The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation Part 22

New business.

Adjournment with prayer.

ART. 11.--AMENDMENTS. This const.i.tution may be amended by a two- thirds vote of the members present at any regular business meeting (ten being a quorum), provided such amendment shall have been proposed in writing at the previous regular business meeting.

CHAPTER XXVI.

CARRY NATION CLOSES CRUSADE IN DAYTON, OHIO--HOLDS THREE LARGELY ATTENDED MEETINGS--SPEAKS TO LARGE AUDIENCE IN ARMORY--HAD ENGAGED NATIONAL THEATRE, BUT INSPECTION OF AUDITORIUM INTERFERED-- REVIEW WEEK'S WORK.

Mrs. Carry Nation closed her crusade in this city, Dayton, Ohio, yesterday by holding three remarkable meetings.

In the morning she filled the pulpit of the Home Avenue U. B. church and as usual the church was not large enough to hold the crowd and many had to stand outside.

Mrs. Nation was afterwards entertained at dinner by Rev. H. A.

Thompson at his residence, opposite the U. B. seminary.

The National theatre had been engaged for Mrs. Nation's Sunday afternoon meeting, though Broadway M. E. church wanted her, but Mrs.

Nation desired to hold that meeting in as large a place as possible, as she antic.i.p.ated that there would be a large attendance. At the last moment the National theatre management decided they could not permit the house to be used Sunday, as they expected an inspection of the auditorium, so Mrs. Nation's committee secured the big Armory around the corner from the theatre at Sixth and the ca.n.a.l. Mrs. Nation had especially invited the saloonkeepers, sports and unmarried young men and ladies. The meeting was announced for 2:30, but at 1 o'clock the crowds began to a.s.semble.

The large choir from McKinley M. E. church, under direction of Rev. C. T. Lewis and his wife, arrived about 1:30 and rendered a fine lot of selections until Mrs. Nation opened the meeting at 2:30. There were only seats for about 3,000, but Captain Hooven estimated the crowd as about 3,800 people. The galleries were crowded and nearly the entire auditorium. All sorts of people were present--business and professional men, saloonkeepers, and preachers, while W. C. T. U. ladies were in evidence by their white ribbons. Representatives from probably every church in Dayton were present and it is safe to say that it was the greatest gathering of its kind ever held in this city. A collection box was at the door and a splendid offering was obtained as everybody contributed--many liberally, among whom was Dr. L. T. Cooper, who handed in a silver dollar, stating: "I don't agree with her in all things, but she means well."

Mrs. Nation made a characteristic talk of over an hour, giving much advice in a kindly way and, as usual, backing up all her arguments with Scripture.

Mrs. Nation held her last meeting at 7 o'clock at Summit Street U.

B. church, and a thousand or more people stood around the outside of the church unable to get in.

Mrs. Nation answered many questions put to her at this meeting and from the view of the radical temperance advocates this was probably the strongest talk she made. In every respect the meeting was a success.

Mrs. Nation left for Chicago on the Panhandle at 9:30 last night.

Sat.u.r.day was also a busy day with Mrs. Nation. In the morning she was a visitor at the U. B. Publis.h.i.+ng house, and after dinner she held a meeting at Christ's mission, Soldiers' Home. At 5 o'clock, accompanied by some of her committee, she went to Salem, O., where she was entertained by Rev. Baker, of the U. B. church, and afterwards held the usual crowded meeting in his church, leaving there at 8 o'clock for Brookville, O., where she held another big meeting at the U. B. church.

Mrs. Nation has certainly worked hard here and proven herself in possession of wonderful energy and capacity for work. The following is a list of appointments here in ten days, every one of which she filled and not once could she fully accommodate the crowd: Friday night, October 21, street meeting corner Main and Fourth streets; afterwards to wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Bennett, where many congenial spirits were present. This took on the nature of an entertainment to Mrs.

Nation. Sat.u.r.day night, October 22, U. B. church, Miamisburg; Sunday, October 23, the Dunkard church, Dayton; Sunday, October 23, afternoon at Bellbrook, O., ma.s.s meeting of the three churches at town hall; Sunday night, October 23, St. Paul's M. E., Dayton; Monday night, October 24, Riverdale U. B.; Tuesday night, First United Presbyterian; Wednesday night, Trinity M. E.; Thursday afternoon, Free Methodist; Thursday night, ma.s.s meeting of colored churches at McKinley M. E.; Friday afternoon, 2 o'clock, U. 13. seminary; 4 o'clock, W. C. T. U. meeting, Broadway M: E.; Friday night, Second United Presbyterian, and balance appointments as given above.

The committees of the various churches, the Citizens' League and Prohibition party are much pleased with the work Mrs. Nation did here and predict great results from it.--Dayton Daily.

CHAPTER XXVII.

(Sketch by WILL CARLETON, in his Magazine EVERYWHERE.)

Some years ago, the American public--always longing for "something new," was treated to an absolutely unique sensation. A woman armed with a hatchet had gone into a Kansas liquor saloon and smashed up its appurtenances, in a very thorough and unconventional manner. After this, she went into and through another, and another: and it began to took as if all the bibulous paraphernalia of Kansas were about to be sent into the twilight.

When the smoke had somewhat cleared away, and time elapsed sufficient to garner these circ.u.mstances into authentic news, it transpired that the woman who had done this was Mrs. Carry A. Nation--utterly obscure and unknown until that week.

This raid among decanters was a very singular and startling act, for a woman: but, somehow, people found it refres.h.i.+ng. It represented precisely what many had imagined in their minds, what thousands of women had wished they themselves could or dared do, what myraids of confirmed drinkers, even, had wished might be done. News of Mrs. Nation's swift and decided action went all over the country, like a stiff, healthy gale. She was sharply criticised--but there lurked very often a "dry grin" behind the criticism. This smas.h.i.+ng was all very direct and unique and Americans are in general fond of directness and uniqueness. It was, technically, illegal; but, even so, it was remarked that the saloons which Mrs. Nation wrecked, were themselves in brazen defiance of the laws of the state of Kansas--unenforced on account of the fear or venality of public officers.

The work of this determined woman went on with a thoroughness and promptness that made it ultra-interesting. She was imprisoned again and again, and became an inmate, at one time and another, of some nineteen different jails. She had trial after trial--in which was developed the fact that her tongue was as sharp as her hatchet; she often addressing even the judge presiding, as "Your Dishonor," while prosecuting attorneys she treated with supreme scorn. Not much mercy was shown her in the county bastiles: she was often bestowed in cells next to insane people--in the hope, she thinks, that she might become really crazy, as well as reputedly so. One sheriff, finding that the fumes of cigarette- smoking made her ill, treated all her follow-inmates to the little white cylinders, and set them at work puffing vigorously. Chivalry and humanity seemed, for the time being, to have faded from men's minds.

In these different immurments, she had time to write her friends and even published a paper, called, "The Smasher's Mail." She told how she came to do this work: it was, she claimed, by the direct command of G.o.d.

She had promised Him that if He would forgive her many sins, she would work for Him in ways no one else would; and He took her at her word--ordering her to go and smash saloons. This, of course, provokes a smile, among most people, but Mrs. Nation is not the first one that has worked under G.o.d's command--whether real or supposed.

At last, so many fines were heaped up against her, which must be paid before she could be liberated, that it seemed to her as if she would never get free; but in this dark hour, a lecture agent appeared, and said he would pay the amount if she would give him some "dates." She laughingly says now, that she did not know what she meant: and actually wondered if he thought she was a fruit dealer. But when he explained what he meant by "dates," a chance to go on the platform and give the people a reason for the hatchet that was in her hand, she saw the gates were opened; and enthusiastically went from jail to the lecture platform.

She became immediately a drawing card--in a.s.sembly halls in some churches, and even at county fairs. She often made "big money" by selling miniature hatchets as souvenirs. She worked, tirelessly and industriously, to pay back the lecture agent for the sums he had advanced; and after a time found surplus amounts on hand.

She did not hesitate very long as to the purposes for which they were to be applied. Her personal expenses were very small; she dresses plainly; and believes that G.o.d is ent.i.tled to her financial gains.

"A home for drunkards' wives," was her first thought, after paying the fine money, and she set about it, and is working for it now.

After her platform work had proceeded for a time, it was decided that she should star in the play, "Ten Nights in a Bar-room." As all know, who have witnessed this simple but powerful drama, every act of it is a prohibition lecture, and Mrs. Nation's part, that of the mother of the murdered boy, was a lecture of itself. In one scene, she was represented as smas.h.i.+ng a saloon, most thoroughly; and this business was the most popular of anything in the play--even at theatres that drew most of their patronage from habitues of saloons.

Mrs. Nation's reasons for stepping from the churches to the footlights, is not without its logic, in these days. "People go to the theatres more than they do the churches," she says, "and I want to go where there are plenty of people to hear me, and where they need me."

From the regular theatre she pa.s.sed, and for the same reasons, to the vaudeville, and did her regular "stunts" along with the singers, the dancers, the harlequin's, acrobats, and the burnt cork humorists. The writer of this has seen her in one of these performances, and considers it entirely unique and unmistakably commendable.

It was in one of the most "free and easy" vaudeville shows in Greater New York, and the audience, composed of men and boys, was a hilarious one, and could have even become a turbulent one, if anything had occured that did not please them. Many were half drunk, or nearly so.

"Smoke, if you want to," was lettered on a conspicuous sign, and most of this audience wanted to. In the midst of the exercises, an interlude occurred, in which the audience was invited to a saloon down stairs, where they could proceed still farther in the liquid burning out of their bodies.

On the same stage of this same vaudeville theatre, John L. Sullivan, the retired prize fighter, had, only a week before, appeared "in monologue,"

and had sometimes been so drunk that he could not go through with his part.

In the midst of all this, Carry Nation was announced, and she stepped upon the stage, unattended by any glare of colored lights or fanfare of music. A quiet, motherly looking woman, plainly dressed, with a Bible in her hand, she commanded almost immediately the respect of that large crowd--from the men in the orchestra stalls to the gallery G.o.ds. One half intoxicated fellow began to scoff at her, but was almost immediately hushed by the scarcely less drunken ones around him. It was a sight that hushed them all into respectful silence, for a respectable, earnest woman, with the Holy Book in her hand, will have a subduing effect upon almost any company of people.

Mrs. Nation announced her text, and preached a sermon, and delivered a temperance lecture, both within the half-hour. (The latter she calls a "prohibition lecture"--hating the word temperance, as applied to drink.)

She said words, such as had probably not been heard by most of those there, for a great many years. She told them what sots they were making of themselves, and made her points so emphatic that they cheered her --almost in spite of themselves. She commenced her speech as an experiment, so far as that day's audience was concerned; she closed a heroine. She did not remain idle during the time between her appearances on the stage, but cultivated the acquaintances of the actors and actresses, and, it is said, to their good.

That is what Mrs. Nation is doing now, on what is called the eastern vaudeville circuit; and it would be hard to see how one woman could do more good in half an hour, than she does; and that among those that need it most.

Mrs. Nation's whole name is Carrie Amelia Nation, but having noticed from old records that her father wrote the first name "Carry," she now does the same, and considers the name portentous as concerns what she is trying and means to do. She believes, she says, that it is her mission to "carry a nation" from the darkness of drunken b.e.s.t.i.a.lity into the light of purity and sobriety; and if she can do this, or in any great measure contribute to it, there are millions of people in the world, that will bid her Good speed.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A scientific article on the effects of alcohol on the human system.

If any doctor should try to deceive you here is the proof of his malicious intent to drug you.

LIQUOR DRINKING IN HEALTH AND DISEASE.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE UPON THE PROGRESS MADE IN MEDICAL SCIENCE IN FAVOR OF TEMPERANCE DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 1, 1902--A. W.

GUTRIDGE, CHAIRMAN. READ AT THE THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE CATHOLIC TOTAL ABSTINENCE UNION OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ST.

PAUL, AND ORDERED PUBLISHED BY THE CONVENTION.