The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-11-14

National w. G. 4. U. at St.
Louis Discusses Social Purity.
Many Speakers Say Boys and
Girls Should Be Instructed
ON DELICATE MATTERS
Early In Life to Insure Up
right Characters.
Sale of Liquor at Soldiers
Homes Opposed.

st. Louis, Nov. 14-Delegates to the
national W. c. T u. convention were
out early today At o'clock they at
tended a prayer meeting at Schuyler
memorial house led by Mrs. j. Trego OF
Ohio. national evangelist
When the second days session was
called to order at o'clock by Miss
Willard many of the delegates were not
in their seats They came in later,
however, and soon filled the body Of
the hall.
Dr. Mary Wood-Allen of Michigan. led
IN prayer, after which the minutes Of
yesterdays three sessions We're read
and approved. kilograms of greeting
We're read from Margaret Bottome of
New York; Hon G. W. Balm of Pauld-
ing, O., and Mrs J. K Barney of Provi-
dance, II. Il The reports Of department
superintendents which followed took up
the greater part of the mornings ses-
sion
Miss Winnie F. English Of Illinois, re-
ported on the work of her department
amnOg miners. 1t showed great progress
in the gold and silver regions of COlOra-
do, Washington, Utah. Idaho, Califor-
MIA and other western states as well a.
In the coal and mining districts of Illi-
nOis, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania.
The miners. she stated, showed great
interest IN the work being done for
them and received with eagerness such
white ribbon literature as could be fur
nished them
Katherine Lente Stevenson of Nassa-
chusetts who said it was the power be-
hind the throne Where the pulpit and
lecture forum reached thousands. the
press reached its millions daily. For
this reason she said, the work of the
daily papers should be carried on in
channels Of purity, Righteousness and
truth She spoke of the work done in
the circulation of w. c.. It. U. news
among the newspapers by the press as
soeiations and in other ways. and hop
ed that the time would come when each
secular paper mad its own w. G. T. II.
department editor In the future Mrs.
NJ b. HOrning of Chicago who has been
Mrs. StevensOn's associate viii have
charge of the press department.
Mrs. Ella M Thacher of New Jersey
spoke of the work among soldiers and
sailors Her department she said. was
n new one. but during the past wear
eleven state superintendents had been
appointed and the work was being car
ried on with much encouragement
among class Of people who the speak
er thought, badly needed it. She criti-
cised the selling of liquor at soldiers
homes and hoped that the canteen law
would be repealed
Mrs Caroline M WOOdard told Of her
labors among railroad men
Her report was supplemented by some
remarks Of Miss Jennie Smith of Mary
land, the noted railroad evangelist.
In addition the following superintend-
ents reported, Mrs. S A Morrison of
Michigan, on work in alSmhOuses; Mrs.
Jane M Kinney Michigan, penal and
refOrmatOry work; Miss f. W Green
wood. New York, evangelistic work;
Mrs f. Fl. ingalls,, St Louis, on marco
tics.
The purity conference of the national
w. c. T. Z. opened in the Second Pres
byterian church with devotional exer-
cises. led by Mrs. f. =. Britten.
After the services Mrs Dr. Mary
Wood Allen, the president, spoke of
purity in the home, and urged a cam
paign Of education among children as
the best means of insuring the health
of future generations Mrs Allen laid
stress on the necessity of a single moral
standard, and severely criticised the no
tiOn of having one standard for women
and another for men
Mrs. Helen Dickinson Hartford of Ore
gon told how she had trained her chill
dren in the great truths of life She
said that instead of keeping them in ig-
nOrance of the facts in nature, as she
had been until she was old enough to
marry. she led them by easy stages to
a knowledge of the truth. She told her
boy plain truths when he was IA years
old, and she expressed herself as high
" satisfied with the experiment.
Mrs Hartford. in her discussion of the
purity problem, said that she regarded
the men as being as good as the WO-
men. except that they had not been
trained as youths to d proper apprecia-
tion of purity She said that boys should
be taught that their acts will be felt in
their consequences by future genera
tiOns II this truth were spread syste-
maticalIy, Mrs Hartford believed such
could be accomplished for the better
ment of thousands yet unborn
AS an instance Of what follows the in
tempera nee of parents before their chill
dren are born. Mrs. Hartford instanced
the case of a helpless man whose father
is an eminent California lawyer The
sufferer is utterly deficient in physical
powers and has to have the constant at
tentiOn Of a servant.
Mrs. c. T. Cole of Mt Pleasant, Pa.
approved of the ideas of Mrs. Allen and
Mrs. Hartford, and made strong plea
for the education of children by their
parents in the truths of life. and not
Mrs. Cole paid a tribute TO the boys.and
declared that from her experience they
were in many instances better by ma
ture than the girls and less prone to
Mrs. Allen took up the objection oft
en- made to the instruction of children
in scientific facts that evil thoughts
may be put in the minds of the little
ones She declared that parents must
teach their children in order to antici-
pate the contamination which goes hand
in hand with cOmpaniOnship with other
Youngsters outside the home.
Mrs Allen told Of her work in Toledo.
where she inaugurated mothers meet
ings for the purpose of giving instruc-
ton in the best means of enlightening
Mrs. Allen said that she once visited
place where the standard of morality
among school children was much high
er than the average and she discovered
that il was due to the work of a teacher
who had gathered together the mothers
of the pupils and urged them to instruct
their children in the mysteries of life.
Mrs. Adams of Kansas asked Mrs
Hartford if she did not think she should
have instructed her boy in the mysteries