Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-06-20
WOMEN AND TEMPERANCE.
Mrs. Saxon vigorously Arraigns
the Rev. DIR. Ful!On.

EDITOR LEDGER-In your issue Of
Saturday, June 18th, is an article
from the New York Sun quoting the
Rev. DR.. Fulton on Drinking
Women" Painfully true as some Of
the Doctors statements are in the
bare facts, | read that article with a
sense of indignant shame that only a
protest can relieve. How little it can
change the opinion OF Others matters
not. From the first to the last line of
the column one would think that
women only were to blame for all he
drunkenness and ruin from righteous
Noah" down to the modern Congress
man.
He says with Napoleon, "What
does France need2" and answers,
"Mothers!' ut is natural the chill
dren should follow the mother, aud
not the father. The mother has her
way, and the children follow her.
Dress, frivolity and fashion occupy the
minds of women; they cease to care
for the education Of their sons" He
goes back to Eve in the garden, and
as the example then set, has ever been
contagious. He even blames women
for the men NOW being on strike for
higher wages. Says women spend
more for kid gloves alone than is re-
quired to support all our churches. A
Tad woman is an ally of the devil.
More men than women are arrested
for intoxicatiOu, but more women than
me drink. Yesterday | saw twenty
women sitting in a drinking saloon
drinking ale. If the mother drinks,
the child will drink. | know one
house where the beautiful daughter
is kept prisoner, for fear she will
drink and expose herself. 1t has
been truly said that if there were
no drinking there would be no
brothels. A young girl confessed to
him she had drank wine at saloon,
was drugged and ruined. Jennie
Cramer would have been living to-day
if she had not drank wine offered her
by a degraded woman. This evil
needs a remedy, but the remedy is
difficultto find. Woman aid is needed
in combating it. Young women
should unite themselves in CT
\ CARNATIONS, and refuse TO 20 with
men, young or old, who drink or use
tobacco"
Every word of the preceding is
quoted from that article. Not one
single line in condemnation of man, OF
his law or his power. Not one WORD
Of pity for woman, in her long life o.
ignorance, usurped and misused au
thority over her by every male rela'
tive. Not one faint reflection on tn,
fact that ever since Eve was heard of
every history, every poem, every writer
line, has taught woman her weakness
aud that she was made for man, hi
amusement, his pleasure, his posses
sion, his use. Not once does he reAec
that women tried to meet intemper
ance in men, and cried for help II
their pastor in vain. Not even an an
nouneement Of temperance lectur,
could be gotten in the pulpits. No
even room in Gods house to speal
against the evil.
l say it fearless Of contradiction
Twenty years and since theI
the church has profted by this yer!
drink evil. The faifest woman wa
sought for her beauty and wit, t,
preside at the punch bowl, in churcl
fairs" radiant Bachante," to sci
liquid poison to young men. TIL,
& rattle OF the dice box was hearC
clinking in these places, rafting for ;
church benefit. What priest or min
lister does say | speak falsely? Ever
now they blush as they recall thes,
scenes, that common decency com
, PEELED them to cease. Even now tn,
Christian ministry, in many instances
rail out upon women working in tn,
/ temperance cause.
| do not say this because / antago
nize che religion of Jesus; il is becaus
, | love the things Jesus taught. ant
, "despise the things that have made i
5 of none effect" that hurl back hi
charge upon women" or seek deepe
5 cause than he gives for this brandin
0 shame upon my sex. Woman ha
found that heredity is a mighty facto
1 in human character. The drinkin
Q women Of to-day have been fathere,
{ by drinking men. Is he an idiot, t
: think this holds no result in the coun
Of ages2
! Until within ten years past woman
y part in the drinking business ha
r been a protest in prayer, or a shrie