THE WOMAN'S CRUSADE.
For every one saved through the agency of inebriate asylums andreformatory homes, hundreds are lost and hundreds added yearly to thegreat army of drunkards. Good and useful as such institutions are, theydo not meet the desperate exigencies of the case. Something of widerreach and quicker application is demanded. What shall it be? Inprohibition many look for the means by which the curse of drunkenness isto be abated. But, while we wait for a public sentiment strong enough todetermine legislation, sixty thousand unhappy beings are yearlyconsigned to drunkards' graves.
What have temperance men accomplished in the fifty years during whichthey have so earnestly opposed the drinking usages of society and thetraffic in alcoholic drinks? And what have they done for the preventionand cure of drunkenness? In limiting the use of intoxicants, inrestricting the liquor traffic and in giving a right direction to publicsentiment, they have done a great and good work; but their efforts toreclaim the fallen drunkard have met with sad discouragements. In thework of prevention, much has been accomplished; in the work of cure,alas! how little. The appetite once formed, and the unhappy victim findshimself under the control of a power from which he can rarely get free.Pledges, new associations, better and more favorable surroundings, allare tried, and many are saved; but the number of the saved are few incomparison with those who, after a season of sobriety, fall back intotheir old ways.
In all these many years of untiring efforts to lift up and save thefallen, what sad disappointments have met our earnest and devotedtemperance workers. From how many fields, which seemed full of a richpromise, have they gathered only a meagre harvest. But still they haveworked on, gaining strength from defeat and disappointment; for theyknew that the cause in which they were engaged was the cause of God andhumanity, and that in the end it must prevail.
Meantime, the bitter, half-despairing cry, "O Lord, how long!" was goingup from the lips of brokenhearted wives and mothers all over the land,and year by year this cry grew deeper and more desperate. All hope inman was failing from their hearts. They saw restrictive legislation hereand there, and even prohibition; but, except in a few cases, no removalof the curse; for behind law, usage, prejudice, interest and appetitethe traffic stood intrenched and held its seat of power.
At last, in the waning years of the first century of our nation'sexistence, their failing hope in man died utterly, and with another anddeeper and more despairing cry, the women of our land sent up theirvoices to God. Not now saying "O Lord, how long!" but "Lord, come to ourhelp against the mighty!"
What followed is history. The first result of this utter abandonment ofall hope in moral suasion or legal force, and of a turning to God inprayer and faith, was that strange, intense, impulsive movement known asthe "Woman's Crusade."
BEGINNING OF THE CRUSADE.
Let us briefly give the story of its initiation late in the month ofDecember, 1873. Dr. Dio Lewis, in a lecture which he had been engaged todeliver at Hillsboro, Ohio, related how, forty years before, his piousmother, the wife of a drunkard, who was struggling to feed, clothe andeducate her five helpless children, went, with other women who had asimilar sorrow with her own, to the tavern-keeper who sold theirhusbands drink, and, kneeling down in his bar-room, prayed with and forhim, and besought him to abandon a business that was cursing hisneighbors and bringing want and suffering into their homes. Theirprayers and entreaties prevailed. After telling this story of hismother, the lecturer asked all the women present who were willing tofollow her example to rise, and in response, nearly the entire audiencearose. A meeting was then called for the next morning, to be held in thePresbyterian church.
Dr. Lewis was a guest at the old mansion of Ex-Governor Trimble, fatherof Mrs. E.J. Thompson, a most cultivated, devoted Christian woman,mother of eight children. She was not present at the lecture, but"prepared," as she writes, "as those who watch for the morning, for thefirst gray light upon this dark night of sorrow. Few comments were madein our house," she continues, "upon this new line of policy until afterbreakfast the next morning, when, just as we gathered about thehearth-stone, my daughter Mary said, very gently: 'Mother, will you gothe meeting this morning?' Hesitatingly I replied: 'I don't know yetwhat I shall do.' My husband, fully appreciating the responsibility ofthe moment, said: 'Children, let us leave your mother alone; for youknow where she goes with all vexed questions;' and pointing to the oldfamily Bible, left the room. The awful responsibility of the step that Imust needs next take was wonderfully relieved by thought of the 'cloudypillar' and 'parted waters' of the past; hence, with confidence, I wasabout turning my eye of faith 'up to the hills,' from whence had comemy help, when, in response to a gentle tap at my door, I met my dearMary, who, with her Bible in hand and tearful eyes, said: 'Mother, Iopened to Psalm cxlvi., and I believe it is for you.' She withdrew and Isat down to read the wonderful message from God. As I read what I had sooften read before, the Spirit so strangely 'took of the things of God,'and showed me new meanings, I no longer hesitated, but, in the strengththus imparted, started to the scene of action.
"Upon entering the church, I was startled to find myself chosen asleader. The old Bible was taken down from the desk, and Psalm cxlvi.read. Mrs. General McDowell, by request, led in prayer, and, althoughshe had never before heard her own voice in a public prayer, on thisoccasion 'the tongue of fire' sat upon her, and all were deeplyaffected. Mrs. Cowden, our Methodist minister's wife, was then requestedto sing to a familiar air--
"'Give to the winds thy fears! Hope, and be undismayed; God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears: He will lift up thy head.'
"And while thus engaged, the women (seventy-five in number) fell in line,two and two, and proceeded first to the drug stores and then to thehotels and saloons."
Thus began this memorable Crusade, which was maintained in Hillsboro forover six months, during which time the saloons were visited almostdaily.
Within two days, the women of Washington Court-House, a neighboringtown, felt the inspiration of their sisters, and inaugurated themovement there. A description of what was done at this place will affordthe reader a clear impression of the way in which the "Crusaders"worked, and the results that followed their efforts. We quote from theaccount given by Mrs. M.V. Ustick:
"After an hour of prayer, forty-four women filed slowly and solemnlydown the aisle and started forth upon their strange mission, with fearand trembling, while the male portion of the audience remained at churchto pray from the success of this new undertaking; the tolling of thechurch-bell keeping time to the solemn march of the women, as theywended their way to the first drug store on the list (the number ofplaces within the city limits where intoxicating drinks were sold wasfourteen--eleven saloons and three drug stores). Here, as in everyplace, they entered singing, every woman taking up the sacred strain asshe crossed the threshold. This was followed by the reading of theappeal and prayer, and then earnest pleading to desist from theirsoul-destroying traffic and to sign the dealers' pledge. Thus, all theday long, going from place to place, without stopping even for dinner orlunch, till five o'clock, meeting with no marked success; but invariablycourtesy was extended to them.
"The next day an increased number of women went forth, leaving the menin the church to pray all day long. On this day the contest reallybegan, and at the first place the doors were found locked. With heartsfull of compassion, the women knelt in the snow upon the pavement toplead for the Divine influence upon the heart of the liquor-dealer, andthere held their first street prayer-meeting. The Sabbath was devoted toa union mass-meeting. Monday, December 29th, is one long to beremembered in Washington as the day on which occurred the firstsurrender ever made by a liquor-dealer of his stock of liquors of everykind and variety to the women, in answer to their prayers andentreaties, and by them poured into the street. Nearly a thousand men,women and children witnessed the mingling of beer, ale, wine and whisky,as they filled the gutters and were drunk up by the earth, while bellswere ringing, men and boys shouting, and women singing and praying toGod, who had given the victory.
"On the fourth day, the campaign reached its height; the town beingfilled with visitors from all parts of the country and adjoiningvillages. Another public surrender and another pouring into the streetof a larger stock of liquors than on the day before, and more intenseexcitement and enthusiasm. In eight days all the saloons, eleven innumber, had been closed, and the three drug stores pledged to sell onlyon prescription.
"Early in the third week the discouraging intelligence came that a newman had taken out license to sell liquor in one of the deserted saloons,and that he was backed by a whisky house in Cincinnati to the amount offive thousand dollars to break down this movement. On Wednesday, 14th ofJanuary, the whisky was unloaded at his room. About forty women were onthe ground and followed the liquor in, and remained holding anuninterrupted prayer-meeting all day and until eleven o'clock at night.The next day--bitterly cold--was spent in the same place and manner,without fire or chairs, two hours of that time the women being lockedin, while the proprietor was off attending a trial. On the followingday, the coldest of the winter of 1874, the women were locked out, andremained on the street holding religious services all day long. Nextmorning a tabernacle was built in the street just in front of the house,and was occupied for the double purpose of watching and praying throughthe day; but before night the sheriff closed the saloon, and theproprietor surrendered. A short time afterwards, on a dying bed, thisfour-day's liquor-dealer sent for some of these women, telling themtheir songs and prayers had never ceased to ring in his ears, and urgingthem to pray again in his behalf; so he passed away."
From this beginning the new temperance movement increased and spreadwith a marvelous rapidity. The incidents attendant on the progress ofthe "Crusade" were often of a novel and exciting character. Such aninterference with their business was not to be tolerated by the liquormen; and they soon began to organize for defense and retaliation. Theynot only had the law on their side, but in many cases, theadministrators of the law. Yet it often happened, in consequence oftheir reckless violations of statutes made to limit and regulate thetraffic, that dealers found themselves without standing in the courts,or entangled in the meshes of the very laws they had invoked forprotection.
In the smaller towns the movement was, for a time, almost irresistible;and in many of them the drink traffic ceased altogether. But when itstruck the larger cities, it met with impediments, against which it beatviolently for awhile, but without the force to bear them down. Our spacewill not permit us to more than glance at some of the incidentsattendant on this singular crusade. The excitement that followed itsinauguration in the large city of Cleveland was intense. It is thusdescribed by Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton in her history of the Woman's Crusade,to which we have already referred:
HOW THE CRUSADERS WERE TREATED.
"The question was constantly asked: 'Will the women of a conservativecity of one hundred and fifty thousand go upon the street as apraying-band?' The liquor-dealers said: 'Send committees of two or threeand we will talk with them; but coming in a body to pray with us brandsour business as disreputable.' The time came when the Master seemed tocall for a mightier power to bear upon the liquor traffic, and a companyof heroic women, many of them the wives of prominent clergymen, led byMrs. W.A. Ingham, said: 'Here am I; the Lord's will be done.'
"On the third day of the street work, the whisky and beer interestseemed to have awakened to a full consciousness of the situation.Drinkers, dealers and roughs gathered in large numbers on the street towait for the praying women. A mob, headed by an organization of brewers,rushed upon them, kicking them, striking them with their fists andhitting them with brickbats. The women were locked in a store away fromthe infuriated mob, who, on the arrival of a stronger body of police,were dispersed, cursing and yelling as they went. The next day, takingtheir lives in their hands, a larger company of women went out, andsomewhat similar scenes were enacted. Meantime, public meetings, calledin the churches, were so crowded that standing room could not be found.The clergy, as one man, came to the front. Business men left theirstores and shops, ministers their studies, and a thousand manly men wentout to defend the praying women. The military companies were ordered tobe in readiness, resting on their arms; the police force was increased,and the liquor interest soon made to feel that the city was not underits control. The mob never again tried its power. For three months, withscarcely a day's exception, the praying-bands, sometimes with twenty ineach, working in various parts of the city; sometimes with five hundred,quietly and silently, two by two, forming a procession over a quarter ofa mile in length, followed by scores in carriages, who could not bearthe long walks, went from saloon to saloon, holding services where theproprietors were willing, and in warehouses which were thrown open tothem, or in vacant lots near by, when they were unwilling. Men took offtheir hats, and often wept as the long procession went by. Littlechildren gathered close to the singers, and catching the words, sangthem months afterwards in their dingy hovels. Haggard women bent theirheads as they murmured with unutterable sadness, 'You've come too lateto save my boy or my husband.' Many saloon-keepers gave up theirbusiness and never resumed it. Many who had lost all hope because of theappetite which bound them, heard from woman's lips the glad tidings offreedom in Christ, and accepted the liberty of the Gospel."
In many other places the crusaders met with violence from exasperatedliquor-dealers and their brutish associates. A pail of cold water wasthrown into the face of a woman in Clyde, Ohio, as she knelt praying infront of a saloon. Dirty water was thrown by pailfuls over the women atNorwalk. At Columbus, a saloon-keeper assaulted one of the praying-band,injuring her seriously. In Cincinnati, forty-three women were arrestedby the authorities for praying in the street and lodged in jail. InBellefontaine, a large liquor-dealer declared that if the praying-bandvisited him he would use powder and lead; but the women, undeterred byhis threat, sang and prayed in front of his saloon every day for a week,in spite of the insults and noisy interferences of himself andcustomers. At the end of that time the man made his appearance at amass-meeting and signed the pledge; and on the following Sundayattended church for the first time in five years.
DECLINE OF THE CRUSADING SPIRIT.
From Ohio the excitement soon spread to other Western States, and thenpassed east and south, until it was felt in nearly every State in theUnion; but it did not gain force by extension. To the sober,second-thought of those who had, in singleness of heart,self-consecration and trust in God, thrown themselves into this workbecause they believed that they were drawn of the Spirit, came theperception of other, better and more orderly ways of accomplishing thegood they sought. If God were, indeed, with them--if it was His Divinework of saving human souls upon which they had entered, He would leadthem into the right ways, if they were but willing to walk therein. Ofthis there came to them a deep assurance; and in the great calm thatfell after the rush and excitement and wild confusion of that firstmovement against the enemy, they heard the voice of God calling to themstill. And, as they hearkened, waiting to be led, and willing to obey,light came, and they saw more clearly. Not by swift, impetuous impulse,but through organization and slow progression was the victory to be won.
In the language of Frances E. Willard, in her history of "The Woman'sNational Christian Temperance Union," to be found in the Centennialtemperance volume: "The women who went forth by an impulse sudden,irresistible, divine, to pray in the saloons, became convinced, as weeksand months passed by, that theirs was to be no easily-won victory. Theenemy was rich beyond their power to comprehend. He had upon his sidethe majesty of the law, the trickery of politics and the leaguedstrength of that almost invincible pair--appetite, avarice. He waspersistent, too, as fate; determined to fight it out on that line to thelast dollar of his enormous treasure-house and the last ounce of hispower. But these women of the Crusade believed in God, and in themselvesas among His appointed instruments to destroy the rum-power in America.They loved Christ's cause; they loved the native land that had been somindful of them; they loved their sweet and sacred homes; and so it cameabout that, though, they had gone forth only as skirmishers, they soonfell into line of battle; though they had ignorantly hoped to take theenemy by a sudden assault, they buckled on the armor for the longcampaign. The woman's praying-bands, earnest, impetuous, inspired,became the woman's temperance unions, firm, patient, persevering. Thepraying-bands were without leadership, save that which inevitablyresults from 'the survival of the fittest;' the woman's unions areregularly officered in the usual way. They first wrought their grandpioneer work in sublime indifference to prescribed forms ofprocedure--'so say we all of us' being the spirit of 'motions' oftenmade, seconded and carried by the chair, while the assembled womennodded their earnest acquiescence; the second are possessed of good,strong constitutions (with by-laws annexed), and follow the order ofbusiness with a dutiful regard to parliamentary usage. In the first,women who had never lifted up their voices in their own churchprayer-meetings stood before thousands and 'spoke as they were moved;'in the second, these same women with added experience, and a host ofothers who have since enlisted, impress the public thought andconscience by utterances carefully considered. The praying-bands, hopingfor immediate victory, pressed their members into incessant service; thewoman's unions, aware that the battle is to be a long one, ask only forsuch help as can be given consistently with other duties."
As the result of this intelligent effort at effective organization bythe women who inaugurated and were prominent in the "Crusade," we have"The Woman's National Christian Temperance Union," with its auxiliaryand local unions in nearly every State; one of the most efficientagencies in the practical work of temperance reform which the countryhas yet seen.