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 28
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BOARDING UP A SALOON.
At a small place in the North-eastern part of the State, a saloon-keeper had established him- self on ground belonging to the railroad, to be convenient to the railroad boys ; so obliging-to himself. The Crusaders visited him, talked and plead with him to give up his wicked business. They sang their sweetest songs and prayed most fervently, but to no purpose. Mr. Saloon- keeper was too greedy of gain and saw too good a thing in that special locality to give it up. To all appearance he was master of the field.
But the ladies had set out to win ; and it has generally been observed that when they set out they "get there." They called a solemn council, the result of which was that a request
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was quietly dispatched to the President of the road, asking a lease of that special spot of ground, and the grant came promptly. A load of lumber was forthwith dumped on the premises and before Mr. Saloon-keeper was able to take in the situation, carpenters were erecting a board barricade, ten feet high, around his castle, with no visible outlet. This so changed the face of things that the gentleman of jugs and casks was only too glad to capitulate upon terms offered by the enemy.
RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL.
This case I had from my friend, W. E. Preston, Esq., of Cleveland. I also saw the subject myself, a short time after his reclamation, and again in November, during the session of the National Convention in that city. The poor man had now come down to the border of the grave; his long years of dissipation had prema- turely aged and broken a once magnificent physical as well as mental manhood.
One day, as Mrs. John Coon and her band were out, they were accosted by a prematurely aged, white-haired man. The prayers, songs and pleadings of the women had touched his heart, and he was induced to sign the pledge. Then Mr. and Mrs. Preston took him to their own home, and though sunken so low, and so unseemly in dress and appearance, they gave him a nicely furnished room and clean, comfort- able bed, such as I presume he had been a
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stranger to for many a long day. " And there," said the penitent, "I found Jesus, and there I saw my mother." We may say this was the imagination of his weary brain, but he was firm in the belief, and it seemed to be a great source of comfort to him, that his beloved mother returned from the evergreen shore to welcome her wandering boy back to the paths of upright- ness.
The man proved to be Col. William H. West- brook, who was an officer in the Confederate army, and had served under General Beauregard. He married a young lady of respectable connec- tion living in Richmond, Virginia, and for a time they lived happily. But the demon drink became his master and drove him forth a wan- derer and a vagabond, and his wife and little daughter mourned him as dead. Though they had sought him long, no trace could be found till the Crusaders found him on the verge of the preci- pice. He had also lost the whereabouts of his family, but our Good Samaritan set about the task of finding and communicating the good tidings to them. In due time the wife came, and under that hospitable roof the two long- sundered were, with fitting ceremony, reunited, and the golden circlet again placed on the bride's finger.
I have before me a letter written by a sister of the Colonel's to the praying women, overflowing with expressions of gratitude for the rescue of her brother, and giving an affecting account of
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the meeting of the returning prodigal with ::: : venerable father of ninety-four years, who, while the tears rained from his almost sightless balls, clasped him to his heart, exclaiming, "The dead is alive and the lost is found."
A TRAVELER TELLS THIS :
" I was in Springfield during the Crusade and had gone into a saloon and called for a glass of beer, and was just about to raise it to my lips when Mother Stewart led her band of praying women into the place. Seeing me with the glass in my hand, she said, 'Young man, set that glass down,' and I set it down. Turning to her sisters, 'Let us pray for this young man,' said she, and they knelt there on the floor of that saloon, and she did pray for me. You may laugh, men, but I have not tasted or wanted a glass of beer since."
I have no recollection of the occurrence. It may have been Sister Schaffer or some of the other elder sisters, and so with the following, I cannot myself recall it, but many incidents of the kind have been crowded out of my memory by the swift following of busy work and travel. But all the same, blessed be the Lord, who did own our efforts in the salvation of many souls.
"AFTER MANY DAYS."
My good Brother Minich visited New York not long since, coming back rejoicing to bring
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me this message : "While in the city," he said, " I availed myself of the opportunity I had long wished for, to visit Jerry McAuley's 'Helping Hand,' and with others tried to tell what won- derful things the Lord had done for me, and mentioned the fact that I came from Springfield, Ohio. As soon as I had sat down a man arose and said, ' I have reason to praise God for a visit to Springfield, Ohio, the home of Mother Stewart. I am a commercial traveler,-have been for many years, and have traveled over a large portion of the country. In my travels I found myself in Springfield during that wonder- ful crusade of the women of Ohio against the liquor saloons. I was one morning just coming out of a saloon when Mother Stewart led her band up to the door. She halted me with the startling question : "Young man, do you love Jesus ?" I made a confused, but not very reverent answer to the effect that I did not care anything about her Jesus, and passed on. But I never got rid of that question, "Young man, do you love Jesus ?" I went on for years, traveling to and fro, but that question stayed with me always, and at last became so importu- nate for an answer that I was compelled to cry to the Lord Jesus for help and deliverance, and to-day I am saved through the blood of the Lamb. God bless Mother Stewart, the Cru- sader of Springfield, Ohio.'"
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AND YET ANOTHER.
A lady of St. Paul, Minnesota, sought me out at our National Convention in Minneapolis, to tell me of a young man who came from the East and did a grand work in the temperance field. His eloquence always reminded her of George W. Bain; but his health failed and he went down. On his death-bed he charged her with a message to Mother Stewart, saying, "Tell her she found me in the gutter, in Sharon, Pennsyl- vania, and set me on my feet, inspiring me to make the fight for my lost manhood. To her I owe my rescue from the drunkard's grave." I do not remember, but the blessed Lord knoweth and to Him alone be all the glory.
WHY HE LOVED THE CRUSADERS.
Said my esteemed friend, Mr. L- of Red Oak, Iowa, "I want to tell you, Mother Stewart, why I love the Crusaders. Sometime since, I was traveling in the northern part of the State, when night overtook me in the country. I called at a neat looking farm house and asked of the lady permission to stop over night. She answered that I could do so if I could take care of my team myself; her husband was absent. I was, of course, able to accept the conditions, and after a comfortable meal of the luxuries of farm life, I sat down by the glowing fire to have a chat with the lady. I noticed that though the place was evidently new, everything betokened neatness
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and thrift. In the course of conversation the lady told me they were from Ohio. It was not a great while after the Crusade. So I remarked, as she was from Ohio, I supposed she knew all about the Crusade, which seemed to have proved a failure, had it not? 'Oh, no,' she answered with eagerness, 'don't say it was a failure; it was a blessed success, -certainly in our case. When the Crusade came to our place, a little town in the northwestern part of the State, it found my husband keeping a saloon. The praying women visited him and sang and prayed with him and besought him to sign the dealer's pledge. And he did sign it and poured out his liquor. It was his only way at the time of supporting his family. But the friends rallied around him and helped him. Then one kind brother told him he had land in Iowa, and if he would move out here he would let him have a farm on reasonable terms and easy payments. He thankfully accept- ed the generous offer, and we moved here, opened up this farm, built this house, and my husband has just gone to the county seat to-day to make his last payment. No! no ! the Crusade was a glorious success.'"
CAUGHT IN A FIX,
In one town the Crusaders made a call upon an old German saloonist, taking the precaution quietly to send a squad of their force to the rear of the saloon. The old man caught a glimpse of the approaching band in front, and hastily
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threw up a back window and leaped out, leaving the field to his son and the Crusaders, when lo! he found himself in the midst of the rear guard. By this time the battalion in front was taking peaceable possession of the evacuated fort, when Hans called out in great excitement, "Taddy ! Taddy ! come yur, I got te Crusaders !" "I can't !", the old man cried back, " I got te Cru- saders, too !"
ONE THAT GOES TO MAKE UP " EVERY SORT."
This, from another town, reminds me of the quaint saying of my venerable old uncle, when referring to a person of any peculiar or singular trait of character, "If there was not that sort there would not be every sort." The Crusaders visited one saloon-keeper who was very abusive, and with much excitement and noise drove them out. In the band thus driven out was a lady seventy years old. As the ladies left, a gentle- man came stepping in and inquired what all that fuss was about. "Why, " said the man with white apron and broken English, "dem Crusaders, dey comes here and tamage my peesness. To you pelong to dem Crusaders?" "Oh, no," the gen- tleman answered, "I have nothing to do with them, and to prove to you that I have not, I will take a glass of beer." "Well, den, you treats de gompany, den I knows you doan pelong to dem Crusaders!" And he disgraced his manhood by buying the drinks and treating the rabble that had crowded in. That venerable, gray-haired
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woman was his mother. "Oh, well," you say, "he was a low, worthless fellow." You are very much mistaken, my dear friend, he was a good (?) deacon in the church.
" DID THE CRUSADE BREAK UP ANY FAMILIES?'
Here is a case in point. In one place a woman, whose husband was bitterly opposed to the Crusade, joined the band. The husband forbade her going out, but she told him she must "obey God rather than man, " and went on. He remon- strated, but she still said she must "obey God rather than man," and marched out with her sisters. At length, he told her that if she did not give up her crusading he would leave her, and she said she must "obey God rather than man, " and fell into line. Finally he decided that he "would not bear it, so there now, and he would leave, so he would." And he packed his trunk and "lit out. " In the course of a week he returned and told his wife if she would quit her crusading he would come back. She said she must " obey God rather than man," and went crusading. Oh, well, he came home anyhow.
THIS FROM HILLSBORO WAS TOLD BY "ONE WHO WAS THERE."
A half-dozen of the young men of "our set" had been out of town and were not posted as to the situation. Of course they must "drop in and have something before separating." He says, "We had just arranged ourselves in the
(29)
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familiar semi-circle before the bar and had our drinks ready and cigars prepared for the match, when the rustle of women's wear attracted our attention, and looking up, we saw what we thought a crowd of a thousand ladies entering. One saw among them his mother and sister, another had two cousins, and yet another unfor- tunate found himself face to face with his pro- spective mother-in-law. Had the invisible prince of pantomime touched us with his magic wand, converting all to statues, the tableau could not have been more impressive. For one full minute we stood as if turned to stone; then a slight motion was evident, and lager beer and brandy smash descended slowly to the counter, while cigars dropped unlighted from nerveless fingers. Happily, at this juncture the ladies struck up,
' Oh, do not be discouraged, For Jesus is your friend.'
It made a diversion, and the party escaped to the street, "scared out of a year's growth,"
CRUSADING A BEER-CASK.
One of the early results of our Crusade was to make it not quite so desirable for the beer wagon to stop before the door in broad daylight, as had been the custom. So the discreet citizen, who was in the habit of ordering his cask, concluded that an earlier hour would be desirable. Accord- ingly the brewer's wagon might be heard rum- bling along by break of day, and before the ordinary citizen was out. Occasionally an extra-
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ordinary one would be astir, and sometimes make a note. One of these happened to see the wagon stop at his neighbor's and quietly transfer a cask of the foamy beverage to the cellar and drive on. The waggish, early citizen was at once seized with the Crusade spirit, and going into the house, hunted up an apron and tied it on-as well as a man knows how. I never saw a man that ever could tie a woman's apron on right- never ; he will get it hitched up one side or skewed around half way, or slopping down over his feet. But our friend equipped himself in his apron, then donned his wife's sun-bonnet, and taking her "Gospel Songs," sallied forth and perched himself on the cellar door and began to sing Crusade songs in lusty fashion. He was a very fine singer and soon a commotion was raised in that neighborhood. The lady was seen moving uneasily about and casting furtive glances through the window at the singer. At length some one from the street called to him to know what upon earth he was doing there. He coolly replied that he was "crusading that beer-cask down cellar."
ONE ON MOTHER STEWART,
Which I have had some doubt about giving, but have finally decided to, upon the principle that the "cheerful giver" should cheerfully take. But I must beg the reader's pardon for the not very elegant though forcible form of expression.
A young acquaintance of mine was, during
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our Crusade, engaged in delivering ice for an ice firm in the city. It was in the line of his busi- ness to deliver to a saloon-keeper, where he one day, upon taking in his ice, heard a man who, it seemed, was thinking of opening a saloon, asking the proprietor's advice on the subject. "Nine," said the advisor, "es ist no gute, dem Schruaters is shist awful, I wouldn't shtart a shaloon now. While dem Schruaters be about es ist no gute. Und dere ist dot Mutther Shtuart, she call efery poty her pruther und her schwister, und I aint her pruther und I aint her schwister. But she's a hell of a feller. Nine es ist no gute, I would not shtart a shaloon now."
SAITH THE WORD, "THE WICKED SHALL NOT LIVE OUT HALF HIS DAYS."
Many were the indications that He who called the women to such a strange and holy warfare had a special guardianship and jealous care over them. And to human observation many were the instances where the judgments of an offended God fell upon those who dared to molest or make them afraid. Very great were the indig- nities and insults heaped upon the sisters of P- by the liquor-sellers and their loafing customers. One morning a set, to the number of six or eight, went through the sacrilegious performance of pre- tending to take the sacrament in the presence of the Crusaders, as they made their accustomed call at the saloon. They used beer and crackers for the sacred emblems. Some of these men, when
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not under the saloon influence, assumed to be in some degree citizens worthy of respect. A few brief years after the Crusade I visited P-, when this incident was related to me, and also the startling fact that every one of those men had been already summoned to their last account, and most, if not all, had gone out by some unnat- ural death.
APPARENT ANSWER TO PRAYER IN JUDGMENT.
A couple of years after the Crusade, I was at Belle- fontaine. Upon leaving, my friend, Mrs. Shurr, accompanied me to the train, and as we were walking on the platform we passed a rather elderly woman of medium height, dressed in rusty black. After we had passed her, Sister Shurr said, "Mother Stewart, look at that woman; turn and look at her." I did, but saw only a very commonplace looking old woman. When seated in the waiting room I asked why she desired me to look at that woman. "That woman," said she, "was struck dumb in answer to prayer. She and her husband kept a very bad drinking place here near the depot." (I had visited it with the Crusaders ). "The praying bands vis- ited and prayed with them," continued Sister S-, "and the man would have surrendered, but his wife would not let him. At length she went away somewhere and the Crusaders took advantage of her absence and induced the man to sign the dealer's pledge and give up his business. But when she returned she was furious. She
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cursed the women, and swore and raved, and compelled her husband to open up his saloon again. She did not cease to curse the women, and blaspheme, till they finally took her as a subject of special prayer and asked the Lord to close her mouth or silence her in some way. One morning when she arose she found herself unable to speak, and she never spoke afterwards, though she kept on at her soul-destroying business, making signs for the price of her beverage of eternal woe." She died a year or two after, and, as far as I know, she never recovered her power of speech. My friend remarked in closing, "That is only one of many such instances of answer to prayer."
CONFESSION OF A SHIPWRECKED SOUL.
One of my co-laborers one day called on a friend and there met the lady's son-in-law, who, with his wife, was boarding with her mother. He told my friend he wanted a private conversation with her, and led her into the parlor. When seated, he in great anguish of spirit told her he felt himself on the verge of ruin from his uncon- trollable appetite. "Oh," said he, " do pray for me; get some of your Crusade sisters to help you pray for me. Oh, you do not know how I blessed the Crusaders, though I seemed unfeeling and rough. I did honor them and I hoped they might close up the saloons. I have tried so hard to give up the drink. I have taken my money home and given it to Lou (his wife ) and told
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her to hide it, lock it away in the drawer where I could not get it, and then I would get up in the night when she was asleep, and hunt up and steal the money and go out and get my drinks. Oh, don't tell Lou, she don't know how bad I am. I have gone into the cemetery and thrown myself on my mother's grave and cried to God, if there was a God, to deliver me from the curse, but all to no purpose. Oh, can you help me?" We did pray for the poor fellow, and when the Blue Rib- bon movement swept over the country he signed the pledge with so many others, and we hoped he was saved, and for a time he seemed to have triumphed over his enemy. But no, the saloons remained and the temptations were ever in his way. He has gone to the grave before the noon of his manhood, with the great army that no man can number, and who regardeth it?
A SUDDEN CHANGE OF SENTIMENT.
A young wife, when the Crusade started in her town, declared she should die if she went out on the street with the praying bands. But all too soon her husband was brought home one evening by a policeman. Now she felt that she should die if she did not go. She went out and saw face to face the man who had sold her husband the liquor. She appealed and pleaded apparently in vain. She fell on her knees in prayer. An unseen listener was her husband, who had come again to appease his appetite. He rushed to her side and pledged himself never to drink
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again; and to the joy of the Crusaders the saloon-keeper promised to quit the business.
AN APRIL-FOOL MEETING IN NEW ORLEANS.
A waggish newspaper man in New Orleans concluded to make a first of April point on the Crusade. He announced the evening before, that on the next morning at a church and hour named, Mother Stewart, the Ohio Crusader, would appear with the purpose of opening the Crusade in New Orleans. At the appointed hour a large assembly, overflowing with curiosity, had gathered, but Mother Stewart was entirely igno- rant of the fact-has always been sorry, however, that she could not have been there. But long since, the successors of the Crusaders, the White Ribbon army, have invaded the Crescent City, and gained peaceable possession. On the first day of April, eleven years afterwards, I had the pleasure of sending greetings to our Committee, who were holding such conspicuous and honor- able place in the great Exposition being held there. BOUND TO TAKE THE WORLD !
THE DAUGIITER WON.
In Darbyville, a little country town in Pickaway county, the women made a clean sweep. Upon visiting one place, the young daughter of the keeper joined the Crusaders, and going to her father threw her arms about his neck, exclaim- ing, " Oh, father, father!" but her feelings for a time checked her utterance. The man became
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greatly agitated, saying, " Why, Sis, what is it?" "Oh, father, sign the pledge ! Oh, father, quit selling the liquor !" she succeeded in uttering, amid her sobs. It was short work there, and the news flew to the church, when one of the young men sprang to the bell-rope and shouted as he leaped to the swing and clang of the bell, " Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! Hallelujah !" Another man at this place signed the pledge, quit the business and went to farming, and has not repent- ed it since. He says, "Whereas bad luck and misfortune followed him all the time he sold liquor, and it seemed impossible for him to get on, now the tide is turned and everything he puts his hand to seems to prosper."
OUR CRUSADE DOG
Was not the least interesting feature of our work in Springfield. I have before mentioned the curious, inexplainable fact that in several places even the dogs, whose masters were saloon-keep- ers, invariably manifested an interest-and may I say, sympathy-for the Crusaders. As I am a friend to dogs I like to record these curious instances, where they certainly seemed able in some way to discern between the right and the wrong, and unmistakably took the right side. Tell me why. Who can?
A poor, forlorn specimen was this of the canine family, rather large and of the regu- lation "yellow," not prepossessing in the least when he first cast in his lot at headquarters
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with us and joined the band. It was not long, however, till his new associations told on his general appearance. If he did not acquire more self respect, he certainly acquired a much more cheerful countenance and at-home manner, as well as a fuller habit and more glossy coat. We never knew whence he came nor where he lodged. It was my supposition that he had followed his master from the country into the city and became lost, and by some fortuitous accident found his way to our headquarters. But each morning he was in waiting at the door when the ladies arrived, ready to move out with the first band. He would fall into line and march by the side of the leader till we came to the first saloon, then he would sit down and patiently wait till the exercises closed, when he would take up the line of march again with the rest of the Crusaders. He manifested a decided preference for the ladies; could not be induced to make friends with men at all. Sister Patterson told me that she went out with the first band one morning, Mrs. Prof. Stuckenberg being the leader. Upon reaching the first saloon they proceeded to sing and then knelt before the saloon, Mrs. Stucken- berg leading in prayer. Being near her, she happened to look up and saw the dog sitting near Mrs. S- and licking her cheek.
For quite a time the friends held nightly meet- ings at headquarters, to give the young men who had signed the pledge a place of entertainment and draw them from the saloons. More than one
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lady has told me that going alone from these meetings the dog would join himself to her and walk by her side to her door, then go his way.
We had a children's band that met every Satur- day morning. The last time I saw our dog was at one of these meetings. He had established himself in front of the "baby row, " on the front seat, as of right, and when a gentleman attempted to remove him he told him in very emphatic language that he did not propose to be interfered with in the discharge of his responsible duties. I had to interfere in doggy's behalf, and he quietly lay down and maintained his post through the meeting. But a little while after the meet- ing, upon going to headquarters, some of the ladies met me in tears, exclaiming, " Oh, Mother Stewart, some one has killed our dog." It was even so; the poor creature had been disposed of by some who had not appreciated his demonstra- tions of friendship quite as highly as others of us had. We did really grieve for the loss of our faithful and devoted friend. It was certainly a most remarkable manifestation of animal instinct, bordering very nearly onto reason and affection, not easily to be accounted for.
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