Why and how: a hand book for the use of the W.C.T. unions in Canada
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Addie Chisholm >> Why and how: a hand book for the use of the W.C.T. unions in Canada
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WHY AND HOW:
A HAND-BOOK FOR THE USE OF
THE W. C. T. UNIONS IN CANADA.
By MRS. ADDIE CHISHOLM,
PRESIDENT ONTARIO W. C. T. U.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
SUFFERING
CHAPTER II.
AWAKENING
CHAPTER III.
ORGANIZATION AND WORK
CHAPTER IV.
OUR CANADIAN W. C. T. U.
CHAPTER V.
WHY WOMEN SHOULD WORK
CHAPTER VI.
HOW WOMEN MAY WORK
CHAPTER VII.
HOW TO FORM A W. C. T. U.
CHAPTER VIII.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
CHAPTER IX.
YOUNG WOMEN'S WORK
CHAPTER X.
A DREAM
CHAPTER XI.
CONCLUSION
CONSTITUTION
BY-LAWS
ORDER OF BUSINESS
THE TEMPERANCE HAND-BOOK
FOR THE USE OF
THE W. C. T. UNIONS
OF CANADA.
CHAPTER I.
SUFFERING.
It has been said "Woman has a capacity for suffering," and during
all the years of the past, in all countries and among all nations,
woman has been proving this true. Since the dark day when "there
stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother," and there came to that
mother's heart the agony of bereavement, the human disappointment and
pangs, whose torture only the Father God could understand,--from that
day till the present, disappointment, trial and sorrow have entered
largely into the life and experience of women. But of all clouds that
have darkened their lives and among all sharp swords that have
pierced their hearts, the cloud of the liquor traffic has been the
darkest, and its blade the keenest. Myriads of women have looked with
anguish on sacrifices offered and loved ones slain, not to save
humanity or to draw men nearer to God, but destroyed at the hands of
a tyrant as relentless as death, and as pitiless.
In heathen countries, children have been left to float out of
existence, an offering to the gods, while the mother has turned sadly
and sorrowfully away; in Christian countries, children have drifted
with the tide of social customs, or inherited appetites for strong
drink, out of the boundless sea of evil and wretchedness, while women
have wept and wondered, have pondered and prayed.
Mothers have seen their sons, strong and brave in their young
manhood, venture on this stream of rapid currents, have watched them
with sad eyes, and called to them in pleading and terrified tones, as
they were carried on and on by the rushing waters. At last, it was
too late even for mother's love to save, and they were drawn into
that terrible vortex, from which there is so seldom escape,
despairing hands have reached out for help, the cry of the soul has
been an appeal for mercy, and another loved one has gone down a
victim to the nation's greed and a sacrifice to the nation's sin.
Out from a sheltered, sunshiny home has gone the tender, trusting
daughter, in her glad girlhood, her heart all aglow with true
hallowed love for him, by whose side she has chosen to spend the
coming years. The future has looked so bright, as together they have
thought, and planned, and built their airy castles; but the clouds
have come and passed, and come again and more frequently, till, at
length, the young wife has sat continually in their shadow, the
brightness and the sunshine all gone out of her life, as her husband
has yielded to the influence of strong drink. She has realized that
she was a drunkard's wife, her place by a drunkard's side, and, with
white lips and breaking heart, she has moaned out her prayer to God
for deliverance. And who will say that the fond mother, sitting in
the old bright home, has not felt every pang, every blow that reached
the daughter's heart as she saw all that the dear one in loyalty to
her husband would fain have concealed. This experience comes home to
most of us, and we easily recall not one case but many in which wives
and daughters have suffered at the hands of this cruel destroyer.
Homes have been invaded, not with noise of drums and clash of arms,
but silently as by the stealthy step of death. Their purity and peace
have been destroyed, their idols laid in the dust, and the place that
was designed to be a sanctuary for humanity, a rest from the
weariness of life and a refuge from its storms, has become, instead,
a dreary abode of waiting and watching, of enduring and weeping,
often a very Gethsemane to patient loving souls. In time the domestic
life of families is destroyed by this enemy, so strong, cruel and
determined; in many cases, the elegant abode gives place to a poorer
one; the comfortable dwelling is exchanged for all that is
comfortless and forbidding, and there is no longer a home. Cardinal
Manning, in his address at the temperance congress recently held in
England, says: "As the foundation they laid deep in the earth was the
solid basis of social and political peace, so the domestic life of
millions of our people is the foundation of the whole order of our
commonwealth. I charge upon this great traffic nine-tenths of the
misery and the destroyed and wrecked homes of our joyless people."
What is true in England is also true in our young country. The "Boys'
Homes" and "Girls' Homes" in our large cities furnish evidence of our
destroyed homes. It is safe to say that nine-tenths of the inmates of
these institutions are there provided with a home at the expense of
the public, because strong drink has robbed them of the love and care
of father and mother, or both, and taken from their innocent
childhood all the delights and happiness of home life. As women, age
after age, beheld their loved ones thus taken from them, and saw
their homes in the hands of this destroyer, it was not strange that
at last there arose from their hearts a cry almost of despair. It was
a cry that entered into the ear of God and brought a dim sense of
coming help, a consciousness that God knew and cared and had
something better in reserve. The plough of pain had torn up the
fallow soil of woman's heart; the harrow of suffering had mellowed,
and tears of agony, wept for ages, had moistened it; now the seed of
thoughtful and determined purpose was ready to be sown, out of which
was to spring the plentiful harvest of action.
Behind were the long dreary wastes of agony, marked with the myriad
grave mounds of lost loved ones, over which woman's face had bowed
low, while the heart within was breaking; before stretched the wide
unknown, full of possibilities. Should it unfold the same sad story
of patient, passive' suffering, or grow bright with the burnished
armor and glad with the hopeful songs of women gathering to the
battle, filed against the fell destroyer of their hopes? As the
Spirit of God brooded over the primeval void and brought therefrom
order, light, beauty and life, so the spirit of suffering brooded
above the torn and saddened heart of womanhood, till at last the
angel of awakening appeared, and the heart that had dumbly, patiently
endured, stirred to the impulse of defence, and opened to the thought
of freedom. The hour had struck, the call had come. The "arrow had
been hidden in God's quiver," waiting His time. When His ringers
guide to the mark, what can the arrow do but fulfil its mission?
CHAPTER II.
AWAKENING.
In the history of oppressed nations, it has often happened that
years of suffering have but kindled the desire for freedom and kept
it alive, fanned by every fresh act of cruelty and injustice, until,
at last, it has burst forth in a fire, which has destroyed the wrong,
illuminated the right, and the oppressed people have gone free.
In individual lives, there are not wanting those who have come
through the white heat of affliction, purified and made free from the
bitterness and selfishness of earth and crowned with a noble purpose--
to relieve the sufferings of others, to be, in a sense, God's voice,
God's messenger to the helpless, and to be in His hands for the
deliverance of the oppressed and enslaved. So in this temperance
cause. For years women had asked, as Paul had asked, "Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do?" and it had seemed that the answer came only in
the closer pressing to their lips of the cup of suffering. As they
still pleaded, spreading the white wings of prayer over their dear
ones, suddenly there came to them the inspiration, which led to the
crusade, an inspiration from the heart of God.
In years past, indications had not been wanting of some such
possible uprising, as drops precede the full shower, for, in 1856, at
Rockport, Mass., some 200 women had assembled and, proceeding to
several places where intoxicating liquor was sold, had entered and
destroyed the liquor they found. That was an impulse born of
suffering, and finding expression in action impulsive and unusual;
but, not being followed up by organization, it soon ended. In 1869,
in Rutland, Vt., and at Clyde, Ohio, the women organized to suppress
the liquor traffic, visiting saloons, securing pledges, holding
prayer meetings, etc., but the great movement, which has given to
woman new power in this temperance work, and opened up to her new
avenues of usefulness, so long closed, is known as the Woman's
Crusade. It began about the same time in three different places in
the month of December, 1873, Fredonia, N. Y., Hillsboro, Ohio, and
Washington Court House, Ohio, were the first scenes of action. There
the first contests were waged and the first victories won. Timid
Christian women, who had never heard their own voices in public
prayer, were suddenly called to the front and a message given them of
God. Dr. Dio Lewis visited Hillsboro in December, 1873, and there
gave two lectures, one of them a lecture on temperance, in which he
referred to his mother's struggles as a drunkard's wife, doing her
best to support her family, and finally, with a few other praying
women, visiting the saloon-keeper who sold liquor to her husband, and
pleading with him to give up his business, with which request he, at
last, complied. At the close of the lecture, Dr. Lewis called upon
all, who were willing to follow his mother's example, to rise, an
invitation to which about fifty ladies responded. Many gentlemen in
the audience promised to stand by them. A meeting was held the
following morning in the Presbyterian church, at which Mrs. Judge
Thomson was chosen leader. After much prayer and consultation, the
ladies started out in procession, seventy-five in number, and
proceeded, singing the familiar hymn, "Give to the winds thy fears,"
first to the drug stores, and then to the hotels and saloons, which
they fearlessly entered, asking permission to sing and pray. In
nearly every case, the permission was given during that first day,
and a few saloon-keepers yielded to the entreaties of these earnest
Christian women, and promised to give up selling liquor. As the days
went by, the thirteen drinking places of the town were reduced to
three, while in Washington Court House, Ohio, in one week, yielding
to the persistent appeals of the "praying women," all the drinking
places were closed, the three drug stores selling only on
prescription. Here, while the ladies went in bands from place to
place, meeting often with insult and abuse now that the saloon-keepers
had recovered from their first surprise, the gentlemen remained in the
church to pray. As the fresh toll of the bell announced that another
prayer had ascended to heaven in their behalf and for their success
and protection, these women were encouraged and became strong to do
all that they felt had been committed to them. After a time their
approach to a saloon or hotel was the signal for the doors to be
locked and entrance was denied them. Then, outside, on the public
pavement, in the snow of a bitterly cold December, they knelt and
prayed for the saloon-keeper and his family, that he might see his
error and be persuaded to do right, for those who were in the habit of
frequenting that saloon, and for the downfall of the liquor traffic.
It was not very long before the liquor-sellers found that prayer, even
outside their premises and outside of locked doors, was having its
effect, and in order to put a stop to it, they lodged complaints
against the women, the burden of which was that they were obstructing
the highway and interrupting business. Off the sidewalks, therefore,
the women went, and in deeper snows, and with more dauntless faith,
prayed on, singing, occasionally, a song of praise and thanksgiving.
To a few cities belongs the disgrace of imprisoning some of these
noble Christian women, yet in all this, "a form like unto the Son of
Man" was with them, and the unseen presence was their stay. They were
soon released, however, and found that the news of their arrest and
imprisonment had only increased the interest of all and the anxiety
of many concerning this work. Requests for assistance came from other
cities and States, to which the ladies of Hillsboro and other places
responded, till in almost all of the Northern States there was a
common crusade against the liquor traffic. For about six months this
remarkable movement lasted, meeting with varied success and closing
saloons and bars of hotels in 250 towns and villages.
CHAPTER III.
ORGANIZATION AND WORK.
IN THE UNITED STATES.
Gradually these active workers in the temperance cause, conscious of
having received a mighty power, a special baptism at the hands of
God, for a special work, began to look for something abiding in
organization when this unusual movement should have ceased, something
in which all Christian women could unite for work in this special
cause. In the winter and spring of 1873-74 this wonderful movement,
known as "The Woman's Crusade," took place. In August of the same
year many of these crusaders were gathered together at Chatauqua, to
spend a few days there in the tented grove, on the occasion of the
First National S. S. Assembly. As they talked over the work done, and
the work which the world still had need of, the thought came to one
of the band of the possibility of uniting all the women of that land
in temperance effort. Acting on this suggestion steps were at once
taken to form such an association. A public meeting was held on the
grounds, afterwards a prayer and a business meeting, at which latter
a committee of organization was formed, and a circular letter
authorized, asking "The Woman's Temperance League" of the North to
hold conventions for the purpose of electing delegates to an
organizing convention, to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 18th, 19th
and 20th, 1874. At this convention in November Mrs. Jennie F. Willing
presided, three hundred delegates and visitors were present, and amid
much enthusiasm the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union took
its place with the hosts of the Lord, to lead on to victory. Its
first officers were: President, Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer; Vice-
Presidents, one from every State; Rec. Sec., Mrs. Mary C. Johnson,
N.Y.; Cor. Sec., Miss Frances Willard; Treasurer, Mrs. W. A. Ingham,
Ohio. A constitution and by-laws were adopted, the preamble to which
read as follows:
"The Christian women of this nation, conscious of the increasing
evils, and appalled at the dangers and tendencies of intemperance,
believe it has become their duty, under the providence of God, to
unite their efforts for its extinction."
This is the thought that since then has nerved the W. C. T. U. women
in every city, town and village of the neighboring States,--
"Appalled at the tendencies and dangers of intemperance," to combat
this evil they have given their time and strength, their influence
and their prayers.
For five years Mrs. Wittenmeyer presided over this society of
earnest workers, and during this time contributed greatly to its
success by her wise and loving counsel, endearing herself to the
hearts of all.
In 1879 Miss Frances Willard was chosen president, and under her
able administration and remarkable skill in leadership 100,000 women
organized in unions are now marching onward to the goal of
prohibition, bearing with them the hopes and prayers of many who
would be in that procession if they could. We know that in the houses
of many, even of the liquor sellers, sit pure women whose prayers go
up quietly, but none the less sincerely, and with no less faith than
those of the white ribboned army, for the downfall of the liquor
traffic, and for the triumph of the gospel of peace and goodwill to
man.
It was largely through the effort of the W. C. T. U. women that the
State of Kansas, on Nov. 2nd 1880, adopted the amendment to the
constitution of the state, prohibiting the manufacture or sale of all
intoxicating liquors, except for mechanical or medicinal purposes.
In Ohio, in 1883, the whole campaign for the constitutional
amendment was planned and directed by the president of the W. C. T.
U., Mrs. Mary Woodbridge. In this she was ably assisted by all the W.
C. T. U. women throughout the state. Such was the earnestness and
spirit of sacrifice manifested that when, at one convention, the
question of finance was discussed, it was unanimously decided that
they would _go without gloves_ for a certain time, that they
might have more money for this campaign. It is worth while for us to
observe here that, in this contest, great importance was attached to
the distribution of temperance literature. We are told that leaflets,
cards, and circulars went out "by the bushel." Printed appeals were
sent to all corporations and companies of any size, sermons were
preached on the subject not on Sunday only, but in some places on
every day of the week. On the day of the vote the ladies visited the
polls, furnishing lunches to all, and gave out the ballots for the
amendment. Over $20,000 was raised in that State during that year for
the work undertaken by the W.C.T.U. Although they were not successful
in gaining the amendment, the returns show that in many counties
fraudulent count had been made, and it is believed by those in a
position to know that an honest count would have carried the
amendment by a large majority. As it was it received 323,167 votes,
while the license amendment received but 98,050. A majority of any
votes cast at the general election was necessary for adoption. In
Florida the passage of the Local Option Bill was due, as one of their
legislators testifies, to the influence of the W.C.T.U.
For five years the women of Iowa, under the leadership of Mrs. J,
Ellen Foster, had planned, pleaded and petitioned against the
licensed system of that state. On the 27th June, 1882, the people
adopted the constitutional prohibition amendment by a majority of
29,759, the Supreme Court however declared that on account of some
irregularity in the legislative steps of the passage of the
amendment, it was of no effect and void. In March 1884, however, the
Iowa Legislature passed a prohibiting law, which came into force on
July 4th of the same year. And so another victory has been gained by
the temperance women of the United States, and prohibition has been
secured to another important state of the Union.
For years the N.W.C.T.U. has been pressing for the insertion of one
temperance lesson per quarter in the International series of Sabbath-
school lessons, but without success.
At the recent I.S.S. Convention, which met in Louisville, Ky.,
yielding to the appeal so eloquently urged by Miss Willard, the
convention recommended that the committee on preparation of lessons
be instructed to include the quarterly temperance lesson in their
series.
Temperance text books have been added to the books of the public
schools in Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. This has
been done under the management of Mrs. Mary Hunt, aided by the
presidents of the different State Unions. This victory was the result
of a systematic plan laid down by the N.W.C.T.U., the principal
points of which are mentioned.
The N.W.C.T.U. has also established at Chicago, a national organ,
"The Union Signal," edited by Mrs. Mary B. Willard, which is
considered to be one of the best conducted papers known. These are
some of the successes gained by this society of active Christian
women, the contemplation of which led J. B. Gough to declare that
"after forty years of observation, he believed the W.C.T.U, was doing
more real, solid work, than all other temperance societies combined."
The work of the N.W.C.T.U. is classed as follows, each department
being under the control of an active lady superintendent:--
Heredity and Hygiene.
Scientific Temperance Instruction.
Sunday-school Work.
Juvenile Work.
Free Kindergartens.
Temperance Literature.
Suppression of Impure Literature.
Relation of Intemperance to Capital and Labor.
Influencing the press--"Signal Service" work.
Conference with Influential Bodies.
Inducing Physicians not to Prescribe Alcoholic Stimulants.
Efforts to Overthrow the Tobacco Habit.
Suppression of the Social Evil.
Evangelistic.
Prison and Police Stations.
Work among Railroad Employees, Soldiers and Sailors.
Use of the Unfermented Juice of the Grape at the Lord's Table.
Young Woman's Work.
Parlor Meetings.
Kitchen Gardens.
Flower Mission.
State and County Fairs.
Legislature and Petitions.
Franchise.
Southern Work.
Work among Foreigners.
Work on the Pacific Coast.
Work among the Colored People of the North.
National Organization.
IN GREAT BRITAIN.
The influence of the "Woman's Crusade," and subsequently of the
N.W.C.T.U., spread rapidly to other countries and led to the
foundation of Women's Christian Temperance Unions in Great Britain,
Canada, Australia, India and Japan.
In Dundee, Scotland, the first British W.C.T.U. was formed. As the
news of the whiskey war in America reached the women of that city,
they, too, resolved to do something in this work. Under the
leadership of Mrs. M. E. Parker, they obtained, in six days, the
names of 9,800 women of the city to a petition, asking that no fresh
licenses be granted and that many be withdrawn. Marching in
procession to the Court House, they presented their petition, a scene
never before witnessed in Great Britain. Four hundred members were
immediately enrolled as members of a working society, and the
influence of the Dundee W.C.T.U. was felt far and near. Afterwards, a
British Woman's Temperance Association was formed, of which Mrs.
Parker was president. This Association now has, in England, 195
branches, with a membership of more than 10,000; in Scotland, fifty
branches; in Ireland, about the same number, and a few also in Wales.
Their work has been to use their influence in every possible way, in
favor of temperance, with the medical profession, with Parliament,
corporations and companies, and with ministers of religion. In 1883,
they presented a petition in favor of Sunday closing, containing
184,000 signatures. They have issued a cookery book, and a number of
miscellaneous books and papers. Mrs. Lucas, sister of Hon. John
Bright, has been president of this society for the past few years,
and her stirring appeals to the women of England, have roused many to
a sense of their responsibility, and kept them thoroughly alive and
earnest in the work. Mrs. Lucas' meetings, public as well as others,
are always well attended, and the greatest interest is manifested by
her audiences in the subject which she presents with much tenderness
and power. Other lady speakers, from the ranks of the W.C.T.U. in
England, do good service in addressing meetings, both public and
private, and the urgent invitations for help in forming societies are
so numerous, that the constant demand is for more workers. One of the
great needs of the Association has been (as the secretary stated from
year to year) a paid organizer, whose time should be at the disposal
of the society to visit the various branches and places where new
Unions might be formed.
The officers of this Association are in part:--President, Mrs.
Lucas, No. 7 Charlotte street, Bradford Square, London, Eng.;
Secretary, Mrs. Bradley, 16 Memorial Hall, Farringdon. W. London.
Besides this society there are other associations in England
composed of women only, who are doing good work for temperance,
notably "The Liverpool Ladies' Temperance Association" organized in
1864. The special object of this society is "To reclaim women of
every grade of society, who have fallen into habits of intemperance,
and to prevent those from falling who are already in circumstances of
danger, by visitation, watchful care, and by every means which can be
devised; also to spread Temperance principles in every possible way."
They have six or more Missionaries constantly at work, and a "General
Superintendent, who acts as secretary, and, with the assistance of
ladies of the Committee, takes charge of special cases, which from
the social position of the parties, require to be carefully and
delicately dealt with." This society is doing its work more quietly,
perhaps, than many others, but a work very much needed, and a service
requiring much thought and patience, Christian sympathy and tact.
President, Mrs. D. Parrel, 24 Waverley Road, Sefton Park, Liverpool,
Eng.; Secretary, Mrs. H. Spring, Office--No. 2 Y.M.C.A. Buildings, 60
Mount Pleasant, Liverpool.