102 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. ]. 



OUR i 



HOMES,; 



BY A. I. Root; 



Behold how good and how pleasant it is for breth- 

 ren to dwell together in unity. — Psalm 13:i:1. 



L,et us not weary in well doing ; for in due .season 

 we .shall reap if we faint not. — Ci.-\L. (i;(l. 



Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through 

 our lyord Jesus Christ. — I. Cor. l'):-")?. 



THE NATIONAL CONVENTION OK THE AMERI- 

 CAN ANTI-SAI.OON LEAGUE. 



This meeting took place on fhe 11th, 12th, 

 and 13th of January, at the Park Auditorium, 

 Columl)us, O. Right over the stage, in plain 

 view, in beautiful large letters, so that they 

 could be easily read from any part of the room 

 capable of seating six thousand people, were 

 the words, 



"THE SALOON MUST GO." 



The Anti-saloon League originated in Ohio ; 

 btit this was the third national convention, 

 and those who took part were from all over 

 the United States. Perhaps 1 may mention 

 here that 18 Stales already have Anti-saloon 

 League organizations, and other States are 

 rapidl}' following. 



When 1 first entered the room. Rev. Walter 

 Brooks, D. D., of W'ashington, D. C, was 

 speaking. His suVjject was " Neal Dow." 

 Mr. Brooks is a colored man, and I should 

 say, of pure African de.'^cent ; but when I was 

 not looking at the speaker it seemed almost 

 impossible to realize that such splendid ora- 

 tory — such beautiful, forcible language — was 

 not spoken b}- some "doctor of divinity " of 

 otir own race. It was my privilege to have 

 some private conversation with Dr. Brooks 

 afterward. He is not only fully up with the 

 times, but he is capable of giving intelligent 

 advice on almost any point concerning gov- 

 ernment, morals, or law. There was some- 

 thing almost plaintive, and in some respects 

 painful, to notice that a man of such scholar- 

 ly attainments seemed, in some respects, 

 obliged to exhibit a deference to every white 

 man, no matter how far below him in intellect 

 and scholarship the white person might be. 

 When I was in Florida, and, in fact, all through 

 the vSouth, I could not help noting the meek- 

 ness and humility that even educated blacks 

 show toward white people. When )'ou are 

 riding a wheel, some people will courteously 

 give you the right of way, and some will not ; 

 but a colored man or woman, under all cir- 

 cumstances, will, on meeting a white person, 

 give the whole road or the whole walk — recog- 

 nizing, as if by general and universal consent, 

 that they are by nature born our inferiors and 

 servants. 



One of the prominent banners at the Anti- 

 saloon meeting read — 



"UNITY, PERSISTENCY, VICTORY;" 

 and this banner suggested the three texts at 

 the head of this report. 



The first thing that strtick me forcibly was 

 the unity in this convention. Mr. Brooks' 

 color, as he stood before our people, or min- 



gling in the crowd in a familiar way, cottnted 

 for noihing. A man's politics or religion, if 

 you happened to discover what these were, 

 counted for nothing. Occasionally evidence 

 of these things cropped out ; but before long 

 somebody was sure to remind us that the pur- 

 pose of this national meeting was " unity." 

 One good brother, of great eloquence and re- 

 markable talent, urged that, in one of the res- 

 olutions, there should be a clause to the effect 

 that we should all agree to vote for men in 

 public office who are strictly and earnestly 

 temperance men, and that under no circum- 

 stances should we vote for a//y otlier. Now, I 

 am afraid a part of the good friends who read 

 Gleanings will come down on me hot and 

 heavy when I say that I felt sure this well- 

 meaning brother would stir up discord ; and 

 for a little time there seemed to be danger of 

 a little feeling among many of the prominent 

 members; but when Mrs. Wittemyer arose and 

 said that " we temperance workers of the na- 

 tion have come here to work for unity, per- 

 haps more than for any thing else, " the trou- 

 bled sea quieted down in an instant. At the 

 risk of receiving some more unkind letters, 

 permit your old friend A. I. Root to say that 

 even he could not well pledge himself to vote 

 alivays for real earnest temperance officers, 

 and for no others. No one man has all good 

 qualities; and a good many times in my life I 

 have felt obliged to choose what I considered 

 the better of two ahernatives — sometimes the 

 lesser of two evils. I should be exceedingly 

 glad if able men, and mtn who are candidates, 

 were always such temperance men as was Neal 

 Dow, and that the world would unite in put- 

 ting such men into office. 



The next speaker was the Right Rev. John 

 A. Wa'.terson, Bishop of Columbus. Now, if 

 it were not for that word ' ' Unity " in our mot- 

 to I presume theiewere quite a few who would 

 also object to the way in which our national 

 president, Rev. Howard H. Russell, introduc- 

 ed the bishop. He said in substance: "Dear 

 friends, I am glad to introduce to you one 

 whom I have learned to love since I have be- 

 come more and more acquainted with him in 

 the temperance work." 



There we had a Congregational minister in- 

 troducing a brother-minister of the Roman 

 Catholic Church ! Please remember, dear 

 friends, that Mr. Russell did not, by this 

 speech, indorse Catholicism as a whole; but 

 he did indorse the good work that our Catho- 

 lic brethren have been doing for the cause of 

 temperance; and by so doing he has brought 

 about a wider unity in the temperance work 

 than we have ever had before. The bishop 

 gave us an excellent temperance sermon. 

 Perhaps it would be well to mention right 

 here, that, later in the day, one of the best 

 tempei-ance addresses I ever heard in my life 

 was given by Mrs. Leonora M. Lake, of St. 

 Louis, Mo., entitled "The Saloon and the 

 Home." Mrs. Lake is a Catholic mother, and 

 a member of the W. C. T. U. She said in 

 substance that she did not want to discuss 

 theology in public, and that she had no desire 

 to enter the realm of politics ; but when the 

 American saloon, or any thing else, is striking 



