St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-09-25
The w. c. T. U.
IN ANNUAL SESSION AT MIDDLEBURY
LAST WEEK.


bury union an address of welcome was
read by Mrs. J. C. Houghton of Mid
llebury. The address of welcome on
behalf of the clergy of the town was
delivered by Rev. S. L. B. Speare, and
the response to the addresses was
made by l.. E. BlOdgett of Derby Line
in behalf of the state union.
Mrs. Middleton of Stanstead, P. O.,
president of the Quebec union, report
ed the progress of the work in Canada.
In the afternoon Mrs. J. l.. Perkins
of St. JOhnsbury, secretary for the
second congressional district, reported
that twenty eight new unions had been
organized during the year. The
printed matter sent out during the
wear had cost SI79.69-SI69 for print
ing and $1,000 for postage. Orange
county, which had three unions last
year, now has nine. Orleans has pos
sibly one new union, and keeps all old
ones. Windsor county has five unions,
where there were none before. In
Caledonia county good work has been
done, especially in st. JOhnsbury,
where the young ladies have been en-
listed. Washington county had
trebled its number of unions, Essex
county had increased and Windham
county had spread its arms out widely.
Mrs. w. H. Button of Middlebury
made the report of the years work in
the first district, for which she is sec
rotary. The reports of both Mrs. Psk
kins and Mrs. Button were long
exhaustive. From the latter tits
CLEANED that the year had also been
prosperous one in the first district,
there having been a gain of eighteen
unions in that district during the year.
The report of the treasurer, Mrs. E..
A. Seaver of Montpelier, showed that
the balance on hand at the end of last
year was S64.92, which was increased
by the receipts of the year from va
riOus sources to Sl640.42; disburse-
ments during the year Sl473,57 bal
ance in the treasury, Sl66.S5.
The exercises in the evening were in
the nature of Il cOmmemoratiOn of the
origin of the woman's crusade in the
west, ten years ago, the occasion be-
ing the tenth anniversary of the inau-
guration of the crusades. An histori-
cal address was delivered by Mrs. j.
l.. Perkins of ST. JOhnsbury, which,
the Burlington Free Press, says, was
"a very able and interesting effort"
Mrs. Perkins considered the historical
aspects of the temperance question
and traced its progress down to the
present time. In June, 1872, the cler-
gymen of Montpelier appealed to the
ladies of the town to do what they
could to stem the tide of intemperance
that was OVERLOOKING the town. The
ladies responded and went to work
and finally the work resulted in the for
nation of the Ladies' temperance assO-
citation. After the HillsbOro, Ohio, in
cident the ladies got DR.. bio Lewis to
Montpelier. The outcome of it all was
the founding of the state union in Feb
ruary, 1875. In 1880 there were about
thirty unions in the state, and four
county institutes were held i'll that
year. In 1881 there were thirty three
auxiliary unions added to the list,
making siXty-three in all. During the
two succeeding years the number of
unions did not materially increase, al
though good work was done in other
directions. The number of unions in
the state is now about 100, the past
year having been IL very prosperous
one in the matter of organizing new
unions.
Mrs. S. C. Cole of Burlington gave
an account of the organization of the
Burlington union in March, 1874, the
first local union in the state.
Mrs. ID. L. Fuller of Montpelier, SUI
perintendent of the department of Jail
and prison work, made her report on
Thursday morning. In the house OF
correction there had been 372 inmates
during the year. On July 3lst there
were 81 remaining there. At the Re
form school in Vergennes on the first
of July there were % inmates, rs boys
and II girls.
The report on unfermented wine,
made by Miss Park of Bennington
showed that unfermented wine was to
large extent displacing the use OF
fermented wine in the churches. Sum
ming the whole report up, 63 towns
and ll5 churches had been heard from
OF these churches % now use infer
mented wine, II fermented wine ana
6 use water.
Thursday afternoon Mrs. Greene
suggested that if it should prove feast.
BILE, state bulletin should be pub
lished. Mrs. j. l.. Perkins, secretary
heartily favored the proposition, anC
it was unanimously voted. Mrs NJ
l.. L. Hidden of Lyndon then presented
IA report on Sunday -school work. Six
ty-eight unions had reported the work
done for temperance in the Sunday
schools. A resolution indorsing tn,
candidates and platform of the prOhi
bitiOn convention at Pittsburg wa,
offered by Mrs. Hidden of Lyndon, whC
spoke heartily in favor of its passage
as did also Mrs. Smith of Philadelphia
Miss Park of Bennington opposed til,
motion. Mrs. Laughlin of Boston hearti
ly favored the passage of the resolu
ton. The speakers on both side
were heartily applauded. The tim,
being limited, debate was rather sum
marily closed and the question OH the
adoption of the resolution was put 10y
Il rising vote. The motion was car
ried by vote of 81 to 30 and the an.
nOuncement was greeted with grea
applause. A picture of st. John was
brought to the front of the platform
during the debate and was received
with applause and hand clippings. A
procession of children then marched
through the aisles of the hall, the first
banner in the procession containing
the inscription of "The Gospel accord,
ing to st. John" A motion to recon.
slider the vote on the resolution wa.
made and put and declared lost by al
emphatic vote.
The Thursday evening meeting wa:
opened by the singing of a hymn writ.
ten for the convention by Mrs. Esther
l.. Housh of BrattlebOro. Mrs. Nc.
Laughlin of Boston addressed the con
vention for over an hour, after which
Mrs. Greene read IL telegram from Cal.
ifornia, sent by Mrs. Beaumelle Stur.
tevant Peet, who as Mrs. Sturtevant
of Middlebury was formerly wei
known as an active member of til,