Sword and shield. (Clinton, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-05-15
w G. II. u.
This department is the official organ of
the Women's Christian Temperance I'm
ion of Mississippi, and is conducted by
MRS. CHATTIE BEALL.
West Point, Mississippi.
To the w. 9. r. U.

In attempting to organize the girls of
Mississippi into Y. w. C. L. u | have
been met on many sides by one and the
same protesting cry from the faithful
w. G.. L. Z. members whom have ap-
pealed to for cooperation. They say:
Eve cant spare the girls; we have very
few young women who are interested,
and it will take them away from us.
Now if that really happened, it would
indeed be an insuperable objection, and
| would be among the first to cry, down
with the Us; but practical experiments
have shown that the thing don't work
that way
Dear Sisters, all Of US White ribbon
women in this broad land, stand united
heart to heart and hand to hand in this
desperate struggle to save our homes;
now if the organization Of the girls into
Union of their own, took them out Of
the common field or in any way hinder
ed the prosecution Of that purpose which
to many of us is the most cherished Of
of our lives; if this were the case, don't
YOU know, friends, that the system OF
the Young Women's Unions would new
er have been inaugurated and would
surely never have grown and spread and
thriven and widened its bounds as it
has done with the sanctioning smile Of
our National President, and under the
grand. wide banner of our National w.
G. T. Z?
No; friends, it does not rob you ofthe
girls already interested, but it serves to
enlist other young women, who without
it would have never come in, or not for
many years, perhaps, while they wasted
the best years of their lives which might
all have been spent in their Masters
vineyard. Perhaps I cannot do better
thar si=s y;s6r .ls3 laa1tt-s,y-efsaT,Gelassa
bus Union.
As | wrote you before, we organized
with just five members, which was the
entire force Of Columbus temperance
workers among the girls. There was
good deal of opposition to US from some
very wise heads. I'VE have so few girls
in our town, they said, Just see how
few we have in our w. c. L. U. Had
we not better concentrate our strength?
But in spite of this we began with the
fire and went to work, and friends, af-
ter our last meeting we counted over
our long roll and found that from the
five who had been in the work in the
fall, the Lord had raised up fifty-six.
Was it better to keep the original five at
work in the same corner OF the held
with their mothers, or draw into the
harvest which is so white, those fifty-one
who in all these years had never been
inside the w. C. 7. u rooms? Ifyour
town is really too small to allow of two
temperance organizations, you can resort
to the plan of a Young ladies Branch"
which is explained in the Suggestions
for Y. w. G. T. US" which | shall be
SO glad to send with all necessary in
structions to any one that will write me-
A live, working ~" will be blessing
to any town that will stir around and
get one.
Now just one word to those "Y's" al
ready in existence and those that are to
be. No organization can live or thrive
without vigorous, earnest work; keep
busy all the time; give each member
something to do either personally or as
a member of a committee. | am very
fond Of committees, by the way. Let
no good scheme be too little or too big
for you to take hold Of | hope that by
this time next year, we will have live
Y. w. C. T. U. in every town in this
State and not till then will that prayer
be answered. which is heavy on the
hearts of many of us to-day. Lord,
give us in thy Temperance work the
Mississippi girls.
PAssIE FENTON MCCABE,
State Supt Y. w. G. T. u.