Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1908-02-13
Frances E. Willard.

~ H1AS 05SANS9 ~
virtues, the divinely unselfish
deeds of the one we have assem-
bled to do honor and reverence, if
those virtues, those deeds, are not
to be to us an inspiration-a spirit
ual dynamic energy, enkindling
within US a holy longing and pur-
pose to be imbued with the same
lofty motives, and our lives direct
ed by the same unselfish aims.
Our every expression of loye
and r%everential remembrance OF
Frances E. Willard is but the in
voluntary prayer of the heart that
our lives may be permeated and
impelled by motives as Christ-like
as those by which she was inspir-
ed and actuated. II we will earn
estly strive to have that prayer
sink so deep into our hearts that
henceforth it will find practical
embodiment in our life-impulse,
our life-work, then the world will
be made better for this informing
influence,-then in the truest,
broadcast and completest sense,
will our sainted Francis E. Will
lard still live and labor on earth.
From the testimony of those
intimately associated with Miss
Willard, from her public utter
ances, from the testimony OF her
daily life, we know how broad
was her sympathy, how all-em-
bracing her love for mankind.
The wings of her soul were fetter-
ed by no creed or dogma, her
hands bound by nc sectarianism.
Her great magnanimous heart
went out to all the children of
men of whatever faith, of what
ever nationality, of whatever race,
and to all her loving hands were
extended to help. Not only tenn
perance reform and it's correlated
subjects, but also industrial and
economic reforms, found in her a
sympathetic and earnest helper.
She asked not what the religious
faith, what the theological tenets
of the leaders of these reforms.
Her only inquiry was: "Are these
reforms for the physical, intellect
ual and moral uplift of the racer"
In the character of Miss Willard,
there was so much that was beau
tiful and noble, that words seem
inadequate to express the eulogies
the heart would utter. But tran
scending all other grand and
beautiful characteristics, was that
moral poise, that divinity of
strength which enabled her to
stand unspoiled, unchanged, by
all the applause and honor so
abundantly showered upon her.
From the sunny South, from the
frozen North, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, from across the water,
from the continents and isles of
the sea were waited to her sweet
est strains of loving admiration
peans chanting her matchless gem
ius as a leader, her wonderful eX-
ecutive ability, her power of re-
source, and the marvellous charm
of her personality. Wherever she
moved the air around her was sur
charged with reverential homage.
But, amid all, she ever maintained
the sweet, humble, child-like sim
plicity.
Reading the multitudinous u
logies which were bestowed upon
Frances Willard by the press
both secular and religious,-not-
ing the highest tributes of praise
conferred upon her character and
labor and the loving, tender words
of appreciation, we are apt to
think of her as one whose path
way was strewn with roses; this
especially, after she became the
leader in the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union. But organic
ed as she was, out of earth's finest
clay, with soul attuned to the
most delicate vibrations of the in
tellectual and social atmosphere,
and taking advance ground upon
all radical measures, she was
often pierced through and through
by shafts of ridicule, prejudice,
conservatism and frequently ma
lignant antagonism. "Full many
time and off," she "trod the wine
press Alone" and passed through
Gethsemane.
Since human society is organic
ed rs it is, with the spirit of con-
servatism in the ascendancy, with
the ever present tendency to cling
to Anticipated ideas and customs,
it is utterly impossible to be a true
radical reformer as was Miss Will
la o,o.n-- .~1-.