B. WILLARD and MRS. DR. STUCKENBURG, of Berlin, raised our flag of Total Abstinence in 1886; in Paris, where Miss DE BROEN opened head-quarters for the Society as early as 1888; in Spain, where MRS. ALICE GORDON GULICK has established in San-Sebastian, the most attractive watering place of the kingdom, a college for young women which affords the only opportunity of the higher education for the girls of Spain, and which rejoices in a "Y" organized by Miss ANNA and Miss BESSIE GORDON in 1893; in India, where MRS. JEANETTE HAUSER, its first President, travelled and formed groups of White Ribboners, endured great hardships, and is now followed by MRS. PHILLIPS, our second President, whose zeal is all aflame for our Society, and who carries on the paper, The White Ribbon, first brought out by MRS. HAUSER, and is building it up into a most helpful adjunct of our cause in a difficult field.Time would fail me to tell of the Christian ministers and missionaries in every country who have been practically our base of operations. As a matter of course it has been only their hospitality, not alone toward our workers, but toward the ideas and principles they carried with them, that has made it possible for us to secure a footing in any missionary country; The ground had been prepared before us, and the great company of faithful men and women who had preceded our workers on the frontier line of Christian civilization warmly supported them in all their efforts to
13
spread the propaganda of Home Protection through the hearts and hands of the home makers.No attempt is made to describe the origin of the work in the United States, Great Britain and Canada, for the manifest reason that each would require more pages than are included in this little book. "MOTHER" STEWART, of Ohio, U.S.A., and MRS. MARGARET PARKER, of England, will always be gratefully remembered as the founders of the B.W.T.A., and MRS. LETITIA YOUMANS as Canada's chief pioneer.
MRS. MARGARET BRIGHT LUCAS, sister of JOHN BRIGHT, and President of the British Women's Temperance Association, was for six years President of the World's W.C.T.U. (1884-1890), accepting this position by request of her American sisters. MRS. LUCAS had given her whole life to the work of philanthropy and reform. She was not only a devoted Temperance woman, but an equally devoted Woman Suffragist; and having been placed at the head of the new and world-embracing movement, she adventured across the Atlantic after she was seventy years of age, and attended the twelfth Annual Meeting of the National W.C.T.U., held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The tender womanliness of MRS. LUCAS endeared her to her American sisters, who felt deeply grateful to her for coming so far to see them; and her visit formed the strongest tie between the two great groups of White Ribboners until the one formed by the coming of LADY HENRY SOMERSET in 1891.
The influence of this statesmanlike administrator and speaker on the White Ribbon movement might well be the subject of a volume. Unspoiled by rank or wealth, LADY HENRY SOMERSET has consecrated her great gifts to the great cause, and by her ability and devotion won the love of the White Ribboners of every land.
14
Chapter III.
Name.
WHEN the women of the Crusade met in 1874, they determined to organize their work in a systematic and permanent manner. And the first question was, What shall we call the new Society?
First of all it was formed exclusively of women, because they felt that if men had an equal place in its councils their greater knowledge of Parliamentary usage, and their more aggressive nature would soon place women in the background, and deprive them of the power of learning by experiences so that in some future day they might be true co-partners with their brothers in an organized effort to help the world to loftier heights of purity in conduct and character.
The word Temperance must come into the name as a matter of course. To them it meant the moderate use of all things good, and total abstinence from all things questionable or harmful. And as their knowledge grew it came to mean the total prohibition of the liquor traffic, the opium trade, the gambling den, the haunt of infamy; and in later times it came to mean also alliance with the great labour movement for purposes of mutual defence, and the enfranchisement of woman, that her influence might be brought to bear at the point where an opinion passes into a ballot and a conviction is wrought into a law.
The word Union had acquired new meanings to the
15
Crusaders who went outside denominational hedges upon the broad highways of humanity. It was a revelation of the man-made qualities of sectarianism in every form, so that the crusade women extended their hands to grasp any that were held out to them in loyalty to the Gospel of peace and good-will, no matter whether the woman thus coming to the rescue was Protestant, Catholics or a member of no church whatever. The Crusaders believed that it was for them to pass along "like bread at sacrament," the blessed cause to which they had pledged their utmost devotion, and that whoever came into this circle of organized motherhood could not fail to come nearer to Him Who said, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me."The word Christian was the only one about which there was debate. Some said that if we incorporated it into our Society "we should shut out the Jews." But others insisted that since we had no creed test this result need not be feared. Some said if we nailed the flag of Christ to the masthead of the new ship which we were launching in a stormy sea, "we should not have so large a following." But the great majority declared that we did not come together to seek a following, but to lift up an ensign with the motto, "Falter who must; follow who dare." Quality not quantity was what we sought, and all those like-minded with the women, who by this Union endeavoured to protect the home, were welcome to its fireside and its altar. When the vote was taken on including the word Christian, the affirmative was supported with practical unanimity.
The Motto.
"For God and Home and Native Land." This came to me one morning when I woke, and I recommended it to our Local Union in Chicago. It was soon after adopted by
16
the State of Illinois; later by the National W.C.T.U. of the United States; and finally by the World's W.C.T.U., with the alteration of "Every Land."The Badge.
In 1877, at the National W.C.T.U. Convention in Farwell Hall, Chicago, there was much controversy as to what should be our badge. Some advocated royal purple, and some the red, white and blue. Miss MARGARET WINSLOW, of Brooklyn, New York, the author of several excellent Temperance books, and at that time the editor of our national organ, rose at the crisis of the debate and made an inspired speech on the superior symbolic meaning of the white ribbon as our badge. Her argument was so convincing, and her inspiration so impressive, that her motion was at once adopted.
The Noon-Tide Hour of Prayer.
The inspiration of prayer was the foundation of the Women's Temperance Crusade; it was God's Pentecost in the homes of the people. And the fact that the noon-tide hour of prayer is now being observed, not only throughout the White Ribbon ranks, but by the mighty host of the Salvation Army, Christian Endeavour Society, the International Women's and Young Women's Christian Associations, the Christian Worker's League, and many other great Societies, is the most significant token of sustained power that can be mentioned in the history of reform. We believe that this mighty prayer wave shall move on until the militant host of God shall include in its manual of arms the attitude and uplift of prayer, whenever the noon-tide sun stands forth as the symbol of that Sun of Righteousness which shall arise with healing in His beams, when and wherever the heart of man is open to let those beams shine in as a purifying and regenerating presence.
17
Chapter IV. The Polyglot Petition for Home Protection.
HONOURED RULERS, REPRESENTATIVES, AND BROTHERS, — We, your petitioners, although belonging to the physically weaker sex, are strong of heart to love our homes, our native land, and the world's family of nations. We know that clear brains and pure hearts make honest lives and happy homes, and that by these the nations prosper and the time is brought nearer when the world shall be at peace. We know that indulgence in Alcohol and Opium, and in other vices which disgrace our social life, makes misery for all the world, and most of all for us and for our children. We know that stimulants and opiates are sold under legal guarantees which make the Governments partners in the traffic, by accepting as revenue a portion of the profits, and we know with shame that they are often forced by treaty upon populations either ignorant or unwilling. We know that the law might do much now left undone to raise the moral tone of society and render vice difficult. We have no power to prevent these great iniquities, beneath which the whole world groans, but you have power to redeem the honour of the nations from an indefensible complicity. We, therefore, come to you with the united voices of representative women of every, land, beseeching you to raise the standard of the law to that of Christian morals, to strip away the safeguards and sanctions
18
of the State from the drink traffic and the opium trade, and to protect our homes by the total prohibition of these curses of civilization throughout all the territory over which your Government extends.According to my best recollection this Petition was written in the year 1884 in my workshop at Rest Cottage, Evanston, Ill., after reading a book on current reforms, in which the evils of the opium trade were set forth with remarkable clearness and power. Its first presentation to a Convention was by MRS. MARY BANNISTER WILLARD, at the International Temperance Congress at Antwerp, Belgium, September 12th, 1885.
It was festooned in Faneuil Hall, Boston, at the first World's W.C.T.U. Convention November, 1891, and in Tremont Temple, in the same city, at the Annual Meeting of the National W.C.T.U. which immediately followed. It was first publicly presented in Washington, D.C., February 15th, 1895, where it decorated the great "Convention Hall," holding 7,000 people.
My address on that occasion is here given as it embodies a complete history of the Petition up to that time: —
Home protection is the keyword of woman's work. Manufacturers seek the tariff for the purpose of protection to industries, adult and infant; trades unions are founded to protect the wage-earners from the aggressions of capital, and corporations and monopolies to protect from the encroachment of competition; but ten thousand groups of loyal-hearted mothers and wives, sisters and daughters have formed for the purpose of acting in an organized capacity as protectors of their home, the tempted youth and the little
19
child. For this cause "there are bands of ribbon white around the world," and this Polyglot Petition is but our prayer that "tells out" a purpose of our hearts and heads wrought into a plea before the nations of the world. It is the protest of the world's wifehood and motherhood, its sisterhood and daughterhood — a protest "in sorrow not in anger."We expect to present this Petition to representatives of every civilized government. This cannot be done in the usual form, because when once received this Magna Charta of the home would become the property of the various legislatures and parliaments, and our plan requires that it be conveyed from one to another. We are also aware that in a legal and technical sense no government accepts the signatures of those outside its own barriers. We have therefore preferred to make our Petition a great popular testimonial against the enemies of the home, but we expect that its presentation will give an added impetus to progressive legislation against the liquor traffic, the opium trade, the gambling den, the house of shame. For, while the last two are not specifically named, they are so closely interwoven with the traffic in alcohol and opium that the spirit of the Petition necessarily includes them all.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union has circulated many petitions. The number of signatures and attestations secured throughout the world to our different petitions in the last twenty years aggregates not fewer than fifteen millions of names — probably twenty millions would be nearer the truth. In this estimate I include the memorials and petitions for scientific Temperance education in the public schools, also for laws raising the age of consent and otherwise involving the better protection of women, not to speak of the anti-cigarette crusade and numberless local petitions circulated
20
by the faithful hands of White Ribbon women. We are therefore veterans in our knowledge of petition works and for this reason are perfectly aware that the best outcome of such undertakings is the agitation and consequent education that come to those who affix their signatures, or who by resolution make the prayer of the Petition their own. For example, in the State of Illinois in 1878 we circulated a "Home Protection Petition," asking that "since woman is the born conservator of home, and the nearest natural protector of her children, she should have a voice in the decision by which the dram-shop is opened or is closed over against her home." Two hundred thousand names were secured in a few weeks, some of us travelling from town to town for this purpose, and remaining for months at Springfield, the capital, in the hope that the legislature would adopt the "Hinds bill," based upon this righteous plea. I need not say that we were wholly unsuccessful with that legislature. Not for that end was it born; not for that cause did it sit in the great State-house among the corn-fields of the Prairie state and near the tomb of the immortal ABRAHAM LINCOLN. On the contrary it was a legislature chosen for no other purpose so explicitly as to legislate in the interest of the Peoria distillery, the Chicago brewery, and the Illinois saloons, in which the "middle men" of those great monopolies dealt out their deadly product. But the reflex influence of the petition work upon the home folk of Illinois was such that under our local option law, in six hundred out of eight hundred towns, the popular vote that year was registered against the dram-shop, a larger percentage of Temperance votes, I grieve to add, than my State had ever cast before or has cast since up to this day.We prize the Polyglot Petition work because it has
21
afforded a nucleus around which women may rally. It has furnished immediate work to new and distant societies which was essential to their success. The Petition has also been the peg upon which has been hung paragraphs and presentation speeches, sermons and songs in every part of Christendom — and the end is not yet; nay, the beginning is hardly here. Because we are patriots we have come to the capital of our native land to present this Petition first of all in the country in which it originated, and which has sent out all the White Ribbon missionaries who have secured its circulation in foreign countries. The greatest number of names, endorsements, and attestations has been secured in our own country, and next to ours in Great Britain. Miss GWENLLIAN MORGAN, of Wales, has superintended this work in the mother country, under the untiring and efficient leadership of the President.We greatly regret that none of our round-the-world missionaries could be present on this occasion, toward which they and we have looked forward so long, and which their faithful work has alone made possible. It is well known to most of those present that MRS. MARY CLEMENT LEAVITT, of Boston, our first round-the-world missionary, and the Honorary President of the World's W.C.T.U., was the first who went forth with the Petition in 1884. MRS. LEAVITT was absent nine years, during which she visited practically every nation of the world. So far as I am aware there is no one, either man or woman, who has ever made a journey extending over so long a time and so wide an area as that of MRS. LEAVITT, without money — except as we collected three thousand dollars in small sums from our members after she had gone forth single-handed and alone. MRS. LEAVITT was followed by Miss JESSIE ACKERMAN, of California, who honeycombed Australasia with local unions, federating them
22
into a National W.C.T.U. of their own of which she became president. She also traversed all the Oriental countries, and in her seven years of journeying covered a distance nearly equal to seven times round the world. The journeys of MRS. ELIZABETH WHEELER ANDREW and DR. KATE BUSHNELL came next, and have resulted in the breaking down of the system of legalized vice in the Indian Empire, and bringing to light the hidden things of darkness in the opium trade of India and China. Miss MARY ALLEN WEST went to Japan with the expectation of following up the work of the White Ribbon missionaries who had preceded her, but after a few weeks of heroic exertion she passed away, leaving a memory that is hallowed by all good people in the beautiful Empire.But time would fail me to tell of the earnest women who have circulated this Petition in every nation. We could not have secured signatures in Oriental countries but for the co-operation of the denominational missionaries who have been most faithful and devoted.
The labour of sending out blank petitions for signatures was largely carried on by our lamented MRS. MARY A. WOODBRIDGE, of Chicago, Corresponding Secretary of the World's and National W.C.T.U. They were gathered in and acknowledged by Miss ALICE E. BRIGGS, for years the Office Secretary of the World's W.C.T.U. at the Temple, Chicago, and were mounted on white muslin by MRS. REBECCA C. SHUMAN, of Evanston, Ill., the seat of Northwestern University. The dimensions of the task which MRS. SHUMAN undertook may be imagined from the fact that the aggregate of time she has already spent amounts to about two years of steady work. The signatures came to hand in fifty languages; they are of all sorts and sizes, and were to be trimmed and prepared for mounting as compactly as possible on interminable webs of muslin,
23
one-half yard in width, one edge of which is bound with red, the other with blue ribbon — red, white and blue being the prevalent colors of the flags of all nations and the symbolic badges of the great Temperance movement of modern times.The names are necessarily mounted somewhat irregularly, but they average four columns abreast, making, in reality, a quadruple petition, with about one hundred names to the yard in each column. MRS. SHUMAN has now mounted 1,928 yards, or over one mile of canvas — making five miles of names written solidly, one under the other — 771,200 in all. This is exclusive of about 350,000 names that came from Great Britain already mounted, making the total of 1,121,200 actual names on the document that will be submitted to PRESIDENT CLEVELAND. Besides these, there are hundreds of thousands of names yet waiting to be added to the long roll. Nor will we ever rest until we have 2,000,000 actual names, besides the present 5,000,000 additional signers by attestation.
It must be remembered that the signatures to this Petition are of three kinds. First the names of women; second, the written indorsements of men; third, the attestations of officers of societies which have indorsed the Petition by resolution or otherwise. The document has been circulated in fifty nations, and in the three ways stated has received over 7,000,000 signatures. The total number of actual signatures from outside the United States is 480,000. Great Britain, with LADY HENRY SOMERSET'S name at the head, leads the procession with its 350,000, Canada comes next with 67,000. Burma follows with 32,000, and Ceylon, Australia, Denmark, China, India and Mexico follow, with all the others coming after.
Though this is a woman's petition, it should be noted that
24
it is indorsed by perhaps 1,000,000 men — some by signatures, but most by the attestation of the officers of societies to which they belong. Even from far-off Ceylon, which we are accustomed to think of as a small island of dusky savages, come the signatures of 27,000 men, who call for the cessation of the liquor and opium traffic. The following are the| 1. United States — 44 states and 5 territories. 2. Alaska, U.S.A. 3. Canada — Nova Scotia. New Brunswick. Prince Edward Island. Quebec. Ontario. Manitoba. British Columbia. 4. Newfoundland, Brit. Amer. 5. Jamaica 6. Bahamas, West Indies. 7. Tasmania. 8. New Zealand. 9. Queensland, Australia. 10. New South Wales, Australia. 11. Victoria, Australia. 12. Micronesia. 13. Madagascar. 14. South Africa. 15. France, Europe. 16. South Australia. 17. Belgium, Europe. 18. Burma, Asia. 19. Chile, South America. 20. Congo, Africa. 21. Denmark, Europe. |
22. Holland, Europe. 23. Madeira Islands. 24. Mexico. 25. Norway, Europe. 26. Sweden, Europe. 27. Spain, Europe. 28. Uruguay, South America. 29. Brazil, South America. 30. England, Europe. 31. Scotland, Europe. 32. Ireland, Europe. 33. Wales, Europe. 34. Bulgaria, Europe. 35. Ceylon. 36. China, Asia. 37. Japan, Asia. 38. Corea, Asia. 39. Egypt, Africa. 40. Finland, Europe. 41. Russia, Europe. 42. Turkey, Europe. 43. Hawaii. 44. India, Asia. 45. Martinique Island. 46. Siam, Asia. 47. West Africa. 48. Angola, Africa. 49. Transvaal, Africa. |
25
To enumerate the languages in whose characters the beliefs of women have been moulded to action by this far-reaching document, would be to make a list of almost every tongue that has survived the confusion of Babel. There are columns of Chinese women's signatures that look like houses that Jack built. There is a list of Burmese signatures that looks like bunches of "tangled worms." The thousands upon thousands from the spicy Isle of Ceylon are enough to make a shorthand man shudder; the incomprehensible but liquid vowels of the Hawaiian Kanaka jostle the proud names of English ladies of high degree; the Spanish of haughty senoras of Madrid makes the same plea as the "her mark" of the converted woman of the Congo. There are Spanish names from Mexico and the South American Republics, French from Martinique, Dutch from Natal and English from New Zealand, besides the great home petition from the greater nations. The total, counting men's and women's signatures, indorsements and attestations, aggregate seven and one-half millions.
In making this Petition we claim that we are entirely constitutional, inasmuch as the right to sign "has not been denied or abridged on account of race, colour or previous condition of servitude." Perhaps this is the reason why we have secured many names of reformed men, and why Catholic, Protestant and Pagan have all been represented.
It would be invidious to mention the names of signers, but they represent every grade of human life, and the great procession is headed by the name of NEAL DOW, the father of prohibitory law who signed when over ninety years of age, and who is hale and hearty, and would be with us to-night but for the severity of the weather in his own piney woods of Maine. Scientists teach that every signature involves somewhat of personality, not only in
26
the appearance of the autograph itself, but by the impartation of individual particles that surround every one, and which project themselves into every deed that we perform. That this is true is more than likely, so when we consider that every nation, tribe and people of the earth, almost, is represented; when we reflect that these infinitely varied autographs representing persons born and bred under equally varying conditions have found in this Petition against the greatest curses of the world their focusing point, there is reason to believe that by God's good providence we have in the Polyglot Petition the promise and potency of the better time when by the personal interdict of a higher intelligence and the conclusive law of social custom the sale of intoxicating drinks and opium shall be banned and banished from the world. In that day the laws for which the Great Petition asks and which we believe must be enacted as the most cogent means of education for the people, will no longer be required, but every human being will enact in the legislature of his own intellect a prohibitory law for one and enforce that law by the executive of his own will."It will come by and by, when the race out of childhood has grown."
It is more than ten years since the Petition was written; if I had to re-write it I should assuredly include the enfranchisement of women among the requests it specifies, for I believe that our Heavenly Father will not suffer men alone to work out the great redemption of the race from the bewilderment of drink, the hallucination of opium and the brutal delirium of impurity. Hand in hand we have traversed the Sahara of ignorance and escaped from the City of Destruction; hand in hand let us mount the heights of knowledge, purity and peace.
On the afternoon of February 19th, the General Officers
27
of the World's and National W.C.T.U. with the President of the White Ribboners of the District of Columbia granted an interview with PRESIDENT CLEVELAND at the Executive Mansion, when it became my duty to speak, which I did briefly as follows: —"Mr. President: — The Polyglot Petition addressed to the Governments of the world and calling for the prohibition of the traffic in alcoholic liquors as a drink, the prohibition of the opium traffic and all forms of legalized social vice, has been signed by half a million citizens of this Republic, and by means of signatures, indorsements and attestations includes seven and a half million adherents in fifty different nationalities. This Petition has been circulated by the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and will be presented to all the leading Governments. Inasmuch as the Petition originated and has been most largely signed in the United States, it is hereby respectfully brought to your attention, not on any legal ground, but because it is addressed to the Governments of the world and you are the executive chief of this government."
After placing a copy of the Petition in the President's hands, MRS. CLARA C. HOFFMAN, Recording Secretary of the National W.C.T.U., read the document with remarkable impressiveness, and I resumed: —
"Mr. President: — We are aware that the Petition just read in your hearing cannot come before you as a legal document, but rather as art expression of the opinion and sentiment of a great multitude of your countrywomen who believe that if its prayer were granted, the better protection of the home would be secured. Knowing how difficult it was for you to grant us this hearing at a time when you are even more than usually weighted with great responsibilities, we have forborne to bring the Great Petition to the White
28
House. Permit me to hand you this attested copy and to thank you on behalf of this delegation representing the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in this and other lands, for the kind reception you have given to our delegation."The President made one of those courteous and wholly non-committal replies to which White Ribboners are accustomed to listen from political leaders, after which the delegation withdrew.
29
Chapter V.
Organization.
ALONE we can do little. Separated, we are the units of weakness; but aggregated we become batteries of power. Agitate, educate, organize, these are the deathless watchwords of success. The fingers of the hands can do little alone, but correlated into a fist they become formidable. The plank borne here and there by the sport of the wave is an image of imbecility, but frame a thousand planks of heart of oak into a hull, put in your engine with its heart of fire, fit out your ship, and it shall cross at a right angle those same waves to the port it has purposed to attain. We want all those like-minded with us, who would put down the dramshop, exalt the home, redeem manhood, and uplift womanhood, to join hands with us for organized work according to a plan. It took the allied armies to win at Waterloo, and the alcohol Napoleon will capitulate to a no less mighty army.
It is the way commerce has marched across the continents and captured them for civilization — one by one; it is the way an army is recruited — one by one; it is the way Christ's Church is built up into power, and heaven adds to its souls redeemed — just one by one.
Women of the Church, the Home, the School, will you not rally to the holy call of individual responsibility and systematically united effort?
For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
And the good that you can do!"
30
The human biped is a timid creature, who loves to march in platoons rather than to strike out swiftly and alone; but he carries a jewel behind the forehead, and is therefore the single sentient creature concerning whom there is hope, You can change his opinions though they are bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, and dearer to him than his own right eye. There are forces that can disintegrate from the Igneous rocks of his prejudice the broader stratifications of kindlier custom and more righteous law. What with "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little" of persuasion founded upon justice, the work is done.
In the morning of its life every movement for man's elevation shines out with a light like that of REMBRANDT'S picture, narrow, but intense. As the day deepens, the light becomes like that in RAPHAEL'S pictures, broad and all-comprehending. So it is with Christianity, and so, as White Ribboners steadfastly believe; it will be with that great Temperance Reform which was born of the Gospel, and has been designated by that intrepid leader, LADY HENRY SOMERSET, as "an embodied prayer."
He who climbs, sees. Poets tell us of
Toward which the whole creation moves."
And in this mighty movement towards the power that organization only can bestow, what end have we in view? Is it fame, fortune, leadership? Not as I read women's hearts, who have known them long and well. It is for love's sake, — for the bringing in of peace on earth, good will to men. The two supreme attractions in nature are gravitation and cohesion. That of cohesion attracts atom to atom, that of gravitation attracts all atoms to a common centre. We find in this the most conclusive figure of the supremacy of love to God over any human love, the true
31
relation of human to the love divine, and the conclusive proof that in organizing for the greatest number's greatest goods we do but "think God's thoughts after Him."White Ribbon Women distinctly disavow any banding together of women as malcontents or hostiles toward the correlated other half of the human race. Brute force, to our mind, means custom as opposed to reason, prejudice as the antagonist to fair play, and precedent as the foe of common sense.
It was a beautiful saying of the earlier Methodists, when they avowed a holy life, "I feel nothing contrary to love." But the widening march of Christianity has given a wonderfully practical sense to such words, and we actually mean here to-day that whatever in custom or law is contrary to that love of one's neighbour which would give to him or her all the rights and privileges that one's self enjoys, is but a relic of brute force, and is to be cast out as evil.
And because woman in our most civilized nation is still so related to the law that the father can will away an unborn child, and that a girl of seven or ten years old is held to be the equal partner in a crime where another and a stronger is principal; because she is in so many ways hampered and harmed by laws and customs pertaining to the past, we reach out hands of help especially to her that she may overtake the swift marching procession of progress, for its sake that it may not slacken its speed on her account as much as for her's that she be not left behind. We thus represent the human rather than the woman question, and our voices unite to do that which the President of the New York Woman's Club beautifully said in a late letter to the Club of Bombay: —
32
It has been well said that
"No association of philanthropic workers has touched so many springs of praise and blame, of love and hate, and become equally distinguished for the friends it has won and the enemies it has made and the proof of the effectiveness of the mission undertaken is easy to find on the very surface of things. Cursed at the bar of the legalised dram shop; hissed on the floor of the Beer Brewers' Congress; scorned by conventions of political parties; misrepresented by the all-powerful press; denied its prayer, in the halls of legislation; sneered at in palaces of fashion, where the wine-glass tempts to destroy; criticised by conservative pulpits; and unwelcome often in the Christian church, it has been left to this organization of ballotless women to arouse all classes of opposers and find for themselves the hate of hate. But, on the other hand, blessed by the fevered lips of the drunkard ready to perish; sought by the wandering feet of the boy or girl who went astray; hallowed by loving thoughts at thousands of firesides; baptized with holy tears by the mothers whose battle it wages; perfumed by the stainless prayers of little children; endorsed by the expressed principles of organized Christianity; sustained by the highest and freshest authorities in the scientific world; praised by lips grown careful through statesmanlike speech; believed in by the best, trusted by the most needy, it has been granted us also to find the ‘love of love.’"
As a working hypothesis, no age and no race of men can ever go beyond CHRIST'S simple dictum, "The kingdom of heaven is within you." It cometh not by observation; that is, it cometh not suddenly, but little by little, imperceptibly as one particle after another is added to one's stature, so by
33
every thought, word and deed, that kingdom has woven its warp and woof, wrought out its wonderful beauty in our own breasts. All pure habits, all health and sanity of brain, make for the kingdom of heaven. The steady pulse, the calm and quiet thought, the splendid equipoise of will, the patient industry that forges right straight on and cannot be abashed or turned aside, these make for the kingdom of heaven. The helpful hand outstretched to whatsoever beside us may crawl or creep, or cling or climb, is a hand whose very motion is part of the dynamic forces of the kingdom of heaven. The spirit of God, by its divine alchemy, works in us to transform, to recreate, to vivify our entire being, in spirit, soul, and body, until we ourselves incarnate a little section of the kingdom of heaven.The deepest billows are away out at sea; they never come in sight of shore. These waves are like the years of God. Upon the shore line of our earthly life come the waves of the swift years; they bound and break and are no more. But far out upon eternity's bosom are the great, wide, endless waves that make the years of God; they never strike upon the shore of time. In all the flurry and the foam about us, let us bend our heads to listen to the great anthem of that far-off sea, for our life barks shall soon be cradled there; we are but building here, the launch is not far off, and then the boundless ocean of the years of God.
Total Abstinence.
We as White Ribboners know that alcohol acts upon the nerves as the soft pedal acts upon the wires of the piano; it deadens them so that they think cold is not cold, heat is not heat, trouble is not trouble. But this deadening effect is a delusion during which the law of periodicity binds men
34
with its pitiless chain; one day they have the drink, the gambling, the tobacco habit: the next day it has them.The only place in the world in which a man under sentence of death can secure a substitute, for money, is China; and the man agreeing to act as that substitute distributes the money he is to receive among his relatives, calls for his opium pipe, and goes his way out of the world. The power of narcotics over the human brain has in this fact its strongest and its most deplorable illustration.
The W.C.T.U. should add to its pledge in distinct terms, total abstinence from opium in all its forms, from chloral, and every other narcotic.
The human brain with its fair, delicate, mystical filaments, is God's night-blooming cereus, its white radiance for ever enclosed and shut away from sight, within the close crypt of the skull, but exhaling its fragrance in poetry, and revealing its deep, pure heart in science, philosophy, religion. Our W.C.T.U. women would keep that sacred blossom ever pure, fair and fragrant with God's truth and heaven's immortality.
The man who says, "I can carry more liquor than any other drinker in the town, and yet keep a level head," gives by that claim an inventory of goods already badly damaged. For since alcohol is pre-eminently a brain poison, men of most brain grow dizzy first, and Hottentots stand steady longest, while genius shrivels under drink like a snow wreath in the sun. As civilization becomes complex the brain acquires more convolutions to the square inch, and its delicate tissues are torn more ruthlessly by the coarse intruder, alcohol. By parity of reasoning, the more complex is the civilization developed, the more vital will it be that those who handle its fine mechanism shall have all their keenly-trained powers keyed up to concert pitch. The brain must think with lightning speed; the hand must be
35
steadfast as steel, the pulse must beat strong yet true, if a great commercial nation is to hold its own with the forces of chemistry, electricity, and invention now on the field.Temperance workers can hardly over-estimate the value to the total abstinence cause of the multiplying modern inventions that put such a splendid premium upon teetotalism. The sure, slow lift of civilization's tidal wave is with use Even as the farmer's crops grow most while he is sleeping, so ten thousand forces are perpetually at work in this great laboratory of the world, to move forward the white car of temperance reform. We who give our whole lives to the movement are hardly more than the weather-vane that shows which way the wind is blowing.
And, best of all, that blessed principle, the correlation of forces, makes it certain that personal total abstinence means prohibition law and prohibition politics; the man who doesn't drink is glad to help vote out the dram-shop, and has, as a rule, come to the clearer vision that since women are, as a class, total abstainers, their votes can, as a rule, be counted on to help put the liquor traffic under ban of law.
Let us then rejoice and take courage. The electric light fights against the Sisera of rum; every witty invention every intricate machine, every swift moving engine hastens the dominance of Him upon whose shoulder shall yet be a government, "into which shall enter nothing that defileth, neither whatsoever maketh a lie."
I wish we might have a pocket folder printed with our reasons for Total Abstinence, and I offer the following for that purpose as they embody my own and, as I believe, your positions briefly stated. First, modern science proves that alcohol is not helpful to any vital process. It is the enemy of vitality. It over
36
works the organs with which it comes in contact, inducing needless friction.Second, the appetite for alcoholic drinks is cumulative. It has no power of self-restriction, It grows by what it feeds on. One glass calls for two, two for three, and so on in dangerous ratio.
Third, the life of a drinking man is apt to be divided into two chapters of a very tragic serial, in the first of which he could have left off if he would, and in the second he would have left off if he could.
Fourth, the power of habit is practically omnipotent. The power of will to cope with it has been proven insufficient. The grooves of action are quickly worn. No harm results from doing without alcohol, but absolute good has been proven to result from such abstinence. Therefore, as a friend to myself and the special guardian of my own well-being, I am bound to let intoxicating liquors alone; and by the terms of Christ's Golden Rule I am equally bound to let them alone because of my interest in the well-being of those about me and because of my purpose, by God's grace, to invest my life in hastening the day when all men's weal shall be each man's care.
The beautiful brain that can think out an epic, compose a symphony, transfigure a canvas, invent an engine, a telephone, an airship, we are in the fight for its freedom and integrity — the holiest fight this side Jehovah's throne.
Prohibition.
This great subject is not treated specifically in this book; but forms with Total Abstinence the warp of its woof from the first page to the last. All the work that we do is based on a prohibitory law for one, enacted by himself and the prohibition of the legalized sale of intoxicating liquors as
37
beverages enacted by the town, county, state or nation. Whatever tends directly to this result, viz., restricted hours of sale, Sunday closing, prohibition of the sale to minors and drunkards, we, as White Ribbon women, will strongly favour and do our utmost to enact In law and to enforce in fact; but whatever tends to add respectability and permanence to the liquor system we oppose, viz., license or high license in all their fluctuating forms and under the various disguises that they so readily assume. We believe that "what the law says is property, is property," and that alcoholic liquors give no equivalent for value received but are only a form of investment, the most delusive In the world, producing no wealth and destroying the wealth-producing power of the drinker in exact proportion to the amount he drinks. Therefore, we think that when the State says that alcoholic drinks are property and shall be protected as such, the first great fallacy in Government has been enacted. The pocket-book nerve is the only one that vibrates throughout the liquor system, except when it allies itself with the ambitions of men by entering the political arena. To help dissect out the pocket-book and the political nerves from this same liquor system is the Herculean task to which White Ribbon women have set their hands. Whenever in any country the Government allies itself with the effort to secure Prohibition we co-operate with "the powers that be" to the utmost of our own power. We cannot consent, as an organization, to stand in relations of equal friendliness towards one party that ignores, another that opposes, and a third that espouses the cause of Prohibition. We have, therefore, in some countries, favored the formation of a new party, which in our thought we always call the Home Protection Party, by which we mean, that it is made up of a body of voters who are committed to protect the home and to outlaw the38
dram shop. This party always places equal suffrage for and woman as a plank in its platform, and is strongly sympathetic with the cause of labour and purity. Indeed, It may be said to be the political exponent of the modern spirit. Whether it comes to power or not, such a party, in the widest possible sense, is an educator of public opinion; and as such we believe that White Ribbon women, as a rule, will find it to be a strategic movement no less than the dictate of conscience to favour such a political organization. Nothing then they can do will bring them greater contradiction, criticism and obloquy, but they have learned to "endure hardness as good soldiers," and they know "it will be better farther on."I have said little in this book about the ballot for women, because that is part and parcel of our Prohibition cause — the two sink or rise together, I do not know a White Ribbon woman who is not a Prohibitionist, a Woman-suffragist, a Purity worker, and an earnest sympathiser with the Labour Movement. These four corner-stones of the new Temple of the people's weal, are being hewn out of the same quarry, and whoever works for one works for the other.
Evangelistic Work.
White Ribboners believe that the motherly ministrations of women in sacred things must be universally recognized before the world learns the simplicity and purity of primitive Christian living. Not until they are all "with one accord in one place" will the universal pentecost descend into the hearts of men and women. We believe in the inward call that leads to personal consecration and divine enthusiasm, and that this call is always attested by character and conduct, adaptation to the work, and success in it. Not until all these agree in one would our Superintendent of
39
Evangelistic Work give an Evangelist's certificate to a graduate, no matter how brilliant, from university theological school. We believe that holy women of God "speak as they are moved of the Holy Spirit" to-day as they did in ancient time when MIRIAM sang, DEBORAH ruled, and ANNA prophesied. The crusade fire was fed by heavenly inspirations; the Spirit of God brooded in the air and men felt its presence as they walked the streets. The church bell's call was, Come, and thousands of degraded men were welcomed within its hospitable walls; they followed the praying bands from the public-houses to the altars of God. With such an origin and history the White Ribbon movement is, in the widest sense, a new birth of Christian womanhood into Home and Foreign Missionary work. The literature of this department is rich, inspiring and practical. Women who read these lines and wish to know more of this great subject, too large to be adequately treated in this book; women who feel an inward persuasion that they could speak comfortably to the people about the better life, are earnestly desired to confer with our leaders in this blessed work, Miss ELIZABETH W. GREENWOOD, 151, Remsen Street, Brooklyn, New York, and Miss MARY GORHAM, Judde Place, Tonbridge, Kent, England.Purity.
The three-fold work of the World's W.C.T.U. — subdivided though it is into thirty or more departments — is Temperance, Purity, and the Enfranchisement of Women. While it warmly sympathises with the Labour movement and maintains fraternal relations with its leaders and lends a hand to make that great propaganda better understood, these three grand divisions of our one work stand out like the mountain tops of a great range, and no peak rises into
40
the sky of faith with a robe of snow-white ermine more radiant to the eye than that central one called Purity.In 1886, following the disclosures of MR. W. T. STEAD and the action of the British Parliament raising the age of consent to sixteen years, a new department was formed by the National W.C.T.U. of the United States, and work for Purity became an integral part of its plan. This keynote has been caught by our auxiliaries in all countries, and a most interesting volume might be written giving the experiences of our workers in securing better laws for the protection of women and having their eyes opened to the necessity of obtaining the ballot for themselves as the strongest possible adjunct to that agitation and education of public sentiment which finds its natural outcome in "sweeter manners, purer laws." The tide of indignation against those who manifest the most revolting forms of cruelty toward women has now risen so high that in Colorado last winter a law was adopted placing the age of consent at 21 years. It seems to me this is hardly fair to our young brothers in the bewildered years of their second decade. We must not forget that if every girl is some man's daughter, every boy is some woman's son. There must be no inequality of right. "Prevention," "Reformation," "Legislation": these are our watchwords, and along these lines we mean with God's help steadily to push the battle. Purity literature has been carefully prepared both by the W.T.P.A. (Chicago), and the White Ribbon Publishing Company, in London. This teaches mothers how to forewarn and forearm their little ones, so that the pure word shall have the right-of-way before the impure has wrought its deadly work; and is so varied as to be suited to the needs of all classes and conditions of men and women.
Industrial homes for degraded women have been established
41
and sixteen midnight missions or refuges opened by the philanthropist, CHARLES N. CRITTENTON, of New York City, in memory of his own little daughter, at whose death he consecrated himself to work for girls who, though alive, are a greater grief to those who love them than if they had passed away in their years of innocence. MR. CRITTENTON expects to make a trip around the world establishing these missions, and we hope the White Ribbon women will rally to his aid. It is his method to help establish these homes, not giving the entire amount himself, but subscribing enough to make a local society safe in undertaking the enterprise, We do not for a moment admit that women have ever been at heart indifferent to the shame and sorrow of such women as the department of Purity is helping to a better life. Let no one say we have not cared — rather let it be said, we have not dared. But the longest lane will have a turning; the times have changed; the deluge of prejudice has subsided from off the earth; its last thunderclouds are lying low on the horizon's edge, and women are coming forth like singing birds after a storm, while noble knights of the New Chivalry are rallying to their aid. Wherever it has dropped like leaven into the lump of sin and sorrow, Christianity like Nature has prescribed one code of morals to the male and female of the race. On a low plane and for sordid ends primaeval and mediaeval man wrought out by fiercest cruelty virtue as the only tolerated estate of half the human race; on a high plane and for the noblest purposes Christianity, working through modern women, shall yet make virtue the only tolerated estate of the whole human race.The White Cross Pledge has been circulated by tens of thousands throughout our local Unions, and we hope that this good work may steadily go on. The pledge is as follows: —
42
"I promise to treat all women with respect, and endeavour to protect them from wrong and degradation. I promise to endeavour to try to put down all indecent language and coarse jests; to maintain the law of purity as equally binding upon men and women; to try to spread these principles among my companions and to help my younger brothers; and to use all possible means to fulfil the command. Keep thyself pure."The following Purity Pledge, which is equally adapted to men and women, is preferred by many of our workers as a later and wider evolution of the central thought of the original: —
"I solemnly promise, by the help of God, to hold the law of purity as equally binding upon men and women, and to use my utmost efforts to obey the command. Keep thyself pure; to discountenace all coarse language and impurity in dress, in literature, and art; to lend a helping hand alike to men and women, giving the penitent of both sexes an equal chance to reform so far as my assistance and influence can do this."
Our leader is that saintly iconoclast, whose name the thoughtful always pronounce with reverence, JOSEPHINE BUTLER, — the woman who dared, and who for twenty-six years has sounded forth a summons that shall never call retreat, and whose God-given work is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat The "white life for two" has been her battle-cry; the deliverance of woman from a slavery worse than death through the exaltation of man to a freedom from the selfishness that has plunged both man and woman into degradation that is the complete image of pandemonium. Only a great cause can stir a great people. No half-way measures are worthy of whole-hearted reformers. MRS. BUTLER and her followers demand nothing less than
43
the total abolition of all laws that continue and develop prostitution by punishing women and protecting men. They are clear-eyed, stout-hearted, and invincible in purpose. No law that involves the moral outrage of a forced examination will ever be for one moment tolerated by these knights of the new chivalry; they do not believe that it is better for the people that any man vile enough to visit houses of infamy shall escape the penalty of his crime; they do not for a moment tolerate the nefarious suggestion that the sacrifice of a certain number of women is necessary for the health of men or the safety of their sister women. They demand even-handed justice in the relations of men and women, and the utmost effort to place all women in circumstances of such independence that they shall not be tempted to make merchandise of those attributes of their being which are the most sacred to God and humanity. Wherever the law makes it possible for any class of men to invade the personality of any class of women in the name of public safety, there these new abolitionists raise their white banner and fight to the death. If others must temporize, they may do so; if the unwary are caught by false pretences, let them be so; if the good are deceived, we cannot help it; but for us there is one straight, sure path, and it leads to woman protected, honoured, pure and regnant over her own person, purse, and purposes of life. And as this forlorn hope moves to the frontier of reform amid the ridicule and execrations of the worldly-wise and wicked, let its war-cry be, Falter who must, follow who dare.Scientific Temperance Instruction in the Public Schools.
In his ignorance man began to use strong drinks, and honestly called them "a good creature of God." But the
44
attractive ingredient in all these beverages is alcohol, a poison that has this changeless law, that It acts, In proportion to the quantity imbibed, upon the brain and nervous system, precisely as fire acts upon water, lapping it up with a fierce and insatiable thirst. One glass says two, and two says three, until as a general rule, from the power of self-perpetuation in this appetite, the life of a drinker of alcoholics has but two periods; In the first he could leave off if he would, and in the last he would leave off if he could.But how shall the young and thoughtless avoid this supreme peril of their youth unless they know about it, and how shall they learn without a teacher, and how shall they teach except they be sent? This, then, is the rationale of scientific Temperance instruction in the public schools.
Nature's way of bringing order out of chaos is steadily to flood darkness with light; and we shall never get beyond this method by any spasmodic pyrotechnics, which, no matter how popular for the time, only serve to make the darkness more visible when the artificial coruscations are withdrawn. When I see our school-boys stunting their growth and drying up their brains with smoke; when I discover that their very cigars are soaked in alcohol and liquors, and that the boys are bated with beer and enticed into saloons by music, games and evil company; when I am told of their degeneracy in scholarship, so that the percentage of girls who graduate and who take honours is steadily gaining on that of boys, it seems to me that I cannot wait until the schools of Christendom focus their splendid light upon the problem of prevention. It is a glorious thing to go to the rescue of wrecked and ruined manhood with the lifeboat of reform, but far better to build a lighthouse on the sunken reef, warning the unskilled voyager of his danger.
45
In the light of twenty years' work as a teacher of total abstinence from alcoholic poisons, I solemnly aver that had I the power, our system of education should be so changed that the course of study for every pupil, from the kindergarten toddler to the high school graduates should be grounded where God grounds our very being — on natural law. They should know the laws of health first of all, since their physical being is the firm base of the whole pyramid of character. "According to law" is the method, as it is the philosophic explanation of the universe so far as we can spell it out. The blessed word "health" once literally meant "holiness," and that means simply "wholeness." This body of ours was meant to be the temple of the Holy Spirit, but enemies have taken possession of it; and dimmed or well-nigh extinguished the shekinah. The alcohol and nicotine poisons, leagued with bad food, unnatural dress, bad ventilation and ill-proportioned exercise, are the demons that hold the sacred citadel.
Yet we call ourselves a science-loving people, and think we care to know God's reason why. His laws, "written in our members," we pass lightly over that we may learn man's formula for parsing a verb, or construing a foreign quotation. Even the Saxon's knew that "every man has lain on his own trencher"; that what we eat, more than all other contingencies, determines what we are; but we pass over these weightiest matters of the changeless laws of hygiene that we may tithe the mint and cummin of grammatical punctilio and mathematical accomplishment. Even when we study the natural sciences, we soar amid the stars, and hammer the rocks or dissect flowers, but place the study of our own more splendid organism at the foot of the list, instead of building the whole edifice of education upon this solid rock, against which the gates of hell shall not
46
prevail. Our obliquity of vision at this point is fatal to the logical sequence of our entire scheme, and will be the amazement of wiser and happier generations.In the school of the future carefully trained hygienists will be steadily at work studying the habits of the children and teaching them, on scientific grounds, how they may form those upon which physical sanity is conditioned. Clothing that imposes a ligature upon any organ or member of the body will not be tolerated; the eating of highly seasoned food will be condemned; the use of pork as an article of diet shown to be a relic of barbarism, and the physical sin of using stimulants and narcotics denounced with all the emphasis of a "Thus saith the Lord." For we shall never get beyond that dictum of the wondrous Hebrew nation. It will be quoted when Aristotle is forgotten. For there is One —
By every clime adored,
By saint, by savage and by sage —
Jehovah, Jove or Lord.
Him Whom I worship as Christ you may name the "Great First Cause"; but we are both thinking of the Author of Law, and the laws are here, close to us as our heart-beats and as constant, and one of them is this: Behind every thing there is a thought, behind every thought a thinker, and in the series the first thinker must come first of all. Another is, that whatever is evoluted must have been involuted first — in the light of which principle the whole scheme of teaching natural law is profoundly and unchangeably religious. For religion is but to bind again to God's law that which had broken away from it, and the tendency of yesterday is likely to become the habit of to-day and the bondage of to-morrow. Pupils should be drilled in the
47
fact that the alcoholic habit is cumulative, subtly strengthening by what it feeds upon, so that the ignorant claim that drinks like cider, beer and wine5 are preventives of drunkenness, should be an insult to their intelligence.MRS. MARY H. HUNT, of Boston, is at the head of this department, and has genius worthy of a major-general for strategic points and skilful combinations. In many nations and each state and territory of the great republic she has an official coadjutor, who, in turn, has one in each local Woman's Christian Temperance Union, so that ten thousand lines radiate from the head-quarters of our world's society, to as many towns where our local members are at work.
But we do not by any means wait for a law to be adopted. We constantly petition local educational boards and individual teachers to use their influence for hygienic teaching. There are thousands of schools to-day where a new and complete series of text books have been regularly introduced, and thousands more in which earnest teachers find opportunity, by oral and reading lessons, subjects for essays declamation and debate, to lay the foundation for more systematic work. We induce persons of wealth to offer prizes for the best essay on the evil effects of intoxicants. Prizes are also given to teachers in normal schools for similar essays, and reference libraries are furnished to such schools. We have devised text-book covers on which total abstinence arguments are printed, and which many of our unions furnish free to the schools of their own towns.
Talking with teachers on this subject of scientific temperance instruction, I have found their sympathy almost universal, but they have often said: " We are already so overcrowded with duties that the practical question is, how we can add this to our cares or find time for the children to take up another branch?" It seems to me that the superintendent of schools
48
in a leading city of Massachusetts made a conclusive reply to this objection, when he said to the President of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union: "This subject ought to be taught. If the schedule is too much crowded already, we will take something out and make room for this, because it is entitled to the right of way."I believe this systematic instruction, which both forewarns and forearms them, to be the road out of bondage for the children of the world. No other institution reaches them all. Powerful as are the forces of pulpit and press, the former does not attract all ears, and the latter is largely influenced by the saloon in finance and the saloon in politics. But to the school-house door come white and black, native and foreign-born; inside its walls are invested their formative years, and the laws of their being as set forth by science, must appeal to their self-love, an attribute upon which we may always confidently base our calculations! The German, who learns that the laws of nature take sides with total abstinence, will gradually cease the cry of "fanaticism." His boy comes home from school and tells him that in time of pestilence and sunstroke the beer drinkers pay forfeit and the total abstainers get off scot free; that these last are at a premium with the life insurance companies; that they win in the athletic games; that they are the successful explorers and victorious soldiers, and that chemistry, physiology and hygiene prove that this must always be so. MEIN HERR scoffed at the "crusading women," but the dignity of science will do much to silence him, and it will convince his children.
Young Women's Branch.
The Young Women's Branch of the W.C.T.U. aims to enlist young women to form separate societies (Y.W.C.T.U.)
49
for the purpose of making total abstinence a fashionable social custom, to the end that young men may be held to a higher standard of personal habits, and thus by a power, analogous to that which has effectually restrained their sisters, be shielded from contamination; also to teach young women the scientific and ethical reasons for total abstinence and prohibition, and to develop a new army of trained temperance workers to whom the care of the children's work may at once be entrusted, and who will eventually replace the veterans of the W.C.T.U.The methods are, first, a social club (the Y.W.C.T.U. itself), in which young gentlemen become honorary members by signing the pledge and paying the membership fee; private and public entertainments; a systematic course of reading, and work in Loyal Temperance Legions, Night-schools for boys. Reading-rooms, Kitchen Gardens, etc., etc.
MRS. FRANCES J. BARNES, of New York, who has been at the head of the work for young women in America from the beginning, and who is the Secretary for this Branch of Work for the World's W.C.T.U. also, has truly said: — "The Young Women's Christian Temperance Union has a two-fold mission: to win the society girls to total abstinence, and to extend a sister's hand of kindness to those less favoured. We have learned more than ever the necessity of clean hands and pure hearts, and of being pledged against all that can intoxicate, if we would exert a personal influence for good among those with whom we mingle, or whom we try to help. To be living epistles of total abstinence gives an opportunity for those to read Temperance who would not attend a lecture or peruse a book on the subject, and though ourselves and our opinions may be laughed at and rejected, truth is immutable, and will yet triumph over error. The social world waits to be won over to total abstinence
50
by our young women, and the temperance cause opens for them a door into a large place, where all their gifts graces can serve good and noble purposes."The work for children and youth in the Loyal Temperance Legion seems appropriately to come under the of the Y.W.C.T.U., and successful night schools for boys, and sewing classes for girls, kitchen garden classes, free kindergarten schools, etc., have been successfully conducted by the members of the Y.W.C.T.U. The young women have taken up nearly all the departments of work carried on by the older society, and its latest evolution is the Somerset Y, which is being organized in educational institutions and colleges for young women. It is formed of those, who during their student life cannot give a great deal of time to our work, but who wish to be identified with our movement.
MRS. BARNES writes, —
"To organize a Young Woman's Christian Temperance Union personal and written invitations should be sent out and announcements made from pulpit and press; extend the call as far and wide as possible, for young ladies to assemble at a given time and place. A large drawing-room is usually the most attractive place for a meeting, but a church parlor or temperance room, centrally located, is also appropriate. Arrange to have some suitable lady act as Secretary pro tem. Open the meeting by singing one or more spirited hymns. Have present a Superintendent or Organizer of Young Woman's Work to give an address, or, if neither of these can be secured, get some worker of experience; if this is impossible, invite someone who has the subject at heart to give a talk or read extracts from temperance papers and from the leaflets of the department, showing the reasons why young women should be interested. Let this be
51
followed by an informal discussion, when the opinions of those present as to the necessity of organizing a Y.W.C.T.U. can be obtained, after which the Secretary should procure the signatures of those who are willing to join. A Nominating Committee should then be appointed, consisting of one from each church society present, so as to form a Union of all. Before adjourning, arrange for the time and place of holding the next meeting. The Nominating Committee should meet and select the young women to serve as President, Vice-Presidents from different churches. Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, and Treasurer. The names for Superintendents of Departments of Work or Chairmen of Standing Committees may also be presented by this Committee, but if all the officers or superintendents of departments cannot be obtained at first, they can be secured as the work of the society progresses.(There may be times when, by the previous preparation of talking about organising a Y.W.C.T. Union, and finding suitable officers, or when the inspiration of an address has caused the young women present to feel ready to commence at once, a Union can be organised and officers elected at the first meeting.) At the next meeting after deciding to organise, call for the report of the Nominating Committee, and after the election of officers, review the Constitution and discuss the relation of the Local Union to the Provincial, State or National, and the World's W.C.T.U. Be sure that the list of officers is sent promptly to the secretaries of the Provincial or State Unions. Emphasise the importance of wearing the white ribbon all the time.
Let the people of your city or town know at once of your existence. Let each young lady make it her loving duty to invite at least two or three of her young lady friends to a meeting of the society. Hand them a leaflet telling them
52
of their responsibility in this department of Christian work, and their opportunity to unite with the thousands of young ladies throughout the country.Have your Secretary send to the local newspaper a statement of the organization of the society and the names of its officers, inviting the co-operation and support of the men and women of the town. Let your light shine!
Despise not the day of small things. When people ask you why you are organised, and what you are doing, tell them that you are already an organised protest against the liquor traffic, so adding strength and another link to the W.C.T.U. chain which is rapidly belting the globe. By taking a brave stand socially for an unpopular cause, using your influence, and improving the little opportunities that come to girls in school and society, you will prove a power for good in the community.
The Superintendents of Departments of Work may in turn present the various lines they represent as subjects for topical study, or subjects may be chosen for discussion at the monthly meetings."
The Loyal Temperance Legion: What it is, Why it is, and How it Works.
The Band of Hope, The Loyal Temperance Legion, The Young Abstainers' Union, and other juvenile Temperance organizations are all working toward the same end, namely, to engrave on the brain and heart of childhood that it is not only right but scientific to let alcoholic drinks alone.
The Loyal Temperance Legion is distinctively under the care of White Ribboners, and is a society where not only
53
Temperance principles are carefully taught, but where the little people thus enlightened are drilled and disciplined in the fight for a clear brain, and fitted for active Temperance service, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union having long ago discovered the necessity of a training ground for those who are to take our places later on. True it is England leads the world in its Temperance work for children, the Band of Hope Union having far exceeded all other societies in the number enrolled In its membership, and in the enthusiasm attending its great gatherings of young people; and it was no feeling of antagonism toward that grand society that led the British Women's Temperance Association at its last Annual Council (1894), to decide upon the organization of the Loyal Temperance Legion, under its auspices, where without class distinction children should be welcomed and made familiar with white ribbon methods, now being taught our boys and girls the world around.In the Loyal Temperance Legion the children catch the spirit that dominates the W.C.T.U. Their little feet keep step to White Ribbon songs; they learn to love our mottoes and watchwords of victory, and are systematically taught our plans of work. They become familiar with the sacred origin of our Society, and listen with delight to the story of the Crusade; they find that children had their part in that marvellous uprising, for in many towns the little ones marched in a pathetic procession, and in passing a dram shop every little head was bowed. One publican was heard to say to another, "Dear me, has it come to this that even our children cannot pass our doors without bowed heads? Why, I tell you this is worse than the women."
Well may the W.C.T.U. work with untiring zeal only to win children to total abstinence and give them a reason for the hope that is within them, but to rally them around their
54
banner which reads, "Tremble, King Alcohol: we shall grow up," and to be themselves cheered by hearing their young voices sing:We are coming in our youth,
And the homes we build to-morrow,
Shall be guarded by the truth.
We are coming, coming to the rescue
Of purity and right.
And for a winsome token,
We wear the ribbon white.
In countries where Loyal Temperance Legions have been organized under the leadership of the W.C.T.U., the local societies are affiliated to the colony, state or province, as the case may be; each local society is called a Company, and the larger organization to which it is related is known as a Division of the Loyal Temperance Legion of the Nation. The companies take the letters of the alphabet in the order of organization. For instance, the first Company organized in Surrey, at Reigate (England), would be Company A, Surrey Division of the Loyal Temperance Legion of Great Britain. If any existing society of children desires to become affiliated to the Loyal Temperance Legion of Great Britain, but still wishes to retain its own name, this can be done; because under the national plan it can fall into line for harmony of name and method, and yet retain its local designation. Thus the Reigate Society if it reported to the National Superintendent of Loyal Temperance Legion work for Great Britain as Company A, Surrey Division of the Loyal Temperance Legion, might be known locally as the Reigate Wide-Awakes, Band of Hope, or any other name.
The officers include both adults and children, each juvenile officer having over him an adult holding a corresponding
55
office, so that the child may be assisted with the work of President, Secretary or Treasurer whenever this is necessary. The officers usually consist of an adult Leader, with one or more assistants if desired, Secretary, Treasurer, Organist, Chorister and Teachers; a Juvenile President, Secretary and Treasurer. The members of each Company are divided according to their ages into platoons or Companies, generally six in number, with an ensign or captain at the head of each, and there may be other officers, a banker for each Company if desired, who shall report to the Treasurer; ushers for public meetings, librarian, &c.Upon entering the Society, each one must assent to the following rules: —
The signing of these rules entitles the boy or girl to membership and to all the privileges of the meetings; but to become a full member, and entitled to wear the badge of the Company each must sign the following pledge of the Loyal Temperance Legion; only full members being eligible to office:
The regular meetings are usually held once a week and should never exceed one hour in length, divided as follows: —
First fifteen minutes: Singing.
Scripture Selection, read responsively or in concert.
Prayer; usually the Lord's Prayer in concert.
56
Repeating of Pledge by full members (standing).Repeating of Company Rules by all members (standing).
Repeating of National and Division Mottoes
Reports of Secretary and Treasurer.
Second fifteen minutes: Strict attention to lesson; closing with review questions;
Third fifteen minutes: Blackboard lessons; object lesson or experiments.
Last fifteen minutes: Roll Call; reception of new members; reports of recruiting, look out, literature and other committees. (As a means of keeping up the interest, appoint as many committees and for as large a variety of work as possible.)
Miscellaneous exercises, such as singing, recitations, calisthenics, &c. Let the children march out with an appropriate song.
New members are received generally on the fourth meeting in the month, which is often made a public meeting to which parents and friends are invited. No child is allowed to join the Society until he has been present at three meetings, not necessarily consecutive, and has secured permission from parents or guardians to sign the Total Abstinence pledge.
At the meeting just preceding the one at which new members are to be received, it is well to read the names of those who have been present three times and are not members, and ask them to come to you at the close of the meeting; talk with them of the pledge, and be sure they fully understand what it involves. If they wish to join the Company at the next meeting give them each a pledge card and a "parent's certificate" to take home. This certificate, if they return it with signature of parent or guardian, will allow them to take the pledge of full membership.
57
We are willing that ________________ should sign the pledge for full membership in Company ______________ of the Loyal Temperance Legion.
Signed _____________________
_____________189.
Make the reception of new members a solemn ceremony, Call them forward by name at the appointed time, and asking all full members to rise and receive them, let them join in repeating the pledge and sing one of their pledge songs; then let the Leader welcome them in a few earnest words of helpful counsel, explaining the solemnity of such a promise made in GOD'S name and offering a brief prayer that GOD'S help may be given to keep the promise made.
Parliamentary usage is taught in the Loyal Temperance Legion, so that the young people may learn how to conduct their own meetings and become familiar with every (detail connected with public assemblies. The Juvenile President should preside at all meetings.
A complete set of text books has been prepared for the L.T.L. by the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association, The Temple, Chicago, U.S.A.; and the British Women's Temperance Association, whose headquarters are at Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London, E.G., are bringing out literature for the Loyal Temperance Legion as rapidly as possible, having several Lesson Manuals now in readiness. (See Appendix.)
The latest evolution of the Loyal Temperance Legion has been the Conventions of young people where the local L.T.L's. of a given neighbourhood, and in many cases of a
58
State, have been invited by the W.C.T.U. to have an all-day meeting, and in some cases a two days' Convention. The children are entertained by White Ribboners, and the young officers preside at all meetings of the Convention, the programme being made up of greetings and responses, with contributions from the various Companies, and addresses from friends, all interspersed with plenty of bright singing, everything being done by the children, rather than for them.In the United States these Conventions have been attended with great success, and have proved one of the greatest helps in arousing in the children an enthusiasm for temperance work, and in maintaining their interest in regular L.T.L. methods, this being especially true of the older boys and girls. It is a great point gained when boys and girls have learned to connect some of their "good times" with temperance. We have also a plan for "Diplomas and Seals," and many thousand young people have won a diploma by passing an examination in the Temperance Lesson Manuals satisfactory to the leader of the Legion. These diplomas are furnished with seals as fast as the students are entitled to them by having read the books in the different courses of reading provided, and any member of the L.T.L. having won a diploma is a graduate of the Society.
Much should be made of the music. Introduce action songs, and, if the young folks seem restless, form them into line, and let them march while they sing. Secure a good pianist or organist, and a chorister who will not only lead the children's voices, but teach them how to sing with the spirit and the understanding, giving special attention to good pronunciation and modulation, above all impressing upon their young hearts that a song is a sentiment maker, and that every chorus rendered at a public entertainment ought to
59
add new converts to the cause of Temperance and Purity. A cornet, or other musical instruments, will greatly assist, and a drum well used makes an accompaniment to many choruses very attractive to the average small boy, and big one too. Get your carpenter to prepare some smooth wands, like those used in gymnastics; tie a bit of white ribbon on each end, and let the children go through simple motions with these, keeping time to music or song.We strongly urge the organization of a Band of Mercy in connection with every Juvenile Temperance Society, not only because it helps increase the interest of our meetings, but because many boys and girls need the education it brings, and may be enlisted to do good service for the protection of animals when cruelty is shown them by others.
The Demorest Medal Contests inaugurated in New York City, April 1886, through the generosity of W. JENNINGS DEMOREST, have met with phenomenal success and thousands of young people have been educated in the principles of prohibition as set forth in the arguments of our leading temperance speakers. These contests may be so wisely arranged that unsuccessful competitors will not be greatly disappointed, if from the very beginning the contestants are impressed with the idea that the recitations are to be the means of instructing audiences and winning them to the belief that "the public house must go." The medal should be a consideration wholly secondary in their thought, and the fact that each speaker has tried just as hard as every other to help the temperance cause, should be clearly brought out by the one who presents the medal. In almost every part of the world the same unanswerable arguments for the prohibition of the liquor traffic are being voiced by eloquent young orators who will yet lead us from "contest to conquest."
60
Under the watchword "The children for the children" the Loyal Temperance Legion has furnished a children's room in the National Temperance Hospital at Chicago, U.S.A., which is the acknowledged gem of all its pleasant apartments. The walls are blue, the rug is sprinkled with daisies, chosen flower of the L.T.L., and the dainty silver, the blue and white china and linens the pictures of flowers and happy children on the walls, the dolls, cradles, scrap-books and children's magazines are tempting even to an invalid child. The room has been a great blessing to suffering little ones since its opening in 1894.
It has been found that in States that permitted the Loyal Temperance Legion to be represented in the National Annual Meeting by one adult delegate for every thousand members who had paid $50 (Å10) into the National Treasury, the enthusiasm of the children was greatly increased and we strongly recommend the introduction of this feature into all of our auxiliaries. Delegates must be members of the W.C.T.U. and active workers in the L.T.L.
It is a help to use small admission tickets for Legion Temperance Meetings, which some good-hearted printer ought to donate to the cause; choose bright-coloured cardboard, and let the ticket be similar to the following: —
61
Give these tickets to your Members and send them out as recruiting officers.At the Willard Hall entrance to the temple in Chicago, stands the unique and significant gift of the Temperance boys and girls of the World's W.C.T.U., the bronze figure of a little girl holding in her out-stretched hands a cup of cold water while at her feet are troughs for horses and dogs. The thought of the figure was intended to illustrate the giving hands of White Ribbon children when rightly trained to helpful habits by the L.T.L. This Fountain was executed by MR. GEORGE E. WADE, one of London's best known sculptors, and is the children's memorial gift to the city that entertained the Columbian Exposition. Nearly 300,000 pledge cards were signed by young people in all countries where our White Ribbon work has been established, and sent to the World's Fair, as a means of unifying the thought and purpose of the children by this united protest against the use of alcoholics. These cards were festooned in the Children's Building as well as in the section arranged by the W.C.T.U., and most of the children who thus sent their names contributed to the Fountain fund which amounted to over $2,000, although no child was asked for more than 10 cents. Out of these plans for the World's Fair has grown a wide interest in Loyal Temperance Legion methods, leading in many cases to the formation of societies for children and notably to a very successful work in Norway, over 8,000 cards having been sent from that country. England sent 47,000 cards, but had no part in the Fountain enterprise, they having contributed their pennies to establish a duplicate of the child figure in London. The Fountain in Chicago has been named "Willard Fountain," in loving and grateful recognition of the founder of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and Great Britain's
62
Bronze bears the name of "Somerset Fountain," in commemoration of the gracious leadership of LADY HENRY SOMERSET, President of the British Women's Temperance Association. But these fountains will always be known as the children's gifts; the child's cup bears the badge of the Loyal Temperance Legion and the fountain's base is suitably inscribed showing it to be the children's, memorial. The price of a duplicate figure in bronze is much less than the original statue, and I wish there (might be a similar fountain in each of the countries bound together by the White Ribbon.The White Ribboners who have the juvenile work under their care have sacredly covenanted that at the twilight hour their hearts shall be lifted in prayer for the work and workers in this department: Let the children be taught to add a petition to their evening prayer, asking God's blessing on the boys and girls in our ranks, and let us with united faith claim such a descent of God's power and help as shall inspire us to patient, faithful, and holy deeds.
63
Chapter VI. The Power of the Press.
THE way to make a thing known is — to make it known. This is the alpha and omega of success in the Press department, but all along my way in life I have found a great variety of men and women who seem to feel that to make things known is somehow or other to make a great mistake, even to commit a mild form of crime. My own nature and outlook are wholly different. I believe that the shades are so heavy over the earth that we have seen the merest glint of right through some chink, and we who hold up the sun-glass of our individuality catch the glint of that and flash it round in every direction to the utmost of our power. There is nothing so very private after all; the secrets are all open secrets, everybody reads between the lines the things one has left out. Whoever minimises mystery has helped to brighten knowledge. Why should we make so much ado about the trifling little things we hoard? Are they really worth the hoarding? God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. Love and light and life seem to be largely interchangeable. The more a Society is pure and good the less mystery and secrecy there will be in it Let us then tell all the good things we may, and think as little evil as we can, that we may have little to tell but good, and then let us tell it out and keep on telling it.
In every village, town and city of the world in these days,
64
there is, as a rule, some sort of newspaper to establish which cost the proprietor a snug sum of money. To keep it going makes a constant demand upon his purse. We women could no more have started these papers than we could have made a world, but if we have the tact and talent, or to state it more correctly the good common sense to put a mortgage on a few square inches every week in the columns of these papers, it is just as well as if we owned that amount of space, which, if paid for at the advertising rates, would cost an incalculable amount of money.There is not another line of work except that of Gospel meetings which our women have taken up with so much alacrity, for they are quick-witted enough to see that there is not in the world another power where we can bring to a focus so much influence for the spread of Temperance principles and Temperance practice as the newspapers, because they go everywhere and are read by all people.
The voice that speaks dies on the air almost before its echoes reach us but the firm types and black ink hold through months and years. The newspapers that issue from the press in New York city may be read in Yokohama, Melbourne, St. Petersburg, and in the Islands of the Sea.
When you have got a thought into "cold type," it is there "for keeps." There is no magician in this age like the clear-headed, far-sighted man or woman who impresses the thoughts that he believes are winged with God's truth, upon the printed page.
But unhappily the powers of darkness are more alert as yet to use this printed page for selfish purposes than the powers of life are intent to gain it for purposes of blessing; still, I have always felt that women when once their attention had been strongly impressed were so gifted in carrying out details, that if we could only make our press department
65
seem as important to our great home cause as it actually is, they would make it hum like a top in every locality where the mother heart has come to the, front to guard its little ones, and twenty years of experience since this department was organized in Cleveland, O., at the first National Convention have confirmed me in this belief.The universal complaint concerning our Local Press Superintendents is that while they "run well for a season" they are apt to "grow weary in well doing," and seem to forget that it is "in due season" that "we shall reap if we faint not." Innumerable editors have said to me, "I gave a quarter of a column" (or half, as the case may be) "to your Superintendent, and she sent me material to fill it for a month, three months, six months, or possibly a year, and then the whole thing dropped." Other editors have said, "If we could count upon the copy as a certainty, and that it would not come in too late, we would set aside space, but the women do not seem to understand that an hour, or even a moment, makes all the difference in a newspaper office between having what is sent put in the paper or in the waste-paper basket."
Verily, we must be up to the time as well as up to date if we expect to inspire the confidence of that much tormented dignitary, the editor.
Another mistake that we sometimes make is to devote our attention wholly to the local editor. A paper of importance is divided into departments, each of which is under the care of some one member of the staff, and an ingenious Press Superintendent will try not only to secure the insertion of local news on the city page, but will furnish every now and then a story, a bit of verse, an anecdote, a pithy paragraph for the home column or the scientific selections; indeed, there is hardly a sub-division of the
66
paper for which an ingenious woman would not be to find, from time to time, appropriate and attractive selections.One of the most neglected fields is reporting the sermons and addresses of temperance men and women. Many a time and oft have we found in the local press some account of where we had come from and were going to, some account of our general appearance or manners, some friendly hope expressed, or adverse prophecy, but almost never any setting forth of what we had said.
If our press superintendents in the cities and large towns could secure stenographic reports at least of the leading addresses made, in the course of the year they would be furnishing to the public the latest and best facts and illustrations of those who are constantly studying the movement, and whose method of presenting it to the public has proved so satisfactory that a large audience is assured to them wherever they go.
A ready lead pencil is the magic wand of power to a press superintendent whether she be national, state, or local. To catch an expression on the fly is an art for which women are peculiarly adapted by reason of their quick thought and quicker sympathy.
If we learn to be on the alert for the department under our care we shall constantly be hearing or seeing something that helps to illustrate and extend its influence. It is practically impossible for two or three White Ribbon comrades to come together without developing experiences, incidents or arguments that would be most helpful to that larger number whom the reformer must constantly have in mind, for as the material of the sculptor is marble on which he works untiringly with hammer and chisel, so "people" form the material of the Temperance apostle, upon which he is
67
steadily trying to make the impress of his own thoughts and convictions.The bright sayings of children as well as "grown ups," the reminiscences, statistics, illustrations and arguments that we all have stored up in our minds and with which we are wont to regale one another, would, if brought out upon the printed page, be transferred to tens of thousands of brains as readily as a single electrotype makes its impress upon a thousand pieces of paper. Doubtless the process is just as scientific as it would be to take a photograph or stamp with a stencil plate, and not until we have received as clear an impression of what we are capable of doing and called to do in the press department as a photographer has of the impress to be made by the plate in his hand, or the printer by the type between his fingers, have we measured up at all to the boundless possibilities and importance of the work that has come to our hands in connection with the press.
It is true now as it was when the words were uttered first, "My people perish for lack of knowledge." The reason why our young folks go their way into wrong-doing is largely because they have not been trained in a better way. A mother's hand smoothing the wrappings around her little child to protect and shelter him, is not more worthily engaged than a woman's hand that pens high and holy thoughts, which passing under the eye of untaught childhood and youth produce that arrest of attention in the mind from which every good cause has everything to hope. For this reason there is to my mind nothing secular but everything sacred in the contemplation of the press department through which we have as White Ribbon women, spread the pure light of a pure life over the nations fast and far.
We should be grateful to those friendly men who have
68
opened to us the use of their columns, and we should do our utmost to win and hold their respect not only for our intentions but our clear practical sagacity in furnishing them suitable material with which to occupy the space they have kindly given. We are nearer now to victory than when we first believed; the day begins to dawn and the shadows flee away.69
Chapter VII. My Visit to Cheerible, or How to Conduct a Public Meeting and Carry on a Local Union.
WE had agreed, Little Opportune and I, to spend the Sabbath at Cheerible. So we packed "Old Faithful," my veteran hand-bag, with unanswered letters, unfinished articles, stationery, and "specimen literature," until Little Opportune declared it was "a sight to behold." But it was that before I began, for it has shared my pilgrimage over as long a trip as from here to the moon, and, like its owner, is a "little the worse for wear." But I like historic things better than mere "boughten trumpery," no matter how fine, and so cling to the old temperance gripsack with a grip that won't let go.
Rest Cottage never looked so winsome — and especially "the Den" — with its warmth, light, and cosy confusion of books, papers, photos and souvenirs. Mother kissed us good-bye — Alice, my home secretary, promising to take good care of her; our Swedish help smiled her adieus, "Old Maje" (the Newfoundland) bow-wowing his protest. The cab drove up, we emerged from behind the protecting bulwarks of "Father's evergreens," waved our handkerchiefs
70
to mother, whose quiet presence appeared at her Gothic window upstairs, and rumbled away from "our ain familiar town."The interval of car-riding shall remain indefinite. Suffice it that we put in any amount of letters and literary work, and in due season the porter informed us of what Little Opportune had kept a bright look out to be sure of, viz., that "we were there." Alighting, we found a group of kindly women waiting for us, with the Gospel in their looks, and the white ribbon on their breasts. "I'm so glad you weren't delayed," said one. "Yes, and that the weather is pleasant," chimed in a second, "For we've worked real hard to get this meeting up, and we so want to have it a success," whispered a third. They relieved us of our burdens, promised to post our letters, and sat us down in the waiting-room while they went to the baggage-room for our valise.
Looking around I perceived a nice wide shelf, with pretty trimmings, which I judged some of the "Y's" had made, and over the shelf a tasteful placard with the words "W.C.T.U. For GOD and Home and Native Land." "Please take one." I was curious to see what they provided. There was The Union Signal — welcome as a face from home; "Der Deutch Amerikaner" our "Timely Talks," our "Signal Lights," MRS. NICHOLS on "Beer," some of HANNAH WHITALL SMITH'S Bible Readings, some of our Leaflets, and a "Plea to Voters" just issued by the local Union, as the date proved. I told ANNA GORDON to peep into the Gentlemen's Waiting Room if it was empty, and see if our good White Ribboners had remembered that side of the house also. She came back nodding gleefully, and we took our places in the carry-all in waiting and were speedily anchored in the home of MRS. CHEERIBLE, for
71
whose father-in-law the town was named. I say "anchored," advisedly. Our motherly hostess marshalled us up to the guest room at once, where we found everything for our comfort and convenience — a rocking-chair apiece and a big table between us, upon which I deposited "old Faithful," and began to unpack. Before leaving the room MOTHER CHEERIBLE made the following observation: — "I entertained SUSAN B. ANTHONY once when I was a good deal younger than I am now, and invited a parlour full of friends to meet her. When she came in and saw them she clung to me and whispered ‘Won't you please let me go to my room?’ and when we got there she said: ‘I'll do just as you like — go down and be sociable all the afternoon and make a failure to-night, or keep quiet now and have some vim for the audience.’ She then went on to explain that there was only so much of her, and she would put it in wherever we said. That was a lesson to me for all time about preacher people, be they men or women, and so I'm going to leave you alone." With that the benign face disappeared, and we said in one breath "There goes a woman who knows what she's about." At tea-time we met MRS. DEPENDABLE, President of the Union, from whom we learned all that we needed to know about the local situation. Election was to come off the next week, and they were anxious to carry no license and officers who would enforce. ANNA was to speak to the children of the village Sabbath P.M., and I was to give my message to the general public in the evening. I was also to appear that night and meet the W.C.T.U. on Saturday afternoon after ANNA had talked to the "Y's."Promptly at 7.30 we were at the hall. The platform was beautified by plants and vines; an ice-pitcher stood
72
upon a handsome table at one side, and MRS. HAYES' picture on an easel at the other, while easy chairs and warm rugs gave the place a homelike look, clearly showing that it had been arranged by women. On a table in the centre, which was draped with the flag, were Bible and hymn book, and in ornamental letters over our heads were the words "For God and Home and Native Land." Young men with white ribbons in button-hole acted as ushers. The pastors occupied the platform, with the officers of the W.C.T.U. and the choir. By this means we had the air of being "out in force" for the great Home Cause, instead of presenting the forlorn aspect of a Lyceum stage. These Women evidently thought that if HENRY IRVING, the greatest of English actors, had built up not a little of his reputation by the unrivalled, artistic skill with which his plays were put upon the stage, they could well afford, for the splendid real drama of the "Home Protection" Cause, to arrange such a picture as should remind each person present of home itself! The President had her programme ready — there was real heart-music from the choir, not doleful ditties remarkable only for their irrelevance, but choruses that could but key the audience to concert pitch and put the speaker's soul in tune. Then we had a brief but blessed Bible reading — for the temperance women do not forget to bring in wherever they can the Book now so often left out, but which is the world's truest text-book of political economy as well as Christian living. Then one of the pastors prayed, and did not fear to ask for the outlawing of the saloon and the success of the W.C.T.U., closing with the prayer of Our LORD, in which all joined. A lady seated by the President introduced the speaker briefly — and in moderate and easy terms; — and after the address, without a moment's loss of time, a bright little boy73
came forward and gave MISS GORDON'S "Collection Speech" with an abandon that brought down the house, whereupon eight young ladies, armed with baskets tied with white ribbon, made a courageous attack, half beginning at the rear and half at the front of the hall, while the choir sang a lively air. The President then announced the meetings that were to follow; urged all present to sign the pledge and join the society, stating that the pledge books were upon tables at the end of the hall, where a Committee of invitation would be in waiting at the close; thanked the audience for its interest and its gifts, and asked for the singing of the Doxology. The Benediction was then pronounced, and I saw that, as the people went out, many stopped and put down their names upon the gentle invitation of the Mothers in Israel who presided at the pledge tables, and that each received from the alert young ushers, DR. HERRICK JOHNSON'S Timely Talk on the "Delusions of High License."Going home to MOTHER CHEERIBLE'S, and straight up to my room, where Anna had a bowl of bread and milk in waiting, I heard her murmur, in her half-arousement from sleep, "you had a good meeting, I know." "Why do you think so?" "Because you came in humming ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War.’" Our considerate entertainers had asked us our customary time of rising and taking breakfast, and we had said, "at seven, and breakfast at eight; but do not let us interfere with your usual ways." "We desire only to help you all we can, for our own sakes, as well as yours," beamingly returned those household saints. (For we were so fortunate as to be in a home where the husband and father was "a Brother-in-law of the W.C.T.U." — i.e., an Honorary Member, a Contributor, and hearty sympathiser; and best of all, a representative at the polls.)
74
The next day we stayed quietly upstairs and wrote all the morning, met the W.C.T.U. Officers at one o'clock dinner in delightful comradeship, and at two o'clock ANNA went to her meeting.
At 3.30 I joined her at the church, and found "the old ladies" crowding out the Y's (wise virgins) to whom ANNA had read the parable so named. The President escorted me to the pulpit, and presided as in duty bound. We had a most comforting devotional meeting, hearty, tender, and spontaneous, with Bible reading, impromptu prayer, singing of "How Firm a Foundation," "Guide me, oh Thou Great Jehovah," and "Nearer my God to Thee." I then talked awhile, putting what I said into the narrative form. I wonder if it would be a good plan to reproduce, as well as I am able, that talk right here?
My subject was, "A Model W.C.T.U.," and the following is an outline of what I said: —
Once upon a time a good minister had occasion to give an address of welcome to one of our Conventions on behalf of the local Union. As a general rule I think they should do their own welcoming, but for once I am glad a young theological graduate and a Presbyterian at that performed the pleasant duty, for he gave me a better idea of what our Society can do than I had ever before received from outside sources. Indeed he described a model Union, and I will try to do the same, adding to what he said the growth of the years since I heard him. It suits me, however, to put the words in his mouth, for I think they will sound less like self-laudation on our part.
He said: "I have the honour, ladies, to welcome you to -------------- on behalf of its local W.C.T.U. In our rich and aristocratic town it is quite likely that many do not so much as know that there is such a Society. But what
75
does that signify? What matter if the organist is invisible so that his music floods the air and stirs the heart? The W.C.T.U. is the skilled musician playing upon the keys of public sentiment Our town knows that somehow there is a waking up to the merits of total abstinence and prohibition; the dry bones are being shaken; the atmosphere has more elasticity and ozone in it; social drinking is at a discount, and license-voting not a thing to be proud of. Let us go into the organ loft and see what stops and keys are moving. Ah! there is the stop of Prevention turned on, and Education also, and Evangelism, Social Work, Legal Work, all dominated by the tuneful vox humana of woman's gentle sympathy. The town is slowly setting itself to this ‘perfect music’ in ‘noble words’ of reasonable living, and will, sooner than faint hearts dream, be singing the Psalm of Life set to the Temperance key. But how is the music brought to the people's ears that they may learn its time and tune? By going directly to the heads of different philanthropic choirs — to follow up my figure — and training them to unison. For instance, here's my church — a rich toned orchestra of good people, but not attuned to the modern Temperance movement. ‘Tap, tap, tap,’ comes a hand firm but delicate upon my study door. In walks the ‘Superintendent of Evangelistic Work’ in our W.C.T.U. and invites me to speak at the next Gospel Meeting, down in the waiting room of the railway station. Beside her is the ‘Superintendent of Temperance Literature’ who puts a fresh copy of that racy paper The Union Signal upon the study table and says, ‘Please accept this with the compliments of our Society, we have subscribed for every minister in town’; she then suggestively adds, ‘And may I leave this Bulletin of our White Ribbon publishing house, ninety employes,76
and all women but five? These ladies are introduced by the W.C.T.U. Vice-President for my own church, who asks me to become ‘an honorary member,’ hands me a leaflet on ‘Unfermented Wine at the Communion Table,’ decorously remarking that she ‘wants my opinion of it,’ and the bright, kindly trio retire, not having consumed more than three minutes of my time, and not having wounded my ecclesiastical dignity. If they had been solemn I should inwardly have laughed; if they had found fault with me I should have been righteously provoked, but what fault could I find with down-right ladies whose practicality was only equalled by their tact? Well, thus they helped to add my voice to the chorus that they and their comrades are training to sing, with a persistence the liquor dealer hates, ‘The saloon must go.’But a pastor is the moral precentor of his church and congregation, so through me they were giving their lesson in vocal music to twelve hundred persons. They stirred me up to remembrance, — I who had so many interests to remember. They were, humanly speaking, the procuring cause of many a temperance allusion in my prayers, sermons and Sunday School talks. Their paper set me thinking and gave me points. Their earnest, expectant faces haunted me, and I should have been less than human, to say nothing of Christian, if the noblest in my nature had not been enlisted to ‘help these women.’"
Then this chivalric pastor went on to tell how, to his knowledge, the White Ribbon Superintendent of Sunday School Work, came "tap, tap, tapping," on the Sunday School Superintendent's door, asking permission to put a Temperance Roll of Honor upon the walls of the Lecture Room; to get Temperance story books into the library; to introduce The Young Crusader, the beautiful paper for
77
our young folks; to organize a "Loyal Temperance Legion" within the Sabbath School, and secure the careful inculcation of the quarterly Temperance lesson. "Thus," said the pastor, "By kind and patient effort, the Sabbath Schools are catching up the ‘Marching Songs for Young Crusaders,’ and their march has in it ‘the swing of conquest.’""Tap, tap, tap," again, he said, comes the "Superintendent of the Press" to the sanctum of the Editor, whose modest request is that he subsidize his printing press and capital investment of several thousand dollars, for the use of the W.C.T.U. to the extent of a quarter or half column per week. "We get our ‘Bulletins’ fresh from headquarters," she would say, "and Chicago is now the whispering gallery of Temperance Reform for the whole world. We have there and at our President's office near by an aggregate of seventy-five thousand letters per year; we print an average of a hundred millions of pages annually; we are notified by telegraph and cable of all the leading movements throughout the world, and will keep you informed gratuitously, if you will grant us space. Besides, we have a monthly ‘bulletin’ full of the choicest material, which we are confident you will like to cull from, and you shall be supplied with that.’ So, slowly, and with much of discord and ‘sweet bells jangled’ the newspaper begins to catch the pure key-note of Temperance."
In like manner the pastor went on to tell of the Young Women's work, which, he said, "was doing more to raise the standard of sobriety and pure living among young men than any other single agency," and recommended its bright paper The Young Women.
At the close of his speech one of our modest self-distrustful women said, "Whoever knew that we had done so much, why I feel like a ray of light through a prism!"
78
It is indeed one of the rare hours of a reformer when he or she finds that which was whispered in the ear proclaimed upon the housetops; that which was the tender aspiration of a prayer becoming the forceful utterance or deed of some mighty man of valor. Honest hard work alone, inspired by earnest faith, can win such victories, but this combination is as invincible as gravitation, making success a conclusion not only foregone but fore-ordained.
In the model local Union thus outlined as to its methods and influence, the President must be a woman not afraid to "face the music," but altogether quiet and considerate in manner as in speech. She must be a born harmonizer, for if not, she will hardly become one by practice. However much of a Christian she may be, unless she is gifted with a Christian imagination, she cannot always keep the peace. It is only by an intuitive power to imagine one's self in another's place and to see from another's point of view, that she will be able to do justice to the conflicting opinions and antagonistic individualities of which "this present evil world" is full. I had a friend whom I considered the most charitable woman in Christendom, and "believing in taffy rather than epitaphy," I told her so. Upon this she looked at me with her calm, comprehending eyes and answered, "No, you give me too much credit. It is not, alas, that I love people so much better than most others do — for charity is love, — but that I have a faculty of seeing with their eyes, and thus perceiving that what seems utter unreason to me is perfectly reasonable to them," But that woman's everyday life reminded me of a man so generous-minded that the worst thing you could get him to say of his neighbour's bad conduct was, "Well, it is all a part of universal history!" By the way this safe remark will steer a local
79
President through the waves of gossip which she bravely stem if she would reach the port of peace.This officer must be strongly executive and prompt to a proverb, or the Union will be often in disgrace. She needs to be a careful student of our methods, and the sort of woman around whom, as a girl, her schoolmates rallied, saying, "What shall we play?"
That she should be a Christian goes without saying, but then there are Christians — and Christians. You must have one whose godliness has not turned sour and whose faith turns as readily to works as steam turns into water or light into life.
Your Vice-Presidents are set for the defence of our faith, each in her own especial church home. I fear that as a rule they do not sufficiently magnify their office. If they did, we should have a larger paid-up membership and more Honorary Members. The Vice-President appointed to represent any church has a hundred opportunities to enlist its people, by circulating our literature among them, aiding the local superintendents in all their efforts to carry the Temperance war into the Carthage of her Church, and at Sociables, Prayer Meetings and other gatherings, securing names of new members. But these ladies, more than most others, may make the whole subject odious by unwise insistence or unseasonable criticism.
The Recording Secretary needs a swift and accomplished pen, a clear voice and gracious manner. Her duties should be sharply distinguished from those of the Corresponding Secretary, and can be, if it is borne in mind that any communications from or to persons out of town belong to the latter, but all records, notifications and official announcements to the former. The "Corresponding Secretary" holds a place of which she may make much or little, according to
80
her genius. With some it is a mere formality and involves writing or replying to a few letters annually, and once a year preparing a report of the Union's achievements. But a woman of originality and invention, with a gift of ingeniousness and enthusiasm, may play the part of mate to the President's part of Captain in your Temperance Life Boat Crew. She may be lieutenant to the general, fireman to the engineer. You may well choose a woman who does not wait for work to come to her but starts it up for herself, and after consultation with the President, develops it all along the line, helping every Superintendent, every officer and member to a clearer view of the situation and a stronger grasp of the same. I recall such a one, playfully and privately known by her friends as "Old Inspiration," whose versatile mind and ready hand were at everybody's service, and in whom everybody trusted. But they "worked her to death."The Treasurer must indeed be a treasure in character and clearness of comprehension. She must be a woman of undoubted integrity; one who makes no mystery of the finances, but encourages the Society by taking a hopeful view, and yet who devises varied methods of increasing the income. It is not enough that she shall sit at the "receipt of custom," she must be up and doing to secure special subscriptions from the well-to-do, birthday gifts, donations to the fund for the distribution of free literature, and other special funds that shall be decreed by the Society. She must keep her books up-to-date so that they are not only open but ready for inspection by any member who wishes to see them. She must pay out money only on the order of the President or Secretary; (whether the Corresponding or the Recording, must be decided by the Union) and she should insist on having her accounts audited by an expert who is not a
81
special friend of hers, and who is chosen in an open meeting by the Society itself.If the White Ribbon movement has gained a foothold in all civilized countries within fifteen years of its inception, we owe this marvellous success first of all to the prayer impulse of the crusade; and next, to the warm hospitality to new ideas and new women who felt a "call" to embody those ideas in action. We have earnestly endeavoured neither to frustrate the grace of God nor the inspiration of good women; and by encouraging their activities along the lines to which they have felt most drawn we have developed thousands of specialists in the forty different departments of work that cluster round the central principles and methods of the W.C.T.U., which are total abstinence for the individual; total prohibition for the State; purity in the home and in the individual life; and the active participation of the home-makers in the affairs of the community, the State, and the nation.
82
Chapter VIII.
Departments of Work.
A mother hen calls her chickens to some special crumb every little while, and our leaders must often rally their comrades to some specific work. The general lines do not suffice — there must be special pressure brought to bear — a clear sounding note of invitation, and the chicks who have been chirping in the grass or straggling here and there in pursuit of some worm that did not materialise, or some fly that eluded them, will all make tracks with great alacrity toward the centre where the cheerful mother stands, resourceful, kindly and imperturbable. Local presidents should thus adopt the concentration, and oppose it to the "scatteration" policy.
The difference between the Temperance Reform in earlier and later times is that between a straight line and a circle. Total abstinence was the sum total of the propaganda when JOHN B. GOUGH began his work, and its natural offset, total prohibition, came to us with GEN. NEAL DOW. But the women crusaders of the West, in their sober second thought and organized form, began less than twenty years ago to study the correlations of the cause. RICHARD COBDEN had said, long before, that "The Temperance Reform lies at the foundation of all reforms," and the White Ribboners have taken that statement literally. We have set at work to combine this mighty movement with every other that seeks
83
to lift up man. We would make an amalgamation in which Temperance should be the mercury combining with every other metal, and we would do this on the mathematical principle that the greater the number of circles intersphered, the stronger will each circle be, and the more effective and elastic, all. Our work is classified according to its natural evolution, into Preventive, Educational, Evangelistic, Social and Legal, the Department of Organization being at the foundation of all, because we must establish the electric groups before the messages can flash from heart to heart.Under these heads are grouped fifty different departments, each of which receives the care of a "Superintendent," who is an expert, and who plans to advance from a world's or national point of view, the work entrusted to her. Another Superintendent (under the direction of the first), is appointed for each Nation, Colony, Province or State, and she in turn directs the Superintendent in the local societies of her territory. All work is reported once a quarter locally, and once a year to the parent Society. The World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union meets once in two years, and then the World's Superintendents of Departments are heard from.
None of the departments are binding upon any Society, local, national or world's. They are suggested, but not obligatory. The only binding rules are these: Pay your annual dues and never drink.
The Departments already adopted by the World's W.C.T.U. (the Superintendent of each being appointed by the Executive Committee at the Biennial Conventions), include: Evangelistic; Bible Readings; Organization; Juvenile Work; Scientific Temperance Instruction in Schools; Sunday School Work; Press; Literature; Fairs and Expositions; Penal, Charitable and Reformatory; Purity; Peace and
84
International Arbitration; Legislation and Petitions; Franchise; Systematic Giving; Anti-Opium; Work among Sailors; Work among Policemen; Savings Banks; Parlor Meetings; Young Woman's Branch.The outline of Department work which follows, defines not only those Branches which have been taken up by the World's W.C.T.U., but many others which I hope may be developed by the intelligence and devotion of our armies of workers.
The Department of Organization is intended to systematize the work of organizers, sending them out to such localities as are in greatest need of help, that they may increase the number of local auxiliaries and strengthen the things which remain, introducing White Ribbon methods, emphasizing the regular payment of dues, circulating the Union Signal and other organs of the White Ribbon work, and building up our Societies upon firm and strong foundations of consecrated combined and intelligent effort.
The Evangelistic Department is the basis of all our varied lines of work.
Its aims are: To keep brightly burning upon our altars the sacred fire which was kindled in the Crusade. To train spiritually the individual worker. To permeate, by its devotional services, Bible readings and consecration, all other departments with the evangelistic spirit. To secure the establishment of the 11 a.m. devotional hour in all conventions. To emphasize the importance of the Noontide Prayer. To arouse the Church. To reach the masses by visitation, Gospel missions and conferences, crusade bands, wayside services, services in jails, halls, cottages, railway stations, &c., &c. To enlist more women who shall preach the Gospel, and to train the workers.
Its methods are, first: To secure a superintendent in each
85
National, Colonial, Provincial, State and local Union, through whose instrumentality local Unions shall hold meetings with non-churchgoers, thus bringing to them a knowledge of the saving power of Christ.MISS GREENWOOD, World's Superintendent, has just issued a valuable book of Hints and Helps for Evangelistic Workers.
The Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction aims to secure such legislation as shall make the study and teaching of the laws of health, with special reference to the effect of stimulants and narcotics upon the human body, obligatory throughout the entire system of public education, and to secure active personal sympathy and co-operation in Temperance work on the part of college students everywhere. Its plans include addresses, leaflets, open letters, circulation of literature, and organization wherever practicable.
The Department of Health and Heredity aims to extend the reverent study of God's health decalogue, with a view to best methods of daily living, and by wise and careful words to teach the power and force of Heredity in races and individuals, and its relation to healthy and diseased conditions through Heredity Institutes, the circulation of literature, and addresses by women physicians, especially to mothers.
The Department of Scientific and Economic Cookery aims to teach the relative nutritious values of foods and the most sanitary and economic methods of their preparation. So close is the relation existing between the alcohol habit and lack of proper nutrition that when this Department is fully grasped and its principles everywhere practised, it will prove a most powerful ally in the work of Temperance and all other reforms.
The Department of Physical Culture purposes to secure laws making it obligatory that physical exercises, according
86
to the best scientific methods, for the development of health and strength, shall be regularly taught in public schools. This Department is organized in the expectation of great good to the mothers of the future, through an improved understanding of the laws and practice of health, common-sense methods in dress, food, exercise, &c.The Department of Sunday School Work aims to teach the same habits and principles as the foregoing, but from a Bible point of view, and by means of exercises lessons regularly prepared by established Sunday School publications, and taught whenever the lesson permits, and especially on a quarterly Sunday dedicated to this purpose.
The Department of Temperance Literature aims to prepare and circulate books, papers, leaflets, etc., for the general education of public sentiment, and also for topical study in all the Departments of W.C.T.U. work, that our local meetings may be made interesting and profitable, and our members thoroughly educated in all branches of temperance reform.
The Department of Presenting our Cause to Influential Bodies aims to secure the presentation of our work before all societies indicated by its name and any others of suitable character, in towns, colonies, provinces, states and nations, that the W.C.T.U. and the principles it advocates may be known and endorsed in influential quarters. The method is to endeavour, through members of these associations, to secure the passage of a resolution approving our work and committing the associations themselves to do all in their power in their respective fields to advance the cause of total abstinence and prohibition. Our cause should also be, presented to the leading associations by our ablest speakers, arrangements being made through the local Unions.
87
The Department of the Relation of Temperance to Labor and Capital aims to induce employers to require total abstinence in employes; to extend the discrimination in favour of abstinent habits to every branch of insurance risk; to induce all organizations of working-men to introduce the same discrimination into their societies, and to study the correllations between the temperance and labour questions. The methods are circular letters, personal appeals, articles for the press, and efforts to secure editorial co-operation; also to make the people more intelligent regarding the waste, pauperism, and crime resulting from the liquor traffic, by gathering the latest statistics, properly classifying and placing them before the people in leaflets and through the press. These will be of service to our speakers and writers, and should come before the public in every possible way.
The Department of W.C.T.U. School of Methods and Parliamentary Usage aims to establish schools at all summer assemblies and camp-meetings where the society's work is brought to the attention of the people, where the aim and needs of each Department may be studied, and the best methods brought out by competent teachers, to the end that trained workers may take the places of those now unskilled.
The Department of the Press aims to provide the press, both religious and secular, with the latest and most important news concerning the W.C.T.U. work in every department; to bring constantly before the reading public, facts, illustrations, statistics and quotations, directly and indirectly helpful in educating the public mind and conscience along this line of reform; and to correct in the same columns whence they emanate, inaccurate statements with regard to our principles, methods, or leadership. Particular attention is paid to the metropolitan and associated press
88
and co-operative newspapers; also to capital cities during sessions of the Legislature. To this general statement it may be added that "the printed part is less than that which, yet imprinted, waits the press."The aim of The Department of Narcotics is to educate the people in regard to the effects of tobacco, opium, and other narcotics upon the body and the brain, with a view to the extermination of the habit of using, and of the traffic in the same. Also to secure laws governing the sale of narcotics.
The Department of Unfermented Wine at Sacrament aims to secure the use of unfermented wine at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; to awaken conviction in every mind that CHRIST did not make use of or bless intoxicating wine. Methods: Appeals to the ministry and church officials. Presenting petitions and resolutions to religious bodies. Proving by the testimony of ancient and modern authorities and missionaries that unfermented wine was in use all through Bible times. Securing the preaching of sermons against the use of intoxicating wine upon the Lord's table, as against any other sin, and the extensive circulation of literature upon this subject. I
The Department of Proportionate Giving seeks to create sentiment in favour of the Tithe System, or other methods of proportionate giving, as the most promising means of securing a pure and ample treasury for the LORD'S work. The judicious and faithful distribution of "Systematic Giving" literature in all the families represented in the Unions, also essays and addresses on the subject, and testimonies from those who have adopted the methods, constitute the plan of work.
The Department of Penal and Reformatory Work, including Police Station Work, aims to carry Gospel
89
Temperance to the inmates of prisons and jails; to cooperate in the work of Prisoners' Aid Associations; to aid in establishing Women's Reformatory Prisons and Industrial Homes for the criminal classes; to secure the appointment of women on Boards of Charities, and the maintenance of matrons in all prisons and police stations where women are arrested or imprisoned. The Gospel and Police Matron work is directly related to the W.C.T.U., and carried on by personal visitation, by letter and literature.The aim of the Department of Work in Almshouses is the same as the preceding, but is carried on in Almshouses only which do not come under the head of penal or reformatory.
The object of the Department of Securing Homes for Homeless Children is to secure a home to every homeless, unprotected child within our borders. These homes must be sought out with great care by our Superintendents. In large towns and cities these children are often "at our doors," but we must seek out the waifs of remote and less populous districts. As individuals, members of Unions, and Church Associations, we have become familiar with this work. But now we desire to extend it, to make it more efficient through the concerted action of our organization. Co-operation with existing Children's Aid Societies is recommended, rather than the forming of new ones by our Unions. These exist in every city, and are glad to welcome us as coadjutors. It is not too much to say that the salvation of our beloved country depends upon the salvation of these children.
"Take heed, that ye despise not these little ones," are the Master's own words. "It is not the will of our Father that one of the least of these shall perish." What multitudes, bereft of human love and care, He takes to Himself; those whom He spares, sometime and somewhere, He will bring
90
into His fold. May it be ours in the way above to help towards the fulfilment of His beneficent purpose.The Department of Work among Foreigners aims to interest all persons to whom the language of the country is not the native tongue, in Gospel Temperance methods and measures, and to influence them through the work of the W.C.T.U.; to introduce and circulate Temperance Literature; to have addresses given in their language, and, If possible, to establish newspapers; to make the vote of foreigners a Temperance vote through conviction of right principles and by personal appeal and combined action.
The Department of Work among Coloured People is for the pursuance of all branches of work enumerated, among coloured men and women, forming the women into local Unions with white women, or by themselves, as they prefer. It is well known that their usual preference, both North and South is to work in their respective churches under the auspices of the Pastor, in which case local Unions should be organized in these churches.
The Department of Work among R.R. Employes includes work among railroad men, telegraph operators, street car men, express and cabmen, and train and news agents, with their respective families, and aims to carry the Gospel and Temperance pledge to them all, and to organize among them Gospel and Temperance clubs, or "R. R. Unions." Cottage meetings, noon shop meetings, and personal work in connection with the mass meetings, is the line followed, with the distribution of literature, etc.
The Work among Policemen aims to do for the police the same that is stated above relative to R. R. employes.
The Department for Soldiers and Sailors aims to reach the Army and Navy with Gospel and Temperance work, by establishing Temperance Societies on board Warships, and in
91
Homes and Rests established for soldiers and sailors, also by means of the pledge and temperance literature, through co-operation with commandants and chaplains; by correspondence, press articles, and personal visitation. Also to enlist in this peaceful war of veterans, and to inculcate in the young, a spirit of patriotism by securing their aid in the effort to place a flag on every school-house.The Department of Work among Lumbermen aims to carry Gospel Temperance by means of the written and spoken word, to the great armies of men in logging camps, destitute as they are of Christian teaching, and sure to fall an easy prey to the dramshop unless forewarned and forearmed.
The Department of Work among Miners aims to do for miners the same that is stated above relative to Lumbermen.
The Department of Sabbath Observance aims to educate and arouse the public intellect and conscience, through leaflets, press articles, petitions and all other available means, to the religious, scientific and other reasons for Sabbath observance, especially raising a higher practical standard among professed Christians, and testing our own lives by the Word of God. Also to secure and maintain good Sabbath laws and usages, thus protecting all in their right to a civil rest day and fostering morality.
The Department of Mercy aims to develop in our young people the tenderest consideration toward all who are capable of pain, never needlessly inflicting it, and shielding the lower animals from both pain and danger so far as possible, also securing the enactment and enforcement of laws for this humane purpose.
The Department of Purity aims to exhibit the relations existing between the drink habit and the nameless habits, outrages and crimes which disgrace modern civilization; and especially to point out the brutalizing influences of malt
92
liquors upon the social nature; this study to be conducted by means of Mothers' Meetings, leaflets, pamphlets, etc., co-operating with the White Cross Army and circulating its literature.It has in view a distinct effort to impress upon the minds of men and women, youth and maidens, the absolute demands of religion and physiology for purity in word, thought, and deed.
The cardinal doctrines of the Purity Department are first of all the same moral standard and requirements of personal purity for men and women. Secondly, thoughtful women have determined that there shall be no laws by which immoral men may think themselves secure from the consequences of immoral and promiscuous alliances. Hence the C.D. Acts are execrated by White Ribbon women of every nation, and they will never cease to denounce and seek to destroy every form of legislation that involves the principle that the personality of a woman is not sacred to herself.
The Department of Anti-Opium Work has been strongly re-enforced by the circulation of the Polyglot Petition, which calls upon all Governments to banish the opium trade. The propaganda is conducted, like all others, by means of literature, addresses, and petitions. It is strongly urged that total abstinence from the use of opium should be included in the pledge of the World's W.C.T.U., and also throughout the White Ribbon Societies both small and great.
The purpose of the Department of Purity in Literature and Art is to bring the influence of women to bear upon the books, read by children and young people, and the pictures, statuary and dramatic representations that are placed before them, so that the temptations of the young shall be diminished, and the incentives to pure living increased by the impressions thus received. The standard set up is that
93
of the home, which is believed to be the best and most reasonable that can be devised, since the largest part of the average life is spent at home, and whatever tends to bring to its bright sanctuary the taint of unclean thought or action strikes a blow at the very heart of the people's life. The motto of those who work along these lines is, "We come not to destroy, but to fulfil; not to break down, but to build up." We recognise the beauty and charm of the intellectual and artistic life. Our principle is set forth in that familiar declaration of John Wesley: "We do not propose to let the devil have all the good tunes," neither do we propose to let him have all or any of the attractive books, amusements, picture galleries, for these are all adjuncts of a beautiful home life, and must be regarded from the point of view of the greatest number's greatest good, and guarded for their use and pleasure rather than disregarded by the home in order that the publisher, picture dealer, and theatrical manager may make larger profits. These men have no patent on the beauty and charm of genius and the world; the home is the first claimant, and the home-makers propose, by organized and well-conducted work, to restore to their (children and young people, all these pleasant gardens of delight with the serpent driven out.The Department of Drawing Room Meetings aims to interest the conservative social classes of society by the use of conservative social means. The meetings are held in homes, the audience gathered by invitation. The methods must vary to meet the varied character of social demands. Religious services, music, a brief address, conversational discussion, distribution of literature and circulation of autograph pledge-books are recommended. Gentlemen may be invited, and honorary membership solicited. Refreshments add to the social character of the hour.
94
The Flower Mission aims to graft our gospel work upon a beautiful form of philanthropy. Bouquets are to be tied with white ribbons, and a scripture verse or suggestion relative to temperance to be attached; our literature to be circulated to accompany the flowers, and the total pledge offered at appropriate times.
The Department of Fairs and Expositions aims to Temperance ideas and practices in contact with the people at fairs and other great holiday gatherings by means of a booth (suitably designated by mottoes, pictures and other decorations), where temperance drinks are dispensed and literature circulated; also to secure, if possible, favorable reference to the subject of Temperance in public addresses, made either by those appointed by authorities of the fair, or if this be impracticable, presentation of the subject by our own speakers. This department protests against the sale of intoxicants on holiday occasions, and makes systematic effort to secure the enactment and enforcement of laws to this end.
The Department of Legislation and Petitions aims to secure prohibition by constitutional and statutory law. Methods are varied as the manifold work of the W.C.T.U. As all roads once led to Rome, so every purpose and plan points to the comsummation defined under this all-embracing "aim." Specifically, petitions to legislative bodies, systematic efforts to enforce existing laws, and a course of study and reading for Local Unions are included under this department.
The Department of Franchise aims to aid those who desire to utilize the school ballot for Temperance purposes, if already conferred, or to secure in whole or in part the ballot for women as a weapon of protection to their homes from the liquor traffic and its attendant evils. Methods — circular
95
letter with instructions, forms of petitions, etc., distribution and sale of appropriate literature; articles to the press: correspondence and public addresses.The Department of Peace and International Arbitration aims to secure such training for the children in home, Sunday school, public school, and Loyal Temperance Legion, as will make them despise physical combat, will lift them to a plane where the weapons are arguments, parliamentary usage, and law; all of these having above them the "sword of the Spirit," that weapon which is, more than all others, worthy of reasonable and responsible beings.
The department also contemplates International Arbitration as the method that shall universally replace war, and in this interest literature will be circulated, public meetings addressed, petitions signed, and co-operation with the Peace Societies of its own and other nations sought.
Affiliated Interests.
The principal affiliated interests of our National auxiliaries are The Women's Temperance Publishing Association in Chicago, founded by White Ribbon women in 1881; this Association publishes The Union Signal, chief of all the reform papers ever founded by women; The Young Woman, organ of the young women's work; The Young Crusader, organ of the juvenile work; and a complete line of books, pamphlets, leaflets, responsive readings, pledges, autograph books, and every needful requisite for women's work. MRS. C. C. CHAPIN, an English woman of much literary experience, edits the publications, and adapts them to the constant development of the work.
The Woman's Temple, Chicago, the Headquarters of the World's W.C.T.U. and the National W.C.T.U. of the United States. This is the finest office building in Chicago — many
96
have said the finest in the world. The Publishing House has its offices here; and in Willard Hall, in front of which stands the Children's Fountain, daily Gospel Temperance Meetings are held. The Temple was founded by MRS. MATILDA B. CARSE, and neither the World's nor National Societies are in any wise liable for its cost or maintenance, a separate Board having assumed the entire financial of the enterprise. The same is true of the Women's Temperance Publishing House, and of the Woman's National Temperance Hospital, founded in 1886 for the purpose of demonstrating the advantage of the non-use of alcoholics In medicine. This hospital is managed by a board of women directors, among whom the chief of them — although not always the presiding officer — is MRS. M.M. HOBBS. Before long a larger hospital will be built in the suburbs of the city, under the auspices of the Women's Board.The affiliated interests of the British Women's Temperance Association are The White Ribbon Co., Limited — MRS. ROSSITER-WILLARD, Manager. — which publishes books, pamphlets and leaflets in great variety, suited to the practical needs of the work; The Woman's Signal, a weekly record and review of women's work in philanthropy and reform: Co-editors, LADY HENRY SOMERSET and ANNIE E. HOLDSWORTH; Corresponding Editor, FRANCES E. WILLARD.
The Woman's Budget, a monthly paper devoted more exclusively to the work and news of the Association, edited by LADY HENRY SOMERSET and MRS. ROSSITER WILLARD.
The Woman's Lecture Bureau, conducted by MRS. LIZZIE OSBORN.
The address of all these is Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London.
St. Mary's Training Home for friendless girls, at Reigate,
97
founded by LADY HENRY SOMERSET in memory of her father, EARL SOMERS.The Industrial Farm Home for inebriate women, at Duxhurst, near Reigate, Surrey.
Alpha House, Preventive and Rescue Home in Hanley Road, North London; and The Grove Retreat for Inebriate Women, established in connection with the Manchester Woman's Christian Temperance Association.
98
Chapter IX. White Ribbon Question Box.
What advantages are to be gained by affiliating with the World's W.C.T.U.?
They are the same as those which come to a company, regiment, or brigade of soldiers from belonging to a great general army of the country it seeks to defend. It is a principle in nature that the greater attracts the less — indeed, by this law planets revolve, and the universe is held in place. The advantages are so deeply rooted in the constitution and course of nature that to name them seems superfluous. By this affiliation the expert knowledge and experience that have been gained as the result of untold toil and hardship, and unmeasured outlay of time, strength and money, by those who have consecrated their lives to the work of reform, are carried to the most distant local Societies; the literature of the W.C.T.U. has become very specific and invaluable to every local worker. It has newspapers, books, pamphlets, leaflets, responsive readings, constituting a manual of arms which every soldier must learn in order to be efficient in the peaceful war. The oldest, best organized, and most successful Societies send out pulsations of thought, feeling and purpose, along the lines of organisation to each and every auxiliary, and for that matter to each individual worker, if that worker chooses to place herself in such a position that they can reach her. And this she can only do by taking
99
hold of hands in a local group which has affiliated to a National group which has affiliated to the World's group. There is untold power in this sense of solidarity among women devoted to the protection of their homes, and to remain outside the compact is as much an act of unwisdom as for a wage-worker to remain outside the Trades' Union; a voter to remain outside his precinct; or a soldier to set out by himself in the campaign expecting to put the to flight.Which is the proper title of our Association, Woman's or Women's C.T.U.?
The word Woman has been used from the first, probably with the idea that she is developing generically; but it is not necessary to use the singular form of the word, and many prefer the plural. Let every Union be fully persuaded in its own mind, and adopt that form which it deems most consonant with reason — and grammar!
In view of the declared position of the W.C.T.U. on the tobacco question, is it consistent for our societies to admit as honorary members those addicted to the use of tobacco in any form?
This may be answered by each local Society according to its own best judgment. It is well known that the White Ribbon movement is opposed to the use of tobacco in any form, and that we try so to instruct children in the way they should go, that when they are grown they will not depart from it.
Does the W.C.T.U. acknowledge any other badge than the White Ribbon?
No badge is authorised by us except the White Ribbon, and the pins that imitate its form and colour in enamelled silver, or some similar material. Some very successful attempts of this kind have been made, and such pins can be
100
obtained at the Woman's Temple, Chicago; or at the B.W.T.A. Headquarters, Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London; or at the Headquarters of the W.C.T.U. Christiana, Norway, MISS BERTHA ESMARK, Secretary. Many of our members prefer this pin because the white ribbon soils so easily, but the great majority wear the ribbon; and we urge every member to wear the badge always, as the single silent witness which all women bear if they have the perception and conscience to understand, that possibly in no other single effort can they so truly serve the cause.Why does the W. C. T. U. appoint Superintendents instead of Committees?
Because it works better. We had Committees until the Boston Convention. On a certain occasion I was appointing a large Commmittee, with MRS. PEARSALL SMITH ("H.W.S.") as Chairman, when she, in her free Quaker way, called out, "If thee wants anything done, just put on two other women with me: only let one be a permanent invalid, and the other always out of town." The remark was a pithy one, as MRS. SMITH'S are wont to be, and set several of us thinking. By holding one woman responsible we get more definite results; she may call as many as she pleases to her aid, but we deal only with one.
How often ought we to hold a public meeting?
Surely not less than one each quarter should be held, and as many more as possible. Agitate and Educate are our Watchwords. If people are to be saved by the foolishness of preaching, how can the Temperance gospel grow, but by the foolishness of Temperance lecturing?
How can we introduce the subject into Prayer meeting?
In the same way that HORACE GREELEY recommended for specie payment. "The way to resume is just to resume."
101
In my own town the ladies went to DR. --------, our pastor and asked if Temperance might be the topic once a quarter. He answered, "Yes; but you must all come prepared to recite passages of Scripture, for I am afraid our people will not take the matter up." But, behold, we never had a more spontaneous meeting; Temperance was a subject that everybody knew about; it was practically connected with the Lord's Prayer, the Golden Rule, and the Beatitudes; as a matter of course, then, they had something to say.Why is not the Constitution of the World's W.C.T.U. a good model for a National or Colonial Union?
The World's Union has a basis of representation and rules governing its Executive Committee which would be wholly unsuited to a National Society; but is rendered absolutely necessary by the vast distances over which the organization is spread, making it difficult to obtain at any Biennial Convention an equal representation from the various countries. Hence the Executive must legislate, rather than the Convention, and for this reason the Constitution is unsuited to any other than a world-wide union of workers.
Is it permissible in Countries where there is but little total abstinence sentiment, to allow non-abstainers to join the Union without the privilege of voting?
We are not unmindful of cases where real embarrassment, arising because of an unreasoning prejudice on the part of natives against pledge-taking, renders it impossible for worthy, non-abstaining women to unite with us. Yet, as the signing of a total-abstinence pledge is practically the one requirement of membership in the W.C.T.U., it is impossible to constitute membership on any other basis.
Have Round-the-World Missionaries authority to depose or appoint officers, national, colonial, or local, in countries or places where the W.C.T.U. is already organised?
102
Their relation to societies already organised, whether national, colonial, or locals is wholly advisory; the authority to elect officers rests entirely with the members of the W.C.T.U. However, our Missionaries have the appointing authority generally belonging to organizers in places where no Union exists.
Is it fair that the honorary members should pay double the regular membership fee?
It is expected that when our brothers join us it is in order that they may assist us, especially in finances. A man usually has a better hold on the business world, and can spare two shillings with less self-denial than a woman can spare one.
How can a member of the W.C.T.U. absolutely known to be unworthy of membership (as, for instance, by breaking the pledge) be removed from the Society?
A local Union always has the right to accept or refuse membership dues from any person wishing to join or to continue her membership. It is usually best in such a case, by unanimous consent of the Union, to refuse to accept further dues from such an unworthy member and to notify her at the expiration of the length of time already paid for, that she cannot renew her membership unless she gives evidence of an amended life.
How can the cost of "The Union Signal" and other W.T.P.A. literature be reduced in far-away lands?
It must be remembered that twice the original amount of postage required must be paid on delivery in any British country in cases of insufficient postage. Therefore great care in determining the exact amount of postage to be prepaid, by weighing before sending, would save no inconsiderable amount of money. Each country should have one efficient superintendent of literature, through whom all orders for the W.T.P.A. publications should be sent.
103
What is the most necessary aid towards intelligence in W.C.T.U. work?
Our own literature and especially The Union Signal, the World's W.C.T.U. organ. Even if a dozen other Temperance newspapers be taken, these cannot possibly supply a sufficient amount of information regarding the work and methods of the W.C.T.U. Our Societies flourish in direct ratio to their intelligence regarding our work, and the Round-the-World Missionaries testifiy that the brightest best work accomplished by the Unions the world over is to be found where The Union Signal is taken in largest numbers, and constantly used as the source of information and counsel. Loyalty to the organization and to their own best good should impel our Unions to secure a large list of subscribers to The Union Signal.
How can we best maintain a high spiritual tone within the W.C.T.U.?
As our work was born in prayer, it is absolutely essential that each Union should, if possible, maintain Gospel Temperance Meetings for direct soul-saving work in which all take a share. It is not proper for a Christian Society to relegate all its spiritual activities to the Superintendent of the Evangelistic Department, as though she had been appointed their chaplain, but to maintain. Union Prayer Meetings and Bible Readings in which the members freely participate.
How can we increase the efficiency of the individual membership, and broaden the lines of work of the W.C.T.U.?
By a zealous development of the departments of our work, and for this there is no more efficient agency than holding Schools of Methods. The fact must be constantly emphasized that we are not alone an organization for the promotion of total abstinence from the use of alcoholics, but also
104
from opium and tobacco, and for the suppression of all traffic in drink, opium, tobacco and vice; for the maintenance of one day in seven for rest; for peace and arbitration; and, generally for the development of the character, ability, and powers of women.How can our Unions best protect themselves from irresponsible "Temperance Tramps"?
By requiring every man or woman who requests the aid and influence of the W.C.T.U., to show credentials certifying to membership, either honorary or regular, signed by the officers of the local State or Colonial Union, from which the lecturer comes, and a recommendation for the special work undertaken. All World's workers must hold, in addition to the foregoing, credentials from the World's W.C.T.U. officers to the same purport.
Who is the proper person to preside at public W.C.T.U. Meetings? Is it preferable that men should be asked to take the chair?
It is eminently fitting that on public occasions when the work of a woman's organization is to be set forth, the President should take the chair, or that some other suitable woman should be asked to do so. This is not only necessary to a proper representation of the work, on the part of those immediately identified with it, but to the development of the latent talent of women, which is a legitimate part of W.C.T.U. work. There may be exceptional cases where it is best to invite a man to preside, and it is always desirable to have pastor and leading Temperance men invited to seats upon the platform, and whenever it is deemed best, to participation in the exercises, not, however, to the exclusion of women.
Is it best for the President to have a first Vice-President
105
who shall be her special representative, her coadjutor when she is able to work, and her representative when she is not?This method has already been adopted in England and the United States, and it works admirably. I fully believe that it would be equally successful if taken up by every National and Local Society. If there were space I should like to give my reasons, but they will occur to none so readily as to the over-worked Presidents who feel the need of a right hand which can relieve them of some of their specific duties. The Corresponding Secretary is already wholly preoccupied with her own, and the work of an efficient president is the most responsible and relentless of all.
Does the Temperance work of women lead them away from church work?
We believe that the Temperance Reform should conduct toward the Church and never away from it, just as a "citizen's league" is but a temporary expedient to be set aside when the duly elected officers of the municipality will do their duty. So Temperance Societies will be needless in the exact proportion that the Church of Christ comes to be, what it ought to be already, — the one great Temperance organization. For myself, I am first a Christian, afterwards a White Ribboner, for movements come and movements go, but the Church of Christ goes on for ever. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union is not an outside force, but part and parcel of the Church. At our National Convention in America, with its 500 delegates, when all who were Sunday school workers were asked to rise, fewer than half-a-dozen remained in their seats. We have asked, and our request is granted, that four Sundays in the year should be specially dedicated to the promotion of personal total abstinence. Sunday is the harvest of the publichouse at
106
all times, and in almost all our cities children must pass its open door to reach the Sunday School. Why is the Mahommedan boy in Bombay better prepared to resist drink than the Christian boy in Boston or Liverpool? Because his Bible (the only one he knows, and he calls it the Koran), teaches him that it is his solemn duty to abstain from alcohol. This teaching has come down from father to son; it has been worked into the warp and woof of his character, and has been engraven upon that childish memory which is "wax to receive and marble to retain." "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." This flood-tide is the flowing torrent of the youthful soul The formative period of the brain is gelatinous, and an impression once made there is more deeply cut than it can be again; silver workers say that when you can see your face in the molten metal, that is the time to work. So it is with the heart of childhood in that impressionable stage when it reflects your character and teaching; then stamp with a firm true hand the white cross upon the soul, the habits of personal cleanliness of life with total abstinence from strong drink as their basis. We are not willing to time the step of the Sunday school regiment with its mighty "swing of conquest" to the slowest foot in the last battalion; we are not willing to leave the defenceless little one, with his mocking enemy of inheritance, and his measureless temptations legalized and set along the street, at the mercy of the luke-warm superintendent or the indifferent teacher. We want the organic methods of the day school and Sunday school upon the side of Temperance teaching. They have their wheels and levers, cogs, bolts, and bands, all in position; what we ask is permission to "gear on" the Temperance wheel and set it spinning round the world, from this central motive power.107
Is it best for National, State, Provincial, or Local W.C.T.U.'s to invite other societies of women to unite them, and how can this be done, when the societies thus invited are not made up of total abstinence members?
A still wider development of our endeavour to harmonize and unify, has led to the affiliation of societies of devoted to good objects, with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the separate organic Independence of all such societies being guaranteed, and the bond of union consisting in the noon-tide time of prayer, the wearing of the white ribbon, and the work of such departments as they may see fit to undertake.
In some of the societies thus affiliating with the W.C.T.U., only a part of the members are total abstainers, and it is with these, constituting the "Total Abstinence Section" of their several societies, that the affiliation is formed. By this means the Temperance Reform is brought to the attention of large groups of earnest-hearted workers who had held aloof from it, and a cosmopolitan character is given to the movement, which has suffered most from having been considered the fad of a few fanatics, whose zeal outran their judgment.
How was the work of the World's W. C. T. U. conducted previous to the first Convention held in Boston in 1891?
Until the year 1891 the World's W.C.T.U. was conducted by means of committees appointed by the National Societies in America and England; the first committee being formed at the Detroit Convention of the National W.C.T.U. in 1883 by the request of the President and consisting of the General Officers of the National W.C.T.U. and in England a committee was appointed by the British Women's Temperance Association for the same purpose. No president was appointed until 1884, at which time Mrs. Margaret
108
Bright Lucas (the sister of John Bright) and President of the British Women's Temperance Association, was chosen, and held the position until her death in the autumn of 1889; the B.W.T.A. becoming affiliated to the World's W.C.T.U. in 1885. Meanwhile a Provisional Constitution had been drawn up by the committee for the World's W.C.T.U. pending its first Convention which provided that the President of each country in which the Society was nationally organised should be President of the World's W.C.T.U. in the order of the date of such national organization. An exception to this rule was made by the special request of the President of the National W.C.T.U., in favour of Mrs. Margaret Bright Lucas, as a token of regard for the mother country. The Constitution adopted by the first Convention provided for the election of the president and other officers by the Executive Committee; and at the two Biennial Conventions of the World's W.C.T.U., Boston 1891 and Chicago 1893, under the new Constitution, the founder of the Society has been twice elected president.Why are not men admitted as full members of this organization?
Because we believe the need which called for a separate organization still exists. If, in the good day towards which we are hastening, woman is to take her place side by side with man in all of life's relations, she must fit herself for that position. To him has been given the training of the ages; to her barely that of a quarter-century. We believe our organization exists as did the law, "as a schoolmistress," to bring us to that better dawning when "in Christ Jesus, there can be neither Jew nor Greek; bond nor free; male nor female."
Can any Honorary Officer of the World's, National, Colonial, State or Local Union be elected for life at any one Convention?
109
To do this would be entirely in opposition to the spirit of our work. Every officer must be voted on at each meeting of the Local or National Unions, and at the Biennial meeting of the World's W.C.T.U. It is a principle of Parliamentary law that no annual meeting is bound by the action of any annual meeting preceding it, except so far as such action is wrought into the organic law of the Society; that is into its Constitution or Bye-laws.
Can the W.C.T.U. devise a method by which the great interest manifested by our women in all parts of the world concerning healthful dress may be met?
As a matter of health and comfort, ought not our women speakers to remove their bonnets when addressing audiences?
We have thought much on this subject. It would be a great relief if White Ribbon women had a costume of their own, simple, healthful, and in conformity with the principles of good taste. Perhaps we shall reach this some day; but as yet our efforts have met with small encouragement. As a rule no women dress more simply and reasonably than those who wear the White Ribbon, but there remains much to be desired in respect to their costume. We are glad to say that as a rule they lay aside their bonnets not only when speaking, but when presiding and conducting Councils and Conventions. Everyone who thinks, is perfectly aware that this is a far more natural and common-sense way than to sit with a burden on the head, especially when one should be at one's best. Doubtless the time will come when it will be told as a relic of out-worn superstition that women were wont to cover their heads in public assemblies.
What is the Somerset Y and the Somerset W.C.T.U.?
The SOMERSET Y, named in honour of LADY HENRY SOMERSET, is a society of young people organised in schools and colleges; and the W.C.T.U. is a general Union of
110
White Ribbon women who really belong to the movement in heart and life, but who are unable for different reasons to belong to a local Union. These women send their names and fifty cents (two shillings) a year to the Treasurer at the headquarters of the National Society of the country in which they live, and thus give their moral support and an increment of financial help to the White Ribbon movement.What is a "Model Union"?
Many of our Societies hold a monthly model meeting to let the public know what our methods are. These meetings can be made very instructive and amusing as well by introducing Parliamentary usage and having a debate. Some member moves a resolution, and in offering it makes a droll speech; the seconder of the resolution does the same. Various methods of disposing of the resolution are brought forward in strict accordance with Parliamentary rule, but the playful handling of the question throughout, interests many women and leads them to learn Parliamentary rules when they would not otherwise have done so.
Is it desirable to have a Lecture Bureau in each country?
Our experience is in favour of this branch of work, but everything depends upon the woman who conducts. Some have made notable failures; others have succeeded admirably. MRS. OSBORN, of London, is the ablest manager of a Lecture Bureau of whom I have knowledge. The following suggestions are the result of her experience:
"You ask me to give you a short statement relative to methods adopted in connection with the Lecture Bureau. I find it very difficult to do this as necessarily the methods are greatly varied in character, change with circumstances, and are largely the outcome of individual thought. The same plans, therefore, in other hands would probably be worked on different lines, and detailed statements of my
111
methods put into print would probably not carry much to the minds of others.Among the essential points I consider the most important to be the complete and hearty co-operation of all concerned; the making of engagements by speakers only through the Bureau; one or more speakers whose time is fully at the disposal of the superintendent, and who can go anywhere at any time as desired; and the arrangement of tours with consecutive meetings so as to save expense in money and time. The experience of the last two years convinces me that the Lecture Bureau may be one of the most useful and valuable departments of work, but a great many of the women in the Association have much to learn in respect to effectively organising meetings on a scale to justify the sending of speakers, frequently long distances and at much cost.
During the past twelve months the Bureau has supplied speakers for about 450 meetings, which has involved a correspondence, in and out, of 6,209 letters.
The new Lantern Lecture, which is a history of the women's Temperance movement beginning with the Whiskey War in America, has proved a great success during the past season, and has been widely given. The 90 slides by which the lecture is illustrated, are for the most part original, many of them having been specially photographed for the purpose, and cannot well be duplicated, and are not lent on hire. The cost of production was considerable, and my usual plan has been to deliver the lecture myself, and the profits have paid for the slides and also contributed largely towards the working expenses of the Bureau."
Is it well for a Local Society to carry on a restaurant, friendly, inn, lodging house, or temperance hotel?
All this depends; the past is strewn with failures, and has
112
many milestones of success. The failures grew out of shortsighted attempts to conduct business enterprises by means of committees of haphazard workers, with the best intentions, but no business experience. It is an axiom that any establishment conducted for a philanthropic association costs twice as much as the same enterprise conducted by a business man or woman, upon whose success or failure depends bread and shelter — indeed, all that goes to make up a living. The true method is to lend the influence of the Society to some level-headed person who will undertake the enterprise as a private venture, and to make that person solely responsible. Human nature is so made that the money of a rich patron or a philanthropic corporation lies loosely in the fingers that tighten with care over the coins earned by the sweat of the individual brow.How can the W.C.T.U. protect itself from being used as an advertising medium?
Our Local, State, Colonial, and National Societies should become incorporated, and steadily refuse name, initials, motto, badge, or any of their belongings to be dragged into the sluice-ways of the great merciless advertising schemes of the time. In cases altogether exceptional, after careful consideration, the Society might, by a vote, decide to allow its endorsement to be given to a thoroughly accredited or philanthropic reform enterprise, but this should be done with great caution. The same is true of every White Ribbon worker as an individual. Too much care cannot be exercised in allowing one's name to be used in any business connection. We have learned by the things we have suffered.
Would it not be well for the maintenance of the Christian character of our Society to admit none as voting members who do not belong to the Evangelical Christian Church?
113
We do not think so, for the reason that church membership is not the truest test of Christian character conduct. Our's is a Christian Society, the Bible is its chief corner-stone, Christian hymns are sung in all our meetings, and prayer is offered; the whole spirit of our movement is religious and evangelical, but we do not draw the line at church membership. When the praying bands moved on the dram-shops, such women fell into line as felt a call in their hearts to do so; they were never asked to what church they belonged, or whether they belonged to any. And when the praying band took on the organic and systematic form of the W.C.T.U. they were not asked, and we hope they never will be. It is a question between them and GOD, and not between them and their poor fallible comrades. We desire to help the cause of Christian unity, and we believe that this is one of the most practicable ways in which we can do this.
What is the relation between the W.C.T.U. and the Y. W.C.T.U.? How are the dues of the latter to be apportioned; and to what representation are the Y's entitled in Annual Conventions?
They hold precisely the same relations to the State and National Work, but are formed in two separate groups for convenience and congeniality. They pay the same dues and have the same representation in Annual Meetings and Conventions. Each Local Society is perfectly independent, and has no right of control over the other.
Would it not be well for the W.T.P.A. to prepare a price list of publications for the world's work, giving all prices in Ås.d. as well as in dollars and cents?
Local Societies should send a postal card to the W.T.P.A., Woman's Temple, Chicago, asking for the latest catalogue of publications, which will be forwarded without charge, and
114
which will hereafter give prices in English as well as American money.When ought a Y to transfer her membership to the W.C.T.U.? Does this depend upon age or marriage, or any other condition?
We have no rule. It has been our study to avoid making rules, and to leave everything possible to the discretion of the local workers. Some women marry very young, others not at all, so we would not found the distinction upon marriage. Nor has the wisdom of women concerning a frank statement of their ages yet become sufficiently general for it to afford a practical basis as to their relations to the Society. The only rule is, "let each be fully persuaded in her own mind" as to whether it is advisable to be a Y or a W, but it goes without saying that the Y Society should be as a rule made up of women who are, to say the least of it, younger than — Methuselah!
What is the Demorest Medal Contest?
It was founded by the well-known philanthropist in New York, MR. WILLIAM JENNINGS DEMOREST, a devoted friend of Temperance and Woman's cause, and it will be his most enduring monument. The number of medals thus far awarded is over forty thousand; and the White Ribbon women have been the chief coadjutors of MR. DEMOREST in his great work. The method is to train children and young people to recite or declaim the Temperance orations of leading speakers, and a Committee is appointed to award medals to the successful contestants. These are of silver and gold, and the diamond medal is the highest grade, and is awarded to the ablest speaker who has already won the other two. By means of these contests, which always draw large audiences, a strong influence is exercised on the public mind which results in better habits and better testimony at the
115
ballot box. It is stated by the managers of the contest 250,000 of the flower of the world's youth have spoken in these contests to more than fifteen millions of persons.Are any definite plans under consideration by the World's officers for the establishment of depots of Temperance and Purity literature in the various countries where the Union is organised?
The W.T.P.A., Chicago, and the White Ribbon, Co., Ltd., Memorial Hall, London, are independent corporations officially recognised by the World's W.C.T.U., but conducting their affairs in a perfectly businesslike way, and not controlled by the World's Union. This is the best method, because by means of it we can avail ourselves of all the advantages of these corporations, which are willing and glad to bring out the literature that we desire, without involving us in any of their financial risks. The same is true of the Union Signal and the Woman's Signal. It is for the interest of these corporations to establish depots for Temperance and Purity literature in all countries where our organization has been formed; and they would be glad to do so, and have done so to some extent, but they meet this difficulty: as soon as a National Society becomes strong enough it begins to publish its literature, circulate its official organ, and having thus developed vital interests of its own, it is not easy for the parent publishing houses, as we call them, to secure as much attention to their output as ought to be the case.
The World's officers will do all they can to raise a fund for the extension and circulation of literature, and they advise every National and Colonial Union to do the same. Unless we send free literature to the new Societies, the work will never develop to the extent that we desire. The Woodbridge Fund (named in honor of our first Secretary)
116
has been started for this purpose, and will, we hope, become of world-wide interest to our workers.Where have the World's Conventions been held, and what is the total membership?
The first Convention of the World's W.C.T.U. was held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, November 10th and 11th, 1891; the second in Chicago, at the Art Institute, during the World's Fair, 1893; the third in Queen's Hall and Albert Hall, London, England, June 18th, 19th and 20th, 1895; and the total membership, including honorary and juvenile membership, is not less than half-a-million.
Where can we obtain literature relating to the various Departments of work?
Send to the Secretary of the World's W.C.T.U., for a leaflet containing a condensed history of the World's W.C.T.U., its leaders and its Departments of work, with a list of Superintendents. By addressing the Superintendents themselves a full knowledge of the literature of each Department can be obtained.
What books give a full account of the origin of the White Ribbon Movement?
Mrs. Judge Thompson, Hillsboro', Ohio — cradle of the Crusade — has written a history of the origin of the movement. Mother Stewart, of Springfield, Ohio, has written two books describing its origin and development. Mrs. Letitia Youmans, the Mother Stewart of Canada, gives a full description of the same in the Dominion. My book entitled "Woman and Temperance" goes back to the beginning of things, and has many interesting incidents and details. Mrs. Andrew has published a book on "The Origin and Development of the World's W.C.T.U."; and we expect that Mrs. Leavitt and Miss Ackerman, Mrs. Andrew and Dr. Bushnell will give us books containing
117
their valuable experiences and observations in their round-the-world work. For any of these that have yet published, send to the W.T.P.A., Woman's Temple, Chicago; or to the White Ribbon Co., Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London; also for a catalogue of their publications.What are the books needed to begin a Loyal Temperance Legion?
Send for "Juvenile Workers' Outfit," which includes Anna Gordon's "Questions Answered," and her "Marching songs," to the Woman's Temple, Chicago. Price 50 cts. or two shillings.
Would it be well for each Local Union to have a Declaration of Principles?
By all means. If the one adopted by the World's W.C.T.U. is satisfactory it may be placed at the head of the local Constitution, and should be brought to the knowledge of the public at least once a year through the Press.
Should the W.C.T.U. co-operate with the Women's Council?
The great movement for the organization of an International Woman's Council, which shall include all the national societies of women, should continue to have the strong co-operation of our workers. The COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN is President of this International Council. The best help that can be given in any locality is for our local Society or some other to call together the representatives of all the women's societies, and from them to make a central committee, so that they may act unitedly on all subjects that involve the interests of women and the home. These local councils send delegates to the National Council and that to the International. The National Women's Council of the United States is already so strong that its sessions will be hereafter held in Washington when the
118
National Congress of men is in session; and it will formulate such laws as it believes to be for the best interest of the home, and submit them through a deputation appointed for the purpose to the consideration of the Congress of the United States. The Women's Congress, like the men's, will sit in two houses called the Senate and the House of Representatives. A similar arrangement will undoubtedly be made in every country as rapidly as national councils of the various countries become sufficiently developed. For particulars concerning the formation of local and national councils address the COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN, Ottawa, Canada.119
Chapter X. General Suggestions.
THE W.C.T.U. has no race or color line, and in the nature of the case cannot have. If German, Scandinavian or any other women to whom English is not a native tongue, but who live in English-speaking countries, or if coloured women in any country prefer to organize Unions along the lines of race or nationality, they are free to do so; but to the World's and National Societies these Unions hold the same relations held by those Unions that are organized according to our general plan.
The best thing a Local Union can do for itself is to open headquarters and keep a level-headed, true-hearted woman there as Corresponding Secretary. If this is not done the work can never become a permanent power for good in any locality. The fragments of time that home women are able to give are like golden strands that must be braided together by the skilled fingers of one who invests all her interest in the work of the Society. If she does this, her living expenses must be paid, and to this end a subscription may be quietly circulated by her sister workers, or the money may be obtained in any of the thousand ways that women have invented to make their church enterprises successful. The way to make a thing known is to make it known. This Corresponding Secretary might also be the Press Superintendent who shall keep before the public the spirit and
120
method of the movement, its latest news and projected plans.If all our members (honorary as well as active) would give as many pennies on their respective birthdays as they have lived years, the local treasury would have a solid basis for its work, and an inducement to enroll ten times as many names as it usually attains. This one suggestion followed out would furnish the salary of the Corresponding Secretary in almost any town of the English speaking countries.
Whenever a Local Union can participate in the work of helping the poor, or smoothing the path of the wage-workers, or in any wise co-operating with other groups of good people who are trying to make the community happier, healthier and better, it should do this. The Temperance movement has strong affiliations with every other movement for human weal; it should not be permitted to hold an isolated position, but its advocates should make common cause with other workers for good, whether they agree upon all points or not. Municipal reform is in the air; it breaks out in new localities as the result of concerted action on the part of a few true-hearted reformers. White Ribbon women should always lend a hand when such attempts are made; and if not asked to join, should modestly volunteer their services.
The organization of a White Ribbon choir — the young women in uniform of a blue blouse and skirt with a white ribbon sash over the shoulder — has often helped as nothing else could to enlist young women who are employed in factories and other large manufacturing and commercial enterprises. We have not appreciated the magic power of song to win the hearts of those whom we may have supposed to be indifferent or opposed to Temperance work.
Wherever a meeting of ministers, physicians, teachers, politicians, journalists or publishers is held, whether for the
121
county, state, province, colony or nation, it is the duty of the Corresponding Secretary of our Society to see that an effort is made to secure some expression favourable to temperance, purity, enfranchisement of women, the labour movement, the Polyglot Petition, from the point of view of that group of workers. For instance, ministers should be asked to endorse our work and pass a resolution in favour of non-alcoholic wine; physicians to pass a resolution in favour of non-alcoholic medication; teachers to pass a resolution in favour of scientific temperance instruction, and so on. This one suggestion systematically carried out would do more to give the arrest of thought to leaders of public opinion than any other effort suggested in this book. Literature adapted to interest those different groups should be distributed, if possible, in their meetings.Try to offset the attractions of the dram-shop by opening places of legitimate amusement and instruction to the people that will in part pay their own expenses if managed with skill. Begin with the "Pleasant Saturday Night" Entertainment, which has proved very successful in many towns and villages in England. The local union arranges an entertainment for which a very small sum is charged or nothing at all, the object being to keep young people out of harm's way, and it is often of a nature that interests the older ones as well. Saturday night is proverbially the harvest time of the public house, and this offset is a prophecy of the time when the municipality itself shall provide recreative amusements for the public whereby they shall have the "good time" they instinctively seek and which they certainly merit after the week's work, but which is furnished now on a purely mercenary basis and often mars instead of mends the homelife of the people.
The appointment of a Superintendent in each of the great
122
religious denominations whose duty it should be to set in motion forces that would result in a greatly increased membership, and to bring about the organization of Local Unions connected with these bodies of Christian people, would be of great advantage in each nation; and the World's W.C.T.U. might well appoint a Superintendent to communicate with them.It should be understood that each Superintendent of a department is entitled to an Associate, a Secretary, and such Lecturers as she thinks will advance the interests of her department. All these she has a right to appoint, but she will of course make her selections with great care.
Be ingenious in your efforts to secure money from the various legislative bodies for women's industrial homes, girls' industrial homes, and similar homes for inebriate men and women. If you do not get some of the taxpayer's money for these helpful purposes it is likely to be used in ways far less valuable to the community.
What shall be done with inebriates, is one of civilization's most complicated questions. There are three things for which I think we ought to try: —
(1.) Institutions, to be provided by the State, in which these men and women can be kept away from the temptation and meanwhile kept at work.
(2.) A municipal regulation requiring men to work out their fines at hard labour on the streets instead of sending them to the Bridewell, or leaving their poor wives to work out the fine at the washtub, as they so often do.
(3.) A law disfranchising for the year any man found drunk during that year. In like manner, I believe that we should sedulously work on towards the State care of degraded women in industrial homes, as the surest means, in
123
the present distress, of winning them back to a respectable and useful life.The aggregation of several Local Unions in the same city or neighbourhood in what is usually called Collective Unions has been tried for many years in some countries, and, as a rule, with but indifferent success. We believe it to be a better plan to organise by counties or districts or both as may be determined in different nations, and in such a manner as shall relate each Local Union to the State, province or colony in the same way as all the others, thus placing them on terms of equality towards the parent society, for when this is not done there is apt to be some uncertainty as to which one is the leader.
To form a Temperance Lending Library is one of the very best lines of work that a Local Union can take up. Write MRS. CAROLINE GROW, Business Manager of the W.T.P.A., Woman's Temple, Chicago, who will send you a catalogue of such a library on receipt of a postal card request from you.
If you contemplate a campaign against the impure placards on the bill-boards of your town, or any other line of work relating to the promotion of purity in literature and art, address the Superintendent of Work in this department, c/o Woman's Temple, Chicago.
If you intend to build head-quarters for the local, state, colonial, or national Union, and to combine and make the building help bear the current expenses of work by means of rentals, a plan which has been carried out successfully in a large and steadily increasing number of localities, address MRS. MATILDA B. CARSE, Woman's Temple, Chicago, who was the pioneer in all these undertakings, and whose experience set forth in her circulars and reports will be of great value.
124
If you wish to compare the merits of the blanks for reports sent out by Corresponding Secretaries each year to be returned with a full and statistical account of what has been accomplished, write to the Corresponding Secretaries of the various countries at their head-quarters, which can be learned from the Minutes of these countries, and are always given in the official organs of the various nationalities.
I suggest that all local Unions be requested, in their Annual Reports, to give the number of Total Abstinence Pledges that they have taken during the year. This should be sent to the State or local Union, and thence to the National Union of each country.
In cities and large towns establish W.C.T.U. settlements, on the plan of the College Settlements, whereby young people of education go to live in homes established for the purpose, among the least fortunate classes; and to put "a light in the window," of neighbourly welcome and help.
Appoint a committee of your best minds to arrange a Home Protection course of reading to be taken up by the Local Unions. The intellectual movement amongst women requires on our part a larger admixture of mental development in connection with the routine work of the Society.
Organise a Mothers' Meeting, to which overworked mothers are invited to bring their little ones; and induce young women of leisure and opportunity to go and take care of the children while their mothers have an afternoon of rest, refreshment, and sympathetic help. But do not let this be your only Mothers' Meeting. The strongest work we can do for purity is to hold meetings with mothers who have wealth and education, that they may prayerfully consult together in the interests of their children. Our Publishing Houses supply leaflets and books that will be most helpful to meetings of this kind.
125
Appoint a special committee to secure honorary members. Canvas for them in the business streets of the town. There is no mine of good influence and golden fees so little worked as this. We do not ask men to join, and yet in a large measure we must depend on them to bring about the results we desire. Surely this is unwisdom to an unaccountable degree, I should strongly advise every State Union to offer a prize to the Local Union that brought in the most Honorary Members in any given year, and we ought to have a badge for these brothers-in-law of the Society.
Offer prizes in the different schools for essays on different aspects of the Temperance reform.
Put up wall-pockets in railway stations, meat markets, barbers' shops, and other places where the people most do congregate, and keep these supplied with literature on purity and temperance.
Try to induce employers to require total abstinence in their employes; and to pay off their hands on Monday instead of Saturday night.
Every local Union ought to see that fountains for man and beast are erected in sufficient number to supply the public need, and to point toward the increase of the water-drinking habit. If tactfully approached — not necessarily by temperance people, there are those who are more in sympathy with them than we are — the municipal authorities might be induced to make an appropriation for this purpose. In the City of Cincinnati, which is given over to the beer interest, the municipality has, strange to say, an ordinance that in the neighbourhood of schools the erection of fountains for man and animals shall henceforth be obligatory.
A letter of introduction should always be given to any member who goes to live elsewhere, and should be received
126
as the equivalent of an application for membership. It is hardly necessary to remind our workers that members should be admitted only by vote of the society.Prepare an official letter to the Liquor League, national, state, or local, showing them that we bear them no ill-will, putting before them our purposes and plans, and urging them to join the forces for God and Home and Every Land. Personal letters to leaders in Church and State, if written in a good spirit, may do much to diminish friction and establish sympathy. With such letters send appropriate literature further explaining our movement.
Provide for the appointment of White Ribbon Deaconesses to work in the homes of the people, as well as Evangelists to speak to the people in house meetings, chapels, and larger assemblies.
At our public meetings generally, cards like this might be distributed through the audience, and gathered at the close:
When an officer has been absent from three consecutive
127
meetings of the W.C.T.U., without cause which the Union accepts, that Society should at once elect someone else to the office; and local Unions might well adopt a bye-law to this effect.When several local Unions are formed in the same city, instead of numbering them, they might be named for women, the very mention of whose names is an incentive to Christian zeal, as the "LUCY WEBB HAYES W.C.T.U.," the "HAVERGAL," the "ELIZABETH FRY," the "MARY LYON," etc.
Local Unions might well co-operate with city workers in extending the benefits of "Country week" to the little ones. Wisconsin W.C.T.U. secured an immediate response from its locals for such help, and entertained several hundred during one summer.
Let each local W.C.T.U. send the Union Signal regularly to each pastor within its bounds, and write him a note, asking him to be kind enough to read it. If the doctors were included in this arrangement, much good might come of it.
Send out a New Year souvenir card or leaflet or a present to editors, reporters, and journalists in general, for their information, and as a token of good-will.
If there is a school in your town get permission to address the young people and to circulate the pledge. Hold evangelistic meetings in the waiting rooms of railway stations, and in summer in the parks and groves. Establish a small loan library, and set apart twenty minutes at each regular meeting of the society for reading and commentary on a helpful book relating to some phase of our many-sided work. Ask an enlightened physician to speak before the local Union on the relation of food to the appetite for stimulants; how to keep well; substitutes for alcohol in medicine, and similar themes.
128
Try to secure the appointment of women on the Local Board of Health, Sanitary Committee, Library Committee, etc.
Go to the Sunday School Library and see how many books there are in it teaching temperance and purity, kindness to animals and a sense of brotherhood. See what papers are taken in the Sunday School. See if there is a temperance pledge on the walls, and if there is a temperance lesson once a quarter taught to the children in the school. If not try to bring it about, that all these dropped stitches shall be gathered up in a quiet way by the motherly knitting needles of the W.C.T.U.
Get out a Temperance Calendar, with advertisements to pay expenses, and attractive accounts of the local work of your Society, with an outline history of the larger Unions to which it is auxiliary.
Invite the teachers and managers of schools in the community to a reception, lawn party, or some social gathering, and become acquainted with them. Distribute your literature among them; and so far as possible make common cause with them for the uplift of those whom you can mutually influence.
Arrange for a joint meeting of the W.C.T.U. with the Women's, Foreign Missionary Societies of the different Churches. This will brighten the outlook of all, and show them how many purposes and plans they have in common.
Have a pledge against gambling — an evil that bids fair to out-do the liquor traffic in its corroding character. Try to introduce into as many homes as possible a family pledge, to be placed on the walls of the home. Write to our publishing houses for pledges.
It is hoped that each Union, from the greatest to the least, will not only have a motto of its own, but adopt a floral
129
emblem which has a meaning especially helpful and instructive.Prize banners given at the Annual Meeting of State, Colonial, National and World's Unions to the Local Society that has most enlarged its membership, are helpful Incentives to this specific work. In the United States we call these the President's banners, and they are presented by that officer.
Our Unions in all lands should observe a Day of Prayer at least once every year. This is usually done by proclamation from the general officers of a National Society, and we should all do our utmost to induce every Society to adopt such a day, and to join in the noontide hour of prayer.
The White Ribbon Hymnal for Local Unions, Songs of the Y.W.C.T.U., and Marching Songs for children, compiled by MISS ANNA GORDON, should form a part of the outfit of every Local Union. They can be had from the Headquarters in Chicago, or in London.
Each Union from greatest to least, should appoint a custodian of archives, souvenirs, and historic documents, who should also keep memoranda of its unfolding history.
Always ballot for all officers. This saves ill-feeling and permits a free expression of personal preference. First take an informal ballot to find what is in the minds of the members; then let the two names having most votes be put forward as the nominees for whom a second ballot is taken.
We shall never secure thorough work in the Press Department until its superintendent is a salaried officer. Haphazard work will not do, and it is not right to ask anyone to give her entire time to such a complicated and difficult enterprise without remuneration.
It is of the first importance that every Union, from the World's down to the smallest local group, should carefully
130
define the duties of its officers and superintendents, the powers of its Executive Committee.Observe our Red Letter Days. We are apt to overlook the importance of "times and seasons," the value of rallying songs and battle cries, the significance of mottoes, banners and badges. But these things have characterised every great successful movement for the uplift of humanity, and we must be divinely ingenious for the cause. Our brains must be filled with thoughts and inventions, and they will be if we seek to have it so.
It is my deliberate opinion, as the outcome of 20 years of observation, that it is best to make the Superintendents members of the Executive Committee. It is true that this Committee nominates the Superintendents, but this difficulty can be obviated by their retiring while such nominations are made. This regulation I would apply to all of our societies, from the World's to the local Unions. We must take out all the friction and add all the momentum possible to the machinery of organizations.
Collect phonograph cylinders into which leaders have spoken and give an entertainment where passages of their addresses can be heard, and some of our best songs rendered by phonograph. For example, "There's a shadow on the home," "There are bands of ribbon white," "We all belong."
Always take a friendly attitude toward Cures for Inebriates, when their value has been unmistakably proved. DR. KEELEY'S cure, Headquarters, Dwight, Illinois, U.S.A., and DR. MARK THOMPSON'S cure, 805, West Monroe Street, Chicago, are the best of which I have knowledge. Send to them for circulars, and encourage "alcoholites" to read their statements. This need not conflict with the cardinal
131
point of our faith that to be thoroughly converted from sin to righteousness is the best cure for any evil.Always report at least once a year the entire number of total abstinence pledges taken by the society.
The Executive Committee is the best informed and most expert of all White Ribbon circles. It should be in all grades of the movement the ex-officio Committee on resolutions. This is the best means of avoiding the haphazard, omnibus reports to which we have long been accustomed.
"Madam Chairman" is the method of address to the presiding officer adopted by the White Ribboners.
Represent the children in your Conventions. This has given a strong impetus to our work in America. For every thousand members the State is entitled to a delegate to the National Convention.
Establish a free kindergarten for the waifs of the village. In my own home town this was done more than ten years ago, and has been like a fountain of light and purity among the little ones of least opportunity. Business men who are not in sympathy with many of our methods rejoice in this one, and help us heartily.
Send to MISS ELIZABETH GREENWOOD, 151, Remson Street, Brooklyn, U.S.A., for her "Hints and Helps in Evangelistic Work."
Discuss "Woman in the Pulpit" in the local Union, published at the Women's Temple, Chicago.
Introduce the hearty "hear, hear" with which English audiences are apt to mark their approbation of a speaker's points. It is impossible for one who does not speak to appreciate the superiority of this and other methods of response to the dumb show that prevails in many reticent communities I wot of.
Always hold a social meeting at each Convention and
132
each Annual Meeting of the local Union. Much good influence and kindly feeling are thereby wakened. In the hurry of these days we are apt to ignore the "small, courtesies of life."Local Unions in mining districts should invariably have a superintendent of work among miners, and in general, wherever there is a Soldiers' or Sailors' Home, a refuge or any institution devoted to the help of any class, the local Union should appoint a superintendent to interest herself in that institution, and see what help could be rendered by the society.
Let the word "beer" be explicitly, included in the words of our pledge rather than implicitly, because we shall, by the use of the word itself, better warn people against the beverage. Put it down with a big B. It may be argued that the expression "malt liquor" covers the ground, but so does the word "fermented," and yet we explicitly say in the pledge that it is against "wine and cider."
Place a question box on the President's table at each regular meeting; and invite any who choose to furnish questions. This will do much to translate the minds of members out of the passive and into the active voice.
Study the Bill to "better protect public morals, defend the health and happiness of youth, prevent the degrading of women and girls, and preserve the honour and respect due to woman," which has been introduced into the Legislature of New York by the White Ribboners, making it an offence punishable by imprisonment for not less than thirty days nor more than one year if any "female person shall, upon any stage, or platform, or in any theatre, opera house, concert Hall, or in any public place whatever, when other persons of the male sex are present, expose her limbs or form in tights, or in nude or semi-nude state, or shall so
133
conduct herself in any manner, upon any stage, or platform, or in any place of amusement, or other public place whatever, in such a manner as to offend decency, shock modesty, suggest lewdness, or tend to corrupt the morals of the young, being regarded as guilty of open and gross lewdness and lacivious behaviour, and guilty of a misdemeanour." Any person who employs or permits such acts shall be punishable by imprisonment for not less than two years or more than fifteen years. The Bill also deals with those who in any manner place before the eyes of a minor or child any representation of a female in a lewd, unwomanly, immodest, or indecent posture. Heavy penalties and imprisonment are also provided in any and all cases of impure publications, pictures, or materials of any kind whatever, an exception being made in favour of original works of art when displayed in art galleries; standard medical works and text-books are also exempted "when kept to their lawful purposes."Form Ramabai Circles, each member of which is pledged to contribute a dollar a year (four shillings) to the Industrial School and Home for High Caste Widows in Poona, India, founded by that greatest of all Indian women, PUNDITA RAMABAI. She has been a staunch White Ribbon leader from the beginning, and her public work is prominently connected with the W.C.T.U. of her country. Many of our local Unions have formed these circles, and no possible investment of money could be more helpful to the cause of home protection. For further information, write MRS. J. W. ANDREWS, 36, Rutland Square, Boston, U.S.A.; or PUNDITA RAMABAI, Poona, India.
Keep at Headquarters a set of magic lantern slides of our work, with a lantern lecture to accompany same, and send it out for a small consideration to local Unions for entertainments
134
to interest the people and put money into the treasury.Organise a Working Girls' Club with a White Ribbon choir. No form of effort would yield larger results.
The one line of work that should be steadily pursued "in winter's cold and summer's heat" is adding new members to the local Unions. The eye of the serpent in the head of the dove symbolises the gentle and tireless ingenuity that should be consecrated to this result. In one country that I wot of the State that adds most members during the year through the work of its local Unions is promised an Address free of expense from the President. This plan is capable of many variations and equally adapted to a smaller circle as to the great one that it actually involves.
Remember that it is neither necessary nor desirable for any local Union to write to the officers of the World's or any National Union for authority to settle disputed questions. These officers have no authority whatever over local Unions, except that each local Union must "sign the pledge and pay its dues." All our methods of work are suggestive, but not authoritative; they are meant to be a help, leaving each local group free to develop its own individuality and carry out the "do everything" policy according to its own idea of what is best for itself. Temperance work, purity work, the enfranchisement of women, sympathy with the labour movement, are the four corner-stones of the great world-temple we would rear, and each local Union must supply such other stones "elect and precious" as its clearness of vision and steadiness of hand make possible. There has never been a society, so far as we know, that has left so much to personal initiative, has woven so little red tape, or has reaped better results from its enlightened policy, which may be thus expressed: In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity.
135
Chapter XI. How to Conduct a Convention — Bible Reading, The Crusade Psalm.
Preparation.
ONE of the main points is to have the Convention, at least in its surroundings, character and conducts free from the distinctive features of large Conventions conducted by men. If women can bring no flavor of personality into their work, and most of all into their Conventions, then they are but imitators. Let the home thought, that was the germ of our great endeavour, be everywhere manifested in the decorations of our building. Especially should the platform present the aspect of a parlour, rather than retain the hare, forlorn look usually noticed in Conventions of men. Make it attractive with clear light, graceful ferns, flowers, fruits, pictures, mottoes, banners, bannerettes, and flags. The White Ribboners have brought this branch to such perfection that it is the charm and wonder of those who attend.
Convenience should be carefully studied. Have ample accommodations for the officers. Let their tables be large and with drawers that lock, thus enabling them to avoid carrying important papers back and forth. Provide an abundance of waste paper baskets, and if a waste paper bag could be furnished for each row of seats, it would do much to diminish the execrations of the janitor. Have a committee on ventilation, so that the presiding officer shall not be obliged continually to cry out for fresh air.
136
Each delegation should be indicated by a little bannerette bearing the name of the colony, province, state, or country from which it came. The tables of the different secretaries should be indicated by little placards thus: Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, Railway Secretary, Press Superintendent, etc.
If possible, have the Convention lunch in or near the building where it assembles, and furnish some hot dishes. It has been reported by delegates to some of our minor Conventions that they wonder how they lived through the Convention with its long hours, unventilated auditorium, food taken hastily on the run and often less nutritious than the home tables furnish.
Open the largest possible number of Churches to the delegates on Sunday. This is a most valuable means of education. For this purpose appoint a committee with experience and rare conciliatory powers. A printed form should be made out containing the name of each speaker and the Church to which she is to go, and stating when and where escort or carriage will call for her. Every Convention should hold over Sunday, that meetings may be thus arranged for and also for the higher reason that more spiritual power is developed in the Convention that includes the Sabbath day.
Use the Associated Press.
Provide amply for the press. It is surprising that after all these years our good women seem to have so little appreciation of their duty to the general public by way of sending out Associated Press despatches each day, giving a summarized account of their proceedings. This would go to tens and hundreds of thousands, sometimes to millions, while the proceedings inside the auditorium will be known only to a few thousands. It seems to us a sin that through carelessness
137
no effort should be made to reach the great public which is satiated with murders and other horrors through the daily press. If we can turn one pure rill of light and sympathy into those columns, it is as much a duty as going to prayer-meeting. Select, then, one of your best women who can write rapidly, clearly and wisely. Let her agree to furnish the points to the Associated Press agent of the town where the Convention is held. She should ascertain the latest hour at which it will be safe to take her manuscript to this important purveyor of news. Whatever else fails, be sure to have the facts concerning the Convention go out over the wires each day. This cannot be too strongly emphasized, for there is hardly another oversight among our workers so general and so greatly to be regretted.Collection.
Let the collection be called the "free-will offering." This phrase is not outworn, is instructive, pleasing and uplifting to the spirit. Let the explanatory remarks be brief and pointed, and have one set of your collectors begin at the front end of the audience room, and the other at the rear, so that between the two no guilty man or woman shall escape. It is customary to divide the collection at state Conventions between the state and local Unions on a basis mutually agreed upon by the officers of the two societies. As both have combined to bring about the conditions that make a Convention possible, it would seem fair that these receipts be equally divided.
A "Benefit Night" one evening during a Convention is always in order when an admission fee is charged, the proceeds going to the work of the society under whose auspices the Convention is held.
138
Opening and Closing Exercices.
To open the Convention it seems to us the best method is to have the officers on the platform repeat in concert the first verse of the Crusade Hymn, or the 146th Psalm, the first Scripture read in connection with the great uprising in Hillsboro', read in responsive verses, all having in hand the same printed on slips for that purpose. Then let all join in singing the first hymn sung by the first praying band, "Give to the winds thy fears, hope and be undismayed." Then let someone lead in prayer, closing with the LORD'S Prayer, in which all join. This is an historical order, and an inspiring way of opening the Convention.
For the closing exercises a responsive reading is desirable. When this is over, let all join in singing, with clasped hands all over the house, "Blest be the tie that binds," and then after prayer, "GOD be with you till we meet again," after which the President or the officers on the platform, or the entire Convention might well unite in repeating that beautiful benediction: "The LORD bless thee and keep thee; the LORD make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee; the LORD lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace."
When this is over we have sometimes seen the officers arrange themselves, either on the platform or in front of it, and the Convention in an orderly manner, beginning at one side, pass around the Church, shaking hands with each officer, meanwhile both officers and delegates singing an appropriate hymn to a martial tune, by which an audience can march. This is a most simple, sympathetic and satisfactory way of closing the Convention.
Mottoes.
Among the excellent mottoes that have been given by
139
women by which the convention can be made interesting, some of our leaders have sent the following: "Stick to business; don't consume too much time with introductions." "Induce some of our women not to speak so often and give the new ones a chance." "Agree to disagree." "Be sure to have a clock that strikes the hours near the platform, that the officers and convention may thus be reminded how fast time flies. It will also be a reminder of the noontide hour of prayer." "Rejoice in all good work done by others; but don't feel that you must report for all of your own." "Keep to the program so far as possible." "Exclude book agents from the platform."Order.
All other questions sink into comparative insignificance in the presence of the question, "How shall we preserve order?" Officers are obliged to communicate with their advisers, and are continually solicited through messages and notes until it is well-nigh impossible for them to give proper attention to their duties. To obviate this let us make the following suggestions as the result of eighteen years uninterrupted attendance at conventions, county, district, state and National:
1. — Appoint a woman of level head, good disposition and deep ringing voice as sergeant-at-arms, the very first thing after the convention reaches its business hour. In large conventions there should be one for each aisle. Have a sergeant-at-arms for the platform also, whose duty should be to intercept notes on the way to the president and other officers, attending to the requests therein if possible, and who would do her utmost to prevent whispering among that large group of visitors who are invited to the platform, who feel no responsibility for the convention and who would
140
naturally be inclined to indulge in conversation, not always whispered, with whoever is seated near them. It is a delicate matter to call such to order, but if the sergeant-at-arms can quietly suggest in a half-playful way that the convention takes its cue from the platform, it will be an immense advantage.2. — Let each state president preserve order in her own delegation. This would apply to district presidents in a state convention, and to local presidents in county conventions. Those from the same locality should always sit together and select a chairman of their delegation. If she would then use her persuasive powers upon her members, the president would be free to preserve order in a general way and to attend to her onerous duties.
3. — Let each delegate realize that it is her duty, as well as her right, to see that the rules of order are enforced. Let each be a committee of one on listening, also on speaking whenever she feels that she has something valuable to say. Good order will thus be greatly promoted, and the conversation will not fall into the error, almost universally observed, of giving up the time to a dozen women, all the rest "sitting by" and saying to themselves that they "wonder those women speak so often," yet never themselves do anything to subdivide the time on a more democratic basis.
Introductions.
A good deal of criticism has been made because so many are introduced at our conventions. To be sure, much time is thus occupied, but we must remember that it does an immense amount of good. In the last eighteen years hundreds of men and women who did not know about our work have been made friendly to us by the courtesies extended in this way. Lines of fraternity have thus been
141
sent out in all directions. It inspires the convention to see men and women of whom they have long heard, and we are sure that to do away with introductions would be most unwise. The best method we have ever found is to appoint early in the first session a committee of courtesies, with one local member and two from a distance. The local member, of course, would be inclined to present too many persons, and her judgment must be modified by that of the two from a distance, the responsibility is also thus taken from her, as she is out-voted. Everything depends upon the judgment of this committee. An ideal chairman will ask the president to invite all other delegates to the platform at once, and all those whose names were on the program. She then consults with her committee, and carefully makes out a classified list, which she hands to the president, after having first arranged with those who were to be presented, that they were to come forward in the order in which their names were called. This shortens the exercise greatly, and gives it point and system. The convention should rise as the presentations are made.Singing.
It is an excellent arrangement in all our conventions and in the public meetings of local unions to have someone appointed as a precentor and prima donna par excellence. The precentor reminds the presiding officers when things are beginning to drag a little that it might be well to have music, and is ready without a moment's delay, if she has good sense, to start some of the grand old songs, dear to the hearts of the women and which they can sing without books. And by way of variety she will also have at each session one solo of the most inspiriting character, Home songs, like "The Old Oaken Bucket," "Gently, Lord, oh,
142
Gently Lead Us," "Home, Sweet Home," are inspiriting and restful to the convention and may well be sung without accompaniment.Important Accessories.
The local union should appoint a committee of one on music, one on entertainment, one on Associated Press and the press generally, also a telegraph operator and messenger, and a committee on taking care of the packages that are sure to arrive for the convention some days before-hand.
The question-box will be a valuable feature of the convention. Produced when the convention is half over, it will make a pleasant variety, and bring out many questions that were in the hearts of the women and which they greatly desired to hear answered. The question-box has perhaps no greater merit than that it enables the women in the convention to add their thought to the sum total of thought which is set in motion by the convention, for it should be said by the presiding officer that questions are invited from men and women in the audience as well as from the delegates.
All requests for prayers should be sent to the platform and read by the leader of the devotional exercises.
Organizers of young women's work and juvenile work should be on the platform with the other organizers and give their reports. They should also be regular members of the convention. The work they have done warrants this.
Each superintendent should work up a meeting in the interests of her department, holding this, perhaps, between sessions, if no other occasion offers, and should have at least one conference with the workers who especially
143
desire to ask her questions. She should also be responsible for seeing that the announcements of these meetings are duly made through the press and from the platform.A table with papers, envelopes, pen, ink, postal cards, reporters' note-book, pads, etc., should be furnished for the gratuitous use of the delegates, if the local union can afford this, which it can if the local stationers will aid and abet, as they are wont to do.
Concerning Welcomes.
We have also been criticised for having too many welcomes, and this, perhaps, has been just. But when a governor or some prominent man, the mayor of the city or leading representatives of the pulpit and press are induced to speak and thus show an interest in the work, the welcomes become most significant, and greatly help in the formation of public sentiment. The White Ribbon representatives have been from the different sections of the country, because we wished to bring out the wideness and variety of our work. A careful study of the significance of welcomes should be had and a decision made accordingly.
Meetings.
A Gospel Temperance meeting should be held in some opera house on Sunday afternoon at an hour that does not interfere with church services, and this meeting should be an established institution of every convention. This is surprisingly neglected and we sustain a corresponding loss in the reinforcement of our numbers as the years go by. The same is true of a meeting for young people, which might be held on Saturday evening, and for the children on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. A Purity meeting should
144
be held at every convention and addressed by some one who can handle with great care and delicacy this vital but difficult theme.Literature.
An immense amount of literature is sent to our convention in these days. Tables should be provided in the vestibule or vestry, but no buying or selling should be carried on in the auditorium where the convention is held, as it entails more real loss than gain by reason of the confusion thus introduced. White Ribbon publishing houses should have the right of way as to location, others coming in for the second place.
In the convention it is well to vary the program by inviting ten minute addresses from a few experts who are not of our guild. Subjects thus treated by leaders in reform, education and literature will add to the general interest. The number of minutes to be occupied by each speaker should be decided at the executive session preceding the opening of the convention, and a small bell should accentuate the expiration of the time prescribed.
Noontide Hour of Prayer.
From eleven to twelve o'clock daily should be set aside for a religious service. Nothing will do more to build up our workers in our most holy faith. This should be under the care of an evangelist, rather than any sect or denomination, and should be closed with the noon hour services.
The Crusade Psalm
OUR PLAN OF WORK.
Frances E. Willard.
Foundation Text:
"In the name of our God we will set up our banners." — Psalm xx. 5
145
Origin.
Every great movement has some one historic document on which it is based, and which forms the foundation of its "Evidences." The Christian Church has the Bible, the British Government has the Magna Charta, the American Republic has the Declaration of Independence, the coloured race has the Emancipation Proclamation, the Temperance world in general has the Total Abstinence pledge, the Women's Crusade has the Crusade Psalm.
The Crusade Psalm has in it but ten verses, and yet it gives us the key-note, the rallying cry, the prophetic exhortation and plan of work, and the song of victory in our holy war.
Key-Note.
This is the Key-note. The word praise is translated in the margin by that magnificent marching word of the Hebrews, Hallelujah; so that the more correct rendering would be,
"Hallelujah to the Lord; Hallelujah to the Lord, O my soul; while I live will I sing Hallelujah to the Lord, I will sing Hallelujah unto my God while I have any being." — Psalm cxlvi. 1,2.
A more jubilant strain never clashed its golden cymbals on the ear of the triumphant host in the midst of the great day of rejoicing at the dedication of the temple; a more jubilant strain was not sung by MIRIAM and her maidens when the people of God had escaped forever out of the hands of their oppressors; nay, verily, the Crusade Psalm utters a higher note because its Laus Deo came before a single stroke of work had been wrought, or a single victory achieved. It was the key-note. It set the minds and hearts of the White Ribbon women at concert pitch. It
146
claimed by faith that which was to be slowly and patiently wrought out in deeds. It was the Jericho shout over again, only here the voices were soprano rather than bass; nay, these were the musical tones of the home rather than the discordant blast of the ram's horn, or the clash of broken pitchers in the darkness.It is a principle of Psychology no less than of Philosophy and Religion that the mental and spiritual attitudes of good cheer and heavenly expectation are the only ones that will ever claim, promote and capture victory. All leaders have been optimists — if there are lion's in the way they do not see them for their eyes are lifted "to the hills whence cometh their help."
In the Woman's Christian Temperance Union it has been a custom in many of the conventions to urge upon the workers the adoption of this pledge: "I hereby solemnly promise, by the help of God, that I will seek to make it a rule of my life not to speak discouraging words about the work, or disparaging words about the workers."
It is only by preserving this mental and moral attitude toward those about us that we can ever hope to win, for God's laws written in our constitution have put an everlasting ban upon those who hold lugubrious views of life or disheartening opinions about the holy war in which they are enlisted soldiers. Whether we realize it or not, to do this is to be a traitor. We are in an army where "to doubt would be disloyalty, to falter would be sin." Let us not then pipe on our own little reed the discontent that the devil may whisper because it is his tune, but let us join our voices in the Hallelujah Chorus which calls bravely out: "In the name of our God we have set up our banners."
147
Exhortation.
"Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
"His breath goeth forth; he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
"Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God;
"Which made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is; which keepeth truth forever." — Psalm cxlvi. 3-6.
This is the Exhortation, and some have said that it is in direct opposition to the genius of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which seeks to the utmost to enlist the "princes" in church and state, and "the son of man" who forms the rank and file of that procession of political power which we expect some day to see added to the procession of the White Ribbon. But from one end of the good Book to the other we are taught that God works by means. Incarnation is the unchanging method of that progressive revelation by which we study Him in the Bible of revelation, the Bible of nature and the Bible of humanity.
To illustrate this in a homely fashion, consider the telegraph poles that perpetually run and race with the railroad train. How inconsequent, even grotesque, are these tall posts until one knows that across their tapering tops is laid a wire, in itself equally inconsequent, but which is connected with an electric battery so that the dull wire transmits messages of incalculable importance to the world. We believe that in like manner society and government are but the connecting wires of God's great telegraphic system along which He sends the shock of power from His own heart. They are but the channels, conducts and conductors of His thought, purpose and affection.
If we put our trust in God, happy are we, for "He made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is, He keepeth
148
truth for ever"; and the "princes," and the "son of man" shall yet do His will, so that His kingdom shall come upon the earth. He made the earth, and He will not always suffer it to be unredeemed. He made the earth just as truly as He made the heavens, and because these things are so we may well take for our key-note, "Hallelujah to the Lord." "Every plant that my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up," says Christ. We have a "sure word of testimony," so we fight "not as one that beateth the air." "We know in whom we have believed."The word "help" (in the third verse, "in whom there is no help,") is more literally translated in the margin as "salvation," and as the key-note of the Crusade army is Hallelujah, so is its key-word Salvation. It is not help alone we seek to give, for help is often both inadequate and temporary, but salvation saves; salvation knows no palliatives; salvation is thorough-going out and out; it is indeed ideal; it is the word of faith; it is the central thought of revelation. We use that magic word in no diminished sense, but spread it to the utmost of its scope, and that makes it wide as the world, high as the hope of a saint, and deep as the depths of a drunkard's despair.
A famous minister once said to me, "If you would confine your ministrations to the reformation of drunkards, I could go with you, for I believe that is according to the Gospel plan, but when you take up such side issues as prohibition and the woman's ballot, my conscience obliges me to withdraw from the movement."
From the White Ribbon point of view this good man was woefully deluded. He took that great word "salvation," broad enough to flash across the whole heavens, and shut it up in the cell of his own preconceived notions.
But what does salvation mean to us? We believe in
149
salvation first of all for the individual through a change of heart, "repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ"; but we believe that the drunkard might have been saved from drinking if he had been wisely drilled and disciplined when he was a little fellow. We believe that the salvation of God from drink might have come to him in the quiet temple of the school-house where the scientific temperance text-book taught him a "thus saith Nature, thus saith Reason, thus saith the Lord" for total abstinence.We believe there is salvation for society from drink through the total abstinence propaganda and the Pauline doctrine of not making "my brother to offend."
We believe there is the salvation of God for the government in universal prohibition of the liquor traffic, the gambling house, the haunt of shame.
We believe there is the salvation of God for politics, in the home vote for two which shall conduct to a white life for two, for we believe that "two heads in counsel" are the best working forces in the world for God and Home and Every Land.
Plan of Work.
"The Lord executeth judgment for the oppressed; the Lord giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:
"The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:
"The Lord preserveth the strangers: he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the Wicked he turneth upside down." —
Psa. cxlvi: 7-9.
Now comes the plan of work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
More frequently than I have ever uttered any other single exhortation to my comrades, except that they should seek to be given up to the indwelling of the Spirit, has been
150
the exhortation that they should give their best and keenest thought to the three verses given above, for if its members would do this no local Union need ever be at a loss as to "the next thing" that it ought to undertake.In the reading and study of these verses, freighted like a boat carried to the water's edge by the greatness of its cargo, we should emphasize in every instance those words "The Lord." I have heard the psalm read innumerable times and find this Name of names hurried over in the most casual manner, but it is the key to the position. "THE LORD executeth judgment for the oppressed," but He does so through courts and customs and through the intervention of those who have His love in their hearts.
For instance: in the first year of my Temperance work I remember reaching home late in the evening from a trip, and saying to mother as I bade her good-night, "I am going to Niles, Michigan, to-morrow, and must be up and off early, so do not try to see me in the morning." Whereupon with that wise smile that I so tenderly recall, she replied, "You will be off early, indeed, if you get ahead of me for I take the five o'clock train to ----- where several of the officers of our Evanston W.C.T.U. (she was then president) are going to stand by a poor woman whose husband whipped her when he was drunk, and who said if we would rally around her she should then have the courage to testify against him under the Civil Damage Act."
That was mother's practical interpretation of the plan of work in our Crusade Psalm where it says "The Lord executeth judgment for the oppressed." To my mind whatever relates to the protection of the defenceless who come within the circle of our knowledge is a part of our plan of work under its first specification. The families of those who drink are the most likely to suffer from the
151
conduct of those who are "not themselves" but are "crazy on purpose" and I have always felt that we should regard them as our special charge. In many of the states, Homes for the children of the drunkard have been established by our societies and our department of "Homes for Homeless Children" is meant to help cover this ground. The "Department of Mercy" (for the prevention of cruelty to animals) comes under the same general classification.The Lord giveth food to the hungry.
I once heard a stirring exposition of this verse from a famous Crusader who said, "We women were so hungry for this Temperance work that God gave it to us in His own good time!" but the larger scope of the passage includes every form of service that we can render to those who are hungry in body or soul. The Saxon word "Lady" means "Giver of bread;" we must be that, but we ought to be much more. "Giver of the bread of life" should be a definition including the loaf in one hand and the New Testament and Total Abstinence pledge in the other.
The Lord looseth the prisoners.
The great work for the reformation of drinking men and women comes in here; the Blue Ribbon movement, the Red Ribbon movement, the Good Templars, Sons of Temperance, and other societies, the Homes for Inebriates, the various "Cures" founded for the reformation of the drunkard, but most of all that "loosing of the prisoners" which comes from the "expulsive power of a Divine affection," so that a New Testament replaces the flask in the side pocket of the drinking man, and he bends upon his knees in prayer instead of bowing hopelessly over the bar. No society ever did more for the reformation of the drunkard than the W.C.T.U. We have tried all means; we must
152
ignore none, but let us always exalt "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," remembering Him who said, "And I if I be lifted up will draw all men unto me."Our work for the prisoners includes not only those who are under the bondage of drink, but those who are prisoners of the tobacco habit, the habit of personal impurity, the gambling passion, or any of those curses of life which centre in the dram-shop; nor must we forget that there is now hardly a prison, jail, or penitentiary between the oceans that is not visited by White Ribbon women with the gospel in their hands, the helpful Bible Reading, the leaflet. The Union Signal, Young Women, and The Young Crusader, and the little bunch of posies with its scripture text through which we often find the heart we should otherwise have missed. Our Flower Mission department fits into this niche of our "plan" more fully perhaps than any other.
The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind.
When we read the Scripture we are inclined to give it away with a liberal hand to those about us; indeed there is nothing with which we are so generous. We hope that Mr. ---- will take note of that passage, "he is a stingy man and needs to listen to it." We hope that Mrs. ---- will "take heed to her gabbling tongue," and so on and so on. But for myself I have always felt that the plan of work set forth in this passage, "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind," applied very particularly to my own case, for though I early became a member of the church of God and was brought up a teetotaler, my blind eyes had not opened to see the duty and privilege of a Christian woman to be an active worker in the Temperance reform until the great crusade in the West, wheeling onward in its mighty course, caught me up in one of its outermost eddies on an Illinois prairie and
153
brought me in for evermore to the goodly fellowship of whose eyes were opened to see that "Christianity, applied" is the only thing that will bring Salvation and set the Hallelujah Chorus rolling around the world. To open the eyes of the blind we needed the Woman's Temperance Publishing Association with its great weekly newspaper, its books and pamphlets, its leaflets and responsive readings, its prohibition literature of every sort and kind, its social purity department, its woman suffrage leaflets, its well-filled and fitted arsenal of Temperance weapons. If the Local Unions did nothing else but exploit these leaves saturated through and through as they have been by the spirit of the gospel, that would be work enough to make their record hallowed. The press department, seeking to reach out and utilize the plant of the newspaper, both religious and secular in every town and village, is one of our mightiest engines of power. The Scientific Temperance Instruction for the children and the youth in colleges has no peer in power, but it rests largely with the Local Union to make that department a success or a failure. The Young Women's Work, the Loyal Temperance Legion, and the Department of Mercy are skillful openers of "the eyes of the blind." What is the Local Union doing to build up these departments into beautiful allies? The study of Hygiene, Physical Culture, and Sanitary Cookery, the splendid outlook of the Sunday-school work, the circulation of literature among foreigners, the presentation of our cause to influential bodies, and its relation to capital and labour; the school of parliamentary usage, all these come under the head of "opening the eyes of the blind."Here, too, belong our great affiliated interests. The Woman's Temple, that object lesson in brick and mortar of woman's faith and prayer; the W.T.P.A., that prophecy of
154
her future power; and the National Temperance Hospital which is proving daily to a gainsaying world that alcohol is not an essential remedy for all the ills that flesh is heir to. What has so fully opened the blind eyes of the world to woman's work and worth as these great enterprises?The "opening of the eyes of the blind" comes not only through the varied channels of which an outline has been given, but the printed page is strongly reinforced by means of the earnest, logical and persuasive voice.
The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down.
This includes our work for the defective, dependent and delinquent classes. The departments are so numerous that I will not undertake to name them all. In our Annual Leaflet (which I hope each Local Union will obtain by sending to the Corresponding Secretary, the Woman's Temple, Chicago), all may read the list of those blessed endeavours grouped under the head of evangelistic and social work.
The Lord loveth the righteous.
It seems as if this declaration were interpolated as a note of affectionate encouragement to those who, notwithstanding their failures and faults, nevertheless feel in their inmost souls that they do seek righteousness. Let any among us who are downcast remember that the will is the king-bolt of the faculties, and if the will is set toward God we must not be discouraged though the emotions often fail us.
We judge the direction of a stream not from its shallows but by its current, not by its eddies, but by that deep and steady trend that bears its waters straight onward to the sea.
The Lord preserveth the strangers.
To my mind this plan of work includes all those efforts, varied and manifold, whereby White Ribbon women have merited the characterization given them by a desolate
155
woman whose son they saved from the death traps of a village on the far frontier, the Local Society away yonder having been written to by the Local Society in her own town. She said, "What it amounts to is that as you have ten thousand Local Unions, every boy in this country has ten times ten thousand mothers willing to look after him and help him to the good." The temperance hotel, the temperance restaurant, the club, the gospel temperance meeting, the home-like mass-meeting, the sociable, the red-letter days and the ingenious, witty inventions of our wise "Y" societies for the purpose of helping young men to overcome temptation, all these are specifications of that branch of our plan of work through which "He preserveth the strangers."He relieveth the fatherless and the widow.
In our work we give a broader meaning, for we deal with those who are worse than widowed and more forlorn than if they had been fatherless. This line of effort takes us into the disintegrated, dismantled homes that are the necessary outcome of the liquor traffic. Industrial homes for boys and girls have been founded in many of the states through the efforts of our society and ought to be in all. There is not a State or Territory in the Union in which the united efforts of the W.C.T.U. for a single year would not suffice to found such an institution. Among the happiest incidents of the twelve years that I was continually on the war-path helping to found the society, I reckon those when I have been present at the laying of the corner-stone of some beneficent institution, where the trowel has been placed in the hand of the State President of the W.C.T.U. by good men who were our helpers in the Legislature and outside of it, and who felt a pride in having women officiated on the occasion, because they knew these women were the real
156
workers who had won from the powers that be the wherewithal to bless tempted lives by a new institution which would put honourable bread-winning weapons in the hands of those whose home help had failed them utterly.The way of the wicked He turneth upside down.
This is the climax, the keystone of the arch of our beautiful and holy endeavour. It means prohibition by law, prohibition by politics, prohibition by woman's ballot. In Ohio the heroic band of veterans, who constitute the State W.C.T.U., have taken this passage as their motto, and they are entitled to it as the leaders of our growing host, for they have "borne and laboured, and had patience" since the Pentecost of God fell on them in those fifty days of the Crusade which in the winter of 1873-74, routed the liquor traffic, "horse, foot, and dragoops" in two hundred and fifty towns and villages. The figure in the passage is complete, for "the way of the wicked" is to be "turned upside down"; then the traffic is to be completely overthrown, and nothing less will ever satisfy the World's White Ribbon Host. "The Old Guard never surrenders," for while we have no harsh criticism for good people who adopt less drastic methods of reform, the White Ribbon Women will say at last as they felt called to say at first of prohibition: "Here I stand, I can do no other, God help me, Amen." And we do this because we believe that what is physically wrong can never be morally right, what is morally wrong can never be legally right, what is legally wrong can never be politically right.
Song of Victory.
The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.
This is our song of victory; "the Lord shall reign for ever." It is beginning to seem nearer in its fulfilment than
157
when, twenty-one years ago, we first raised its notes in faith. The white ribbon has already "conquered many nations." That crusade fire, kindled of God, has spread, till in more than forty countries it is burning to-day. The great Petition, with its seven and one half million signatures and attestations asking for the abolition of the liquor traffic in all nations, is soon to be carried round the world The World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union, with its glorious motto "For God and Home and Every Land," is an assured fact; an element in the world's regeneration which can never be overlooked.The noontide hour of prayer, like England's drum beat, circles the globe. Everywhere and at every hour, there are hearts uplifted in petition to Him who shall "reign for ever." He is reigning now in the brain and heart of those who are consecrated to Him in the service of humanity. He to whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, He who sees the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end, looks down upon the earth, and there is not a saloon, a gambling house, a haunt of infamy anywhere to be found, so that from God's point of view all that we see has already come to pass, and it is for us to behold the same picture in the outlook of our Christian faith, and to make true, so far as in us lies, on the plane of material cause and effect in the everyday world, that which; in our faith-filled moments, we have beheld on the Mount of Vision.
And looks to that alone;
Laughs at impossibilities
And cries, It shall be done."
158
Chapter XII. The Summing Up of the Whole Matter.
HUMANLY speaking, such success as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union has attained, has resulted from the following policy and methods:
1. — The simplicity and unity of the organization. The local union is a miniature of the National, having similar officiary and plan of work. It is a military company carefully mustered, officered, and drilled. The county union is but an aggregation of the local, and the districts of the counties, while each state is a regiment, and the National itself is womanhood's Grand Army of the Home.
2. — Individual responsibility is everywhere urged. "Committees" are obsolete with us, and each distinct line of work has one person, called a superintendent, who is responsible for its success. She may secure such lieutenants as she likes, but the union looks to her for results, and holds her accountable for failures.
3. — The quick and cordial recognition of talent is another secret of W.C.T.U success. Women, young or old, who can speak, write, conduct meetings, organize, keep accounts, interest children, talk with the drinking man, get up entertainments, or carry flowers to the sick or imprisoned, are all pressed into the service.
There has been also in our work an immense amount of digging in the earth to find one's own buried talent, to rub
159
off the rust, and to put it out at interest. Perhaps this is, after all, its most significant feature, considered as a movement.4. — Subordination of the financial phase has helped, not hindered us. Lack of funds has not barred out even the poorest from our sisterhood. A penny per week is the general basis of membership, of which a fraction goes to State, National and World's Unions.
Money has been, and I hope may be, a consideration altogether secondary. Of wealth we have had incomputable stores; indeed, I question if there exists a richer corporation to-day than ours — wealth of faith, of enthusiasm, of experience, of brain, of speech, of common sense. This is a capital stock that can never depreciate, needs no insurance, requires no combination-lock or bonded custodian, and puts us under no temptation to tack our course or trim our sails.
There are two indirect results of this organized work among women, concerning which I wish to speak: —
First. It is a very strong nationalising influence. Its method and spirit differ very little, whether you study them in Boston or Bombay. In South Africa and South Carolina White Ribbon women speak the same vernacular; tell of their Gospel meetings and petitions; discuss the Union Signal editorials, and wonder "what will be the action of our next convention."
Almost all other groups of women workers who dot the continent are circumscribed by denominational lines, and act largely under the advice of ecclesiastical leaders. The W.C.T.U. feels no such limitation.
Second. Our W. C. T. U. is a school, not founded in that thought, or for that purpose, but sure to fit us for the duties of patriots in the realm that lies beyond the horizon of the coming century.
160
Here we try our wings that yonder our flight may be strong and steady. Here we prove our capacity for great deeds; there we shall perform them. Here we make our experience and pass our novitiate that yonder we may calmly take our places and prove to the world that what it needed most was "two heads in counsel" as well as "two beside the hearth." When that day comes, the nation shall no longer miss as now the influence of half its wisdom, more than half its purity, and nearly all its gentleness, in courts of justice and halls of legislation Then shall one code of morals — and that the highest — govern both men and women; then shall the Sabbath be respected, the rights of the poor be recognised, the liquor traffic banished, and the home protected from all its foes.
Born of such a visitation of God's Spirit as the world has not known since tongues of fire sat upon the wondering group at Pentecost, cradled in a faith high as the hope of a saint, and deep as the depths of a drunkard's despair, and baptised in the beauty of holiness, the Crusade determined the ultimate goal of its teachable child, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union which has one steadfast aim, and that none other than the regnancy of Christ, not in form, but in fact; not in substance, but in essence; not ecclesiastically, but truly in the hearts of men. To this end its methods are varied, changing, manifold, but its unwavering faith these words express: "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."
When I consider the work already accomplished by the World's White Ribboners, the sacred meaning of our Society is a thought well nigh overwhelming. Your kind hands that I feign would clasp, have been placed on the heads of little children of whom we have half a million in our Loyal Temperance Legions; they have given out
161
total abstinence pledges to a million tempted men; they have pinned the ribbon white as the talisman of purity above the hearts of ten thousand tempted prodigals; they have carried bread to the hungry; and broken the bread of life to those who were most hungry of all for that, although they knew it not. These hands have carried petitions for the protection of the home, for the preservation of the Sabbath, for the purification of the law, and during twenty-one years of such honest, hard work, as was almost never equalled, they have gathered not fewer than twenty million names to these petitions. Your friendly faces have bent over the bedsides of the dying, for whose souls no one seemed to care, they have illumined with the light that never shone on sea or shore, many a dark tenement, house in attic and cellar; they have gleamed like stars of hope in the darkest slums of our great cities. Your voices have sung songs of deliverance to the prisoners in ten thousand jails and almshouses; they have brought a breath of cheer into police courts, bridewells and houses of detention all around the world.Your willing feet are more familiar with rough than with smooth pavements. You know the byways better than the highways. If all your errands could be set in order they would read like the litany of God's deliverance to those bound in the chains of temptation, sorrow and sin. Some touch of all that you have seen and done chastens each forehead and hallows every face. God has helped you to build better than you knew. If White Ribbon Women had their way (and they intend to have it), the taint of alcohol and nicotine would not be on any lip, or in any atmosphere of city, town or village on this globe. If they had their way (and they intend to have it), no gambler could with impunity pursue his vile vocation. If they could have their way, the
162
haunts of shame that are the zero mark of degredation would be crusaded out of existence before sundown, and the industrial status of woman would be so independent that these recruiting officers of perdition would seek in vain for victims. If you could have your way, the keeper of the dramshop would become in every state and nation, as thank God, he is already in so many, a legal outcast, a political Ishmaelite, a social pariah on the face of the earth; for you do not seek the regulation of the traffic nor its prohibition even, but its annihilation.Among the reflex influences by which this Temperance work has broadened my own outlook and enriched my hopes, I must speak of the sweet and tender lesson of White Ribbon homes to me. I have learned how such solemn vicissitudes as come into the lives of women only, help to confirm your faith in the world invisible. The breath of eternity falls on your foreheads like baptizmal dews in those hours of unutterable pain and danger when a little child is born into your home. Your steps lie along the borderland of this closely-curtained world,
With breathings almost heard."
Into your eyes fall the first mystic glances of innocent and trusting souls. Tender little hands folded in prayer, and winsome voices saying,
Look upon a little child,"
163
wider blessing to humanity than it has dreamed as yet. Let us go gently forward until that loving, faithful heart shall be enthroned in the places of power; until the queens of home are queens indeed.And, best of all, the hand of Him whose Gospel has lifted us up into the heavenly places in Christ Jesus; of Him who was a brother to the Marys, and who, in His hour of mortal agony did not forget His mother — that pierced hand points the way.
164
Appendix.
A New Calling for Women.
Here is a letter which I believe to be the expression of what tens of thousands of women think and talk over among themselves in these electric days of hope. It is addressed to me as President: —
LONDON, April 13th, 1893.
Having read of the work that you are doing for the Temperance cause, I venture to make a suggestion. In the Christian Herald for December, 1832, there is an account of your life, from which I make an extract: —
"This Woman's Christian Temperance Union has by no means the narrow significance which we in England usually attach to the word ‘Temperance.’ It is true that the Temperance reform is the basis of the Union; but included in and beyond this the activities of the members stretch out into so many channels that for convenience sake they have been classified into forty departments of preventive, educational, social, religious, and rescue work. Every member is first tested as to her capability, and then is expected to launch out into some activity for the good of others,"
Now, as I read that, I thought to myself and said to my mother (we are both dressmakers): "Would not such an institution be of great advantage and blessing to our country-women here in England; and might it not prove to be an open door to business girls, who, like myself, long to leave the competition of business and to employ their lives in doing good to others?" I, for one, should like beyond words to give my life to the Temperance cause, but I see no way of being able to do this, because I am poor, and, unfortunately, in this country, if a girl is poor she must remain so. She cannot raise herself to any position of importance. True, she may marry a poor man, who, by industry and perseverance, will greatly improve his position, and then of course, his wife will be raised to a higher level through him. I am often tantalised by reading of great men who have risen through their own efforts from poor boys to a high place in life, but I have never read of such a thing happening to a girl. She has not the advantages her brothers have, and this is most unfair, for she is in every respect as clever as they are, and, in my opinion, should occupy an equal position.
165
I am nineteen years of age, and have for years worked hard at my trade along with my mother. I can assure you we lead a weary hum-drum existence sewing from nine o'clock in the morning until eight at night, and sometimes later, with no prospect of any change or improvement in our condition. About a month ago I signed the pledge at one of the Temperance crusade meetings which were held at the Portman Rooms, and conducted by Rev. Canon Leigh, and at which you spoke; and I sincerely hope that God will bless every effort of the two ladies whom I have ventured to address. — I remain, your humble servant,B------- H-------.
Now, in respect to this letter, which has interested me profoundly, I have several things to say. In the first place, it is my firm conviction that in the new adjustment of society, after having conquered a firm foot-hold in the trades and professions, women will gradually withdraw from mechanical work and devote themselves to the noblest vocations that life affords — namely, motherhood, reform work, and philanthropy. Their adaptation for these is so clearly indicated by what Bishop Butler used to call the "constitution and course of nature," that, with a free field and no favour, they will gradually find their own, and by their specific gravity be carried to the place of greatest development to themselves, and beneficence to those for whom they, work. Reform and philanthropic movements are but associated efforts to make the world more homelike. Society and Government have long been fathered, but they have not been mothered enough to make them normal. This one-sided development will not continue many generations longer, and with equal, hands and equal pace, men and women will combine their efforts to develop in both law and custom, not the paternal, but the parental quality; that the kingdom of Mammon, of Bacchus, and of Venus may give way to that kingdom of home which is the best earthly representation of the kingdom of heaven.
But all this will not happen it will be caused to come to pass. It will be fought out by the combined, systematic, and intelligent action of human brains, hands, and hearts; for there is but one decree: God works within to will and do of His good pleasure, and man works out his own salvation. The armies of the present, with their munitions of materialistic warfare, must give way to the armies of industry, equally well organised and equipped, equally drilled and disciplined. Doubtless the army of industry will be largely recruited from among men, and the army of reform and philanthropy from among women, while the home forces will come equally from both; but in this vast enterprise we can but just
166
go "inching along," as Abraham Lincoln was wont to say, since this is the march of all military movements in a difficult country, whether these marches make for life or death. Individual lives must be earnest, diligent, and devoted; groups of such lives must form around leadership that is trusty and true, and these groups must be correlated in wider movements embracing counties and districts, nations and continents. But the practical mind seeks at once to know how a beginning can be made within its own environment. This question turns our thought directly to the young dressmaker. It would be to the advantage of the trade in which she is engaged if she could be removed from it into some other less crowded circle of endeavour, and this is true of almost every form of work in which women are engaged. The market is over-stocked with women workers, and the marriage market is so vastly over-stocked that we have in England three million more women than men. If I were a dressmaker, with the views I now hold it would be my first effort to introduce into every guild to which I belonged, whether a Sunday-school class, a Church mission, a Dorcas meeting, a trades' union, or what not, the direct, persistent effort to secure therein a total abstinence section. For this purpose I should write to the British Women's Temperance Association, at Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London, E.C., asking for a total abstinence pledge, and any leaflets that would help me to know how to relate my local group of total abstainers to the general Temperance society of women. I should then begin to read papers and publications of these societies little by little, in snatches of time, so as to become intelligent about their purposes and plans. I should then begin to speak a little to my own group as I had opportunity, putting my thoughts together while I was working at my trade, noting bright, interesting illustrations, anecdotes, figures of speech that I heard in other peoples addresses, or that I read in my dippings into the great flowing river of current journalism.This would be very slow work, but it would give the mind inspiring occupation and the heart something to hope for and love. I should expect to develop in myself (if I were the earnest young woman whose letter is the text for this sermonette) some power of organising, of writing and speaking in the cause of humanity. I should take the Temperance reform as my basis, for the reason that it is self-evident that no adequate progress can be made in any reform unless the workers are at the top of their condition mentally, with clear brains, steady pulse, and those normal physical conditions throughout, from which alone clear thinking comes. I should study these conditions as related to
167
diet, dress, exercise, and the general habitudes of reputable living; I should endeavour to make acquaintance with those who had succeeded in reform and philanthropic work on a large scale; but, first of all, I should start my seam by a good firm stitch set in the fabric of my own habits, and go on from that a stitch at a time, setting all in due order and evenness, but not expecting to reach the end of the seam for a long, long while, if ever. If I succeeded in this effort to enlist and draw around myself a few comrade-workers, I should constantly try to increase the number, using for that purpose the little bits of time, thought, and effort that had previously passed away unnoted. Nothing is truer than that there is "always room higher up" for every worker who is diligent. If I developed a little, daily, in any of the lines to which I have here referred, it would be noted soon enough. The word would pass along that "Miss -----, the dressmaker, is wonderfully in earnest on the Temperance question, for the good of the children, for the uplift of women, for the exaltation of men, for the protection of the home," and as these are objects sacred and great, more people would wish to know what I thought and could do. In this way my circle would gradually widen, my hope and inspiration increase, my practical capacity develop, and I should become, sooner or later, a factor of value in the movement. Meanwhile, I should keep fast hold on the rung of the ladder to which I had attained, namely, my dressmaking, for the ascent in life is so difficult under the present system of things, that if one has an honourable bread-winning weapon, no matter how hard it is to wield, she must grasp it firmly and never let it go until another is as firmly grasped.Women in the utmost obscurity, with nobody to help them, have begun in some hamlet, village, or town, to gather round them a few children in Bands of Hope or Loyal Temperance Legions; they have begun by enlisting a group of girls, perhaps working girls, to give a little time to study and effort in the women's Temperance cause; they have begun by opening a cottage prayer-meeting in their own small sitting-room; they have begun by writing an article for the local paper, setting forth in a womanly way their hopes and purposes for an improvement in local conditions ; they have begun by bringing some well-known speaker to their own community, and "working up" the meeting. From this day of small things their way has widened so far that out of it has grown sufficient material support to enable them to give their entire time to the work of philanthropy and reform. I know a gentle young woman who has always lived at home, and who belonged to
168
what a certain governor of Massachusetts once called "superfluous women," that is, she had not entered into the copartnership out of which a home is apt to grow. It fell to this young woman's lot to visit a little village in the State of Colorado. She noted the debased condition of the little children, many of them Mexicans, whom she met in her daily walk. It occurred to her to fill her pockets with sweetmeats, and to go put upon the streets among these children, saying to each as she offered a tempting morsel, "Will you come to the school-house next Saturday afternoon at four o'clock? I am going to be there, and I shall have some stories to tell that I think you will enjoy; please speak of this to your brothers, sisters, and schoolmates." The time came, and the place was packed. The speech of the young woman was applauded to the echo; but the love in her face was the force that drew the children to her. She formed a Loyal Temperance Legion, which met every Saturday during the six months of her stay, and proved to be a well-spring, not only of delight, but of purity to the children in that neglected village. Out of her work grew a strong and vigorous Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the State branch of our society in that great commonwealth was entertained by these children and their mothers within five years. That young woman, moving on inch by inch patiently and ceaselessly; became the Corresponding Secretary of one of our most important State Unions, and is to-day beloved by tens of thousands. She has found a vocation that fills brain, heart, and hand, and by means of which she is abundantly able to meet her material needs and have something left for friends and for philanthropy. She is not a genius, nor a remarkable writer, speaker, or organiser; but she is devotedly in earnest, and has a most creditable position in the three lines of work that converge upon success in reform and philanthropy — viz., the power to organise, to speak, and to write. That which she does tens of thousands of young women may do on a smaller scale, and perhaps with less facility, because of the crowded population and greater competition of the British Islands.If 21 years of Temperance work have taught me anything about how to begin in "A New Calling for Woman" I have here set forth that lesson, slowly but most surely learned.
How to Organize a W.C.T.U.
Introduction.
No one has handled this subject more ably than Mrs. Caroline B. Buell, for many years Corresponding Secretary of the
169
National W.C.T.U. of America, and for this reason her suggestions are here embodied."The first thing to be done in organizing a Woman's Christian Temperance Union is to secure the women.
One general rule, should always be observed. For leaders women of consecration should be chosen; women who can and do command the respect of the community for their devoted and religious lives, and whose influence is without doubt on the side of Christianity and pure living.
To Awaken Interest. One Method.
1. — Public Meeting. If possible, hold a public meeting, selecting an evening of the week when most of the people, men as well as women, can be brought together.
2. — Speakers. The speaker or speakers at this meeting may be selected from among the pastors of the churches, or a speaker may be secured from a distance, but whoever he or she may be, a thorough knowledge of the aims and purposes of the W.C.T.U., and an ability to set them forth should be the chief recommendation, that the people may be made intelligent upon the subject and their good-will and co-operation assured from the start.
3. — Meeting for Ladies. At the close of the address, or addresses, a meeting for ladies, which had been previously arranged, should be announced for the following afternoon, the hour and place being plainly given and an earnest plea made for a large and full attendance.
4. — Place of Meeting. As a general rule the place of meeting should be in a public building, such as church parlors or vestry, or a public hall, rather than the home of one of the ladies, as there might be some who would very much desire to be present and yet feel not quite at liberty to go to a private house, even though the invitation had included everybody.
Another Method.
1. — Canvass of the Town. If for any reason it is not practicable to first hold a public meeting, a canvass of the town may be made and the names of ladies secured who would like to form a W.C.T.U. for active work. During such a canvass the National Annual Leaflet should be left at each home with the request that it be carefully read and the number and scope of our various departments of work noted.
170
Preparatory.
1. — Meeting for Organizing. — When the names of several ladies of the right sort have been secured, a meeting for the purpose of organizing should be called.
2. — Advertising. — Notices of the meeting, giving time and place, should be taken to the pastors of the various churches, with a request that they be read from their pulpits on the preceding Sunday.
Others should be sent to the local papers, and if there are no papers printed in the town, the notice written in a bold and distinct hand should be posted in the post office, railroad station, and such other places as will give the meeting the widest publicity. Notices sent to the schools in country towns are readily given in the homes by the pupils.
3. — Pen, ink, paper. — The lady who has been instrumental in securing the meeting should provide for the occasion pen, ink, paper, and several pencils. She should also have previously sent to Headquarters for Organizing Tablets, with Pledge, &c., for securing names of those present who wish to join; Forms of Constitution for local Unions and the Annual Leaflet giving Departments of work, &c. Of the last two there should be, if possible, enough to supply each lady with a copy.
A copy of the National and State Minutes should also be provided for reference.
Organization.
1. — Called to Order. — The lady who has interested herself to arrange the meeting (who by the way, should have informed herself somewhat regarding parliamentary usage), should without hesitancy take the chair, and in a few words explain the object of the meeting, giving her reasons for calling it and a very short sketch of the origin, methods and aims of the W.C.T.U.
2. — Nomination of Chairman. — She should then call for the nomination of a temporary Chairman to act until the officers are elected. Courtesy would in most cases retain the lady already in the chair, unless she were clearly unfitted for the place or declined to serve, in which case another should be nominated. Sometimes ladies who are very successful in gaining the interest of others and working up the meeting are not the best persons to preside at such a meeting, and it is not always unwise to have previously selected a lady who has some knowledge of parliamentary rules and an aptness for presiding.
3. — Election of Chairman. — When someone in the audience has named a lady for temporary Chairman, the acting Chairman
171
should then state the name of the nominee, that all present may know for whom they are voting, and then ask that "all those in favour of Mrs. or Miss ----- for Chairman of this meeting will signify it by saying Aye." She will then ask that "all opposed say No"N.B. — [Do not call for a vote by the "uplifted hand." A viva voce vote is always to be preferred, since it is the best way to get one's voice for the work which must follow. The "uplifted hand" by its very silence is a "wet blanket" upon the meeting.]
The temporary Chairman should then announce the result, call the newly-elected presiding officer to the chair, and introduce her to the meeting.
4. — State Organizer. — If a National, State, Provincial or Colonial Organizer is present she is, by virtue of her office, the presiding officer during the meeting, and after the meeting has been called to order, as heretofore indicated, the lady who does this should make known the fact of her presence, and call her to the chair, introduce her to the meeting, and she should preside in place of an elected presiding officer.
5. — Election of Secretary. — The presiding officer upon taking the chair should at once call for the nomination of a Secretary and she should be elected in the same manner as the Chairman. She should at once go forward and take her place near the Chairman at a table which has been previously provided for the Secretary's use.
6. — Reading of Constitution and Pledge. — The Chairman should then request the Secretary to read the Constitution and Pledge that each lady present may be intelligent upon the various points covered thereby.
7. — Securing Names. — After the pledge has been read and the subject of dues to the Union, and the amount to be paid to the Province, Colony or State explained, the Chairman should designate two or more ladies to go through the audience, and with "Organizing Tablets," previously procured for the purpose, secure the names of those ladies who would like to be members. The Chairman should state that the signature on the Tablet will be considered a signature to the pledge, since the pledge is at the top.
The list of names thus secured should be read by the Secretary, that the Chairman and interested ladies present may know the strength of the organizing force. This is of great importance if the Chairman is a stranger in the town.
8. — Adoption of Constitution. — Each lady having been supplied with a "Form of Constitution," the Chairman should ask the Secretary to read the first article or name, bearing in mind the fact that our name and object admit of no change.
172
N.B. — [The articles of the Constitution should be adopted seriatim (in regular order, one by one,) since each can then be separately discussed, if so desired.]
When the Secretary has read one Section or Article the chair should say:
"You have heard the reading of Art. — or Sec. — ; what is your pleasure regarding it?"
A member: "I move its adoption," or if a change be deemed necessary, "I move it to be amended to read," &c.
Another member: "I second the motion, or the motion to amend."
If there is simply a motion to adopt, and it is seconded, then the Chairman, before any remarks are made, should say: "It is moved and seconded that Art. — or Sec. — be adopted; are there any remarks?" If there are no remarks then she should "put the question," saying: "All those in favour of the adoption of Art. — or Sec. — please signify it by saying Aye. Contrary minds No."
If the ayes are in the majority she should announce the vote by saying: "Art. — or Sec. — is adopted." If she is in doubt about the vote, she may call for a rising vote, or any member may do so, and the Chairman may ask the Secretary or any other lady to count.
9. — Amendments. — If there is an amendment and it has been stated, then the vote on the amendment should be put first, and the chair should say: "The question is upon the amendment" [She should here state what the amendment is, or the Secretary may be asked to read the Art. — or Sec. — as it will read when amended; but the question is simply upon the adoption of the amendment.] She will then call for remarks.
N.B. — A presiding officer should always remember that the members of the Union have a right to remark pro or con upon any motion that is made, and she should never omit, after making a statement of how the question stands, to accord this right and call for remarks. But it is her duty to see that those who remark keep to the question; if they do not, she may remind them that they are "out of order," or they may be "called to order" by any other member.
The vote to amend should be taken in the same way as a vote to adopt.
After the amendment is carried the Chairman should say: "The question is now on the motion as amended; are there any remarks?" If not, she will at once put the question to vote, as previously indicated.
10. — Membership Fee. — The yearly membership fee given in
173
the National "Form for a Local Constitution" is not binding, but can be decided by the Union; but it should be remembered that it is never wise to cheapen the W.C.T.U. by putting the membership fee too low.Dues to State, etc. — Reference to the State or Provincial Constitution will show the amount to be paid to the County, District or State Union, which amount should be inserted in the proper place in the blank Constitution.
Bye--Laws.
1. — Adoption. — The adoption of the bye-laws may be deferred till after the election of officers if thought best. Oftentimes this is the better plan; or it may be deferred till the first regular meeting of the Union.
If not they will be adopted in the same manner as the Constitution.
Election of Officers.
Care should be taken to select the best women for officers, for these are they who will represent, not only the Union, but the cause, before the public, and by them and their acts will it be judged. Therefore they should be thorough Temperance women of known Christian character, consecration and discretion. In some, and perhaps most cases, this matter should be canvassed before the meeting for organizing is held, and ladies of the right sort selected, and their consent to serve secured.
The election of officers should always be by ballot.
The accepted authority of parliamentary usage is "Roberts' Rules of Order" for sale at the Headquarters of the World's W.C.T.U., but the method of the election of officers is fully described in our Constitution, and the duty of officers are therein set forth.
A Local Habitation.
1. — Headquarters. — When possible, each local Union should have "Rooms" or "Headquarters." This is not always possible, especially in very small places, in which case it is usually better to hold the regular meeting (weekly or otherwise) in a public hall or church parlors, since, as has been previously stated, many would go to such a place who would feel less at liberty to go to a private house. But when a home can be secured it advertises the Union and is in itself a help to the work. In such case it should be known that at stated times some of the officers or members may be found there.
174
2. — Location. — Half the usefulness of Headquarters is lost by having the rooms located on a second or third floor. In a very large city, where elevators are found in public buildings, there is excuse for the W.C.T.U. occupying so elevated a position, but in a majority of places, and especially in small towns, the entrance to our local habitation should be directly from the street.
3. — Furnishings. — Make the place homelike, as such a place under the control of women should be. Pictures on the walls, mottoes, &c., and, when possible, an organ or piano to lead the singing.
4. — Papers. — The organ of the Colonial or State W.C.T.U. (if there is one), The Union Signal, The Woman's Signal, and other papers should be kept on file.
5. — Literature. — A limited supply, at least, of Temperance literature and W.C.T.U. supplies should also be kept on hand.
Our Papers.
The Union Signal was the first paper published by the White Ribbon women; it has often been called the literary child of the crusade, and is warm with the spirit of that motherly uprising. The first number was issued in July, 1874, in Philadelphia, by Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer, first President of the National W.C.T.U. of the United States, and edited by Mrs. Jane Fowler Willing, the well-known Evangelist. It was afterward moved to New York, and thence to Chicago. Up to this time it had been known as Our Union,but on going West it was merged with The Signal, founded by Mrs. Carse, its first editor being Mrs. Mary B. Willard, and the two names were merged making The Union Signal. Miss Mary Allen West edited the paper for many years, and her name will always be inseparably associated with its columns. The lamented Miss Julia Ames was the assistant editor in Miss West's time, as Mrs. Elizabeth Wheeler Andrew was in that of Mrs. Willard. It is now edited by Frances E. Willard and Lady Henry Somerset; Miss Margaret Sudduth, who has been connected with the paper for many years, is its managing editor; she is a true White Ribboner, and the paper is a thorough exponent of all departments of the movement.
The Woman's Signal, edited by Lady Henry Somerset and Miss Annie E. Holdsworth, and The Woman's Signal Budget, edited by Mrs. Rosseter Willard, are foremost on the list of papers devoted to the cause of women and Temperance reform in England, and have the widest following.
175
The Young Woman, edited by Miss Jennie Stewart, Woman's Temple, Chicago, is the official organ of the "Y" work in all countries; and
The Young Crusader, edited by Miss Ada Melville, Woman's Temple, Chicago, official organ of the juvenile work of the White Ribbon women of all countries.
The Woman's Journal, Ottawa, Canada, edited by Miss Mary Scott, is the organ of the Dominion W.C.T.U., and is in every way worthy of that enterprising Society.
The White Ribbon is the official organ of the W.C.T.U. in India, edited by Mrs. Mary R. Phillips, 136, Dharamtalla Street, Calcutta.
The White Ribbon Signal is the organ of the Society of Victoria, Australia, published by Mrs. M. E. Kirk, and there is another paper of the same name, organ of the W.C.T.U., published by Mrs. Masterman, in Sydney. Besides these there are scores of State, Colonial, and Local Union papers, official organs of the White Ribbon movement.
Red Letter Days.
The Red Letter Days of the White Ribboners should be utilised to extend the knowledge of our work, obtain new members, and raise a revenue for our cause. The following have already been adopted by the World's W.C.T.U.: —
1. — Flower Mission Day, June 9th, the birthday of Jennie Casseday, founder of the W.C.T.U. Flower Mission.
2. — Fresh air Mission Day, August 3rd, the birthday of Lady Henry Somerset.
3. — World's W.C.T.U. Day, September 22nd, the birthday of Mary Clement Leavitt, our first round-the-world missionary; observed as World's W.C.T.U. Thank-Offering Day.
4. — Membership Crusade Day and Children's Harvest Home, September 28th, the birthday of the founder of the World's W.C.T.U.
5. — Crusade Day, December 23rd, the anniversary of the Women's Temperance Crusade.
Constitution of the World's W.C.T.U.
This organization shall be known as the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
176
The officers shall be a President, a Vice-President-at-large, a Secretary, Assistant Secretary and Treasurer; the President of each affiliated National Society shall be a Vice-President ex-officio.
The Executive Committee shall consist of all the officers of the Union, and shall control and provide for all the interests of the work. But as these officers will be widely separated, they may delegate their power to such members of the Committee as shall be selected by themselves. For all business, except amendments to the Constitution, seven shall constitute a quorum.
Any organization of women engaged in Temperance work in any nation may be affiliated with this organization, after having received the indorsement of the Executive Committee of Affiliated Societies already existing in that country, and of the Executive Committee of the World's W.C.T.U.; also by endorsing this Constitution and by the payment of annual dues.
Section 1. — Each affiliated Society shall pay annually to the World's Treasury an amount not less than one half-penny (one cent.) per member of each local Union, except in countries where money values are so different from those of the English speaking nations that it will be more just to leave their assessment to be determined by the Executive Committee.
Section 2. — Any person contributing Å1 (five dollars) annually to the general fund of the World's W.C.T.U. may be a Contributing Patron. In like manner a donation of Å5 (twenty-five dollars) annually may constitute a Sustaining Patron, and the payment of Å20 (one hundred dollars) a Life Patron.
Section 3. — Any woman, not a member of a local Union, by signing the pledge of the World's Union, and paying two shillings (fifty cents.) annually to the treasury of the World's W.C.T.U., may become a member of the Somerset Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
The Biennial Meeting at which officers shall be elected, shall be held at such time and place as the President and Secretary may determine; the official call being sent out not less than one year before the Convention is to be held.
177
The Biennial Meeting shall be composed of the Executive Committee, National Secretaries and Treasurers, the World's Superintendents of Departments, the Editors and Publisher of the official organ, and one delegate for every one thousand members of affiliated National Unions.
The President, Vice-President-at-large, Secretary, and Treasurer shall be elected biennially by the Executive Committee, and the Assistant Secretary shall be nominated by the Secretary and approved by the Executive Committee.
The general classification of the work shall be embraced under the following heads: —
| 1. Evangelistic. | 4. Educational. |
| 2. Organization. | 5. Social. |
| 3. Prevention. | 6. Legal. |
This Constitution may be altered or amended by a two-thirds vote of the Executive Committee, provided notice has been given to each member of this Committee by correspondence one year before-hand.
ARTICLE I. — Duties of Officers.
Section 1. — The President shall perform all duties usual to such office. She shall also preside at the meetings of the Executive Committee, and may, through the Secretary, call special meetings of that Committee when deemed advisable, on consent of any three members.
Section 2. — It shall be the duty of the Vice-President-at-large to perform the duties of the President in case of her absence, or inability to serve, and the duty of the Vice-Presidents to serve in the same capacity in their order, which shall be according to the date of organization of their respective National Societies.
Section 3. —The Secretary shall conduct the correspondence for, and keep record of, the proceedings of the Union, and shall be a medium of intercourse with the National organizations in
178
the interests of the work. She shall keep a general oversight of the field, and shall suggest to the Executive Committee such plans as may seem to her desirable from time to time.Section 4. — The Treasurer shall receive all moneys and disburse the same on order of the President and Secretary and shall keep an itemized account of receipts and expenditures, and give a report of the same annually to the Executive Committee and to the biennial meeting.
There shall be the following Departments: — Evangelistic; Bible Readings; Organization; Juvenile Work; Scientific Temperance Instruction in Schools; Press; Literature; Fairs and Expositions; Penal; Charitable and Reformatory; Purity; Peace and Arbitration; Petitions; Legislation and Treaties; Franchise; Systematic Giving; Anti-Opium.
These shall be in charge of Superintendents specially fitted for the work of their respective Departments, who shall be appointed by the Executive Committee of the World's Union.
Superintendents shall be appointed by the Executive Committee, in their absence, at a meeting set apart for that purpose.
It shall be the duty of Superintendents to originate, to devise, and to direct plans of work relating to their several departments, to correspond with and aid National Superintendents in the carrying out of the same, and to report work accomplished, and plans proposed, to the biennial meeting.
These Bye-Laws may be altered or amended by a majority vote of the Executive Committee.
[Note. — Please take notice that the Constitution of the World's W.C.T.U. should not be used as a precedent for National or Colonial Unions, the vast distance of the countries from each other making necessary extraordinary methods for the government of that body.]
179
We, Christian women of this nation, conscious of the great evils and appalled by the dangers of intemperance, believe it our duty, under the providence of God, to unite our efforts for its extinction and for the entire prohibition of the liquor traffic. That we may more successfully prosecute this work we adopt the following: —
ARTICLE I. — Name.
This association shall be known as the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union of ...............
Any Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
Each affiliated organization shall pay annually to the National Treasury an amount equal to ............... per member.
The officers shall be a President, Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, an Assistant Recording Secretary, and a Treasurer. The Presidents of States, Territories, Provinces, or Colonies shall be the Vice-Presidents ex-officio. These officers and the General Secretary of the Y.W.C.T. U. shall constitute an Executive Committee to control and provide for the general interest of the work, and ......... shall be a quorum at any meeting.
Section 1. — The annual or biennial meeting shall be composed of the Executive Committee, one delegate-at-large from each
180
Auxiliary, State, Provincial or Colonial Union, one delegate for every five hundred paying members of such Auxiliary Unions, and their Corresponding and Recording Secretaries and Treasurers, National Superintendents of Departments, National Organizers and Evangelists, and the Chairmen of Standing Committees.Section 2. — Juvenile organizations known as Loyal Temperance Legion in any auxiliary State, Province or Colony shall be entitled to one voting delegate for every one thousand members having paid fifty dollars into the National Treasury; said delegate to be a member of the W.C.T.U. and an active worker in the L.T.L.
The Annual or Biennial Meeting, at which officers shall be elected, shall be held in .................. at such place as may be determined upon at the previous Annual or Biennial Meeting or by the Executive Committee.
This Constitution may be altered or amended by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any Annual or Biennial Meeting, provided notice of the subject matter of amendment has been given in writing at the previous Annual or Biennial Meeting.
ARTICLE I. — Name.
This organization shall be known as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of ................ auxiliary to the W.C.T.U. of the Colonial, Provincial or State of ................ and to the National W.C.T.U. of ................
The object of this Union shall be to educate public sentiment up to the standard of total abstinence, to train the young, save the inebriate, and secure the legal prohibition and complete banishment pf the liquor traffic.
181
Any woman may become a member of this organization by signing the constitution, pledging herself to do all in her power for the advancement of the Temperance cause, and by the payment of ................ per year into the treasury, of which ................ shall be paid into the Colonial, Provincial or State Treasury.
A majority of members present at any regularly called meeting shall be considered a quorum for the transaction of business.
She will also sign the following
"I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all distilled, fermented and malt liquors, including Wine, Beer and Cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same"
Gentlemen may become honorary members by signing the pledge and the payment of ................ a year, all of which may be retained for home work.
The officers of this organization shall be, a President, Vice-Presidents, one from each church when practicable; a Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, and Treasurer, who shall constitute an Executive Committee.
Section 1. — President. To call to order and open the meetings.
To announce the business before the meeting in the order in which it is to be acted upon.
To put to vote all questions which have been regularly moved and seconded (first asking for remarks), and to announce the result.
To preserve order, and to decide, when referred to, all questions on points of order or practice which may arise.
To append her signature, when necessary, to all orders and proceedings of the Union.
To have a general oversight of the Union, and, in conjunction with the Executive Committee, to plan for its best interest and the good of the cause.
To call special meetings when deemed advisable by herself
182
and any three members of the Union, due notice being given to all members.Section 2. — Corresponding Secretary. To conduct the correspondence of the Union.
To report annually to the Corresponding Secretary of the Colonial, Provincial, or State Union, upon receipt of blank forms from the Secretary (having first submitted her report to the Union), giving such facts and items of general interest as will enable the Colonial, Provincial, or State Secretary to judge correctly of the condition of the Union and the progress of the work.
Section 3. — Recording Secretary. To keep a record of the proceedings of the meetings of the Union; to notify the public of its meetings.
To notify committees of their appointment, and of business referred to them.
To take charge of all records of the Union.
To make reports to the Union annually or quarterly, as may be required.
Section 4. — Treasurer. — To collect the membership dues, and to devise ways and means to increase the funds of the Union.
To forward to the State Treasurer, semi-annually or quarterly, the dues for each member, as required by the Constitution of the Union.
To hold all money collected for the use of the Union, paying bills on the order of the President and Secretary, keeping an exact book account and making a quarterly report of the same.
No efficient Treasurer will pay out money without requiring and securing a receipt for the same. Nor will she report as money received or paid out, funds that have not actually passed through her hands. She may perhaps make a separate account for the benefit of the Union.
Section 5. — Vice-Presidents. — To preside in their order, at meetings, in the absence of the President, and to perform all duties of the President in case of absence on any account from her office.
To canvass their respective Churches for members of the Union. To endeavour to secure special recognition of the Temperance cause in Church prayer-meeting quarterly, and also by a sermon from the pastor at least once a year. (Also to aid the Superintendent of Unfermented Wine and Sabbath School work in the prosecution of these Departments.)
Section 1. — The meetings of the Union shall be held on ..... afternoon of each week.
183
One meeting each month shall be devoted to the business interests of the Union, with shore written reports from officers and Superintendents of Departments.
Other meetings during the month shall be devoted to study and discussion of various lines of work adopted by the Union; also Bible readings and study of Parliamentary usage.
Public prayer and conference meetings shall be held as often as the interest of the work demands, and, if possible, mass meetings quarterly.
The Executive and other Committee shall meet as often as may be deemed advisable.
The annual meeting shall be held on the ................ day of ................ month, at which time the officers shall be elected for the ensuing year.
This Constitution may be altered or amended at any regular meeting of the Union, by a two-thirds vote of the members, notice of such change having been given at the previous meeting, provided such amendments do not conflict with the State Constitution.
ARTICLE I. — Name.
This organization shall be known as the "Young Woman's Christian Temperance Union" of ................ auxiliary to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of ................
It shall be the object of this organization to plan and carry forward measures which will result, with the blessing of God, in the promotion of total abstinence.
Section 1. — Any young woman may become a member by assenting to the Constitution, signing the pledge, and paying
184
........ into the treasury, ......... of which shall be paid to the State, and .......... to the State, Colonial or Provincial Union.Section 2. — Young men may become honorary members by signing the pledge and paying the same membership fee, all of which shall be retained for home work.
The officers of this organization shall be a President, a Vice-President from each Church, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, and a Treasurer, who, together with the Superintendents of Departments, shall form an Executive Committee, of which five shall constitute a quorum.
Section 1. — President. — To preside at all meetings of the Union, and to supervise its general interests, and with any three members of the Union to call special meetings, due notice being given to the members.
Section 2. — Vice-Presidents. — To perform all duties of the President in her absence, to preside at meetings as the Society may elect, and to assist the President in arranging and carrying out plans for the benefit of the Union. They shall also endeavour to gain the co-operation of young people in the Churches which they represent.
Section 3. — Corresponding Secretary — To conduct the correspondence of the Union, and to report to the Secretary of the State, District, or County Union — having first submitted such report to the local organization — giving such items of general interest as will enable her to judge correctly of the Union. She shall also file all letters received, and assist the Recording Secretary in preparing an annual report.
Section 4. — Recording Secretary. — To keep accurate minutes of all meetings of the Union, give due notice of such meetings notify officers of their election and committees of their appointment, keep a record of the names, residences and attendance of members, calls made and moneys disbursed, and prepare an annual report.
185
Section 5. — Treasurer. — To collect the membership fees and forward ......... of the same to the Treasurer of the State, Province or Colony, to hold all moneys collected for the use of the Union, keep an exact book account and make a quarterly report of the same, and disburse moneys only by order of the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee shall meet at the call of the President, or three of its members, and five shall constitute a quorum. Its duties shall be to fill all vacancies, suggest measures and plans of work, and supervise the details of carrying out the same. Its proceedings shall be subject to the approval of the Union.
The meetings of the Union shall be held ................ at ................ o'clock. The annual meeting shall be held in the month of ................ the day to be appointed by the Executive Committee, at which time the annual report of the Union shall be read, and the officers and superintendents of departments for the ensuing year shall be elected by ballot or by acclamation.
The White Ribbon shall be worn as the badge of the Society.
Any clause in this Constitution, excepting those relative to the pledge and auxiliaryship, may be amended by a two thirds vote of the members present at any regular meeting; notice of such amendment having been given in writing at a previous regular meeting.
I hereby solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all alcoholic liquors as a beverage, including wine, beer and cider, and that I will employ all proper means to discourage the use of and traffic in the same.
186
The following is the usual order for a business meeting:
1. — Devotional exercises.
2. — Minutes of previous meeting.
3. — Report of Corresponding Secretary.
4. — Treasurer's Report.
5. — Report of Executive Committee.
6. — Superintendents' Reports.
7. — Unfinished business; new business.
8. — Course of reading, papers, extracts, &c.; discussion.
I. — Name.
This organization shall be called Company ................ Division of the Loyal Temperance Legion of ................
Its object shall be to train boys and girls, from a moral and scientific standpoint, in the principles of Total Abstinence and purity, and by enlisting them as workers, lead them to "lend a hand" in every effort to help others and to overthrow the liquor traffic.
The adult officers, to be elected annually, shall be a Leader, with one or more assistants, and a Musical Instructor; the juvenile officers shall be a President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Librarian, who should be chosen quarterly from the pledged members. (The leader must be a member of the W.C.T.U. or Y.W.C.T.U. where there is one, and receive her appointment from it annually.) The adult Officers should assist the juvenile Secretary and Treasurer in preparing their weekly reports, and themselves make a full report quarterly.
Each boy or girl must, upon entering, assent to the following rules: —
I promise to be quiet and orderly, attentive to the instructions
187
of our leader, and to all the exercises of the meetings, and thoughtful on the great subjects of Temperance and Purity.Section 1. — Any boy or girl may become a member and be entitled to all the privileges of the meetings by signing the Company's Rules, but to become a full member and be entitled to wear the badge of the Company, each must sign the pledge of the Legion. Only full members shall be eligible to office.
Section 2. — Each adult officer and teacher shall sign the pledge and constitution
Trusting in GOD'S help, I solemnly promise to abstain from the use of alcoholic drinks, including wine, beer, and cider; from the use of tobacco in any form; and from profanity.
The meetings of the Company shall be held weekly, the day to be decided by the Company.
Full members shall wear the badge at each meeting of the Company, and on all public occasions in which the Company have a part. It is desirable that it be worn at all times.
Each member is expected to pay into the treasury one half-penny, or 1 cent, per week, yet this is not obligatory.
First Fifteen Minutes.
Singing; short Scripture selection (read responsively or in concert); prayer; repetition of pledge by full members (standing); repetition of Company rules by all members (standing); reports of Juvenile Secretary and Treasurer.
Strict attention to lesson, closing with review questions, or a general exercise.
188
Blackboard lesson; object lesson; experiments.
Roll call; reception of new members; reports of Recruiting, Look-out, Literature, and other Committees; miscellaneous exercises, such as singing, recitations, calisthenics, etc. Let the children march out with an appropriate song.
Supplies for Juvenile Work.
Three Temperance Lesson Manuals have been brought out by the White Ribbon Publishing Company. Series I, II and III, price 3d. Address, Mrs. Ward Poole, 24, Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London, E.C. Other publications will soon follow.
The Woman's Temperance Publishing Association, the Temple, Chicago, U.S.A., will send for two shillings, or 50 cts., the L.T.L.'s Organizer's Outfit, which contains everything needed to begin the work of the L.T.L., and includes samples of L.T.L. Song Book and Manual by the World's Superintendent of Juvenile Work, entitled, "Questions Answered," Lesson Book and copy of Young Crusader, our L.T.L. paper, Pledge card, Badge, Leaflets, and samples of everything necessary for effective work.
Forms of Pledge and Petitions.
A Boy's Pledge.
"I venture to give my pledge for boys, hoping that many mothers may induce their boys to sign it."
I pledge my brain God's thoughts to think;
My lips no fire or foam to drink
From alcoholic cup, nor link
With my pure breath tobacco's taint;
For have I not a right to be
As wholesome and as pure as she
Who, through the years so glad and free,
Moves gently onward to meet me?
A knight of the New Chivalry
Of Christ and Temperance, I would be
In nineteen hundred, come and see.
189
Petition of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union for Protection of Women.
This Petition has been largely circulated, and I recommend it as an educational factor in the Purity Work,
[N.B. — Attach paper for signatures. Print in local papers; get editorial in favour; urge that petition be clipped from the paper and circulated.]
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
The increasing and alarming frequency of assaults upon women, and the frightful indignities to which even little girls are subject, have become the shame of our boasted civilization.
A study of the Statutes has revealed their utter failure to meet the demands of that newly-awakened public sentiment which requires better legal protection for womanhood and girlhood.
Therefore, we men and women of ................, do most earnestly appeal to you to enact such Statutes as shall provide for the adequate punishment of crimes against women and girls. We also urge that the age of consent be raised to at least eighteen years; and we call attention to the disgraceful fact that protection of the person is not placed by our laws upon so high a plane as protection of the purse.
Names. Residences.
Petition to Publishers of Fashion Magazines.
Publishers of ................:
Dear Sir, —
Knowing that the fashion in woman's dress, which requires the constriction of the waist and the compression of the trunk of the body, is one which not only deforms the body in a manner contrary to good taste, but results in serious, sometimes irreparable injury to the important vital organs; and believing that the existence of the widespread perversion of natural instincts which renders this custom so prevalent may be fairly attributable, in part, at least, to erroneous education of the eye, and the establishment of a false and artificial standard of
190
symmetry and beauty, in our opinion largely the result of the influence of the popular fashion plates of the day — we, the undersigned, most respectfully petition you that, in the name of science and humanity, you will lend aid toward the elevation of women to a more perfect physical estate, and consequently to the elevation of humanity, by making the figures upon your fashion plates conform more nearly to the normal standard and the conditions requisite for the maintenance of health.Petition to Journalists.
We, your Petitioners, sincerely appreciate the interest that is taken by journalists and newspapers in the various women's organizations, and we will lend our united aid and influence in furthering this object in the effort to place these societies fairly and helpfully before the public; but for the protection of our homes we earnestly request that you omit from the columns of your papers the details of crime and scandal, the impure and doubtful advertisements and illustrations, and every kind of writing that is harmful to the purity of home life and the efforts of good women to bring up their children so that they shall be reputable citizens of the state.
Questions for Evangelistic Workers.
The following questions sent out by Miss Elizabeth W. Greenwood, Superintendent of the Evangelistic Department, are full of invaluable suggestions, and for that reason I cannot forbear adding them to my little book. They are placed here because I did not receive them until it was going to press.
Has your Union an evangelistic superintendent?
How many Unions in your county or district have evangelistic superintendents?
Have you received a copy of the National Superintendent's "Hints and Helps"?
How many copies have been sent out in the State?
Are you and your Union growing in spirituality and using the helps thereto?
Have any communion circles been formed?
191
How many observe the trysting time?
Do you hold in your Union a weekly meeting conference, prayer and temperance enthusiasm, and is this separate from the business meeting?
Has there been in your union a revival of interest in evangelistic work, and a renewed consecration and Bible study?
Have you held Bible readings as suggested by the National Superintendent? With what result?
Did your last district or county convention observe the hour from eleven to twelve a.m. as a season of devotion and Bible exposition?
Did your last State convention observe the hour from eleven to twelve a.m. as a season of devotion and Bible exposition?
Have you continued the campaign in the churches?
How many church services have been held under the auspices of the W.C.T.U?
How many sermons preached by pastors?
How many meetings were addressed by women?
In how many were collections taken for the Union?
How many pages of gospel temperance literature have been distributed during the year?
How many unions have inaugurated the system of co-operative evangelistic work, outlined in our "Hints and Helps"?
How many visits have been made by each Union?
Mention results, incidents, &c.
Have gospel missions or district conferences been held?
How many, and with what results?
Have Crusade bands been formed, and with what results?
How many gospel temperance meetings have been held?
How many in prisons, jails, and penitentiaries?
How many in almshouses?
How many in halls?
How many in cottages?
How many in mothers' meetings?
How many in school-houses?
How many on ships or in forts?
How many outdoor services?
How many visits made by Union?
Number of conversions?
Number of Bible readings?
Number of pages of literature distributed?
How many signatures to the pledges?