The midland journal., 1939-10-20
National w. c. T. u.
Convention
BY Bertha Balderston,
Pres. Cecil County Union

With the Municipal Auditorium
at Rochester, N. ", well filled on
September 81, 1889, the Centenary
Anniversary of the Birth OF Frances
q. Willard was celebrated by .17OO
representatives from 46 states, the
District of Columbia and Porto
Rico, convening In the sixty fifth
Annual Convention of the Women's
Christian Temperance Union.
The first session opened with the
Professional In which the Trumpet
er, Color Bearers, General Officers,
and State Presidents carrying their
State Flags, marched thru the
aisles, and then up onto the plat
form.
The Invocation was given by DR..
A. w. Beaven, of the Colgate Ro-
chester Divinity School. This was
followed by greetings. from Mayor
Samuel B. Dicker, of Rochester, and
Mrs. d. Leigh Colvin, President of
the W.C.T.U., of New York.
Some musical numbers were much
appreciated and the masterful adj
dress of President Ida b. Wise
Smith was listened to with close at
tention, even tho 1t was long and
the hour late. Printed copies of 1t
were enclosed in the packets given
to the delegates and will be much
appreciated as source of correct
information and encouragement to
press on toward "Some Better
Things.
September 2Sth at II A. M, ex-
actly one hundred years even to the
hour and day of the week ON which
Frances e. Willard was born, the
whole delegation transported by so
buses and many private cars assem-
bled in the public park in Church
vile, Is miles from Rochester. the
town where she was born and where
some of her relatives still live. The
house has been added to so that
only a portion at the back contains
uhe original floor of the room
where she was born. As the Chill
dren living there now were quar-
entined with mumps we did not set
foot on that spot. The exercises held
there were a. real challenge to re-
newed dedication to the work she
so nobly began.
Returning to Rochester the after
noon service of worship in the AS
bury Methodist Church, was crowd
ed, and was a wonderful occasion.
The Convention Dinner was held
that evening and 1900 were seated
in the two largest ball rooms In the
city. The speakers went from one
to the other and the same menu
was served In both, SO that all had
chance to enjoy this feature.
Speakers that evening represented
several of the many women's or
ganizations that Frances Willard
help to organize, such as the
d. A. R., the National Council OF
Women and the Alpha Phi Fratern-
ity. The National Radio Broadcast
ing company honored the day by a
nation wide broadcast at p. M.
Friday morning at nine O'Clock a
goodly number of the delegates were
in their seats ready to take up the
work of the convention. For seven
long sessions held in the mornings
and afternoons of following days
the reports of the officers and the
many Departments of work were
reviewed. The five year centenary
program of education along lines,
Spiritual, Character, Alcohol, Cit
izenship and Peace, has met with a
very fine response in spite of de-
preston and the flood of liquor in
which the country is engulfed $780,
900 has been raised by the organ
ization, almost entirely from small
contributions, and thirty states have
raised their full allotment of the
fund. Maryland was one of these
and our president carried our flag
in the Gold Star procession. Under
the leadership of Bertha Rachel
Palmer the Alcohol Education pro-
gram has been developed to q point
recognized by the National Educa-
tional Association as the best to be
had and recommended by them for
use in all schools of the land.
CONTINUED next weekly