Chapter III · (continued 4)

The women continued faithful through all the discouragements and successes, and are still at work.

STRYKER, OHIO.

A REMARKABLE SCENE.

Mrs. R. R. Wallace wrote from Stryker, Ohio, April 18th, to the Western Advocate:

“The ladies of our village have organized themselves into a ‘Woman’s Temperance League.’ We have not as yet visited the saloons, but are laboring in a different way. We meet as a band every Tuesday and Friday afternoon for prayer and speaking, and once a week prepare an entertainment or general mass-meeting for all interested in temperance. We held our first meeting on Friday evening, April 17th, and a more impressive scene was never witnessed in Stryker. The room was crowded to its utmost capacity. Several of our most prominent saloon-keepers were present. Our meeting was opened by singing and prayer; then a short address by Mrs. Lindsley, President of the League. We were next entertained by some very able and appropriate remarks by Colonel E. D. Bradley. While he was speaking, the husband of our president, who is a confirmed drunkard, came staggering toward the platform. With shame, mortification, and deepest anguish depicted on her countenance, the wife sprang to intercept him, not knowing what he would do. He pushed by her and reached the rostrum. Just as he passed her, she slipped the protruding bottle from his pocket, and placed it on the table at her side. In the meanwhile, the drunken, half-insensible husband returned to the audience and sat down. All was still as death; rising to her feet, and holding the bottle up to view, the half-frenzied wife exclaimed: ‘Here is the cause of my sorrow! Here are the tears—yea, the very life-blood of a drunkard’s wife. Look at it, rum-seller: Here is the poison dealt out by you to the once loved husband of my youth; but now (pointing to her husband) behold the remains—nothing but the remains—of what was once a noble and honored man. Love, truth, and even manhood itself has fled. Now behold him! And here (pointing to the bottle) is the cause.’ She stopped for a moment, and nothing was heard but the sobs of the audience; then turning her pale, anguish-stricken face toward heaven, she exclaimed, ‘How long, O Lord, shall intemperance reign—blighting our dearest earthly hopes and draining our very life’s blood!’ Then, turning to the audience, ‘Can you wonder why I raise my voice against this terrible evil? Sisters, will you help me?’ Cries of ‘Yes, yes!’ came from almost every lady in the house. She sat down pale and exhausted. The meeting concluded, but impressions were made that can never be erased. Sisters, take courage! the Lord is on our side, and right must prevail.”

CHILLICOTHE, OHIO.

Chillicothe is one of the oldest towns in the State. It was settled while the Indians still had possession of the territory. Like Hillsboro’ and Georgetown the early settlers were largely Kentuckians and Virginians, and the same idea of hospitality obtained. From the first settlement up to the present, whiskey has abounded.

Forty years ago, there was a large number of distilleries in the county. But public sentiment had gradually improved, and drinking became more and more disreputable, until the Crusade put its stigma upon it. Situated in the valley of the Scioto, this town will remain an important station between the corn-fields and the distilleries, till the traffic is overthrown.

Chillicothe has the honor of being the birth-place of Mrs. President Hayes, who sympathized with the Crusade movement, and has since done signal service by banishing liquors from the Presidential mansion.

Saturday, April 5th, the Ross County Temperance Alliance met in Chillicothe, and although the ground was covered with snow, and the morning cold and raw, there was a large attendance of men and women. In the afternoon four bands of women, of about forty in each band, went on the streets, while the fifth band remained in the church for prayer. They drew large crowds upon the streets to witness their visits, but for a while the voice of prayer and praise sounded out upon the comparatively still streets. The bystanders, although curious, were respectful, and only inside the saloons from which the women were excluded was there anything like opposition. At some places there was whistling, singing and dancing, while the women were singing and praying.

The women of this town, finding that Sabbath was the best day for the sale of beer and whiskey, continued their Crusade work on Sundays as on other days.

At the municipal election, the whiskey power was successful. But the ladies continued their work with increased zeal, regardless of the defeat at the polls; petitions and pledges were circulated, and finally a Women’s Temperance Union organized, with a view to a long and determined siege.

OTHER TOWNS.

The following towns had a part In the Crusade, and were more or less successful: London; Logan’s Gap; Pomeroy; Middleport; Lancaster; South Charleston; Sydney; Loveland; Middletown; Higginsport; Milford; Nelsonville; Frankfort; Upper Sandusky; New Lexington; Cadiz; Toledo; Berea; Darrtown; Woodstock; Somerville; Hamilton; Walnut Hills; Plymouth; Norwalk; Galion; Dennison; West Jefferson; Harmony Village; Yellow Springs; West Milton; Hanover; College Corner; Mechanicsburg; Mount Carmel; Fort Ancient; Mount Sterling; Sunbury; Osborn; Alpha; Ironton; and Sandusky.

INDIANA.