Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-08
Aiss CIelIeland's Temperance Opin

From tie Liciag Issue.
The following appeal to girls was writ
ten by Elizabeth Cleveland, the present
mistress of the White House, and was pub
lished in the YOUTHS Temperance Banner,
Feb. IS, 1882:
RESPONSIBILITY OF GIRLS IN TEMPER
ANCE WORK.
j. G. Holland wrote IN Mrs. Hayes al
bum these words: "Women only can make
wine drinking Questionable and heal the
nation of this curse"
What did DR.. Holland mean by women
only? Is it true that only women can
make wine drinking questionable and
heal the nation OF this curse? You and |
need to know this first, because if only we
women can do this thing, why it is an aw-
full responsibility upon us, each one of us
And if somebody else can do it, we, like
all the others, would like to give that
somebody else the job. Five years ago, at
Washington, Mrs. Hayes became mistress
of the White House, and il was for her.
and no one else, to say what the social at
mOsphere should be which surrounded
| her guests and how they should be enter
tanned at her house. Well, she did an I'M
heard-Of thing. She banished wine from
all her entertainments, with Just one eX-
ception. Secretary Evarts made fuss.
He was mortified. he could not endure
to have lord and lady English, count and
countess French, baron and baroness
! German come to the White House dinners
and have nothing fit for them to drink
not drop of pOisOn 1t was utterly
queer So Mrs. Hayes made one excep-
ton in favor of those great foreign high
nesses, and allowed wine upon her table
in their presence. But only for once
Her ce-high-souled woman that
she is-smOte her for that one little cow
ardly compromise with wrong. She could
better endure to have Secretary Evarts
and the Smiths ashamed of her than to be
ashamed Of herself. So she quietly and
! forever after prohibited wine from her
table, and cheerlully endured the lifted
eyebrows and shrugged shoulders of the
dIDlOmatics. British, French, Russian
all, and the little shOrt-lived hiss of flash
iOnable' society until that hiss turned to
a cheer, and fashionable society turned
around, like the spaniel it is, and trOtted
on behind Its mistress. 1t became I'M
fashionable to serve wine and offer wine
in fashionable society while Mrs. Hayes
was in the White House.
What Mrs. Hayes did in the White
House every woman can do in her own
nOme if she WILL If the girls who read
these words will each of them, all to-
gether, use their influence on the side
of temperance, they can make temper
ance fashionable where they ale. Will
you do it?
Gen. Grant does a manly thing in refus-
ing to drink wine everywhere and in all
society. IL is only a strong man who can
keep his wine glass upside dOwn-in this
case right side up tOO--while all the grand
people around him are slipping champagne
and toasting each other in sparkling
drinks. No one can tell how ''far this
little candle sheds its light" But no
man can do for fashion in society what
a woman can. 1t is women only, as DR..
Holland said.
wish some strong, bright angel stood
before you Just now, while you read, girls,
to flash before you, as no words Of mine
can, the power you possess to help or to
hinder the cause OF temperance, to make
you feel your responsibility, because you
are girls, in the matter; to shudder at its
weight, and to never cease trying to fulfill
it! Doubtless you have heard a great
deal about the value Of your smiles; but
do YOU know the value OF your frOwns? /
wish | could make YOU feel the value of
your frOwns and the importance of know
ing just what to trOwn upon. What a
man must do by blow a woman can do
10y frown. When the time comes that
the young man who now shares his time
in your society and the saloon, who jokes
about temperance in your presence, and
takes a glass socially now and then, is
made to feel that these things cannot be
if you are to be his companion at party,
ride or church; that good society cannot
tolerate these things IN its members; in
short, that this kind of man is untashiOn-
able and unpopular-then alcohol will
tremble on its throne and the huuor traf-
fic wall hide its cancerOus face.