The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-11-27

signs OF the times. A party which
at its first presidential election could
command 100000 votes, and which
at the second election in Ohio has
nearly doubled the votes of a year
ago, must command the attention of
the country, and its adherents may
no longer be called hot-headed
fanatics, but must be admitted to be
what they are, the best men of the
nation, laboring to overthrow the
greatest and most universal iniouity
of the present age.
On this our first anniversary, the
little w. Z. T. L. of the Hawaiian
Islands CONES together tonight with
no heroic tales, nor songs of victory.
Our right TO be exists rather in the
needs about us, than in any great
work achieved. The first suggestion
toward the formation of this Union,
was made by Miss Francis E. Will
lard, the beloved president of the
National Woman's Temperance
Union of America. Some three and
a half years ago, she wrote TO the
president of the Y. M. G. A. here.
inquiring about the condition of
temperance work in this country and
asking if it would not he possible to
organize a Woman's Christian Ten
perance Union here. The letter was
answered by one of the ladies, and
a correspondence ensued which re-
suited in the coming here a year ago
of Mrs. Mary G. Leavitt, of blessed
memory.
Our Union was undertaken with
many fears, and with great timidi,y.
We were all of us entirely inexper.
fenced in temperance work. With
feminine instinct we shrank from the
"cloud of witnesses" and the
publicity which would be involved.
The limited number of ladies in
our community whom we could de-
pend upon in such work, was already
overhurdened with work in other
societies. And yet-there seemed
to be so little aggressive temperance
activity, while Satan and his CO.
laborers were never more active.
Licensed and unlicensed saloons
were filling the land, and this Ha-
waiian people, for whose enlighten-
ment and salvation so many noble
lives have been spent, seemed to he
drifting away from all Christian in.
auences. And even our own sons
and brothers-were we sure they
were safe? Some wrecks of noble
manhood well known among US, and
Others struggling with an appetite
which might at any moment gain the
victory, made us tremble for our
very homes. And SO we said, "Wlth
Gods, help we will do the little we
can do" Some of the things which
we have done, my sisters have told
you. They canuot tell of the prayers
offered, of our growing interest in
the cause, and our increasing sense
of its Importance. The things we
wish we could do are more than we
can tell. l may, however, speak of a
few lines of work which we feel that
we must now vigorously pursue dur
ing the coming year.
We want to present the subject of
scientific temperance instruction be-
fore school boards and teachers. We
desire to present it on its own merits,
not asking consideration as favor
to ourselves; and we hope that
the subject which has met such
acceptance with educators and
legislators in America, may be
equally successful here.
We need more thoroughly orga-
nized effort to distribute temperance
literature, both in English and Ha-
waiian, in public places, in prisons
and police stations, at steamboat
landings, in hospitals, among sailors,
and wherever it may be available.
We want to see existing laws bet
ter enforced, and if possible to Sc
cure additional and improved laws
speedily.
We ought to have a band of hope,
or some similar society, among our
children; partly that they may be
taught to take "a decided stand upon
this great question while young, and
also that they who must so soon take
our places may lie much better in
formed, and thus more able to do
this work intelligently than their
parents have been.
We ought also to have in Homo
lulu a temperance lunch room, or
Friendly Inn, presided over by a
woman who would give bomelike
meal at reasonable price. Though
IT might involve some expense at
first, we are sure, from the expert
ence of others, that it would soon
become self-supporting and more,
and might ultimately increase to a
boarding and perhaps a lodging