INDICTED AND TRIED. 249 



PLEA WITH WOMAN. 



Writes Kev. Dr. Brand of Oberlin : " When 

 young ladies fully commit themselves against any 

 social and degrading custom, especially among 

 young men, that custom will begin to disappear. 

 Woman certainly has the right, among many other 

 things, to noble companionship and pure air, and 

 it would be a very encouraging sign to see her 

 assert it." 



A woman's crusade would be a more hopeful 

 movement than anything which could possibly be 

 devised. Mention has been made of the Massa- 

 chusetts ordinance prohibiting the use of tobacco 

 at the polls. One of the law-makers who worked 

 for this bill writes : ff The inspiration for the act 

 came from woman. And, as in all other matters 

 when woman speaks, she does it on the side of the 

 refining and elevating influences of life." 



All admit that woman has much to do in fixing 

 the moral tone of society. By every consideration, 

 then, financial, hygienic, aesthetic, mental, and 

 moral, all which are ignored, and, to a greater or 

 less extent, violated by the habit, — women, who, 

 on account of it, suffer as but few imagine, are 

 called upon to give the whole weight of their in- 

 fluence, singly and collectively, against it. If they 

 raise their banner, and in the name of God under- 

 take the war, they cannot fail to batter down this 

 grim Moloch past all resurrection. 



