USA > Ohio > Highland County > Hillsboro > Hillsboro crusade sketches and family records > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14
"BOSTON, MASS., October 27, 1902.
"MY DEAR FRIEND,-I want to thank you a thou- sand times for your delightful picture. Your roses will bloon in my home, and I shall think of you and of your mother and of your sister. They are in them- selves a charming adornment, and will remind me of those whose friendship I value.
"With love to you and your mother and sister, be- lieve me,
Yours affectionately, "ISABEL SOMERSET.
"HOTEL, SOMERSET."
TWENTY-NINTH CRUSADE ANNIVERSARY, HILLSBORO, OHIO.
An Oriental legend relates that a prince brought a tent to his father in a walnut-shell. The king took it out and began to unfold it. It covered the king and his ·counselors ; it covered the royal household; it cov- ered the general and his army; it covered the king- dom; it covered the whole world. It was Christianity ; God was the Father, and the prince was Jesus Christ. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord.
This fancy is fitly typical of the great Woman's Christian Temperance Union movement, the outgrowth of the little band of praying women, the seventy who,
238
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
in a spirit of love, devotion, and self-sacrifice, went forth that December morning twenty-nine years ago. Less than a generation has passed since this great movement had its birth, and lo, what hath God wrought! The Woman's Christian Temperance Union White-Ribboners encircle the globe.
These seventy who builded better than they knew, and
"Organized for doing good The world's united womanhocd,"
represent the divine endeavor of Christian women to rescue the tempted and perishing.
On Tuesday afternoon, December 23, 1902,. the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union, with a few friends, assembled in the Crusade Memorial Rooms in the beautiful new Presbyterian church of Hillsboro, Ohio, to celebrate the twenty-ninth anni- versary of the Crusade and witness the unveiling of the portrait of Mrs. Eliza Jane Trimble Thompson, "the Crusade Mother," so finely executed by a gifted artist, Mrs. Mary McArthur Tuttle.
The president of the day, Mrs. E. L. Ferris, the granddaughter of the Crusade vice-president, Mrs. Sally McDowell, and Mrs. Rebecca Arthur, the faith- ful secretary, were in the official chairs.
After Scripture reading by Mrs. Ferris the Rev. R. D. Licklider, of the Baptist Church, offered a fer- vent prayer, the keynote of which was "Courageous hearts and loyalty to duty."
A beautiful trio, violin, flute and piano, was then
239
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
executed by Mrs. Rives, Miss Detwiler, and Mr. Thompson. Then followed the presentation of the portrait of "Mother" Thompson, the gift of the Na- tional Woman's Christian Temperance Union to the Crusade Memorial Room. National and State officers, national superintendents, organizers, lecturers, and evangelists contributed.
Rev. S. O. Royal, D. D., of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, who made the presentation, said in part : "Sisters, Friends, and Mothers of the Woman's Chris- tian Temperance Union,-He would be a stoic indeed who would fail to appreciate the honor and take no pride in performing the office now appointed me. At this shrine and at this moment of anniversary, speech seems well-nigh a desecration, and thoughtful silence more becoming. At the Bethlehem of an impulse which called a nation's womanhood away from patient tears to heroic action; at the birthplace of a move- ment destined to be world-wide in its reach, deep as the centuries in its influence, and broad as human suf- fering in its sympathies, our voices are subdued by a holy' awe, which stifles rather than assists utterance. Were not this task placed upon me by others, I should yield to an impulse to beg pardon for disturbing your meditations and the recollections which gush forth spontaneously in this memorial room.
"Surrounded by mementos of value and meaning, we are now to add another more precious than them all. Veiled at this moment from our view is a portrait of Mrs. Eliza J. Thompson, 'Mother of the Crusade.' Concerning it let me say two or three things.
16
.
240
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
"Who that has eyes to see and a mind to think can escape the spell of a master-painter's witchery? By the deft placing of vari-colored pigments a plain sur- face receives depth here and prominence there; by a cunning arrangement of lights and shadows a mean- ingless canvas is made to speak, to smile, to follow you with intelligent gaze. No wonder that 'in the elder days of art' painters wrought with reverent care ; that some of them knelt while they worked; that their most frequent themes were devout; nor that the mas- terpieces of genius are housed in the temples of a world's worship. Here you shall presently see a can- vas to whose value time shall render a compound in- terest. And this value will be forever enhanced by the fact that each stroke was placed by a daughter's loving hand as well as by an artist's careful skill.
"Here, too, will you see a portraiture of character. To one who has mind-sight added to eye-sight here is a pictured biography. Intelligence and courage, firmness and tact, patience and a large sense of humor, a charity for men and faith in God, are as plainly vis- ible as if a Dickens or a Boswell had taken a thousand pages to describe them. Here is an open book on grandeur of character which later generations can read after she and we have vanished from sight.
"Here, too, is an epic of achievement. The finest monuments of the past are not the statues which men carve, not the bronzes which bear their epitaphs, but the deeds which they have done. The elements bite away the granite monolith, and fires melt the brass memorial. Earth's finest temples are now in ruins,
- -- - -
AUDITORIUM LOOKING INTO CRUSADE MEMORIAL ROOM.
24I
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
and others are crumbling ; but the deeds of heroes are living stones built into immortal temples. Hoary wrong that with defiant hardihood rises ever and anon to oppose, only adds strength and glory to the achieve- inents of heroes. This portrait will tell not merely who once lived here and how one of the brave band of 'Crusaders' looked, but more eloquently will it recount what was here done. It will record no short-lived vic- tory, greeted with the shoutings of a capricious popu- lace. It will tell rather of a triumph at the first doubt- ful, tardy, partial ; of its progress, slow as the glacier, but as resistless ; and if I may be prophetic, it will tell how it grew to an avalanche, until by the weight of woman's prayers, of woman's intelligence, and of wo- man's will, it swept the world's greatest wrong into oblivion.
"In the name of the officers of the National Wo- man's Christian Temperance Union this work of art, this story of beautiful character and brave leadership, this epic in color of a vast moral movement, I present to the custody of this Church for a place among the furnishings and memorials of this historic room."
The unveiling by Rev. S. O. Royal followed, and we looked upon the beautiful face, so exquisitely re- produced by loving fingers, the face of the gracious lady who shall be known in White Ribbon annals through the long hereafter as "a noble type of good, heroic womanhood."
The legal deed of acceptance by the Church offi- cials was read by Rev. H. N. Faulconer, the pastor,
242
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
who then felicitously and forcefully accepted the beau- tiful gift, and paid loyal homage to the Crusade Mother and her co-workers, the central thought being that God had intrusted to woman, a child of God, grown by His grace, a movement that will never die.
After the singing of the Crusade Hymn, "Give to the winds thy fears," friends near and familiar brought affection's immortelles, and broke the alabaster box of precious ointment in Crusade memories.
Mrs. Thompson was unable to be present, and her elder daughter, Mrs. Marie T. Rives, of sweet and gentle mien, gave utterance to the following tender tribute :
"When the National president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Miss Gordon were our guests last March, the first thing they observed in the parlor was the portrait of my mother, which they pronounced a perfect likeness and a beautiful piece of art. To-day, by order of the National Wo- man's Christian Temperance Union-for every State has contributed-and by. the courtesy of the pastor, Rev. H. N. Faulconer, and the official board, the pic- ture is to hang upon the walls of the Crusade Memo- rial Room. We hope and believe that before many. months another sweet face will look out from these walls-that of Mrs. General McDowell. These two workers must have looked earnestly into each other's faces in those early Crusade days, when they kneeled on the icy pavements of Hillsboro and gave to 'the winds their fears.' Now that Hillsboro stands upon the
243
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
heights of answered prayer, let them look peacefully into each other's faces from these sacred walls !
"You can not expect me to say much to-day. What can a child say of a loving, devoted mother, except on bended knee to thank God for her? When we think of what these leaders have done for the world, we thank God for the wonderful growth of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and what it has done for the uplifting of humanity.
"But, dear friends, I want to say something to you to-day, sisters of the White Ribbon, and dear Hillsboro friends. From the depths of my heart I thank you for your constant appreciation of my mother's work. Never a birthday or any anniversary passes but our home is fragrant with flowers and kind greetings; and now that mother is much in her room, every day comes some cheerful, kind message from many friends. So to-day let us thank God for the temperance work and. victories, for this Memorial Room, built as firmly in stone as the principle it represents, and for the sacred treasures it contains."
· Mrs. Lizzie A. Harsha, whose loyalty to the tem- perance cause is unfaltering, with characteristic fervor spoke of the nearness of the anniversary dates of the birth of the movement and that of our Savior, alike for the uplifting of sinful and sorrowing humanity.
After prayer by Mrs. Moses Calvert, one stanza of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was sung from printed slips, the souvenir gift of Mrs. Thompson. A telegram from Miss Anna Gordon was read, and the
244
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
doxology and the benediction by Rev. S. O. Roval followed.
Thus was marked the twenty-ninth anniversary in Hillsboro, the "Cradle of the Crusade."
THE FRIDAY CLUB.
Mrs. Thompson was a member of one of the lit- erary clubs of Hillsboro called "The Friday Club," founded by a granddaughter of Mrs. General Mc- Dowell, "Aunt Sally McDowell," who walked arm in arm with Mrs. Thompson throughout the Crusade days, and was the greatly beloved vice-president of the original band of Crusaders. Some notes are given from the secretary, Mrs. Mary Boyd Yeoman, who was the first woman to rise to her feet when Dr. Dio Lewis proposed his plan for women to use their influ- ence against the saloon.
A summer day in November, 1898, shone on the expectant, attentive faces of the club members assem- bled in the historic home of one of its associate mem- bers, Mrs. Eliza Trimble Thompson, and two of its active members, Mrs. Rives and Mrs. Tuttle. Jubilee Day we must call it, for returning pilgrims from the Mecca of Columbus and the State Federation were full of enthusiasm, and longed to share their profit and pleasure with the entire fraternity. Mrs. Henrietta Evans submitted her report.
Again assembling, December, 1904, Virginia, Ken- tucky, and Ohio presented programs. At a later meet-
245
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
ing of historic interest, Mrs. Matthews, founder of the club, read a charming paper on the Carolinas, Mrs. Lena Spargur on Educational Institutions, and Mrs. Steele on "The House we Keep." "Old Virginny" was sung by Mrs. Alice Spargur. Then came cake and coffee, chatter over old cups, greetings to the cld Mother of the old régime. Twilight gold and gray shaded hallways and parlors full of mementos, gifts' memories in the old Trimble home; then the subtle charm of music, flute and piano, greeted by a storm of applause, for the record of no other club holds fast the dates of Mr. Henry Thompson's skillful art nor a Mrs. Rives, who keeps pace with the classic strains.
CHAPTER II.
VISIT OF FIVE HUNDRED DELEGATES TO HILLSBORO- PASTOR FELIX'S HYMN.
E XTRACTS from Hillsboro papers of Friday, Oc- tober 9, 1903, show the interest taken in those reforms that were encouraged by Mother Thompson, and the following letter from the president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union is self-explanatory :
"The thirtieth National Convention of the Wo- man's Christian Temperance Union will be held in Cincinnati in November, and one of the features of the important occasion will be a visit to this place, the home of the great Crusade movement. The date for this visit has been fixed for Monday, November 16th.
"The following communication from the National President of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union has been received by the local union :
" 'EVANSTON, ILL., September 30th.
" 'MRS. E. J. THOMPSON : Beloved Friend and Com- rade,-Miss Anna Gordon and I reached national head- quarters a few days ago, and are busily engaged in
246
247
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
preparing for the Thirtieth Annual Convention of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union at Cincinnati, November 13th to 20th. We are receiving letters from every section of the country inquiring about the proposed visit to Hillsboro, which will be niade on Monday, November 16th.
"'We have planned something like this: Have a special train leave Cincinnati about 7 A. M., reaching Hillsboro about 9. There will be at least five hundred in the party. The delegates will walk the street of the historic Crusade town which leads to the Presby- terian Church, holding a meeting there, to be partici- pated in by Crusaders and members of the Conven- tion. At close of meeting, to partake of the simplest sort of a lunch. I mention the lunch, because it has been suggested to us that Hillsboro people would like to have us break bread with them. I mention it, too, because I wish to emphasize our wish that the lunch be very simple and such as can be served with the least trouble to our hostess. After lunch we will again form in line and walk to your home, and thence to the station. Because of the great pressure of Conven- tion work, we shall feel obliged to leave Hillsboro as early in the afternoon as possible, in order to enable us to hold a short business meeting after reaching Cincinnati. We should spend about four hours in Hillsboro, and they will be hours heavily freighted with precious memories and blessed realities, and I am confident that we shall all be strengthened to go forward with renewed hope and inspiration for the work we all love and seek to promote.
248
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
" 'With love to you and the members of your fam- ily, the local Union and all Hillsboro Crusaders, I am very sincerely yours, LILLIAN M. N. STEVENS.'
"ARRANGEMENTS COMPLETED FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT OF THE W. C. T. U. VISITORS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH.
"It is desired that all those who worked in the Crusade will go to the Crusade Memorial Room on Monday morning as early as nine o'clock, without further notice or invitation.
"The Methodist Church will be heated and at the service of the public, in case an overflow meeting be- comes necessary, and choice speakers will be supplied.
"A committee will be at Armory Hall as early as eight o'clock Monday morning, to receive the boxes, cream, and other donations.
"The program for the exercises at the Presbyterian Church is printed and on sale at Stabler's-five cents per copy. As it is a souvenir program, it is hoped that every one will buy a copy and file it away as a reminder of November 16, 1903. Five hundred copies are to be given to the delegates.
"Mrs. Thompson desires it said that the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Hillsboro will be de- lighted if the merchants feel inclined to decorate with white bunting and flags. The motto of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union is, 'For God and Home and Every Land.'
"Any one caring to contribute, who has not been reached by the soliciting committee, can leave dona-
249
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
tions at Armory Hall early on Monday morning. Those who desire to contribute money will please leave it with Mrs. Gregg.
"Miss Olive Christian Malvery, of India, will prol)- ably be one of the speakers at the overflow meeting at the Methodist Church. The Cambridge Press, Eng- land, says she positively charms her audience.
"Rev. Mr. Deaton and Mrs. Deaton will receive the speakers at their church. Professor Warren will be assisted by Mrs. Cotton Mather and others in re- ceiving and introducing the speakers at the Washing- ton school building.
"Bunches of white immortelles will be sent by the National officers to be placed on the graves of those who worked in the Crusade, but who have gone from labor to reward.
"Personnel .- The names of the six National offi- cers are :
"Mrs. Lillian Stevens, President.
"Miss Anna A. Gordon, Vice-President.
"Mrs. Susanna Fry, Corresponding Secretary.
"Mrs. Helen Barker, Treasurer.
"Mrs. Hoffman, Recording Secretary.
"Mrs. Beauchamp, Assistant Recording Secretary.
"Delegates Present .- Mrs. Annie W. Clark, of Columbus, President Ohio Woman's Christian 'Tem- perance Union, will be here, also Mrs. Perkins, of Cleveland, President of the Cuyahoga County Union, editor and author.
"Mrs. Faxon, of the Philippine Islands, who is establishing schools, etc.
250
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
"Mrs. Ormiston Chant, of England.
"Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, of Boston, of the Scientific Temperance Instruction, who attended the great Con- gress in Germany last summer and was invited by the Scientists to preside on one day. Our Congress voted an appropriation, on the recommendation of President Roosevelt, to defray her ocean voyage and expenses.
"Mrs. Lillian Cole Bethel, author of 'Parliamentary Usages,' a very useful book for women's clubs, etc., and Mrs. Benjamine, of Michigan, who is ably iu- formed on the same subject.
"Mrs. Mary Wood Allen, of Ann Arbor, Mich., author and publisher.
"Miss Belle Kearney, of Mississippi, a most elo- quent speaker.
"Mrs. Hannah J. Bailey, of Maine, a wealthy Quakeress, who has the department of Peace and Ar- bitration, and who is an excellent financier, having aided the National officers to come in possession of The Union Signal, which is now owned by the Society.
"Mrs. Clara Wright Parish, of Illinois, President of the Ys.
"Mrs. Lucy Thurman, at the head of the present forward movement among the colored people.
"Mrs. Margaret Dye Ellis, of Washington, D. C., the legislator, and Mrs. Clinton B. Smith, also of Washington, D. C., who has twenty local unions under her care.
"Mrs. B. D. Livingston, of Ontario, a fraternal delegate, will be here.
"Mrs. Maria Weed, of Chicago, and Deaconess
25I
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
Sarah J. Elliott, of New York City, members of The International Council of Women, of which Mrs. May Wright Sewall is president.
"Mrs. Cornelia T. Jewett, of Chicago, editor of The Union Signal, is coming. Also Mrs. Harriet B. Kells, of Mississippi.
"Mrs. Mary A. Leavitt, first 'Round the World Missionary' of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Mrs. Mary B. Ingham, Mrs. Hollingshead, of Cleveland, and it is hoped that Mrs. McClellan Brown, Mrs. Roller, and the Misses Renick, who have had so much care in Cincinnati, will take a day's vacation."
MOTHER THOMPSON'S HOME, FORMERLY THE HOME OF GOVERNOR TRIMBLE,
Is visited. A paper of that date says :
"The National Convention of the Woman's Chris- tian Temperance Union has been is session in Cincin- nati the past week, and Monday was the high-water mark of interest when five hundred of the White Rib- boners visited Hillsboro, the home of Mrs. Eliza J. Thompson, known the world over as 'Mother of the Crusade.' Eight coaches filled to overflowing arrived here about ten o'clock over the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern.
"The Commercial-Tribune of Tuesday had the fol- lowing report of the occasion.
"'As the train bearing the White Ribbon host
252
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
steamed into the historic little town of Hillsboro the banks surrounding the station were lined with enthusi- astic citizens of the place. The procession was formed and the line of march taken up in the direction of the First Presbyterian Church, which stands on the site of the old Crusade church. Here the visitors were welcomed by the pastor, Rev. Mr. Faulconer, and a committee of Hillsboro women. The church was decorated for the occasion. The famous Memorial · Room overlooks the auditorium of the church, from a slight elevation, and here sat the beloved Mother Thompson, surrounded by the following old Crusaders of Hillsboro: Mrs. Collins, Mrs. William Scott, Mrs. R. Evans, Mrs. Patterson, Mrs. J. M. Boyd, Mrs. William Barry, Mrs. McSurely, Mrs. Willet, Miss Maria Stuart. The seating capacity of the church was inadequate, and overflow meetings were held at the Methodist Church, where Mother Thompson is a lay member, and at the Webster and Washington School buildings.
"'On the platform sat Mrs. Stevens, the National President; Miss Anna Gordon, Vice-President ; Mrs. Annie Woods Clark, State President, of Columbus, O .; Miss Cornelia Dow, of Maine, daughter of the late Neal Dow; Mrs. Beauchamp, of Kentucky, Assistant Recording Secretary ; Mrs. Susan M. D. Fry, Record- ing Secretary; and Princess Olive Christian Malvery, of India.
" 'After prayer by Rev. Mr. McSurely and the read- ing of the Crusade Psalm by Mrs. McSurely out of the Crusade Bible. Rev. Mr. Faulconer welcomed the
-
MRS. WM. O. COLLINS.
MRS. MILTON BOYD.
MRS. JOSIAH STEVENSON.
253
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
visitors, assuring them their visit was a spiritual up- lift and inspiration to the people of Hillsboro.
"'Mrs. Stevens, in a brief talk, stated that the old Crusaders should be given the prominence rather than the National officers, and for that reason her remarks, as well as the remarks of the others, would be brief. " 'Miss Anna Gordon, who was called upon, said that as they were approaching the church, Princess Malvery had said regretfully, "We are a little travel- stained for such a memorable visit, are we not?" and added, "That becomes pilgrims, does n't it?"
""'Princess Malvery was called upon to read an original poem by Kate Lunden Sunderlain.
"'Mrs. Fry spoke of being with her husband in Halle, Germany, at the time of the Crusade, and of being entirely at sea as to the condition of affairs when she received papers and periodicals ridiculing the women who were taking part in the Crusade.
" 'Mrs. Beauchamp addressed the old Crusaders as leaders of the Gideon Band, and called attention to their heroic work in behalf of the children and the home.
"'Mrs. Annie W. Clark spoke briefly, with great force and feeling. She said : "When asked to occupy a place on the platform, it had not entered my head that there would be any time or opportunity for me to say anything ; but it comes to me now, as I look at these dear old Crusaders, that we owe all these great movements to some heroic heart, to some heroic leader, who dared to begin." Mrs. Clark sat down amidst a storm of applause.
254
HILLSBORO CRUSADE SKETCHES.
" 'Miss Dow spoke briefly, and also to the point. She said it was a delight to be permitted to be at Hills- boro at such a gathering.
"'At this point some one asked that Mother Thompson might be requested to stand that the audi- ence might all see where she was and which was she. The dear old lady arose and the audience sang one verse of "Blest be the tie that binds." As the audience reseated themselves, Mother Thompson said: "Your time is very short and my breath is much shorter, but I want to say that the Woman's Crusade against whisky came not by might nor by power, but by My Word, saith the Lord of hosts; and, my dear sisters, beloved of the Lord and beloved of us all, it is only as we adhere to that spirit our cause can be successful. First it came as a dove. Let us be gentle and kind. Then as a fire. Let us not get cold. I want to call your attention to the fact that the inscription on the Crusade quilt of Hillsboro, on the most conspicuous square, is, 'Remember Lot's Wife;'" and the dear old gray-haired saint of eighty-seven years sat down amid a storm of applause and laughter.
""'Mrs. Stevens arose at this point and handed to Miss Gordon an armful of magnificent chrysanthe- mums, tied by a broad bow of white ribbon, which she presented to Mother Thompson, saying that they came from three hundred thousand loving hearts who re- alized the glory of a pure white life, which would soon be transplanted into everlasting day.'"
MRS. McSURELY.
MRS. H. S. FORAKER.
MRS. GENERAL McDOWELL. (" AUNT SALLY MCDOWELL.")
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.