West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1885-08-26

her indignation. Upon no heart
does the curse of this dreadful traf.
fic fall so crushingly as upon hers.
The iron enters her soul, and out
from her agony comes her holy an
ger against the traffic, and her un-
dying purpose to secure its over
throw. AS in. the bowels of the
earth, through long ages of unrest
and tempest, were nurtured the
forces, which, when let loose.
buried Pompeii and Herculaneum
for centuries, so in the bosom of
woman, nurtured by her wrongs
and sorrows, shall he born the
forces which in the near future
shall bury the demon of intemper-
ance forever. The child in the era
die shall catch the spirit Of the
mother. The scholar in the schools
shall drink it in with his tables
and conjugations. 1t shall spread
like a contagion. 1t shall sweep
as tempest. 1t shall prevail as
the sea. ,e.eo aal la 9u s1ll 2nT
"Your opinion is powerless," said
a politician to mother; "your hus-
band casts the ballot, and he is op-
posed to prohibition" Pointing to
her boys, she replied, HE has but
one vote and 1 have two, and these
are my vindication.' Said an agi.
tator to a school mistress, "You wo-
mon suffer many wrongs; you
should have the ballot" Turning
to her classes, she said. "Here are
sixty boys whom l am training to
do my voting" Yonder in Phila-
delphia is woman, beautiful as a
dream, true as a magnet. Night
after night she follows her beastly
husband into saloons, rank with the
| odors of perdition, and leads him
staggering home. He died, be.
queathing to her and to her child
rem nothing but the poverty, the
sorrows, and memories of drunk
ards home. Her first lesson to her
boys, repeated with almost every
breath, was hatred of the accursed
drink. To-day they are educated
lawyers. No Iintoxicant has ever
passed their lips and it is
safe to say that no compromise
with the rum power will ever
mar the harmony of their devotion
to the cause of prohibition. H
Woman as a political factor AS
well inquire concerning the sun as
a factor in vegetation. 1t is not
veget alton, but on it depends every
blade of grass, every Towering shrub
and tow ering oak and waving har-
vest. 1t paints the rose and decks
the lilly. 1t awakns the song of
birds, and it arrays the earth in
the splendors of an Eden. So,
woman, though not voter, more
and more dictates and directs the
ballots and makes safe and glorious
the privileges of the franchise. In
the last analysis forces are inyisi-
BILE. We see only effects. The &C
!, tors on the stage seem to be self
moving, but turn the kaleidoscope
and everywhere from the White
House to the howell, woman is be-
hind the screen and her hand is
upon the wires. -
Woman is then something more
than a John the Baptist, preparing
the way for one greater than her
self. She is more even than a
sower of precious seeds, the harvest
of which is to be in the bye and
/ bye. Her influence in the politics
of to day is beyond all weighing
5 and measuring. The husband
must return from the caucus and
council to his home. Other than
tricksters and cronies surround
him in the family circle. AS pri-
vate censor his wife claims from
} him an account of his stewardship.
She loves him too well to spare
him. The searching, quiet glance
, of those loving eyes becomes more
terrible than an army with ban
: ners. He dare not grieve the low
ing, trusting heart, and SO, the
woman at home often casts the bal
, lot by proxy. A few years ago, |
listened to an important discussion
in the legislature of neighboring
State. The question under consid-