576 



Gleanings in Bee Cukure 



I believe she said truly, that in answer to 

 her prayers the Lord directed her as to what 

 she should do. When she found that those 

 whose business it was to enforce the law 

 against selling intoxicants in broad daylight 

 in Kansas would do nothing whatever she 

 started out, after a night of prayer, with her 

 humble horse and buggy, with a load of 

 brickbats and stones, and then with her 

 apron full of these missiles she marched bold- 

 ly into a saloon and smashed the bottles, 

 mirrors, and other expensive furniture. 

 Then she asked to be arrested, but called 

 the attention of the officers of the law to the 

 awful inconsistency of arresting her, while 

 they let the saloon-keepers go scot free. She 

 said in substance, "I have damaged 'proper- 

 ty, and, of course, should be treated accord- 

 ingly; but these men have damaged and 

 ruined the lives of people having immortal 

 souls. For God's sake, arrest and jounish 

 them if you would undertake to arrest and 

 punish we." 



They were dumbfounded. Her argument 

 was unanswerable. I do not remember 

 whether she was arrested that first time or 

 not, but she finally went to prison many 

 times, although they soon let her out again. 

 As in the case of Paul and Silas, the prison 

 doors were soon opened, and she was set at 

 liberty to .(/o on smashing the property of sa- 

 loon-keepers. Now, note right here that, 

 since her death, it has been ascertained that 

 she never damaged a saloon that was doing 

 business in accordance with the laws of the 

 State or locality. Many (if not all) saloon- 

 keepers had no license, or in some other 

 way were plainly violating the law. They 

 were carrying on their business without any 

 show of authority. Her work made a sen- 

 sation, not only throughout our own nation, 

 but her name became familiar, and a by- 

 word over almost all the face of the earth.* 

 People called her crazy; but now it begins 

 to dawn on our understanding that there 

 was not only a "method" in her madness, 

 but a tvonderful method. In every town 

 she visited she hunted up the mayor, the 

 chief of police, and often the governor of the 

 State. She plead with them, and begged 

 them in the name of God and the suffering 

 women and children to enforce the laws and 

 protect the heliiless suffering ones. 



While in Florida my good neighbor Rood 

 informed me that Carrie Nation was to 

 speak on the Park. I said, "Why, friend 

 Rood, there was nothing said about it in 

 our town paper. It is too bad that a more 

 extended notice was not given of her com- 

 ing." 



He replied, "Mr. Root, every man, woman, 

 and child, almost, on the face of the earth 



* She not only roused up and wakened from their 

 stupor the offlcers of the law of the State of Kan- 

 sas, but of the whole Unites States; and we may 

 well believe she was the instrument, in God's hand, 

 in starting a wave for temperance and law enforce- 

 ment that will sweep and is now sweeping the 

 whole face of the globe. God grant that this wave 

 may sweep the State of Maine so far up on dry land 

 that the brewers will never again think of trying to 

 get high license (or "local option" either) to take 

 the i^lace of prohibition. 



has heard of Carrie Nation; and you may be 

 sure there will be a crowd there to see and 

 hear her." 



Before she began her talk, stories were go- 

 ing around to the effect that she had grab- 

 bed cigars and cigarettes from the mouths 

 of smokers while they were in the street, 

 and, of course, this was against her. In her 

 talk she also made some scathing remarks 

 about secret societies, and, of course, this did 

 not suit everybody. While I felt almost as 

 she did about these things, I was sorry she 

 did not stop when she had ended her talk in 

 regard to intoxicants. By the way, I might 

 say here, for I have said it before, that when 

 I am asked about secret lodges, etc., I have 

 always replied, " I belong to the Lord Jesus 

 Christ, and to him only; and he has said, 

 ' In secret have I done nothing.' " 



Some one suggested in that audience of 

 several hundred that she would have receiv- 

 ed a much larger donation had she omitted 

 that part about Free Masonry, Odd Fellows, 

 etc. After her lecture I had quite a little 

 talk with her. In regard to the charge made 

 that she was in the habit of grabbing cigars 

 or knocking the pipes out of the mouths of 

 men in the streets, so far as I can learn her 

 offense was something like this: 



She would go to a boy, and in a kind and 

 motherly (or, perhaps, grandmotherly) way 

 would talk with him about the danger of 

 the habit he was forming. Then she would 

 say to the little fellow, while she placed her 

 hand on his shoulder, "Won't you let grand- 

 mother take that dangerous thing out of 

 your mouth and throw it away?" 



The boy usually yielded to her kind and 

 reasonable remonstrances; and she did, with 

 his permission, take it out of his mouth and 

 throw it away. Some papers told how much 

 money she made or received by selling her 

 hatchet or book, etc. It is true that our good 

 people handed over to her several thousand 

 dollars; but she told in her lectures what 

 she wanted the money for, and what would 

 be done with it, and what had been done 

 with it, and her book tells in detail of the 

 founding of a home for inebriates or their 

 families. She met with many unkind words, 

 many threats, arrests, imprisonment, and 

 other indignities. She was put on short ra- 

 tions many times in the vain endeavor to 

 make her give up her fanatical crusade, as 

 many were pleased to term it; but, like Paul 

 of old, she kept ujj her courage and trust in 

 the guiding hand of her Savior, and "fought 

 the good fight and finished her course." 

 Her ending was sad. She was twice mar- 

 ried, and each time discovered, after her 

 marriage, that her husband was intemper- 

 ate, and also a member of some secret 

 society. She has one child. This girl mar- 

 ried a man who also was intemperate; and 

 his only son (inheriting the love for drink 

 and evil companions from both father and 

 grandfather) drifted into a saloon and stood 

 behind a bar. In one of her last crusades, 

 near the time of her death, the young man 

 behind the bar said, "Why. how do you do, 

 grandma?" 



