The Republican journal., 1909-04-01

Mann of New York. Those gentlemen
were two of the ablest leaders our order
ever had, with the exception of Hon.
John B. Finch and the late Hon. S. b.
Chase of Pennsylvania. After | received
my commission my first field OF labor
outside of Maine was in Canada, and
early in the fall of 1898 hogan speaking
in Nova Scotia, visiting all the principal
cities and towns in that Province and or
ganizing a good number of lodges. ad-
dressed meetings in many historic places,
such as Grand Pre-, the home of Evange-
line; Port Royal, or Annapolis, made
famous in history; La Have, on La Have
river, where the first French fort in
North America was built. The ruins Of
the second fort, which was built by Isaac
De Razilla in 1892 are still to be seen,
and have some of the old nails and brick
from that fort as souvenirs. De Razllla
resided at La Have and was appointed
Governor of Nova Scotia by Louis XIII,
King of France, who wept bitterly on his
dying bed over his wicked ife. Late in
November received word from the R.
w. G. Lodge, now the international Su-
preme Lodge, that l was to be sent to
Prince Edward Island for December, to
take part in the closing weeks of the ex-
citing Plebiscite contest for prohibition
then being waged on that island. Two
weeks before arrived on the island the
Grand Lodge of Good Templars in this
beautiful little province had made careful
arrangements for my speaking tour, and
when | arrived in Charlottetown, the pro
vincial capital, late in the afternoon on a
cold December day, | was surrounded by
several officials of the Grand Lodge and
a crowd of enthusiastic people, who wrung
nv hand and | was escorted to the princi-
pal hotel in the city with band of music.
The people along the route to the hotel
shouted now and then, 1.-THE speaker
from the great prohibition State of
Maine has arrived" | mention this fact
merely to call the attention of my read
ers to the great influence the State of
Maine has welded the world over in the
battle for legal prohibition. That evening
| spoke, with others, at a large mass
meeting, and for nearly two weeks, night
after night, | spoke in all parts of the
island. have seldom seen more enthu-
siasm manifested among the people for
the principles of prohibition than in
Prince Edward Island, and / predicted
on my return home to Maine that this
province would some day be under prohl-
bition. A few years ago my prediction
came true. The Provincial Legislature
granted the island entire prohibition, and
this province has the honor of being the
first British colony to adopt prohibitory
liquor law. While | was an International
Supreme Lecturer and Organizer my
tours in the interest of the Good Templar
order in America included the States of
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois,
but have not the time to dwell at length
upon these tours as it would require a
series of papers.
The next Grand Chief Templar of
Maine after Bro. Dexter was Rev. E..
w. Weber, who was then preaching in
Richmond. He was elected to this office
at the Grand Lodge session in Bangor in
the spring of 1893 and held the Office for
three successive years. Rev. Mr.. Web
Der was very popular with the Good
Templars of Maine and was pleasing
and entertaining speaker. He recently
became the pastor of large church in
Rumford, Maine, where l had the pleas
ure of meeting him few years ago while
speaking in that wide awake town against
resubmission Rev. Mr.. Weber was fol-
lowed as Grand Chief Templar by Grant
Rogers of Richmond, who was elected at
our Grand Lodge session in Bangor in the
spring of 1896. Mr.. Rogers had become
quite noted while county attorney of
Sagadahoc county in prosecuting rum
sellers, and believes in a rigid enforce
ment of our liquor laws. While he was
Grand Chief Templar he spoke good
deal over the State in the interest of the
organization, and was representative
from Maine to the supreme body of the
world. On my business trips to Lewis
ton, where he now resides, l often meet