The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-03-02
PETTICOAT PERTINACITY
The Fresh Water Wave Sweeping
East and West.
A CATHOLIC CRUSADE.
The Bold and the Timid Disagreeing on tht
Method Of Warfare.
WOMAN'S WILL AT WORK

The good men and true and the women of this
city who have seen ut to openly identify them
selves with the new temperance movement, it
would SEEM are not all OF one mind as to The best
way OF attacking the enemy There are among
them o few who believe that the best way to get
rid Of the temptations with which the young and
the old alike who are obviously inclined in the
metropolis is to attack the saloons by main force
OF devout prayer and repeated calls upon the pro-
pretors Of the various liquor dispensarIes. Still,
the fact has become apparent to most OF them
that what is an easy thing to do in a village
where Charley Beck or Irish Sullivan was made
to go down on his marrow bones, and, with tears
in his eyes, confess that he was unable to stand
the pressure Of prayer and exbortation any longer,
ID really an impossibility in city like New York.
The men like Dio Lewis who are doing all
they can to egg on the movement to put the
dramshops Of the city among the rabbish OF the
past are doubtless sincere. They mean well in
all they do, and, in their enthusiasm, they care
very little what advice they give to their
hearers, so long as the Lord is supposed
TO be on their side OF the fight. 1t
Is TACT that became evident yesterday
at the various meetings that were held about town
to favor the anti-iquor crusade that the leaders
Of the movement not OF one mind as to the best
way OF carrying on their warfare. Even Lewis
himself is a little in doubt; but while he is not a
pr0hibit0ry law man he frankly told HERALD
reporter yesterday at the Church OF the Strangers
that he believed women in praying bands could in
this city DO all the good that had been done in
Ohio so long they went about their work in dead
earnest. In answer to the question put to him
by the reporter whether or not the women might
be pulled up at some time with a sharp turn in
their ramblings about the saloons, in view OF the
fact that the liquor dealers are doing business
that they are by legal license allowed to carry on,
he remarked that law had nothing. to do with the
matter. He said, in fact that the women's right
In the matter of invading the saloons was not to
be considered at all, because they were
the sufferers from the liquor trade-the
wife, the mother and the sweetheart-and
had right Of self-deience, as it were,
to attack by any means in their gentle power
the men who were instrumental in making their
lives unhappy. AT the hours appointed yesterday,
afternoon and evening, the friends Of the new
movement met at DR.. Deems church. The failure
Of the meeting the night before at Association Hall
was made up for by crowd that was over
wheming in numbers-so large, in fact, that an
extra meeting had to be held in the Sun.
day school room in the Placement Of the
church, where exercises were conducted by
the Secretary Of the Temperance Society, Mr..
L. S. Cole The two meetings were enthusiastic
to wonderful degree, which probably may be &C.
counted for in great part by the fact that the
IOrity OF the audience was composed Of women.
Dio Lewis and Mr. McMullen, the President OF the
Temperance Society. were present and both de-
hvered earnest diScOurses. Mr.. Lewis was very
ielicitOus in his remarks, and gave his hearers
vivid picture OF the way the liquor trade was
knocked In the head in Ohio while he
out there. HIS appeals to the good and
the earnest workers in the temperance cause
were doubtless from the heart, and the
candid way IN which he answered every question
put to him as to the certain good and the probable
bad tnat legally might be made II the praying band
system wee tnaugurated, told plainly that he, at
least had entered the movement with an honest
purpose. DR.. Steele also made q most eloquent
address at the evening meeting and when
the hundreds who were present finally sep
arated 1t was discovered by MIR. Barker, q
strong temperance advocate, who went through
The crowd with petition asking Tor men
and women alike to take the pledge,
that 26S persons had determined to give up the
flowing bowl as a luxury. The two meetings were
marked by great excitement from beginning to
end, and doubtless did great deal OF good lOr the
temperance cause. They showed one thing how
ever, which Mr.. McMullen himself made certain by
3 positive statement, that no matter how many
meetings may be held, or how many prayers are
offered up for the destruction OF the liquor trade
there will not be any praying band system in the
general tournament The reason why Mr. McMul-
len did pot state. but 1t is generally believed that
the reluctance OF decent women in this city enter
into the contest as the Ohio women did, and the
fear OF the police order to ''mOve on" have had q
good deal to do with IL.