Chapter XI

The facts in regard to the work in Michigan are gathered from their Centennial volume.

The book is very voluminous, and contains a complete record of the work, and is beautifully gotten up on uniform paper, and embellished with pictures.

This volume, which was prepared for the Centennial, and is to go into the State Historical Society, has been kindly sent that I may gather the most important facts connected with the history of their work for this book.

Michigan had a prohibitory law, but public sentiment was not sufficiently aroused to enforce it, and the liquor-dealers of the State pursued their traffic, in defiance of the law, openly. The Woman’s Temperance Crusade, and the more recent labors of Dr. Reynolds and his coadjutors, have entirely changed the aspect of affairs; the entire liquor business seems to have been effectually broken down.

ADRIAN, MICHIGAN.

After holding prayer-meetings for some time, and canvassing the city for signatures to the pledge, a mass-meeting was held in the Opera House, March 9th, 1874. This proved one of the largest and most enthusiastic meetings ever held in the city. The immense building was insufficient to contain the crowd, and the Presbyterian Church, which was opened for an overflow meeting, was filled in a few moments. These meetings were addressed by the leading men and women of the city. Work was at once entered upon; after some discussion the ladies commenced their visits to the saloons, under the leadership of Mrs. Daniel Benedict, Mrs. William Benson, and Mrs. Norman Geddes. Two hundred women in solemn procession filed slowly out of the house of God into the streets, and into the saloons. All business for the time was suspended. Women crowded to the windows; men gathered in masses in the street, all gazing silently as the band proceeded on their mission. The saloon-keepers, who did not expect them, looked on with confusion and alarm; the hotels and some of the saloons were visited, the proprietors receiving them with respect and deference, and at all these places religious services were held.

Public sentiment in favor of temperance seemed to be rapidly increasing, and words of encouragement came to them from the surrounding country, and delegations were sent out to the neighboring villages to organize the work. Many women, who for years had in silence borne the curse of strong drink in their own homes, were led to hope for better days, and came timidly forward to urge them on.

On the 17th March, the band visited Towl’s saloon. Mrs. L. R. Damon and T. P. Thompson, the leaders, were admitted, and the door immediately locked. The band which remained on the street became alarmed for their safety, thinking they were forcibly detained. Great excitement prevailed throughout the city; business was suspended, and an excited multitude gathered about the saloon, filling all the adjacent streets. The women inside, unaware of the excitement in the city, continued their prayers and pleadings with the proprietor until eleven o’clock at night. As the band still remained at the saloon, the proprietor wanted to know what he had done, and what the women wanted of him: immediately the band sang, “Dare to do right, dare to be true.” Again he came to the door, and exclaimed, “I’m tired of this! yes, I’m tired of this!” Immediately the ladies responded in song, “There is rest for the weary.” At last he could endure it no longer, and fled from the place. A few days afterwards the saloon was closed.

The next morning, Tuesday, March 18th, pickets were stationed at every place where it was known that intoxicating liquors were sold. This was very destructive to the business of the saloon-keepers, as under the public sentiment then existing, but few had the hardihood to frequent these places. The success of the work began to be most cheering. North Main street, almost entirely abandoned to liquor shops, and at night ablaze with the light of its saloons, was now in darkness. Other parts of the city showed like results. On the 20th March, the doors of nearly every saloon in the city apparently were closed, and the open sale of intoxicating liquors had nearly ceased; some of the dealers had signed the pledge.

The annual city election occurring the 6th of April, an all-day prayer-meeting was held in the Presbyterian Church, and a mass-meeting held in the evening at the same place. Every saloon was picketed. The result was a quiet, orderly election. Women, who had learned to look on election days with dread and terror, reported to us with gratitude, that their husbands had returned to their homes sober, for the first time in many years.

The picket system was discontinued, and vigilance committees appointed to gather up evidence with a view of prosecuting the violators of law. The State law was prohibitory, but a city ordinance provided for license. A petition was presented to the city council requesting them to make the sale of intoxicating liquors in violation of law a forfeiture of their license, but the council declined to act in the matter, and all efforts were of no avail.

On the 2d of June a band of ladies visiting a saloon on north Main street had scarcely entered, when the wife of the saloon-keeper angrily ordered them to depart, and before they could leave the place, hastily locked them in. Here the ladies were detained, thirteen of them, from five o’clock in the afternoon until eleven o’clock at night. At a signal from the woman a motley and excited crowd of saloon and barkeepers, and their associates and companions, besieged the building, filling all the street, and keeping away all who would approach to assist or even to communicate with the imprisoned ladies, and there they remained, surging about with oaths, and jeering and threatening demonstrations lest the ladies should escape. Within the rear room of the saloon, and separated from the band only by a half partition, was another crowd of barkeepers, a German Catholic priest, an alderman and others, half-inebriated, singing, drinking, and shouting with boisterous profanity, influencing and inciting the proprietor and his infuriated wife against the band, and filling all the room where the ladies were with suffocating clouds of smoke. And so the band was kept most of the time in darkness, all communication with their friends cut off, no ventilation of the foul atmosphere permitted, while resort was had to every means, short of personal violence, to harass, annoy, and intimidate these imprisoned women, until by the interposition of the mayor they were released.

This was the answer of the saloon-keepers to the prayerful, tearful appeals of the best Christian women of the city in behalf of temperance.

Early in the progress of the movement it became evident that many of the saloon-keepers could not be reached by moral suasion, and that law must be resorted to for the suppression of the traffic. A large number of suits were commenced, the business men of the city backing up the movement by a subscription of $3,000. Delegations of ladies from the Union attended nearly all these public trials. The anti-temperance people became very bitter and vindictive, and openly manifested their hostility. Several of the ladies attending these trials had their dresses cut and despoiled by persons in the crowd, and one gentleman, a Mr. Brown, who assisted in the suits, was murderously assaulted with a knife in the hands of a woman.

The ladies finding it impossible to secure the services of officers who would perform their duty under the law for the suppression of the traffic, finally abandoned this branch of the work.

There were three hundred and two members of the band, and two hundred and thirteen meetings were held during the first year, and $693.43 expended in the work.

The number of licensed saloons in the city when the Union first sent out its praying bands was fifty-two; in less than ten days from that time all these were virtually closed, and remained so for more than six weeks. The result was, that our jails soon became empty for the first time in the history of our county, with one exception only, which occurred in the early settlement of the State. The average jail and criminal expenses of the county previous to the temperance movement was $1,000 per month, _but during the time the saloons were closed these expenses were only $50 per month_--a saving per month of $950.

The women now saw the importance of organized and persistent work, and prepared for a long conflict. A reading-room was opened, a juvenile society was organized, and by systematic work the business is gradually being overthrown.

More recently a reform movement, under the leadership of Dr. Reynolds, has drawn tens of thousands of drinking men away from the saloons. This has crippled the saloon-keepers hopelessly. Many of the leading men of the State and politicians have signed the pledge, and now give their moral support to the Woman’s Temperance Union and the Reform Club; so victory is assured. One of the Vice-Presidents of the National Union, Mrs. Jane M. Geddes, is one of the prominent and efficient workers of the society.

LANSING, MICHIGAN.

On the 24th March, 1874, the first public meeting was called; about sixty women were present. On the following Sunday, a union service was held in the Opera Hall, which was tendered free of charge. The hall was crowded, and the meeting enthusiastic. The town was canvassed with a view of securing the co-operation of business men for the immediate suppression of the traffic. Seven hundred dollars were subscribed to aid the women to carry out legal measures. The saloons were visited, but the proprietors refused to sign the dealers’ pledge. In reference to the opinion which the dealers themselves held in regard to their occupation, but one dealer was found in the length and breadth of the city who said he considered his calling honorable.

The Rev. David Crosby, of the first Baptist Church, by his own personal efforts, raised and placed in the hands of the Union $1,200.

The work was continued by mass-meetings, saloon visiting, personal appeals, and tract distribution, until May 5th, 1874, when the legal work was commenced. The women attended the trials, which were held before Justice Green. The stairway leading to the court was dark, the room illy ventilated, and furnished with wooden benches. Yet not one case out of the twenty-eight was tried between May 5th, and September 24th, that the women were not present. Undismayed and unflinchingly they sat in the court-room with its repulsive surroundings, in the summer afternoons, with the sun beating in at uncurtained windows, though the thought of cool parlors at home tempted them. The following summary will show the general line of work and the results up to September 24th, 1874:

Summons issued, forty-four; trials had, twenty-eight; withdrawn, by pledge to quit, three; convictions, twenty-three; acquittals, two; disagreement of the jury, three; no trial on account of justice being sick, four; suits on docket for trial, twenty-three. Results: convictions of men, twenty; convictions of women, three; saloons closed up to date, six; saloons remaining in the city, twenty-eight; fines imposed, $750; fines paid, $175; cost imposed, including attorneys’ fees, $419.63; costs collected, $109.48.

The legal work aroused a spirit of anger. It was reported that one saloon-keeper said that there was nothing to fear as long as the women remained in the church to pray. Under the heavy blows of the Woman’s Union the saloons in Lansing decreased in six months from forty-one to twenty-eight, and the traffic remained crippled, until the State Legislature repealed a prohibitory law, and enacted a tax law; under this fostering care of the State authorities, the hope and business of liquor-dealers revived.

But the women are not discouraged or defeated. A Reform Club and a Young People’s Society have been organized, and a reading-room established; and by systematic and persistent work, they are pushing the battle and expect the victory.

JACKSON, MICHIGAN.

In the month of February, 1874, Rev. J. H. McCarty, D. D., pastor of the first M. E. Church, issued a call for a union temperance meeting, to be held in the Methodist Church. Responsive to this call, the pastors of nearly all of the orthodox churches came together, with their working members.

There was a very enthusiastic meeting, and for several days such meetings were held. Finally, the ladies were encouraged to organize and begin Crusade work. The pastors promised their hearty support and encouragement. The ladies organized a society known as “The Ladies’ Temperance Union,” of Jackson.

The ladies visited some saloons, but without any perceptible results. The saloon-keepers knew that they had the support of the majority of the business men of the place, and so were coolly defiant.

A large and enthusiastic meeting was held, March 12th, in the Opera House, and the clergy committed themselves unreservedly to the work. The exercises consisted of speeches and songs, and Mrs. L. E. Allen, President of the Union, read the following original poem, in which is embodied the experience of a lady living in Jackson:

“Pale were the lips which uttered this story, not long ago,
And the eyes were dim with a sorrow which cometh from human woe;
And the words came low and broken from the torn and bleeding heart,
Where years on years had rankled the pain of a poisoned dart.

“’Twas a fearful night in the winter, the winter of sixty-four,
When round my lowly dwelling the wild winds beat and tore;
The rain which in daylight had fallen had turned to a frozen sleet,
And lay like a sheet of silver adown the desolate street.
’Twas long and long after midnight, I waited and waited alone--
None, none but my God to be near me, and list to my desolate moan.
My light shone out in the darkness, my fire was burning bright,
For my husband, my erring husband, was out in the fearful night.

“And colder I grew in my terror--I had waited so long, so long
(For my heart to the wreck of my idol still hopefully, tenderly
clung).
Then I thought I heard his footsteps come staggering on through the
gloom,
And they sent a chill to my heartstrings like the threat of a
terrible doom.
And nearer they came, and nearer, and paused by the outer door,
And I heard a voice and footstep I had never heard before.
I opened the door affrighted, and saw but a stranger face,
Where the flush of the fatal wine cup had crimsoned and left its
trace.

“‘Come, hasten!’ he said, ‘good woman, your husband is dead with
drink,
And the man who sold him the poison has a heart as black as ink,
And he swears he will turn him helpless out into the storm to lie,
When he knows that out in the tempest alone he would perish and die.
Perhaps if you went to his rescue, and whispered a word in his ear,
He might waken from out his stupor and hearken the message to hear.
You never need fear to trust me, for I am my own worst foe;
But I hated to see him lying all dead and cold in the snow.’

“So I wrapped my garments about me, to shield me as best I might,
And went, with a drunken stranger, out into the pitiless night--
Down through the streets of the city, down to the haunts beneath,
Where the soul is chained to a monster that clingeth and clingeth
till death.

“Oh! the sight that darkened my vision, may you never witness,
I pray,
For there lay the one I had promised to honor, and love, and obey.
He opened his eyes in wonder as he heard the unwonted sound
Of my voice in that den of terror, and dizzily looked around.

“Then the little of manhood in him came out in a flush on his face;
And, upheld by myself and the stranger, he staggering left the
place.
Fiercely the storm king assailed us, and pierced us through like a
knife;
But we thought not of storm or tempest, for we fought for a human
life.

“Home where the lamplight waited, home to a living death
(For life in the soul is not cherished by giving or taking of
breath),
And I sat in my helpless sorrow and pleaded and prayed to die,
For death were a hundred-fold sweeter than the living agony.

“So many a night have I sought him, ’twixt midnight and break of
day,
And out of that place of torment have led him reeling away.
Oh! those fearful walks in the darkness, I can never, no, never,
forget;
And the glimmer of starlight splendor sends a shudder over me yet.

“Then he went to his country’s rescue, himself but a tyrant’s
slave--
And the wreck of his noble manhood now sleeps in a nameless grave.
While my heart was crushed and bleeding, my cry was, day by day:
‘How long shall the wicked triumph? how long shall Thy people
pray?’

“So the plaintive story ended, so the pale lips paused to say:
‘Say to the women of Jackson there is need for them to pray.’
Ah! need, for the cry is ringing from city, and hamlet, and plain,
While we feel the silent pleadings of the millions that are slain.
Need! for the fight grows fiercer, and madly the red wine flows;
And the record is growing longer--the record of human woes.

“How long, O Lord, shall Thy children sit idle, and fearful, and
dumb,
While thousands are falling around us, all ruined and wrecked by
rum.
Let the bondage of self be broken, and set all Thy people free,
Till the world shall be rid of this evil, and brought to a knowledge
of Thee.”

The Hurd House saloon was among the first visited. The clerk received them politely, but the crowd on the street were disposed to be abusive. A saloon-keeper made a mock prayer, which was so vulgar that he was afterwards arrested for the offence. A total abstinence pledge was circulated, but very few of the prominent business men, or church members would sign it. So low was the temperance sentiment that nearly all of the drug stores sold liquor by the glass, to whoever wanted it, regardless of law or order.

The law which required the saloons to be closed on Sunday was openly defied and scoffed at. The ladies sent a petition to the common council, requesting the enforcement of the Sunday law; but it was laid upon the table, no attention whatever being paid to it.

A vigilance committee was appointed, and a number of saloon-keepers were arrested for breaking the Sunday law. They were tried before the courts, and, although abundant and reliable proof was produced, yet judge and jury conspired to render a verdict of acquittal.

Outdoor meetings were held during the spring and summer, under the supervision of Mrs. Mary T. Lathrop and Mrs. A. H. Brown, both of them indefatigable workers in the temperance cause.

The daily meetings were continued for about three months, after which they were held weekly. These continued for a while; but the churches were so indifferent, and public sentiment so opposed, that after a while the meetings were abandoned entirely.

But of late there is a new interest being awakened on the temperance question, and may God speed the day when this nation shall put this great enemy of intemperance under her feet, and shall stand before the world purified and saved.

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

A Woman’s Prohibition Society was organized in this town in 1872. The circumstance leading to this action was the wrongs and sufferings of a woman of intelligence and culture, whose husband was a victim of the drink habit. The existence of this society was maintained up to the Crusade. The heroic little band, with fresh hope and courage, renewed their work. One public house turned out its bar, one wholesale grocery gave up the liquor trade, a few small retail saloons were shut up; sixteen out of eighteen signed the druggists’ pledge.

Many who professed Christianity withheld their aid and sympathy: none were quicker to see this than the saloon-keepers, and taking advantage of this indecision, the liquor ring sent out its messengers, with the threat that business and political patronage would be withheld from all who had anything to do with the temperance cause. Covert threats were also sent out, warning persons of danger to their property; and men of wealth and influence, some of them pillars in the church and society, sold their principles, allowed their convictions to be silenced, and even went so far as to desire their wives to discontinue their open connection with the Woman’s Temperance Union. There were honorable exceptions, however--men who stood by their principles.

Noble and influential women of the city, who had formerly been active in the Woman’s Prohibition Society, stood aloof, having no faith in the present movement.

In all these discouragements, the earnest women engaged in the work only saw the valley of humiliation through which they must pass before they ascend to the mount of victory.

Mrs. M. L. Bois is the President, and Mrs. E. S. Eggleston, Corresponding Secretary.

COLD WATER, MICHIGAN.

After several preliminary meetings for prayer and conference, a mass-meeting was held, April 16th, 1874, at the M. E. Church. Twelve ladies passed through the audience and secured 177 names as workers, which was soon augmented to 200.

The men said they were ashamed to have the women do the work, and formed a committee for the purpose of doing the work themselves. The women waited patiently, then sent a committee to inquire as to their success. They told the ladies to keep quiet, that they were doing all they could, but it took time to accomplish such a great work. What the men really did was to give the liquor-dealers thirty days time to quit the business, or in other words, to give them that much time to perfect their arrangements to sell secretly. Not a single saloon was closed, and now they tell the women tauntingly, that they did not intend to close the saloons, but took this means to prevent the women from working. But amid all these discouragements, the women are pushing their work, trusting in God for the victory.

Mrs. Dr. GEO. FERGUSON, Secretary.

EATON RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

The work began in this town in March, 1874; the first visit to the saloons was by a committee of six ladies; soon afterwards they went in a body. One of their visits was to a first-class hotel, where they asked the privilege of prayer; the landlord objected, said he would have no noise or excitement in his house, as his wife was very sick, but all the time he was making a great noise himself. “Very well,” said the leader, “we will have a season of silent prayer,” to which he replied, “Pray away, that’s your privilege,” and turning, walked to the other side of the room; at a wave from the leader’s hand, they all knelt on the office floor; the rustle of their dresses attracted his attention; he turned and came to them like an enraged tiger. A lady (her husband at that time was drinking terribly), whose countenance was indicative of a broken heart, was kneeling in front of the others. The enraged proprietor caught this pale, trembling, heart-broken Christian lady, and hurled her with violence against the rest, saying: “Get out! I won’t have it: get out, get out.” Rising as quietly as possible the ladies passed out, the proprietor busying himself pushing and scolding those in the rear. The ladies were sad, but not disappointed. The next day double the number convened for action.

Not many months passed till that beautiful house lay a mass of charred ruins. The next day the leader of the band, the marshal of the village by her side, visited the Spring House; after singing and prayer, the mother-in-law of the bartender, who stood beside the proprietor, opened her mouth, and the Lord filled it with a stream of eloquence most touching, most pathetic. Fifteen minutes after they left the room the proprietor closed out his bar, saying, while the tears ran down his face, “No one need ever tell me again there is no power in prayer.” The whole community seemed aroused, by seeing the procession of ladies; others could not bear to look at them; men who did not consider themselves temperance men declared they could think of nothing else night or day; ministers who had lacked interest became radical. At length it was thought wise to petition the village board: accordingly a committee of eight ladies presented a petition. Their prayer was granted, and the marshal instructed to order the bars closed the next morning. From that time until the change in the law, liquor was not sold openly and defiantly. During the first week of the license, or tax law, there were more drunkards on the streets than in the six months previous.

Mrs. IRA TURNEY, President.

Mrs. J. E. SWEEZEY, Secretary.

NEW BOSTON, MICHIGAN.

The following incident led to the commencement of the work in this place. A lady died in Ohio, who had formerly lived in New Boston, and whose son was still living there, on the ancestral farm, but he had learned to love the fatal cup, and his career had given his mother much sorrow. She was in the Crusade of Ohio, and it was her purpose to go to New Boston and inaugurate a Crusade to save her son. But God called her home, and her husband brought her body to be buried there, and told the story. A deep interest was aroused, and the Christian women felt called to take up this work that the mother had laid down.

There were, at that time, two saloons and one tavern in successful operation in the village. Two of them did more business on the Sabbath than on any other day of the week; gambling was constantly practised in all; and the minister, as he passed to his church, could count more men and boys about the tavern doors than he could in the church. The women commenced by ascertaining how many in the village and vicinity were willing to give their aid and influence. All professed themselves more than willing. A committee was appointed to visit the saloon-keepers, and talk kindly with them, and urge them to give up a business that was ruining themselves as well as their unhappy victims. Two agreed to close their doors if all would; the third, a German, who kept a den that for vileness could hardly be surpassed, was determined to sell in spite of them.

It was ascertained that less than $75 would purchase all the liquors in the place and close out the saloons, but the temperance men objected to it, and the women abandoned that project. Mass-meetings and saloon visiting continued, and such enthusiasm was aroused, that two of the saloonists moved away, leaving only the defiant, law-breaking German in the business. He was backed up by a man of considerable influence, who received from the government a large salary, as a sort of pseudo revenue officer. The ladies went _en masse_ to the saloon of this German. He received them with considerable trepidation, and would have run away, but for the loungers in the bar-room, who detained him; but his wife, an ignorant and depraved woman, soon appeared on the scene, and commenced like Saul of Tarsus to breathe out threatenings and slaughter. When this man’s courage would falter, under the earnest appeals of wives and mothers, the bar-room loungers would jeer and offer insult, to break the force of their words. They found there not only opposition, but an atmosphere of corruption and vice, and real danger, but they did not falter. On visiting the place again, they found two gray-headed old men, both of whom had held the highest office in the gift of their fellow-townsmen, one of them the pseudo revenue officer before mentioned. They were just in the act of drinking at the bar as they entered. No words can do justice to the scene. They knew that the women were on the alert for evidence to convict the liquor-seller, and they might be used to convict the man they were laboring so hard to sustain. They tried to hide themselves behind each other, or behind the stove, or anything that promised to protect them from view, the little band of determined women being between them and the door.

Having secured sufficient evidence they determined to prosecute the German dealer. They called upon the temperance men to subscribe each a small amount, but with one accord they all began to make excuse, except two; the merchant pleaded that he had no shutters to his store front; the doctor thought it would hurt his practice; the politician feared loss of votes; the farmer dreaded a girdled orchard, and it was only after long marching and much pleading that $10 was secured to fee an able lawyer, who undertook this case for that. The day of trial arrived. They went in force to an adjoining town, where the case was to be tried before an honorable temperance justice of the peace.

Their witnesses nearly all disappointed them; some, they had reason to believe, perjured themselves. The jury retired at nine P. M. One, two, three hours passed away, and no verdict. But just as the hands of the clock in the county school-house, where the trial took place on this Saturday night, pointed five minutes to twelve, the jury appeared and announced, amid the most solemn stillness, the verdict, “Guilty.” The justice, with an eye on the clock, pronounced the sentence--a fine, or imprisonment till the fine was paid. With happy hearts they started for their homes, feeling that victory was about to crown their efforts. But the authorities did not enforce the collection of the fine, and the drinking, gambling, and Sunday desecration continued. Again they arrested him for keeping his saloon open on the Sabbath. He was tried before a resident justice, a professing Christian. The man pleaded guilty, and was fined only five dollars. He was delighted, and exultingly paid his fine. Again they arrested him for allowing minors to gamble in his house. He was tried before another justice, a man who had said he would sacrifice five hundred dollars, and move away, if that very house was not closed. The dealer pleaded guilty, and was fined three dollars. The man laughingly declared he could well afford that, as the previous Sunday he had made from his gaming table thirty dollars.

The women were now thoroughly convinced that the men who had so loudly talked temperance could not be depended upon. The town board had promised to stand by the ladies in their efforts to suppress the illegal traffic; but in the first case the fine was not collected, and in the other two they were too small to be felt, although imposed for grave offences. The next Sabbath the passers-by, on their way to church, were pained, as usual, by the open doors, sounds of dice, card-playing, and swearing, as though it were all perfectly legitimate. As the traffic was sustained by the officers of the law, the ladies deemed it unwise to continue the legal work.

During all this time the vile spirit of rum manifested itself in lawlessness and deeds of violence. One of the workers was the wife of a merchant, who was moving his building from one lot to another. The whiskey party gathered near the place; rum flowed as free as water, and a fight occurred that beggars description. Infuriated with the vile stuff, they seized sticks and clubs, and struck friend and foe alike. Women and children rushed to the rescue, and then fled in terror from the scene. One mother, who recognized her son among the combatants, was with difficulty restrained from going to his rescue. His young wife, regardless of the fast-falling blows, rushed to his aid, and the poor, beaten wretch, unworthy of so much womanly sympathy, was finally saved from what might have been a fearful death. The merchant received friendly warning that his building was in danger of being fired. On the night of the 3d of July, the whiskey party placed three anvils within eight feet of the glass front of this man’s store, and loaded them with gunpowder, and fired them, knowing at the time that the husband was absent, and that the wife, with her three little children, one an infant, was in the house alone. The yell of disappointed rage that broke from them as the smoke cleared away, and they found that not one of the large lights was broken, made night hideous. About an hour later, one man, more noisy than discreet, shouted, in drunken tones, “Let’s fire the blind man’s store!” The object of their fiendish malice was totally blind, and had been brought up amongst them from childhood, and was every way worthy of their respect, his only fault being earnest devotion to the cause of temperance. Failing to otherwise injure his building, they defaced it by writing, during the night, offensive epithets in large letters. On one occasion they bought a keg of beer, and built a bonfire in front of his house, and with orgies that would have graced pandemonium, drank it to the dregs.

A large stone was thrown through the window of a sleeping-room in the house of another member of the Union with such force as to break the plastering on the opposite side of the room, and greatly endanger the sleepers. Two of these disturbers of the peace reaped their reward within a short time. Leaving the tavern intoxicated one dark night, one journeyed north, the other south, on the railroad track. One fell through the bridge into the dark river below, and his body lay there a week before it was known what had become of him. The other was found the next morning in a culvert, a mangled corpse, by his own daughter, who had been sent by the anxious wife and mother, after a night of sleepless anxiety, to search for him.

And still the wives and mothers weep, and watch, and pray, for still the fearful work of ruin goes on. The ladies attribute their failure to the cowardice and instability of the temperance men, who have made their village a reproach and a by-word in the land.

PORTLAND, MICHIGAN.

On March 30th, 1874, a citizens’ temperance convention was held at Bower’s Hall, presided over by Dr. M. B. Beers. At this meeting Rev. A. March, Presbyterian, suggested that the ladies should assist in forwarding the cause of temperance. They needed no second invitation. A meeting was held the next morning, and the town districted and canvassed for names to the several pledges.

April 2d, 1874, a lawsuit against a saloonist for unlawful sale of liquors was instituted by the village board. The ladies attended the trial. Defendant was convicted and fined $25. When the decision was announced, the ladies sang “Glory Hallelujah,” and the criminal joined in the chorus. The saloons, hotels, drug stores, and all places where liquors were sold, were visited. The front doors of the saloons were locked, dealers absent, business seemed to be closed. The man, who was tried and fined $25, afterwards gave up the business and signed the pledge.

April 14th, 1874, out of a population of fifteen hundred, eight hundred had enrolled their names on the pledge. The five saloons in active operation at the beginning of the Crusade were all closed; hard cider banished from the restaurants, and the druggists pledged to sell only for mechanical and medicinal purposes. The women thanked God and took courage. Liquors were reshipped or sold by the sheriff. Only one of all the saloonists visited talked defiantly and insultingly. He was promptly arrested and dragged before Justice A. J. Southard, there to answer for his misdemeanor. All his courage forsook him, and under the pretence of seeking a witness in the hall, he left the court-room, dashed down the steps, and away, and was lost to the court and the town. The next day two of the ladies, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Showman, took the train in which he was making good his escape. In great terror, he thought of jumping from the cars, but was restrained by a friend. He is now honestly laboring in an adjoining town for a livelihood.

The effect, however, of the tax law was to revive the hopes of the liquor party, and make it more difficult to resist the tide of evil. But these noble women are holding the fort, and hopefully persevering in their labors for universal sobriety.

HATTIE E. S. COLE,
Chairman of Committee on History of Woman’s
Temperance Crusade.

HOWELL, MICHIGAN.

A society was organized at this place, April, 1874. Saloon visitations followed. At first every door was closed against the women, and meetings were held on the sidewalks. No indignities were offered to the ladies except at the hotel of Mr. Johnson, but he was arrested and taken to prison. After this, the saloon doors were opened, and we held meetings in the saloons for ten days, when all the saloon-keepers agreed to close. The ladies were bound to believe these promises, but every art that wicked men could devise was resorted to, to carry on the traffic secretly. When interrogated in regard to the reports, they would invariably deny that they were selling. A committee was appointed to obtain evidence, and at the session of the grand jury, June, 1874, over one hundred witnesses were sworn, and testified to having drank at the saloons after the promise was given to the ladies to quit selling. Every saloon-keeper in the village was indicted. They were required to give bail, and there it ended. A number of suits for violation of the law were held before a justice of the peace, E. B. Gregory. All were lost by the disagreement of the jury, except one. The board of supervisors withheld the fees of Squire Gregory, because he was a temperance man.

All hopes of accomplishing anything in this direction were cut off. The ladies, though defeated in human courts, were as determined as ever. Tracts were written and printed, and distributed throughout the town and county. Temperance prayer-meetings and mass-meetings were held, a children’s organization was formed, and petitions and pledges circulated, and still they work on and pray on, and victory is crowning their efforts.

Mrs. R. V. HUNTINGTON,
Mrs. H. G. W. FRY,
Mrs. S. T. LYON.

ALLEGAN, MICHIGAN.

The ladies began in this town, February 19th, 1874, by sending a postal card to each of the saloon proprietors, urging them in the name of law and order to cease their illegal traffic, assuring them that if they did not do so, more decided measures would be taken. The town was canvassed for workers, and on Wednesday morning, March 4th, a consecration meeting was held at the Presbyterian Church. From the church they marched to Cook’s saloon, and finding the door closed, they held their prayer-meeting in the street, singing as their battle-song, “We’re listed in the holy war, battling for the Lord;” and, “I’m glad I’m in this army.” From thence the band proceeded to H. S. Strong’s saloon. Above the door was a black placard bearing the words, “Closed for Prayers.” The ladies were admitted, and treated with deference. All the saloons were visited. At the close of the week there were two less saloons. Another man returned his stock of liquors, and engaged in other business. The proprietor of the City Hotel, being notified by the owner of the building to cease the sale of liquors, stated that he had decided to keep a temperance house. A German saloon-keeper was visited: he was very uncivil and abusive, and went on with the sale of liquor in their presence. The ladies entered complaint before Justice Babbit, and by his own admission he was convicted as a common seller, and fined fifty dollars and costs. Other suits followed, seven of them damage suits for large amounts. In the meantime the Crusade band continued to visit saloons, and hold religious exercises, and by the fourth week the saloons were virtually closed. A petition was presented to the common council for a prohibitory law, but the council dallied, deferring action from week to week; a committee of ladies waited upon them with a petition, signed by two hundred of the best citizens, urging prompt action, but when action was taken, it was adverse. This gave great encouragement to the liquor-dealers. Strong, who had temporarily abandoned the business, rented a building, and flaunted from an upper window the American flag dishonored by the black token of defiance. The ladies visited him, but as he expressed a determination to go on with his business, they purchased some of his liquors, and held him to trial before Judge Babbit, but being defeated they carried it up to the Circuit Court. Strong paid his fine without trial. In a short time twelve other dealers reopened their saloons. They were so cautious in the beginning, that it was difficult to obtain evidence; but in a short time the ladies commenced suit against all in the business; some were gained, others lost, or the jury disagreed.

Through all the discouraging circumstances they still maintain their work, and pray and wait for victory.

M. T. McMartin, Secretary, prepared the report from which I have gleaned this.

IONIA, MICHIGAN.

A meeting was held in the Presbyterian Church, the 15th March. At this meeting it was affirmed that there were one hundred men ready to sustain the cause, but when their zeal was put to a test it was found there was scarcely one who was true. The ladies organized and visited the saloons; some of the saloon-keepers were moved to tears, and expressed a regret that they were in the business. One dealer, when they asked the privilege of praying in his saloon, said: “If there is any of you without sin, let her pray.” The ladies, feeling that they were in the right, did not hesitate to offer prayer. One prominent wholesale dealer said, that if there were thirty business men in the city who desired that he should close his saloon, he would comply; others made the same promise; _the thirty men, however, could not be found_. The ladies then petitioned the common council: _their petition was laid on the table_. Undismayed the ladies then went out into the saloons, and forbade the sale of liquor after the 1st of May, which so intimidated the dealers, that no liquor was sold publicly for several weeks. During the time, agents from liquor-houses visited the city, but were unable to sell a single barrel for three months. One of these agents offered a prominent lawyer $1,000 if he would desert the cause of the ladies, and come out in favor of the saloonists, which, be it said to his honor, he steadily refused to do. While liquors were not sold publicly, the ladies were confident that it was sold with closed doors. They decided to employ a detective; Mr. Willlngton C. Page offered his home as head-quarters of this official, and when suits were brought against the saloonists, such an excitement was created, that Mr. Page was obliged almost to risk his life in behalf of the detective. The detective proved to be a failure, which greatly discouraged the ladies in their active work; yet their prayer-meetings and efforts are kept up, and the subject is kept before the people. Three of the saloon-keepers have gone to try the realities of another world; two have sold out, and two have abandoned the business.

HUDSON, MICHIGAN.

During the excitement caused by the Crusade in Ohio, the women of Hudson became interested in the temperance movement, and some time in February, 1874, formed a society known as “The Ladies’ Temperance Union.”

The object of this society was to develop a better public sentiment, and by directing attention to the great evils of intemperance to promote the cause of temperance.

About one hundred ladies joined the Union, and worked ardently.

The pastors of the different churches gave their support, and did all in their power to help on the good cause. It was soon discovered, however, that there was an element of conservatism manifesting itself, and many of the workers were influenced by it, and fell away. But there was a faithful few, who, believing that this work was not of _man_, but of God, worked right on.

The town was canvassed for signers to the pledge. They met with much opposition; but about seven hundred signers were secured.

On election day the ladies visited the saloon-keepers, and urged them to close their saloons. Some of them did as the ladies requested; but when they refused, pickets were left on watch, so that if any did drink they would have to do so in the presence of the ladies. At one place they were ordered by the proprietor to leave, who gave them just three minutes in which to do so. But one little woman, with a good stock of moral courage, refused to leave, maintaining that it was a place of public resort, and that if her husband and brothers could come and stay there, so could she, and she would do so.

Several saloons closed; but one place where they promised to close, but did not, the ladies went on picket duty. The proprietor sent out for a lot of rowdies, and offered segars free to all who would smoke. They smoked until the people outside thought the place was on fire. The ladies were asked to leave, but declined to do so unless the saloon was closed. Finally, when the men could stand it no longer, the saloon was closed.

The ladies entered suit against a saloon-keeper for selling to a young man contrary to the prohibition law, and won the suit; the saloon-keeper having to pay the fine and costs.

The ladies did not do much saloon visiting, but have quietly worked on in whatever way they felt that the Lord called them.

Nearly all owners of real estate signed a pledge not to rent their property to be used for the purpose of selling intoxicating liquors. One saloon-keeper, on going to pay his rent, and renew his lease, to his disgust, found that his landlord had signed the woman’s pledge, and could not let him have it. A lawsuit ensued, but the saloon-keeper was ejected, and the room thoroughly cleaned and repainted, and the first use made of it was for a strawberry festival given by the ladies of the Union.

There is a better temperance sentiment here than when the Union was organized. The temperance workers are watching and praying for a day when the friends of temperance can praise the Lord who giveth the victory to those who trust in His almighty power.

MORENCI, MICHIGAN.

March 18th, 1874, the ladies organized a Woman’s Temperance Union, with their membership numbering thirty-seven, which was subsequently increased to over one hundred. After some preliminary work, they began to visit the saloons, but the proprietors all refused to sign the pledge. These visits to the saloons continued till March 28th, when three of the principal dealers signed the dealers’ pledge. There was great joy and thanksgiving over this. The next day being Sabbath, a praise meeting was held. In the midst of the praise meeting, a gentleman arose and said that he had been informed, that in violation of their pledges, in less than ten minutes after they left, the dealers were selling. One of them was present, and was appealed to. He personally denied it, and said that he would rather beg than sell intoxicating drink; but afterwards they proved this man guilty of selling in violation of his pledge.

The dealers were prosecuted, but the work was greatly hindered by unfaithful officers. The women are looking to God, and with strong cries and tears are pleading for the overthrow of this traffic.

Mrs. E. G. DAY.

FLINT, MICHIGAN.

A young lady in this city who had consecrated herself to the Foreign Missionary work, and was very much beloved for the purity of her life and her Christian zeal, coming out of the church one night, just before she left for heathen lands, a man addicted to drink accosted her and gave her ten dollars. She with others commenced praying for his conversion, and shortly afterwards he went to the pastor of one of the churches, and with deep emotion asked, “What shall I do to be saved?” He was saved, and the church was stirred with interest for others. Still no one thought of organizing for the work, until the proprietor of the City Hotel sent an invitation for a prayer-meeting to be held in his sitting-room. This was regarded as a very peculiar request coming from him; the house was considered the lowest place in town--a whiskey den. His wife was a Roman Catholic. A lady volunteered to go and see if he was in earnest; she found that the invitation was given in good faith, and that the wife concurred; an appointment was made for the next morning, but when the ladies went to hold the meeting, none but ladies were there, and the proprietor could not be persuaded to enter the room. Out of this movement grew the Crusade.

A meeting was called, a society organized, and the ladies held a series of mass-meetings in the Presbyterian Church for about a week; but on Saturday night following these gospel mass-meetings, the church was fired by the hand of an incendiary. The people were astonished and indignant; they decided at once to commence the Crusade. Their first visit was to the saloon where they had held the prayer-meeting, but they were not admitted. They went from saloon to saloon day after day, until whiskey-selling and whiskey-drinking were exceedingly unpopular in Flint. Mrs. C. Morrison bought the stock of liquors of one man who was willing to sell out, breaking the first bottle herself. As the liquors were emptied into the gutter, a poor, bloated wretch, scooping the dirty stuff in his hands, drank it, utterly regardless of the filth it had passed through. Some one told Mrs. Morrison she had “paid too much for that liquor.” Looking him earnestly in the face, she replied, with great composure, “I know that, sir; I should have been cheated if I had only paid twenty-five cents.”

One dealer turned his saloon into a temperance restaurant, but was still greatly influenced by the liquor-dealers. Prosecutions were commenced, but efforts in that direction were found to be useless. The ladies are praying and waiting, hopefully, patiently, for the coming victory.

Mrs. E. CLARK, Secretary.

LESLIE, MICHIGAN.

The women of this town, aided and encouraged by the pastors of the several churches, organized April 1st, 1874. A canvass of the town was made for pledges. A petition, largely signed by the citizens, asking for a prohibitory ordinance, was presented to the city council by a committee of eighteen ladies. It was graciously received, but never acted upon.

April 23d, the ladies commenced saloon visitations. Their first visit was to Daniel Mitchell’s, who refused admittance, but conducted them to his hotel; so their first meeting was held in the Allen House. Other saloons were visited during the day. On the 25th, they went from the prayer-meeting with the purpose to visit every saloon. At the Metropolitan saloon, Mr. Mitchell himself rudely helped each lady out of his saloon, but they continued in prayer on the pavement, unconscious of the jeering, mocking crowd gathered about them. To the eye of faith, to-day, as in Joshua’s time, giants become as grasshoppers. At the second saloon, they were reluctantly admitted, and allowed to hold their services without violence.

At one hotel, McDaniels, the proprietor, ordered the ladies from his waiting-room into the parlor, and did not hesitate to push them over some who were already kneeling in prayer. At a drug store where liquor was sold in all quantities, the ladies were refused the privilege of prayer. Of course the devil was very much insulted, and raged and foamed, because his business was interfered with; but the grace of God was sufficient for His workers. That evening Mr. Brown, the proprietor of the best hotel in the town, sent in a notice, to be read in the church, that he had closed his bar. The large audience arose and sang, with the Spirit,

“All hail the power of Jesus’ name.” On Monday evening, April 27th, every bar was closed, and with joyful hearts the workers gave to their God all the glory; for the same power that stopped the mouths of lions closed these gates of death. But in the midst of victory and thanksgiving, one of our leaders and counsellors suddenly became fearful, and full of sympathy for the rum-sellers. He feared a mistake had been made on the part of the women in not waiting for the rum-sellers to become converted. So he began to prophesy that the work would not last, which comforted and encouraged the enemy, and brought sorrow and trouble to the friends of temperance. But only one saloon continues to sell, and they are laboring and praying for its overthrow, and they expect that saloon will be closed, if not through the mercies, by the judgments, of God.

Mrs. HENRIETTA TAYLOR, President.
Mrs. PHEBE EARL, Secretary.

DOWAGIAC, MICHIGAN.

The work began in this town in the spring of 1874. An organization was effected April 24th of the same year. Mass-meetings were held in several churches alternately; liquor-dealers were visited, and urged to abandon their disreputable business, but with no results. Finally the prosecution of liquor-dealers under the prohibitory law was determined upon. Ninety-eight temperance men came forward and pledged their influence in the movement. A committee of gentlemen was appointed to assist the ladies in securing information to convict the law-breakers. The prosecuting committee worked with great zeal, but were constantly embarrassed, and often thwarted, their persons and property being in danger from the cowardly and malicious attacks from the rum-seller and the band of ruffians and robbers who stood ready to do his bidding. As vigilant and zealous as were these prosecutors, they were more than matched by the whiskey-sellers. A rumor was started that the taxes of the county would be largely increased by these trials, with a view of alarming tax-payers. The following figures from the official records will show how baseless this assertion was. The fines and collections secured through the Crusade were $803.85; while the costs to the county were only $148.02; leaving a balance, $655.83. Thus it will be seen that the experiment of enforcing the prohibitory law was not a failure. No less than five of those who were selling, when the work began, had been effectually closed up, while the others were forced to transfer their business to prevent action that would take them to the county jail.

The passage of the tax law, which was equivalent to the repeal of the prohibitory law, again gave the rum-sellers hope, and once more the front doors were thrown open, and the work of death carried on publicly. But the women are earnest and hopeful, and are longing and waiting for the time when a great people in their wrath shall decree the overthrow of rum.

Mrs. SARAH M. FARR, Secretary.

COLON, MICHIGAN.

The ladies of this place went into the Crusade work with heart and hope, being well backed up by the men, who promised to furnish money for prosecutions, and to protect them from insult.

One instance is worthy of notice. It was town-meeting day, and three ladies were sent to the hotel to try to get signatures to the pledge, and to persuade those who came in not to drink. Their presence very much incensed the proprietor, who sent out for segars and offered them free to all who would smoke with him. A number of half-drunken, low fellows, complied with his request, and soon the room was dense with smoke, but the ladies paid no attention to it. Cayenne pepper was then put upon the stove, and, finally, asafœtida. The men coughed and sneezed, and had to rush out in self-defence, but strange to say, not one lady either coughed or sneezed the whole five hours they were confined in the room.

They have succeeded in elevating public sentiment, and know that they have effected permanent good in their town.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The work of the Crusade was carried forward with more or less success in the following towns: Tecumseh, Rockford, Rollin, Clinton, Ann Arbor, Hillsdale, Olivet, Mason, White Pigeon, Whitehall, Big Rapids, and Hart.

During the year 1877 Dr. Reynolds labored in Michigan. The work began at Adrian, the home of Mrs. Geddes, Vice-President of the National Union, who aided greatly in securing its success. Tens of thousands of men of all classes signed the pledge and donned the red ribbon. Reform Clubs were organized in nearly every town, and such was the enthusiasm that followed, and so thoroughly aroused were the masses of the people, that the Legislature of the State passed a concurrent resolution, by a unanimous vote, thanking Dr. Reynolds for the services he had rendered the State, in emptying the jails and almshouses, and in lessening crime and disorder. Many of the men who fought against the Crusade, and helped to sustain the liquor-dealers, are now pledged temperance men.

Mrs. J. M. Geddes reports nearly two hundred Reform Clubs, with a constituency of a hundred thousand; public sentiment strongly on the side of temperance; pulpit and press favorable; churches and ministers co-operating; unfermented wine almost universally in use; temperance societies in a flourishing condition; and reading-rooms connected with most of the Reform Clubs.

WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA, IOWA, AND MISSOURI.