St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-03-08
1llistelfanu.
,,sT GLIMPSE OF THE GREAT Pc
Triton.

NJ he suburb OF Evanston, ILL.,, max
ing picture suggestive Of peace and
prosperity, as we stopped at the
home of Mrs. {. X. Shuman, the
maker" OF the Great Petition. To
look upon the scene as viewed from
he path leading to Mrs. Shuman's
home, there was little apparent need
for the voyage of the great Petition,
for there was no visible sign of such
, curse as the drink traffic in this
Prohibition town.
Mrs. Shuman had just finished her
last work upon the gigantic docu-
ment, and was waiting for it to be
boxed and carried away. In pile
near by the five great rolls at our
feet lay the belated sheets that had
come in that morning, and while we
were regretting that even these
could not be added, the postman
deposited another armful, which,
Mrs. Shuman, smiling, said was
small mail"
about how large has been your
average mani
People have been unusually active
in circulating the petitions lately,
and last week ] received on an aver
age seventy-6ve letters day."
ITO begin at the beginning-when
was the petition first circulated ?"
About twelve years ago-when
Miss Willard was in California"
And when did you take hold of
it,"
In June, 199o-almost 1--WE years
ago"
Can you estimate about what
proportion OF your time has been
spent in preparing the Petition ~
Yes, about two years, allowing
eight hours of work a day. The
number of hours can easily be esti-
mated"
lust then Mrs. Shuman showed US
the room where the FASTING or
mounting had been done. 1t was
her own coy dining room. The
long strips OF white cloth were laid
on paperhanger's board which in
turn rested on the dining table.
ION last Sunday" said Mrs. Shu-
man, 81 could not put it away as
usual and the family had hardly
room to move about,-but they were
very patient !"
About how much cloth have you
used" we asked, not being able to
guess how many yards there might
be coiled up at our feet.
II have used two thousand yards
otcloth and over four thousand yards
OF braid. This does not include the
material used in the three rolls made
IN England"
1t may seem strange request,
Mrs. Shuman, but might we see the
machine upon which you stitched
these four thousand yards?'
Very simply. this earnest, modest
woman answered, IL did it all by
hand" and we looked reverently at
the fingers that had stitched over
two miles of blue and red braid upon
the white body of the Petition.
What a task it has BEEN" was
our exclamation and the response
was both pathetic and humorous
Yes, indeed. Many times when
have been more tired than usual
have said wished that the mer
would behave themselves anC
then we would not have to do this
III the names were in one column u
would be much longer continued
Mrs. Shuman, bat you see they ar,
mounted three columns across"
hree times two thousand yard
OF names How many names i
that"
One million, one hundred ant
twenty.one thousand actual sigma
lures and six million attestations
therefore, the Petition really voice
the sentiment of over seven million
people"
Are any of these men ?"
One million names are those G
men who have Endorsed the Pet
ton"
Have you had any special al
rangement for names?"
Yes; this roll, which is the small
est in actual size, is really the mos
important one. Here are the name
OF dignitaries, men in authority
Members ofParliament, magistrates
ministers and clergymen 1.-THE distint
ton between these two is an Englis
one) secretaries and London count
councillors. Do you want tolook a
the names?" and giving deft pus
to the roll, Mrs. Shuman stretche
several yards of the Petition acros
the floor of her sunny parlor.
Interested to see whose name stoo
at the head of the list we looked an
there in the characteristic writing {
our Prohibition hero, stood the hor
ored and revered name of Neal Dow
and just below, another signatuI
from staunch hand-Joseph Cool
We had time only to jot down fe,
names that are world know; Arcl
deacon Farrar, John Whitehead, Sc
rotary Sunday Rest Association
London, Ballington Booth, Maud
Booth, William Hayes Ward, Henr
Wade Rogers, Judge Robert Ricl
George c. Lorimer, Ira D. Sanke..
and Khama, chief OF Bamanwat
Palapye Protectorate, South Afric'
Talking about Names" said Mr.