The Press., 1894-02-15
w. C. T. U. DEPARTMENT.
 After Twenty Years.
BY MRS. L. DOWNS oUIeLEY. @


 and again has my heart thrilled at the wonderful story so often told. I have found myself almost wishing I had been born in time to have been crusader, un- til remember that we face new issues and greater responsibilities that demand the courage of these brave hearted wo- men.
 | The president of this meeting has asked me to say a word of the future, but first I ask for a word of the past. Since the hour of the crusade this mighty organiza- tion has swept on and on with majestic tread, until to-day the Woman's Christian lsTemperance Union sits among the moral forces of the earth, crowned and accepted. l The years have listened to it's steady march ot progress. To the south it sped with the olive branch of peace over the fostering sore of war, over anger and heart lbreak it tied knot of white ribbon-and tforgot. Dusky hands from the islands of the sea beckoned to it. Far out the na- Ftions of the earth leaned to bid it vel come, until to-day there are bands of rib bon white around the world. What means it ? That behind the Lord Jesus Christ in this battle against an evil, legalized and perpetuated by the manhood of this na- tion, and which mortgages for hell those that sleep in our cradles today, there stands an army of white-souled women, two hundred thousand strong. Surely it must be that this splendid force is mar shalled for nothing short of victory. Yet after twenty years of prayer and work and agony there are no signs of victory. The principles we advocate do not get in- to organic law. The church slumbers on. The vast majority of men and women are indifferent to the cause we plead. The legalized saloon, born of the devil, legal ized by the state, consented to by the church of God, still throttles with what seems to be the grip of death the con- science of the Christian manhood of this nation.
 To-day this vast army of tireless women pause, and across the vista of twenty Iyears, with it's success and failure, across Ethe graves of millions legally slain, look Ting into the eyes of innocent childhood, ask: What of the future? To-day white souled women around the world kneel be- fore God in agony for our nations sin. To-day, after twenty years of failure, we are asked to reconsecrate our lives to this l work-the abolition of the liquor traffic ! to bring our youth, our time, our money, four all, to a forlorn hope, for there isn't enough manhood left in this nation to put down the liquor traffic, and if the experi- ence of twenty years has taught anything it has taught this. All these years God has been teaching us that the liquor traf- fic can only be outlawed at the ballot box, and that until we speak there our work is vain. In the crusade He placed before our intelligence fact. What is it? That as those timed, great-hearted women with undaunted courage, marched out of that Ohio church, with prayer in their hearts and songs upon their lips, to close the sa- loon, God heard and answered, and in less than fifty days every saloon was closed in 25O towns and villages; closed in an- swer to the prayers of the women, and in full blast to-day by the votes of men. Twenty years of prayer, and sorrow, and failure to teach us that our first work should be for the emancipation of woman. From the milestone of to-day can read nothing else for the future of this mighty | organization if it meets the demands of the times. There is enough sentiment in this country to-day to wrest victory from present conditions through womans' bal | lot, and the Woman's Christian Temper ance Union is equipped as is no organiza- tion upon the face of the earth to ''crowd conditions" that shall bring quickly the long -looked-for signs of victory.
 This battle is ours. The church of God could emancipate women in one single year, but it will not. Not only has it never lifted a finger toward fighting this most tremendous of all national sins, but it not yet quite sure that it a sin.
 When then does the consecration of to- | We are done with the old days. We face new issues, greater responsibilities and greater opportunities. Will we, meet the demands of the new day? This we know, loon prayer meeting, In the evolution o1 his plan for us we are past that. What He does ask is, conservation that shall make us pray for, work for, fight for, and close the saloon at the ballot box. Then shall the stone be rolled away; then shall Jesus Christ rise in the politics of this nation, and not until then. Let us face the issue of to-day; cry nightly unto EGod; light again the crusade fires, and Esend ringing adown the years to meet the coming womanhood of the new century Give to the winds thy fears.
 "Oh! mother, do stay at home. Let the men drink if they want to-" Thus ii was not until the fall of 1891 that this talented, forceful and fearless writer was born White Ribboner-now over tive years old. Then, at the heavenly birth of her sainted mother, Mrs. Sarah ]. c
 Downs, the '.Stonewall" Jackson of state land nation, this daughter paused to "take up the work where the mother left it., taking mothers experience and word fol it. Deeds, not years, tell. The second |year Mrs. Quigley was made president oi East Orange Union. N. J., which had 6 membership of six. This union now nun1
 bers 113 members. The past year it raised and spent $1500 (with the exception o something like $150 for rent) for litera ture and public meetings A weak union
 The solid phalanx of truths presented in that grand paper of hers, "Thae Public Meeting Why P contains enough of ara T Al