The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1896-05-07
Mother SteWart.V

In PiketOn, Ohio, a monumental pile
should be raised to mark the spot in com
memOration Of the deeds of one who was
born there on April 25, 1916 In that
town Mrs. Eliza D. Stewart began her
eventful life. Motherless at three and
orphaned at twelve, the early lessons of
bereavement and endurance were fitting
her to feel for and sympathize with suf-
fering humanity.
From childhood her heart was ever
drawn to those who suffered, either in
body or mind, and she was ever most
happy when she could alleviate their dis
tresses. She has ever felt for the poor,
because she had learned the harder les
sons of self-support and self-sacrifce
Converted at fifteen, she began active
church work wherever duty called. Later
she took upon her the responsibilities of
Sunday school and common school teach
ing. She was an advocate of temperance
always, and began agitating reform before
the civil war. When that awful crisis in
national affairs came she was ready
Being of the Baldwin and CUTLERY line of
ancestry, the patriotic spirit was inher-
ent, and opportunity only was needed to
show that she loved her country next to
God. Husband and step-sons we're at the
front, while her energies were given to
helping with supplies, until all along the
line "the boys in blue" said, 'God bless
ri Tn, o1l ~,
church, missions. benevolences of every
kind, Sons of Temperance, Good Tenn
plaIs, Freedman's Aid, and to every eff
fort of reform, to help the poor or save
the erring, she gave a helping hand. If
she was not rich in purse, she could de-
wise means to accomplish her purpose.
"The crusade against rum" brought ev-
cry latent gift into recognition, and with
God, she went forth for home and human
ity against the hosts of rum. "a born
leader" and "the chosen of the Father, ="
for that great event, she proved true to
the trust, and often went where even her
friends feared to follow. During the cru
sade she spoke in hundred cities and
towns in the first six months, and often
two or three times at place. When
this movement was "crystalizing into the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union, !"
she was one Of the foremost in working
for it. Her historic home at Appletree
Place, Springfield, Ohio, has almost num-
berless proofs of her leading out in differs
ent lines of work.
Because of the great amount of work
she had been instrumental in having ac-
cOmplished in her city, the fist state w.
G. T. U. convention was called at that
place. In 1876 she carried the message
of the Crusade to Great Britain, and as a
result Of her work she had the satisfac-
tion of seeing, before she left the king
dom, the organization of the British Wo-
mems Temperance Association, of which
Lady Somerset is the leader to-day She
great work. She took the work into the
south, and with love and Christian char
ity, did more than any other woman to
dispel the bitterness remaining after the
civil strife. A newspaper sketch can
hardly cover a brief mention Of such an
eventful life. She has been an honored
Good Templar for years, and is an adopt
ed sister of the Sir Knights in the Ma
sonic Order. She was sworn in as assist
ant postmaster under Gen. Jackson's ad-
ministration in 1888, (63 years ago. She
stood all one night on picket duty, when
Morgan's 'guerrillas' went through south
ern Ohio. She took the place of lawyer
and plead the cases of druukards' wives
and children against the saloonists, and
never lost a case. She has often done
evangelistic work in the churches, and
many souls have been given her as sheaves
for the Master. But we desist, enumera-
tion is vain. Eighty full years of earnest
Christian toll can be known only when
''the mists have rolled away" and our
comprehension is enlarged and radiated
by the light of eternity.