USA > Ohio > Memories of the crusade a thrilling account of the great uprising of the women of Ohio in 1873, against the liquor crime > Part 20
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" Rock of Ages cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee."
Very plaintive to the ear of that tender-hearted
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woman sounded the strains as they floated up past her toward the Throne. "Ah !" said she, "the Crusaders are in that dreadful place." After a few moments reflection, as the cry again arose-
'. Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee, E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,"
she said, "Well, if I cannot endorse the move- ment I can at least show those devoted women my sympathy," and she went down and stepped into the door. "Oh," said she, "what a sight met my vision ! There were those consecrated women on their knees in that loathsome place, crying to God to touch the heart of that saloon- keeper with the finger of His love and pity, and to save those present from his destroying influ- ence. They prayed for the gray-headed men, the men in the prime of their manhood, the young boys ( for they were all there ), who through the curse of drink were wasting their precious time and jeopardizing their souls. Oh, what a sight! The room was full of the fumes of liquor and tobacco, and the drinking and smoking went on as the prayer ascended. All my prejudice was swept away in a moment. I thought of my own darling boy, just merging into manhood, and dearly as I loved him I felt that I would gladly follow him to the grave rather than see him come to the condition of one of these." ( She was a very fine elocutionist ). As the band arose from their knees she com- menced repeating :
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" No, comrades, I thank you, not any for me ; My last chain is riven, henceforward I'm free ! I will go to my home and my children to-night, With no fumes of liquor their spirits to blight, And with tears in my eyes I will beg my poor wife, To forgive me the wreck I have made of her life. I have never refused you before! Let that pass, For I have drank my last glass, boys, I have drank my last glass !
" Just look at me now, boys, in rags and disgrace, With my bleared, haggard eyes, and red, bloated face ! Mark my faltering step and my weak, palsied hand, And the mark on my brow that is worse than Cain's brand ; See my crownless old hat, and my elbows and knees, Alike warmed by the sun or chilled by the breeze, Why, even the children will hoot as they pass,- But I've drank my last glass, boys, I have drank my last glass.
"You would hardly believe, to look at me now, That a mother's soft hand was once pressed on my brow, When she kissed me, and blessed me, her darling, her pride, Ere she lay down to rest by my dead father's side ; But with love in her eye, she looked up to the sky, Bidding me meet her there, and whispered "good-bye." I will do it, God helping ! Your smile I let pass, For I've drank my last glass, boys, I have drank my last glass.
" Ah! I reeled home last night-it was not very late, For I'd spent my last sixpence, and landlords won't wait On a fellow who 's left every cent in his till, And has pawned his last bed their coffers to fill. Oh! the torments I felt, and the pangs I endured ; And I begged for one glass -just one would have cured,- But they kicked me out-doors ! I let that, too, pass, For I've drank my last glass, boys, I have drank my last glass !
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" At home my pet Susie, with her soft, golden hair, I saw through the window, just kneeling in prayer,
From her pale, bony hands, her torn sleeves were strung down ;
While her feet, cold and bare, shrank beneath her scant gown,
And she prayed-prayed for bread, just a poor crust of bread, For one crust-on her knees, my pet darling plead,
And I heard, with no penny to buy one, alas ! But I've drank my last glass, boys, I have drank my last glass !
"For Susie, my darling, my wee six-year-old, Though fainting with hunger, and shivering with cold, There on the bare floor, asked God to bless me ; And she said, "Don't cry, mamma ! He will ! for you see, I believe what I ask for!" Then, sobered, I crept Away from the house, and that night when I slept, Next my heart lay the pledge !- You smile ! Let it pass, But I've drank my last glass, boys, I have drank my last glass !
" My darling child saved me! Her faith and her love Are akin to my dear, sainted mother's above ! I will make her words true, or I'll die in the race, And sober I'll go to my last resting place ; And she shall kneel there, and weeping, thank God No drunkard lies under that daisy-strewn sod. Not a drop more of poison my lips shall ever pass, For I've drank my lust glass, boys, I have drank my last glass."
Every eye of the habitues of the saloon, as well as of the Crusaders, was bathed in tears. Her husband, a man not given to expression of emo- tion, stood leaning against the door sobbing aloud. As she closed she dropped on her knees and poured out her soul in a flood of eloquent appeal to the Throne of grace-the first time
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she had ever heard her own voice in audible prayer.
That night she dreamed some one gave her a white hyacinth, and that she sent it down to the saloon-keeper. At the family breakfast-table the next morning, she caused quite a little amusement by telling her dream.
But returning to her room, what was her sur- prise at seeing her white hyacinth setting on the dressing-case! A lady had sent it in to her daughter in acknowledgment of some kindness rendered. "Oh, Pearlie !" she exclaimed, "there's my white hyacinth. May I send it down?" "Yes, mamma," said the little girl. "So I sent it," said my friend, "with the request that the saloon-keeper would care for the little plant while it remained in bloom. I thought it would be one object of brightness to cheer the women as they made their daily visits to that terrible place. It was not long till a young man -as was his custom-came in for his morning glass. But as he opened the door a new and strange odor for that place came floating to him, mingled with that of the liquors. It arrested his attention, and for a moment stayed his eager footsteps. It was to that young man as if the gates of memory had swung backward and revealed a glimpse of home and mother in an atmosphere laden with the perfume of sweet flowers and song of birds. He stood for a moment transfixed, then espying the little vase on the counter, he walked quietly forward, and
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stooping almost reverently over it, he smelt the perfume and fondled the petals, then turned and walked out. He told the incident to a comrade, adding : " It carried me back to the dying bed of my mother. My mother was passionately fond of flowers, the hyacinth especially ; she cultivated them, -had them in her room. As she lay dying she held a spray of white hyacinth in her hand, and when I looked for the last time upon her pale, sweet face, as she lay in her casket ready to be carried from my sight forever, she still held a spray of white hyacinth in her hand. I could no more have drank a glass of liquor there than in the presence of my dead mother."
CHAPTER XVI.
Pittsburgh-A Thousand Women on the Street.
UR State Constitutional Convention was in session in Cincinnati during the winter of our Crusade, framing a new Constitu- tion, to be submitted to the people for their acceptance or rejection. And among the various subjects considered by the framers, came the ever-disturbing liquor problem, and it was dis- covered that the liquor men were bringing all their money and political influence to bear upon the delegates to get a license clause inserted in the instrument. The Crusaders took the alarm and a call went out from Akron for a Mass-Con- vention of the temperance men and women of the State.
This call was sent out on the 12th of April, and on the 22d there assembled in Cincinnati a delegation of the best class of the citizens of the State. The meeting had been announced for the Ninth Street Baptist Church, but it proved inadequate to accommodate the throng that gathered, and they adjourned to Wesley Chapel, the largest church in the city. One hundred
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and forty-one Leagues and seventy-three counties were represented.
My work being in the field, and the calls still pouring in, I did not expect to attend,-I have, indeed, always felt more in my legitimate work when out organizing and rallying the army than in the council chamber.
The Crusaders in Bucyrus were having a peculiarly hard time with the liquor men and their allies, which were not only the low drunk- ards, but the city Mayor and his officials also. So they wrote me to come to them for the even- ing of the 21st, but my friends at home insisted that I must go with them to Cincinnati. I tele- graphed I could not go at that time. Rev. Baltzly telegraphed back: "It will be very disastrous to us if you do not come now." It was now twelve o'clock, and the train left at one. I ran to Rev. Mr. Hamma for advice. He said "go," and rising from the dinner-table, bade me sit down and eat my dinner, while he ran to the telegraph office to notify them that I was com- ing, and to the livery-stable to order a hack. By the time I had eaten a hasty dinner he had the hack in waiting; I sprang in and was driven a half mile to my home, made my toilet and away to the depot, another half mile, in time for my train. The sisters still insisted that I must return in time to accompany them to Cincinnati next morning.
On the Sandusky train, -but how to reach Bucyrus, which was on the Ft. Wayne road, -
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or how to get out again, I did not know. The conductor, however, very kindly assisted me in making out my route. I reached Bucyrus at seven o'clock and a large committee was waiting to receive me. I told them I must leave at nine o'clock by private conveyance in order to catch the down train from Cleveland, which passed Galion at eleven.
Brother Baltzly said if that was the case he would have a carriage in waiting. I swallowed a little supper, went to the church and delivered what words of encouragement I could. At nine o'clock Brother Baltzly notified me that my time was up and carriage at the door. I left that faithful and devoted couple of temperance evan- gelists, David and Hannah Tatum, to close the meeting, and set off across the country eleven miles for Galion, and beat the train in by twenty minutes. When it came I boarded it and arrived in Springfield about three o'clock, drove home, caught a little sleep, and was up and at the depot by seven, ready to join my friends for Cincinnati, which we reached about ten.
I never looked upon a more intelligent and at the same time enthusiastic and determined, thoughtful body of men and women.
The chronicler says : "The church was capable of holding two thousand persons, and through- out the sessions it would be crowded, part of the time almost to suffocation."
The first subject of consideration, and that for which the Convention was called, was the license
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question pending in the Constitutional Conven- tion. The sentiment was strong and unanimous against licensing the traffic in any shape or form. A committee was appointed to draft a memorial to the Convention, and after a brief consultation a paper was brought in, and with slight modifi- cation was adopted, and a large committee of ladies was appointed to convey the memorial to the Convention.
Another subject was in reference to appealing to Congress to abolish the revenue on all intoxi- cants as a beverage, the object being the out- lawry of the traffic by the withdrawal of its recognition by Congress as a legitimate business and as a means of raising a revenue, and also of the laws providing for its protection in com- mon with other useful industries. But this was abandoned, and instead it was decided to ask Congress to prohibit the importation of intoxi- cating liquors. It was undoubtedly the timely assembly and appeal of this representative body of the Christian people that decided the delegates to submit a separate clause to be voted upon at the same time with the Constitution.
I did not remain to the close of this remark- able Convention, having an engagement for Pittsburgh on the evening of Thursday, the 23d. I reached home a little after nine o'clock, having traveled over three hundred miles, spoken at least an hour at Bucyrus, and put in a good part of a day at the Convention since one o'clock the day before. I am forgetting to say that I had
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company all this time-Mrs. Dr. Holmes, a dearly loved niece, who had not visited me before for years. But being a lady of both piety and good, practical sense, she heartily acquiesced in the necessity that compelled my absence. I got a pretty good night's rest and next morning was up and off to Pittsburgh.
No doubt the question has occurred to the reader more than once, how it was that I could leave my home in this fashion at a moment's notice and be absent indefinitely. Not an un- natural question to be asked of a woman, and I do not know but this is as opportune a time and place as I can find to enlighten the minds of my good-natured readers. I shall, indeed, take great pleasure while whirling along over the country towards Pittsburgh, in telling what to me has always been one of the most remarkable incidents of my eventful life. I have already mentioned that for years I was an invalid, with expectation of living but a short time.
It was during this time that my foster brother and kinsman, Mr. Campbell, not knowing how very ill I was, became impressed that I needed some one that would be more to me, and could do more for me, than any hired help I might get. So, in conference with his estimable wife and one of his daughters, it was decided that he should bring the daughter to me. He brought her to me and from that day to this she has been to me in the richest and dearest sense a daugh- ter. The world will never know her worth, her
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devotion and sacrifice for me, for she will not permit my telling it, and shrinks from anything like calling attention to herself. She will be really distressed, no doubt, when she discovers that I have said even this. A Providence child she has been, and my right hand in all these years, so that going or coming I have no solici- tude as to my home. If I and my husband are at home, we are cared for with the gentle thoughtfulness that would be given to her own parents.
If I am gone, I know Mr. Stewart is cared for as if I were at home. If we are both absent, I am sure my home interests are as safe as if we were there. She acts as my secretary in my absence, and always manifests the deepest sympathy with me and my work, and the liveliest interest in the temperance cause. Thus have I been by a gracious Providence enabled to give my undivided attention to my work, as I never could have done without her invaluable love and sympathy.
I arrived in Pittsburgh Thursday evening, and found a warm welcome and precious home with Mrs. S. B. Robison, the claim upon which I have not yet relinquished. Friday morning I met the ladies at headquarters, in the afternoon a prayer-meeting, at night a very large meeting in Dr. Noble's church.
I was booked for Fairmont, W. Va.,-up among the mountains on the B. & O. road-for Saturday, and had to leave early Saturday morn-
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ing. But the Pittsburgh ladies insisted that one day's help would not serve their purpose; the work was languishing, and the liquor men were influencing the press to say the Crusade was a failure and that the work was dying out in Pitts- burgh. They said if I could not remain, then I must return to them. I told them to announce a County Convention for the next Wednesday, work the matter up well, see that all the bands of both cities, as well as those of other parts of the county, were on hand in full force, and I would be back on Tuesday evening. I proposed to play a game with those brave saloon-keepers, and felt pretty confident I would win.
Saturday morning, off for Fairmont, down through Wheeling, and out among the moun- tains. (This day I was fifty-eight years old.) I reached Fairmont after night, -a dismal, rainy time. I was glad to rest till Sabbath evening, when I addressed a large union meeting in the M. P. Church. The next morning I met and organized the ladies and led them out to visit the saloons. Walking by my side was that eminent Christian lady, ex-Governor Pierpont's wife. When invited to join us, "Yes," she said, "if my influence will be of any use I will give it cheerfully." The first man we visited, after we had finished our devotions in front of his place appeared at an upper door, and seem- ing to have something important on his mind, began, "Now, ladies," but as it was not our mission to " argufy " we quietly passed on, not
(21)
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a little to his disgust. The last man we visited kept a tavern near the depot, and sold liquors or had a saloon in connection. The sisters were very anxious that I should talk to him. He was out, I remember, doing something to his fence. I approached him and tried as well as I could to talk to him, but while I cannot remember a word I or he said, I have still the impression that my words were pitifully weak and lacking in force, and that he seemed wholly untouched and indifferent. Oh, how weak and inefficient did I feel at such times! What miserable failures my appeals seemed to be; and for the matter of that, what miserable failures have all my efforts seemed, whether in private appeal or on the platform, or in the pulpit! Oh, how have I ransacked my brain for more earnest, more effective words to convey the thought that was burning within ! and yet is any word in the English language adequate to paint the liquor business, the crime and horror of this Christian land?
Years rolled away, and one Sabbath morning found me at my church in Springfield, when a friend brought a stranger to me, saying the "gentleman wished an introduction to Mother Stewart." Upon being presented, he asked me if I did not remember him? As I could not recall him, he told me he was the man I had talked to by his fence at Fairmont in West Vir- ginia ; recalled the conversation, that it seemed he had not forgotten, and said he had long since
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given up liquor selling. He had moved west, had sought and found Jesus, and was now a saved and happy man.
At night we had another large meeting in the M. E. Church, and on the morrow I set out again for Pittsburgh, which I reached about seven o'clock. Before I could take my supper a carriage with a delegation of ladies was in waiting from Lawrenceville, a suburb some four miles distant, to take me to address a mass-meet- ing for them. It was somewhat late, but the crowd was waiting patiently, and some gentlemen occupying the time. The enthusiasm here was so great that for once I was alarmed lest I should be picked up and carried to the platform. After the meeting I returned to the city.
On Wednesday morning we assembled in Dr. Howard's church. I conducted the meeting, calling out gentlemen and ladies, till towards noon word came to the stand that the business men had come in, on their way to dinner, to hear the Ohio Crusader, and their wish must be grati- fied. We adjourned to meet at the same place at two o'clock, announcing that we would then form our procession and march across the bridge to the "Diamond," in Allegheny City, and there hold our meeting.
At the hour appointed we came together and formed our line, starting with about 500 ladies, marching through some of the principal streets, adding bands and companies as we went. Cross- ing the bridge, all the Allegheny bands met us
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and fell into line. The streets were thronged with a great mass of men, women and children. When we reached the "Diamond" I asked some of the gentlemen how many ladies were in the procession. They said "it would be safe to say a thousand." I took my pencil and paper and wrote to the Associated Press, " A thousand women on the streets in Pittsburgh; great enthusiasm, but entire order."
I won the game, didn't I? Yes, and if the politicians had kept their hands off we would have won the final victory long ago. But "our party" was of more consequence than the souls of men, and the battle is still on.
The " Diamond " seemed to be a mass of humanity, and belonging to Zacheus' family, the people were unable to see me. Some of the ladies said, "These people must see you, Mother Stewart, if we have to hold you on our shoul- ders." So, upon consultation with the gentle- men, boxes were brought and a stand improvised. The day, however, was so windy, that the crowd could not hear, and finally a motion was made to adjourn to. Dr. McMillan's church, a large edifice near. The people did not wait to hear the motion carried, nor upon the order of their going. There we finished up, and from there Dr. Davidson took me down to his church at the " Point," and with only time for a hasty tea I addressed another audience, returning to Mrs. Robinson's after the meeting. I fancy this will pass for one day's work. Oh, it seems to me that to-day,
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nearly fourteen years after, if the fire, zeal and enthusiasm were burning in the hearts of the people as on that day, even with the added years and broken health, I could do it again. Never again shall I see those days return.
On Thursday I met the ladies in morning meeting, then visited the city jail and talked to the prisoners. In the afternoon I met the ladies again, and at the twilight hour addressed an out- door meeting. At night we had what had been announced as a business men's meeting. The ladies desired me to make a call for a guarantee fund to aid them in prosecuting their work, and I made the attempt. A few responses came quite promptly, but they began to come at greater intervals. At length a gentleman came to me and said privately, "Mother Stewart, the business men sent me to say to you that a fund cannot be raised that way in Pittsburgh. The only way it can be raised will be for the ladies to get blanks printed and call on the men at their places of business and take their names, with the amount, privately. Pittsburgh is built on whisky !"
Alas! and alas ! their words proved truer than they at that time realized. I was passing through the city on the 4th of July, four years later, and having to wait some time, my attention was called to the elegance and completeness of that great structure, the Union Depot. I also visited some of the offices, all seeming to be perfect in all their appointments. A few days later, as I stood
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in Cooper Institute, New York, addressing a meeting, I had occasion to mention Pittsburgh. When I took my seat, a gentleman came to me and said, "Mother Stewart, do you know that Pittsburgh is in flames?" No, is it possible ? "Yes." So I found on my return-when it became possible and safe, after the railroad strike of '78, to attempt to return to my home. Again I had to make a halt in Pittsburgh, and where I had seen and admired that magnificent building, now lay a heap of black ruins, and along the various tracks running away out of the city were the irons only of hundreds of cars, and in many places the charred remains of their freight, with great piles of grain yet smoulder- ing. I asked a gentleman, " Did liquor have anything to do with this?" "Oh, yes," he responded. "On that next morning you could have seen a thousand drunken men lying about on those hills !" I asked another : "Yes," said he; " if the Mayor had not ordered the saloons closed when he did, in all probability the whole city would have been laid in ashes." Ah, yes, I thought, Pittsburgh is indeed built on whisky, and I fancy those good gentlemen, if they could have foreseen and averted that calamity and disgrace to their city, would gladly have given half a million of money to the temperance cause. And who knows, peradventure, if they had in- vested such a sum for the furtherance of the cause and the enforcement of the laws, that great destruction might have been averted ?
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At the close of our meeting a number of ladies and gentlemen accompanied me to the depot, and at one o'clock I took the train for home. Dear old Pittsburgh, a host of friends I claim there. How warm has always been the greeting they have given me.
The liquor dealers and manufacturers were seriously feeling the effect of our work. They had endured for a time, supposing the excite- ment could not last, but when it went into weeks, then months, and their customers by the thousands signed the pledge, and their sales fell off till their business seemed on the verge of ruin, they saw that something more than worrying and annoying the Crusaders must be done. Says one of the dailies about this time:
The day when the liquor dealers laughed at the women's movement has passed. Whatever the secret of its success and however ridiculous it at first ap- peared, it now seems very formidable to all who depend for income upon the manufacture or sale of whisky or beer. Not that they anticipate the con- version of the whole people to total abstinence principles, or breaking up of the liquor business, or any permanent disastrous effects upon them or their calling ; but already they have been very much embarrassed. Hundreds of liquor stores have been temporarily and permanently closed; a large number of persons have gone out of the business. The de- mand for both spirituous and malt liquors has won- derfully fallen off. One place in Southern Ohio, which formerly took one hundred barrels of beer a day from Cincinnati, now takes none. There is a great change in public sentiment, as shown in the fact that in many communities liquor selling and liquor drinking are now considered alike disreputable. Many towns have passed and are enforcing prohibi- tory laws as strict as the State statute allows. These
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