The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-02-17

women of Hillsboro did nothing half
way; they took the saloons one by one
and camped at their front doors until
the propTietor5 were forced from fear to
shut up shop.
The crusade spread like w,ldffre, and
before the saloonkeepers knew exactly
what had happened they had capitu ated.
Mother Stewart, who had by this time a
worldwide reputation, was touring the
country, leading women whenever they
proved weak and encourag ing the az
gressions of the strong
1t was not all easy for the women;
they had many trying experiences, some
of which resulted in their final defeat.
some in their victory. In Cleveland there
occurred a riot when the women first
appeared, and had it not been for the
timely arrival of the police fatalities
must have resulted.
The repeal Of the Sunday oil sing law in
Chicago was the occasion Of an immense
demonstration by the women of that
city, headed by Mother Stewart and Miss
Frances Willard. They were mobbed in
many quarters of the city, but the actual
reform accomplished was not SO marked
as it was elsewhere There We're few
saloonkeepers who gave UP their business
to go TO farming, few of them, II they
! could prevent. allowed their property 10
be dumped into the streets. That the
crusade had its effect there IS no doubt
ing; 1t was brave fight and out Of it
grew the WOmans Temperance Union
with Miss Willard at it's head, aclznowl-
edged one of the most powerful orSani-
cations of either men or women in this
country.
When the crusade spread to England,
as 1t did about q year after its success
in this country. Mother Stewart was
called to lead. She lectured throughout
Great Britain, creating remarkable en-
thusiasm wherever she appeared, but
the crusade which followed her effort in
no way compared with that which had
stirred every nook and corner of Ameri-
ca. Never since the days of the origi-
nal crusaders had there been so Won
derful a demonstration. 1t stirred this
country as had nothing before or since
the Civil war, and as nothing has since
the crusade itself.
Mrs. E. D. Stewart. who led the move
ment, was plain, quiet little woman,
whose two salient features were a mass
of very white hair and a voice of re-
markable penetration. She had thought
of the liquor question all her life, and It
was fifty years of more before her child
hood ambition to close the saloons ma
tured. When she began her agitation
which was long before the Civil war,
every one laughed at her. The pastor
of the Methodist church which she at
tended and its deacons and its mem
bers scoffed at her for the seeming
impossibility of her desilre None Of the
sign or looked toward its carefully
shaded windows because it was not lady
like to do so. The women would not aid
other women to prosecute saloonkeep-
ers for selling to drunken husbands, be-
cause it would not have been proper for
them to appear in court. AS for march
ing in streets and holding prayer meet
ings and knitting bees in saloons, they
would have been Mortified at the sugges-
ton of such a thing. 1t was not until
Mrs. Stewart made herself sensational
and gathered about her a small army Of
drunkards' wives that her own towns
women took interest in what she had to
say.
1t was slow and a hard fight, ana the
fact that Mrs. Stewart was able to make
it and to win a victory in so dcing gives
her title to fame-which indeed she
already possesses. In many ways she
was far greater woman than Miss
Willard. since she paved the way and
practically accomplished the organiza-
ton Of the white ribbon band Having
accomplished the work which she had
set out to do, she insisted upon retiring
from the publicity and activity which
sic had assumed. She was called
Mother Stewart, and truly if the largest
band OF women in the world had a moth
er it is she. =