The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1893-10-14
AN ELOQUENT ADDRESS,
Mrs Geo. A. Blake's Response to the Address
of Welcome at the Late Annual Conven-
ton of the Maryland W. c. T. u,
Held at Annapolis.

/ SO
the Nineteenth Annual Session of
the Maryland w. c. L. u. recently
met in the Chamber OF the House of
Delegates at Annapolis, when Mrs
Blake, Vice President of the Cecil
County Union, made the following
admirable address:
MADAM PRESIDENT:-Oa behalf
of my sister visiting delegates |
desire to thank you for the warmth
of this generous welcome. Had not
open doors and lavish hospitality of
the good people of this city already
made us feel at home in your midst,
these kind words would more than
do so. 1t shall be our aim, as your
guests during our brief stay among
you to merit in some measure the
esteem in which you hold US as the
champions OF noble cause. Unlike
most of the visitors who throng your
beautiful city we are not politicians,
do not know how to run primaries
have no influence with the lobby,
and strangest of all want no offices.
We have no axes to grind, no hobby
to ride, no votes to sell or give, nor
do we ask your influence for ''pulr'
with the managers, you are therefore
safe from all button holing and
other methods; of coddling and need
have no fears of "women's rigts, as
it appears that politically We haven't
any.
We trust therefore that the smile
of welcome with which you now re-
ceive rs may not widen into the
/ deeper smile Of JOY when we depart
As the tribes came up to Jerusalem
the centre of their hopes, to catch in
spiration for victory in the name of
Jehovah, SO do we flock to this
Capital cily to make known to the
people of this State the woes we seek
to succor, the burdens we seek to
| remove. We come commissioned by
a great constituency. The babe in its
cradle, the child at the knee, inno'
cent youth and helpless old age,
| have sent us here TO protect their
detenceless State. Men yielding to
to the tempter and men dying in his
grasp have bidden us accomplish
their release We bring the cause OF
heart and home, OF God and right,
the orphans cry, the widows tear.
the drunkard's moan, to us sadly
speak and cry for Heavens aid.
Could we shut out their piteous
appeal2 Could we deny their PLAIN
tive cry? No, never, and retain the
blessed name of women. We have
come with might and main, with
mind and heart to fight the battle OF
deliverance from humanity's dead
liest foe.
How fortunate, how fitting indeed
that we meet in these Legislature
Halls. Here we're forged the chains
of License which have bound us
hand and foot. Here too, shall be
wrought the hammer of Prohibition
to strike and make us free, Hither
has come the heart of greed seeking
for further liberty to traffic in hu
man blood; hither too shall come
the heart of love seeking relief for
helpless woe; here the rumseller
the distiller and brewer have sought
the shield of law to protect their ne
tarious gain; here too, shall reach
the voices OF their victims, crying,
piteously from hovel, from prison
from the scaffold, from the grave
and from the pit Of doom itself, for
deliverance from the bondage ! o.
this death. Oh, brothers, Oh, sisters
would to night that they who shall
fill these seats the coming winter, tc
make and unmake laws that shall
effect the eternal destinies of thous
ands of souls could be moved a:
you and | have been when we hav,
seen the brightest and dearest, ever
darling boys, fond fathers, loving
husbands aye, and erstwhile faith
tul wives and mothers, fall before
the fell destroyer, Rum. Oh, is tha
not cause enough to make them vote
against the best license law the i'm
agination of men ever devised. How
far distant | ask you, is the da,
when men in Legislating upon tn
subject OF Temperance, shall b.
moved not by the effect on part
not from paltry cowardice or tn
hope OF applause OF iucre; but iron
a stern and righteous determinatio
that they whose business it is t