River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-01-21
lLetter read at the Pierce County w. c. T. U
held in River Falls, Oct IA, 1891
SAN JosE. a.. Oct. 5. ISQl.

comes from the Secretary of the River
Falls Union this plea, "Write US
something for our convention, do, :"
and the friendly spirit and loving
words of the writer brought so wildly
to mind the days gone by when l, too,
was "a worker in the dear old Union at
home, that felt that heart and pen
must respond. even though / could
only write letter 10 be read among
the many good papers of those who
are so we'll fitted to write and talk so
eloquently on the subjects so dear TO
the w. G. I. U. heart.
How / wish that / could be with
you in your meetings in my dear Riv-
er Falls home, and in spirit shall be,
and in fancy | shall hear the voices of
those dear ones of ours, that will give
you their good thoughts and opinions,
and in your deliberations as you plan
for future work. | shall say yea, ver-
lily, even as though | were there to
take part. and shall echo the prayer
of Ling Linn, "God bless us all, every
one," for am l not one of you stillt
AS my mind travels back over the
years, can scarcely reaiizc that near
ly three have passed since left the
work and came so far away, and how
many vacant chairs have been made
among us. From our Union has gone
dear Mrs. Farnsworth, whose bright,
pleasant face was always so inspiring,
whose hand was always ready to help
and whose heart was ever saying ''yea
and amen" to all one did, and Mrs.
Wadsworth, whose voice with that of
Auntie Roberts was always heard in
prayer.
Our State work brought me the first
news of the loss the Ellsworth Union
sustained by the death of the honored
Secretary of so many years, and of our
own Lizzie Woodwork, and notices of
other Unions tell of the loss of men,
bers, and a feeling OF sadness steals
over me at the thought OF our broken
ranks. In the home Union are many
very near and dear 70 me, and pray
God may keep them las in the hollow
of His hand" until we meet again.
As l write, memories of other days
come rushing over me and in fancy l
see our women as they worked in ev-
cry way TO keep open our reading
room, by socials, oyster suppers,
pumpkin-pie festivals, ETC., and the
lectures by Bro. Satterlee, Mrs. Wood
bridge, our State Pres, and others, and
the anxiety and feverish restlessness
of the workers until they were over
and pronounced las they always were)
a success.
We were always so eager to sa We all
the pennies that we often did our own
draying, and one pleasant picture
comes to me of two of the sisters go.
ing to one of their homes for a stove
on which TO cook our oysters, and
they came down street wheeling a
wheelbarrow on which was serenely
seated the aforesaid stove. l very
distinctly remember that ON reaching
Main street one sister very obstinately
refused to allow the other sister to
handle the vehicle, for which action
there seemed to be no apparent rea-
son, only that the JOURNAL office was
in the line of march and she might
have hoped for puff for her inde-
pendence. God bless her, she just as
ably edits the w. @. I. L. column as
she wheeled that stove into position
in the old reading room, and my hand
aches for one of the old time clasps
from the hand which did it.
1t was no uncommon sight in those
days to see small army of women
walking down Main street with
bushel basket of crockery between
them taking them back TO the mer-
chants who had so kindly loaned them,
receiving for their pay only the heart
felt thanks of lot of tired White
RibboneIs.
Another line of work was petitions,
and at one time there came from Ma.
tional headquarters one to the voter,
called 1.-THE voters pledge to the
home," asking them to pledge them
selves not to vote for an officer-town,
county, state or national-unless he
was publicly pledged to prohibition.
| think there were only three who
dared try to circulate this one, and
they having very radical temperance
men for husbands thought it would
be wise to present them at home be-
fore proceeding further. Well, l do
not know what tao of those husbands
said, but the third, after reading it
over, threw it down and said, "no, of
course won't sign that-you women
don't know what you want; the idea
of asking a man to pledge himself to
vote certain way a year aheadl"
Those petitions were never filled and
returned to headquarters, but tue
'sworld do move," and that third hus-
band is now one of the strongest, most
radical prohibitionist there is on this
coast, and he became one in less than
six months. The other two wiH be
some day. because they have solid pro-
hibitfon views.
From our Union came our Y,
through whose influence so many
young men signed the pledge and
donned the White Ribbon, one of
them bringing it over the mountains
to southern California where he went
to find health and found instead, his
gravel Who but remembers the young
christian brother, Grant billiard!
The Secretary also wrote of the at
tendance at regular meetings ''of the
old faithfuls." Mrs. Knowles, Mrs.
Roberts, Mrs. Burr and my dear old
mother, and their names bring their