The age-herald., 1901-05-02
Large Audience is Expected at First Methodist Church Hear this Distinguish
 ed Woman.
BY ANNIE kENDRlcK WALKER.

BY ANNIE kENDRIck WALKER.
 Mrs l.. M. N Stevens of Portland, Me. who succeeded the late Frances E. Will lard as president of the National Wom- ans Christian Temperance Union, will give an address this evening at o'clock in the First Methodist church to which the public Is invited.
 Mrs. Stevens Is the guest of the local w. c. T. U. and the members have ar ranged for this public address that every person in Birmingham. interested in the cause of temperance might be able to hear this distinguished woman who has taken up a work with which Miss Willard was so long the recognized leader in America Mrs. Stevens was almost as prominently Identified with temperance work as was Miss Willard. and the two were so close ly associated in their work that Mrs Stevens was unanimously recognized as being pre-eminently the woman most | magnificently equipped to assume the | leadership of the temperance forces in America. and after Miss Wiliard's death Mrs Stevens was at once elected her suc- l cessor.
 l The sketch of Mrs. Stevens, which ap- peared in these columns yesterday gave many of the interesting events in her career and brought out many of the 1 strong qualities that characterize her. | But a newspaper sketch can not possibly l convey the forceful personality of the woman, the powerful Individuality that made itself felt in Mrs. Bowron's draw ino r. xryba Mrc Stevens addressed large assembly of Birmingham women who were interested In the temperance cause.
 At this meeting Miss Anna Adams Cor don, VicePresident of the National c. T. IT., was to have made an address. her subject being her "Reminiscences of
 Eastnor Castle" the home of Lady Hen ry Somerset, President of the Worlds Christian Temperance Union. Miss Cor don was, however. summoned to Boston by the critical illness of her mother and the women invited to meet her yesterday were greatly disappointed that they would not hear her.
 Mrs C. B. Spencer, President of the State N. c. T. U., announced, however, that Miss Stevens would take Miss Cor don's place the programme, and as the national President stepped forward she was greeted with prolonged applause.
 She is a woman. of very striking appear ance, and one would quickly recognize
 her strong Individuality in any assembly,
 Her face is intensely strong and sympa-
 thetic and her beautiful black hair which
 she wore very simply. gave her very 1a inttlf
 to believe that she had been identified
 with a great cause for more than quar- | ter of a century.
 Mrs Stevens read Miss Gordon's rem
 iniscences, which were written in most
 interesting and charming vein.
 The description of Eastnor Castle was most entertaining, its picturesqueness, Its gardens. its interior, Its gallery. But Miss Gordon's allusions to the Lady Henry herself were listened to with very rapt attention, for she brought out the personal side of this great English woman as could only be done by one who had been a frequent guest at Eastnor Castle Perhaps the most striking char acteristics recalled by Miss Gordon was Lady Henry's work in the slums of Lon don. The homes for fallen women, the hospitals for the children of the slun1s. the various institutions to which Lady Henry gives her time.
 The home life of this famous English woman was a happy part of Miss Cor don's "reminiscences, and so vivid was the personal side of the Lady Henry brought out that one could easily picture her in her work among London's slums, or when. as is her custom. The assembling of all the people employed at the castle to early morning prayer in the tower, the devotional exercises being led by Lady Henry.
 Miss Gordon referred to the strong mutual attachment that existed between Lady Henry Somerset and Miss Willard, the one the greatest temperance leader in the old world, the other of the new. The one from the rank of the noblest, the daughter of an hundred carries, the other the noblest of the rank.
 Mrs. Stevens, while reading the remi- niscinces of Miss Gordon, referred occa- sionally to her own visits to Eastnor castle, and to London. Before she con cluded and in speaking of Lady Henry's rescue work in London. she referred to the Mercy Home in Birmingham, whose noble mission in rescuing fallen women and saving the child of the slums, was inspired by the women who are foremost here in the temperance cause.
 Mrs. Stevens stated that in England the intemperance of certain class of women far exceeded that in America She had studied these problems both in New York and London and England had a far greater percentage of inebriate wom- en than this country.
 Mrs. Stevens will remain In Birming- ham until Saturday. This evening at 8 o'clock at the First Methodist church she will give a great temperance address, and tomorrow she will meet the members of the w. c. T. U. of Birmingham in the Frances Willard assembly room at the Mercy Home and lunch will be served in her honor