Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1885-10-31
W. c. 7. U, OF N. j.

r. u, of N. j., was held in Trenton,
Oct. 21sL, 22nd and 23rd. Seldom
does an assemblage of any kind meet
under circumstances more unfavorable
than did this one composed entirely of
women. The rain came down III tor
rents, flooding the streets, to a degree
which made the crossings almost i'm
passable But these unpropitious sur
roundings seemed to have no power to
keep the ladies away from the place of
meeting. Gossamers, overshoes and
umbrellas were in demand, and when
the Presidents gavel told the opening
hour of the Convention 200 delegates
were there to take the seats assigned
them and present their credentials,
They were seated by counties, their
places being marked by neat little
bannerettes, (the gift of Mrs. E. M.
Thatcher. of Florence which bore the
name of the county upon them. Bur-
lington Co. was quite near the front
and surrounded by delegations from
Burlington, Mt. Holly, Bordentown,
Florence and other adjacent towns,
we had very pleasant neighbors.
The opening devotional exercises
were led by Mrs. Mobiles of Atlantic
Highlands, State Vice Pres. who read
the hymns and Scripture, calling on
Miss Frances E. Willard, National
President, to lead in prayer.
Mrs. Caminade, of Trenton, gave the
address Of welcome in behalf the w. C..
L. U. and citizens of Trenton, and Dr.
Graw, welcomed the ladies in behalf of
the clergy in a few very excellent re-
marks, such as he always has ready for
any emergency. Mrs. Caminades
welcome was very cordial, and in COM
menting upon the situation, gave some
rather startling statistics. In her city,
our capital, there are thirty-five thou
sand inhabitants and two hundred and
eleven licensed dram shops. The beer
bill of Trenton was twenty eight thou
sand dollars in single week. She
thought it good missionary ground for
a week of earnest labor for these tenn
perance women-one saloon for every
165 persons This too in the city of
N. j. where our laws are made, where
license high and low enanate
The graceful and beautiful response
to these addresses Of welcome came
from Miss Mary Campbell, Pres. of
the Y. w. c. r. u, Of New Bruins
wick, charming Christian girl, whose
whole soul is engaged in temperance
work among the young.
Most of the morning session, after
these very impressive exercises, was
given to the appointment of commit
tees and the reading of the report of
the Supt. of Literature.
The address of the Pres. giving a
brief and comprehensive review of the
years work, was well received and ac-
knowledged with vote of thanks. The
reports of Cor. Sec. and Treas. followed
showing an increase unprecedented in
any previous year both numerical and
financial More than $4,000 has
been raised by the local unions for
their work and a little more than 81 900
for the state, $500 of the latter being
paid to the Nat. w. G. t U. as per
capita tax, leaving only 5000 to carry
on the years operations In listening
to the report of the Cor. Sec, the Bev-
erly delegation were especially graft
fed to know that the work of our I'M
ion compared favorably with others
True, in some places the membership
was larger but, in proportion to our.
numbers, the work done and money
raised was fully up to the average.
One hundred and two unions with a
paying membership of thirty.two hun.
bred while the honorary members
swell the member to about five thous-
and. Miss Willard was present during
the day and was frequently appealed
to and her decisions always met with
general approval. She is a small,
auburn haired, blue eyed woman of
forty-two, most bland and prepossess-
ing manners, gentle and genial, always
approachable, ready to help all,
thoughly imbued with the spirit of her
work, believing in God and in woman,
trusting in the Righteousness of the
cause, the advocates, she believes vic
tory over the'rum foe, is very near.
As a speaker, she stands without a
peer in this country! In manner
modest and womanly in language,
chaste and beautiful. and in argument
unanswerable. But her highest, best,
characteristics is her patient, loving
christian spirit. Under the greatest
injustice and misrepresentation during
the months just past, which any public
parsonage has ever been subjected to,
this gentle, patient woman has shown
to the world that Divine Grace in the
human heart, can and does silence the
voice of resentment, and so nobly has
she borne herself, in this period of Sc
we're trial. That she is dearer to the
hearts of temperance workers to-day,
than ever before,-she is made almost
an idol with them! Her popularity
among them is shown by the over
whelming majority by which she been
elected to her Office, during the past
five years. Her address in Green St.
Church on Wednesday evening was a
mastery effort and listened to by near
ly 1000 persons.
The most important feature of morn
ing work was the election of officers,
Mrs. Downs, (who is so frequently here
as to be almost one of us) was re-elect-