Chapter III: Crusade in Larger Towns (1)

CLEVELAND, OHIO.

Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton gives the following graphic account of the Temperance Crusade and its results in Cleveland, written for the _Morning_:

The noble work of the women of southern Ohio had touched every Christian heart in Cleveland. On the 10th of March, 1874, a meeting was called under the auspices of the Women’s Christian Association, and 600 of the best and truest of the city came together to ask their God what they should do, for the destroying of this evil of intemperance, and the up-building of His kingdom. They were women, for the most part, who had been active in the churches, and in all benevolent work.

An organization was effected, and Miss Sarah Fitch, President of the W. C. A., a woman whose executive ability and consecration had gained for her the confidence of the people, was chosen President of the Temperance League.

Immediately pledge-books were obtained, with property-owners’, citizens’, and dealers’ pledges.

The city was districted, and women of influence, over one hundred in number, volunteered to canvass the city for signatures. In a short time over 5,000 women were enrolled members of the League, each one signing a pledge neither to use intoxicants, nor offer them as a beverage, and to discountenance their use in every possible way, and about 10,000 names to all the other pledges. The question was constantly asked: “Will the women of a wealthy, conservative city go upon the streets as a praying band?” Liquor-dealers said: “Let the women come quietly by committees, and we will receive them, but coming in a body to pray with us, brands our business as disreputable.” The time came when the Master seemed to call for a more complete consecration, for a higher power brought to bear upon the liquor traffic. When, in a large prayer-meeting, volunteers for Crusade work were called for, twenty-two brave women, several of them the wives of clergymen, said: “Here am I. Send me! The Lord’s will be done.” They proceeded directly to the most fashionable saloon of the city and were permitted to enter. “There is a fountain filled with blood” was sung, the first hymn that was to inaugurate a Christian warfare against 1,200 centres of evil. The Bible was read and prayer offered. Men bowed their heads abashed and were silent, and women, consecrated anew by their trust in God, and a revelation of the sin they were called upon to meet, went back to the church in the midst of a surging crowd, strong to do the unknown work before them. The next day saloons were visited, and again the eager crowds gathered, some listening tearfully to the hymns, some jeering and scoffing. On the third day the liquor interest seemed to have awakened to a full consciousness of the situation. The beer element began to feel that its liberties were being fettered. Drinkers, dealers, and roughs, gathered in large numbers, in the streets, to wait for the praying women. Beer and whiskey had done their maddening work with the brain, and made them ready for riot.

In the central part of the city, forty women, pressed upon by a jeering crowd, went forward in their work of prayer. In the western part, a smaller number, refused entrance at a saloon, knelt and prayed upon the sidewalk. A mob, headed by an organization of brewers, rushed upon the kneeling women, kicking one badly in the side, another in the back, and striking others with their fists.

A Mr. Doolittle, attempting to defend them, was brutally beaten, (has been obliged to keep his bed for nearly two years,) and would have been killed at once had he not been hurried away by the police, some of whom even were badly injured. The praying band were locked in a store away from the infuriated mob, who, by the arrival of more officers, were dispersed, cursing and yelling as they went.

The next day, taking their lives in their hands, a large company of women went out, and similar scenes were enacted.

In the meantime public meetings had been called in the churches, and such throngs gathered that they could not find standing room.

The clergy as one man came to the front to defend the Christian women, who had done nothing save walk quietly upon the streets and pray for men who were making the city and the land one vast ruin and desolation. True it called attention to the groans of drunkards’ wives and the cries of drunkards’ children, and marked as the direct cause, the liquor-dealers, but for this the traffic, (not the praying women,) were at fault. All good citizens rose up in indignation and horror that their wives and mothers were at the mercy of a liquor mob. Business men left their stores, ministers their studies, and a thousand manly men went out to defend the women.

The mayor was visited by a committee of citizens. A proclamation was immediately issued, which, while it did not permit the women to hold meetings on the sidewalk, left them free to call upon all the saloons, with none to molest or make them afraid. The military companies were ordered to be in readiness resting on their arms; the police force was increased, and the liquor interest soon made to feel that the city was not under their control. The mob never again tried its power.

For over three months, with scarcely a day’s exception, the praying bands went from saloon to saloon, holding a prayer-meeting where the proprietor was willing, giving temperance tracts and cards to the crowds that gathered to hear the singing and the prayers, having warehouses often thrown open to them for services when the saloons on the street refused to admit them; sometimes entering a vacant lot, and surrounded perchance by a hardened crowd, with none to protect them but their God (the police having been withdrawn), they preached the gospel of the Son of God, crucified for sinners.

One man, a German, very angry at their visits in his street, and rude in his treatment of them, held a mock prayer-meeting in his shop, had his leg broken by his horse next day and died soon after.

At a Jew’s saloon, a picture of Christ, crowned with thorns and draped with black, was held up on a pole before the crowd, who were drinking beer and blaspheming.

On the same street, from one of the worst saloons, where cock-fighting was carried on, three fierce dogs were set upon Mrs. Charles Wheeler, who was that day leading the band. Without ceasing her prayer she gently laid her hands upon their heads, and as though taught of a higher power than their master’s, they crouched at her feet and were quiet. This saloon has since become a friendly inn, most inviting and beneficial.

Often several bands visited different parts of the city during the same day. Again, as many as 500 women, two by two, quietly and silently, making a procession of over one-fourth of a mile in length, followed by scores in carriages, went to the larger wholesale liquor-houses, club-houses, hotels, etc. Often they were bidden to enter. “Tell me the old, old story,” “Almost persuaded,” “I am trusting, Lord, in Thee,” were sung, and prayers uttered, whose tenderness and earnestness brought tears to eyes unused to weeping.

Often a saloon-keeper with his heart not wholly seared by his occupation, wept like a child. Many gave up the business, some rich, some poor, and never resumed it.

Those were wonderful days, when a city was baptized by continuous prayer; when women, forgetting the ease and luxury of their homes, went down to these places of desolation to save those for whom Christ died. Men took off their hats as the procession went by. Little children gathered close to the singers, and, catching the words, sang them months after in their dingy hovels. Haggard women bent their heads as they murmured with unutterable sadness, “You’ve come too late to save my boy or my husband.” Men dying in attics sent for the praying bands to come and tell them about the Saviour. Men who had lost all hope because of the appetite that mastered them, heard the glad tidings of salvation from women’s lips, and stretching forth their hands were lifted upon the Everlasting Rock.

During these three months of Crusade work, three distilleries, eight breweries, thirty-one drug stores, thirty-five hotels, forty wholesale dealers, and 1,100 saloons were visited, many of them again and again. Four hundred and fifty of these places often admitted the bands for services. There were seventy outdoor meetings in warehouses, etc. Mass-meetings on the Sabbath, conducted by women, were held in wigwams in different wards, as well as churches, and always crowded.

Meantime the prominent men of the city, believing that the laws of Ohio forbidding the sale of liquors to be drank on the premises should be enforced, as also the Adair law, which makes a man responsible for the harm which the liquor that he sells causes, acting on the plan of the government in ferreting out crime, employed detectives, and soon had 900 indictments against liquor-dealers; and cases for wronged women and children, under the Adair law, covering $150,000.

The Liquor-Dealers’ and Brewers’ Association report, 1874, 5,969 prosecutions; and in the year 1875, 4,207 prosecutions.

Opposite sections of Cleveland, where different praying bands labored, show varied and blessed results of the work. The lower part of the city, by the river dock, where saloons were thick, and sin flaunted itself, was assigned to Mrs. John Coon, a woman of wonderful faith in God, and great strength of character, and her band of twenty or thirty devoted workers. At first they were refused admittance at all, or nearly all the saloons, but one dealer, touched by her kind spirit, relented and sent for her and her band to return. He was the son of a clergyman, finely educated; had held a good position in the army, and been successful in business till he began travelling for a wholesale grocery and liquor house combined. He soon went into the liquor trade for himself; and the descent was rapid to the keeper of a low saloon and a debauchee. Some days after, at the earnest request of his wife, he _signed_ the pledge, and gave up his business. Among those present in the saloon, drinking and playing cards, was a friendless and prematurely white-haired man, to whom the saloon-keeper had given shelter. Southern born, a Colonel in the Confederate army, a gentleman in manner, a member of the press in honorable standing for years, becoming addicted to drink, then gambling, he left his wife and little girl, and wandered from city to city, sinking lower and lower, a profane, broken down inebriate. His wife had spent long years in searching for him, one year using $700 of her own earnings to find him; but at last had given him up as dead. The hymn sung by the praying band touched his heart. He asked for one sung years before by his mother, and joined in the singing. At last he signed the pledge, and was taken to the home of a generous citizen. Here, some days after, wrestling with God one whole night in prayer, he found peace in believing. Some weeks later a letter was written to the wife. She fainted when she read it. She hurried to meet him; and at this house, in the presence of a hundred guests, the worn wedding-ring was once more placed upon her finger, and the marriage service, touching and beautiful, again repeated. Mrs. Coon led the exercises, different members of the band praying, and singing the Crusade hymns. None who witnessed it will ever forget this affecting scene. The closed saloon was at once transformed into a clean boarding-house called the River Street Friendly Inn. This being too small for the crowds who gathered at the meetings, an adjoining warehouse, three stories high, 25 by 100 feet long, was rented, the lower story made into a dining-room, the second into a reading-room and chapel, and the third into sleeping-apartments, with seven neatly furnished beds. The chapel walls are decorated with such mottoes as “Peace on earth, good will to men;” “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come;” “Jesus is my only Refuge.” Each day, after calling at the saloons, a meeting was held here by the band, who often repaired to the river docks across the street, and there, where as many as a thousand persons, sailors and others, frequently gathered, these godly women offered the bread of life, the only _sure_ safeguard against intemperance. From the captains of the boats, the praying women received the kindest attention. A platform was built for them and seats provided.

Following these afternoon meetings, a meeting for inquirers was held at the Inn. Scores of men would repair thither, more sometimes than could be conversed with before the evening meeting, at eight o’clock, held in the chapel. How many found Christ will never be known till the judgment day reveals it. Very few, as far as is known, have fallen.

A weekly prayer-meeting was at once started, with social entertainment for other evenings. Both these prayer-meetings are still conducted by Mrs. Coon and her band: Mrs. Hall, Smith, Noble, Hanna, Brayton, Preston, Johnson, Butts, White, Saunders, Burridge, Mittleberger, Chittenden, and others. No time was wasted. Testimony is borne successively, by from eighty to one hundred men recently converted, of the power of God to keep them from falling.

River street is a changed locality. The saloons have less custom, and the presence of the praying women is heartily welcomed.

Another locality, St. Clair street and its surroundings, was assigned to Mrs. Charles Wheeler, a woman loved by all; the friend and advocate of the poor, and well fitted for this field. After much hard work and many mass-meetings sustained by her, Mrs. Stephens, Porter, Detchon, Greene, Reese, Gilbert, Couis, and others, the saloon above mentioned was opened as a Friendly Inn, under the control of Mrs. George Worthington and Mrs. Wheeler, now President of the League, a devoted woman whose wealth has been generously given for the cause. Through this inn, families have been reunited, and lost ones returned to their parents and their God.

Among the 550 families visited the past year about this inn, were a father and mother who had strayed from the fold. The father had become intemperate. The only son was taken ill. The temperance women were unremitting in their care, but nothing could save him. Their hands brought flowers for his burial, their own carriages were sent, and the only hope of his parents was laid tenderly away. This kindness won the father back to rectitude, and he and his wife are rejoicing again in the comforts of Christianity. Besides the Sunday meeting, a most interesting Bible reading is sustained weekly by Miss Andrews, recently our missionary to China; and a social gathering every Saturday evening.

Broadway and its adjacent streets, a part of the city where thickly settled saloons have borne bitter fruit, was given to Mrs. W. P. Cooke, a woman of piety and ability. Day after day she, with Mrs. Hill, Brigham, Morehouse, Tagg, Bowler, Johnson, Mudge, and others, did heroic and blessed work. A Friendly Inn resulted from these labors, under the directions of Mrs. Rev. Duncan, then President of the League. Mrs. Cooke being ill from overwork, to Mrs. Duncan’s executive ability, judgment, and spirituality, the Crusade, as well as the Friendly Inn, is greatly indebted. This Inn, made from two stores, each 44 feet long by 20 feet broad, has the same general features as the others. Mrs. Duncan having removed to another city, the control came into the hands of Miss Jennie Duty, under whom it has been signally blest.

A young lady of culture and indefatigable as a Christian worker, she has given her whole time and strength to the work since the Crusade began. She is superintendent at the Inn of a Sunday-school, numbering 200 scholars, and is instructor of the Teachers’ Bible Class, held every Monday evening, made up largely of the reformed men. A Sunday meeting, not excelled in interest by any in the city, is conducted by her, Mrs. Partridge, Ford, Cogswell, Williams, Taylor, Dutcher, and others, who have given devoted service to the cause. A free supper is given to hundreds every Sabbath evening. The rooms are crowded at the meetings. There has been one continuous revival for over two years.

The past winter there have been over one hundred conversions. A young woman, among others, came to the meetings, desiring a different life. She was ill and afraid to die. After a few weeks all was changed. The aged mother watched by the bedside of the daughter she loved, now happy beyond expression. Perhaps no little room was ever more filled with the presence of the Saviour. After death, the women who had told her how to find her Lord, laid her away, prayed at her open grave, and went back to their work of leading others up higher.

In the eastern part of the city, the 16th and 17th wards, where the temperance element is strongest, the bands did efficient work. On the 17th of August, 1874, when the State, after an intense struggle with the freely spent money and influence of the liquor power, reiterated her vote of twenty years before, of “No license,” the praying bands, in a booth trimmed with flowers and evergreens, furnished a dinner to the voters. A morning prayer-meeting, started at the beginning of the Crusade, has never been discontinued for a single day. A union temperance prayer-meeting is held every Sunday afternoon, which _is union_ indeed and full of spirit. At both of these, many have been converted. A temperance reading-room is sustained, mass-meetings still held, and the cause kept bright in the hearts of the people. The band-leaders have been Mrs. Ford--a noble, Christian woman, who stepped from out a quiet, domestic life to be one of the most efficient--Mrs. Bucher, who did valuable work till her health failed, Mrs. Sloan, Colby, Bolton, and others, all devoted workers, who have had the satisfaction of seeing their work bear precious fruit already. In the western part of the city, where the Crusaders first received violence, trusting in God, they went forward fearlessly to duty. Hundreds of saloons were visited, some wayward ones converted, and public sentiment wonderfully elevated. The leaders in this work, that had the seal of martyrdom, were Mrs. Breckenridge, a brave, true, earnest woman, Mrs. J. C. Delamater, Sheldon, Chapman, Ingham, Lee, McKinney, Stork, A. H. Delamater, Janes, Jones, Redington, Story, Mrs. Cheney, and others.

A Friendly Inn has recently been started here. Beautiful mottoes adorn the walls, and everything invites to temperance and virtue. At its head is Mrs. W. A. Ingham, to whose energy, courage, and devotion the Crusade owes much of its effectiveness. She had charge of all the praying bands, laid out the part of each, and with the skill of an able officer, carried through a vigorous warfare against a mighty enemy.

In still another portion of the city, the 18th ward, formerly Newburgh, efficient work was done under the able leadership of Mrs. Rev. Curtiss, Foote, Palmer, Slade, and others, before the Crusade work was undertaken elsewhere in the city. A centre for the manufacture of iron and steel, the saloon-keepers knew well where to build to tempt the workingmen. With great energy and persistence, the good women have held temperance meetings every Sabbath afternoon, in the summers in the open air, have speakers from abroad often, and have now a renovated saloon, “a home,” of their own. It is sustained by monthly contributions, none over one dollar, some as small as ten cents. They have nicely furnished eating and sleeping rooms, with an apartment above which will seat over a hundred persons. Their social gatherings, intended to offer an attraction other than saloons to young men, are so largely patronized that they have been obliged to repair to a large hall, where five cents admission is charged, and the least they have taken at the door is $9.45, usually three times that amount. The pledge is offered at all these meetings. They are now visiting those who drink or have drunkenness in their families. “I wish I could say,” writes their earnest and efficient secretary, Mrs. Foote, “to every feeble, half-dead League, no matter how small the town, how few the workers, start a home, a little central place, from which in every direction temperance sentiment shall radiate. It will prove to the League what a home is to the family.” Its chief workers are Mrs. Palmer, Bes, Slade, Morgan, Fish, Brown, Morton, Gladding, Way, and others.

Other band-leaders and efficient workers in other parts of the city deserve especial and honorable mention. Mrs. Joseph Perkins, Adams, Strong, Sheppard, Lockwood, Whitney, Thomas, Starkweather, Stewart, Morgan, Hanna, Rose, Burge, Bradley, Southworth, Williamson, Witt, Canfield, Stone, Sachell, Herr, Pope, Wright, Nyce, Castle, Benton, Hicky, Porter, Ely, Talbott, Hart, Stebbins, Dutcher, Doty, Warren, Excell, Prather, Dissette, Mason, Edwards, Hinsdale, Stevens, Galbraith, Ingersoll, Massey, Francisco, and many others. When hundreds have given time and strength and life itself for the cause, it is impossible to write them all on paper.

God keeps the record and a grand record it is.

Another result of the temperance movement has been the formation of the Young Ladies’ Temperance League, numbering hundreds of the best young women of the city, pledged to discourage the use of wine, beer, and distilled liquors, and not to furnish them for social entertainment. Its president, Miss Flora Stone, only sister of the wife of John Hay, loves the work, and gives herself unreservedly to it. The moral weight of such an association cannot be overestimated. Temperance work soon led them to see that there was more of sorrow in the world than they had ever supposed. Their hearts turned toward those of their own sex less favored than themselves. A desirable house was rented, made attractive, and matron employed. Their object is to furnish temporary relief to poor, friendless girls, and help them in some way to provide for their own support. Since its opening, 124 young women have been received, and retained, on an average, eleven days each; 270 have been assisted to employment. Homes for several young girls have been found, where they can have an education. Sewing is furnished to those needing it, and the garments sold.

A temperance fete was held by the League, from which $1,000 was realized. Similar gatherings keep the work before the people, and popularize the cause. Prominent in this League have been Mrs. Lovis, Ingersoll, Fuller, Younglove, Prentiss, Hall, Andrews, and many others. Much work is done among the children.

A new generation trained in the belief that the use of intoxicants is a _sin_, will change most effectually the habits of society. Temperance literature, showing the effects of whiskey or beer as beverages, and the total disuse of them as medicines by many of the best physicians, showing the duty of the church on this question, is being extensively circulated. Cities, countries, States, and counties are being thoroughly organized; and the women of Cleveland uniting with them, abating none of their interest, still holding over twenty gospel temperance meetings weekly, are working and praying and waiting for the Master to give the victory over evil.

MILLERSBURG, OHIO.

The temperance movements of the ladies of Millersburg was inaugurated by meetings at private houses, from time to time. During the month of January, 1874, mass-meetings were held, pledges were presented, by committees appointed to visit every house and place of business in the town.

Prayer-meetings were held daily, alternately at the different churches, for two or three weeks, preceding the commencement of the street work. On the 19th of February, 1874, the first regular visiting of the saloons was begun. At that time _ten_ saloons, and three drug stores, comprised the number of places demanding attention.

At first we were allowed to enter all of these places. In addition to singing and prayers, personal appeals were made to the proprietors, and selections of Scripture read in their hearing. The proprietors of the three drug stores signed the pledge; after the first visit, regular visits were made, almost daily, until the middle of April, by which time all the saloons but four were closed.

These were all kept by Germans. A strong effort was made to elect municipal officers, at the spring election, who would enact the McConnelsville ordinance. In this, we were unsuccessful.

WORK IN ZANESVILLE, OHIO.

Mrs. J. T. Ohe, in the _Morning_, says: The wave of temperance agitation did not reach the staid city of Zanesville till most of the neighboring towns and the country communities had been thoroughly aroused.

Early in March, 1874, the first meetings, called in Second Street M. E. Chapel, enlisted the deep sympathy of the women of the city; and here, as in so many cases elsewhere, those the most shrinking, unknown to public effort of any kind, became the most efficient and inspiring leaders. The first organized effort was toward the enactment of a municipal law to restrain and prohibit a certain low class of tippling shops. Petitions were circulated through every ward--many of the first women of society going from shop to shop, urging signatures, and obtaining them, too, where men would have utterly failed.

The petition was more than eighty feet long, and contained nearly 5,000 names. The city council, strongly influenced by this demonstration of sentiment, passed the law. During the six months it was well enforced, the drinking shops decreased in number from 118 to 50. Many of those retaining licenses reported greatly diminished sales, and “a gratifying scarcity of victims of the police courts was another feature of the change.” On the 4th of July, 1874, notwithstanding it was a general holiday, and in this manufacturing community, _not one case of_ drunkenness on the streets was noticed, nor any arrests. If only the men of the place had stood firmly to _their work_, as conservators of the public good, these benefits would have been permanent. But some reaction took place, and a fort so strongly intrenched was not to be dislodged by one year’s siege. At the very outset of this movement, the Liquor-Dealers’ Association, under the lead of a notorious wholesale dealer, put forth a most offensive and insulting manifesto, threatening to ostracise all citizens whose wives were identified, etc., etc., the sole effect of which was to rouse the men to support the women _gallantly_.

But little “Crusading” on the public streets was done; the members of the League preferring to go quietly, in twos or threes, to interview the dealers, and with very few exceptions, they met courteous treatment, and felt assured that their visits would bear good fruit.

One of the most estimable women of our city, as the leader of a band of six or seven, was arrested, (under the ordinance against obstructing the streets,) by complaint of a woman who had for years kept open a drinking-place, the terror of the neighborhood. Under the protecting ægis of the Dealers’ Association, she appeared in court to annihilate the offending Crusaders. But here, as in so many other cases, the cause visibly triumphed, and the irate madam departed breathing threatenings. The whole scene in the court was “one for a painting.”

Mrs. H. G. O. Carey, writing June 6th, 1876, says: “I believe no city of its size in the State, accomplished a more thorough closing of the saloons than did Zanesville. For seven months no one could get a glass of beer in the city, except by stealth; and in real fear of prosecution, our dealers became very cautious. The internal revenue office showed that sales were reduced during all that time, until the repeal of the ordinance, forty to forty-seven per cent. The improvement in morals was most apparent: a public sentiment was created which made it possible to punish the guilty. Our work was almost entirely done by small parties on the alert everywhere, supported by constant prayer and faith in God. League prayer-meetings have never been omitted to this day, and I believe no man either drinks, or sells liquor of any kind without compunctions of conscience to which formerly he was a stranger.”

It was in this town that a young lady, connected with one of the bands visiting the saloons, said, when reproved for doing so: “Where my brother goes to drink, I certainly ought to be allowed to go to pray.”

PAINESVILLE, OHIO.

We have gathered the following facts from the Painesville papers published at the time:

Pursuant to a call for a “Temperance Mass-Meeting,” the large audience-room of the Congregational Church was filled to overflowing.

The audience numbered over one thousand of our best people, and showed by the deep interest manifested that the “tidal wave” had indeed reached this place.

Rev. T. R. Peters offered prayer, and was followed by able speakers.

At the ladies’ meeting, on Tuesday morning, there was a very large attendance. After singing and prayers, addresses were made by several ministers of Painesville.

The ladies enlisted for the war, and are still engaged in active service.

One evening, at eight o’clock, they formed into three large bands, at the church, and went by three different routes to three of the largest saloons.

The first, led by Mrs. Hitchcock, was received, and held a good meeting among the crowd of billiard players.

The second, led by Mrs. Curtis, not gaining admission, held a meeting on the sidewalk.

The third entered Stacy’s and commenced services. During prayer the doors were locked and the keys removed; a hot fire was built, and pepper thrown liberally on the stove, the fumes of which made the place almost intolerable.

But the songs and prayers were exultant, triumphant, and the appeals to the bartender very feeling and earnest.

Their songs were heard a square away. Friends came and released them, after having one of the best meetings they ever held.

They had a list of twenty-eight saloons furnished them. Four of these they found had quit the business in consequence of fines imposed by the court. Everywhere they met with a courteous reception. They were evidently expected: some had waited more than a week for them, some had expected a larger band, but liked this better. No doubt they did. Most of the saloons were as clean as soap and water could make them, and often not a thing could be seen at the bar more contraband than a box of segars. In fact, if we may believe the word of the dealers, there did not seem to be a place in Painesville where whiskey or rum could be bought to be drunk on the premises. Everything is claimed to be done strictly according to law.

Nearly every one wished himself out of the business, and would be glad to sell out at a fair valuation; but very naturally, none were ready yet to sacrifice their property for the public welfare.

At McFarland & Hazen’s saloon, they were kindly received. Spectators were excluded, and they proceeded to hold a prayer-meeting. At the close of the exercises the pledge was presented to Mr. McFarland, which he refused to sign; but said he would be willing to close if any one would take their lease off their hands, but they were paying much more than the rooms would rent for, for other business.

They next visited Mr. Hennessey’s saloon. He said he would be glad to leave a business of which he is ashamed, as soon as he could find another business opening.

At Mr. Rochat’s bakery, the meeting was a very affecting one. He and his wife seemed almost persuaded. He also had a bar, and said he had been trained to the business, and knowing no other, could not sign, and thus throw himself out of employment, and people would not buy the lunch without the beer. But on their next visit, after prayers and singing, and while they were deeply affected, Mr. Rochat and his wife yielded so far as to pledge themselves to sell no liquor for the space of one month, and _never_ to do so if he could support his family by his legitimate business, and gave them permission to pour the liquor he had on hand into the street. There was deep feeling over the occurrence, and all felt that God had heard and answered prayer. Seven or eight ladies laid hold of the cask, carried it up-stairs to the pavement, and amid much rejoicing and enthusiasm poured the liquor into the street.

Messrs. Warner, Garfield & Jewell, of the Cowles House and Brewery, said their capital was invested in the business, and no business man would expect them to sacrifice this without compensation. They would be glad to sell out the brewery, and stop both the manufacture and sale of liquors. When they entered this business, it was considered as respectable as any other, but public sentiment had changed, and now it was difficult to find a purchaser. If our public-spirited men would make a stock company, and convert the brewery into a tannery, for which it was well suited, they would sell for $5,000 less than its appraised value, and also take stock in the new business.

Mrs. Sullivant, who opened a saloon near the depot, admitted that it was a bad business--a lazy business, but said her husband might as well have his liquor at home where she could watch him, as elsewhere and keep her going after him. She refused them admittance, so they held a prayer-meeting in the yard. Mr. Babbitt, of the bakery, said he could not think of signing our dealer’s pledge, as _one barrel of beer_ was worth more to him in his business than _ten barrels of flour_ made up into bakery products, and so refused to admit them, but they held their prayer-meeting on the sidewalk in front of his bakery.

The dealers near the depot claimed that their patronage came mostly from the road, that they spent more money in Painesville than they took from it, and they would not be controlled by the people of the place.

At the close of an interesting meeting Mr. Dayton pledged himself never to sell another drop of intoxicating drink. The women were hopeful, as the following will show: “Our hopes for the future are great. It is not with us, as I have heard it said, ‘A noble impulse sheltered behind a because,’ but an earnest resolve, born of much thought and prayer and self-consecration.”

This reminds us of an incident that occurred in Columbus.

John had stayed at home to take care of baby, while Mary was praying in the saloons, and when she came back John says, “Well, Mary, the baby has cried all the time you were gone; I don’t know but it’s all right, but home isn’t what it used to be when you stayed at home.” “Well, John,” Mary answered, “it is better that baby should cry for me now than that I should cry for baby twenty years hence.”

It has been emphatically true of women, that feeling little responsibility beyond home, their prayers have not gone out largely for others. We must all be better patriots, as well as Christians and philanthropists.

ASHLAND, OHIO.

The Crusade terminated here after four days only of street work, and nothing of special interest, other than the one great cause for which the ladies labored, transpired.

There were five saloons, three drug stores, two hotels, and one billiard-room where drink was sold. The druggists signed on the first presentation. The saloonists had determined to resist their prayers and pleadings, and were under the leadership of one of their number, a man of influence in the German church, who kept the most _respectable_ place in town; a place where the young men congregated, and where many of the older ones found it pleasant to linger. He was the only one who refused the ladies admittance, compelling them to sing and pray upon the pavement before his door. He was the man whom they expected would be the last to yield. A man of iron will, they expected to besiege him daily, perhaps for weeks; they looked for insult and abuse, yet he was the first to sign a petition presented by a score of our citizens, (some of them in the habit of visiting his saloon,) asking him to discontinue the traffic. When he signed, all the rest were ready to sign also.

One saloonist has opened a grocery, another has bought a stock of boots and shoes, a third is looking for a farm, in the meantime has left his old quarters entirely, one (a woman) keeps a restaurant, and he whom they feared most of all, confines himself exclusively to his grocery trade. The conquest was easy and complete.

BELLEVUE, OHIO.

There were several unconditional surrenders in Bellevue, none of which present any features of striking interest. West received the committee pleasantly, and acknowledged that he did not approve of the business. Two days afterward, when the ladies called on him in a body, he told them he would quit in a day or two, and sign the pledge, but was not prepared to do so at that time.

The next day he sent word to the association that he was prepared to surrender his liquor and sign the pledge, which he did. Four kegs of wine and one of beer were thrown into the street; his whiskey was sent back. He and his wife attended several of the mass-meetings, and took a share in the league fund. He afterwards found the Saviour, and commenced a better life. He looks like a new man.

Mr. Ailer also received the committee when they called in a body in much the same way as did West, and the next day sent word that he wished a conversation with Mrs. Goodson and Mrs. Sawseer. He felt willing to close out, but did not feel able to throw away his liquors: said he would send back all he could if the society would pay him for the rest.

After considerable persuasion he agreed to sign the pledge the next day, which he did, throwing away nine gallons of blackberry wine, twenty-nine gallons of cherry wine, three of gin, seven of whiskey, and two barrels of ale.

Seth Cook was a young man, just married, and all he had was invested in a billiard-room and tables. He told the committee, at first, that he was bitterly sick of the business, and was willing to sign the pledge and throw away his liquors, if he knew what disposition to make of the rooms. He allowed the ladies to come whenever they chose, and was respectful.

After two calls he sent word that he had concluded to throw away his liquors, which he did.

BUCYRUS, OHIO.

The account of the work at Bucyrus is, in its detail of events, almost verbally copied from the weekly narrative in the _Bucyrus Journal_. The editor of this paper was, in sentiment, opposed to the Crusade, but he defended the ladies in their heroic sacrifices. Anticipating that hereafter the Crusade would form a most important era in our social history, he was careful to publish in his paper, from week to week, a most accurate, impartial, and detailed history of the movement, giving everything of importance concerning it.

Bucyrus, a town of four thousand inhabitants, is situated in the northern part of Ohio, on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad. It is the county-seat of Crawford, a county which obtained a national notoriety by the treasonable actions and sentiments of a portion of its citizens, during the late war of the rebellion. This place was the scene of more ruffianly disorder, and the ladies suffered more abuse at the hands of the saloon-keepers and their friends, during the Crusade, than in any other town in the State. Bucyrus contained at the time of the Crusade eight churches--four English and four German. The Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, and German Methodist Churches, and a few of the members of the German Reformed Church, joined in the work of this great reform movement, and the bond of union between them was never so strong as when, in a combined effort, the members of these churches united against their strongest enemy--the liquor traffic. The German Lutheran, German Catholic, and most of the members of the German Reformed Churches, sympathized with the saloon-keepers, and aided and encouraged them by their counsel and influence. When the Crusade was first inaugurated, the town contained twenty saloons, one brewery, and one wholesale liquor establishment and sample-room. Before the street work was discontinued by the ladies, the wholesale establishment and four of the saloons had quit the business.

On Monday evening, March 2d, 1874, a public meeting was held at Rowse’s Hall, for the purpose of considering the advisability of inaugurating the Crusade at Bucyrus. The hall was crowded, and great enthusiasm prevailed. A committee, composed of two from each church in the place, was appointed to prepare a plan by which to conduct the temperance movement in Bucyrus, and this committee reported at a second meeting, which was held in the Presbyterian Church, March 9th. The report made contained the following resolution, which was adopted with great applause:

“_Resolved_, Inasmuch as the efforts of the women have proven the most efficient means, under God, of closing the saloons in many places where they are organized and at work, we therefore pledge to the ladies of our town our sympathy and hearty co-operation at any time they deem it proper to inaugurate the movement here.”

Saturday, March 7th, the saloon-keepers and their friends held a meeting, at which they resolved to lock their doors when the women came around, and, at the approaching spring elections, to vote for no man who favored this temperance reform. The conversation of this meeting was mostly in German; many were excluded from it, and the proceedings were kept as secret as possible. March 9th, they held another meeting, and resolved to issue a printed card, pledging themselves, hereafter, to conform strictly to the law, and they drew up a pledge to this effect, which all the saloon-keepers, twenty in number, signed.

Tuesday morning, March 10th, a committee, composed of two ladies from each church, was appointed to organize the ladies, and every afternoon during the week they assembled for prayer. March 14th, the druggists were visited, and asked to sign the druggists’ pledge. Two of them consented, the third refused. The saloon-keepers were also visited, and asked to quit, but without success. Every evening, union temperance meetings were held at the different churches, and numbers signed the pledge.

Tuesday morning, March 17th, an immense crowd gathered at the M. E. Church, and upon the streets were many scattered groups of restless citizens, who, by their constant uneasiness, would have betrayed to a stranger that something unusual was transpiring, even if it had not been well known that the women were about to appear. Promptly at ten o’clock the church-bell began to toll, and forth from the church came one hundred ladies, among whom were those, who, for their unaffected piety, for their exemplary lives, and by the position and character of their husbands, were the very first women of the community. By special invitation of the proprietors, the ladies first visited the saloon of Everett & Ricketts, who were at that time making arrangements to close their business, as the lease of the room they were occupying had been refused them for another year. The ladies were refused entrance to several of the saloons, but were treated politely by the saloon-keepers. While they were holding their exercises in front of Jahn’s, some of the German women who were looking on made some very objectionable remarks in German. While the second prayer was being offered in front of Bieber’s, a young man, under the influence of liquor, spoke loudly and said, “Pray, God d--n you, pray! Jesus Christ! why don’t you pray louder?” But when he saw the marshal approaching, he stopped his oaths. Some of the saloon-keepers were visibly moved when the friends and companions of their youth, knelt before them and offered fervent prayers for their wives and children.

The second day, Wednesday, March 18th, the ladies continued their good work, and the crowds around the saloons were quiet and orderly until late in the afternoon, when they were in front of Mollenkopf’s. The proprietor of this saloon had a musical clock, which was wound up and started as the ladies approached, and a large crowd of men and boys assembled in the saloon and commenced to sing, and the prayers of the ladies were drowned by these indecent noises; but one of the ladies beautifully reported:

“We felt in our hearts that our prayers reached His ear to whom they were addressed, and it seemed as if the sound of those noble, manly voices in so bad a cause, only made us the more anxious to labor for their conversion, and to pray that some day they might be heard in prayer and praise.”

This sort of a reception only strengthened the ladies to more earnest devotions. Soon a good woman offered a prayer in German, and instantly all noise within ceased, showing that the hearts of those men were not utterly hardened, and that they had tender memories of woman’s dear voice raised in the tones of fatherland to the Father of all, and every noble woman outside felt encouraged. Even the unseemly riot and song thus proved a blessing, for it was followed by such a strange stillness, that the calm seemed holy, and the prayers glowed with increased fervor, and every heart beat in unison; and at the next saloon the exercises were so unusually fervent that one of the ladies afterwards reported:

“It seemed as if each of us sensibly realized that God was supporting us, and sending His Holy Spirit to comfort and sustain us.”

The exercises under such influences impressed the careless bystanders with a solemnity exceeding anything previously experienced. During the time the ladies were on the streets, a prayer-meeting was in constant progress at the church.

March 19th and 20th, the ladies continued their exercises at the different saloons without any disturbance, and were either kindly treated by such of the saloon-keepers as admitted them, or ignored by the majority, who closed their saloons when the women approached.

Saturday evening, March 21st, while a band was holding religious exercises in front of Donnenwirth’s, the proceedings in the saloon were very boisterous. Two women were inside, and several men, and their actions were such as to demonstrate the effects of the saloon business in a style not calculated to elevate it in public estimation.

Monday, March 23d, the weather was cold and raw. In the morning the women, in bands of four, visited various places and people and labored in the work of the great reform without any street exercises. In the afternoon they were out in three bands. Tuesday morning a German saloon-keeper and baker named Pfleiderer admitted the ladies to his parlor and then stood at the door, and, representing to the ladies that he had been injured in his business, by reports that had been circulated about his having struck and kicked one of them, refused to let them out until it had been proved that the report was without foundation.

On the morning of March 25th, William Shaw, a candidate for street commissioner for the third term, in order to gain the good will of the saloons, placed himself in front of a praying band at Hesche’s and commenced a loud and blasphemous harangue and prayer in which vulgar allusions and oaths were mingled, to the horror of every respectable person. The scene was awful, and involuntarily excited in the minds of many an expectation that such a bold, bad, blasphemous man would be struck dead for his startling defiance of the living God, whom he was violently professing to worship. But the insulted women continued their exercises and even prolonged them. Upon moving to another saloon Shaw followed them, and proceeded again with his violent indecency. In the afternoon he followed the ladies, and at every saloon where they held exercises, excepting two where the proprietors refused to let him speak, the indecent and disgraceful actions of the morning were continued, but it seemed as if the ladies only became more fervent under such brutal treatment. At Mollenkopf’s this man repeated his ribald, blasphemous, brutal harangue, while citizens stood horrified all around the square, realizing for the first time how degrading, how injurious to society, and how dangerous to the best interests of the nation must be a traffic, which had to resort to such unparalleled brutality in a vain endeavor to stop a band of devout and earnest women from praying and singing. Close at hand and supporting Shaw, were many of the saloon-keepers, and on the outskirts of the crowd was a body of men and boys, many inflamed by liquor, cheering, yelling and hallooing when some remark unusually brutal, profane or outrageous, fell from the lips of this saloon orator, who seemed to think he was doing a noble act, in bullying and abusing praying women--the teachers of his children in the Sunday-school, and the mothers of their companions. At Peters & Lauderbach’s the scenes enacted were even more disgraceful than before. Not only did Shaw repeat his harangue, but, as a most painful variation, a woman appeared with two children and some beer, and tauntingly gave it to the children to drink in the presence of the women who were laboring that those children might be preserved from the terrible effects of the liquor traffic. (The husband of that woman and the father of those two children committed suicide several months afterward while in a fit of despondency caused by excessive drinking.) She also brought beer and gave it to Shaw, and then threw the dregs over the band of ladies before her. The saloon-keepers and their friends dared any one to attempt to arrest Shaw, and the mayor of the town, all the time declaring that these violent proceedings must be stopped, never once realized that it was his duty to order Shaw to desist under penalty of being arrested if he did not. Passing from these violent and disorderly scenes the band proceeded to Thomas Fuhrman’s, where they had always been kindly treated, and, as usual, he admitted them and then locked the door, and, as one of the ladies reported, “enabled them to feel that they were once more alone with their God, and to implore Him for strength to endure the terrible ordeal to which they were being subjected.” Other bands had been visiting other saloons, and when they met at the church there was an impressive sight not soon nor easy to be forgotten. Half the women were in tears at the brutal treatment they had experienced, but a more resolute band of heroines, a body of women more resolved to hold together and continue to the end, it is safe to say were never before assembled in Bucyrus. One could realize the effect of persecution on the martyrs of old, and could plainly see _how_, as well as understand _why_, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, as he looked upon and studied those resolute women and heard them speak; yet not a word of anger, not an unkind, not an unchristian thought. It was as if each now, for the first time, realized the extent of the depravity of the saloon business, and was more than ever convinced that, before her God, it was her duty to labor on to the end.

These are not the speculations or opinions of the writer, but the actual facts openly presented, and affording material for wonder and astonishment as well as for the most earnest thought.