The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-11-12
Tempeance Column.
EDITED BY THE
W. O. T. u
EXTRACTS FROM THE ADDRESS OF
MISS WlLDAR


Treasurer. ...........Mrs. V. w. BLANCHARD
EXTRACTS FROM THE ADDRESS OF
MISS WiLLAR
before the National Convention of the
w. G. 7. u. Mt Boston.
Concluded.
PREVEN TIVE.
But l pass on to the preventive line
of work. Under this head are COM
monty grouped all counter-attractions
to the saloon-as Friendly Inns, Tenn
perance Restaurants, and Reading
Rooms, Offering the anti-treat and other
pledges, methods which have worked
90 we'll that we ought to follow them
more earnestly. But l shall venture, IN
this thoughtful presence, to urge a line
of preventive work that lies not upon
the surface but strikes straight to the
core of this whole sorrowful question.
We talk of the malign power of those
who drink, to perpetuate injurious So
cial customs and vicious legislation,
but we must begin to think and speak
of the UNNECESSARILY more blighting
power of such persons to perpetuate
themselves. The moderate drinkcr of
to-day is far more likely to have n
drunkard for his son or daughter than
the total abstinence man, and the moth
er, who during the period of pregnan-
| cy and lactatiou takes alchohol into
her system, on physicians perscrip-
ton or otherwise, has often brought an
unspeskable curse. upon the helpless
and the innocent. The awful laws of
cause and effect involved in the subjects
of hygiene, heredity, and prenatal in
fuences, involving the sacred right of
every child to be well born, ought to be
made the subjects of reverent investi
CATION BY us and the results sent out to
our local Unions everywhere. Meet
ings of women, to be addressed on this
subject, should be a feature of our
work; physicians should be enlisted
and educated to clearer discernment
of their duty. am proud of the rec
ord which women physicians are max
ing in lis regard 1t is the glory of
the womans temperance movement
that no "Mrs. Jellaby" has yet been at
tractcd to our ranks. But while the
beloved h,mc makers and home-keep-
ers give us scraps and fragments of
their time, finding in our Unions mob
Ter form of social interchange than in
the ceremonious calls and visits of the
olden time-these scraps and fragments
can be braided together into coherent
form by the steady fingers and def skill
of the once ''anxious and aimless," but
now CHEEKY and efficient, class which
we name sour Protestant Nuns"
CONVENTIONS,
If some of our national officers could
arrange to be present at each State, and
the more important District CoRven-
tons, it would, | am confident, greatly
tend toward unity in our methods and
spirit, and hope YOU may include this
among their specified duties.
REFLEX INFLUENCE OF THIS WORK UPON
THE WORKERS.
Having sui geyed the field to leari
what women are doing for the temper
ance cause, let us in conclusion, CRATE
fully consider what the temperate,
cause is doing for women. Slowly WI
are discovering, with happiness tn
mocketh speech, that this fight agains
homes bitierest enemy is Gods high
way of the exodus for half the race.
The medieval monastery taught mel
to dcspise the body; the modern hom
will teach them to reverence and enobl
it by Observation-Disclosures habits O
pure living. Steadily cherishing thi
thought, our temperance women vii
|. go beyond the study of the pititul effect
of the alcohol and nicotine habits upol
their sons, to the closel"related topic
of diet, dress. cleanliness, ventilation
l and exercise, as helps or hindrances no
to their sons only but to the best devc
I Iopmcmt of themselves. Indeed hay
: heard more iian one of them say alread
. that she never drank cup of water
partook of food, or provided Tor til
, ventilation of her slecping-room as
religious act until this temperance worI
had wrought into her thinning and he
conscience this reverent appreciation o
Gods other revelation v .1tten in on
members. Dress-makers and shoe
:. merchants are receiving instructions 70
more generous measurements and size
than formerly from temperance women
and a simpler style of diet and adorn
ing is among the reflex influences upor
, the home, for which We thank God ant
take courage. AS the work goes on
and our study of these solemn and beau
tifui truths of God grows deeper, tn,
dense ignorance and heart-breaking in
difference of both men and women t.
tho laws that govern that incomparabl,
sacrament, the genesis of an immorta
spirit, will be slowly overcome.
Beloved friends, among the reflex in
fluences by which this temperance worl
has broadencd my own outlook and Ell
riched my hopes, may speak of The
sweet and tender lesson OF your home
to me? have learned how such solemn
vicissitudes as come into the lives Of
women only, help to confirm your faitl
in the world invisible. The breath OF
eternity falls on your foreheads like
baptismal dew in those hours of unut
turable pain and danger when little
child is borne into your home. Your
steps lie along the borderland of this
closely-curtained world.
Sand palpitates the vail between
with breathings almost heard"
Into your eyes fall the mystic glances
of innocent aud trusting souls. Tender
little hands folded in prayer, and win
some voices saying
"Gentle Jesus. meek and mild,
Look upon little child"
have done more than all traditional re-
straints to keep your hearts loving and
unworldly. Always this will be so
always from manhood's more exterior
view of life's significance you are separ-
ated by the deepest and most sacred
experiences which human hearts ay
know. Tina. anchor holds. But God
has given the mother-hcsrt for purposes
of wider blessing to humanity than il
has dreamed as yet. Let us go gently
forward until tn t loving, faithful heart
shall be enthroned in the places of pow
err; until the queens of home are queens
indeed.