The record-union., 1898-09-27
MRS. TEATS ON TEMPERANCE
LAST NIGHTS LECTURE TO
YOUNG MEN.
Evils Of Intoxicants Graphically
Set Forth-Meetings
To-Day.

Ihe meeting held last night at the
Seventh-street Methodist Church South,
| under the auspices Of the Women S
Christian Temperance Union, drew q
crowd that filed the building. Ar
rangements had been made to hold the
| meeting at the Plaza, but owing to
the dampness occasioned by recent
rains. it was concluded to hold it in
| doors
| The Native Sons Band was in at
tendance and played several airs be-
fore the church. Quite a crowd as
sembled, and Rev. J. B. Silcox, STEP
ping to the front, made stirring ap-
peal to those who had listened to the
music to step inside and hear some Of
the arguments which would be ad-
Vanced against the use Of alcoholic
drinks.
The meeting was presided over by
Mrs. Mary E. Teats, Superintendent
of the Purity branch Of the w. c. T.
u, and the address she delivered was
full of wit, vim and fire She spoke
directly to the young men present and
warned them that when they entered
saloons and drank liquor they, like Lot
of old, pitched their tents toward
Sodom''
She quoted statistics to show that
one family out Of every five in the
United States, furnishes a drunkard,
ana said that If some families escaped
others were doubled up on. With
such figures before her she said it
could not be wondered at that she hat
ed strong drink and the saloons. Hate,
she said, was a weak word for her to
II 1f
Her work had been largely among
the lowly, and she had visited the
places where sin and shame and crime
stalked openly. She had visited the
underground precincts in San Fran
cisco, and knew the misery and suffer-
ing to be found there New York and
San Francisco are the wickedest cities
in the world, and she had been in both
places. She had gone down into the
dark places where the liquor traffic had
cast its blight, and had tried to let sun
shine into lives that had known only
shadows. She had no sons Of her
own, but she sympathized with moth
ers who had, and she had hundreds Of
boys in the United States who called
her mother, because through her eff
forts they had been lifted out Of the
SAO06i 4AltO HIlCu tuSy HdQ Idllen.
Mrs. Teats told how she had sat bv
the side Of the poor wretch who rayed
with delirium tremens, and said that
while she was naturally tender and
averse to seeing others suffer. she
wished that every voter in the United
States could be afflicted with delirium
tremens for three months preceding
the election, in which case the saloon
would disappear.
In her prison work, the lecturer said.
she had found many diamond in the
rough. One Of "her boys convicted
Of an offense he would never have
dreamed of committing in his sober
senses, had reformed lived down the
stigma, and was elected to the Ohio
Legislature. She was not sure, how
ever, that the step between the peni-
tentiary and the Legislature was a
very broad one. She had been subse-
quently informed by an eminent divine
that her boy had gone through the
session as straight as a die, and had
spurned an offer of S1,5OO for his vote
for vicious bill. She thought, she
said, that term in the penitentiary
might reform other legislators.
Mrs. Teats parenthetically observed
sAAe't IL was ct SlSel plly TIC AiiCAi
of America -Christians-were not en-
dowed with the temperance proclivities
Of the bloody Turk, and said that with
such combination we would have a
truly great and glorious country.
In speaking of the "canteens' estab-
lished in the American army, she said
they would cause more damage to the
youth Of America, and waste and ruin
more precious lives than did all the
shot and shell that fell in and about
Santiago de Cuba
She claimed that intemperance is on
the increase, and quoted statistics to
prove that while thirty-six years ago
only one and one-half gallons of intox-
icants per capita per annum were con-
sumed in the United States, three years
ago over seventeen gallons per capita
had been disposed Of
Mrs. Teats closed her talk with a
strong appeal to the young men pres
ent to come forward and sign the
pledge.
Brief talks We're also made by Rev
Mr.. Vaughn, the pastor (who welcomed
the w. c. t. U. to the church), Rev
Mr.. Banks and Rev Mr. Schuck
AT 2:30 p. m. to-day there will be a
mothers meeting, and at 7:45 in the
evening Mrs. Teats viii speak on Ell
nance-God's 16 to II These meetings
will be held at the church at Four
teenth and K streets