West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1885-11-04
CENTENNIAL TEMPERANCE
CONFERENCE.
BY E. D. MUND.

from an excellent report of the re-
cent Centennial Conference, in the
Religious Telescope.--ED.]
Miss Frances E. Willard presided
on Thursday morning, the second
day of the conference. She proved
the capacity of woman to control
large and excited audiences, for it
fell to her lot to preside during the
most disorderly and turbulent
scenes of the conference. She pre-
served her placid dignity through
it all, and held the reins of the as.
sembly with a hand firm as ada
mant. The first part of the morn
ing session was devoted to historic
al papers on the various temper
ance organizations of the land. The
programme promised nothing stir
ring, but from the beginning sur
prises were the order of the hour.
One of the remarkable features
of the occasion was the breadth
and liberality of the Catholics.
For the first time in the history of
the temperance work they formally
recognized their Protestant breth-
rem as co-workers, not only by at
tendance, but by participation.
John H. Campbell, Esq, of Phila-
delphia, president of the local Or
ganization, yielded his place to
Rev. Father w. H. Clearly, of Wis
consin, President of the Catholic
Total Abstinence Union of Ameri-
ca, who was received with great
applause and waving of handker-
chiefs, the conference rising in his
honor. Father Cleary then pre-
sented the record of his organiza-
ton. 1t has membership of forty
thousand pledged abstainers, scat
tered all over the country. 1t is,
however, not the only temperance
organization under the care of the
Catholic church; for besides the
many local organizations there are
numerous Father Matthews socie-
ties. He emphasized very strik-
ingly the necessity of making all
temperance work for the individu-
al thoroughly religious in charac-
ter, and the futility of seeking to
reform drunkards without first
rousing in them religious motives
His remarks were full of good
things and evoked continued ap-
plause again and again. But
when he declared that politics had
been abandoned to the saloon long
enough, and that the time had
come for the Christian church to
control at least the spirit of poll
tics, the conference made the stat
ue of st. George shake on it's pc
destal with their almost tumultous
applause. In that remark he
struck the keynote of the days
proceedings, from which the con-
ference struggled in vain to es-
cape.
The ovation given Father Cleary
was not 80 mucn personal as eX-
pressive of the appreciation of the
conference of the unwonted liber-
ality of their Catholic co-workers.
But when rising from a sick-bed
George A. Stuart, a lifelong tenn
perance worker and the hero of
the Christian Commission, was led
forward totteringly to the platform,
true-hearted, spontaneous out
burst shook the house that to the
writer seemed almost sufficient re-
ward for a lifetime of humane
work. His earnest words thrilled
the audience as he looked back
over the past and then turned the
eye of Faith to the future Of state
and national prohibition which he
was not likely himself to enjoy.
Space fails me to refer in detail
to the reports made in the after
noon from the denominations of
the land. John H. Campbell, a
Catholic, presided and called the
roster of the Protestant denomina-
tions. DR.. Rush was claimed by
both the Presbyterians and Univer-
salists. There was a gentle rival
ry between the representatives as
tn who cOuld present the finest re-