Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-22
PATH ANNIYE ERSARY.
Christian Temperance Crusaders
Fittingly Observe 1t.
A Notable Celebration in Grace Church
Rev. Dr. Gould, Senator Roe and
others Delivered Addresses.

Twenty-four years ago Saturday the
Christian Temperance Crusaders were
organized in this city to wage war
against the drink habit, and to assist
those who had fallen through indul-
gence in the habit. The anniversary
was fittingly observed Monday by the
ladies who are still in the organization,
and their friends, The celebration took
place in Grace Church, and was attend
ed by many prominent clergymen and
laymen, all of whom spoke in glowing
terms of the work of the organization.
The Crusaders were composed of many
prominent ladies of the city who were
jealous for the welfare of the youth;
and, in their warfare against the sa-
looms, they invaded the strongholds of
the demon drink, and went into the sa-
looms, where, by prayer and entreaty,
many a young man was snatched from
the road to destruction and shown the
better life.
In more recent years the Crusaders
have not carried on as active battle,
but they have kept up their organiza-
ton, and meet each month at the home
of one of the members. One of the
grand monuments of the good done by
the organization is the Worcester Re
form Club, which was organized little
more than % years ago, through the
efforts of the Crusaders. At the Cele-
bration Monday, the members of the
Reform Club were guests, and some of
the members spoke in the evening, at
testing to the good results of the Cru
saders efforts. If the members of the
organization are proud of their record,
they may be pardoned, for few organi-
cations have done as much for the bet
terment of their brothers, and hardly
any would endure such hardships and
annoyances to accomplish their purpose
as the brave women who made up this
band. The organization had its incep-
ton at Grace Church. March 10, 1874;
ard. therefore, it was fitting that the
observance of the anniversary should
take place in the edifce
The members and few invited guests
assembled in the church early in the
afternoon, and for a short time re-
ception was held. The special guests
were: Mrs. Harrington, county presi-
dent of the Worcester County South w
c. T. u; Mrs. f. J. Ware president;
Mrs. E. d, Knight, vice pl ident; and
Mrs. Percy Sweet, treasurer of the local
w. C. T. u
At the afternoon meeting. the pro-
gram consisted of short exercises led by
different members, and an address by
Rev. George II. Gould, D. D. THE lead
ers of the exercises We're: Mother"
Mary Clifford, Mrs. NJ. A. Howard. Mrs
H. G. Grafton and Mrs. NJ. j. Churchill
Special mention was made at the meet
ing of one of the members whose sister
died Sunday. The address of Rev. Dr.
Gould was listened to with considerable
interest. The full text of the address
is as follows:
out like star points on the background
of my memory, after a residence of 28
Years In this city, [ unhesitatingly rank
that event as most salient and notable
whose anniversary these noble women
are now celebrating.-the woman's cru
sade movement of 1874
AS a phenomenon of personal courage
and of moral grandeur, that movement
eclipses in my judgment anything else
| have ever witnessed in Worcester.
God made man and woman to live to-
gether and to work together cit is
not good for man to be alone" said
God at the beginning, and / reverently
add with equal emphasis: ''It is not
good for woman to be alone" The two
should mutually support and supple
ment each other in all the work of life.
And yet for fifty years after the tenn
perance movement was inaugurated in
this country, woman was silent as the
grave. She figured only as an object
lesson of appalling domestic misery, the
chief victim of the whole terrible drink
evil But "a yearssago God gave her a
voice and a baptism of fire, and from
that day to this she has come to the
front, as the most potent interchangeable
and successful factor in all temperance
work. She has done work man could
never have done. She has mothered
reform clubs; she has exalted the home;
she has bombarded heaven with prayer
and evil-doers with remonstrances and
tears and loving appeals, as the other
sex could never have done.
You remember in early Bible times
how a single woman saved the whole
Jewish race from extinction-not by
royal edict, by law or force, but by the
weapon of her simple femininity, by the
Irresistible charm and moral grandeur
of pure and beautiful womanhood. So
that as a power behind the throne" it
was said that she had come to the
kingdom for just such a time as that
You remember how almost so years ago
plain woman. pinched by poverty
well nigh crushed with multitudinous
household cares, wife of an unframed
professor in Brunswick, Me, wrote a
story dipping her pen in her own
hearts blood. that more than all other
agencies together, abolished American
slavery--mighty statesmen had grappled
with the problem. the supreme court
had pronounced august decisions upon
it, powerful orators had discussed it
from pulpit and platform. but it was
left for Uncle Toms Cabin" a simple
heart story written by woman. to
upheave at length this broad continent,
a s with the throes of an earthquake
and sweep the giant iniquity of human
chatteliSm forever from our borders.
Who sha1I fell me that woman has no
power, because she does not general ar
mics or preside over congress-, or run
politics. or manage the finances of the
world2
And one of the proudest fruits of the
crusade Of IA was the discovery of
Frances Willard and her subsequent
coronation as the temperance queen of
the world Her supreme power was
heart power Although with brain
enough to stock a dozen average Amer
ican congressman, the one sceptre she
welded irresistibly, and which brought
all hearts at last, almost in alteration.
to her feet was ove-uncalculating
self-renouncing, gentle, womanly. heav-
en-born love! The key to her whole life
is to be found in that last dying utteT-
ance. which will go into literature as
imperishable: "How beautiful to be
with Godi And why not2 she who
had. .companioned God through long
vesrs.s of answering loyalty, why
shd19S7At not be inconceivably 'beauti-
enfS 3Hd glorious to behold His face
and serve Him forever in the higher
ministries of heaven!
Abiuring love of husband and the
lows of motherhood for the sake of her
great mission, she poured out in un-
sAnted measure the queenly riches OF