Our Girls Part 24

Well, this is the story:--In a small factory village (say in Pennsylvania) with a thousand inhabitants, there were five "rum- holes." The men of the little community spent their time in the drinking places, while their children earned the family bread by long hours in the mills. The mothers were busy in caring for their children and drunken husbands, and many of them strove to add to the comforts of the family, by the use of the needle.

At length, on a Sat.u.r.day night, several boys, coaxed by a scamp, drank freely of whiskey, and were taken home helplessly intoxicated; two of them came near dying. The good mothers were on fire. They had long since abandoned all hope for their husbands, but they would never, _never_ consent that their boys should become drunkards. By a common impulse they gathered in the little church on the hill, and held a meeting for prayer and weeping. After three hours of pa.s.sionate e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, tears and heart-breaking agony, they resolved as follows:

"We will make a banner with our own hands. On one side it shall bear the figure of a child drinking from a bucket, that beverage, which G.o.d has prepared for his creatures. On the other side we will work this sentiment, 'Mothers will sacrifice all for their Children.'

When it is done, we will go to these men with our banner for the rallying flag, pray with them, plead with them, and never give up till they stop."

In two weeks they were ready, and eighty-four women (all mothers but four) with their little silken banner at their head, marched down to the first of the "rum-holes," and were met by the _landlord_ (curious misnomer) and told that they could pa.s.s on; that if they came in there, they would be sorry for it, &c. They had had no experience, did not know their power, were frightened, and hurried on. The second _landlord_ was a younger man, not so hard, and said, after looking over the company:

"Why, is it possible that all the good women in town are after me in this way? Why, of course I will stop, if they all wish it; that is to say, I will stop if the rest will."

"Mr. Warner, here is our paper; put down your name and say exactly what you will do; we are here on no idle errand."

So he put down his name with the words:

"I will stop if the rest will."

"John Warner."

They went on to the next one, who kept a bowling and billiard saloon as well as a drinking "hole," and laid their case before him.

He was a young man, and enjoyed a prodigious reputation as a "ladies man," and of course put down his name under John Warner's, and was careful to prefix the words,

"Ladies, I am your most obedient servant.

Henry Hinkle."

To make the story as short as possible, I will simply state that all but the first one on whom the ladies called--Hank Otis--stopped at once (doubtless at first to see how the thing would turn out) and then the ladies went down early in the morning and crowded into Hank's den. He came in, just out of bed, and was astonished to find his "grocery" crowded full of women. He had sworn to his cronies that if he ever caught "them women here, I will pitch 'em all into the street;" but on that morning, looking into the earnest faces of the crowd gathered about him, it occurred to him that pitching them into the street might not be a popular neighborhood movement, and so he did the next best thing--sent for his big easy chair, had a pillow brought for his head, another chair and pillow for his heels, and then cried out:

"Ladies, I am glad to see you; I an always glad to see my neighbors, especially the ladies. Now, ladies, do take seats (there was not another chair in the room) and go on; I shall be delighted to hear you."

They did go on; they cried, begged, plead, argued, reasoned and expostulated; they read from the Bible, they prayed, sang, and kept it up till twelve o'clock. A relative and very dear friend of mine was one of the company, and she has told me that she never witnessed such a scene,--it was enough to break a heart of stone.

About twelve o'clock, they said:

"Good morning, Mr. Otis; we will come again to-morrow morning."

"Do come, ladies, and come early; I hope you will never pa.s.s without dropping in. I am always glad to see my neighbors, especially the ladies."

The women went next morning before Hank was out of bed; as soon as he came in and took his chair, they began with singing and prayer.

Pretty soon Otis pretended to be asleep, and snored prodigiously; but they knew he was awfully wide awake. During the whole forenoon they sang, prayed, begged, plead, expostulated, and then sang and prayed again.

About noon Otis noticed that they suddenly ceased, and he wondered what was to come next. He opened one eye a little, and saw they were pulling out their luncheons. He groaned in spirit, but comforted himself with the reflection, that he could sit as long as they could stand. Soon they began again with prayer, and after another hour they closed with a song, and saying:

"Good afternoon, Mr. Otis; we will come again to-morrow morning,"

they left him.

Hank had nothing to say, for he felt that soon he must give way. But the next morning he was up early, and ready to receive them.

They began, and when they came to the part where they said, "we will support your family with our needles; we should be proud and happy to do so, if you will only close your place," he could stand it no longer, and springing to his feet, cried out:

"There is one thing I want to know, and that is, how long is this infernal business going to last?"

One of the earnest mothers replied:

"What G.o.d has in reserve for us we can't say, but if He permits us to live, we shall come here every day till this place is closed. Mr.

Otis, you think we are joking, that it is a foolish whim of ours; but, sir, we have entered into a solemn vow to struggle against this curse, which threatens to engulf our all, as long as G.o.d gives us the breath of life."

"Ladies, how long will you give me to stop?"

"You will have to take your own time."

"Well, in ten days I will stop, and on my honor as a gentleman, I will never begin again, in this town!"

"Oh, Mr. Otis," exclaimed one poor sufferer, "don't go on ten days; my poor Sam may become a drunkard in that time; stop now, and G.o.d will bless you."

"Well, ladies, I will pour out my liquors to-morrow morning at nine o'clock, and that shall be the last of it."

The next morning the whole village was there to see; the liquors were brought out with a great flourish, poured into the gutter, and they ran down into the stream below.

Although that village was so situated as to be peculiarly exposed to the evils of intemperance, and although this happened many years ago, I believe that not one gla.s.s of strong drink has been sold within its precincts, from that day to this. Those brave women have ever stood ready to attack, with their own peculiar weapons, the enemy who would open a pitfall for their sons.

Here and there, throughout the country, earnest mothers, wives, sisters and daughters have undertaken to exterminate the neighborhood grog-shops; and while men have constantly failed, these determined women have rarely failed to achieve a complete victory.

_Women rule in the social sphere, and are responsible for its vices._

In all this world, there is no other spectacle so bewildering and so sad, as this queen of the social sphere, living in the midst of drunken howls, the sickening fumes of tobacco, and in a hot-bed of licentiousness, and hiding the magic wand with which she might dispel every social iniquity, and then standing before a mirror, paint her cheeks and eyebrows, and adjust her curls, and ribbons, and flowers, and bows and jewelry.

It is no mere figure of speech, to say that G.o.d will hold her responsible for all this silly, shameless abandonment and betrayal of her high and sacred trusts!

WHAT YOU SHOULD DRINK.

I am astonished that a young woman who is ambitious of a clear, fine skin should drink tea. It is a great enemy to a fair complexion.

Wine, coffee and cocoa may be used without tinging the skin; but as soon as tea drinking becomes a regular habit, the eye of the discriminating observer detects it in the skin. Tea compromises the complexion, probably, by deranging the liver.

Weak tea or coffee may be used occasionally, in moderate quant.i.ty, without harm; and those who live much in the open air, and are occupied with hard work, may drink either, in considerable quant.i.ties, without noticeable harm; but I advise all young women who would preserve a soft, clear skin and quiet nerves, to avoid all drinks but cold water.

_It is an excellent practice to drink one or two gla.s.ses of cold water on lying down at night, and on rising in the morning._

If you have good teeth, and can help the food into your stomach without using any fluid, except the saliva, it will, in the long run, contribute much to your health.

ADDITIONAL HEALTH THOUGHTS.

It is impossible in preparing a work of this size, upon the broad and inexhaustible subject of Education, to maintain a logical continuity.

If my hopes in reference to the favor which this book will receive, are half realized, the reader will, perhaps, seek some of my works which are exclusively devoted to physical health. I take the liberty to name "_Weak Lungs, and How to make them Strong_," and "_Talks About People's Stomachs_;" both of which are published by Fields, Osgood, & Co., of this city (Boston).