Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-05-01
A Sketch Of Mother Stewart
LEADER
The Crusade Against IntempGranCG.

The following very interesting
sketch of Mother Stewart" leader OF
the famous crusade against intemper-
ance. made in 1873, was read by Mrs.
Millie Berry at recent meeting of
the w. C. T. U. Society, the occas-
ion being the eighty-ffth anniversary
of Mother Stewards" birth:
We celebrate today the S5th anniver-
sary of our honored leader in this
temperance work in which we are all
SO deeply interested. our beloved
Mother Stewart"
Mother Stewart is a remarkable
woman and she has had a remarkable
career. She is one of those individu-
ais who seem to nave been born to
meet the demands of special emergen-
cies. She was possessed of qualities
which enabled her to become eminent
in two great public crises-first, dur
ing the war, when she became promi
nent in her earnest and very effective
work in the line of relieving the needs
of Union soldiers in hospital and in the
field. She was mother" indeed, to
the thousands of soldiers. who gave
her the title of Mother which she
has honorably borne ever since. 1t
was, however. in the great and spon-
taneous uprising and crying appeals
against the wrongs and hurt inflicted
by the liquor saloons, which moral re-
volt was known as "the Crusade" that
Mother Stewart performed a work
which gave her the personal fame on
both continents. She was one of the
first of the worlds women to raise the
banner of revolt, and so great was her
zeal, and so robust and boundless her
courage, that she accompanied her
prayers and her marchings upon the
streets with an attack-with the gospel
in one hand and the law in the other
upon the saloonkeepers themselves.
Mother Stewart, with her keen,
flashing eyes, and her glistening white
hair. was always striking figure on
the platform, and her clear, ringing
tones reached the remotest person in
her immense audiences. She had the
capacity to so put the enormity of the
liquor traffic aid the harm and suffer-
ing 1t causes before audiences as to
touch the hearts of the people. Clifton
Nichols had the honor of calling Moth
er Stewart a"Wendell Phillips in Petit"
coats" and the phrase followed her
around the world for Mother Stewart
was called from America to Europe,
and aroused public sentiment in var
ious parts of England, Scotland and
Ireland. In Europe she was well
spoken of by leading philantropists
and reformers. as g woman who had
increased popular sentiment in behalf
OF the great cause of total abstinence
Mother Stewart IS a Western woman
of Revolutionary stock. Col. CUTLERY
one of the old Revolutionary heroes
and among the earliest settlers of the
Northwest Territory. and founder of
Piketon, Ohio, was her grandfather
She was early left an orphan and is
emphatically self-made woman. as
the term goes, but more truthfullv, a
woman endowed for a special work.
In very adverse circumstances of
those early DAYS she acquired a good
education and good part Of it was ac-
complished at home by the blazing
wood fire enlivened by frequent appli-
cation of tho Shell bark and pine
knot" and as advantages improved
by the "tallow dip. She acquired
quite a reputation as one of the first
educators cf early times. 1t was said
to be enough for her students applying
for country school certificate, to
bring an Endorsement from Mrs. Stew
art to secure success. From her ma
ternal ancestry she inherited her fear
lessness and hatred Of wrong and freq,
her father. who was Southern gen.
tleman, and in the sense used sixty or
seventy years ago, she inherited her
high sense of honor-from both parents
she obtained Q mixture of Scotch
IRISH that gives her the sturdy traits
of the one. and the humor of the other.
MOTHER STEWARDS LETTER.
Springfield, O., April 81 1901.
Mrs. Mary d. Ogle. President of the w.
C. r. u:
My Beloved Sister; Your welcome
favor is just to hand and. tho so very
weak, | must answer with my own
hand and thank you and the dear sis
ters for your loving remembrances,
ana sweet messages. How precious to
me are these tokens that am not for
gotten. Since laid aside by the break
down, more really than the encroach-
ments of years, | have sometimes i'm
agined that my sisters were forgetting
me But the ADMINISTRATIONS of NV