1334 



/GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec 15 



fore the march of education; but finally in 

 one place they entrenched themselves on an 

 island in a river. After they pot to doing 

 a thriving business and making it quite a re- 

 sort for the intemperate, by Mr Folk's direc- 

 tion a schoolhouse was planted on the is- 

 land. Now, I did not learn exactly whether 

 they sent pupils over to the island in order 

 to make it a bona-Me schoolhouse, but 'they 

 broke up the traffic, and still they are "march- 

 ing on" along the same line. (Some might 

 say right here that this wasn't fair to the 

 saloonkeepers.) Just think of it, friends! 

 what a glorious work for any State or any 

 people, putting up schoolhouscs, places for 

 educating the young, where beer and whisky 

 saloons have formerly held sway! May God 

 bless Tennessee. In fact, God has blessed 

 the State. Mr. Folk is a man of wonderful 

 ability as a speaker. Besides his Anti-Saloon 

 work, he is publisher of some Baptist paper, 

 but I have forgotten the name of it. 



HOW A WOMAN ALMOST SINGLE-HANDED 

 MADE A TOWN DRY. 



Mrs. Florence Richards, a W. C. T. U. 

 lecturer from Leipsic, Putnam Co., Ohio, 

 gave the closing address of this grand con- 

 vention. Superintendent Baker, in introduc- 

 ing her, told us she would, by request, tell 

 us how she got saloons out of Leipsic. Per- 

 haps I migiit mention that it was in this 

 same town of Leipsic, almost fifty years 

 ago, that I took my first lessons in beer- 

 drinking. I was learning the trade of clock 

 and watch repairing; and as there was a 

 beer saloon right across the way, which my 

 teacher often visited, it is not strange that 

 a boy cf seventeen got drawn into it. Well, 

 Leipsic is now a town of six or eight thou- 

 sand inhabitants. A little over two years 

 ago, just as Mrs. Richards was returning 

 from a lecture tour, the pastor of her church 

 informed her he had announced and made 

 other arrangements for her to give them a 

 temperance talk the next ^unday evening. 

 She told him she was tired out, and had 

 come home to rest, and that he would really 

 have to excuse her and postpone the an- 

 nouncement. He replied, "Why, you told 

 me some time ago, Mrs. Richards, that peo- 

 ple kept asking about your own town, and 

 saying they supposed, of course, that you 

 had succeeded in banishing saloons from 

 your native place, etc. Now, we will give 

 you all the help we can if you will just get 

 right at it. There is a big new saloon, built 

 of brick, just opened up. and they are doing 

 a smashing business, and no mistake." 



After a little more entreaty she told him* 

 she would try to prepare herself and do what 

 she could. The more she thought about it 

 the more the Holy Spirit seemed to indi- 

 cate that she should go right into the sa- 

 loons and get facts for her address. 



On Saturday night she started out, note- 

 book and pencil in hand. Sure enough, in 

 every one of the ten saloons she found men 

 and boys — boys under age. whose names she 



could easily take down in her book, for she 

 knew their mothers and all about them. Be- 

 fore she got to the big brick saloon it was 

 noised abroad through the town what she 

 was doing, and a crowd followed her. Iik 

 fact, there were so many in that new gilt- 

 edged establishment with its finely furnished 

 trappings th?.t she decided, instead of waiting 

 until Sunday evening before she gave her lec- 

 ture, she would give it then and ther?. The 

 bartender courteously opened the door for 

 her, then got behind the counter with alac- 

 rity, and said: "Well, madam, what will you 

 have?" 



Now, perhaps, I should add that Mrs. 

 Richards is a large, fine-looking woman. 

 She is big enough and stout enough to hold 

 her own with almost any man. She has lots 

 of poise and assurance, and I can readily 

 imagine she could keep a smiling face, and 

 go forward and do her duty, no matter 

 where she might be put. She replied some- 

 thing like this : 



"My good sir, I am not yet just ready to 

 tell you what I will have, but I will make it 

 known in due time. I see you are on hand 

 in readiness to attend to your business. Now, 

 I want to tell you that I, too, am on hand 

 ready to attend to my business." 



Then she turned to the young boys who 

 were there under age, in direct defiance of 

 the law, and commenced to take down their 

 names in her book. She knew most of them, 

 and she knew their mothers. She knew the 

 men also, and knew their wives ; and she 

 knew pretty well about the homes where they 

 lived. She warned the boys of the conse- 

 quences of the drink habit ; she told them 

 they were breaking the laws; she reminded 

 them of their mothers and their sisters, and 

 how pained they would be to find them in 

 such a place. At the close of her talk to 

 the boys she asked all who were ready to 

 sign the pledge and start out on a new life 

 for something better, to raise their hands. 

 Nineteen hands went up. Her prayers for 

 the boys were answered. The Holy Spirit 

 guided her in her desire to reach their young 

 hearts. Then she turned to the men. Among 

 them were some members of the town coun- 

 cil and the mayor. They were smoking and 

 drinking, or they had been doing so. She 

 reminded them in kind but plain terms of 

 what they were doing to protect the town 

 and to see that the laws were enforced. She 

 told the men one after the other how much 

 the money was needed by their wives and 

 children. She spoke to one man whom she 

 knew was a carpenter. She reminded him 

 of the poor condition in which his home was 

 to shelter his wife and children from the in- 

 clemency of the weather; of the way in which 

 building paper had been nailed over the 

 cracks because the house was not finished, 

 and yet he was there squandering his wages 

 for the week in that gilt-edged den of in- 

 iquity. Finally, she wound up by reminding 

 Continued on page 1352. 



