A 7?/ 
 
BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 "WOMAN TO THE RESCUE." 
 
 " Three Years in a Man-Trap," 
 "Cast Adrift," 
 
 "Orange Blossoms, Fresh and Faded, 
 "Gentle Hand," 
 
 "Ten Nights in a Bar-Room," 
 And many others. 
 
 For Particulars, Price, etc., see Catalogue at end of 
 this Book. 
 
m i 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 A STORY OF THE NEW CEUSADE. 
 
 BY 
 
 T. S. AKTHUK. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 J. M. STODDAET & CO-. 
 
 CINCINNATI : QUEEN CITY PUBLISHING CO. CHICAGO : J. S. GOODMAN. 
 NEW YORK : MYERS A PATON. BOSTON : GEO. MACLEAN. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO: A. L. BANCROFT & co. 
 
ij L tiak >far 1874, by 
 J. M. STODDART & CO., 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 WESTCOTT & THOMSON, 
 Storeotypert and Mtctrotypert, PhUada. 
 
"Go, feel what I have felt, 
 
 Go, bear what I have borne ; 
 Sink neath a blow a father dealt, 
 
 And the cold, proud world s scorn. 
 Thus struggle on from year to year, 
 Thy sole relief the scalding tear. 
 
 " Go, weep as I have wept 
 
 O er a loved father s fall ; 
 See every cherished promise swept, 
 
 Youth s sweetness turned to gall ; 
 Hope s faded flowers strewed all the way 
 That led me up to woman s day. 
 
 " Go, kneel as I have knelt; 
 
 Implore, beseech, and pray, 
 Strive the besotted heart to melt, 
 
 The downward course to stay ; 
 Be cast with bitter curse aside, 
 Thy prayers burlesqued, thy tears defied. 
 
 " Go, stand where I have stood, 
 And see the strong man bow ; 
 
 5 
 
 M88959 
 
With gnashing teeth, lips bathed in blood, 
 
 And cold and livid brow ; 
 Go catch his wandering glance, and see 
 There mirrored his soul s misery. 
 
 Go, hear what I have heard, 
 
 The sobs of sad despair, 
 As memory s feeling fount hath stirred, 
 
 And its revealings there 
 Have told him what he might have been, 
 Had he the drunkard s fate foreseen. 
 
 "Go to thy mother s side, 
 
 And her crushed spirit cheer; 
 Thine own deep anguish hide, 
 
 Wipe from her cheek the tear ; 
 Mark her dimmed eye, her furrowed brow, 
 The gray that streaks her dark hair now, 
 The toil-worn frame, the trembling limb, 
 And trace the ruin back to him 
 Whose plighted faith, in early youth, 
 Promised eternal love and truth, 
 But who, forsworn, hath yielded up 
 This promise to the deadly cup, 
 And led her down from love and light, 
 From all that made her pathway bright, 
 And chained her there, mid want and strife, 
 That lowly thing, a drunkard s wife ! 
 And stamped on childhood s brow, so mild, 
 That withering blight, a drunkard s child ! 
 
 6 
 
Go, hear, and see, and feel, and know 
 
 All that my soul hath felt and known, 
 Then look within the wine-cup s glow ; 
 
 See if its brightness can atone ; 
 Think if its flavor you would try 
 If all proclaimed, Tis drink and die. 
 
 Tell me I hate the bowl, 
 
 Hate is a feeble word ; 
 I loathe, abhor, my very soul 
 
 By strong disgust is stirred 
 Whene er I see, or hear, or tell 
 Of the DAEK BEVERAGE OF HELL ! 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 A STORY OF THE NEW CRUSADE. 
 
 CHAPTfcB* D 
 
 fTlHJS wind was up, wailing and sobbing around 
 -*- the poor little home of Luke Sterling, and 
 dashing the sleety rain in angry gusts against its 
 half-glazed windows. An hour before, the gloomy 
 day had died. 
 
 A thin face was pressed close to one of the panes 
 and a pair of sad eyes looked out, trying to pene 
 trate the darkness. 
 
 " Oh dear ! I wish papa would come." 
 
 The face disappeared from the window, and Mrs. 
 Sterling, who had been watching for her husband, 
 crossed the room to where a sick child lay upon an 
 old settee. 
 
 " Why don t papa come? I m so hot and tired, 
 
10 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 and my head hurts so. Oh dear! I wish he d 
 come back/ 7 moaned the child, fretfully. 
 
 Mrs. Sterling sat down, and taking the feverish 
 hands of her little girl in both of hers, pressed 
 them to her lips, saying, 
 
 " He ll be here right soon now. The doctor may 
 have been out, you know." 
 
 { iTjie child Js&itt >ier eyes heavily, and Mrs. Ster 
 ling sat holding her hot hands and listening for the 
 ^cundxpf her Iws^andjS feet for over ten minutes. 
 Beyond this she could not bear the suspense of pas 
 sive waiting. Alice, who had been sick all day, 
 had become much worse since night fell. It was 
 almost an hour since her husband went for Doctor 
 Sandford, whose house was just across the town, 
 not over ten minutes walk from where they lived. 
 What was keeping him so long? For the past 
 twenty or thirty minutes the heart of Mrs. Sterling 
 had been growing heavier and heavier, and fears 
 she had too good cause to entertain were crowding 
 upon her. 
 
 The deeply-flushed face and heavy breathing of 
 the child, the restless tossings and meanings, the 
 cries of pain, so filled her with anxiety that she at 
 last determined to go for the doctor herself. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 11 
 
 " Why, Polly Sterling !" exclaimed Mrs. Payne, 
 her next-door neighbor, as the white, alarmed face 
 of Mrs. Sterling was suddenly revealed in her open 
 door. "What s the matter? Has anything hap 
 pened?" 
 
 " Won t you come in and stay with Alice while 
 I go for the doctor ?" 
 
 " Why, of course I will," answered the neighbor, 
 promptly. "But where s Luke?" 
 
 " I don t know." Mrs. Sterling shook her head 
 mournfully. 
 
 "Is Alice worse?" 
 
 " She s very sick, and Pm afraid to put off see 
 ing the doctor any longer." 
 
 " But it s a dreadful night for you to go out in. 
 Didn t George come home this evening ? I thought 
 he always came on Tuesdays and Saturdays ?" 
 
 " He used to be very regular in coming home, 
 but they re busy at the shop now, and he .often 
 has to work at night. Some weeks I only see him 
 on Sundays." 
 
 "Well, that s curious," remarked Mrs. Payne. 
 "Andy White works over at Salter s, and he s 
 home oftener than that, I know." 
 
 "Are you sure?" asked Mrs. Sterling, turning 
 
12 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 suddenly upon her neighbor. There was a deeper 
 trouble in her face. 
 
 "Yes, Fm very sure; and if George doesn t 
 come home more than once a week, you d better see 
 to it, and know the reason why. There are a great 
 many temptations in a place like this, and growing- 
 up boys should be looked after pretty closely. I 
 don t think much of Baiter s as a school for lads ; 
 there are lots of the hardest kind of men there. 
 But I ve no business to worry you about this now. 
 I ll go right in and stay with Alice until you get 
 back." 
 
 Out into the cold and stormy night, thinly clad, 
 went Mrs. Sterling, and made her way with rapid 
 steps across the town. She was wet with the 
 driving rain and chilled to the heart when she 
 reached the house of Dr. Sandford. 
 
 "Has my husband been here?" she asked, on 
 seeing the doctor. 
 
 "Yes; he was here an hour ago. Hasn t he 
 taken home the medicine ?" 
 
 Doctor Sandford looked astonished, and Mrs. 
 Sterling saw a flash of anger in his eyes. The 
 poor woman could only shake her head in reply. 
 
 "Too bad, too bad!" exclaimed the doctor, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 13 
 
 breaking across the room in two or three long 
 strides and then coming back to Mrs. Sterling. 
 "Is there nothing left in the man? no pity, no 
 natural feeling, no humanity ! I gave him a pre 
 scription to be taken immediately, and the money 
 to pay for it, as he had none ; and instead of getting 
 the medicine for his sick child, he has gone and 
 spent it for rum !" 
 
 Doctor Sandford was a kind-hearted man, but of 
 a nervous temperament and easily excited. He 
 saw, by the shocked, ashen face of the poor wife, 
 that he had gone beyond true feeling and a wise 
 discretion. 
 
 "I should have known better," he added, in a 
 softer voice. " But it can t be helped now. How 
 is the child?" 
 
 "Very sick, doctor. Oh, I wish you d come 
 over and see her. She has a very high fever, and 
 moans and throws herself about, and is getting 
 flighty." . 
 
 " Too bad !" exclaimed the doctor again. " She 
 should have had medicine an hour ago, and would, 
 but for" 
 
 He checked himself, holding back his indigna 
 tion for the poor wife s sake. 
 
14 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 The rush and roar of the storm, as the wind 
 broke through the bare branches of the great trees 
 that stood in front of the doctor s pleasant home, 
 and its sleety dash against the windows of his 
 office, was a strong argument in favor of writing 
 another prescription instead of making a visit an 
 argument that found support in the fact that he 
 had already a large bill against Mr: Sterling for 
 medical service, the settlement of which was so 
 remote as to be left out of all his calculations. 
 
 But Doctor Sandford had known Mrs. Sterling 
 in other and better days, and still bore for her a 
 strong friendly regard. Well did he remember the 
 fair promise of her wedding-day, when she gave 
 herself to Luke Sterling, the handsome, thrifty 
 young storekeeper, with whom half the girls in 
 town were said to be in love. And so his kind 
 heart, his pity and his old friendly feeling were 
 stronger in the argument than a love of personal 
 ease or mere self-interest. 
 
 " Run back home as quickly as your feet will 
 carry you," he said ; " I ll be there in ten minutes." 
 
 And Doctor Sandford was as good as his word. 
 He knew pretty well -what the case needed, and 
 brought medicines along with him. The poor 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 15 
 
 mother watched his face as he sat feeling the 
 child s pulse, and saw little to assure her anxious 
 heart in its grave expression. 
 
 " I will be over early in the morning," said the 
 doctor as he went away. A fierce blast swept in 
 through the door as he was shutting it behind him, 
 extinguishing the single light that burned in the 
 room, leaving Mrs. Sterling in total darkness. Al 
 most as deep as this darkness was the night that 
 had fallen upon her soul. Had it not been for the 
 sick child who needed her, the wretched woman, in 
 whose heart every hope lay dead or dying, would 
 have fallen to the floor in a helpless abandonment 
 of herself to the despairing influences of the hour. 
 But the quick outcry of Alice roused her to duty ; 
 and relighting the lamp, she prepared and gave 
 the medicine which Doctor Sandford had left. The 
 effect of this medicine was soon apparent in a dimin 
 ished restlessness, and in half an hour Alice was 
 asleep. Still, her breathing was heavy, her face 
 flushed and her skin hot. 
 
 Ease of mind in one direction only gave oppor 
 tunity for anxiety in another. Again and again she 
 went to the window, and stood with her face pressed 
 close to the chilly panes, trying to see into the outer 
 
16 WOMAN TO THE EESCUE. 
 
 darkness and listening with repressed breathing for 
 the sound of coming feet. But only the dropping 
 and splashing of the rain and the moaning, rush 
 ing and roaring of the storm-laden wind came to 
 her ears. 
 
 It was an hour since the doctor went away, and 
 still her husband had not returned. From the settee 
 on which Alice lay sleeping, to the window, back 
 and forth she passed with a restlessness that grew 
 stronger every moment. Sometimes she would strike 
 her hands suddenly together and throw up her eyes 
 in a wild, beseeching appeal to Heaven ; sometimes 
 she would clasp her hands across her forehead and 
 stand still with staring orbs, like one bereft of 
 reason ; and once she dropped helplessly upon her 
 knees by the side of her sick child, and burying 
 her face, remained motionless for a long time. 
 When she arose, she was calmer and there was a 
 softer expression about her troubled mouth. Just 
 then the door was pushed quietly open, and Mrs. 
 Payne came in to see if the sick child* was improv 
 ing. She put her arm about the slender form of 
 Mrs. Sterling as they stood silently looking upon the 
 sleeping child, and so gave her that speechless assur 
 ance of sympathy which goes deeper than words. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 17 
 
 Mrs. Payne knew how to sympathize with her 
 nearly heart-broken neighbor, for the green things 
 in her life had not all been spared from the scorch 
 ing ruin that was desolating so many of the fair 
 homes of Delhi. She had been a widow for over 
 three years, but no sweet memories gathered about 
 the grave of her husband. She had never decked 
 it with a flower nor made to the unmarked spot a 
 single visit of love. The bare thought of it made 
 her shiver. 
 
 " You will stay with Alice a little while ?" said 
 Mrs. Sterling, moving back from the settee. 
 
 " Oh, but you re not going to-night ?" returned 
 Mrs. Payne, who understood what she meant. 
 " Just listen to the wind ; and it s raining in tor 
 rents." 
 
 " I must go ; there is no help for it. The more 
 dreadful the storm, the greater the necessity," re 
 plied Mrs. Sterling. And she took down from the 
 wall a hood and cloak, both still wet from the 
 rain which had drenched her a little while before, 
 and put them on hurriedly. "I won t be away 
 long." 
 
 And before Mrs. Payne could make any further 
 remonstrance, she had passed out of the door. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 T^ELHI is a beautiful town in the centre of a 
 ^"v rich agricultural region, and has a population 
 of nearly five thousand. At the time of which we 
 write it had over thirty bars and drinking saloons, 
 or one for every forty of the male population above 
 the age of sixteen. Some of these saloons were 
 fitted up in a costly and attractive style, and at 
 night their richly-colored lamps could be seen on 
 every street and in all directions, turn which way 
 you would, inviting young and old to enter. Some 
 of the keepers of these saloons had grown rich, and 
 their residences were among the handsomest in tho 
 place ; but just in the degree that they grew richer 
 some in Delhi had grown poorer, for they added 
 nothing to the common stock of wealth, nor to the 
 thrift that produces or the prudence that saves. 
 They were the parasites and vermin that feed on 
 and suck out the rich juices of society, and weaken, 
 impoverish and destroy. 
 
 There was scarcely a family in town, from the 
 clergyman s down to the poor mechanic s, that was 
 
 18 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 19 
 
 free from the hurt of these drinking saloons. They 
 flourished in spite of temperance societies, grand 
 jury presentments, restrictive State laws, the pulpit 
 and the courts, and in spite of the broken hearts 
 of wives and mothers who cried for help in vain. 
 The whole community was in bondage to the thirty 
 saloon-keepers, and paid them tribute as demanded 
 not in money alone, but in precious lives. 
 
 It seems incredible. A town of five thousand 
 souls in a Christian nation, numbering seven 
 churches and hundreds of Christian men and wo 
 men a town of large wealth and extensive in 
 dustries, of education, refinement and intelligence 
 it seems incredible, we say, that such a community 
 should be held utterly bound by thirty men ; and 
 such men ! We hear, in times past, of bands of 
 outlaws coming down upon defenceless villages and 
 plundering the weak inhabitants, and of robber 
 knights holding by armed bands large districts of 
 country in their iron grasp, and draining out the 
 substance and lives of the people at will. But his 
 tory gives no instance of such a craven and coward 
 submission as that to which Delhi had given her 
 self up for years. 
 
 Of the thirty men who held this beautiful town 
 
20 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 prostrate beneath their feet, at least one-half had, 
 at some period in their lives, been under arrest for 
 offences against law and order ; six had been con 
 victed of crimes and suffered imprisonment one 
 of them for a term of seven years. Only three 
 were men of education, and they had lived bad 
 lives. Several were professed gamblers, and carried 
 on their evil trade night and day, thus inflicting a 
 double wrong upon the community. The majority 
 were foreigners, but all these were naturalized citi 
 zens and active politicians, doing good service to 
 their party on every election-day. They were men 
 who never missed a vote. Coarse, common and of 
 low instincts were most of these thirty rulers of Del 
 hi, and neither they nor their families could gain 
 admission into any of the refined and cultured circles 
 of the place. Good and true men denounced their 
 calling as evil and lifted warning voices against 
 them. Every day the crushing tread of their iron 
 heels was felt by the people ; every day the drain 
 of substance went on ; every day saw a rain of 
 tears in some stricken and desolate home; every 
 day their evil work set itself up before the eyes of 
 all. There was wreck and ruin everywhere, and 
 no help ! 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 21 
 
 Thus it was in Delhi at the time our story opens. 
 Good Templars and Sons of Temperance held regu 
 lar meetings and tried to stem the tide of ruin that 
 was bearing so many to destruction, but they en 
 tered upon no aggressive work. A malign spell 
 was upon the community. It would not arouse 
 itself. Men who had spent their whole lives in 
 conquering difficulties, who had organized armies 
 and led them through fierce campaigns to victory, 
 held back from leadership now, and grew coward 
 in the presence of thirty men with King Whisky 
 at their back. 
 
 Wives saw their husbands drifting toward the 
 great maelstrom of intemperance that year by year 
 engulfed hundreds in Delhi; weeping mothers 
 stood with hands stretched out toward their receding 
 sons ; sisters saw their brothers go down amid the 
 seething waters, and no one sprang to the rescue. 
 Their tears and anguish, their pleadings, their wild 
 cries for help, found no response. Men hus 
 bands, fathers, brothers organized society, deter 
 mined its character, made and executed its laws, 
 set up whom they would and put down whom they 
 would, and men were afraid of King Alcohol and 
 his band of mean subalterns, one of whom could 
 
22 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 chase a thousand and two put ten thousand ordi^ 
 nary citizens to flight. 
 
 We write in shame, but truth is truth. Ah ! if 
 it were only in Delhi that good and brave and just 
 men lost their clear judgment and courageous hearts 
 and higher and nobler sense of duty when they 
 stood in the presence of this robber king and his 
 wretched crew, we might rejoice even in our sorrow 
 for an oppressed and pirllaged neighbor. But there 
 is scarcely a city, a town or a neighborhood in all 
 our magnificent land where he has not established 
 his cruel despotism, and where he does not subsidize, 
 influence and control the laws. 
 
 Is it any marvel that helpless, heart-breaking 
 women, who suffer most deeply from the curse of a 
 whisky despotism, should have asked for and de 
 manded the ballot in order that, at a single grand 
 uprising, they might do what their husbands, fathers 
 and brothers have failed to do sweep this despotism 
 from the land? 
 
 At the corner of two of the best streets in Delhi, 
 right in the centre of business, stood the " Hanlan 
 House." It was kept by one Jimmy Hanlan, as 
 he was familiarly called, and was fitted up witk 
 many attractions. It was not a house for the enter- 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 23 
 
 tainment of travelers, having a certain number of, 
 beds and other appliances necessary in a regular 
 hotel, as required by law, but only an eating and 
 drinking saloon. The law did not contemplate, in 
 its license to sell intoxicating drinks, the establish 
 ment of a " house " like this. It existed in viola 
 tion of the clear intent and plain expression of the 
 law. All the more intelligent and influential citi 
 zens of Delhi knew that this was so ; and yet for 
 over ten years Jimmy Hanlan had flaunted his signs 
 by day and flashed out his red and blue lamps at 
 night on the corner of Elm and Main streets, and 
 no. one had said him nay. 
 
 When the " Hanlan House " was opened, Luke 
 Sterling was the owner of a store full of goods at 
 No. 70 Main street, and had just built himself a 
 beautiful residence in the prettiest part of the town 
 at a cost of nearly ten thousand dollars. Jimmy 
 Hanlan, a smart but rather coarse man, had been 
 a porter in his store; but not being over-fond 
 of work, he had saved up a few hundred dollars, 
 and with that sum and the credit he was able to get 
 from a wholesale liquor dealer in town, who always 
 stood ready to help such enterprising young men as 
 Jimmy whenever they wished .to set up for them- 
 
24 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 selves in this particular line of business, started a 
 saloon. Mr. Sterling and two of his neighbors, 
 who felt some interest in the enterprising young 
 fellow, signed his application for a license, though 
 they very well knew that in his case the license 
 law, in its true intent, was to be evaded. But this 
 law, in consequence of just such weak and wicked 
 connivance, had become a dead letter throughout 
 the State. 
 
 Jimmy s saloon was the most attractive place of 
 the kind in Delhi, and he found a good run of the 
 best class of custom from the beginning. Luke 
 Sterling, who had not been in the habit of visiting 
 a tavern once in a month, dropped into the " Hanlan 
 House " every day to see how Jimmy was getting 
 along, and of course always called for something to 
 drink by way of encouraging the new enterprise. 
 It was not a great while before inclination instead 
 of interest in Hanlan drew his steps thitherward. 
 At a certain hour on the morning of each day he 
 found his thoughts turning to the new saloon and 
 a picture of its attractive interior coming up before 
 his mental vision. The pleasant taste of one of 
 Jimmy s rare concoctions would be upon his tongue, 
 and he would feel in imagination the warmth of it* 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 25 
 
 fine exhilaration along every nerve and fibre of his 
 body. Then he would come from behind his 
 counter or leave his desk and go into the " Hanlan 
 House " to see how things were looking there. He 
 had loaned the man two hundred and fifty dol 
 lars, with which to put a new and more attractive 
 front to his saloon and to get a fancy display lamp 
 for the pavement, and he naturally enough wanted 
 to keep the run of Jimmy s business to see if all 
 was coming out right. 
 
 After making this loan, and so getting a kind of 
 personal interest in the success of the saloon, Ster 
 ling began to make more frequent visits. Afternoon 
 and evening calls were made almost every day, and 
 he rarely went in without taking a drink, and some 
 times as many as two or three. He always met 
 business friends and old acquaintances at the 
 "Hanlan House," and especially in the evening, 
 when some of " the best men in the town " might 
 be found at the saloon talking over the news of 
 the day, politics more especially, and inviting each 
 other to try the flavor of some of Jimmy s fancy 
 Irinks. 
 
 The American custom of asking a friend to drink 
 with you had its strict observance in Delhi. It was 
 
26 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 scarcely possible for a man who knew almost every 
 one in town, as did Luke Sterling, to visit the prin 
 cipal saloon without giving or receiving two or 
 three invitations to take a drink. It would have 
 been felt as unsocial not to have offered the one, 
 and been regarded as a slight not to have accepted 
 the other. It is this custom that hastens the ruin 
 of so many thousands, who, but for its existence, 
 would take only a single glass on visiting a tavern, 
 instead of two, three, and often half a dozen, 
 ending, as is too often the case, in a drunken de 
 bauch. 
 
 Sterling had been married just seven years when 
 the " Hanlan House " was opened, and during that 
 time the life of Mrs. Sterling had flowed along like 
 a quiet stream through green meadows and pleasant 
 landscapes. At her marriage she had brought her 
 husband a property of over twenty thousand dol 
 lars, which was soon afterward invested with her 
 full consent in his business, then well established 
 and prosperous. A tenderer, truer wife no man 
 ever possessed. She had married Luke Sterling 
 because she loved him, and love had grown deeper 
 and stronger with every year of their wedded life. 
 Her person, her fortune and her happiness she had 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 27 
 
 given into his keeping with a confidence that knew 
 not even the shadow of a doubt. 
 
 Ah ! when the shadow fell at last, clear and 
 strong as the shadow of a t*ee in the broad sun 
 light, what agony filled her heart ! The opening 
 of Jimmy Hanlan s saloon had not troubled her. 
 There were over a dozen bars and saloons in Delhi 
 before this one began its baleful work, but the 
 possibility of suffering from their evil influence 
 was far away from her thoughts. If there was a 
 man in all the neighborhood freer from danger on 
 this account than any one else, that man was her 
 husband. Such was her confidence. He was not 
 a temperance man, so called not an advocate for 
 total abstinence or restrictive laws, but for manly 
 freedom. He could take a glass of wine or beer, 
 or even brandy, when occasion offered, or let it 
 alone, just as he pleased. He stood above the weak 
 nesses of appetite. Happy for him and for her had 
 this indeed been so. But, alas ! it was not. Like 
 tens and hundreds of thousands in our land, he 
 could not habitually indulge in the use of any drink 
 containing alcohol without a steady growth of ap 
 petite and a steady breaking down of the power to 
 restrain the demands of that appetite. The temp- 
 
28 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 tation to drink habitually and with a larger freedom 
 came with the establishment of the new saloon. 
 Going first to encourage Hanlan and to see how he 
 got along from day to day, he soon found that the 
 bar had attractions strong enough to take him there 
 on their own account. There was something pleas 
 ant to him in the sphere of the place, it was so 
 bright and cheerful, and the friends he met there 
 were so jolly and cordial. And then Jimmy Han 
 lan had a way of mixing a glass of liquor that 
 made it seem doubly palatable. 
 
 So strong was Mrs. Sterling s faith in her hus 
 band, so confident was she in her security, that 
 the odor of liquor which now came frequently on 
 his breath did not awaken the smallest concern. 
 The fear of Luke s becoming intemperate was far 
 irom her. There were some new phases in his 
 temper a growing irritability and a nervous rest 
 lessness, especially in the morning that troubled 
 her at times. He was not the Luke of old. But 
 she knew that he had many and increasing business 
 cares, and to this she attributed the change. 
 
 One afternoon the " Hanlan House " had now 
 been open for a year Mrs. Sterling called in to see 
 a neighbor, the wife of a promising young lawyer 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 29 
 
 named Gordon. She and Mrs. Gordon had been 
 schoolgirls together, and were strongly attached. 
 Since their marriage they had lived near each other, 
 and were in the habit of meeting every day. 
 
 Mrs. Sterling was much pained to discover her 
 friend in tears and greatly distressed about some 
 thing. 
 
 " My dear, dear Amy !" she exclaimed, throw 
 ing her arms about her neck in the warmth of her 
 feelings. "What is the matter? No one dead, I 
 hope? 
 
 Mrs. Gordon hid her face, sobbing, on the bosom 
 of her friend. 
 
 "What is it, dear? Tell me," urged Mrs. 
 Sterling as the two women sat down. " What has 
 happened ?" 
 
 "Nothing has happened. Fm only weak and 
 nervous to-day. You know Fve not been feeling 
 well for some time," replied Mrs. Gordon, trying 
 to rally herself. 
 
 " I know that something has been troubling you," 
 said Mrs. Sterling. " Now, what is it, Amy dear ? 
 Tell me all about it. Maybe I can help you." 
 
 There was an expression in Mrs. Gordon s face 
 as she lifted her head and looked for a few moments 
 
30 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 steadily at her friend that sent a strange feeling to 
 Mrs. Sterling s heart. It had in it both pain and 
 surprise. She shook her head in a sorrowful kind 
 of way as she answered : 
 
 " No, Polly ; you can t help me." 
 
 " I can help you with love and sympathy, if in 
 no other way." 
 
 The dreary look did not go out of her friend s 
 eyes, nor the sad expression fade away from her 
 lips. Then M^s. Sterling, urging her still further, 
 said : 
 
 " Nothing has gone wrong with Mr. Gordon, I 
 hope?" 
 
 She saw a shade of bitterness sweep across her 
 friend s face. 
 
 "Wrong in his "affairs, I mean?" she added, 
 quickly, fearing that she might have touched a 
 deeper trouble than she had dreamed of or had 
 any right to meddle with. 
 
 " Oh, Polly, if I dared to tell you !" cried out 
 Mrs. Gordon, clutching her friend s arms with a 
 sudden grip, as of one struggling with a spasm. 
 A deadly pallor came over her face, and every 
 muscle quivered with pain. " I must talk to some 
 body, or my heart will break." 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 31 
 
 "My dear, dear friend, how you distress me! 
 What does all this mean ?" 
 
 "It means," answered Mrs. Gordon, growing 
 calm in a few moments, "that the evil thing I 
 have dreaded all my life is at my door to-day." 
 
 "What evil thing?" 
 
 " Ah, if I could bring myself to tell you ! But 
 it is so dreadful so sorrowful !" 
 
 Mrs. Gordon leaned her face down again upon 
 the bosom of her friend and wept as before, but 
 she soon composed herself. And now, the strength 
 of her passion having subsided, she could speak in 
 a steady voice : 
 
 " I ve been wanting to talk with you for a good 
 while about a matter that distresses me beyond 
 measure. The truth is, Polly, our husbands are in 
 great danger." 
 
 "Our husbands!" exclaimed Mrs. Sterling, all 
 the color going out of her face. " What danger ?" 
 
 "There is a place at the corner of Elm and 
 Main streets," replied Mrs. Gordon, "that will ruin 
 more men in a year, twice told, than will be saved 
 by all the churches in town." 
 
 "You mean Jimmy Hanlan s saloon?" 
 
 "Yes. Before it was opened Frank rarely, if 
 
32 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 ever, drank anything at a public-house. If he 
 wanted a glass of wine, or anything else, he took it 
 at home ; and this not often. He didn t seem to 
 care for liquor as much as some other men. But 
 since that Hanlan set up a saloon, he has been grad 
 ually falling away from his good habits, until " 
 
 The poor wife s voice choked, and tears fell 
 silently over her cheeks. It was then that the dark 
 shadow fell suddenly across the sunny life of Mrs. 
 Sterling. The questions, " Is Luke, too, in dan 
 ger? Is Luke drifting out also upon the dark 
 river that sweeps, year by year, its tens of thou 
 sands to dishonored graves?" flashed through her 
 mind and sent the blood in chilling currents back 
 upon her heart. 
 
 The two women, with pale faces and silent lips, 
 sat looking at each other, oppressed with a sense of 
 weakness. They were in the presence of a great 
 calamity from which there seemed no way of 
 escape. 
 
 The veil of confidence had dropped from the 
 eyes of Mrs. Sterling which had until now kept 
 her from noticing the drift in her husband s course 
 that was taking him out of safe waters and into a 
 current that set toward a dangerous coast. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 the two friends sat, silent and borne 
 down by a sense of weakness, when a neighbor 
 came in. Mrs. Gordon rose quickly and gave her 
 hand to the visitor. She was a woman past fifty 
 years of age, with a calm, patient face, whereon you 
 read the story of a life in which trial, suffering and 
 sorrow had found rest and comfort in a complete 
 submission to the divine will. Her name was 
 Mrs. Khoda Green. In religious faith she was a 
 Methodist, one of the old-time sisters who believed 
 in prayer, and - who every day entered into her 
 closet and shut the door and lifted her* heart to 
 Him whose ears are always open to those who cajl 
 upon his name. 
 
 It was the habit of Sister Green to submit all 
 tilings to God. In every trial or difficulty, in 
 every doubt or fear, in every trouble or misfortune, 
 she went to her heavenly Father, and with the 
 simple trust of a child laid her case before him 
 and asked for the grace she needed, whether it 
 
 3 33 
 
34 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 were the grace of courage to enter upon a conflict 
 or the grace of submission to bear what was inev 
 itable. 
 
 Every one in Delhi knew Sister Rhoda Green. 
 Those who came nearest to her loved her most, 
 and by all she was held in much respect. Literally 
 did she try to do her Saviour s work in visiting the 
 sick, clothing the naked and feeding the hungry, 
 but never regarded her duty as done until she had 
 awakened in the minds of those to whom she minis 
 tered a deep sense of spiritual poverty and naked 
 ness, and of their lost condition through sin. 
 
 As Sister Green held the hand of Mrs. Gordon 
 and looked into her face she saw the trouble that 
 overshadowed it. And as she turned and spoke in 
 her kind, sweet way to Mrs. Sterling she saw that 
 her countenance, was troubled also. The smile 
 which had played about her lips died off, and she 
 said, in her gentle but earnest way, 
 
 "Nothing wrong, I hope? How is little 
 Bessie?" 
 
 "Very well," replied Mrs. Gordon, trying to 
 rally herself and put on a cheerful air. 
 
 "All well at home?" turning to Mrs. Sterling. 
 
 " Yes, thank you." 
 

 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 35 
 
 A few moments of silence, then Mrs. Gordon, 
 after giving her visitor a chair, said, 
 
 " We were talking about Jimmy Hanlan s saloon. 
 It s doing a great deal of harm, Mrs. Green more 
 than all the rest put together, Fm afraid. So many 
 of our best men go there. I heard last week that 
 John Wharton spends half his time there. It s 
 dreadful. And he used to be such a fine man. 
 Poor Katy ! my heart aches for her." 
 
 Mrs. Gordon s voice broke a little, and only by 
 a strong effort was she able to keep back the sob 
 that trembled in her throat. 
 
 The face of Mrs. Green became very serious and 
 thoughtful. 
 
 "Yes," she replied, "it was a dark day for us 
 when Hanlan opened his saloon. I saw how it 
 would be when he put in that great window and 
 made everything look so gay and attractive, and, 
 as I heard some one remark at the time, so respect 
 able. Most of the saloons were low places, and our 
 best people didn t like to be seen in them. Our 
 gentlemen kept themselves away. But now you 
 rarely pass the corner of Main and Elm streets 
 without seeing a lawyer or a merchant going in or 
 coming out. And, what is worst of all, too many 
 
36 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 of our most promising young men are following 
 their bad example." 
 
 The shadow of a man passing the window fell 
 across the floor. In the next moment some one 
 came in noisily. The blood mounted to Mrs. 
 Gordon s temples as she started to her feet and 
 went out into the hall. A few hurried remon 
 strances came in a repressed voice to the visitors 
 ears, and then the door of Mr. Gordon s office, 
 which was on the other side of the hall, was heard 
 to open and shut. Mrs. Gordon s face was still 
 flushed when she came back into the parlor, and 
 she had an air of painful embarrassment. 
 
 "And to what is it all leading?" said Sister 
 Green as Mrs. Gordon returned, taking up the 
 thread of her discourse. " To sorrow and shame, 
 to the loss of health and property, and, saddest of 
 all, to the loss of human souls. Our Sabbaths are 
 openly desecrated by such men as Hanlan, and the 
 law made to restrict their dreadful traffic made, I 
 fear, by men bribed to leave it defective set wholly 
 at defiance. Nothing so discourages my heart as 
 this. It is not enough that for six days and 
 nights in every week this awful work goes on. 
 Useful industry stops and takps its Sabbath s rest, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 37 
 
 but six days and nights are not enough for the 
 trade of Satan. He must gather on Sunday too 
 his harvest of human souls." 
 
 "Why?" asked Mrs. Sterling; "is not this Sun 
 day law enforced ? Surely it ought to be." 
 
 " If/ replied Sister Green, " your husband were 
 to open his store on Sunday and sell his goods, all 
 made for useful purposes, and not to hurt his neigh 
 bor, he would have public sentiment at once arrayed 
 against him and the law invoked to prevent his 
 desecration of the Sabbath. But when the whisky - 
 seller sets a more stringent law at defiance a law 
 made specially to protect the people from his hurt 
 ful business for at least one day in seven we prove 
 too weak to restrain him. Judges, law officers and 
 juries are all at fault or on his side. You cannot 
 convict him of a breach of the law, though the 
 judge before whom he is tried and the jurymen who 
 clear him know, every man of them, that he breaks 
 the law a hundred times or more on every Sabbath 
 day. He comes off triumphant, and the men who 
 inform upon him and do their best to stop his 
 wicked work are sneered at by the people, or, still 
 worse, persecuted and injured in their good name or 
 in their business. Only last week I went to Judge 
 
38 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 Isett and asked him if nothing could be done about 
 this dreadful Sunday business, which is troubling 
 me more than I can tell." 
 
 "And what did he say?" asked Mrs. Gordon, 
 from whose face the crimson stains had gone out, 
 leaving it paler than before. 
 
 " His looks said that I had better mind my house 
 and say my prayers. I am quick at reading faces. 
 He shrugged his shoulders and lifted his eyebrows 
 and set his mouth a little hard. 
 
 " Well, Mrs. Green/ said he, what would you 
 have done about it ? 
 
 " I would have it stopped, Judge Isett, said I. 
 It s against the law,, and should be stopped. 7 
 
 " I know it s against the law, he replied. 
 
 " Then/ said I, < why don t you stop it ? 
 
 " ( It is not any more my business than it is yours, 
 Mrs. Green/ answered the judge, nor, indeed, half 
 as much. I haven t anything to do with bringing 
 cases into court; the people, you and the rest of 
 them, must do that. My business is to hear cases 
 for the people, submit them to juries and sentence 
 those who are found guilty of breaking the law. 
 
 " ( Then/ said I, whose duty is it to see to these 
 things? 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 39 
 
 " It s the duty of the people/ returned the judge, 
 in that cold, polite manner he can assume when he 
 chooses. 
 
 " How are the people to stop it ? I asked. 
 
 " By having the offenders arrested and tried 
 under the law/ he replied. This law/ he added, 
 is very plain, and prohibits, under penalty of fine 
 and imprisonment, every one from selling or giving 
 away spirituous or malt liquors, wine or cider on 
 Sunday. A citizen can go before a magistrate and 
 give information against any one whom he has seen 
 violating the Sunday law. The magistrate will 
 then issue a warrant ; and armed with this warrant, 
 the constable will arrest the offender, who will have 
 to appear in court and answer to the charge made 
 against him. If found guilty, he will be punished. 
 That is the simple, straightforward process, madam. 
 Nothing could be plainer. If the people in Delhi 
 want the sale of liquor on Sunday stopped, they can 
 stop it. The whole thing is in their hands. 
 
 " But, Judge Isett/ said I, why is it that no 
 convictions have ever been made in this county ? 
 You have had Sunday liquor cases before you, but 
 the offenders have always escaped. 7 
 
 " That was because no evidence strong enough 
 
40 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 to convict was presented to the court. You cannot 
 convict a man on insufficient evidence/ he replied. 
 
 " But it was notorious that the men who were 
 tried kept their bars open on -Sunday/ said I. 
 Men and boys were seen going in and drinking 
 hour after hour, from morning until night. 
 Stronger evidence of the breach of a law could 
 hardly be found in any case of crime than in these 
 cases. What does it mean ? I can t understand it, 
 Judge Isett. 
 
 " Not a witness came forward to swear that he 
 saw spirituous or malt liquor, wine or cider drank, 
 as alleged. There must be absolute proof of this, 
 or no jury can or will convict. Here lies the diffi 
 culty. A man must himself taste the contents of a 
 glass from which he sees another drink before he 
 can swear positively as to the character of the liquor 
 imbibed. He may believe nay, may be morally 
 certain that the liquor is whisky or beer, may see 
 it poured from a bottle labeled whisky or see it 
 drawn foaming from a keg or barrel ; but unless 
 some of the liquor pass his own lips, he cannot 
 swear beyond his belief as to its character, and 
 mere belief won t convict a man of crime/ 
 
 " But surely, judge/ I urged, out of the hun- 
 

 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 41 
 
 dreds who drink liquor in our saloons on Sunday, 
 some one might be found who would swear to the 
 fact. 
 
 " It isn t an easy thing to find a man/ he re 
 plied, * who is willing to come forward and swear 
 that he went into a saloon on Sunday and drank a 
 glass of whisky. Your respectable temperance 
 man would hardly do this, and your Sunday 
 drinker is too good a friend of the saloon-keeper 
 to injure him. It is this difficulty of getting evi 
 dence that obstructs the course of law in these 
 cases, Mrs. Green. No man likes to set himself up 
 as a common informer or to hire another to become 
 one. There is in all communities an instinctive 
 feeling of contempt for this thing/ 
 
 " Then/ said I, the law is a dead letter. 
 
 " About as near to it as a thing can well be/ the 
 judge returned ; and I am not mistaken when I say 
 that there was a tone of triumph in his voice. 
 
 " And men made the law/ I said, speaking with 
 the stern rebuke that was in my heart made it 
 that it might be broken a law to deceive the 
 people a law so deftly framed that its execution is 
 next to impossible. And other men, the great 
 body of the people who take upon themselves the 
 
42 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 exclusive right to regulate society and provide for 
 its well-being, tamely and weakly permit them 
 selves to be cheated and wronged. And we who 
 suffer most deeply from all social evils can only 
 fold our hands in helpless sorrow. We have no 
 voice when men are chosen who are to make the 
 laws, and no voice when men are chosen to execute 
 them. We stand dumb and powerless. Men make 
 sorry work, Judge Isett, in their efforts to deal with 
 a question that above all others most deeply con 
 cerns the people. More than four-fifths of all the 
 crime, suffering, pauperism and insanity in the land 
 as you well know comes from a legalized wrong. 
 And State and nation draw large revenues from a 
 few men who pay for the privilege of pauperizing 
 the land and filling its prisons, poorhouses and 
 charitable homes with thousands and tens of thou 
 sands of miserable victims. They add nothing to 
 its peace, its prosperity or its happiness, conserve 
 nothing, build up nothing, but hurt and destroy 
 everywhere. Alas for us ! there is no help in man. 
 But God will yet come to our succor. It cannot be 
 that the direful rule of wicked or incompetent men 
 is to go on for ever. 
 
 " The judge was annoyed, and answered a little 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 43 
 
 roughly. But I forgive him, for I know how apt 
 I am to speak strongly when I talk on this subject. 
 I came away from the interview depressed and 
 heartsick. I had hoped to find the judge ready to 
 do all in his power to break up the sale of liquor 
 on Sunday, the day of all others in the week when 
 men and half-grown boys are idle and easily led 
 into temptation. But on his showing, it does not 
 lie with him ; and if it did, Fin afraid he would 
 not have the courage to grapple with the evil." 
 
 There was a troubled expression on the three 
 women s faces as they sat and talked together, and 
 a hopeless feeling at their hearts. Sister Green 
 had a son just entering upon manhood. He had 
 been the child of her prayers ever since his sweet 
 baby eyes opened to the light. She had nurtured 
 him in the fear and admonition of the Lord. She 
 had, so far as will and thought on her part could 
 go, consecrated him to her divine Saviour, praying 
 that he might be led to him and filled with his 
 saving Spirit. 
 
 Wesley Green, up to his eighteenth year, had 
 been a quiet, obedient boy, readily yielding to the 
 will of his mother, whose character was stronger 
 than that of his father. But as he drew near the 
 
44 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 age of manhood and mingled with those older than 
 himself, he began to rebel against a rule to which 
 he had submitted so long and with such a gentle 
 acquiescence. His love of companionship, natu 
 rally strong, but held in check by his mother s fear 
 of bad influences, now became active; and when 
 questioned too closely about those with whom he 
 associated, he sometimes showed a degree of irri 
 tability that caused great concern at home. 
 
 It had been the dear desire of Mrs. Green s heart 
 to see her son a preacher of righteousness. For 
 this she had prayed in her closet every day from 
 the years of his tender^childhood upward until 
 the downy beard began to touch with soft shadows 
 his lip and cheeks. But with a deeper and intenser 
 fervor and with a profounder solicitude had she 
 prayed for his conversion for that change of heart 
 which she believed could only be given in answer 
 to the prayer of faith, and without which her boy 
 would remain an alien from God and be lost for 
 ever if he died. 
 
 Faithfully had Mrs. Green done her duty by her 
 son. With care and diligence from the very 
 beginning had she tried to store up in his mind 
 precious truths from the Bible, reading to him its 
 
WOMAN TO THE EESCUE. 45 
 
 sacred narratives, its plainer precepts and i|^ beau 
 tiful parables, and this with continued repetitions, 
 until his memory was filled with the letter in which 
 dwelt a divine life and power. And she taught 
 him lessons of faith and trust in God, of good 
 will and service to others, of pity and tenderness 
 and mercy. 
 
 It was the saddest trial of Mrs. Green s life, 
 her bitterest disappointment, when, after sixteen or 
 seventeen years of prayers and tears and long 
 wrestlings with God for the conversion of her boy, 
 she found him impenitent and almost indifferent to 
 the things of religion. The world had greater 
 charms than the Church; but to see him go out 
 into the world and partake of its spirit, to be sub 
 ject to its allurements and assailed by its tempta 
 tions, to drift far off from her upon its deceitful 
 waters, and all the while be alien to God and 
 under his displeasure, unconverted, and therefore 
 in hourly danger of losing his soul, ah ! here 
 was a sorrow that went down to the very life- 
 springs of this mother in Israel, and made them 
 bitter as Marah s waters. 
 
 Wesley s preference was for business, not for the 
 ology, and with heavy forebodings his mother saw 
 
46 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 him enter a store on Main street the owner of which 
 
 v 
 
 was an irreligious man named Donald Frank. If 
 the young man could have seen her in her closet, 
 alone with God, on the morning of that day, and 
 could have heard her prayers for him, the memory 
 of her upturned, tearful, pleading face and the 
 tender eloquence of her petitions could hardly have 
 failed to become as a talisman, warning him at the 
 approach of danger no matter how false the guise, 
 and holding him back in the presence of evil 
 enticement. 
 
 Up to this time Wesley Green s intimacies were 
 not with the worldly-minded young men of Delhi. 
 His associations had been almost entirely limited to 
 the young people belonging to the Methodist church, 
 and he had been taught to believe that outside of 
 these limitations lay a wilderness of danger. Now 
 his feet began to stray into this wilderness, and he 
 found it a pleasant land. The young men he met 
 were exceedingly agreeable, and their ways pleased 
 him. There was a freedom to which he had been 
 a stranger and a levity that, instead of shocking, 
 amused him. The jestings about sacred things and 
 the stories making light of religion which were 
 often told in his hearing grated for a time on his 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 47 
 
 feelings. But this sensitiveness gradually wore off, 
 and he could enjoy these stories with as keen a 
 pleasure as the rest. Gradually but steadily Wes 
 ley Green lost his interest in religion, and became 
 as much absorbed in worldly pleasures as any of 
 his new associates. 
 
 This change the mother saw with a sorrowful 
 heart. Without the safeguard of prayer and faith 
 and trust in God, she knew that her boy was in 
 great danger. In a town like Delhi most of the 
 young men belonging to what are called the best 
 people of the place that is, the wealthy, educated 
 and more intelligent are thrown together, and 
 form intimacies. Among these are always a few 
 leading spirits ; and if they, as is frequently the case, 
 are self-indulgent young men and inclined to vicious 
 habits, their influence upon the rest is fraught with 
 great evil. The tavern is too often the resort of 
 these young men. You will see them lounging 
 about its doors through the day or congregating in 
 its bar-room at night. They are gay, good fellows, 
 very social and free, and draw weaker young men 
 after them as easily as a ship draws a pinnace. 
 
 All this the anxious mother knew, and she had a 
 perpetual heartache as she saw day by day some 
 
48 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 fresh evidence of her boy s absorption into the new 
 social life with which he had come in contact. A 
 week after the entrance of Wesley Green into Mr. 
 Frank s store, Jimmy Hanlan opened his attractive 
 saloon. It was diagonally across from the store, 
 which occupied one of the corners made by the in 
 tersection of Elm and Main streets. The opening 
 of this saloon had been quite an event, and every 
 one on the street was talking about it. The first 
 day, Jimmy, who, with all his coarseness, under 
 stood human nature, especially on its weak side, 
 kept open house, dispensing free liquor all day and 
 free lunches at least four times. Most of the store 
 keepers on Main and Elm streets, where the chief 
 business of the town was carried on, and most of 
 their clerks also, complimented Jimmy Hanlan with 
 a call, drank his free whisky and beer and ate of 
 his savory lunches, some of them repeating the vis 
 itation more than once, and two three who usually 
 kept their heads clear going home at night visibly 
 the worse for Hanlan s new enterprise. 
 
 Up to this time Wesley Green had never tasted 
 liquor at any bar in Delhi. But led by curiosity 
 to see the handsome fittings up of the "Hanlan 
 House," the praise of which was on almost every 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 49 
 
 tongue, he went with one of his fellow-clerks to see 
 the show. He found a dozen young men in the 
 bar, many of whom he knew, eating, drinking and 
 enjoying themselves. Jimmy was at his counter, 
 radiant and affable. He had risen suddenly into a 
 man of importance. The common porter whom a 
 little while before no one cared to notice found 
 himself grasped cordially by the hand by lawyers, 
 judges, merchants and doctors, all of whom drank 
 his liquor and praised his elegant establishment, 
 prophesying success to his new and liberal-minded 
 enterprise. 
 
 Wesley did not mean to taste Hanlan s liquor, 
 but he tasted it, nevertheless. The enticement was 
 too strong. He felt uncomfortable about it, and 
 at dinner-time kept from going too near his mother, 
 lest some odor of the beer he had taken might 
 linger on his breath and betray him. 
 
 It is not our purpose to follow this young man 
 along the dangerous path into which his feet di 
 verged that morning. We only show the easy and 
 natural way in which the first step was taken. 
 Scarcely a year had passed before his mother had 
 deeper cause for sorrow, and it was not simply her 
 anxiety for the common good that inspired her visit 
 
50 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 to Judge Isett and drew from her that strong ap 
 peal for legal interference in the sale of liquor on 
 Sunday. The inspiring motive lay nearer her 
 aching heart. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ten years that followed the opening of 
 Jimmy Hanlan s new drinking house was 
 marked by many changes, some of which we shall 
 now describe as briefly as possible. Delhi is a rep 
 resentative American town, and what we are about 
 to tell in regard to Delhi might be told of hundreds 
 nay, thousands of our towns and cities. 
 
 Ah! if the people, with whom all power and all 
 reforms rest, would only take the lesson to heart ! 
 From the day this saloon, so much more attractive 
 and " respectable " than any before seen in Delhi, 
 opened its doors and threw out its invitations, 
 changes scarcely observed at first, but gradually pro 
 gressing, began to appear. There had been two or 
 three reading clubs made up of young ladies and 
 young gentlemen who met every week. But it was 
 not long before one and another of the young men 
 began to drop out, and within little more than a year 
 all were broken up. Many of these young men you 
 would find at the " Hanlan House" if you happened 
 
 51 
 
52 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 to call in there during the evening to meet a friend. 
 It was a notable place for meeting one s friends a 
 kind of social exchange for Delhi. If these young 
 men were not in the bar, you would be very apt 
 to find them in one of Jimmy s snug little rooms 
 up stairs, out of the way of common observation. 
 They might be drinking socially, or playing at cards, 
 or eating one of the nice suppers Jimmy knew so 
 well how to provide. Reading clubs were tame 
 aifairs to the meetings at Hanlan s. 
 
 A debating society had flourished for some years 
 in Delhi. Law students and other young men who 
 sought to improve themselves met twice a month 
 in the town-hall, and their mothers and sisters 
 and sweethearts came regularly to hear their dis 
 cussions, and to enjoy the intellectual recreation to 
 be found there. This debating society was one of 
 the attractive institutions of the place. But soon 
 after the new saloon was opened a blight fell upon 
 it. One after another of the smartest young men 
 lost interest in the meetings and stayed away. If 
 you sought for them, you would be very sure to 
 find them at Jimmy Hanlan s. The less gifted 
 members of the society failed to bring out the 
 usual audiences, and naturally the debating society, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 53 
 
 which had been so large a source of improvement 
 and pleasure, languished. 
 
 At the end of the first year, Hanlan, who was a 
 wide-awake, progressive young fellow, added a new 
 attraction to his establishment in the shape of a 
 billiard-table. Two rooms in the second story of 
 his house were made into one, and fitted up as a 
 billiard saloon. This was a coup de grace to the 
 reading clubs and debating society ; from that time 
 they were things of the past. 
 
 The success of Hanlan stimulated all the other 
 saloon-keepers, and caused them to offer increased 
 attractions to the public. Old, dingy places were 
 brightened up ; showy fronts, red curtains and red 
 lights began to multiply with singular rapidity. 
 New saloons were opened, and within an incredibly 
 short time the number was doubled. Up to the 
 time of Hanlan s enterprising movement in Delhi 
 there was not a single billiard saloon in the place, 
 and but two bagatelle-tables. The men who sold 
 liquor were dull, plodding fellows, satisfied with 
 what came to them over the counter in a natural 
 way, and not therefore inclined to new expedients 
 and new attractions in order to draw custom. But 
 the sharp young rumseller was giving the fraternity 
 
54 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 some new lessons, and they were not slow to profit 
 by them. There were no less than ten bagatelle- 
 boards in the town at the close of the first year, 
 and within two years the number rose to fifteen. 
 Four billiard-tables were by that time in full blast, 
 and daily and nightly patronized by young men, a 
 large number of whom were too weak to stand up 
 against the demoralizing influences that pervade the 
 atmosphere of a billiard room. And against all 
 this no remonstrance was raised by the people at 
 large. Quietly they saw it go on, and quietly they 
 submitted. A few temperance men and a few 
 anxious wives and mothers deplored this new state 
 of affairs and lifted their voices in warning, but 
 they might as well have talked to the wind. 
 
 You cannot multiply bars and drinking saloons 
 without a corresponding increase in vice, crime and 
 immorality. The more attractive and "respect 
 able" you make them, the more certain you are to 
 corrupt, deprave and destroy the best and most 
 promising young men in a town. This is the 
 operation of a natural law that always works with 
 unerring certainty the law of cause and effect. 
 Every human act has in it the vitality of a cause. 
 It is a seed thrown into the rich soil of common 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 55 
 
 society, and will surely produce fruit after its kind 
 good, if good ; evil, if evil. 
 
 Delhi could not escape the action of a law that 
 never fails. The effect of this broadcast sowing 
 of the worst seed it is possible to scatter in a com 
 munity the worst because it not only brings forth 
 sorrow and death, but so poisons the soil that 
 scarcely any good seed can take root therein was 
 not apparent merely in the dying out of reading 
 clubs and. literary associations. These were but 
 negative effects. The positive were multiplied far 
 beyond these, and of a sadder character. Scarcely 
 a year and a half had gone by since a new impulse 
 was given to the drinking trade by Jimmy Hanlan, 
 ere in hundreds of hearts where peace had rested, 
 anxiety, fear and sorrowful forebodings now found 
 a dwelling-place. Mothers were in alarm for their 
 sons, wives for their husbands and sisters for their 
 brothers. You began to hear expressions of regret. 
 This promising young man was throwing himself 
 away, and that storekeeper was neglecting his busi 
 ness and spending half of his time at the " Hanlan 
 
 House." Mr. A was seen staggering home late 
 
 at night, and Lawyer G was so drunk on one 
 
 occasion in court that the judge had to rebuke him, 
 
56 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 when he became insolent, and was only quieted by 
 threat of imprisonment for contempt. Young men 
 who had always been seen at church on Sundays 
 came no longer, and many wives who had for years 
 walked with their husbands, Sabbath after Sabbath, 
 to the house of God, went now, with sober faces 
 and drooping heads, alone. Among these were the 
 two ladies already introduced to the reader Mrs. 
 Sterling and Mrs. Gordon. It was the husband of 
 the latter who had received the judge s rebuke. 
 
 Not alone among the more refined and cultivated 
 people in Delhi was seen the unhappy consequences 
 of this newly-stimulated and rapid growth of the 
 liquor interest. Its grosser effects soon became 
 apparent in an increase of open drunkenness and 
 rowdyism in the lower stratum of society. Acts of 
 violence were on the increase ; cases of assault and 
 battery, of wife-beating, of assault with intent to 
 kill, of robbery and housebreaking, perpetrated by 
 men who, a year or two before, were industrious 
 laborers or mechanics ; cases in which the interfer 
 ence of the court was asked to prevent husbands 
 and fathers who had become intemperate from 
 further waste of property and consequent beggary 
 of their families ; cases of crimes committed in 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 57 
 
 states of drunken frenzy, were beginning to crowd 
 the court calendar and absorb the attention of 
 judges and jurors to a degree never before known 
 in the county of which Delhi was the legal centre. 
 
 Taxes were on the increase. The old poorhouse, 
 the rooms of which were never more than half 
 full, had become overcrowded, and the county 
 commissioners were obliged to levy a tax upon the 
 people in order to build an addition. The cost of 
 criminal prosecutions was becoming greater and 
 greater every year, and the commitments for va 
 rious offences, nearly all of which could be traced 
 to intemperance, were now so large that the jail 
 accommodations proved wholly insufficient. A new 
 jail was decided upon by the commissioners, and 
 proposals for plans and cost of construction were 
 advertised to be sent in to the Board. 
 
 One of the worst aspects of the new order of 
 things which had come as a legitimate consequence 
 of the stimulated liquor traffic was the increase of 
 idleness and vagabondism among the lower classes 
 of young men, who made these drinking-places 
 their nightly haunts and spent their time there in 
 drinking, gambling, indecent talk and all that in 
 cited to blackguardism, vice and crime. Most of 
 
58 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 these young men had family relations they were 
 sons, brothers and, some of them, husbands; and 
 for every glass of liquor they drank, for every hour 
 they wasted in vicious idleness, for every breach of 
 the peace they committed in drunken excitement, 
 and for every crime into which drink led them, 
 some hearts besides their own suffered, and some 
 lives were made sadder and drearier. 
 
 Every one of these saloons was a nursery of 
 vice and crime. The viler ones, kept too often by 
 men who had seen years of penal service in jails 
 and State prisons, were especially hurtful, because 
 they enticed from the ways of sobriety a class of 
 uneducated young men in whom there had been 
 little moral culture, and so removed them from the 
 better influences that might have led to their be 
 coming useful and honest men a help to society 
 and a blessing to their families. 
 
 But instead of this, the graduates of these hot 
 beds of vicious culture came forth as the pests and 
 scourges of society. They became men of violence 
 or plotters against the well-being of society, or 
 wretched drunkards, the prison or the almshouse 
 their destination. 
 
 The shadow that dropped so suddenly across the 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 59 
 
 sunny life of Mrs. Sterling never lifted itself. On 
 returning from the house of Mrs. Gordon after the 
 conversation held there with her friend and Mrs. 
 Hhoda Green, her heart was heavy with a strange 
 oppression. She seemed standing in the presence 
 of some great disaster. The evil which for many 
 months had been steadily but with silent and un 
 seen steps drawing nearer and nearer had become 
 all at once revealed at her very door, for now, with 
 a suddenness that gave her a shock of pain, there 
 stood before her the remembrance of many things 
 which, seen in the new light this conversation 
 afforded, had a most threatening aspect. 
 
 That a change had been steadily coming over 
 her husband Mrs. Sterling had seen for several 
 months, but the real cause of that change had 
 never until now been imagined. Nothing could 
 have been farther from her than the fear of his be 
 coming a drunkard. But when this hideous fear 
 thrust itself upon her, the anguish it occasioned 
 seemed for a while more than she could bear. 
 
 When Mrs. Sterling met her husband that even 
 ing on his return from business, she hid from him 
 the trouble that had come into her soul, but 
 watched his every word and action with the closest 
 
60 WOMAN TO THE KESCUE. 
 
 scrutiny. Things unheeded before were revela 
 tions now. The clear balance of his mind was 
 gone, and there were little signs of weakness and a 
 latent irritability that were altogether unlike her 
 husband s real self. Could there be any cause for 
 this but drink ? It was a plain, hard, humiliating 
 question. But Mrs. Sterling put it to her heart, 
 and found but one answer, and that was No ! 
 From this hour her new life of sorrow and dread 
 and deep humiliation began. 
 
 "Stay home with me, Luke dear," she said, in 
 her loving way, drawing her arm within that of 
 her husband as he was preparing to go out after 
 supper. 
 
 Luke Sterling kissed his wife tenderly, and then 
 turned his head a little from her, so that she could 
 not look directly into his face, as he answered : 
 
 " I won t be gone a great while, Polly. We ve 
 been very busy at the store, and there are several 
 large accounts that must be ready by to-morrow. 
 I tried to get at them to-day, but couldn t find the 
 time." 
 
 He did not look back at his wife, but went out 
 in a kind of nervous naste. As the door shut all 
 the light faded from Mrs. Sterling s countenance. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 61 
 
 Fear crept into her eyes. She sat down with a slow, 
 weary air, and remained in statue-like stillness for 
 a long time. A book that she had been reading 
 lay upon the table, but its attractions were gone. 
 After a while she went up stairs to the chamber 
 where her two children were sleeping, and hovered 
 for some time about their bed, now sitting and 
 gazing into their sweet baby faces with eyes full of 
 yearning and sadness, and now moving aimlessly 
 about the room. Her spirit was deeply disturbed. 
 After an hour she began to hearken toward the 
 street, and to grow very still when the sound of 
 distant feet was heard, sighing heavily when they 
 drew near enough for her to know that they were 
 not the feet of her beloved, for whom she waited 
 now with a feeling of anxious concern until this 
 night a stranger to her heart. 
 
 It was past ten o clock when Luke Sterling came 
 home. He entered with a snatch of song upon his 
 lips. This was not unusual, for Luke was of a 
 gay and cheerful temper, and often came in singing 
 a merry air. He was a little louder than usual to 
 night, and a little more emphatic in the kiss and 
 embrace with which he was wont to greet his wife. 
 
 " Sorry to have kept you waiting for me so long, 
 
62 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 Polly," he said as he held her in his arms and 
 breathed into her face his telltale breath, "but 
 couldn t get through a minute before. Shall riot 
 be out so late again if I can help it. Bless me, 
 Polly !" he added a moment afterward as he saw 
 her face more clearly. " What s the matter ? Are 
 you sick ?" 
 
 "I ve not been feeling right all the evening," 
 Mrs. Sterling replied. 
 
 " What s the matter ?" asked her husband, with 
 real concern. 
 
 She put her hands to her temples as she replied : 
 " My head is aching, and I feel nervous." 
 " I ll go right off for Doctor Sandford ;" and Mr. 
 Sterling made a movement toward the door. But 
 his wife restrained him, saying that she would be 
 better after a night s rest. 
 
 But sleep and rest were not the medicine for her 
 sickness. The morning found her with a pale face 
 and unsteady nerves, and without appetite for food. 
 It was not possible for Mrs. Sterling to rally in this 
 short time and brace herself for the new life that 
 was before her. All night she had been awake, 
 while her husband slept heavily by her side, and 
 all night she had been haunted with fearful images 
 
i 
 
 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 63 
 
 and dreadful forebodings. The future until now 
 so full of beautiful promise the future into which 
 she had looked for years, seeing nothing but happi 
 ness had suddenly become a desert waste to her 
 eyes. It would take time for her to gather up her 
 strength and walk forward again with steady steps. 
 
 Luke did not rise on that morning with his usual 
 feeling of elasticity. He had gone to his store on 
 the previous evening, but did not remain there for 
 over half an hour. For the balance of the time 
 until after ten o clock he had been with friends at 
 Hanlan s, and there had been more champagne 
 drank than any of their heads could bear without 
 considerable nervous remonstrance. In the case of 
 Luke it was very decided. He felt, as the saying is, 
 " all upset ;" his hands were unsteady and his head 
 dull and inclined to ache. The breakfast passed 
 almost in silence something very unusual in that 
 pleasant home. 
 
 Here began the sorrowful "new departure" in 
 the lives of Luke and Polly Sterling which brought 
 them to that sad condition in which they were found 
 by the reader at the opening of this story. For ten 
 years had they walked the new way into which their 
 feet then diverged, finding it drearier and harder, 
 
64 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 rougher and more desolate, with every advancing 
 step. 
 
 It took a long time for Mrs. Sterling to so fully 
 comprehend her new condition and new duties as 
 to be able to meet them in that spirit of self-sacrifice 
 and faithful adhesion to the man she loved, in spite 
 of his infirmities and his debasement, which she 
 felt to be her duty. But after she had settled all 
 the questions that presented themselves and set aside 
 all outside influences that wisely or unwisely pressed 
 themselves upon her, she met the destiny she could 
 not avert, with the strength and patience and self- 
 abnegation that is possible only in a loving woman. 
 
 By the end of another year the effect of drink 
 began to show itself on Mr. Sterling. No one had 
 ever seen him intoxicated, though all his friends 
 saw and said that he was drinking too much. He 
 still attended faithfully to his business, and was 
 steadily accumulating property. The handsome 
 house he had built just on the outskirt of the town, 
 on an elevated site that overlooked a sweep of green 
 meadow-land through which ran a beautiful stream 
 of water, was still his pride, and he never seemed 
 to tire in the work of ornament and improvement. 
 No grounds were laid out with better taste, and with 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 65 
 
 a few exceptions it was the most attractive house 
 in Delhi. 
 
 It was in this second year that Mr. Sterling made 
 his last improvement, in the erection of a beautiful 
 fountain in the midst of the lawn that sloped down 
 to the street in front of his house. The next year 
 he began to get troubled in his business. He made 
 bad debts and indiscreet purchases, was tempted 
 to speculate, and permitted himself to be drawn into 
 the visionary schemes of men who generally man 
 age to ruin themselves and all who trust them. He 
 
 o 
 
 still continued to drink, though, conscious of his 
 infirmity, he often made good resolutions and tried 
 to break away from a habit that he saw was hurt 
 ing him. But every day he must go past the 
 "Hanlan House" a dozen times or more, and there 
 was about this house an attraction so strange and 
 irresistible that he could not set himself against it. 
 The fourth year saw Luke Sterling seriously em 
 barrassed in his business, and compelled to raise 
 money by mortgaging his house for two-thirds of 
 its value. He had become, by this time, greatly 
 changed in appearance. His face was puffy and 
 red, his eyes were blood-shotten, and his voice no 
 longer possessed the clear musical tones that used to 
 
66 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 make it so pleasant, but struck your ears with a 
 hoarse, hard rattle. Everybody saw whither he was 
 going ; everybody talked about and regretted it, and 
 everybody pitied his wife and family. But Luke 
 Sterling was such a good fellow ; every one liked 
 him, and every one drank with him. If, after a 
 humiliating fall and such falls came now, alas ! too 
 often he made a resolution to stop drinking, not 
 twenty-four hours would pass ere some acquaintance 
 or business friend would, with a strange thought 
 lessness, invite him to " take a glass of something," 
 and such an invitation he rarely had the strength 
 to refuse. There was no help for him anywhere 
 outside of home. The moment he stepped beyond 
 its safe boundary he was in the midst of temptation. 
 He could not pass from his house to his store with 
 out going by at least ten drinking-saloons ; and so 
 sensitive had his unhealthy appetite become that he 
 was not able to look upon one of these places with 
 out feeling a desire for drink. This desire, if left 
 alone, he would often have kept under. But more 
 than half the men in Delhi were suffering from a 
 chronic thirst, and this always became excited on 
 one friend meeting another. The " Good-morning " 
 or "Good-afternoon" or "Good-evening, Mr. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 67 
 
 A ," or "Mr. B ," was too often followed 
 
 by, "Come; let s have something." 
 
 Such an invitation it was next to impossible for 
 Sterling to decline. Appetite was always impelling 
 him, and opportunity ever at hand. So friend and 
 neighbor joined in the league with death and hell 
 against him. Society made it next to impossible, 
 now that appetite had become stronger than will, 
 for a man like Sterling to hold back his feet from 
 the road that leads to destruction. Internal force 
 and outside pressure were both in the same direc 
 tion, and both against him. 
 
 As Luke Sterling, Frank Gordon and a score 
 or more besides of Delhi s best men were fast retra 
 cing the steps by which they had risen since early 
 manhood to the rank of useful and prosperous 
 citizenship, other men were gathering in, as they 
 and hundreds like them scattered and wasted, a 
 harvest of this world s goods. None of these men 
 had greater thrift than Jimmy Hanlan. At the 
 end of five years from the time he opened his sa 
 loon he was owner of the fastest and most valuable 
 horses in the town. He wore a diamond pin worth 
 at least two thousand dollars, the admiration or 
 envy of all the fast young men, now, we are sorry 
 
68 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 to say, including a large number of the sons of 
 Delhi s wealthiest and most influential citizens. A 
 massive gold chain decorated his flashy vest, and 
 he might often be seen drawing forth his three-hun 
 dred-dollar gold watch, and displaying it with seem 
 ing unconsciousness to the eyes of his customers. 
 
 Jimmy Hanlan had come to be a man of conse 
 quence in Delhi, though every person of honor, 
 taste and intelligence despised him in his heart. 
 But Delhi could not accept his wife. Coarse, igno 
 rant and vulgar, the social world, in which the wo 
 men reigned supreme, ignored her entirely. She 
 might wear her fine clothes and flashy jewels, and 
 drive out in her elegant carriage, but there was a 
 charmed circle into . which she might not enter. 
 She had tried to break this circle at more than one 
 point, but had failed each time. 
 
 Mrs. Sterling, while Hanlan was in her husband s 
 store, had been kind to his wife and helped her in 
 many ways to make her little family comfortable. 
 Since Jimmy had risen to a better condition in life, 
 Mrs. Hanlan had changed her bearing toward Mrs. 
 Sterling whenever she happened to meet her on the 
 street, and assumed an air of friendly familiarity to 
 which Mrs. Sterling always responded with a cold 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 69 
 
 politeness that hurt the pride of Mrs. Hanlan and 
 awoke in her mind a feeling of angry resentment. 
 
 The mortgage on Mr. Sterling s house was held 
 by Hanlan, the profits on whose business had in 
 creased so rapidly that he had now become a money 
 lender. This fact Mrs. Hanlan knew, and she also 
 knew that her husband s old employer was on the 
 road to ruin and moving along at a rapid speed. 
 Mrs. Sterling s steady refusal to give her the social 
 recognition to which she imagined her changed 
 circumstances entitled her rankled in her heart. 
 One day, in riding past Mrs. Sterling s beautiful 
 home, she said to herself, with a feeling of evil 
 pleasure, 
 
 " You re holding your head high, my lady, but it s 
 coming down pretty soon." And as she said this 
 it flashed across her mind that now she might have 
 a signal triumph. She had always admired this 
 lovely home and envied Mrs. Sterling its possession. 
 Was not her husband even now more its owner than 
 Luke Sterling ? Why should he not be its full pos 
 sessor? This thought sent the blood in a hot cur 
 rent along her veins. A wild pleasure burned in 
 her heart. 
 
 " Jimmy," she said, on meeting her husband that 
 
70 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 evening, " how much does Luke Sterling owe you 
 on his house?" 
 
 " Ten thousand dollars," replied Hanlan. 
 
 " All it s worth ?" remarked his wife. 
 
 "No; it s worth fifteen thousand. The house 
 cost him over ten thousand to build, and he s spent 
 a good deal on the grounds every year. It s one of 
 the handsomest places in Delhi, and worth every 
 cent of fifteen thousand dollars. So I m safe 
 enough." 
 
 Mrs. Hanlan sat for a little while turning some 
 thing over in her thoughts. 
 
 " When is Gordon s place to be sold ?" she asked. 
 
 "Next Monday." 
 
 " How high are you going to bid ?" 
 
 "As high as ten thousand dollars. Gordon has 
 neglected it in the last two years, and it s very much 
 out of repair." 
 
 " Dreadfully," replied his wife. " It will cost a 
 thousand or two more to make it fit to live in." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose it will." 
 
 " That will make twelve thousand." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " It isn t worth it. And the fact is, Jimmy, I ve 
 changed my mind about Gordon s house. There ll 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 71 
 
 be another up for sale before long that I like a 
 great deal better." 
 
 "Whose house?" 
 
 "Luke Sterling s." 
 
 Hanlan gave a little start of surprise : 
 
 " How do you know ?" 
 
 "I ve got eyes. Sterling is going to the dogs 
 about as fast as ever I saw a man." 
 
 " Top true, I m sorry to say," answered Hanlan, 
 a shade of regret in his voice. " He wants me to 
 let him have two thousand dollars more on the 
 house. You see his business is running down, and 
 he s getting cramped more and more every day." 
 
 "You re not going to do it?" 
 
 " I thought I would. It will be safe enough." 
 
 "Don t." 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 " What s the use of making two or three bites at 
 a cherry ? If it was in my hands, I d make short 
 work of it. The fact is they ve no business to be 
 living in a place like that, head over heels in debt 
 as they are. It s got to go into the hands of peo 
 ple that know better how to take care of money,, 
 and right soon too. Now, I want that house, 
 Jimmy. I ve set my heart on it, and don t mean 
 
72 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 to have any other house in town. Mrs. Sterling 
 has snubbed me and put on airs long enough. My 
 turn is coming now. The wheel goeS up and the 
 wheel goes down, you know. I m going up and 
 she s going down." 
 
 It did not take Hanlan long to come over to his 
 wife s view of the case. Until this moment he had 
 never thought of getting possession of his old 
 employer s handsome residence. He had loaned 
 him money upon it as a safe investment of funds, 
 and would have loaned him two thousand dollars 
 more but for this new view of the case. Jimmy s 
 wife was a strong-willed woman, and whenever she 
 set herself to do a thing generally got her own way. 
 And now her heart was set on being the possessor 
 of Mrs. Sterling s beautiful home and seeing that 
 lady step down as she stepped up. Her whole 
 being thrilled with pleasure as she pictured to her 
 self her own triumph and Mrs. Sterling s humili 
 ation. Pity died out of her heart. It was her day 
 now, and she meant to carry herself proudly. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 the next day Luke returned home an hour 
 before dinner-time with a look of trouble on 
 his face, and, what was unusual, he had not been 
 drinking. His wife saw that something was wrong 
 the moment he entered. In all these years of sad 
 declension she had never spoken a harsh word, and 
 he had been kind and gentle in his manner toward 
 her. Mrs. Sterling had schooled herself to meet 
 him always with as cheerful a countenance as it was 
 possible to assume, both love and duty prompting 
 her to do everything in her power to make home a 
 place to attract and not repel. 
 
 It was nearly five years since the baleful shadow 
 of Jimmy Hanlan s new saloon had thrown itself 
 across her sunny way. If we could pause to write 
 her heart s history for these years, every page of the 
 record would be marked with tear-stains ; it would 
 fill twice the space of this volume, and make one 
 of the saddest unfoldings of a woman s life-experi 
 ence it is possible to give. No, we mistake ; not one 
 
74 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 of the saddest. The five years that followed took 
 her feet down into deeper waters of sorrow and hu 
 miliation, and the night that closed around her 
 was blacker than before. 
 
 " Are you sick, Luke ?" Mrs. Sterling asked as 
 her husband came in and she saw his changed and 
 troubled face. 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "sick at heart." 
 
 "What is it, Luke? Tell me," she said, laying 
 her hand upon him and looking into his face with 
 tender anxiety. 
 
 "I m in trouble, Polly," he answered "in 
 great trouble ; and I don t know which way to turn. 
 Everything is going wrong." 
 
 " What kind of trouble, Luke? Explain it all to 
 me," said Mrs. Sterling, with such a calmness in 
 her voice and manner that it seemed to put heart 
 into the poor man, now looking so broken and 
 wretched. 
 
 "Well, you see, Polly," Mr. Sterling replied, 
 " everything, as you know, has been going wrong. 
 Business gets worse and worse instead of better. I 
 tried to raise two thousand dollars more on our 
 house, and Hanlan promised me yesterday that I 
 should have it. But to-day he refuses point blank ; 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 75 
 
 and unless I get that much money, I shall have to 
 ask an extension on paper that falls due this week. 
 Then my credit will be gone." 
 
 " But can t you get the money somewhere else ?" 
 asked Mrs. Sterling. 
 
 " Hanlan holds a first mortgage of ten thousand 
 dollars," was replied, "and no one will lend on 
 the property with so large an encumbrance in the 
 way. I tried two or three persons this morning; 
 but when they learned of Hanlan s mortgage, they 
 said no at once. It s hopeless. I m tied hand and 
 foot, and cannot move a step." 
 
 After a brief pause, Mr. Sterling continued: 
 "I m disappointed in Jimmy Hanlan. He s al 
 ways been friendly, and always ready to do me a 
 favor until now. He seemed never to forget that I" 
 had always treated him kindly and helped and en 
 couraged him when he started in the world for 
 himself. Yesterday he was just as friendly as ever, 
 and almost as good as promised me the money ; but 
 when I saw him this morning, he was entirely 
 changed. The fact is, Polly, he made me feel 
 afraid of him. I saw something like an evil beast 
 looking out of his eyes." 
 
 Mi*. Sterling paused again. His wife saw that 
 
76 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 something unspoken lay upon his mind, and waited 
 for him to go on. 
 
 " He s a worse man than I thought him." 
 
 " No man in his trade can be a good man, Luke. 
 That is impossible," said Mrs. Sterling. 
 
 " Fin afraid you are right, Polly afraid you are 
 right. It isn t a good trade, by any means. Ah me ! 
 It was a dark day for some in Delhi when Jimmy 
 Hanlan turned saloon-keeper." 
 
 Mr. Sterling s voice trembled perceptibly and 
 was much depressed in tone. 
 
 " Polly dear," the unhappy man went on, trying 
 to speak more steadily, " I m afraid we shall hav 
 to leave here." 
 
 He turned his eyes from his wife s face. He 
 could not bear to witness the shock of pain that 
 must sweep over it. There was no reply. Luke s 
 eyes were on the floor, and he could not perceive 
 the effect of his communication. 
 
 " If it were not for you and the children, Polly, 
 I wouldn t care so much," he added, after a few 
 moments, still not lifting his eyes. 
 
 " Our happiness, Luke, doesn t depend on keep 
 ing this house." Mrs. Sterling spoke with a calm 
 ness that surprised her husband, and with a sweet 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 77 
 
 patience that touched his heart and filled his eyes 
 with tears. "Indeed, as things are, I would rather 
 give it up and go into a smaller one. We can t 
 afford to live here now." 
 
 Luke took both of his wife s hands and raised 
 them to his lips. They were damp with tears and 
 kisses when he let them free. 
 
 " Let us make a new start in "life," Mrs. Sterling 
 went on, with a tender earnestness of manner that 
 filled the soul of her husband with an almost wild 
 desire to retrieve all he had lost. " It is nothing 
 to us what people may say or think, but it is every 
 thing to us what we are in ourselves. All this is 
 not happiness ;" and she glanced around the hand 
 some room in which they were sitting. " We may 
 possess these elegant things and be wretched, or we 
 may live amidst the humblest surroundings and 
 have peace in our hearts. Oh, Luke, I am ready 
 for any change that will take these anxious cares 
 from your heart and give me back my husband as 
 I once knew him my dear, good, noble husband." 
 
 She threw her arms about his neck and laid her 
 head upon his breast, her frame shaking with sobs. 
 
 "You shall have your husband again, Polly 
 dear," returned Luke, with answering sobs and 
 
78 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 tears. " From this day I will lead a new life I 
 will be a man as of old, master of myself. I shall 
 not be able to save this place. That grieves me 
 most. Oh, it will be gall and wormwood to see 
 you turned out and and " 
 
 He could not finish the sentence. 
 
 " And what, Luke ? Don t be troubled about 
 me; I could be happier in the humblest cottage 
 with my dear, good husband all my own, and lov 
 ing and caring for me as of old, than in a palace 
 without such love and care. And what, Luke? 
 What were you going to say ?" 
 
 "Polly dear" Sterling drew his lips together, 
 while an indignant expression came into his face 
 " Hanlan has been looking with an evil eye upon 
 our beautiful home. He wants it for himself and 
 his vulgar wife. 7 
 
 Mrs. Sterling caught her breath and her face 
 turned pale. But she was herself again in a mo 
 ment, and replied: 
 
 " It will matter nothing to us who has it when it 
 passes from our hands." 
 
 "It will matter a great deal to me," returned 
 Sterling, with an angry flash in his eyes. 
 
 " We shall be so happy, Luke, that nothing like 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 79 
 
 this can possibly disturb our lives. Be all that you 
 once were, and I shall care for nothing else. Let 
 Hanlan have the place. Sell it, and get yourself 
 free from embarrassment." 
 
 " God bless you, my dear wife \" ejaculated Ster 
 ling. " From this day I will be a new man for 
 your sake. What is past cannot be helped, but I 
 have all the future before me ; I am yet in the 
 prime of life, and by all that I hold dear I swear 
 to recover, in the next five years, all that I have 
 lost in the last," 
 
 Luke Sterling was deeply in earnest. The 
 shock that came upon him when he discovered that 
 Jimmy Hanlan wanted his handsome residence, 
 and meant to have it by a foreclosure of the mort 
 gage if he could get it in no other way, roused 
 him to a bitter sense of the ruin to which drink 
 and a consequent incapacity for business had 
 brought him. He still loved his wife as much 
 as his diminished capacity for loving would per 
 mit, and the thought of seeing her go out from 
 her beautiful home and go down into one com 
 paratively poor and humble, while the coarse sa 
 loon-keeper s wife, who had more than once done 
 service as a menial in his house, passed up in her 
 
80 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 vulgar triumph and took proud possession of all 
 she had lost, almost maddened him. 
 
 All this was enough to arouse any man not 
 wholly lost to a sense of his condition, and to 
 stir the latent forces that might yet remain in 
 his soul. 
 
 There was nothing either generous or just in 
 the character of Hanlan. If there had once been, 
 his new calling had driven it all out. He had 
 learned that the best bargains are always made in 
 dealing with the unfortunate, or w T ith men in 
 some ruinous strait. Sterling was now in pressing 
 need of money must have it, or run the risk of 
 failing in business. It was impossible for him to 
 raise anything more on his house unless Hanlan 
 chose to make a further loan and take a new mort 
 gage, which he could easily and safely do. But 
 since that little talk with his wife, Hanlan had 
 changed his views of the affair; and when Ster 
 ling called to get his answer about an additional 
 loan of two thousand dollars, he met, instead of 
 a compliant friend, as he had thought Hanlan, a 
 hard and grasping absorber of whatever might 
 come in his way. 
 
 " I ve no more money to lend !" met the ex- 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 81 
 
 pectant merchant when he called that morning, 
 spoken with a cold repulsion that chilled him. 
 
 " Oh, very well ;" and Sterling was turning away 
 hurt and surprised by Hanlan s unexpected rebuff. 
 
 " See here, Sterling !" called Hanlan, when his 
 visitor had gone a few paces. 
 
 "Sterling;" The "Mr." was dropped now. 
 There was a time when Jimmy Hanlan had said, 
 " Y r honor, sir." And the respectful "Mr." had 
 never before this time been omitted when address 
 ing his old employer. 
 
 The unhappy man turned and came back. He 
 felt the intended disrespect, not to say insolence. 
 
 " Look here, my friend," said Hanlan, knitting 
 his brows and shutting his coarse mouth. " I want 
 to say a word to you." * 
 
 " Say on," was returned. 
 
 " I shall want the money on that mortgage next 
 week. I am going to buy a piece of property." 
 
 "What property?" asked Sterling, almost me 
 chanically. 
 
 "That s my own affair," replied Hanlan, with 
 offensive rudeness, 
 
 "You might at least be civil about it/ said 
 Sterling, stung by the man s insolence. 
 
82 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 "Civil or not, I shall want that money next 
 week. So make your arrangements to get it if 
 you don t want trouble." 
 
 "But you know as well as I do that it is im 
 possible for me to raise ten thousand dollars at a 
 week s notice." 
 
 "That s your affair, not mine," was the gruff 
 retort. 
 
 Luke Sterling, who saw now for the first time 
 the unpitying wolf in this man s eyes, and felt 
 that he had nothing to hope from him, turned 
 away again, and was near the door when Han- 
 Ian called him back and said, with the air of a 
 superior, 
 
 " If you ll take my advice, you ll sell your hpuse 
 instead of trying to borrow money on it and sad 
 dling yourself with more interest. You can t afford 
 to live there, anyhow. Sell it and put the money 
 into your business. Then you ll be doing the sensi 
 ble thing." . 
 
 "Thank you," returned Sterling, in a husky 
 voice, while a deep pallor overspread his face. 
 
 " No thanks, my friend," said Hanlan, in a light, 
 unfeeling tone. " If it does you any good, I shall 
 be satisfied. Sell, and do the sensible thing. Un- 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 83 
 
 load while you can. That s my advice, and I won t 
 charge you a cent for it, ha I ha 1" 
 
 And he laughed coarsely. 
 
 " One word more," he called after Sterling, who 
 made a third movement to retire. " Let me hear 
 from you soon; and if you don t meet with a 
 purchaser, give me your best terms, and perhaps I 
 can find you one." 
 
 Luke Sterling understood him now. He made 
 no response, but went out, dazed. Almost for the 
 first time in five years he had been in the bar-room 
 of the " Hanlan House" without calling for liquor. 
 He was too stunned and bewildered for business, 
 and so, after a feeble effort to look over his accounts 
 and see if he could find in them anything on which 
 to rest a hope of extrication from imminent peril? 
 he went home, as we have seen. 
 
 All this, as has been said, was enough to arouse 
 any man not wholly lost to a sense of his condi 
 tion, and to stir the latent forces that might yet 
 remain in his soul. And Luke Sterling was now 
 thoroughly aroused. His first effort was to sell his 
 house to some one into whose possession he would 
 rather see it pass than into that of the saloon 
 keeper. But those who felt themselves able to live 
 
84 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 in so handsome a house were already suited to their 
 Pastes. And, moreover, he was not the only well- 
 to-do citizen of Delhi whose circumstances had 
 changed in the last few years. His neighbor Gor 
 don s house, almost as fine as his own, was up for 
 sale, and so was the house of Judge Hanson. When 
 the new saloon was opened, five years before, with 
 its new attractions and fine clat, Judge Hanson 
 was known as a free liver and one who enjoyed his 
 glass of wine. But no one had ever seen him the 
 " worse for liquor," as it is said, and he was rarely 
 to be found drinking in any public place. But the 
 enticements of the "Hanlan House" had been. too 
 much for him. No sooner were its doors opened 
 than there seemed to set toward it an almost irre 
 sistible current, drawing thitherward judges, lawyers, 
 merchants, politicians and men of leisure. Good 
 society was to be found there as well as good things 
 to eat and drink. Men who did not care for liquor 
 drifted there by the desire to meet friends and pass 
 a pleasant, social evening. 
 
 And so Judge Hanson, the good liver and mod 
 erate drinker, found the temptations of this new 
 saloon too great, and himself, at the end of five 
 years, so much reduced in circumstances as to be 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 85 
 
 compelled to sell the house of his wife and children 
 and gather them in sorrow and humiliation into 
 an humbler abode. And a like thing happened 
 with Frank Gordon, one of the best lawyers in 
 the county, as well as with others who might be 
 named. 
 
 Sterling could find no one who wanted to buy 
 his house. After three days, during which time he 
 wholly abstained from drink, he called upon Han- 
 Ian and offered to sell the property, fixing the price 
 at sixteen thousand dollars. Jimmy scouted at this 
 valuation as preposterous, and said that he would 
 not give a dollar over twelve thousand for it, but 
 finally advanced to twelve thousand five hundred, 
 beyond which he would not go. As Sterling was 
 in a strait and had made up his mind to sell, the 
 bargain was finally closed at the last-named figures, 
 and as soon afterward as it could possibly be done 
 he moved into a small house. 
 
 While negotiations for this sale were in progress, 
 Mrs. Hanlan, richly dressed and radiant with 
 jewelry, came every day in her carriage to look 
 over the house and through the grounds, assuming 
 a vulgar dignity and a half-patronizing air toward 
 Mrs. Sterling that, under other circumstances, might 
 
86 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 have been amusing, but which, taking things as 
 they were, hurt and humiliated the suffering woman. 
 
 It did not take long to make the change. A 
 portion of the furniture was sold, and with the rest 
 they fitted up a new and humbler home, in which 
 for a brief period they were happier than they had 
 been for years. 
 
 Ah ! that we have to say, " for a brief period " ! 
 Mr. Sterling was deeply in earnest. He had sol 
 emnly resolved never to debase himself with drink. 
 It had been his master and his curse, hurting and 
 degrading him, and filling the heart of one he loved 
 with deepest sorrow. " It shall be so no more," 
 he had said, in the bitterness of his suffering and 
 repentance. But like so many hundreds and thou 
 sands in like condition, he did not comprehend the 
 absolute necessity of denying to his vitiated appe 
 tite the stimulant that is sure to arouse it into an 
 uncontrollable desire. He meant to be a self- 
 poised man again, and to hold his appetite, as in 
 earlier years, under absolute control. The lesson 
 he had received was enough, he thought. His 
 humble home, his patient, cheerful and now happy 
 wife, his little children growing up around him, 
 the new aspect his business was assuming under the 
 
4 
 
 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 87 
 
 new and more^ intelligent devotion he gave to it, 
 were all so many aids and incentives to a new life. 
 
 For weeks, even months, Mr. Sterling kept his 
 appetite under with bit and bridle. How happy 
 they were at home ! All his friends took heart 
 again, and saw with pleasure the great change and 
 new promise for a better life. But he was walking 
 amid temptations of no ordinary character. He 
 was surrounded by enemies who never slept, who 
 were always plotting against him ; and what made 
 his condition the more perilous was the fact that he 
 did not treat these enemies as if they were his 
 deadly foes, but too often held friendly intercourse 
 with them and lefi^ in their presence the doors of 
 his citadel of strength unbarred. 
 
 Only for a short time did Luke Sterling wholly 
 deny his appetite, and daily during that period did 
 he receive invitations to drink from thoughtless 
 friends and acquaintances. The arching eyebrows, 
 the shade of surprise or the light, bantering sen 
 tences that were almost sure to meet him on de 
 clining these invitations annoyed him greatly. He 
 regarded them as reflections on his manhood. He 
 felt very strong, was sure of himself, knew that 
 he could hold his appetite in check as completely 
 
I 
 
 88 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 as he had been able to do beforeUhe days of his 
 unhappy enslavement. His eyes were open now, 
 and he knew the danger of over-indulgence. The 
 sad lessons of the past five years were too deeply 
 graven upon his heart and their memory too full 
 of pain and humiliation to be forgotten. No, there 
 was little danger of another fall ; he could drink in 
 moderation, be social with his friends, as before, 
 instead of holding himself aloof, to be sneered at 
 as a weakling who dared not trust himself. 
 
 So he be^gan again to drink in moderation, but 
 being on guard, held himself to certain prescribed 
 limits. But it was not possible to keep for any 
 length of time within any limifcs he might set for 
 himself. He was indulging a fatal error. He 
 could not drink or let it alone at will, as in his 
 earlier manhood. Appetite and will were now at 
 variance with each other, and appetite had become 
 stronger than will. There was safety only in hold 
 ing appetite bound. Give it the smallest liberty, 
 and it would begin to gather up its strength in 
 preparation for an early struggle to gain the 
 mastery. 
 
 Only a few weeks went by ere Mr. Sterling s 
 daily visits to the "Hanlan House" were resumed, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 89 
 
 though his relations with the proprietor never again 
 partook of their old friendly character. In less 
 than three months he was drinking* again almost as 
 hard as before, and the hope which had for a little 
 while so brightened the life of Mrs. Sterling, giving 
 her poor surroundings a richer gilding than her 
 costliest things had ever known, lying cold and 
 almost lifeless in her heart. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 five years that succeeded were full of sor- 
 -*- row, not for the wife of Luke Sterling alone, 
 but for the wives and mothers of hundreds of men 
 and boys in Delhi. Few homes in the town were 
 free from the blight and curse of intemperance. 
 No mother felt safe for her son, and few were 
 the wives that did not tremble for their husbands, 
 seeing, as they did, so many of the best men in 
 the place falling one after another the victims of 
 drink. 
 
 A second addition had been made to the poor- 
 house, and the foundations of* a new jail that was to 
 cost the county over two hundred thousand dollars 
 were being laid. This new jail was to have all 
 the modern safeguards and sanitary arrangements 
 known in the best prison architecture. The public- 
 spirited men who had the business, of its construc 
 tion in hand determined that it should be a credit 
 to the county and an ornament to the town. They 
 exhibited the plans, all beautifully drawn out by 
 
 90 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 91 
 
 the architect, and expatiated with pride upon the 
 admirable design they had adopted. If they had 
 been engaged in the erection of a college building, 
 they could not have shown greater pleasure in their 
 work. 
 
 All the dreadful meaning of what they were do 
 ing seemed to be far away from these men ; or if it 
 forced itself at times upon their consideration, it 
 never seemed to occur to them that it would be a 
 far better and cheaper thing to stop the creation of 
 criminals than to spend vast sums of money for 
 prisons in which to confine them. 
 
 " These saloons are the curse of our town," you 
 would hear on all sides. " Our young men are go 
 ing to destruction." But no common cause was 
 made against them. Every month or two the gate 
 of a new road to destruction would be opened and 
 crowds go pressing in, but the people of Delhi only 
 sighed and submitted. There was found no man 
 of strength and influence courageous enough to lift 
 a standard and call for an army to set itself in bat 
 tle array against an enemy that was ravaging the 
 town, and with a devastation worse than fire and 
 sword. 
 
 A handful of banditti held Delhi in its grasp, drew 
 
92 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 from it a daily tribute of not less than one or two 
 thousand dollars^ and bound its young men and its 
 men of strength in fetters more g lling than fetters 
 of brass or iron, and with a strange, cowardly, hu 
 miliating indifference Delhi submitted to this ac 
 cursed domination, and made no effort to throw it 
 off. 
 
 Suffering and heart-breaking women, on whom 
 the curse of this banditti rule fell heaviest, lifted 
 their hands, imploring fathers and husbands and 
 sons to rise in their strength and drive the plun 
 derers from their midst, but their appeals fell heed 
 less upon the air. Day by day they saw their be 
 loved ones the husbands who were dear to them 
 as life, the boys they had nurtured and cared for and 
 led up toward useful manhood, the boys they had 
 watched over with the tenderest solicitude and held 
 up to God in daily prayers saw them drifting out 
 upon a sea of fire, while they stood upon the shore 
 powerless to save. No wonder they grew desperate 
 sometimes. No wonder half a dozen women, roused 
 to desperation, should on one memorable occasion 
 break through the bounds of " propriety and social 
 order," and commit a most dreadful and indecent 
 outrage, at which all Delhi was shocked, going so 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 93 
 
 far as to enter the bar of a " quiet and respectable 
 saloon-keeper " and turn his liquor into the street. 
 
 But for this great outrage their husbands and 
 fathers had to pay dearly. Suit was brought against 
 them for damages in three times the amount at 
 which the destroyed beer and whisky was valued, 
 and a jury of citizens on which the saloon-keeper s 
 lawyer managed to get a goodly number of his 
 friends gave a verdict against them. 
 
 " A wholesome lesson," remarked the editor of 
 the Delhi Eagle, in commenting on the result of 
 this trial, " and one that will teach these excitable 
 females that there is such a thing as law and order 
 in Delhi." 
 
 This Delhi Eagle was on all social questions 
 exceedingly conservative. The mouthpiece of one 
 of the political parties it matters not which it 
 was especially conservative in regard to temperance. 
 It believed in temperance in all things temper 
 ance in eating as well as in drinking, temperance 
 in speech and deportment, in morals and in re 
 ligion. "You can t call a man temperate," said 
 the Eagle, " who abstains from beer or whisky and 
 makes a beast of himself at the table, or who gets 
 up and makes an intemperate speech against men 
 
94 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 engaged in a legal and legitimate calling. The 
 women who committed the gross outrage at Mc 
 Caffrey s saloon were as drunk in their way as any 
 rowdying loafer on the street." 
 
 All the saloon-keepers were jubilant over the 
 finding of the jury, and for a week after the pub 
 lication day of the Eagle, the editor, who had so 
 nobly stood up for law and order and the rights of 
 the people as against fanatics and their projected 
 outrages, could drink at any bar in Delhi free of 
 cost. And well did they understand the value of 
 a friend like the editor of the Eagle a maker and 
 controller of public sentiment. Had he taken the 
 women s side, and even partially justified their con 
 duct on the ground that the evils under which they 
 were suffering were of such magnitude and dire 
 malignity that they could no longer be endured, 
 and that, despairing of any hope in legislation and 
 law, they had risen against an enemy that was 
 destroying their sons and brothers and husbands, 
 and fought him in wild desperation with the only 
 weapons they could command, had the Eagle done 
 this, the saloon-keepers of Delhi might have had a 
 hard time of it, and Hugh McCaffrey not been the 
 only one whose beer and whisky found a summary 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 95 
 
 transfer from the shelves inside to the gutter on the 
 outside. 
 
 The editor of the Eagle knew the value of 
 whisky and drinking saloons. They were valu 
 able, almost indispensable, agencies in a political 
 campaign. They made in every community a little 
 army of idlers who were always ready for some 
 thing that would pay them better than work, or, 
 if not better, for a smaller outlay of time and effort. 
 Then the taverns and drinking saloons formed the 
 headquarters of politicians, and were the places 
 where "slates" were made up and "rings" formed, 
 and all the machinery forged and set in motion by 
 which easy-going citizens were led to vote for this 
 man or that, just as these "ring" politicians might 
 determine. It will be seen from this why the editor 
 of the Eagle was against the heart-breaking women, 
 and advised them to stay at home and make things 
 more comfortable there for their sons and husbands 
 
 s 
 
 if they wished to keep them awajf from taverns. 
 
 And so the affair came to be laughed over as a 
 good joke, McCaffrey declaring that his custom had 
 doubled since the raid, and that he only wished the 
 women would make him another call. 
 
 Year by year the wretched wives and mothers 
 
96 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 of. Delhi stood helpless while this terrible work 
 went on. They saw their boys grow up toward 
 manhood with fear and trembling, too often, alas ! 
 to join the fast-swelling numbers of the idle and 
 dissolute. Fathers who clearly comprehended the 
 situation, and had the nerve to act and the means 
 to do what they saw best, sent their sons to some 
 of the larger cities, as safer places than a country 
 town of four or five thousand inhabitants, there to 
 study for a profession or enter stores to learn the 
 business of merchandising. But those who were 
 not able to do this had to take the dangerous 
 chances of bringing up their boys at home. 
 
 From his second fall Luke Sterling did not arise 
 strong and in his right mind again. He made, it 
 is true, in some of the sad crises that came as his 
 feet went steadily down, down, from ease and com 
 fort to want and painful destitution nay, worse, to 
 utter abandonment of himself to the vice of drink 
 ing many efforts to recover himself. But they 
 were only short-lived and feebler at each renewal 
 of the struggle. Temptation met him, turn which 
 way he would. Delhi had become a vast saloon 
 the many doors of which stood open everywhere 
 in the broad and busy streets and in little alleys and 
 
WOMAN TO THE EESCUE. 97 
 
 out-of-the-way places, to which boys and others 
 wishing to avoid observation could go and get 
 liquor. 
 
 Death came twice, during these five years, into 
 the sorrowful home of Luke Sterling, and at one 
 of these visits bore away his oldest daughter, who 
 was just entering her fifteenth year. When the 
 pale-faced mother bent down and kissed, in her 
 coffin, the cold lips of her dead child, there were no 
 tears in her eyes, but in her heart and on her lips, 
 in silent utterance, was a fervent " Thank God !" 
 
 For what ? That her beautiful and her beloved 
 was with the angels and beyond the evil of this 
 world, which lay with such a crushing weight upon 
 her. Lovingly had this child stood by her mother, 
 helping her amid her hard duties and sharing the 
 griefs and pains with which drunkenness had bur 
 dened her life. But she was gone now, and the 
 mother was in her sorrow and weakness alone 
 alone, yet in love thanking God. 
 
 .Does the meaning of all this enter your heart, 
 reader? Can you put yourself in that mother s 
 place and understand something of the ordeal 
 through which she had passed something of the 
 anguish of self-sacrificing love that wrung her heart 
 
98 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 as she bowed over the coffin of this child, and said, 
 " Thank God " ? Can you do this in anything like 
 a remote conception of the bitter truth, and not, 
 from the moment of such a realization, set yourself, 
 with all the influence you possess, against a traffic 
 that brings to the innocent and the helpless such 
 woe and desolation ? 
 
 When death came a second time, the veiled angel 
 lifted tenderly from the mother s wasted bosom a 
 babe not six months old and bore it lovingly to 
 heaven. The soft white garments that wrapped the 
 waxen effigy the spirit had left behind and the little 
 coffin that garnered up the precious clay were given 
 in charity by pitying friends and neighbors ; and 
 among those who contributed for the purpose was 
 Mrs. James Han Ian, who kindly sent her carriage 
 to be used at the funeral. It may be said of her 
 that long before this, wounded pride and vulgar 
 animosity had died out of her feelings, so far as 
 Mrs. Sterling was concerned, for the wretched 
 drunkard s wife had fallen so low in the social 
 scale that she was now an object of even this 
 woman s commiseration. 
 
 Two children remained, George, who was six 
 teen years old at the time this story opened, and 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 99 
 
 Alice, in her tenth year. Sterling had kept on in 
 his downward course until he was a useless cum- 
 berer of the ground, wholly dependent on the labor 
 of his wife. Her only resource, was her needle, and 
 with this she fought for bread, how desperately 
 her worn and wasted form too painfully told. A 
 year before this time George had to be taken from 
 school and put to work that he might earn some 
 thing. The only place his mother could find for 
 him was in a large machine-shop situated about a 
 mile and a half from Delhi. It was too far away 
 for him to live at home, and in consequence of this 
 he had to board at Salter s, as the shops and village 
 that had grown up around them were called. The 
 owners of these shops, who had a large number of 
 boys in their employment, boarded them as cheaply 
 as possible, and without any care for the associations 
 into which they might be thrown. A worse school 
 for lads could hardly be found than were these 
 shops and cheap boarding-places, and their bad 
 influence upon George Sterling was soon apparent 
 to the eyes of his mother. Thus a new and heavy 
 weight of anxiety and fear was laid upon her 
 heart. 
 
 Crushed and helpless, she was now almost in de- 
 
100 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 spair ; for as mothers will whose earthly supports 
 have failed, and who feel themselves growing weaker 
 and weaker every day, and less able to stand up in 
 their life-battle, she had begun to look hopefully 
 forward to the time when her boy should put on 
 the strength of manhood and lovingly unclasp the 
 heavy armor she had borne, and take the weapons 
 of warfare from her weak and failing hands. Alas 
 for this fond hope ! Its uplifting wings were droop 
 ing already. In all these years of suffering and 
 privation no one had ever heard Mrs. Sterling 
 utter a word against her husband, and she had 
 never upbraided him, nor met him on his coming 
 home with sour or angry looks. It was not in her 
 loving nature to be hard or harsh, and no change 
 in her husband, unless it had been of a very differ 
 ent character from that which intemperance had 
 wrought, bad as that was, could have turned her 
 heart against him. She loved him for what he had 
 been to her, for the better self she still believed in, 
 though hidden out of sight, and for the resurrec 
 tion of which she still hoped and prayed, but with a 
 weaker faith and feebler utterance as the years went 
 by and she saw him sink lower and lower. As for 
 Sterling, it must be said of him that no degree of 
 
WOMAN TO THE REStiVE^ V lOl 
 
 intoxication ever made him, rpugh Or; cross iQxa;rel; ; +*\ 
 his wife, and few weeks went by that he did not 
 deplore his condition and his slavery, and promise 
 her that he would amend. But resolutions of 
 amendment, no matter how sincerely made, had 
 become as flax in the flame to him. The power 
 of self-control under temptation was gone, and in 
 Delhi temptation reached out its hands for men like 
 him at every corner r and in every street and alley, 
 and made reform impossible. He could not leave 
 his house and go for the distance of a single block 
 and not be enticed. Without other help than his 
 own enfeebled will, the case of Sterling was hope 
 less. 
 
 Faithful to all the needs of her husband so far 
 as lay in her power, Mrs. Sterling continued now 
 as at the beginning. If he were not in by nine or 
 ten o clock in the evening, she went in search of 
 him and brought him home. Many were the coarse 
 jests she had to encounter, and many the angry 
 scowls and threatening words she received from 
 saloon-keepers who did not like her visits. But noth 
 ing of this deterred her. Faithful to what she be 
 lieved to be her duty, and faithful to the love that 
 could not die,, she went her almost nightly circuit 
 
102 ^ ^Tfr&MAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 of tii^^loqnp^&nd ^h^n she found her husband, it 
 was often noticed that her wan face brightened a 
 little, and that her eyes had a look of pitying ten 
 derness in them as they rested upon the one she 
 sought. 
 
 Thus it was with Luke Sterling and his family 
 at the end of ten years from the time Jimmy Han- 
 Ian opened his saloon. How it fared with many 
 other families, happy and prosperous as this one, it 
 would take volumes to tell, and the histories would 
 be so sad and sorrowful that none would be able 
 to read them without tears. Among the almost 
 heart-broken mothers of Delhi was good Sister 
 Rhoda Green, that saint in Israel whom all re 
 vered and loved. Her boy, whom in prayer she 
 had consecrated to the service of God while yet 
 an infant in his cradle, had gone far astray, con 
 sorting with the evil men who infested the town 
 and crowded its many bar-rooms horse-jockeys, 
 gamblers, Sabbath-breakers and a miserable crew 
 of pot-house politicians and adventurers. Tippling 
 had grown upon him. His head was not very 
 strong. In a few years he had lost control of 
 himself, and was now going the drunkard s down 
 ward road. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 103 
 
 Frank Gordon, the lawyer, was almost as far 
 down as Luke Sterling, and his wife bowed and 
 broken, though not bearing with the same loving 
 patience the miseries of her lot. 
 
 A strong, true man in Delhi, and -faithful to his 
 high and sacred calling, was the Rev. Jason Wilder. 
 He was tender as well as true and strong; and 
 while he rebuked the evil-doer and denounced in 
 iquities of all kind, often with a fiery indignation 
 that stirred the hearts of his hearers like the sound 
 of a trumpet calling to battle, his ministrations to 
 the penitent, the sick, the sorrowing and the be 
 reaved were so sweet and gentle and full of true 
 Christian sympathy that all who knew him in his 
 offices of teacher, comforter and friend esteemed 
 and loved him. 
 
 He, too, was a sufferer from the curse which lay 
 upon their town. The son of his hopes and prayers 
 had been hurt by the same poisoned arrow that was 
 striking down and destroying the best and most 
 promising young men of the place; and only a 
 month before this time the tearful face of this son s 
 wife the bride of a year hr.d been laid .in agony 
 upon his bosom, and he could offer her no com 
 fort could only pray in broken sentences, as he 
 
104 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 drew her tightly to his heart, that God would 
 temper the wind to his shorn lamb. 
 
 And for all this the stream of cursing flowed on, 
 full to its parched and desolate margins. A few 
 men without pity and without conscience, having 
 the fear neither of man nor God before their eyes, 
 held the town in their hands and subsidized it to 
 their interests, caring not who or what was lost, 
 so that they made gain of the people. From the 
 costliest dwelling down to the meanest hovel in 
 the town women s hearts were breaking. The poor 
 had greater suffering than the rich, for they came 
 in closer and harder contact with coarse and brutal 
 men too often transformed by drinking into cruel 
 fiends. With none to pity and none to help, they 
 drank the cup of bitterness to the very dregs. Not 
 alone did they suffer from hunger and cold, from 
 sorrow and shame, from want and disease. The 
 curse of drink lay heavier than this upon too many 
 of these unhappy women. Personal violence was 
 added. Wives were beaten or knocked down by 
 fists or cut with knives, maimed often for life. 
 Little children were terribly abused, and even tender 
 babes cruelly hurt in their mothers arms. 
 
 Thus it was in Delhi at the time our story 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 105 
 
 opened, and there was not a man of controlling 
 influence in the place who had any serious thought 
 of attempting a radical change in the state of affairs, 
 or who believed it possible to free the town from 
 the curse of drink. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A ND now we take up the thread of the story, 
 dropped at the close of the first chapter. 
 
 As Mrs. Sterling passed into the street the wind 
 struck her in the face, taking away her breath, 
 but she quickly recovered herself, and drawing her 
 thin cloak about her, went forward with rapid steps 
 almost in the teeth of the sleety rain that was still 
 falling heavily. A few minutes walk brought her 
 to a saloon that was one of the resorts of her hus 
 band. Quietly pushing open the door, she stepped 
 inside, and stood for a moment looking around the 
 bar-room. Not seeing the object of her search, she 
 retired without speaking. 
 
 " What s the matter ?" asked a man, addressing 
 the saloon-keeper, who stood leaning against the bar 
 talking with a customer. " You looked scared when 
 Luke Sterling s wife came in." 
 
 " Did I ? Well, I had a sort of nervous shock 
 when I saw her petticoats drive in through the 
 
 106 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 107 
 
 door. I thought it might be one of the praying 
 women I was reading about to-day." 
 
 " Ho ! ho ! that is rich !" ejaculated the other, 
 much amused. "You don t expect to have them 
 here, do you ?" 
 
 " What s to hinder ? The thing is spreading like 
 fire in a prairie, and a spark is as likely to fall upon 
 Delhi as anywhere else." 
 
 " That s so. Well, suppose it breaks out here ; 
 what are you going to do about it ?" 
 
 "Can t say. But I m afraid I shall be like 
 Davy Crockett s squirrel when the old hunter raised 
 his rifle." 
 
 "How was that?" 
 
 "He cried out, There, there, colonel! don t 
 fire ! I ll come down ! " 
 
 " The white feather, ha ! Well, I wouldn t have 
 believed that of you, Mark Schroder. I thought 
 there was a deal more grit in you." 
 
 " I m gritty enough in a fair fight and with 
 men," replied Schroder, as he was called, "but I 
 can t fight with women." 
 
 " Pshaw ! If a woman tried to knock you in the 
 head, wouldn t you defend yourself?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
108 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 "Very well." 
 
 " But I wouldn t take a stand-up fight with a 
 woman, no "how. Fd run first." 
 
 At this a loud laugh went through the bar-room. 
 
 "No fear for Delhi," remarked one. "The 
 women here are not of that sort have too much 
 respect for themselves. Isn t that so, Wesley ?" 
 
 The person thus addressed was a young man 
 who, with three others, was sitting at a table play 
 ing cards. He had been listening to the conver 
 sation which had grown out of Mrs. Sterling s visit. 
 
 " I don t know what you mean by too respect 
 able," he replied, drawing himself up. He had 
 been drinking rather freely. " But I can tell you 
 one thing: respectable or not respectable, there s 
 one woman in this town who knows how to pray 
 and who isn t afraid. She s used to it and can t be 
 beat; though," he added, in a lower voice, "her 
 praying doesn t seem to have done much good in 
 
 one case." 
 
 " In yours, you mean ?" said the saloon-keeper. 
 
 " Yes, in mine. Look at me !" and he spread 
 out his hands and drew himself back. " I ve been 
 prayed over since I was a baby, and you see how 
 much good it s done." 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 109 
 
 " And all this praying they talk about will do 
 about as much good as it has done in your own 
 case," said the man who had been talking with the 
 saloon-keeper. His name was Squire. He was 
 low-browed and had coarse features. These, with 
 iiis heavy under jaw, marked him as a man of 
 brutal instincts. 
 
 One word brought on another, and a great deal 
 was said about praying women and religious people 
 in general, which Wesley Green, whose head was 
 not very clear, felt called upon to resent. 
 
 "My mother s a praying woman, and I won t 
 stand that kind of talk/ 7 he exclaimed as some 
 sharp philippic brought out a roar of laughter. 
 
 "Yes," said Squire, in a cold, sneering voice, 
 " I ve heard something about your mother s power 
 in prayer. It s said that she can pray a man to 
 hell and back again. She tried it on you, it seems 
 got you into hell ; but J don t see that she s made 
 much headway in getting you out. If I had a 
 chance to put a word in her ear, I d suggest that 
 she tried a few prayers on the devil. You re over 
 into his kingdom now ; and unless she makes friends 
 with his sooty highness, I m afraid it s all over with 
 you." 
 
110 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 A loud guffaw from most of the bar-room loun 
 gers greeted this profane sally. Stung by what he 
 felt to be an insult to his mother, Green started to 
 his feet, and catching up the chair on which he had 
 been sitting, swung it into the air and held it over 
 the head of Squire in a threatening manner, de 
 nouncing him at the same time in the most offen 
 sive terms he could use. 
 
 Though Squire knew that Green s menacing at 
 titude was only a feint, and that he had not the 
 nerve to strike, he . chose to act as though driven to 
 self-defence, and struck the young man a heavy 
 blow on one of his temples, knocking him senseless 
 to the floor. 
 
 From the saloon of Mark Schroder, Mrs. Sterling 
 crossed the street diagonally, splashing through the 
 water that was filling the gutters almost to the tops 
 of the curbstones. For a few moments she paused 
 in front of a tavern that made but little show of 
 lights and signs. In the door was inserted a piece 
 of ground glass ten inches long and about five inches 
 broad, and in the centre of this, in colored letters, 
 were the words, "The Decker House." Just be 
 low this another and narrower piece of glass had 
 been set in the door, and on this, in different-colored 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. Ill 
 
 letters were the words, " Ben Decker." The place 
 had an ill look, and one had a feeling as he stood 
 before it that something more and worse, if pos 
 sible, than the trade of drinking was carried on 
 inside. 
 
 Pushing open the door, Mrs. Sterling went in. 
 There were only two or three persons in the bar 
 room, and everything was very quiet. 
 
 An oath, flung out with angry impatience, greeted 
 her entrance. It came from a little man who sat 
 near the stove, leaning back in a chair with his feet 
 upon a table. He had small, deeply-sunken eyes 
 and a heavy growth of dark grizzly hair. His face 
 was disfigured by small-pox, and had more the ex 
 pression of a cruel animal than that of a man. 
 
 " Go ! go !" he said, flinging out one of his hands 
 with nervous quickness. " Off with you, and don t 
 let me see your face here again." 
 
 Mrs. Sterling remained long enough to make 
 sure that her husband was not there, and then went 
 away, her ears stunned by curses and threats. 
 
 "Ha! ha! It s as good as a play," exclaimed 
 one of the men who were lounging in the saloon. 
 "Curtain rises about half-past nine every night, 
 doesn t it, Ben?" 
 
112 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 This was met by a fresh burst of indecent pro 
 fanity. 
 
 " It s one of the things I d not stand/ growled 
 another inmate of the bar-room. " When I kept 
 tavern over at Peterboro , I made short work with 
 the old soakers never lowed em to get a footin 
 in my ranche, sneakin in without a red to save 
 their souls, and waitin for somebody to ask em to 
 take a horn. It hurts a respectable place, it does. 
 No decent feller wants to have a loafer sidlin up to 
 him when he s gettin a comfortable drink, and 
 lookin like a dyin calf. It s a nuisance. I 
 wouldn t patronize a place where such things are 
 allowed ; and if you ll take a friend s advice, Ben 
 Decker, you ll pitch that cuss of a Sterling into 
 the street the very next time he puts his nose in 
 here." 
 
 " Just what I m going to do," answered the man 
 to whom this was addressed. 
 
 As he spoke the door was pushed open, and a 
 poor wretch, drenched with rain and shivering from 
 cold, came shuffling into the bar-room. 
 
 " There s the miserable cuss now !" exclaimed the 
 man who had just given his advice as to the treat 
 ment " old soakers " should receive. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 113 
 
 At this, Ben Decker, his face aflame with sudden 
 passion, started up, and striding across the room, 
 confronted the individual who had just entered. 
 
 " Clear out !" he cried, angrily. 
 
 But Sterling for it was that poor fallen man 
 was used to treatment like this, and did not mind 
 it. It was one of the unpleasant incidents of the 
 wretched life he now led one of the many lions 
 that were perpetually starting up in his way, and 
 which must be passed. He did not " clear out," 
 but stood his ground, and commenced fumbling in 
 his pockets as if searching for money. 
 
 "Did you hear?" exclaimed Decker. There was 
 the growl of a beast in his tones, but Sterling was 
 too much stupefied by drink to heed this warning. 
 He made an attempt to pass the infuriated saloon 
 keeper, who, seeing the movement, grasped him by 
 the shoulder and pushed him back to the door 
 through which he had just entered. Sterling strug 
 gled feebly, but he was little more than a child in 
 the other s hands. Out through the door he was 
 thrust; and as Decker gave him a kick that threw 
 him half across the pavement, causing him to fall 
 with his head striking the curb-stone, he cried out 
 fiercely, 
 
114 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 " If you show yourself inside of my place again, 
 I ll wring your cursed neck off." 
 
 " That s the ticket !" exclaimed the man who had 
 incited Decker to the commission of this outrage. 
 " That s the way I used to serve em, and it did the 
 business. The loafers soon got to know my ways 
 and kept clear of me, ha ! ha ! If he comes back 
 to-morrow night, repeat the dose. You can stand 
 it as long as he can, I guess. It s bound to cure in 
 the end." 
 
 Liquor was then called for, and the company 
 drank all around, and had a good jolly time over 
 this little episode in bar-room life. 
 
 Mrs. Sterling s next visit was to the " Hanlan 
 House," at the corner of Elm and Main streets, the 
 great gas-lamp of which, gorgeous with many colors, 
 was conspicuous above all its rivals. Mrs. Sterling 
 always shrunk with a painful sense of humiliation 
 from entering this saloon, but her husband often 
 went there at night; and not having found him at 
 the taverns already visited, she turned her feet to 
 ward Hanlan s as the next place at which she would 
 be most likely to find him. Hanlan did not relish 
 these visits. Her presence among his customers, 
 who were still largely made up of the better class 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 115 
 
 of people in Delhi, was an unpleasant intrusion, 
 and had the effect of throwing a shadow upon their 
 feelings, for many of them had known Mrs. Ster 
 ling, and even enjoyed her own and husband s gen 
 erous hospitality, in other and better days. 
 
 " Can t you keep that woman away from here, 
 Hanlan ?" a judge of the county court had said to 
 him only a few nights before. " It s like throwing 
 a dash of cold water over me. Ugh! it makes 
 one feel bad for a week afterward. If I m to run 
 the risk of meeting an apparition like that every 
 night, I shall stay at home." And another gentle 
 man, one of Jimmy s best customers, had remarked, 
 not long before : 
 
 " It s a cursed shame to have that woman com 
 ing here. Why don t you stop it ?" 
 
 And from others of his regular visitors the 
 saloon-keeper had remonstrances of a similar kind. 
 It was not agreeable to have their pleasant even 
 ings disturbed after that fashion. The white, worn 
 face of Mrs. Sterling, her deep-sunken and mourn 
 ful eyes, her. poor thin garments and slender, 
 wasted frame, standing out, as they did, sharply 
 framed by the contrasting comforts and bright 
 surroundings of Hanlan s saloon, made a picture 
 
116 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 in every mind that saw her as distinct as if painted 
 by the pencil of the sun a picture from which 
 they could not turn their mental vision. 
 
 Hanlan had tried to keep Sterling away, and had 
 often threatened to eject him with violence if he 
 dared to show himself inside of the bar-room, but 
 Sterling was a quiet man, and gave no offence suffi 
 cient to warrant a measure of this kind. Jimmy 
 kept a public-house, and he had as much right as 
 any other man to go in and come out at will if he 
 conducted himself in an orderly manner. Here it 
 was that he oftenest received invitations to drink 
 from old friends who knew that, with his all- 
 absorbing thirst, he rarely had the means of grati 
 fying it to any extent, and who, pitying him, helped 
 him to the one only enjoyment of his life. 
 
 Almost daily, therefore, did Sterling visit Jim 
 my s saloon, undeterred by cold looks, scowls or 
 rebuffs, and few nights passed that he did not 
 drop in. He was usually restless during the early 
 part of the evening, going from tavern to tavern 
 and getting all the liquor he could obtain. By 
 nine or ten o clock he was generally in a half- 
 drunken state, and would fall asleep wherever he 
 happened to be, and remain in that condition until 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 117 
 
 his wife found him and took him home. Some 
 times unfeeling practical jokes would be played off 
 upon him, and sometimes an impatient saloon 
 keeper would rouse him up and start him off, using 
 both kicks and curses if he made any resistance. 
 It not unfrequently happened that his wife would 
 come upon him wandering about the streets, too 
 much bewildered to find his way home ; and once 
 she discovered him sitting in a chair, on the pave 
 ment in front of a tavern, fast asleep in a drench 
 ing rain. The heartless proprietor and his bar 
 keeper had placed him there, and thought it a 
 capital joke. 
 
 As Mrs. Sterling entered Hanlan s saloon a stout 
 boy, in the working-dress of a mechanic, who was 
 sitting at a table with another lad about his own 
 age playing at dominoes, turned suddenly pale and 
 dropped. his face out of sight. 
 
 "Good Heavens! there s that woman again/ 7 
 Jimmy heard one of his best customers, a promi 
 nent lawyer and politician, exclaim ; and turning 
 quickly, he saw the drenched figure of Mrs. Ster 
 ling near the door through which she had just 
 entered. 
 
 An oath too profane and indecent to sully our 
 
118 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 pages fell from H^nlan s lips. Turning quickly, he 
 strode across the room, and confronting Mrs. Ster 
 ling, said, with rising passion, 
 
 " There s been enough of this cursed business, 
 and it must stop ! I ve told you over and over 
 again not to come here. Take yourself off at 
 once." 
 
 Hanlan pointed with an imperative gesture to 
 the door, but all this made no more impression on 
 Mrs. Sterling than the sighing of a summer wind. 
 Her pale face neither flushed nor changed its ex 
 pression. She merely stepped past him and ad 
 vanced a few steps farther into the room, her eyes 
 turning quickly from side to side, searching for her 
 husband. 
 
 To baffle a man in anger is generally to throw 
 him into a blind rage, and the lower and more 
 brutal his instincts, the more indecent and savage 
 Avill his rage make him. The quiet, irresponsive 
 way in which Mrs. Sterling moved past the saloon 
 keeper, instead of turning back, as he had meant 
 that she should do, maddened him beyond control. 
 A fearful oath, coupled with a vile epithet, fell from 
 his lips ; and catching her roughly by the arm, he 
 jerked her toward the door. 
 

 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 119 
 
 Uttering a fierce cry and springing forward in a 
 quick bound, the boy who had tried to conceal his 
 face when he saw Mrs. Sterling enter the bar-room 
 was upon Hanlan now, grappling him with the 
 fury of a savage beast, and bearing him to the 
 floor in his sudden onset. 
 
 A scene of the wildest confusion followed in 
 stantly. Hanlan, who was a powerful man, strug 
 gled quickly to his feet and threw off his assailant, 
 but the boy was back upon him with the quickness 
 of a flash, and would have struck him in the face 
 if the saloon-keeper had not been something of a 
 pugilist and skilled in parrying blows. 
 
 The odds were against the lad. The fiery strength 
 of sudden passion had to give way and die out 
 helplessly in the grasp of superior force. Hanlan 
 was permitted to punish him severely, and then to 
 hand him over to a compliant constable, who locked 
 him up in jail for the night, though every man who 
 witnessed the assault knew that the boy had made 
 it in defence of his mother. 
 
 All this passed in a few minutes, breaking in 
 upon the quiet of Jimmy Hanlan s respectable 
 saloon like a summer whirlwind, and raging for 
 its brief season as wildly. When it was over and 
 
120 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 order again restored, all the pleasant hilarity of 
 the company was gone, and one after another began 
 dropping out and going home. The anger which 
 most of Hanlan s customers had felt toward the 
 " savage young dog," as some of them had called 
 him, began to give way in their minds to a feeling 
 of admiration for his brave defence of his mother, 
 and a regret that Hanlan had been permitted to 
 punish him so severely and then have him locked 
 up in jail. More than one of them silently resolved 
 to appear and go the lad s bail if the saloon-keeper 
 persisted in having him tried for assault and bat 
 tery, and so making an example of him, as he had 
 threatened to do. Others determined to see Han 
 lan the first thing in the morning and persuade 
 him to let the matter drop. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 II/TRS. STERLING had been gone for nearly 
 ***- half an hour, and Mrs. Payne, who sat watch 
 ing by her sick child, was beginning to feel uneasy 
 about her neighbor. The storm showed no abate 
 ment, the wind still roaring and shrieking and the 
 rain falling heavily. Without any warning of 
 approaching footsteps, the door was pushed open, 
 and Mrs. Sterling came in almost as silently as a 
 ghost. Not more ghostly were her movements than 
 her face. That was as white and still and as full 
 of despair as the face of a lost spirit. 
 
 " What s the matter ? Nothing happened to Mr. 
 Sterling, I hope ?" said Mrs. Payne, alarmed at the 
 manner and appearance of her friend. 
 
 Mrs. Sterling did not reply. She only stared 
 strangely at her neighbor. 
 
 " Alice is better, I think hasn t nigh so much 
 fever," said Mrs. Payne, trying to break the spell 
 that was on Mrs. Sterling, but the latter did not 
 
 seem to hear what she said. 
 
 121 
 
122 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 "My dear friend, what is it? You frighten 
 me ! What has happened ?" 
 
 " Happened ! O my God !" and Mrs. Sterling 
 clasped her hands together, and lifted her dry eyes 
 upward with a look of beseeching anguish. 
 
 " He isn t dead?" 
 
 "Dead! Who? Where? 7 Mrs. Sterling gave a 
 start. " No, no," she replied, mournfully, growing 
 quiet again. "Nobody s dead. If that were all ? 
 I could bless God. Dead !" she went on, a little 
 wild now in her manner, as if losing herself. 
 " Oh, the dead are all right the dead are safe. I 
 am happy in my dead. It is for the -living that I 
 mourn ; it is for them that my heart is ready to 
 break." 
 
 Mrs. Payne drew her arm about her suffering 
 friend with the loving tenderness of a sister, saying 
 as she did so, 
 
 " The living and the dead are alike in the hands 
 of God. We must not despair. In him is our 
 help." 
 
 Mrs. Sterling only shook her head. 
 
 " Tell me what has happened. All may not be 
 as dark as it seems to you now. Perhaps I may be 
 able to find some gleams of light," 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 123 
 
 " My boy is in jail !" was answered, in a cry that 
 was full of the deepest pain. 
 
 " What ? In jail ? Oh, Mrs. Sterling !" 
 
 " But not for a crime, thank God !" said Mrs. 
 Sterling, seeing an expression in her neighbor s face 
 that she did not like "not for a crime, thank 
 God ! He could not see his mother insulted and 
 keep down his angry passions, my poor boy! 
 He was at Hanlan s saloon when I went in there to 
 look for his father ; and when Hanlan swore at me 
 and tried to shove me out into the street, George 
 sprang upon him like a tiger. But it was of no 
 use. He was only a boy, and Hanlan beat him 
 dreadfully. Then a constable who was in the 
 saloon arrested him and carried him off to jail. 
 Hanlan ordered him to do it with as much authority 
 as if he d been a judge or the sheriff, and the con 
 stable did as he was told." 
 
 " What was George doing at Hanlan s saloon ? 
 How came he in town ?" asked Mrs. Payne. 
 
 The light which had flashed into Mrs. Sterling s 
 face Avhile speaking in defence of her boy died out 
 as suddenly as it had appeared. 
 
 "That is worst of all," she answered. "When 
 I saw him there, even though he rushed to my pro- 
 
124 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 tection, I felt as if I had received a heavy blow. 
 The hurt went very deep, and I feel the ache here 
 so dreadfully that it seems as if it must kill me ;" 
 and she drew her hand over her heart. " Oh, Mrs. 
 Payne, was my cup not bitter enough, that I must 
 have this added ?" 
 
 "Good may come of this trouble," said the 
 neighbor, trying to comfort her. "It s a severe 
 remedy ; but if it cures George of going to drink 
 ing saloons, you may be thankful for what has 
 happened." 
 
 Mrs. Sterling did not reply, but sat wringing 
 her hands. 
 
 "Where is your husband?" inquired Mrs. Payne. 
 But before an answer could be made the door 
 opened, and Sterling himself came staggering in. 
 
 One glance, a frightened cry, and the poor wife 
 dropped senseless to the floor. No wonder, for the 
 face upon which her eyes rested was covered all 
 over with blood. 
 
 There was considerable excitement in the pub 
 lic mind of Delhi on the next day. The Eagle 
 contained two local paragraphs that set people to 
 talking and gave the advocates of temperance an 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 125 
 
 opportunity to call attention to the evil in their 
 midst. They were as follows : First : . 
 
 "A SEKIOUS AFFAIR. An altercation took 
 place in Schroder s saloon last night between a nian 
 named Squire and Wesley Green. It is said that 
 the former made some insulting remark about 
 Green s mother, which the latter resented, when 
 Squire struck him a heavy blow on one of his 
 temples, knocking him senseless. He was taken 
 home immediately, but at the hour we went to 
 press this morning was still unconscious. Serious 
 results are feared by the doctor." 
 
 Second : 
 
 " AN EXCITEMENT AT JIMMY HANLAN S. The 
 visitors at this quiet house were treated to a little 
 episode not in the bills last evening. Between nine 
 and ten o clock a certain woman whose husband is 
 not as steady as he might be looked in at Jimmy s 
 to see if he were about. Visitations of this kind 
 are not agreeable affairs, especially to a man like 
 our friend Hanlan. She had been there before, 
 and Jimmy had remonstrated with her in a gentle 
 manly way, at the same time insisting that he could 
 not permit her to annoy his customers. But all 
 this went for nothing. She made her appearance 
 
126 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 again last night, when Hanlan took her by the arm 
 to lead her to the door, but, presto ! the woman s 
 son, who it seems is following in the footsteps of 
 his father, sprang upon him like a young tiger. 
 There was an exciting scene for a few moments. 
 But Jimmy is quite able to take care of himself, 
 and so, after punishing the fierce young savage as 
 he deserved, had him locked up in jail. Those 
 who witnessed the scene say that it was an animated 
 affair." 
 
 As the day wore on a great many new facts ap 
 pertaining to these two incidents, as well as a great 
 many exaggerated rumors, got afloat in the public 
 mind, and a large number of persons became dis 
 turbed and indignant. At a very early hour in 
 the morning, Hanlan, acting under the advice of 
 one of his customers who was feeling the quicker 
 beat of the common pulse, had seen to it that 
 George Sterling was discharged from arrest. The 
 editor of the Eagle, moved thereto by some plain 
 talk from citizens who had cause for deploring 
 the baleful effect of thirty saloons in a popula 
 tion of five thousand souls, expressed regret at 
 having treated the matter with an appearance of 
 levity. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 127 
 
 Meantime, the thrill of a new hope was being 
 felt in the hearts of many. Strange tidings floated 
 on the air. The Eagle of that morning had des 
 patches from two or three towns in Ohio which 
 read like the dreams of a romance. The news 
 contained in these despatches was upon every 
 tongue. There was laughing, scoffing, wonder, 
 approval, doubt, depreciation and enthusiasm, just 
 as one and another stood in reference to the drink 
 ing question or to religion. The Eagle, which 
 on the day before had made a pleasant joke over 
 the single despatch from one of the Ohio towns 
 which it contained, now took the matter more 
 seriously to heart, and had a brief article assuming 
 the ground that the whole thing was degrading to 
 woman and a profanation of religion a mere blaze 
 of fanaticism that would soon die out and leave 
 things worse than before. It expressed its confi 
 dent belief that the women of Delhi had too much 
 good sense and too much womanly delicacy to be 
 ever drawn into a similar folly. 
 
 Three sorrowing women drew together late in 
 the afternoon of that day. They were Mrs. Rhoda 
 Green, Mrs. Wilder, wife of Rev. Jason Wilder, 
 and Mrs. Amy Gordon. The meeting was at Mrs. 
 
128 WOMAN TO THE EESCUE. 
 
 Green s house, whither her tearful sisters had come 
 to offer her their sympathy. Wesley Green was 
 still unconscious, but Doctor Sandford had recog 
 nized some favorable symptoms, and spoke en 
 couragingly of the case. 
 
 These were all women of deep and earnest piety, 
 and used to going to God in daily prayer and sup 
 plication. They believed in prayer as a potent 
 agency, not in changing God s purpose or making 
 him more considerate of his creatures, but in so 
 changing man s attitude toward God, and the 
 spiritual sphere by which we are surrounded, as 
 to make it possible for him to impart the bless 
 ings he stands ever ready to give, and determine 
 the beneficent agencies he is ever ready to set in 
 operation. 
 
 The new movement against intemperance, the 
 first reports of which were just coming to their 
 ears, had affected them with a half-bewildering 
 but glad surprise. It seemed too good to be true. 
 But day after day brought fresh intelligence, and 
 the little fire which had blazed up so suddenly 
 was increasing to a flame against the gathering 
 strength of which nothing seemed able long to 
 stand. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 129 
 
 Into the quiet of an upper room these three 
 women, despairing of help in man," went humbly 
 to lay their case and that of their suffering sisters 
 in Delhi before God. First, as they sat down 
 together, Mrs. Green opened the Bible and read 
 in a low, tender voice, which almost sobbed with 
 its deep pathos, the one hundred and forty-second 
 Psalm : 
 
 " I cried unto the Lord with my voice ; with my 
 voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. 
 I poured out my complaint before him; I showed 
 before him my trouble. When my spirit was over 
 whelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. 
 In the way wherein I walked have they privily 
 laid, a snare for me. I looked on my right hand, 
 and beheld, but there was no man who knew me : 
 refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. I 
 cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my 
 refuge and my portion in the land of the living. 
 Attend unto my cry ; for I am brought very low : 
 deliver me from my persecutors; for they are 
 stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, 
 that I may praise thy name; the righteous shall 
 compass me about ; for thou shalt deal bountifully 
 with me." 
 
 9 
 
130 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 Then they all knelt close together, and Mrs. 
 Green led them in prayer. 
 
 "O Lord," she said, "our Father and our 
 Friend, our Saviour and our Redeemer ! As David 
 did of old, we thy suffering children have come to 
 lay our complaints before thee, and to show thee 
 our trouble. Our spirits are overwhelmed. We 
 have looked unto the right hand and the left, but 
 there is no man to help us ; refuge has failed ; no 
 man careth for our souls. And now we cry unto 
 thee, O Lord ! Thou alone art our refuge, our 
 portion in the land of the living. Hear our cries, 
 O Lord ! for we are brought very low. They who 
 are against us are stronger than we, and there is no 
 help for us except in our God. O Lord ! it cannot 
 be that evil is stronger than good. It cannot be 
 that the floods of sorrow now sweeping over and 
 desolating our land are never to be stayed. Oh, 
 hasten the time when the power of thy word shall 
 stir the souls of the people. Let thy Spirit draw 
 very near to strengthen and put courage into the 
 hearts of thy servants everywhere, that they dis 
 comfit their enemies as the Amalekites were dis 
 comfited before the Lord when they fought against 
 Israel. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 131 
 
 " O Lord ! we would ask of thee concerning this 
 new thing, and seek thy guidance. We know that 
 if it be from thee it cannot come to naught, that 
 if it be a descent of spiritual forces to a lower plane 
 a manifestation of thy power in the very presence 
 of the people not all the hosts of hell shall pre 
 vail against it. Our weak flesh may shrink from 
 girding on the armor and going forth to battle, but 
 heart and flesh shall not fail, O Lord our Strength 
 and our Redeemer ! if we but hear thy call. Speak 
 to us thy servants ! Let us hear thy still small 
 voice in the silence of our waiting souls, and if it 
 shall say, Go forward, we will go." 
 
 When they arose from their knees and looked 
 one upon another, each saw a new expression in the 
 face of her sister. The signs of reviving hope, of 
 a rallying courage, of strength and confidence, shone 
 in their gentle faces. Mrs. Green was first to speak. 
 
 "My sisters," she said, "we are in the nearer 
 presence of our Lord ; let us open our minds to 
 him. We have met in his name, and he has told 
 us that where two or three are gathered together in 
 his name he will be in their midst. Everywhere 
 in his holy book he tells us to pray to him, and 
 gives unnumbered assurances that he will answer 
 
132 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 our prayers. How the answer will come no one 
 knows, but it is enough that we desire heavenly 
 gifts and blessings, good that is genuine for our 
 selves and our neighbors, and sincerely and unself 
 ishly pray for them, doing at the same time all in 
 our power for the attainment of what we desire. 
 God will surely answer our prayers, not accord 
 ing to our ignorance, but according to his own un 
 erring wisdom. For this we have his unfailing 
 word." 
 
 They separated, agreeing to meet that evening at 
 the house of Mrs. Wilder and ask her husband, 
 Rev. Jason Wilder, a good and true man, to counsel 
 with them. Ten women met at the clergyman s 
 residence. Among them were, besides the three 
 already introduced, Mrs. Judge Hanson, Mrs. Payne, 
 Mrs. Sterling, Mrs. Judge Isett, the wives of two 
 clergymen besides Mrs. Wilder true, earnest Chris 
 tian women and the wife of Dr. Sandford. With 
 only one exception, all of these women had suffered 
 deeply from the curse of intemperance, some in 
 their husbands or brothers and some in their sons. 
 It had robbed their lives of all sweetness and 
 turned their joy into sorrow. 
 
 The meeting was opened by Mr. Wilder, who 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 133 
 
 read a chapter from the Bible, and then offered up, 
 in a voice tremulous with emotion, a prayer for 
 divine guidance. 
 
 " Until now, O Lord !" he said, " it has seemed 
 that there was no hope for the people, as if there 
 was no hand strong enough to save them. All the 
 counsels of man have come to naught. The bar 
 riers that his hand have set against the fiery flood 
 have been swept away like heaps of chaff or 
 stubble. But now there breaks upon us a song of 
 good tidings, and from this side and that come 
 echoes and glad refrains that are stirring the hearts 
 of the people with joy. Is it indeed thy hand, O 
 Lord ? We believe that it is. Open our eyes that 
 we may see the hidings of thy power and know 
 that it is indeed from thee. Our sisters here before 
 thee are full of sorrow. Thou seest them all. 
 Let the moans of their bitter anguish come up 
 before thee. The man of sin has prevailed against 
 them until now; his arrows have pierced their 
 beloved ones; they are grieving as those without 
 hope. Turning from all their trust in man, they 
 come to thee and implore thy help. Uncover for 
 them the arm of thy power, O Lord ! They are 
 ready for this work if thy blessing be upon it. 
 
134 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 Guide their counsels to-night, and show them thy 
 way. " 
 
 After the prayer, Mrs. Rhoda Green said : 
 
 "My dear sisters, when these strange tidings 
 were first heard I said No ; this is not the way. 7 
 My womanly nature and my religious feelings both 
 sustained a shock. I thought of what our Lord 
 had said about praying at the corners of streets to 
 be seen of men and about entering into our closets 
 and shutting the door. But I soon saw that if 
 this were to be understood only in its literal sense 
 it forbade praying in the great congregation as well 
 as at street corners, and that the only things our 
 blessed Lord meant to condemn were insincere and 
 pharisaical prayers. 
 
 "The manifest blessing that has followed this 
 movement shows that it is good, and all good is 
 from God. Whole towns, where the curse of 
 liquor-selling has been upon the people for years, 
 and where every attempt to throw it off has proved 
 utterly vain, have been emancipated in a week. 
 And, what is more, large numbers of persons who 
 had all their lives been indifferent to religion have 
 come under its heavenly influence. 
 
 " Think, dear sisters, of this our beloved town 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 135 
 
 f 
 
 free from the curse of rum ! Does not the very 
 thought make your hearts leap ? Delhi free from 
 the iron rule of an oppressor more cruel than 
 death ! Oh, my sisters, God has called us to this 
 work, and I, for one, cannot -shut my ears to the 
 call. In deep thankfulness I lift my heart and 
 bless his name for showing us a way when it 
 seemed as if there was no way." 
 
 Where Mrs. Green stood ready to lead, all these 
 her suffering sisters were ready to follow. It re 
 quired no second appeal. Organization was re 
 solved upon at once. 
 
 At nine o clock next morning Delhi heard an 
 unusual sound. One of the church bells rang out, 
 at this unwonted hour, a summons for the people. 
 Men paused on the street or at their work and lis 
 tened. Women looked at each other, and asked, 
 What does this mean ? Stroke after stroke of the 
 bell went pulsing through the air, and the sound had 
 in it some new signification, and hearts were stirred 
 by it strangely. A spiritual atmosphere more sub 
 tle than the finest ether, an atmosphere in which the 
 soul lives and breathes, received, by some mysterious 
 correspondence, an impulse from the tones of that 
 bell, and bore it from mind to mind and heart to, 
 
136 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 heart, until almost every man and woman in Delhi 
 felt an impression of something not clearly under 
 stood. The thought stirred by this vague impres 
 sion was singularly alike with nearly all, and their 
 guesses struck the truth. 
 
 " Hark !" said Judge Hanson, who had gone into 
 the " Hanlan House " to take his second glass, in 
 order to bring up his nerves to the required tension 
 for the day s business, and who was just raising the 
 glass to his lips when the church bell rang out loud 
 and clear. " What does that mean ?" 
 
 He paused with the liquor yet un tasted, and stood 
 listening, his countenance growing grave. 
 
 " It means church, I suppose," remarked a person 
 who stood near him. 
 
 " It means a different kind of church from any 
 we ve had in Delhi, or I m mistaken," replied Judge 
 Hanson. 
 
 "What!" exclaimed the other, at once compre 
 hending his meaning. " You don t imagine it s a 
 call for the crusaders ?" 
 
 "I ll bet my life on it," returned the judge. 
 "There was a meeting of women at Jason Wil- 
 der s last night, and he s just the man to set them 
 going." 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 137 
 
 " The whining old hypocrite !" broke in Hanlan, 
 with an angry growl in his voice. 
 
 " No, Jason Wilder is not a hypocrite," answered 
 the judge, turning to the saloon-keeper. " He s any 
 thing but that. And if he gives countenance to a 
 whisky crusade in Delhi, the sooner you shut up 
 shop the better. There are good women enough in 
 his church to pray all the saloon-keepers out of 
 town in a week." 
 
 " Good women ! Faugh !" sneered Hanlan. 
 
 " See here, my friend/ 7 said Judge Hanson, with 
 a shade of official authority in his voice ; "let me 
 give you a piece of good advice at the outset of this 
 business. It may save you some trouble a broken 
 head, maybe." 
 
 The judge here lifted his glass and drank off the 
 contents. 
 
 " I don t understand you," replied Jimmy, look 
 ing dashed at so unexpected a remark. 
 
 " It s just this," said the judge : " when this 
 crusade begins and I ve a fancy that it s beginning 
 now the wives of a good many of your best cus 
 tomers will be among the crusaders." 
 
 " I wouldn t give much for a man who d let his 
 wife" 
 
138 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 " Silence !" cried the judge, his countenance grow 
 ing dark and stern. 
 
 Hanlan stepped back, while a look, half of sur 
 prise and half of fear, came into his face. 
 
 " You re on dangerous ground, my friend," said 
 the judge, in a warning voiee. 
 
 " That s so," broke in another of his customers. 
 " It doesn t follow because men drink your liquors 
 that they will permit you to speak lightly of their 
 wives or mothers. I won t, for one;" and the 
 man s face darkened at the very thought, while a 
 threat trembled in his voice as he uttered the last 
 sentence. 
 
 " A wise man foreseeth the evil and hideth him 
 self," remarked the judge, "but the simple pass on 
 and are punished. If you are wise, you will keep 
 a bridle on your tongue ; and if you should have a 
 call from a praying-band, treat them civilly if you 
 don t want a broken head." 
 
 "But you really don t think, Judge Hanson," 
 said the individual who had joined him in admon 
 ishing the saloon-keeper, " that there is any likeli 
 hood of our women going into this thing ?" 
 
 " Why not ? If praying will stop the liquor 
 business and it does seem to be doing it, think and 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 139 
 
 say what we will you may count on our women. 
 They ve suffered enough by the infernal traffic 
 begging your pardon, friend Hanlan and I for one 
 won t put a feather in their way. There s one good 
 woman who may be counted on, and her name is 
 Mrs. Judge Hanson. A purer, truer, better woman 
 doesn t live; and if any man dares to insult her " 
 
 What punishment he would mete out to the 
 offender the judge did not say, for at the moment a 
 young lawyer who had been standing at the bar 
 turned and said to him, 
 
 " But, Judge Hanson, for women to come into a 
 man s place of business and interfere with it is a 
 trespass, and must be so regarded by the law. A 
 man s house is his castle. I consider this whole 
 thing wrong. Apart from any opinion you or I 
 may hold as to the delicacy and propriety of women 
 going in bands about the streets and singing and 
 praying on the pavement and in groggeries and 
 drinking-saloons, the question resolves itself into 
 one of simple right and wrong. The law gives our 
 friend Jimmy Hanlan a license to deal in liquors, 
 and so long as he keeps a decent and orderly house 
 the law must protect him." 
 
 " That s so," said Hanlan, who stood listening ; 
 
140 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 " and if I m interfered with, I shall appeal to the 
 law for protection." 
 
 "Once upon a time/ 7 quietly remarked Judge 
 Hanson, " it happened in a certain community 
 that the enactment of laws and the administration 
 thereof got into the hands of bad men, gamblers 
 and cutthroats, who made use of their power to 
 plunder and oppress the people, who could not get 
 rid of them by the ordinary legal process, because 
 of their skill in ballot-box stuffing a.nd other elec 
 tion frauds. As the well-being and safety of the 
 people were things of greater moment than any 
 mere technical observance of laws made for 
 their hurt and not their well-being, the people 
 determined to set the laws at defiance. To this end 
 they organized a vigilance committee, and after 
 due warning laid violent hands upon their law- 
 protected plunderers, hanging some and banishing 
 the rest, and all the people said Amen! And 
 they ll do the same, mark my word for it, whenever 
 a woman s vigilance committee comes down on 
 the rum-sellers of Delhi. As Mr. Lincoln once 
 declared, the nation is before the Constitution and 
 of infinitely more value ; and to save the nation 
 one may break the Constitution. So the people are 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 141 
 
 before and of more value than the laws, and to save 
 the people we may break the laws if under their 
 sanction, evils worse than death are scattered broad 
 cast through the land." 
 
 " Rather a dangerous doctrine, I should say, 
 Judge Hanson," replied the young lawyer, "and 
 liable to great abuse." 
 
 "Let us take a case in point," answered the 
 judge. " It is by illustration that we get the clear 
 view of a question. Hanlan, here, has license to 
 sell gin and beer and brandy, though, if the truth 
 were known, it isn t worth the paper it is written 
 on, and he knows it." 
 
 "Isn t that talking a little wildly, judge?" said 
 the young man. 
 
 " Not at all. If you don t know the law, I do. 
 Under our general license system none but a regu 
 lar tavern-keeper can sell liquor at retail, and he 
 must have in his house a certain number of beds 
 and other appliances of tavern-keeping, none of 
 which you will find in this house." 
 
 "Are you sure of that, Judge Hanson?" said 
 the lawyer. 
 
 " Very sure. An attempt was made a few years 
 ago to break up one or two of the worst dens in 
 
142 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 the place, where boys were enticed to drink and 
 gamble. The indictment charged a breach of the 
 license law, all the clearly-worded sections of which 
 were read in open court by the prosecuting attorney. 
 To have made this law operative in our town would 
 have been to shut up over twenty drinking-plaees, 
 this among the rest. There was a stir among the 
 liquor men, you may be sure. Their rights ( ! ) 
 and. interests were imperiled. A conviction in 
 these cases would be equivalent to the destruction 
 of an industry in which large capital was invested. 
 There were curses both loud and deep against the 
 fanatical, meddling temperance men, who waited in 
 anxious suspense for the result. 
 
 "I saw how it would be from the first. The 
 liquor men had too much money and too much 
 influence. What it cost I do not know some said 
 over ten thousand dollars. But the jury stood, at 
 the first count, six for conviction and six for 
 acquittal. Four, after the second day, went over to 
 the not guilty side. Two remained firm for con 
 viction and kept the others out for three days, 
 when, no prospect of an agreement being apparent, 
 the court discharged them. In disgust and despair 
 the temperance men abandoned the prosecution, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 143 
 
 and there the matter dropped. Delhi said, through 
 its courts and juries, ( Let the work of destruction 
 go on though mothers hearts continue to bleed and 
 break over the ruin of their boys. 7 
 
 " But to the illustration, which I had almost for 
 gotten. Hanlan, as I was saying, has a license to 
 sell gin and beer and brandy. Now, let me suppose 
 a case. You have a wife who is very dear to you. 
 Wives are very dear and precious, and so are hus 
 bands, sometimes, if we are to believe what women 
 say. Unhappily, your wife has acquired the habit 
 of using opium. She knows it is hurting her, and 
 
 v 
 
 resolves to give up the dangerous practice. But it is 
 your neighbor the druggist s business to sell opium, 
 and he may do so under the protection of the law. 
 He has a great many opium customers, and the 
 profit on this part of his business is large. He 
 knows that every ounce of the seductive drug he 
 sells does harm, and only harm. And yet, hard of 
 heart and greedy of gain, he not only pursues the 
 traffic, but uses every means in his power to enlarge 
 the sale of opium and entice men and women to 
 use it. 
 
 " But your wife, seeing her danger, resolves to 
 give it up ; your heart leaps with gladness. The 
 
144 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 shadows which had fallen upon your home are 
 lifted. Bright anticipations again smile down on 
 the happy future. Alas for the brief delusion ! 
 Your neighbor the druggist has lost a good cus 
 tomer ; if your wife remains firm, she will influence 
 other women who are enslaved as she was to break 
 loose from their fearful bondage, and he may lose 
 many others. So your neighbor the druggist sets 
 a snare for the feet of your wife, and she falls into 
 it, and then the shadows are darker than ever on 
 your home and heart. You go to this neighbor 
 and implore him for God s sake never to sell your 
 wife opium again. He orders you from his store 
 or treats you with derision. What then ?" 
 
 Two deep red spots burned on the young lawyer s 
 cheeks. There were flashes in his dilating eyes. 
 
 " What then ?" A quiver of repressed indignation 
 shook the voice of Judge Hanson. " Your neigh 
 bor the druggist has law on his side. He is doing 
 business under its protection. His house is his 
 castle. He may sell his cursed drug to whom he 
 pleases. What then? What if he persisted in 
 tempting your wife every time she came in his way, 
 that he may profit through her injury? Will you 
 sit down and fold your hands and let his devilish 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 145 
 
 work go on, sanctioned by the law though it be, 
 until the wife you love so tenderly, the gentle 
 mother of your children, lies wretched and ruined 
 at your feet, for ever lost ? I trow not ! Nature 
 has some rights left that no human laws can extin 
 guish. Are you answered?" 
 
 " I am answered," returned the lawyer, in a sub 
 dued voice. 
 
 " Are not husbands and sons and brothers as 
 dear to women as our wives and daughters and sis 
 ters are to us?" added the judge. "And if, in a 
 case like the one I have supposed, you or I or any 
 man worthy of the name would take the remedy 
 into his own hands, no matter how summary and 
 violent it might be, shall heart-broken wives and 
 mothers, whom the laws fail to protect, be con 
 demned or hindered when they only pray in the 
 presence of the destroyers of their beloved ones 
 that God would touch their hearts with pity and 
 lead them to abandon their soul-destroying busi 
 ness? Shame on the man who talks about legal 
 
 obstructions in a case like this !" 
 10 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 "TTTITHIN twenty minutes after the bell rang out 
 y its sudden and imperative call every seat in 
 Mr. Wilder s church was full and the aisles crowded. 
 It was remarkable how the thought of the people 
 took a common direction and guessed the meaning 
 of this unusual summons. 
 
 At precisely half-past nine o clock Mr. Wilder 
 arose in the pulpit, and without preface or remark 
 of any kind opened the hymn book and read with 
 the fine impressiveness he could throw into his 
 voice, now more than usually touched with feeling, 
 the words of a hymn that is rarely if ever sung 
 without a peculiar influence, tender and tearful 
 often, on the hearts of those who hear it : 
 
 " Nearer, my God, to thee^ 
 
 Nearer to thee ! 
 E en though it be a cross 
 
 That raiseth me ; 
 Still all my song shall be, 
 Nearer, my God, to thee, 
 
 Nearer to thee ! 
 146 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 147 
 
 " Though, like a wanderer 
 
 Weary and lone, 
 Darkness comes over me, 
 
 My rest a stone, 
 Yet in my dreams I d be 
 Nearer, my God, to thee, 
 
 Nearer to thee I 
 
 " There let my way appear 
 
 Steps unto heaven ; 
 All that thou sendest me 
 
 In mercy given ; 
 Angels to beckon me 
 Nearer, my God, to thee, 
 Nearer to thee ! 
 
 " Then, with my waking thoughts 
 
 Bright with thy praise, 
 Out of my stony griefa 
 
 Bethel I ll raise; 
 So by my woes to be 
 Nearer, my God, to thee, 
 
 Nearer to thee I 
 
 " And when on joyful wings 
 
 Cleaving the sky, 
 Sun, moon and stars forgot, 
 
 Upward I fly, 
 Still all my song shall be, 
 Nearer, my God, to thee, 
 
 Nearer to thee !" 
 
148 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 For a few moments a deep hush pervaded the 
 large assembly. Then, clear and sweet, breaking 
 through the deep stillness, rose the voice of Sister 
 Rhoda Green, leading in the hymn. The whole 
 assembly joined and sang it to the end with a fervor 
 that increased with every succeeding verse. 
 
 Many had come from mere curiosity, and many 
 with light words on their lips and opposition in 
 their hearts. But before the hymn was ended there 
 were few present who did not feel strangely moved. 
 Scoffing or ridicule was in no man s thought now. 
 At the close of the hymn Mr. Wilder knelt in the 
 pulpit. The rustle of garments and the noise of 
 feet, as men and women bowed themselves in prayer, 
 died away, and there was another hush, so deep that 
 it seemed as if no living soul was present. On this 
 waiting silence the minister s voice fell, and every 
 sentence he uttered, as he prayed with and for the 
 people, made a deep impression upon those who 
 heard him. 
 
 " O Lord !" he said, " thou knowest the hearts of 
 those who are bowed before thee this morning, the 
 sorrows that cloud their days and fill their nights 
 with weeping. They have come here at thy call, 
 as they believe, and now ask for light and guidance. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 149 
 
 It cannot be that those who live among us by waste 
 and destruction, who, like locusts, eat up every 
 green thing that comes in their way, are to go on 
 destroying for ever. It cannot be that our young 
 men, the hope of society and the seed of the church, 
 are to be stricken continually with this blight and 
 mildew. It cannot be that this great evil which is 
 ruining precious lives, desolating our fairest homes 
 and breaking the hearts of thousands and tens of 
 thousands of helpless wives and mothers is too 
 strong for thy almighty arm ! 
 
 " It cannot be, O Lord ! We know that it can 
 not be. But thou workest in the world by human 
 agencies; and because the men who have been 
 chosen to make laws for the people, and to see 
 that they were administered for their good, have 
 not had thy fear before their eyes, but have sacri 
 ficed unto strange gods, causing the children of 
 this people to pass through the fire unto Moloch, 
 has this terrible thing so long prevailed. If the 
 servants of thy people had not shut their ears to 
 the great cry of agony that is going up all over 
 the- land, thou wouldest long ago have made them 
 the instruments of thy love and power. But they 
 would not listen to thy voice. They turned them 
 
150 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 rather to the men of Belial, hearkening to their 
 evil counsels and doing their will. 
 
 " And so the cry is still before thee, O Lord ! 
 But now, moved to the work of saving the people, 
 other human agencies are coming into action. The 
 crushed, down-trodden and neglected ones who so 
 long sat weeping in the valley and the shadow of 
 death have lifted themselves up and appeared in thy 
 presence and said unto thee, Send us, O Lord ! and 
 we will go ! And if thou sendest them clad in 
 the armor of faith and with the sword of thy truth 
 in their hands, not all the powers of hell shall 
 stand against them. 
 
 " And now, O Lord ! we humbly ask of thee 
 wisdom. Be very near to us in our deliberations 
 this morning. Make plain to thy servants the duty 
 of the hour. Speak to our waiting sisters ; and if 
 they can hear thy still small voice saying to them, 
 Go up/ they will go." 
 
 There were few in the house who did not feel, as 
 the preacher closed his prayer, a new impression of 
 spiritual power. The large assemblage, including 
 even the most indifferent to religion and the most 
 skeptical in regard to its influence, was subdued 
 and constrained into a respect approaching in some 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 151 
 
 cases to awe. After the prayer, Mr. Wilder arose 
 and said : 
 
 " Let us sing to the praise of the Lord the hymn 
 on page eighty-four : 
 
 " All hail the power of Jesus name, 
 
 Let angels prostrate fall ; 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 " Crown him, ye martyrs of our God, 
 
 Who from his altar call ; 
 Extol the stem of Jesse s rod, 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 " Hail him the heir of David s line, 
 
 Whom David Lord did call ; 
 
 The God incarnate, Man divine ! 
 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 " Ye seed of Israel s chosen race, 
 
 The ransomed of the fall, 
 Hail him who saves you by his grace, 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 9 
 
 11 Sinners, whose love can ne er forget 
 
 The wormwood and the gall, 
 Go spread your trophies at his feet, 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 " Let every kindred, every tribe, 
 On this terrestrial ball, 
 
152 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 To him all ipajesty ascribe, 
 And crown him Lord of all." 
 
 Karely has old " Coronation " been sung with the 
 power and feeling given to it on this memorable 
 occasion as the whole congregation broke in with 
 the sweet voice of Sister Green, rising soft and clear 
 on the hushed air, and swelled the hymn into a 
 grand and exultant chorus. 
 
 " We crown him Lord of all/ 7 said the preacher, 
 in the deep silence that followed this outburst of 
 praise, "when we do his will. He asks of us no 
 honor and no service beyond this. You have come 
 here to-day, my sisters, seeking to know his will, 
 and your hearts are set on doing that will if he but 
 make it known unto you. And he is making it 
 known in visible manifestations of his power on 
 the right hand and on the left. And these mani 
 festations have come in response to prayer. How 
 it is that prayer gives such marvelous results let 
 us now consider, so that we may not fall into the 
 mistake of some who believe that God waits for us 
 poor, blind, ignorant, self-seeking sinners to ask 
 him to bless and save the world before he will do 
 it. That is not so. He is full of tender mercy and 
 loving-kindness, and is ever seeking to save that 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 153 
 
 which was lost. But in the spiritual as well as in 
 the natural world all forces are determined by laws 
 of order, and only when these laws are made opera 
 tive can the forces act. We can all understand how, 
 when we go to God and humbly ask him to help 
 and guide us when surrounded by difficulties, this 
 very submission of ourselves to his divine will may 
 bring us into a state to receive the graces of his 
 spirit patience, self-denial, love of the neighbor 
 and so make it possible for our loving Father to 
 remove from our way the obstructions that were 
 needed for discipline. Not simply because we asked 
 him for help did he send it, but because our asking 
 brought us into a new spiritual condition and made 
 it possible for him to answer our prayer, and make 
 the answer a blessing and not a curse. We all 
 know by many discouraging experiences that our 
 prayers do not always receive the answers we long 
 for, and yet we know also that whenever we go 
 to God and humbly pray to him he sends rest 
 and peace into our hearts, even in the midst of 
 direst troubles, and gives us patience and strength. 
 A blessing always follows prayer, a blessing to our 
 souls, though our special requests be denied. 
 
 " But the question that most interests us to-day 
 
154 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 is, How do our prayers affect others ?. God cannot 
 convert a soul simply because we ask him to do it. 
 An evil man must turn from the evil of his ways, 
 and that of his own volition, before God can heal 
 him. The prayers of a mother may and often do 
 work marvelously with the children of her love, 
 not because the Spirit of God begins to strive with 
 them in answer to her prayer, for the Spirit of God 
 is ever striving with the children of men and seek 
 ing to turn them from evil to good, but because, in 
 the world where our spirits dwell, there is an atmo 
 sphere on which love and thought move, passing 
 from one soul to another as freely as light and sound 
 pass in the air of this outer world. And when a 
 mother prays for her children, her thought and love, 
 burdened with solicitude and potent with heavenly 
 affections, penetrate their souls and impress them 
 with her states of reverence for God and a sense of 
 his loving presence. Thus, when a pious mother 
 prays fervently for her wandering boy, her heart 
 goes out after him with all its affections quickened 
 by a diviner tenderness than burns in any human 
 love, and her thought reaches him. Under its 
 pressure upon his consciousness, memory is quick 
 ened. He thinks of his mother, and then some lov- 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 155 
 
 ing angel, perceiving his better state of mind, may 
 bring to his remembrance the innocent days of 
 childhood, showing him the face of his mother, 
 sweet and serious, as she once bent over him listen 
 ing to his evening devotions. So God can reach 
 him through his mother s prayers. Pray for your 
 children, mothers, for your husbands, wives, and, all 
 Christian men and women, for those who are near 
 and dear to you, and so become God s instruments 
 in their salvation. Brethren and sisters, as God 
 liveth, your prayers shall not be in vain." 
 
 Here Mr. Wilder paused for a few moments to 
 let the minds of his audience take rest. Then he 
 resumed, speaking more calmly : 
 
 " But how can our prayers affect those to whom 
 we cannot come near in thought and love, as in the 
 case of a mother and her children, and with those 
 between whom and ourselves there is a bond of love 
 or some other spiritual relationship? Can we, by 
 prayer in our churches or in our closets, turn the 
 hearts of the men who are scattering disease and 
 death among our people, and cause them to repent 
 and cease to do this great evil ? I think not. I 
 am unable to see any element of power in such 
 prayers, at least so far as these men are concerned. 
 
156 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 If God could have caused them to repent and turn 
 from their evil ways, he would have done it long 
 ago. He would not have waited these many dreary 
 years, seeing hundreds of victims go down to death 
 and hell, and never put forth his hand. No, my 
 friends. He has not been waiting for prayers at 
 home and in the sanctuary, but for prayers that 
 shall reach the ears and penetrate the hearts and 
 consciences of those prayed for. By such prayers 
 he can work. Marvelous things is he doing in 
 sister towns through the agency of such prayers, 
 and marvelous things will he do here if we set the 
 same great agencies at work. 
 
 " But shall we not pray here and at home that 
 God would remove from among us this abomina 
 tion of desolation? Surely, yea! But to what 
 end, you ask, if such prayers can do nothing toward 
 turning these men from their work of destruction ? 
 For the sake of ourselves and the instrumentalities 
 that such prayers will bring into life I make 
 answer. Let the people assemble every day in all 
 the churches in Delhi and invoke God s blessing 
 on this work, and then God will fill their hearts 
 with a desire to see it go on to complete success, 
 and that desire will quicken thought, and thought 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 157 
 
 will leap into action. Every Christian man in Delhi 
 will become a centre of influence. He will talk 
 of the evil in our midst, and show forth its magni 
 tude. From heart to heart and mind to mind a 
 gracious impulse will go. We shall have a new 
 public sentiment. Oh, friends, Christian people, 
 pray everywhere, and without ceasing, that this 
 curse shall be lifted from our town. But fail not 
 to pray where the influence of prayer is most 
 needed. The stronghold must be assaulted and 
 taken if we would conquer the enemy." 
 
 Men who had no faith in prayer held their 
 breaths while the minister expounded, in his care 
 ful speech, the true sources of its power. And 
 others who had smiled or jested, or sneered at the 
 praying women of whom they read, took his words 
 to heart and pondered them deeply. They saw 
 something more than they had dreamed of in the 
 remarkable results that everywhere followed the 
 instrumentality of prayer offered to God in purity 
 of heart, and under forms of expression that touched 
 the feelings of the men who heard, and set their 
 thoughts in new directions. 
 
 " But I have said enough," added Mr. Wilder. 
 " The meeting has been called at the request of 
 
158 WOMAN TO THE EESCUE. 
 
 many suffering women who, despairing of help in 
 man, come now to God in his sanctuary asking 
 him to show them a way of escape, and to give 
 them the strength and the courage needed to walk 
 therein. It is their meeting, and I now nominate 
 Sister Rhoda Green for the chair. All in favor of 
 this nomination will say, I." Every voice ap 
 proved. Then Sister Green arose, and coming 
 forward stood up in the chancel. She was a 
 woman of over sixty years of age, a little above the 
 medium height, looking taller than she really was 
 because of her slender physique. Her face was 
 almost classic in outline, and her mouth, whenever 
 she spoke, sweet and tender, but serious even to 
 sadness when at rest. Her eyes were large and 
 dark, her face pale almost to whiteness and her 
 hair gray and glossy like spun glass. The saintli- 
 ness of her pure soul, tried and purified as silver 
 in the crucible, shone through the revealing tissues 
 of her beautiful countenance. She seemed, as she 
 stood up in the chancel that morning, a messenger 
 from heaven. And so she was. 
 
 " Dear friends," she said, and her voice, so clear 
 and calm and full of womanly sweetness, thrilled 
 the hearts of all present as it rose upon the silent 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 159 
 
 air. " This is no common occasion. Never in the 
 history of our town has there been an assemblage 
 of the people so burdened with momentous conse 
 quences as this. There is an evil among us of such 
 a malignant and fatal character that all other evils 
 in the catalogue of human woes grow dwarfed in 
 its presence. If scarlet fever attack our children, 
 it may bear them down to the grave, or it may leave 
 them deaf or with some life-long physical infirmity, 
 but it cannot touch their moral sense; it cannot 
 debase them to a level lower than the brute ; it can 
 not destroy their souls. Not so this evil thing of 
 which I speak. Under its power all that is true 
 and good and pure in our beloved ones is consumed 
 by a very fire from hell. Bodily health, filial love, 
 spiritual life, all shrivel up and vanish away. We 
 see them wasting before our eyes, in body and soul, 
 under the curse of a marasmus more exhausting and 
 malignant than any the world has known. 
 
 "Up to this time, year after year, the awful 
 scourge of which I speak has been rapidly increas 
 ing in Delhi, and no man s hand has been put forth 
 to stay its dreadful ravages. In vain have we, 
 heart-breaking and heart-broken mothers, reached 
 out our hands, and with streaming eyes prayed that 
 
160 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 something might be done to save our children. In 
 vain have our stricken wives and sisters, too many 
 of whom now sit sorrowing in broken and desolate 
 homes, pleaded for their husbands and brothers. 
 We might as well have cried to deaf adders. The 
 spell as of some great sorcerer is upon the people. 
 Think of it, dear friends ! There are in Delhi five 
 thousand souls precious and immortal souls, sent 
 into the world that they might be good and happy 
 and there are in Delhi thirty men who for the love 
 of money are busily at work night and day in 
 destroying the image of God in these immortal 
 souls, in sowing among us the seeds of that malig 
 nant and fatal disease to which I have just referred. 
 And the people of Delhi go quietly about their 
 business heedless of this terrible work ; or if some 
 upon whom the curse falls sorest, cry out in their 
 agony and in desperate excitement demand the sup 
 pression of a traffic that injures all and blesses none, 
 law lifts up its cold, hard hand and shakes it in their 
 faces, saying, Stand back ! Keep off ! These men 
 have vested rights, and their interest may not be 
 touched/ 
 
 " Vested rights ! The right to scatter sorrow and 
 sickness, despair and death, among the people! 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 161 
 
 Think of it! Thirty men holding these rights, and 
 the people without remedy ! Thirty men who fear 
 not God nor regard man commissioned to sow 
 crime and death that they may reap a harvest of 
 money ! 
 
 "Bear with me for a few minutes while I give 
 you, in language far better than I can frame, a 
 description of the enemy we have in our midst. It 
 is by the president of one of our colleges, who has 
 had large opportunity to know of what he speaks. 
 He says " and Sister Green read from a paper that 
 she held in her hand 
 
 " As a foe to all the social interests of men there 
 Is no other to be compared with this, no other that 
 wars so ruthlessly upon home and all that sacred 
 circle of interests of which home is the centre. 
 Back of all its visible ravages, and deeper than all 
 these, there lies a field of devastation which has 
 never been fully explored and can never be more 
 than partially reported. It is the wasted realm of 
 the social affections, the violated sanctuary of 
 domestic peace. From the under-world of sup 
 pressed wretchedness the^e comes up to the ear of 
 human pity many a piercing cry of those who 
 
 writhe under the slow torments of a desolate heart 
 11 
 
162 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 and dying hope. Yet all this which meets the eye 
 and pains the ear is but the overflow of misery ; 
 this is what inadvertently escapes through chasms 
 violently rent open, and it tells sadly of the sea of 
 anguish that is stilled for ever in its secret recesses. 
 " Within this sphere of social devastation the 
 curse of drink has a twofold operation, the unseen 
 and the seen, the process and the result. The first 
 lies in that vast amount of untold and unutterable 
 wretchedness which is carefully hidden, so long as 
 concealment is possible, within the bosom of multi 
 tudes of families which the destroyer has entered 
 and marked for his own. As yet his victory is 
 incomplete. His victim has not yet shaken off all 
 the restraints of affection, nor burst through the 
 barriers of reserve and shame. He yet cleaves, with 
 a sensitiveness that is very significant, to his shat 
 tered remnant of character. And others within 
 that smitten home are still more fondly concealing 
 the terrible change. Theirs is a wretchedness of 
 which the world must not know, for it has in it the 
 stain of shame. The keenest inflictions are perhaps 
 those which attend the incipient stages of ruin. 
 Perhaps no after-pang will ever distress the heart 
 like that which comes with the first conviction that 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 163 
 
 the love of drink has gained the mastery over the 
 beloved one. And from that point onward through 
 all the unrecorded history of a drunkard s progress, 
 as seen and felt within the circle of those who love 
 him, there is a bitterness of anguish which can be 
 fully conceived only by those who have tasted the 
 cup for themselves. To those without that circle 
 there may be little to awake suspicion of the torture 
 that is going on beneath the surface. It is not till 
 the heart is consumed within them, not till despair 
 has grown familiar and the whole hidden process 
 of deprivation has reached its maturity, that the 
 result comes forth to the surface and shows itself to 
 the eyes of men. It is done in silence and secresy, 
 almost before we dreamed of it. 
 
 " From this point the work is open and appalling 
 indeed. Concealment is no longer sought, for it is 
 felt to be no longer either possible or of any avail. 
 The fire burned long repressed and slowly eating 
 away every support within ; now it has burst through 
 and taken air, and the whole pile is ready to collapse 
 in hopeless conflagration ; and why should there be 
 any further attempt at concealment? 
 
 "And now look at the visible results of the 
 traffic on all the dearest interests of mankind. 
 
164 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 Look at its handiwork as written out in woe and 
 desolation on the whole face of society. Look on 
 these innumerable hearts that have long silently 
 bled over the ruin of all their dearest hopes, till 
 they can bleed in silence no more. Myriads of such 
 still sigh among the living, and many oh how 
 many ! myriads have hidden their crushed and 
 weary hearts in the grave. See it yearly beggaring 
 multitudes of families, quenching the light of many 
 thousand homes in anguish and despair. Read the 
 character and deserts of this traffic in the air of 
 thriftlessness and dilapidation which it is every year 
 spreading over a countless number of once prosper 
 ous and happy homes, read it in the depravation 
 of character, the growing sottishness, of its victims, 
 fallen from the sphere of hope and virtue and love, 
 and pushed rapidly through a career of shame and 
 sin toward graves of infamy. How many such, 
 with those that love them still, are even now hiding 
 their misery in obscure and comfortless hovels ! 
 How these sad refuges of the once happy and hope 
 ful stare upon the traveler along all the highways 
 and byways of our State ! How they thicken 
 within the broad circuit that is swept by the influ 
 ence of some den of drink ! Could the map of our 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 165 
 
 State be so drawn as to present a full picture of its 
 social condition, and reveal to us, as we gazed on it, 
 all these drink-ruined families, strown in their des 
 olate huts over all its surface could it be made 
 transparent also, so as to reveal the burdens of 
 grief that are hidden in these homes, the bursting 
 hearts of parents for their ruined sons, of wives 
 from whose life all joy and hope, all tenderness and 
 comfort, have been blotted out, of children shame- 
 crushed and doomed to penury and disgrace could 
 we thus look on all these stricken families, once 
 affluent and respected, now doomed to meanness and 
 want, each with its own peculiar history of sorrow, 
 we should ask no further witness to the heinous 
 guilt of the traffic. 
 
 "Is this an exaggeration?" said Sister Green, 
 dropping the hand with which she had held the 
 paper and looking out over the still and breathless 
 assembly. She stood silent for several moments. 
 
 " And men tell us that there is no remedy that 
 the State legalizes the traffic, and must protect it 
 against all interference ! But, my stricken and sor 
 rowing sisters, there is a remedy, thank God!" 
 
 The voice of Sister Green rang out clear and 
 strong, sending a thrill to the heart of every one. 
 
166 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 " In vain for years have we called in our anguish 
 upon men; in vain for years have we trusted in 
 men ; hope and confidence are gone. Men are not 
 strong enough, on their own confession, to cope with 
 this enemy, which they have not only hedged about 
 with protective laws, but given a license to break 
 law in order that they may for greater gain more 
 terribly afflict the people. The law says that they 
 shall not continue their deadly work on the holy 
 Sabbath, but on each Lord s day the door of every 
 saloon in Delhi stands open and the traffic goes 
 on. The law says that they shall not sell drink to 
 minors, and yet our youth are corrupted and the 
 hearts of our mothers broken over the ruin of their 
 boys. The law says that no one shall be permitted 
 to sell liquor who does not keep a regular house of 
 entertainment provided with beds for the accommo 
 dation of guests, and yet, out of the thirty drinking- 
 places in Delhi, there are but nine that even pre 
 tend to be taverns in the common meaning of the 
 term. 
 
 " What hope is there in man ? None none, my 
 long-suffering sisters. He is stronger than we are, 
 and calls himself wiser. He holds the reins of 
 government, he creates all the laws and takes charge 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 167 
 
 of their administration. Good or evil, we can only 
 submit. f 
 
 " But under the rule which has left us helpless 
 in the hands of men in whose hearts there is no 
 pity our sorrows have so multiplied that we can 
 bear them no longer, and in the bitterness of our 
 despair in man we turn to God, who is a present 
 help in every time of trouble, and he will deliver us. 
 But not if we sit idle at home, my sisters. 
 
 " Sure I must fight if I would reign; 
 
 Increase my courage, Lord ! 
 I ll bear the cross, endure the pain, 
 Supported by thy word. 
 
 " We must gird up our loins for the battle. We 
 must take the sword of prayer and stand face to 
 face with our enemy. God will surely give us 
 the victory. Let me in your name thank Brother 
 Wilder for setting before us so beautifully the na 
 ture and power of prayer. We all see clearer now, 
 and in moving upon our common foe as move we 
 shall we ll know our advantage and understand 
 the right use of our weapons. 
 
 " Pardon me for having held you so long, but I 
 am in such intense earnest about this matter that 
 
168 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 heart and thought run over and carry me away in 
 speech." 
 
 As the speaker sat down Mrs. Judge Hanson 
 arose. She was a woman nearly as old as Mrs. 
 Green, and had a dignified presence. She was well 
 known in Delhi for her public spirit and her many 
 charities. Intelligent and possessing great decision 
 of character, she generally took a leading position 
 in anything that required concerted action. All 
 knew her to be a sufferer from the curse of 
 intemperance. The judge was a hard drinker 
 and had wasted much of his property, and they 
 were now living very humbly as compared with 
 their condition a few years back. She said, on 
 rising* 
 
 "As Sister Green has thanked Brother Wilder 
 in your name for his clear elucidation of the nature 
 and power of prayer, let me thank Sister Green in 
 your name also for her grand indictment of our 
 enemy and his abettors as well. We know now 
 just where we stand and wherein lies our hope, 
 and will no longer wait for an arm of flesh. What 
 I now desire to counsel is calmness and prudence. 
 Let us not go forward until we are ready. We 
 want* the fullest possible concert of action.* We 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 169 
 
 \vant every wife and mother and sister in town 
 enrolled for duty in this warfare. If all are not 
 able to take the field and stand face to face with 
 the enemy, no matter. We must have homeguards 
 and purveyors, and those have duties in camp as 
 well as in the van of battle. We want all the 
 women in Delhi enlisted in this cause. And we 
 want the men to have a better understanding of 
 the issue between us and the whisky-sellers, and 
 if they will not help us in our crusade to stand 
 off and give us the advantage of a fair conflict. 
 And so I move that this meeting recommend the 
 assembling to-morrow morning at nine o clock in 
 all our churches of their respective congregations, 
 and that each of these meetings appoint a com 
 mittee of three of their best and wisest women to 
 meet in the evening in Brother Wilder s church 
 for the arrangement of a plan that shall ensure the 
 most efficient concert of action. 
 
 " I also move that a committee of five be ap 
 pointed to notify the clergymen of each of these 
 churches of the passage of this resolution, and to 
 request them to have their bells rung at precisely 
 nine o clock to-morrow morning.". 
 
 Sister Green offered these resolutions, when they 
 
170 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 were adopted unanimously amid many exhibitions 
 of enthusiasm. 
 
 Then, after singing the doxology, 
 
 " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," 
 the meeting adjourned. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 rPHREE or four saloon-keepers were present at 
 -*- this meeting. 
 
 "What do you think of all this?" said one, 
 speaking to the other, as they walked away with 
 soberer faces than when they came. 
 
 "I don t just like the look of it," was the 
 answer. 
 
 " Nor do I. It means business." 
 
 "I should think it did. D you know, Dan, I 
 felt awful mean while that woman was speaking, 
 and actually held down my head. My ! but didn t 
 she give us Jesse ?" 
 
 " Didn t she, though? If all she made us out to 
 be is really so, we re rather a scaly set." 
 
 " We don t pretend to be the salt of the earth." 
 
 " It wouldn t take a very long time for every 
 thing in it to spoil if we were the salt, ha? 
 Would it?" 
 
 And the speaker twisted his face awry. 
 
 " But see here,- Dan Harker," said his companion, 
 
 171 
 
172 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 growing more serious. " What are we going to do 
 about this business ? If the women have their way, 
 they ll run us out, sure." 
 
 "They ll never run me out/ replied Harker, 
 who had one of the best-paying saloons in the 
 place. " My pile isn t big enough yet. They may 
 sing and pray and preach till they grow deaf and 
 blind. It s all the same to me. I never was 
 driven to do a thing in my life, and I never mean 
 to be." 
 
 " But if I understand the way they do these 
 things, Dan, it isn t just driving, but praying and 
 singing and persuading. They talk good and try 
 to make us see the harm we re doing. The poor 
 half-starving wives come along with the praying 
 women and join with them in imploring us to quit 
 the business, that their husbands may be saved. 
 Now, you see, that s rather salty. And then again, 
 Dan, these women are not the mere riff-raff of the 
 town. I saw the wives and daughters of our best 
 men there; and if they go into this thing heart 
 and soul, their husbands and fathers are bound to 
 stand by them." 
 
 " Well, suppose they do ? My house is my 
 castle, and all the husbands and fathers in Delhi, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 173 
 
 with their praying and psalm-singing wives into 
 the bargain, can t turn me out if I don t wish to 
 go. My business is just as lawful as that of Jones 
 the tailor or Fink the hatter. I hold a license 
 from the State, and there isn t force enough in all 
 this town to shut the doors of my saloon if I 
 choose to keep it open." 
 
 " Don t be too sure of that, Dan. You noticed 
 what Mrs. Green said about our licenses. Not one 
 in ten of the people here knows anything about 
 the license law. If its strict letter were enforced, 
 you and I would be out in the cold instead of in 
 our cosy saloons heaping up our pile." 
 
 The confident look went out of Harker s face. 
 
 " It isn t going to be a simple scare, mark my 
 word for it, Dan. We re in for a fight, and a 
 desperate one, too. Did you read in this morning s 
 Eagle about the excitement in Xenia how every 
 family in town was identified with the crusade, as 
 they call it, and every woman giving it her cordial 
 support ?" 
 
 " No ; I haven t seen the Eagle" replied Harker. 
 
 "Really! then there s a bit of news that will 
 surprise you. Here, let s go into Barney Dare s 
 and look at his morning paper." 
 
174 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 The two men crossed the street and entered a 
 saloon on the opposite side. 
 
 "Got the -##&, Barney?" said one of them, 
 addressing a sallow little man who was mixing a 
 glass of liquor. 
 
 Dare pointed to one of the tables in the room. 
 Dan Harker and his companion sat down at this 
 table, and the latter opened the paper and ran his 
 eyes along the columns. 
 
 " Here it is. Just listen ;" and he read : 
 
 " The excitement in Xenia is more intense than 
 ever. It is safe to say that five hundred ladies 
 were in the streets to-day engaged in the laudable 
 work. The saloon-keepers are relenting, and more 
 of them are permitting the ladies to hold prayers 
 in their saloons. 77 
 
 " What ?" interrupted Harker. " Relenting ! 
 They must be a white-livered set." 
 
 " Hundreds are signing the pledge," continued 
 the other, reading on. "One old man who has 
 been a hard drinker for many years said, as he 
 signed the pledge, Twon t do any good I can t 
 reform ; but for God s sake save the boys/ " 
 
 ( i That was a sockdolager," remarked the reader 
 as he let the paper rest upon the table. " That s 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 175 
 
 the sort o thing that tells worth a million of 
 sermons and prayers. Now, as for the boys, it s all 
 wrong to sell em liquor. I never do if I know 
 their ages, but we ve plenty in the business that 
 don t care a cuss who calls for a dram , if he s got 
 the money to pay for it. It s all wrong, but every 
 trade has its scalawags, you know. Now, just 
 listen to this ;" and he lifted the paper and read on : 
 
 "There are four praying bands in the streets, 
 each numbering about fifty ladies, while small 
 parties are visiting families by invitation. A band 
 of little girls are in the street singing temper 
 ance songs with thrilling effect. This afternoon a 
 saloon known as the ( Shades of Death, one of the 
 worst places in the city, threw open its doors, and 
 the proprietor invited the ladies to enter." 
 
 " Bah !" exclaimed Harker, in a tone of disgust. 
 
 " After prayer he took the ladies by the hand " 
 
 " Faugh ! I ve no patience with the thing." 
 
 "And thanked them that they had influenced 
 him to abandon the traffic " 
 
 " Oh ! oh dear! oh !" ejaculated Harker, in jeering 
 contempt. 
 
 "Don t go off the handle, Dan. Keep cool. 
 There s more coming. Now, brace yourself: And 
 
176 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 then with his own hands he rolled his liquors into 
 the street, and smashed in the heads of the barrels 
 and kegs, and let mother earth drink up the 
 poison." 
 
 Dan Harker, with an oath on his lips, got up 
 hastily and strode across the bar-room, then came 
 back and sat down beside his companion : 
 
 "If that don t beat the devil, I m a fool! 
 Smashed in the heads of his barrels ?" 
 
 "Yes, smashed em in. That s just what it 
 says." 
 
 " I don t believe a word of it. I swear I don t." 
 
 u You d better believe. It s all told here as 
 straight as a line. But I m not done yet : A scene 
 of great excitement followed. The news spread 
 with lightning rapidity, and in fifteen minutes the 
 streets were swarming with citizens. Songs of 
 gladness filled the air, hands were shaken, prayers 
 were offered up, and finally the multitude spon 
 taneously struck up that grandest of songs, Praise 
 God, from whom all blessings flow. " 
 
 " A mere stubble fire," said Dan Harker. The 
 sneer had faded away from his lips and his coun 
 tenance had become more serious. 
 
 " But hot while it lasts," returned his companion. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 177 
 
 " That l Shades of Death fellow must have been 
 scorched pretty badly to give up as he did after 
 that fashion." 
 
 "Oh, he wasn t anybody," replied Harker, con 
 temptuously. " If he hadn t pluck enough to stand 
 the women, why didn t he close up and cart his 
 goods off to some other town where people mind their 
 own business? But to waste good liquor after that 
 fashion was simply contemptible. The man was a 
 fool." 
 
 " Fool or no fool, he couldn t stand the praying 
 women. And, what is more, he isn t the only one 
 who has caved in. They re doing it in more places 
 than I can count on my ten fingers, and hundreds 
 of saloon-keepers who were piling up money three 
 or four weeks ago are out of business and sucking 
 their thumbs to-day. No use getting excited or 
 growling over it. Fact is fact, and we can t make 
 anything else out of it." 
 
 "Oh, you were always easily scared," was the 
 answer to this. " But I m not afraid. If there s 
 going to be a fight here, one man is ready for the 
 fray, and that man is Daniel Harker. When he 
 shows the white feather, the women s war in Delhi 
 
 will be over." 
 12 
 
178 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 " Do you want to buy me out ?" asked the other. 
 "Til sell cheap." 
 
 "What will you take?" 
 
 " Cost of stock and fixtures, good-will for nothing. 
 Tip-top run of custom." 
 
 " Pshaw, Phil ! you re not in earnest ?" 
 
 " Try me. Make your bid, and we won t stand 
 on a little discount." 
 
 "What s that you re talking about?" asked 
 Barney Dare, coming over to the table where the 
 two men sat talking. 
 
 " Phil Grubb wants to sell out. Do you know 
 of any one who d like to get a first-rate stand ?" 
 replied Harker. 
 
 "Sellout! What for?" 
 
 "He s scared." 
 
 " What about ?" 
 
 " Afraid of the crusaders." 
 
 " Ho, ho, ho !" laughed the little man, putting 
 his hands to his sides and bending forward to give 
 his merriment greater freedom. " These praying 
 women, you mean?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 Then Mr. Dare straightened himself up and pro 
 ceeded to give his opinion of the women and the 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 179 
 
 new business upon which they had entered. We 
 would like to record that opinion here, but it was 
 delivered in forms of language so striking and 
 peculiar as to make it unfitted for our pages, and 
 so the speech will have to go unreported. It was 
 received with marked approval by most of the 
 men present. Phil Grubb looked a little shame 
 faced, but the tirade of Barney Dare did not put 
 any more confidence into his heart. 
 
 "Within an hour the sayings and doings at Mr. 
 Wilder s church were reported and discussed in all 
 the bar-rooms in town. Put on what bravado he 
 would, every saloon-keeper had a feeling of uneasi 
 ness and insecurity. Two or three of the principal 
 and " most respectable " of these good citizens called 
 upon the authorities, and asked for legal interference 
 in case an effort was made to obstruct their business. 
 They did not get the outspoken assurances of pro 
 tection " in their vested rights " that they desired. 
 Men in office are not indifferent to public sentiment, 
 and it was manifest in the very commencement of 
 this movement that the majority of the people would 
 give it their countenance and support. 
 
 The handful of men in Delhi to whose interests 
 all other interests had been so long subordinated 
 
180 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 began to feel their power shaken. Public feeling 
 and public sentiment were going against them. 
 Every man and woman who had listened that morn 
 ing to the calm but strong utterances of Mr. Wilder 
 and Mrs. Green had a new impression of the curse 
 to which the people were bound. Mrs. Green s 
 " grand indictment " of the enemy under the tread 
 of whose iron heel lay hundreds of bleeding hearts 
 in Delhi had roused almost to indignation every 
 listener to whom her impressive voice came. From 
 this indictment one took this count and another 
 that, and before night rehearsed them in the ears 
 of thousands. Delhi was no longer ignorant, no 
 longer asleep. A trumpet blast had sounded in the 
 ears of her citizens, and all were awake now. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 T UKE STERLING had not been seriously in- 
 "^ jured. In falling forward upon his face he 
 struck against a sharp stone, which cut a severe gash 
 over one of his eyes. He had not been able to get 
 as much liquor as usual in his wanderings from bar 
 to bar, and so was only partially stupefied by drink. 
 The blood that flowed over his face alarmed him, 
 and on rising to his feet he made his way home as 
 quickly as his unsteady feet would carry him. 
 
 The shock of his appearance, with his face a mass 
 of gore, pro.ved, as we have seen, more than the 
 overwrought nerves of his poor wife could bear, 
 and nature kindly laid upon her the blessing of 
 unconsciousness. 
 
 Mrs. Payne was not as tender of the wretched 
 man as his wife would have been. Her pity was 
 for the unhappy victim of his besottedness, and she 
 had none to spare for him. Her first concern was 
 for Mrs. Sterling, whom she lifted from the floor 
 and carried into the adjoining bedroom. She was 
 
 181 
 
182 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 turning to get water to dash in her face, when a 
 frightened scream from Alice, who had awakened 
 from sleep, caused her to run back into the room 
 she had just left. The child had started up and 
 sat looking, with a terror-stricken countenance, at 
 her father. 
 
 This would not do : for the child s sake, if not 
 for his own, Mrs. Payne saw that care for him was 
 then most pressing ; so, bringing water, she made 
 him bend his face over the vessel containing it 
 while she washed away the blood. 
 
 "It s only a cut on your forehead," she said. 
 " There ! hold this cloth against it while I attend to 
 your wife." 
 
 And she left Mr. Sterling to go to his wife and 
 endeavor to break her fainting fit, but not before 
 quieting Alice, which she did with a few words, 
 causing her to lie down^and turn her face to the 
 wall. 
 
 Mrs. Sterling rallied very slowly from this shock. 
 It was past midnight before she opened her eyes 
 and looked up into the face of Mrs. Payne with 
 signs of intelligence. Her good neighbor took her 
 hand, and pressing it tenderly, bent down and 
 whispered, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 183 
 
 " Don t stir ; Alice is asleep, and so is her father. 
 It was only a little cut on his forehead. I washed 
 off the blood and tied it up for him. He hadn t 
 been drinking as much as usual, and maybe good 
 will grow out of this. The darkest hour comes 
 just before daylight, you know." 
 
 Mrs. Sterling pressed the hand of her neighbor, 
 then shut her eyes. Mrs. Payne saw her lips 
 moving, and knew that her heart was going up to 
 God in prayer. 
 
 The morning which broke on that poor little 
 home found Alice much better than on the night 
 before and Mr. Sterling penitent and in great 
 trouble of mind about his son. He would have 
 gone early to see Hanlan and beg for George s re 
 lease from jail, but the fall and blow on his fore 
 head had jarred his^ brain; and when he started to 
 walk, the motion made him dizzy. 
 
 " Don t be in a hurry/ Mrs. Payne urged, when 
 Mrs. Sterling offered to go herself to the saloon 
 keeper. " There ll be no trouble in getting the boy 
 out. But if he were my son, I d let him take a 
 spell there." 
 
 "Oh, but the disgrace, Mrs. Payne the dis 
 grace!" sobbed Mrs. Sterling. 
 
184 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 "YouVe got all that as it is, and his staying 
 there a few hours longer, or a few days, which 
 might be better, won t increase it a single particle ; 
 so just keep quiet for a while." 
 
 As for the boy, who had been induced by a 
 fellow-apprentice to come into town and see what 
 was to be seen at the taverns, he was, as might 
 be supposed, in no small trouble and anxiety. The 
 apparition of his mother, with her pale, anxious 
 face, the rough treatment which she had received 
 at the hands of the saloon-keeper, his own quick 
 anger, which caused him to assault Hanlan, the 
 severe punishment he had received and the long 
 hours of imprisonment that followed, were quite 
 enough to set him far down in the valley of fear 
 and humiliation. The boy loved his mother, but, 
 like many other boys, was not as thoughtful of her 
 as he might have been, and when absent and 
 among companions of his own age easily led away. 
 No sleep came to him as he lay in his narrow cell. 
 What troubled him most was the bitter sorrow 
 which he knew was lying like a heavy weight upon 
 his mother s heart. Her face, as he caught a 
 glimpse of it while being roughly carried off by 
 the constable, marked by the pallor of death, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 185 
 
 haunted him all night. He could not turn away 
 from the frightened eyes nor shut them from his 
 view. 
 
 He was walking restlessly about his cell a little 
 after nine o clock, his breakfast of bread and coffee 
 untasted, when the jailer came in, saying, a little 
 roughly, but in an undertone of kindness, 
 
 " You can leave here now ; and if you ll take my 
 advice, you ll keep away from taverns. They re 
 bad places, and the boys who go there generally 
 turn up here before they get through." 
 
 Mrs. Sterling, who had waited until about this 
 time, could bear the suspense no longer, and was 
 getting ready to go out and see if anything could be 
 done for the boy, when the door was pushed slowly 
 open, and George came in. He did not speak, but 
 stood and looked at his mother with such sorrow 
 and suffering in his eyes as turned into pity all 
 blame that might have been in her heart. She held 
 out her arms eagerly, while a flush of joy warmed 
 the ashen pallor of her face. Slowly the boy came 
 toward her. He could not keep back the tears that 
 were beginning to blind him. 
 
 " Oh, mother !" fell from his lips as he laid his 
 face upon her bosom and cried bitterly. 
 
186 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 Mr. Sterling, who was lying on a bed in the next 
 room he was not able to walk about for dizziness 
 on hearing the voice of his son, called out eagerly, 
 
 " George ! George ! Is that you, George ?" 
 
 " Yes, father," answered the boy. 
 
 " Come, here ; I want to see you." 
 
 Mrs. Sterling let the boy go in to see his father 
 alone. It was in her heart that good might come 
 to both if left to themselves, so she passed him in 
 and remained upon the outside. 
 
 "Sit down, George, and tell me all about this 
 business," said the father. There was nothing harsh 
 or accusing in his voice. 
 
 George sat down close by the bedside, and as he 
 did so Mr. Sterling reached out and took one of the 
 boy s hands. He made one or two attempts to 
 speak, but was not able to control his voice. In 
 spite of all he could do to keep them back, tears 
 were rolling down George s face. At last the father 
 said, 
 
 " My son, I m not going to scold or blame you. 
 That won t do any good. But I want you to tell 
 me all about how you came to be at Hanlan s last 
 night." 
 
 George told his story, keeping nothing back. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 187 
 
 He and two or three of the boys at Salter s shop 
 had crept into a passing wagon and ridden into 
 town, as they had often done before, to go about 
 among the saloons, seeing the people, playing at 
 dominoes and getting what fun they could. They 
 had each taken a glass of beer at Jimmy Hanlan s. 
 
 When he had finished, Mr. Sterling, who was 
 still holding his hand tightly, said, 
 
 " My son, if we could all die here to-day, you 
 and your mother and Alice and I, it would be better 
 than for you to walk forward along the path your 
 feet have entered. It leads only to shame and sor 
 row, to wretchedness and ruin." 
 
 Mr. Sterling lost his voice for a moment or two, 
 but recovering himself, went on : 
 
 "You have always been a good boy, George. 
 You love your mother, and I am glad you were 
 brave enough to defend her last night when that 
 brutal wretch put his hands on her and insulted 
 her." 
 
 The boy drew himself up, and a flash of mingled 
 indignation and pride went over his face. 
 
 " For your mother s sake, George !" 
 
 Mr. Sterling said this with a strong appeal in his 
 voice. The boy understood him, and replied, 
 
188 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 "For her sake I would do anything, father. 
 But but " 
 
 And the father understood his boy as well. 
 What could he do ? What help rested in his weak 
 hands ? 
 
 "Come closer, my son. Let me say it now just 
 for you ;" and Mr. Sterling drew George nearer to 
 him. His voice was low and earnest as he went 
 on: 
 
 "You are old enough to understand, and I m 
 going to talk to you. There is one thing you can 
 do, George; Fve been thinking it all over this 
 morning. You can help me to help your mother." 
 
 "How, father?" asked the boy, with an eager 
 flush in his face. 
 
 " I could help her and you and all," said the poor 
 man, beginning to tremble with excitement. " It s 
 in me yet ;" and he threw out one of his hands. 
 " But, my son" his voice became inexpressibly sad 
 " your poor father isn t strong as he used to be 
 strong in his mind, I mean. His heart is all right. 
 He loves you all, and would be to you the best 
 father in all the world if if " 
 
 He could not contain himself, but cried out in 
 a kind of wild despair, causing his wife to come 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 189 
 
 in hurriedly. There was a look of alarm on her 
 face. 
 
 " Polly ! Sit down here, Polly," said Sterling 
 as soon as she appeared. She saw that he was all 
 broken down in his feelings. " I was just saying 
 to George that I am not as strong as I used to be. 
 You know how it is, Polly. I try God knows I 
 try ! but it doesn t seem to be of any use. I ve 
 got good stuff in me yet. I could lift you all up 
 again, and make you as happy as the day is long, 
 if it wasn t for the cursed liquor shops. I d give 
 the world if I could walk past them and not feel 
 a drawing to go in of which no man who has not 
 felt it can have the least conception. If we were 
 somewhere else, somewhere out of Delhi, anywhere 
 but in a town the streets of which are lined with 
 taverns, I might be able to reform my wretched 
 life, but here it is impossible. No, I won t say 
 that, either." 
 
 And he turned to his son with a new hope shin 
 ing in his eyes. 
 
 " I see a way." 
 
 He caught up George s hand again, and held it 
 tightly. 
 
 " Only yesterday," he went on, " Mr. Bradford, 
 
190 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 who knows what s in me, said, If you d only let 
 rum alone, Luke Sterling, there isn t another man 
 in this town I d rather have in my store. Just 
 think of that ! If I could stand up and stay up, 
 wouldn t the days be bright again ? And George is 
 going to help me to stand up and to stay up. He 
 isn t going back to Salter s again. He s going to 
 be his father s good angel. Ain t you, my boy ?" 
 
 Mrs. Sterling thought him wandering in his 
 mind, and her countenance grew anxious and 
 fearful. 
 
 " If I can do anything to help you and mother," 
 replied George, "just say what it is." He spoke in 
 no uncertain way. 
 
 " I want you," said the father, dropping his voice 
 and looking very earnest, " to go out with me to 
 morrow I shall not be well enough until then 
 and stay with me all the while I m out. I shall 
 go and see Mr. Bradford, who said he d like to 
 have me in his store; and if you ll promise him, 
 George, that you ll go every morning with me, 
 and stay all the while I m there, and go backward 
 and forward with me, morning, noon and night, 
 I know he ll give me a chance. And I shouldn t 
 wonder if he d give you a chance too, and pay you 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 191 
 
 two or three dollars a week to help in the store. 
 I can stand, I m sure, if I ve got you with me 
 always. I shall feel stronger ; and if I m tempted/ 
 I ll just take hold of your arm, and that will keep 
 me firm." 
 
 The boy stood up, rising with a quiet strength, 
 and bending a little forward, answered : 
 
 " If that is all, father, I m ready." 
 
 " And you ll not be ashamed to be seen always 
 going about with me ?" 
 
 The boy turned and looked at his mother. If 
 he had felt a moment s weakness, it all went from 
 his heart at sight of the almost glad surprise that 
 beamed in her face. 
 
 " If my father is all right, what have I to be 
 ashamed of? Oh no ; I shall only be too glad and 
 proud." 
 
 When, on the day following, the church bells 
 were ringing out the summons that set all Delhi 
 in commotion, Mr. Sterling stood talking with Mr. 
 Bradford, his son George by his side. He was 
 sober and in his right mind, and Mr. Bradford, 
 touched by the bearing of the boy and assured by 
 the earnest promises made by both, determined to 
 give the poor inebriate another chance to recover 
 
192 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 himself, and promised to make an opening for him 
 on the next day. 
 
 As the boy and his father went away, walking 
 side by side, Mr. Bradford said to a gentleman who 
 came in at the moment, 
 
 "There s a case that makes one feel as if he d 
 like to bury every rum shop in the land as deep as 
 Tophet." 
 
 " Ah ! Anything particularly bad in the case ?" 
 
 " Yes ; the man you saw going out was ten 
 years ago better off than I am, and had a larger 
 store and a finer run of custom. He owned 
 and lived in one of the prettiest houses in the 
 place. To-day or; rather yesterday, he was a 
 miserable drunkard. The handsome residence he 
 built and beautified is owned and lived in now by 
 a saloon-keeper who at one time was a porter in 
 his store, while his own wife and children are in 
 the most desperate poverty." 
 
 " He didn t look as if he were as low down as 
 you say." 
 
 " No ; he is trying once more to reform. How 
 often he has tried it would be hard to tell, but 
 every effort heretofore has been unavailing. There 
 were too many temptations in Delhi too many 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 193 
 
 saloons standing with wide-open doors ; and he was 
 not strong enough to resist their allurements. Now 
 he is going to make a new trial and in a new way, 
 and you might guess a week before coming upon 
 what it really is." 
 
 "Then I won t try," said the man, "for that 
 would be wasting more time than I have to spare 
 just now." 
 
 " Well, you see, the boy you noticed with that 
 man is his son, and he s going to come and go 
 with him every day, and never let him pass a 
 tavern without being by his side. He is to be the 
 back-bone of good resolution to his father." 
 
 The man shook his head. 
 
 " It won t work," he replied. 
 
 " I m afraid not. But for all that, I m going to 
 give the thing a trial. While there is life there is 
 hope. And besides, this effort of a boy to save his 
 father has touched my feelings. There was no weak 
 shamefacedness on his part, but a strength and 
 manliness and loving regard that moved me 
 deeply. He shall have another chance." 
 
 " I don t wonder," remarked the man, " that in 
 view of such a case you wished all the liquor 
 saloons in Delhi buried deep in Tophet." 
 
 13 
 
194 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 "They re an awful curse/ 7 said Mr. Bradford; 
 " and think of the class of men in our community 
 who make gain by a traffic that hurts everything it 
 touches, that eats up the substance of the people, 
 that sucks out the juices of prosperity, leaving 
 everywhere only dryness and putrefaction ! In 
 destroying the power of useful service in the man 
 you saw just now, society has been robbed by this 
 traffic of a good citizen worth to it more than all 
 the thirty men who are permitted to carry it on. 
 In moral tone and intellectual culture, in good 
 social influence and in efforts to increase the pros 
 perity and promote the happiness of our town, he 
 was of more value to us than a thousand such men 
 as these. Nay ; you multiply them only to multiply 
 ruin. To give them power over such a man is a 
 crime against society." 
 
 "What s the meaning of that bell?" inquired 
 the other as Mr. Bradford ceased speaking. " It s 
 been ringing now for over five minutes. Some 
 thing unusual at this hour." 
 
 " I shouldn t wonder if it was a call for the 
 crusaders," remarked a clerk who stood near, and 
 a half-amused smile came into his face. 
 
 " The crusaders !" exclaimed the man. " You re 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 195 
 
 not in earnest. The cyclone, as some have called 
 it, hasn t reached here." 
 
 " That s a rallying call, I imagine," replied the 
 young man. " I thought from what I heard last 
 night that something was in the wind." 
 
 "Whose church is it?" asked Mr. Bradford as 
 he listened to the sound of the bells. 
 
 " Mr. Wilder s," replied the clerk. 
 
 " Ah ! If that s so, it means something ; and if 
 Mr. Wilder is going to take a leading part in a 
 crusade upon rum in Delhi, it means a great deal." 
 
 Mr. Bradford took up his hat as he added : 
 
 " I m going to see for myself." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 fTlHE meetings called at the various churches on 
 the second day were all largely attended, and 
 those who had anything to say against the common 
 enemy had full opportunity to be heard. The 
 most touching and forcible appeals and denuncia 
 tions came from women who, stirred and excited 
 by a new hope of succor and defence, stood forth in 
 the large assemblages and told their tales of heart 
 ache and sorrow and wrong with that moving pathos 
 that suffering always gives. Pale, wan faces and 
 wet eyes added power to spoken words, and men 
 and women who had been indifferent before were 
 now thrilled to the heart, and hundreds who had 
 been used to speaking lightly of intemperance made 
 solemn vows to enroll themselves among its bitter 
 est enemies. 
 
 The recommendations of the initial meeting were 
 adopted. A committee of three of the best and 
 wisest women was appointed by each of the 
 churches, and these women met at Mr. Wilder s 
 
 196 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 197 
 
 church in the evening to confer together and ar 
 range the preliminaries of a campaign. Mrs. Judge 
 Hanson, a clear-seeing, resolute woman, up to 
 whom almost every one looked for leadership, had 
 fully digested a plan of action, which was adopted 
 almost without debate. It was this : The exact 
 number and location of the saloons, with the names 
 of their proprietors, were first to be ascertained. 
 Then the work of closing two or three or four of 
 these was to be assigned to each of the churches, 
 and the movement against them was to be as nearly 
 simultaneous as possible. In order that there 
 might be no delay, a committee of three ladies, Mrs. 
 Judge Hanson being one of the number, was in 
 structed to ascertain at an early hour on the follow 
 ing morning the location of each saloon, and to 
 give notice at a ten o clock meeting of all the 
 churches the special duty which had been assigned 
 to each. 
 
 All this could not be going on without the know 
 ledge thereof finding its way into every nook and 
 corner of Delhi. The Eagle had its reporters at 
 the various women s meetings, and gave full details 
 of what was said and done in its regular morning 
 issues. Its tone was considerably changed, and 
 
198 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 some of the more " respectable " saloon-keepers, who 
 had depended on the conservative editor and fully 
 counted on his standing up for law and order and 
 the sacredness of vested rights, saw with chagrin, 
 if not dismay, the palladium of their safety giving 
 way. The Eagle admitted that there were too many 
 saloons in Delhi, and that their suppression would 
 be a public benefit. The editor could not fully ap 
 prove the means that were about being used against 
 them. Still, it was not to be denied that women 
 had suffered terribly from their presence, and that 
 no one could blame them for trying to root them 
 out, whether by fair means or foul. 
 
 While the women held counsel in the churches, 
 excitement ran high in all the saloons, and passion 
 and denunciation were strong. Men of low and 
 brutal instincts poured out their torrents of blas 
 phemy, and some, lower and viler than the rest, 
 made threats of outrages and indecencies that, if 
 attempted, would have brought down upon them 
 a swift vengeance from an indignant and excited 
 people. Some with cooler heads looked, as such 
 men always look when danger approaches, right 
 into the face of the enemy, measured his strength 
 and counted the cost of a battle. Before the cru- 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 199 
 
 sade began two or three of these had sold out their 
 stock of liquors at a heavy sacrifice and closed their 
 doors. But the larger number waited for the onset, 
 and many of these, too dull to perceive the under 
 current of force that was impelling the movement, 
 or confident in their strength to resist it, swore to 
 maintain their ground if, to use their own words, 
 " all hell were to set itself against them." Among 
 these was Jimmy Hanlan. 
 
 While the storm-clouds gathered, most of the 
 saloons were filled with curious and excited people, 
 who went to see and hear and discuss the impend 
 ing movement. A larger amount of liquor than 
 usual was sold, and the saloon-keepers reaped a 
 rich harvest. But on the morning of the day when 
 it was well known that all was ready, and that a 
 descent of praying women was to be made on the 
 saloons, most of the bar-rooms, particularly the 
 "respectable" ones, had few customers. Men of 
 respectability and social standing fathers, hus 
 bands, brothers and lovers were not particularly 
 desirous of being found inside of a tavern when 
 the women made their appearance. 
 
 Jimmy Hanlan was feeling a little nervous. 
 There had been a crowd in the bar-room from an 
 
200 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 early hour, coming and going, but as nine o clock 
 approached it began to thin off; and when the bells 
 of every church in town rang out, man after man 
 dropped away, each, as he left, throwing back upon 
 Jimmjr a jest or a warning, until the saloon-keeper 
 found himself nearly alone. Glancing from the 
 windows, he could see little knots of curious and 
 expectant men and boys standing at the corners of 
 the streets, most of them looking toward his house 
 as they talked earnestly together. He did not have 
 to wait very long after the bells of the various 
 churches rang out in concert their clanging peals, 
 making for his ears a frightful discord. Only a 
 few minutes passed before the doors opened, and 
 ten women, with Mrs. Rhoda Green at their head, 
 entered his saloon, followed by a crowd of men 
 and boys, who pressed in after them. 
 
 Coming forward without any excitement in her 
 manner, Mrs. Green stood before Hanlan. Her 
 face, so pure and saintly, had in it an elevation 
 and dignity that at once subdued the man and 
 took from him the power to be either rude or 
 insolent. 
 
 " Mr. Hanlan/ 7 she said, in a calm, respectful, 
 but very serious tone of voice, "we, all of us 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 201 
 
 women who have suffered, in consequence of the 
 liquor traffic in Delhi, beyond anything that words 
 have power to express, have come to make an 
 appeal to you." 
 
 She paused, looking at Hanlan for some mo 
 ments. He did not reply, and she went on : 
 
 " We have come to ask you, in the name of hun 
 dreds of sorrowing and heart-broken women whose 
 husbands, sons or fathers have been ruined by 
 drink, and for whose reformation there is no hope 
 while you and the men engaged in your business 
 set temptation in their way to ask you to abandon 
 this hurtful traffic and give us back our beloved 
 ones again healed and in their right minds. Oh, 
 sir, give heed to us ! You are a man capable of 
 better and nobler work than this. Be a true man 
 a useful man. Let your work be a blessing, and 
 not a curse, to your fellow-citizens." 
 
 The hard, heavy face of Jimmy Hanlan was visi 
 bly disturbed. But he had no thought of capitula 
 tion. The assault had come a little differently from 
 what he had expected. In his fancy he had seen 
 the women rushing in pell-mell, dropping down 
 upon their knees in true dramatic style and making 
 an effort to pray him out. But a quiet appeal like 
 
202 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 this had not been counted upon. Still, he had no 
 thought of acceding to Mrs. Green s request, and 
 when she was done answered in a respectful manner 
 that there might be two opinions about the hurtful- 
 ness of his business, and that shutting up saloons 
 wasn t going to keep men from drinking. If they 
 wanted liquor, they would get it somewhere. 
 
 To this Mrs. Green briefly replied, and then asked 
 Hanlan if he would permit them to sing and pray 
 in his bar-room. 
 
 "Oh yes!" he returned, regaining his freedom 
 of manner. " Sing and pray if it will do you any 
 good." The coarseness of his nature cropped out 
 a little. 
 
 All was still for a few moments. Mrs. Green 
 stepped back from the counter where she had been 
 talking with Hanlan and joined her sisters. Then 
 rose her clear, sweet voice, taking up the words of 
 
 the hymn, 
 
 "Nearer, my God, to thee!" 
 
 one voice after another coming in, until the whole 
 company of women filled the saloon with a song 
 of the sanctuary. At its close they knelt. Men 
 bowed their heads or turned their faces away. A 
 feeling of awe and reverence crept into every heart. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 203 
 
 There was a penetrative sphere which none could 
 resist. 
 
 " Dear Lord and Saviour," prayed Mrs. Green, 
 kneeling, with upturned face, and speaking in a 
 hushed but very clear voice, " we come to present 
 before thee a petition for help. Our hearts are 
 heavy with sorrow. There is a sin among us that 
 is hurting the people more than the wedge of gold 
 and the Babylonish garment in the tent of Achan 
 hurt the children of Israel, and we implore thee 
 to remove it from the people. Let thy Spirit touch 
 the hearts of the men who are dealing out to our 
 sons and our husbands that which biteth like a ser 
 pent and stingeth like an adder. Show them the 
 evil of what they are doing. Touch their hearts 
 with pity. Comfort and help and succor all upon 
 whom the curse of this awful traffic rests to-day, 
 and, O Lord ! come speedily to their rescue. Give 
 us, thy servants, strength and courage and patience 
 to persevere in this work to which at thy bidding, 
 as we truly believe, we have now set our hands. 
 Let us not grow weary because of discouragement, 
 nor afraid because of opposition. In thy strength 
 we will hold on to the end. Especially do we pray 
 for the owner of this saloon. O Lord ! open his 
 
204 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 eyes to see the awful magnitude of the evil he is 
 doing, and touch his heart with pity and repentance. 
 His soul, priceless in value, his soul for which thou 
 didst die upon the cross, is in danger of perishing. 
 Thou canst not save him while he is engaged in the 
 work of destroying thy image in the souls of men. 
 Oh, pity him and turn him into a better way. And 
 pity us all/ 7 
 
 Jimmy Hanlan bent his head forward as the 
 prayer began ; it bent lower as the prayer progressed. 
 He felt a strange pressure upon his feelings a 
 sense of constriction and suffocation. When it was 
 over, the women rose from their knees and sang 
 with thrilling effect, 
 
 " All hail the power of Jesus name!" 
 
 Then, advancing to the saloon-keeper, Mrs. Green 
 said, 
 
 " Again we beg of you, Mr. Hanlan, to give up 
 this business. You cannot hurt others as you are 
 now doing without hurting yourself." 
 
 But Hanlan, who was deeply disturbed, only 
 waved his hand impatiently. 
 
 " May God give you a better mind, my friend," 
 Mrs. Green returned, in her gentle but impressive 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 205 
 
 way, "and I believe he will. Think it over more 
 seriously, and we will see you again to-morrow." 
 
 "Oh, you needn t trouble yourselves," replied 
 Jimmy, with a look of almost blank surprise. " It 
 won t be of the slightest use. I can answer you 
 now as well as to-morrow. What you ask cannot 
 and will not be done no, not if you sing and pray 
 from now till the crack of doom." 
 
 "We shall see," replied Mrs. Green, with a 
 thrill in her soft, steady voice that jarred on the 
 excited nerves of the saloon-keeper. 
 
 " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," 
 
 was then sung, and a hundred voices inside and out 
 of the saloon joined in the doxology. 
 
 Then this little band of heroic women addressed 
 themselves to the crowd of men and boys who had 
 followed them into the saloon, and solicited each 
 one to sign a pledge neither to drink nor traffic in 
 intoxicating liquors. To their joy, many, moved 
 and influenced by the scene they had just witnessed, 
 and impressed as they had never before been with 
 the evils and dangers attendant on the use of alco 
 hol in any of its seductive forms, signed the pledge. 
 Twenty names was the reward of this effort. 
 
206 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 From the " Hanlan House " the band of women 
 crossed to a saloon that stood on one of the oppo 
 site corners, the crowd by this time largely in 
 creased. 
 
 The man who kept this saloon was named 
 Jacobs. He had also among his customers a 
 goodly number of Delhi s merchants, lawyers, 
 clerks and men of property and standing, and he 
 had gathered enough from what some of them had 
 said in regard to the praying crusade, as it was 
 called, to be well assured that if any of their wives 
 and daughters, some of whom would undoubtedly 
 go into the work if it got a start, received insult or 
 rough treatment at the hands of the liquor men, 
 something worse than singing and praying would 
 happen. So he, like Jimmy Hanlan, took counsel 
 of prudence ; and when Mrs. Green and her little 
 band of praying sisters entered his bar-room, he 
 received them kindly and gave them permission to 
 sing and pray, but firmly declined to accede to 
 their request to close his saloon and abandon the 
 business. 
 
 Faithfully did they admonish, earnestly did 
 they plead with him, and fervently did they pray 
 that God would move him to repentance and a 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 207 
 
 change of life, so that he might be a blessing, and 
 not a hurt, to the people. Men who watched his 
 face closely, as the women prayed for and talked 
 with him, saw that he was more deeply affected than 
 any casual observer imagined ; and when they went 
 out, he put on no air of bravado and indulged in 
 no angry remarks. His face wore a very thoughtful 
 expression, and as soon as he could conveniently 
 do so he left the bar and retired to a private room 
 where he could be alone. Here an acquaintance 
 sought him for the purpose of having a good laugh 
 over the occurrence of the morning, but he found 
 him in no mood for jesting or merriment. 
 
 " Good Heavens !" exclaimed his friend ; " don t 
 put on such a long face. Hold your ground like a 
 man. What are singing and praying, that you 
 need care for them ? Mere breath." 
 
 "They might sing and pray in their churches 
 until doomsday ," was the reply to this, "and it 
 would be only breath so far as Fm concerned. But 
 this praying and talking to God in the strange, 
 familiar way these women did a little while ago, 
 speaking to him with the assured confidence that 
 one speaks to a powerful friend, and asking him 
 to come to their relief against enemies who were 
 
208 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 destroying their husbands and sons and fathers, and 
 doing this right in your bar-room, makes you feel 
 a little uncomfortable, to say the least of it. I 
 don t think I could stand up to this sort of thing 
 long." 
 
 " Then you might as well knock under at once," 
 replied his friend, " for this sort of thing will go 
 on, if the women here pattern by what s being done 
 in other places, for weeks, if not longer." 
 
 " For weeks !" exclaimed the saloon-keeper, with 
 a look of dismay. 
 
 " You don t imagine," returned the other, " that 
 women who have the courage to set out on so 
 extraordinary a crusade as this are going to halt 
 and turn back after a single day s march, or give 
 up the conflict after the first battle? If you do, 
 you will find yourself grievously mistaken. It s 
 going to be the bitterest fight you ever had. So 
 gird on your armor and stand up like a man, or 
 else pull down your colors and surrender at once." 
 
 " What would you do ?" asked Jacobs. 
 
 " Oh, I d fight to the bitter end. Never backed 
 down in my life." 
 
 " And never were beaten ?" 
 
 "Can t exactly say that, but I ve whipped 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 209 
 
 oftener than Fve been whipped ; and as I m known 
 to be a good fighter, bullies don t meddle with me." 
 
 " But heavens and earth, Ned ! How is one 
 going to fight with a lot of women ? If they came 
 with brooms, rolling-pins and frying-pans, a fellow 
 might have some chance of beating them off. But 
 one is helpless under the assault of a dozen pretty 
 girls and saintly old women whose only weapons 
 are prayer and praise. When I saw them kneeling 
 down on the bare floor in my bar-room, and heard 
 them ask God, in such a pleading, tender, sorrowful 
 way, to give me another and a better heart, that I 
 might turn from my sin and no longer hurt the 
 bodies and souls of their sons and fathers and hus 
 bands, I had the strangest feelings I ever knew. I 
 cannot describe them." 
 
 " Hope you re not going to get religion ?" said his 
 companion, with an amused laugh. 
 
 " No fear of that. I m not one of that kind," 
 replied the saloon-keeper, trying to laugh in return. 
 " Couldn t get along on religion." 
 
 " Of course not. Ties a fellow up too close." 
 
 "Seriously, Ned, there s no use talking about it; 
 I can t stand up to this fight. If I could hit back, 
 there d be some chance for me. But if I ve got to 
 
 14 
 
210 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 face these women and their singing and praying 
 every day for a week or a month, I might as well 
 strike at once. I m not brave enough for that." 
 
 " Hark I" said the other, turning his head to 
 listen, as a full chorus of women s voices rose 
 clearly on the air, singing, 
 
 " All hail the power of Jesus name." 
 
 The two men started up and went to a window 
 from which they could look down upon the street. 
 
 "After Abe Singer. But he s been too much 
 for them," exclaimed one of the men. 
 
 Abe Singer s saloon was nearly opposite. Its 
 owner, on seeing the women approach, had shut 
 and locked his door. The expedient was in his 
 case about as good a defence as that adopted by 
 the ostrich, which, it is said, seeks for safety by 
 hiding his head under the sand when too hotly 
 pursued by hunters. 
 
 " I don t know," Jacobs replied ; " I d about as 
 lief have them singing and praying inside as on 
 the pavement. We may shut our doors and stop 
 our ears if we will, but that won t stop other 
 people s ears nor hinder the influences these women 
 are setting in motion." 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 211 
 
 " See," remarked the other. " That s Abe s wife 
 at the window over the saloon, and that s his 
 daughter standing by her side. A right pretty 
 girl, isn t she ?" 
 
 Strong, clear and jubilant rose the singers voices, 
 and here and there, from one side and another, rising 
 from the crowd of men who filled the street, a deep, 
 half-repressed manly bass would come in. As verse 
 after verse was sung the number of male voices in 
 creased ; and when the singers came to the last stanza 
 
 " Let every kindred, every tribe, 
 
 On this terrestrial ball, 
 To him all majesty ascribe, 
 And crown him Lord of all" 
 
 there swelled up the grandest chorus that had 
 ever been heard in Delhi. 
 
 When the hymn was ended, the women knelt 
 upon the pavement in front of Singer s saloon, 
 and as they knelt the vast concourse grew still, 
 heads were reverently uncovered and men stood, 
 bowed and serious. 
 
 Jacobs and his friend, who stood looking down 
 upon this impressive scene, could not hear the 
 words of the prayer that was offered up, but they 
 felt strangely touched and moved. 
 
212 WOMAN TO THE EESCUE. 
 
 "Crying, as I live!" said the friend, in a low 
 voice. 
 
 "Who?" asked Jacobs. 
 
 "Singer s wife/ 
 
 Jacobs turned his eyes to the window above the 
 spot where the women were kneeling, and could 
 see tears falling over the cheeks of Mrs. Singer. 
 The daughter s face was hidden by her handker 
 chief, but it was plain to see that she also was 
 deeply affected. 
 
 "Poor Abe! I pity him. Locking his door 
 won t save him. While guarding his front an 
 enemy has come in at the rear." 
 
 " What do you mean ?" asked Jacobs. 
 
 "You re dull. Don t you see that his wife and 
 daughter are captured already." 
 
 " Oh yes," Jacobs answered, in an undertone and 
 in a half-absent way. 
 
 The prayer over, the women stood up and com 
 menced singing the long-metre doxology : 
 
 " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ; 
 Praise him, all creatures here below ; 
 Praise him, above, ye heavenly host ; 
 Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost." 
 
 Instantly the crowd joined in, and these solemn 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 213 
 
 words of thanksgiving to the tune of " Old Hun 
 dred" rose in a very tempest of melody on the air. 
 It was a scene so strange and deeply impressive 
 and so full of solemnity that no one could be in 
 the midst of it without feeling its power. Men 
 who all their lives had made light of spiritual 
 influences were moved now to tears, and scoffing 
 was far from their lips. 
 
 Jacobs stood motionless as a statue while the 
 great assembly in the street sang in a wild burst of 
 enthusiasm. As their voices died away he turned 
 to his friend and said, in a quick, firm voice, 
 
 " Go and tell those women that I d like to see 
 them." 
 
 " What ?" The man looked at him in surprise. 
 
 " I want to see those women again ; IVe some 
 thing to say to them." 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 " No matter ; you ll hear when I say it. Will 
 you go, Ned?" 
 
 " Oh, certainly, certainly, if you say so." 
 
 And off he went. Jacobs came down into the 
 bar, in which a few men stood looking from the 
 windows at the exciting scene outside. He took a 
 position in front of his bar and stood leaning upon 
 
214 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 it, waiting for Mrs. Green and her band of praying 
 sisters. His face had lost its usual ruddy glow; 
 his eyes were serious, his mouth set and resolved. 
 He waited thus for only a short space of time. 
 From the window he saw a hurried movement in 
 the crowd, setting toward his saloon. Then he 
 caught a glimpse of the band of women. A few 
 moments afterward they entered, followed by a 
 crowd of men, who pressed in and filled the room. 
 
 As Mrs. Green came forward Jacobs bowed 
 respectfully. 
 
 " You wish to see us ?" she said. 
 
 " Yes," he replied. " I ve changed my mind." 
 
 His voice shook a little, and it was evident that 
 his feelings were greatly disturbed. He saw a flash 
 of light in Mrs. Green s face. 
 
 " This is not a good business. No one knows it 
 better than I do. I drifted into it because I 
 thought it would pay me better than anything else. 
 But I never liked it, and never felt satisfied with 
 myself, and now " He paused for an instant, and 
 then, in a firm voice, added, " I m going to give it 
 up." 
 
 Hurrahs broke from the crowd of men who had 
 entered the room. There were cheers for Jacobs 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESQUE. 215 
 
 and clapping of hands and cries of " Bravo !" and 
 " Good for the praying women I" From the saloon 
 word was passed to the street, and the shouts of the 
 multitude outside rose wildly upon the air. 
 
 Stepping forward, Mrs. Green took the hand of 
 Jacobs and held it tightly until silence again fell 
 upon the excited company. There were tears in 
 her eyes and a quiver in her voice as she said, 
 
 "Thank God! thank God! May his blessing 
 be upon you, and may he give you of this world s 
 good things fourfold of what you lose to-day, and 
 a life of heavenly joy for ever." 
 
 Then she knelt and in a few eloquent words 
 thanked God for this great and signal victory. 
 There was a gladness in her tones, an excess of joy 
 thrilling in every modulation, that went from heart 
 to heart with electric quickness. As she rose from 
 her knees some excited man in the crowd, not wait 
 ing for the women to lead off, struck up the dox- 
 ology, and 
 
 "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," 
 
 rang forth again. Outside, the people caught the 
 infection and sent the chorus still more grandly to 
 the skies. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 T T would fill twice the number of pages allotted 
 -* to this book were we to follow the different 
 praying-bands in their visits to the saloons that 
 morning, and describe the novel and exciting in 
 cidents that occurred. Crowds attended them, as 
 in the case of the little company whose movements 
 we have recorded, and in nearly all cases the sym 
 pathy of the people was with the women. 
 
 When reports of the morning s work came in 
 and the whole result was summed up, even the most 
 sanguine were surprised. Out of thirty saloons six 
 had closed, and over three hundred names had been 
 signed to the pledge. Prayer-meetings were held 
 at all the churches in the evening, the attend 
 ance being large in every case. The committee 
 of women having the matter in charge made new 
 arrangements for the crusade, giving it a more 
 extensive organization. The town was thoroughly 
 districted and the wo^k carefully divided, so that it 
 might be widespread and simultaneous. A hun- 
 
 216 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 217 
 
 dred women, in bands of from ten to fifteen, were 
 to visit the saloons daily, going many times each 
 day, persistently praying and singing and urging 
 the proprietors to give up their hurtful business. 
 To ten discreet and earnest women was assigned 
 the work of visiting the wives of men engaged in 
 the traffic and urging them to use their influence 
 to induce their husbands to give it up. The business 
 of others and they numbered several hundreds 
 was to call upon every man and boy in Delhi and 
 solicit signatures to the pledge, so cutting off as far 
 as possible the demand for liquor and making the 
 trade in it unprofitable. Each morning religious 
 services were to be held in the churches and the 
 presence and influence of prayer be brought every 
 where to the people. 
 
 The second day s achievements were more re 
 markable than the first. Ten saloon-keepers aban 
 doned their business, and over a thousand persons 
 signed a pledge of total abstinence. The Eagle gave 
 full reports of the work, under startling captions and 
 with any numb.er of exclamation points. Among 
 other things it said, in giving a history of the 
 second day s operations : 
 
 " It is impossible for the saloon-keepers to hold 
 
218 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 their own against an assault so determined and so 
 thoroughly organized as this. The women are too 
 much for them. The liquor men are like an army 
 in a beleaguered city with its supplies cut off and 
 the enemy in untold numbers swarming every com 
 manding height and battering at the gates. Noth 
 ing is left but to capitulate or starve. If this were 
 a new thing, an untried experiment, they might 
 resolve to test their capacity for resistance with the 
 strength of the assault. But we can point them to 
 more than a dozen towns where victory sits perched 
 on the banners of the assailants, and to a score 
 besides where the strongholds are falling one by 
 one and resistance growing feebler every day. 
 
 " Our women are complete masters of the situa 
 tion. They have said to their husbands, fathers, 
 sons, brothers and lovers, Stand off and give us 
 fair play. Don t, after your failure of years to limit 
 or suppress a traffic the curse of which has driven 
 us to desperation, put in your bungling hands now. 
 Let us alone. And for God s sake, for humanity s 
 sake, don t help the other side. All we ask of you 
 is to see to it that women who use only prayers, 
 sacred songs, tears, entreaty and expostulation, in 
 the hope of saving their beloved ones from ruin, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 219 
 
 shall not be met with insult or violence. This and 
 nothing more. And the husbands, fathers, sons 
 and lovers have answered, Yea/ and Amen ! 
 So the women, for once in their lives, are to have 
 their will in Delhi. The ballot is now virtually 
 in their hands, and their first use of it will be to 
 close the saloons. 
 
 " We had a long interview yesterday with some 
 of the leading spirits in this movement, and were 
 profoundly impressed thereby. No levity, no weak 
 ness, 110 half heartedness, was manifested. The 
 women are deeply in earnest, and the men have re 
 solved to stand aside and give them a fair chance." 
 
 On the next morning, in giving an account of 
 the third day s work, the Eagle said : 
 
 " The excitement was at fever-heat yesterday. 
 Many places of business were closed, and all Delhi 
 seemed to be on the street. At nine o clock the 
 clang of bells broke on the expectant people, and 
 crowds pressed to the churches, where religious ser 
 vices were held. At half-past nine the praying- 
 bands moved against the saloons. Five of the 
 fifteen which had remained open on the day before 
 were found with shutters up and signs down. At 
 the doors of two of these the women were met by 
 
220 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 the proprietors, who expressed penitence for the evil 
 they had done, and signed a pledge never again to 
 either drink or sell liquor. Then, in the presence 
 of these women, they broke in the heads of their 
 beer barrels and smashed their demijohns and bottles 
 of ardent spirits, letting the contents flow upon the 
 street. And all the while this was being done the 
 women, joined by hundreds in the crowd, sang 
 
 1 All hail the power of Jesus name 
 
 in a burst of exultation. After the last keg and 
 the last bottle were broken the women knelt in the 
 street, and after thanking God for giving them this 
 victory, prayed for the men who had abandoned the 
 work of ruin and death, and asked that they might 
 receive double for all they had lost in this world, 
 and, what was more and better, the peace of God in 
 their hearts. 
 
 " At the close of the day only five saloons were 
 open, Hanlan s, Ben Decker s and three of the 
 worst holes in Delhi dens where the vilest of the 
 vita are to be found, kept by jail-birds and haunted 
 by thieves. Except the Hanlan House/ there is 
 not a decent saloon open in Delhi this morning. 
 Jimmy fights hard, but there s no help for him. 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 221 
 
 "We heard him swear yesterday that all hell couldn t 
 drive him out ; but as a gentleman who heard him 
 remarked, Heaven, just now, seems to be stronger 
 than hell in Delhi/ The odds are against Jimmy." 
 
 The Eagle s report of the fourth day s operations 
 had the following : 
 
 "Ben Decker shut up shop, packed his goods, 
 gave us his blessing and departed left Delhi for 
 Delhi s good. He was a bad fellow, and did more 
 to debase and ruin a certain class of boys and young 
 men than any other saloon-keeper in town. If our 
 fair crusaders had done nothing more than run him 
 off, the achievement would be worth all the effort 
 they have yet made. Hanlan still holds out, though 
 he doesn t get in three dollars a day. The women 
 take turns in visiting him, squads of eight or ten 
 relieving each other at short intervals, so that, from 
 morning until night, all day yesterday Jimmy had 
 to listen to singing, praying and persuasive talk. 
 He s a plucky fellow according to some and mulish 
 according to others. If he doesn t surrender to-day, 
 the men are going to knock up a shanty and set it 
 down in front of his saloon for the women to sing 
 and pray in build them a tabernacle, as it is called. 
 The weather is too raw and cold, and the men don t 
 
222 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 want their wives and daughters exposed any longer 
 in the open air. Jimmy had better give it up. As 
 we heard a gentleman say yesterday, he s bled the 
 people long enough, and they re tired of leeching 
 and cupping, and mean to have another and less 
 exhaustive treatment. 
 
 " Of the three places besides Hanlan s that yet 
 remain open two are expected to close to-day. The 
 wife and daughter of one of the saloon-keepers have 
 been at church every day, and are in much distress 
 of mind. They have become awakened to a sense 
 of the dreadful wrong of the traffic, and will not 
 rest until the husband and father gives it up." 
 
 The day that followed was one of jubilation in 
 Delhi. 
 
 On the night previous Hanlan had gone home 
 early, leaving his two barkeepers in charge of the 
 saloon, with direction to close at ten o clock. He 
 was feeling anything but comfortable in his mind. 
 Though made angry often by the persistence of the 
 singing- and praying-band, and fretted by their con 
 tinued solicitations, he was not armor-proof against 
 the subtle and penetrating force of a divine Spirit 
 and power into the sphere of which he was continu 
 ally being brought. Now and then a word spoken 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 223 
 
 in prayer would move him strongly. Convictions 
 of wrong would seize upon him and startle him 
 with their stern accusations, and in spite of every 
 effort to dislodge these convictions he could not 
 thrust them out of his mind. Broad glimpses of 
 the evil he was doing would sometimes flash upon 
 and startle him. Two or three times he had seen 
 the pale and wasted face of Mrs. Sterling kneeling 
 on the floor of his saloon, with her tearful eyes 
 turned upward and her thin lips parted in prayer, 
 and the fascination of her rapt, appealing look 
 had held him until the image was burned so deeply 
 into his memory that effacernent was impossible. 
 
 He was not feeling at all comfortable in his mind 
 as he took his way home that night. Mrs. Hanlan, 
 who had been visited every day since the beginning 
 of the crusade by ladies of the first standing in 
 town, held out for a while. She was rude to inso 
 lence at first, but gradually gave way under the 
 pressure of influences too strong to be resisted. 
 Now she was against her husband, and urged him 
 to give up the business. 
 
 Hanlan had been home for only a little while, and 
 was sitting alone, moody, worried and depressed in 
 spirits, when the door-bell rang, and soon after 
 
224 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 three women, Mrs. Sterling, Mrs. Green and Mrs. 
 Wilder, entered the room, followed by his wife, who 
 had gone to the door. He started to his feet, while 
 a shade of anger crossed his face. Before he had 
 time to recover himself, Mrs. Sterling stepped for 
 ward, and standing close to him, said, 
 
 "James Hanlan, you have had your day and 
 opportunity ; give my husband a chance now. All 
 this was ours once, and would have been ours to-day 
 but for the stumbling-block you set at my husband s 
 feet. Take it away, I beg of you in Heaven s name ! 
 We have suffered enough ; I have suffered enough. 
 What I once was, you and your wife know. Look 
 at me now ! Can you do so and keep dry eyes ? 
 You would be less than human if that were possi 
 ble. And all the sin of this, James Hanlan, I lay 
 at your door. Ah, if this were the worst ! If my 
 suffering and sorrow and despair were all ! If there 
 had been no wreck but mine ! My poor, poor 
 husband!" 
 
 The feelings of Mrs. Sterling were wrought to 
 too high a pitch. At this mention of her husband 
 she broke into a strong cry, ancl covering her face, 
 wept and sobbed in uncontrollable passion. 
 
 "Let us pray," said Mrs. Wilder. All knelt, 
 
WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 225 
 
 Hanlan with the rest. It seemed to him as if a 
 strong hand pressed him down. 
 
 " Great and good and all-powerful Lord and 
 Saviour/ 7 Mrs. Wilder began, " touch our brother s 
 heart and soften it by the influences of thy grace. 
 Move him to repentance. Give him pity and ten 
 derness. Let not the agonizing cry of our poor 
 sister, thy servant, be uttered in vain. Show this 
 man, O Lord ! the peril in which his own soul 
 stands. Let arrows of conviction penetrate his soul. 
 Show him the awful danger of the wrath to come. 
 Take away his heart of stone and give him a heart 
 of flesh." 
 
 Here, a groan which Hanlan could not repress 
 broke from his lips. At this, Sister Green rose to 
 her feet and commenced singing, " Jesus, lover of my 
 soul," the other two women rising and joining her. 
 
 Before the hymn was half through Hanlan was 
 sobbing like a child. 
 
 " REDEEMED, REGENERATED AND DISEN 
 THRALLED !" were the words standing out in large 
 capitals that greeted the eyes of every reader who 
 opened the Delhi Eagle on the next morning. The 
 struggle was over and the victory won. The bells 
 rang out their wild jubilation. Men clasped hands 
 
 15 
 
226 WOMAN TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 in the street and gave each other joy. Services were 
 held in all the churches, and songs of thanksgiving 
 went up from thousands of lips and hearts. 
 
 " And what of all this ?" we hear said. " Whei? 
 the enthusiasm dies away and society goes back 
 into its old indifference, what is to hinder a return 
 to the old order of things ?" 
 
 Nothing, if Delhi goes back into her old in 
 difference. But we believe better things of her. 
 It will be easier to keep the enemy out than it was 
 to drive him out. So much has been found that 
 was lost, so much sorrow has given place to joy, 
 so much of life s sweetness is flowing back into 
 hearts that were full of bitterness for years, that 
 there will be no sleeping at the outposts of Delhi. 
 The enemy which her women fought with such 
 desperate courage stands, they know, ready for am 
 buscade, surprise or open assault whenever he finds 
 them off their guard, and they know, too, that " the 
 price of liberty is eternal vigilance," and do not 
 mean to sleep. 
 
DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE 
 
 OF 
 
 T. S. ARTHUR S POPULAR WORKS. 
 
 THE numerous friends of Mr. Arthur will hail with pleasure the 
 publication of a complete list of his works, which will enable them 
 at a glance to see the prices at which they can be had and to know 
 in what manner to procure them. 
 
 All the works here described are unabridged, and each volume is 
 complete in itself, and they will be found so varied in interest but so 
 uniform in excellence, that a household can make no better accession 
 to its library than by adding the whole series. 
 
 They will be supplied singly or in sets, at the prices indicated, 
 on application to the publisher of this work. 
 
THREE YEARS IN A MAN-TRAP. 
 
 (A COMPANION TO "TEN NIGHTS IN A BAR-ROOM. . ) 
 
 In his new volume, " THREE YEARS IN A MAN-TRAP" (a com 
 panion and complement of "TEN NIGHTS IN A BAR-ROOM"), the 
 author again grapples with the monster Intemperance, but in a new 
 field, and with enemies more thoroughly disciplined and organized. 
 From a quiet country village with its SICKLE AND SHEAF he 
 turns to a great city with its six or seven thousand saloons and dram 
 shops, and uncovers the deadly ulcer that is eating steadily down 
 toward the vitals of the people. 
 
 From the first page to the last, the reader will find himself in the 
 midst of stirring scenes and incidents of the most exciting character. 
 In truth to nature, in vividness of description, in dramatic skill and 
 the expression of intense emotion, and, above all, in the living earn 
 estness and practical power of the book, it will be found even superior 
 to "Ten Nights." 
 
 Especially is this book distinguished for its close fidelity to truth, 
 and herein lies the secret of its power. No picture is overdrawn, 
 no scene exaggerated. Fearful, pathetic, tender even to tears, sor 
 rowful and painful as many of the representations are, they do not 
 in any case exceed the sad and solemn truth. 
 
 The artisan, the clerk, the merchant, the professional man, will 
 each find in it his lesson, his warning and his inspiration to duty. 
 
 Read it. citizens, tax-payers, fathers, mothers, wives, and from 
 its stern expositions, its appalling statistics, its arguments and living 
 witnesses get some faint impression of the work a hundred and fifty 
 thousand men, licensed to spread disease, death and unutterable woe 
 through all the land, are doing licensed to make paupers and crim 
 inals licensed to make widows and orphans licensed to squander 
 the poor man s substance and make homes desolate. 
 
 Tt will be a revelation to startle and appal, but cannot fail to rouse 
 you to the work of resistance, change and revolution. 
 
Since the publication of this book, a short time ago, the eyes 
 of 100,000 readers have met its pages, and tens of thousands have 
 seen its vivid scenes portrayed in the dramatization on the stage, 
 whilst the testimony of hundreds give the most unqualified proof 
 of the immense amount of good that it has accomplished. 
 
 Profusely Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth $2. 
 
 "... Has again in Three Years rendered service beyond price" 
 
 HON. JAMES BLACK, P. E. W. G. C. of I. O. of G. T. 
 
 " God bless the hand that has penned it" METHODIST HOME JOURNAL. 
 
 " God grant that this precious book may find its way to every family in 
 the land," GEO. H. HICKS, N. G. S. of I. O. of G. S. D. of S. 
 
 CAST ADRIFT. 
 
 The unparalleled sale of this author s previous works has induced 
 the publication of "CAST ADRIFT," which will be found of more 
 intense interest than anything that has heretofore been produced by 
 the same pen. It is a surprise to all familiar with Mr. Arthur s 
 writings, and is without question the strongest and most absorbing 
 story that he has ever written ; nay, more, the strongest and most 
 absorbing romance of real life, we make bold to say, that has come 
 from the press in the last ten years. 
 
 Dealing with intemperance and its kindred evils, the author 
 graphically and dramatically invests episodes of low and degraded 
 life with thrilling interest, and thereby attains that standard of pop 
 ularity which has made the works of Dickens such great favorites 
 and such active agents in the amelioration of the destitute and de 
 graded English people. Although using intemperance only as an 
 incident of his theme, Mr. Arthur has fearlessly drawn aside the 
 curtain which hides the victims of this and other terrible vices, and 
 tells the story of sorrow, crime and debasement, as it unfortunately 
 exists in Christian America, with all the force and power granted 
 him, yet with such care and guardedness of description as to render 
 
 * 3 
 
this story unobjectionable to the most scrupulous. It is written with 
 a purpose, and if it has the attention which no good man or woman 
 can, for humanity s sake, afford to slight, will, in the terrible reve 
 lations it makes, and the incentive to action for the relief of others 
 which it will surely prove, become of untold value to the class of 
 people it is desired to benefit; and indeed to you, good man or 
 woman, by the very impulse of relieving the wants of others which 
 it will excite, it will be a priceless boon and treasure. The book 
 cannot fail to make a profound sensation. 
 
 It has come from a heart deeply stirred by contact with the life 
 he has portrayed. " It has hurt my sensibilities," Mr. Arthur says 
 in his preface, "it sickened my heart many times, as I stood face 
 to face with the sad and awful degradation that exists in certain 
 regions of our larger cities ; and now that my work is done, I take 
 a deep breath of relief. The result is in your hands, good citizen, 
 Christian reader, earnest philanthropist. If it stirs your heart in 
 the reading as it stirred mine in the writing, it will not die fruitless. 
 
 In answer to countless applications for facts regarding the life of 
 T. S. Arthur, whose position as a philanthropist has been made by 
 a life-long service with his pen in the good cause of morality, we 
 have had written especially for us by a personal friend of long stand 
 ing, a charming Biography of him. This we propose to present to 
 every purchaser of " CAST ADRIFT;" and as it contains a finely-en 
 graved portrait of the author, and is elegantly printed and tastefully 
 bound, it will doubtless be acceptable to thousands of his admirers 
 in all parts of the land, in the homes where his has become a house 
 hold name. 
 
 (This Biography, without the "Cast Adrift," will be furnished 
 at 50 cents. ) 
 
 Elegantly Bound in Cloth and Illustrated, Price, $2, 
 
 "I have just finished reading T. S. Arthur s last work, Cast Adrift/ 
 and I am constrained to say that it is one of the most intensely inter 
 esting books that I have ever read. A person who commences to read 
 
 4 
 
will find h "very JiMcult to stop until he reaches the last line of the 
 last page. JU is a work that no one can read without profit; and if "it is 
 generally read by our good people, it cannot fail to produce a change 
 in public sentiment that wilJ call for the removal of some of the abuses 
 it exposes." SAM L D. HASTING, P. E. W. G. T. 
 
 "... The whole work abounds in sentiments of sublime patriotism, 
 philanthropy and universal humanity ; and the eloquence and power 
 with which they are urged and enforced can hardly fail to accomplish 
 much good. 
 
 "The interest in the book is so completely interwoven with these 
 eloquent truths that it is next to impossible for any person possessed 
 of ordinary feelings of curiosity (to say nothing of his philanthropy 
 and higher motions) to lay aside the book, after having once commenced 
 to read it, until the last chapter and line shall have been seen and 
 understood." HON. JOHN CESSNA. 
 
 " Every temperance man, and all wiiO would better society by cor 
 recting its social evils, should read this book, for they can have no 
 better clue to their own work. Unlike Dickens, Mr. Arthur has come 
 to write without an elaborate waste of wor-ds. I have passed this book 
 to several experienced and critical readers, and each pronounces it 
 good." A. C. VAN EPPS. 
 
 " It is a surprise to all familiar witn Mr. Arthur s writings, and is 
 without question the strongest and most absorbing romance of real life that 
 has issued from the press in the last ten years." Lancaster Evening Express. 
 
 " As a sorely-needed exposition of a foul blot on the reputation of 
 society, it is invaluable." Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 
 
 " The volume cannot fail to make a profound sensation. No library 
 is complete without it." American Lutheran. 
 
 " In Cast Adrift, Mr. Arthur touches a sore spot of our civilization, 
 and it will not have been written in vain if it serves to excite interest 
 in the abatement of evils, the existence of which we are forced to ac 
 knowledge, no matter how we may strive to shut our eyes to them." 
 Evening Telegraph. 
 
 5 
 
ORANGE BLOSSOMS, FRESH AND FADED. 
 
 For more than a quarter of a century Mr. T. S. Arthur has 
 maintained a prominent; and leading position among the authors 
 and writers of this country. His books have had a wide circulation 
 both in America and Europe. His writings possess peculiarities 
 that endear them to all good people. His stories have carried peace 
 and brightness to thousands of homes. They are full of lessons of 
 beautiful truth, and are designed to awaken and keep alive the 
 tenderest affections of our nature, to strengthen virtue, to increase 
 domestic joy, and to sweeten home-life by the abiding presence of 
 mutual trust and love. 
 
 In this new volume he gives us a series of life-pictures drawn with 
 that skill and power which is peculiarly his own ; never weak, always 
 deeply in earnest and frequently intense in dramatic effect, he has 
 brought to the subject here discussed his subtlest discrimination and 
 highest effort. 
 
 It is not a book of precept and cold advice, but, as just said, of 
 clearly drawn life-pictures. Men and women bound by the con 
 jugal tie are brought before the reader, and he looks down into 
 their lives and sees the pulses of feeling sees in some cases the 
 "little foxes" at work "spoiling the tender vines," and in other 
 cases, the peace and rest and joy of married beauty. 
 
 It is a book for all people, young or old, rich or poor, for hus 
 bands as well as wives, for the happy and the unhappy. 
 
 No American author treating this subject could write so good and 
 useful a work as Mr. Arthur. 
 
 At this time many of our most talented and popular writers are 
 putting forth false and pernicious .views of marriage, lowering the 
 tone of public morals and doing an untold social injury ; the pub 
 lishers offer this as an antidote to such pernicious views. " Orange 
 Blossoms" is a Ijealthy book, and its wide circulation cannot fail to 
 do a great amount of good. / 
 
 Assured of the intrinsic merit of the work, the publishers beg 
 
leave to announce that they have spared neither pains nor expense 
 in its mechanical execution. It is printed with new and large, 
 clear-faced type on fine tinted paper, and is handsomely bound in 
 the best manner, with black and gold ornamentation on back and 
 sjdes, and appropriate inlaid stamp. It is elegantly illustrated with 
 superior pictures engraved by Lauderbach after designs by Schues- 
 sele and Bensell, and contains an accurate and beautiful likeness of 
 the author on steel, engraved at great expense by the celebrated 
 artist, J. L. Rice. To ensure a large sale of this elegant volume, 
 the price has been fixed so low as to be within reach of all. Price, 
 $2.50. 
 
 " The purest and best book of its kind ever issued from any press." 
 Hazleton Sentinel.. 
 
 " Its crowding incidents hurry on the reader to its conclusion with 
 almost breathless interest. ... Its numerous actors, as the author de 
 picts them, are living, breathing men and women, who tell the story 
 to the reader in the passages of their lives which have been selected 
 with so skillful a hand. ... It cannot but bring a crowning success to 
 the long and successful career of the distinguished author." Banner 
 of Light, Boston. 
 
 "He seeks in a variety of pleasing ways to point out the perils and 
 promote the felicities of married life, with a view to preserve the sanc 
 tities and harmonies of home." Boston Daily Transcript. 
 
 " The book ought to find its way into every household in our land. 
 We know of no book of equal merit. ... Is evidently the result of 
 noble Christian purpose. His theme is of the utmost importance and 
 interest." Watchman and Reflector. 
 
 " Is calculated to do more toward sweetening the cup of family care 
 and trial than any homilies that could be delivered." Zion s Herald. 
 
 " All who want their Orange Blossoms to remain fresh and fragrant 
 up to old age ought to read this book. All who want to learn why 
 and how they often fade so early, will find the mystery solved. Is a 
 healthy book, and its wide circulation cannot fail to do good as an anti 
 dote to the pernicious works which are daily weakening the social 
 ties." Milton MUtonian. 
 
 7 
 
THE WONDERFUL STORY OF GENTLE 
 HAND, AND OTHER STORIES. 
 
 A collection of Mr. Arthur s best juvenile stones, selected with 
 great care by himself as the choicest of all that he has written for 
 the young. The story from which it takes its title is especially one 
 of rare sweetness and beauty; portraying in simple language the 
 lovely life and influences of a kindly, gentle child, it brings its child 
 ish readers to a sure consciousness of the power of gentleness, and 
 cannot fail to awaken in its youngest reader a disposition to follow 
 its charming lesson. 
 
 The other stones, of which there are many, are not of less merit, 
 being O f varied interest but uniform excellence. 
 
 The volume has been highly endorsed by all its readers as one 
 eminently fitted for children of both sexes. 
 
 Profusely illustrated with engravings by the best artists, beauti 
 fully printed and most elegantly bound, with inlaid centre. 
 
 Quarto. Cloth. $2. 
 
 AFTER THE STORM. 
 
 A new and fascinating volume, in which the story is of 
 absorbing interest, and the moral most impressive and unex 
 ceptionable. The noble and kind-hearted Mr. Delancy, and 
 the beautiful and hallowed influences associated with Ivy Cliff, 
 effect indelible impressions upon the mind. The prominent 
 characters, Hartley Emerson and Irene, enlist the liveliest sym 
 pathies during the tempestuous portions of their lives, and 
 awaken the keenest emotions of pleasure after the passing of 
 the storm, and the sunshine of love appears. The work af 
 fords useful lessons to young married persons, or those about 
 to embark upon wedded life lessons that may frequently con 
 tribute to their happiness. 12mo. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 8 
 
LIGHT ON SHADOWED PATHS. 
 
 The sweet stories of "If I Could Know," "Blue Sky Every 
 where," "Light in the Evening," "He Came in Mercy," 
 "Always in Sunshine," and "Service, not Love," are worthy 
 the perusal of all classes of intelligent readers. The histories 
 of Hermann and Florence, of Mrs. Elford, and others equally 
 interesting, contained in these stories, are replete with instruc 
 tion and practical wisdom. They point out the many shadowed 
 paths that other feet have trod, and the means through which 
 light was shed upon those paths; and a beautiful moral is pre 
 sented in each chapter from which all will derive profit. The 
 book tells us "we have shadowed paths at times, but should 
 endeavor to keep in the sunshine as much as possible; lest, 
 when we come to make up our sheaves in the harvest time, there 
 will be found only husk instead of grain." 12mo. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 OUT IN THE WORLD. 
 
 Jealous, sensitive, and proud young men like Carl Jansen, 
 and undisciplined, wayward, and sometimes petulent young 
 ladies like Madeline Spencer, are everywhere in society. They 
 should endeavor to avoid the severest trials of life by taking in 
 the experiences of the prominent characters in this volume. 
 There are so many persons continually representing Mrs. Wood 
 bine around us, whose real characters and influence should be 
 clearly understood, and so few like the kind-hearted and esti 
 mable Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence, that we especially urge the 
 reading of " Out in the World" upon young single and mar 
 ried people of both sexes, as well as others. The work is 
 admirably conceived, unusually entertaining, and, at its close, 
 
 truly touching. 12mo. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 9 
 
OUR NEIGHBORS IN THE CORNER HOUSE. 
 
 A very mysterious family move into the corner house. Many 
 exciting and strange incidents bccur, which eventually are the 
 occasion of frequent remark, inquiry, and conversation in the 
 neighborhood. Crime is suspicioned, and even whispered in 
 connection with Mr. Congreve s name, until finally revelations 
 of the most remarkable kind force themselves before the public. 
 This work is exceedingly fascinating frequently stirring and 
 adds its evidence to the fact that sin will find people out, and 
 that justice will triumph over injury. The sentiments and 
 general tone are in keeping with the others of this admirable 
 series, while the plot itself is vastly superior to those of most 
 similar publications. 12mo. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 NOTHING BUT MONEY. 
 
 The difference between avaricious and ambitious men and 
 those who prefer social happiness and domestic peace is forci 
 bly shown in this book. Adam Guy attains wealth through 
 avarice, but entails misery upon his family with whom the finer 
 qualities, tastes, and aspirations are stifled or extinguished. 
 On the other hand, Dr. Hofland and his amiable wife Lena, in 
 their cultivated taste and love of the beautiful, enthrone friend 
 ship, charity, love, and all the heart s riches, in their household. 
 All families should read this splendidly devised work. Young 
 men and women, as well as the more youthful, in whose mind 
 the thought of gold outlustres every other, should procure it, 
 and treasure up the history it furnishes a history true to the 
 
 life. 12mo. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 10 
 
WHAT CAME AFTERWARDS 
 
 After the curtain falls on the scenes graphically described in 
 "Nothing but Money," we are presented with a "sequel," 
 equally complete in itself, which tells "What Came After 
 wards." It takes up some of the prominent characters in the 
 former work and disposes of them in the most satisfactory 
 manner. Adam Guy, after fearful punishment, is brought be 
 fore the readers in a more favorable light, showing that the fire 
 is never too hot that burns out the dross, and leaves only the 
 precious gold. Dr. Hofland, and Mr. Ewbank and Lucy are 
 intensely interesting personages, and make one love this volume 
 as not the least of the series. Young people cannot fail to find 
 delight and benefit in the perusal of " What Came Afterwards." 
 12mo. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 ARTHUR S RAINBOW SERIES. 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 After the Storm, 
 
 Light on Shadowed Paths, 
 
 Out in the World, 
 
 Our Neighbors in the Corner House, 
 
 Nothing But Money, 
 
 What Came Afterwards. 
 
 Six volumes, in uniform style, bound in cloth, and put up in 
 a neat caso. Price per set, $9. 
 
 11 
 
TEMPERANCE STOBIES, 
 
 AND OTHER TALES 
 
 T JCliese Stories are closely drawn from every-day life, are most 
 pleasantly written, and have contributed largely to the popularity 
 of the author. Their title will, no doubt, commend them to a large 
 portion of the people. Each volume complete in itself. 
 
 LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF REAL LIFE. 
 
 Among the stories given in this volume are "The Distiller s 
 Dream," "The Fiery Trial," "Wine on the Wedding Night," 
 and "The Broken Pledge" all of which carry with them a moral 
 suasion which must affect for good all who read them. Few 
 persons have not heard of these powerfully written Temperance 
 Stories, which have already proven a blessing to thousands, 
 and have accomplished an amount of reform that has given 
 the author s name a place in the hearts of the upright and 
 good everywhere. All should feel interested in the circulation 
 of this excellent and entertaining work among young people, 
 at a time when dissipation seems to be fearfully on the increase 
 among the different grades of society. There are few, if any, 
 books of equal literary merit, and which furnish lessons of equal 
 interest and importance. All parents should place it within 
 reach of their families, and urge upon them- its careful perusal. 
 
 An interesting feature in this work is a Brief Autobiography 
 of the author, written at the solicitation of the publishers. 
 
 With illustrations. 12mo. Cloth. $1 75.. 
 
 12 
 
SKETCHES OF LIFE AND CHARACTER. 
 
 " The Methodist Minister," " Deacon Smith and his Yiolin," 
 "The Village Horse Block," "The Child Stealer," "Washing 
 Day," and the various sketches given in this book are highly 
 illustrative of real life and character It is invariably conceded 
 by the reader of these sketches that there is a bewitchingness 
 about them which so thoroughly captivates that few who com 
 mence one will willingly part with it till it is concluded. So 
 much of one s own experiences pervades them that they fre 
 quently fasten themselves upon the memory and repeat their 
 lessons. Tv ith appropriate illustrations. 12mo. Cloth. $175. 
 
 LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF HUMAN LIFE. 
 
 Intended to leave the mind active with good purposes and 
 kindly sympathies. Among them are "The Wife," "The Hed 
 Ear, or, The Husking Frolic," "Country Boarding," "Throw 
 ing Dust in People s Eyes," "The Elopement," "The Street 
 Smoker," "The April Fool," " Cold Water Wedding," and 
 "Two Scenes in the Life of a City Belle." It has been said 
 of these that any one of them is worth the price of the book. 
 We know they offer much instruction in a condensed form, and 
 should be read and pondered by all young men and women. 
 With numerous illustrations. 12mo. Cloth. $1 75. 
 
 ARTHUR S TEMPERANCE STORIES, and other Tales, compris 
 ing "Lights and Shadows of Real Life," "Sketches of Life 
 and Character," "Leaves from the Book of Human Life," in 
 three uniform volumes, handsomely bound in cloth, and put up 
 in a neat case. Price per set, $5 25. 
 2 13 
 
ARTHUR S WAY TO PROSPER. 
 
 TJie lessons inculcated by this series are such as cannot be learned 
 too early, or dwelt on too long or often by the thousands of young 
 people throughout the land engaged in the active and all-absorbing 
 duties of life. Each volume complete in itself. 
 
 THE WAY TO PROSPER, AND OTHER TALES. 
 
 Showing how Yictor, Hartley, and Thomas Stevens, through 
 the power of virtue, harmony and fraternal affection, secured 
 to themselves prosperity, and how Peter, William, and Frank 
 Close made shipwreck of their lives, from the want of like 
 qualities. While the book gives motives for fraternal union, 
 it pictures the sad consequences of discord in families, and 
 shows how selfishness, ill-nature, and disregard of a brother s 
 welfare, are evil seeds sown in early life, to yield, in after years, 
 a plentiful harvest of disappointment, shame, and misfortune. 
 This is an admirable book for young people, and illustrates the 
 trite saying that "In Union there is Strength" which the 
 world appears no longer to regard as a practical principle. 
 In it the children in every family are taught to stand close to 
 gether, mutually sustaining each other, and that they need then 
 have no fear of those who are against them. "Finger-Posts 
 on the way of Life," in the after part of the volume, has been 
 written with a view to pointing the wary traveller in the right 
 direction. With mezzotint frontispiece. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 14 
 
THE ANGEL OF THE HOUSEHOLD, AND OTHER TALES. 
 
 V . 
 
 A rough man was the carpenter Jacob Harding. His wife 
 had also become somewhat accustomed to the use of hard words 
 and severe measures in the government of her children. A 
 beautiful babe was left among the household by some unseen 
 person, and it eventually seemed to have been sent upon the 
 mission of an angel. Little Grace softened the hearts of the 
 carpenter and his wife. Two strange women appeared, and with 
 them little Grace disappeared. Many revelations eventually 
 transpired that awaken the intensest interest on the part of the 
 reader. We here learn how kind impulses, and the correction 
 of bad habits, elevate us and add to our success in life. " The 
 Angel of the Household" is ever accompanied with celestial 
 influences. Whoever holds a babe to her bosom, and holds it 
 there lovingly, comes within the sphere of angelic influences. 
 With mezzotint frontispiece. Cloth. $1 50 
 
 TRUE RICHES; OR, WEALTH WITHOUT WINGS, AND 
 OTHER TALES. 
 
 There are many young men who start out in life, as did 
 Leonard Jasper, with false ideas of business, and the most 
 selfish disregard of principle. They do not estimate the losses 
 and ruin that always eventually result from unfairness and 
 fraudulence. Edward Claire and his Christian wife are charac 
 ters particularly worthy of their study. They should ponder 
 carefully the lessons afforded, and impress upon their minds 
 the evil consequences that resulted from Mr. Jasper s course of 
 conduct, and the beneficial effect upon Edward Claire s life in 
 having pure and honorable influences surrounding him within 
 the family circle. With steel frontispiece. Cloth. $160. 
 
 15 
 
HEART HISTORIES AND LIFE PICTURES. 
 
 A volume tending to awaken our sympathies, and increase 
 our interest in humanity. The world has furnished many lovely 
 victims like Edith Walter, to the thoughtlessness of young men, 
 who, in a brief time, have added dark pages to the books of their 
 memories, that could not be erased. This was so with Edwin 
 Florence, who had been duly warned against the deception, in 
 matters of the heart, that is invariably attended with the most 
 serious consequences. The histories and pictures given are 
 impressive, at times sad and painful, and cannot fail to prompt 
 additional watchfulness -and thoughtfulncss on the part of 
 young readers. The work is written in the author s most elegant 
 style, and is intended to benefit society. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 HOME SCENES-. ITS LIGHTS AND SHADOWS AS PIC 
 TURED BY LOVE AND SELFISHNESS. 
 
 We are here shown how some people are so tenacious of 
 their own rights that they have vague notions touching the 
 rights of others. Mrs. Barbara Uhler presents a notable in 
 stance. Through her selfishness her husband was ruined, and 
 through love he was again raised up to wealth and honor. 
 With the case of the Uhlers, there are others in this book, 
 equally as entertaining and affecting, which we advise young 
 people, single and married, to read. This excellent work will 
 surely aid in overcoming what is evil and selfish, in keeping the 
 light of love forever burning in one s dwelling, and in instilling 
 into every one those charitable feelings without which no one 
 can experience real happiness. Each moral within its lids is a 
 
 jewel worthy a place in memory s casket. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 16 
 
SPARING TO SPEND; OR, THE LOFTONS AND THE 
 
 PlNKERTONS. 
 
 The folly of extravagance is fully and effectively illustrated 
 in the character of Mark Pinkerton in a remarkably life-like 
 manner, while the wisdom and virtue of living within one s 
 means is shown in the success of Archibald Lofton a char 
 acter which parents would do well to have their children study. 
 The pleasures experienced in a wise disposition of means, and 
 the mortification suffered by a useless waste, until anxious 
 creditors everywhere appear, are faithfully sketched. Ex 
 travagant expenditure is the besetting evil of social life in this 
 country, and this splendid work has for its aim the correction 
 of this evil. The contrast between lack of prudence and a 
 wise restriction of means is as bold and masterly as it is truth 
 ful, and may prove a blessing to very many salaried clerks and 
 young business men. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 ARTHUR S WAY TO PROSPER. 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 The Way to Prosper, 
 
 The Angel of the Household, 
 
 True Riches, 
 
 Heart Histories, and Life Pictures, 
 
 Home Scenes, 
 
 Sparing to Spend. 
 
 Six volumes, in uniform style, bound in cloth, and put up 
 in a neat case. Price per set, $9. 
 
 17 
 
THE THEEE EMS IN A WOMAN S LITE. 
 
 JL series in which the important subject of domestic life is "kept 
 in view. Young ladies and men can here acquire ideas and truths 
 that may be of inestimable advantage throughout their lives. 
 
 THE THREE ERAS IN A WOMAN S LIFE; OR, THE 
 MAIDEN, THE WIFE, AND THE MOTHER. 
 
 There can be no more charming history than that of Anna 
 Lee, as presented in this volume. Every one will entertain a 
 feeling of more than ordinary admiration for her. Her just 
 appreciation of character, and her good sense nerved her to 
 reject Herbert Gardiner and his boasted wealth, while her life 
 as Mrs. Hartley proved a happy and beautiful one. As a 
 maiden, a wife, and a mother, she was always an object of love. 
 A great contrast however is afforded in the life of Mrs. Riston, 
 whose extravagance, thoughtlessness, selfishness and pride 
 made the home of her husband a gloomy one, and reduced the 
 unhappy man to insolvency; or, in that of Mrs. Fielding, 
 whose neglect of her family interests, or indifference toward 
 her children, was productive of the most baleful consequences. 
 All who read this work will see the fruits of upright living, the 
 results of untiring devotion to the interests of the young, and 
 the pleasant harvests sure to succeed to the sowing of good 
 
 seed. With frontispiece. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 18 
 
BEFORE AND AFTER MARRIAGE; OR, SWEETHEARTS 
 AND WIVES, AND OTHER TALES. 
 
 Young persons about to be married seldom trouble their 
 minds with thoughts as to the difference between a sweet 
 heart and a wife. In this they greatly err, as the lesson in this 
 book will show. Lewis Milnor and Grace Harvey after mar 
 riage, through misfortune, lost their wealth, when their real 
 natures soon became apparent. The days of trial were sore 
 ones, but they were passed, and oh, how beautiful the effect! 
 Their lives afford a sweet lesson, with all the bitterness, and 
 like them all should employ wealth for purposes of useful 
 ness, instead of the mere pampering of pride and indolence. 
 Many persons might be spared a severe experience by reading 
 and reflecting upon the life histories herein given. With 
 Frontispiece. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 THE MARTYR WIFE, AND OTHER TALES. 
 
 We are shown in this work what a sad and dreadful thing it 
 is to follow after evil pleasures. The fair-haired, blue-eyed, 
 beautiful and innocent Florence Allison was won by the de 
 signing and worthless sensualist George Campbell. How could 
 she but become a sacrifice upon the altar of misplaced confi 
 dence. While we are more than ordinarily affected with sorrow 
 in* the perusal of this brief history of domestic infelicity, we 
 believe many parents will feel grateful to the author for thus 
 placing in their hands an affecting lesson for their wayward or 
 imprudent children. " The Heiress" and " The Ruined Game 
 ster," both worthy especial attention, are included in this book. 
 
 Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 19 
 
MARY ELLIS; OR, THE RUNAWAY MATCH, AND OTHER 
 TALES. 
 
 .The anxiety of Mr. and Mrs. Ellis in regard to their daughter 
 is common to most parents of giddy and thoughtless girls. 
 But their watchfulness was not sufficient to prevent the mar 
 riage of Mary with the selfish and unstable Morrison. This 
 was a runaway match of the most unfortunate character, and it 
 should caution every young person against a disregard of the 
 matured judgment and experience of kind and indulgent 
 parents. The storms of adversity seldom permit the sunshine 
 of peace and comfort to enter the homes of those who were 
 disobedient children. We are also shown in this vcxlume how 
 our wrong actions frequently confront us in those of our children 
 when ingratitude and disobedience place to our lips the cup 
 of bitterness. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 THE YOUNG LADY AT HOME. 
 
 Home stories, in which the author has assumed the character 
 of an American woman, and caused her to relate her own ex 
 perience, involving the troubles, wrong doings, errors and per 
 plexities incident to domestic life. "Jane, the Irish cook," 
 and "Mary McLean, the sewing girl," among others, furnish 
 most interesting matter, in which the necessity for kindness 
 and a personal interest in the lives of the poor about us is 
 shown. It is in the power of woman to do good it is her 
 mission and she need not look away from her own little family 
 circle for the means of producing moral and social reforms. 
 The little leaven she there hides will in due time leaven her 
 three measures of meal. All mothers and housewives should 
 read these stories. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 20 
 
STEPS TOWARDS HEAVEN; OR, RELIGION IN COMMON 
 LIFE. 
 
 A series of lay sermons for converts in the great awakening, 
 in which the views of no sect or denomination are contained. 
 From the step towards Heaven, found in the first chapter, in 
 the reading of the Word by Mr. Lyon to his wife, to the sweet 
 consolation given to Mrs. Warren by her sister, in the last 
 chapter, we have divine and holy purposes before us to aid 
 in the conquest of evil affections, and to furnish incentives to 
 right living. Life -pictures, narratives and conversations are 
 employed to beguile us to piety, charity and Christian truth, 
 and to wrke in ineffaceable characters upon our minds, that 
 we must be governed by the divine precepts of the Bible ; that 
 religion is for the daily life, and cannot be put aside at the 
 tranquil close of Sabbath evenings. Cloth. $1 50. 
 
 THREE ERAS IN A WOMAN S LIFE. 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 The Three Eras in a Woman s Life, 
 
 Before and after Marriage, 
 
 The Young Lady at Home, 
 
 The Martyr Wife, 
 
 Mary Ellis ; or, the Runaway Match, 
 
 Steps Towards Heaven. 
 
 Six volumes, in uniform style, bound in cloth, and put up in 
 
 a neat case. Price per set, $9. 
 
 21 
 
THE GOOD TIME COMING. 
 
 In this series we are taught contentment, thoughtfulness, integrity, 
 forbearance, and a proper regard for those around us. They will 
 prove of interest to, and exert a favorable influence upon members 
 of families. Each volume complete in itself. 
 
 THE GOOD TIME COMING. 
 
 Like Edward Markland, we are all looking- and toiling, for 
 the good time coming-, yet ever continue to look and toil. He 
 longed for a country home where nature in its grandeur and 
 wildness should hold him continually with its charms. He 
 reared the beautiful " Woodbine Lodge," and for a time re 
 garded it as his paradise. But the tempter came in the person 
 of Lee Lyon, a base schemer, who, while he ingratiated himself 
 into the confidence of Mr. Markland for the purpose of despoil 
 ing him of his wealth, ingeniously wrought upon the affections 
 of -his handsome daughter Fanny. The succeeding trials and 
 exciting events, together with the ruin of Mr. Markland, the 
 loss of his home, the after arrest of the villain, the recovery of 
 a portion of his means, and the happy marriage of Fanny, are 
 all so intensely interesting that we advise every reader to pro 
 cure this work. It teaches the practice of contentment, the 
 elevation of our spiritual natures, and a wise reliance upon 
 
 Providence. With frontispiece. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 22 
 
THE ALLEN HOUSE; OR, TWENTY YEARS AGO, AND 
 Now. 
 
 Most readers will regard this as one of the crowning works 
 of the popular author. "The Allen House," with its myste 
 ries and remarkable incidents figures conspicuously throughout. 
 First, its possessor is the pirate captain and his singularly 
 pretty and youthful wife ; next, the son of Captain Allen is 
 in possession, then the beautiful Mrs. Montgomery, then Ralph 
 Dewey, and finally Henry Wallingford, Esq. These characters 
 are all interwoven with the story of "The Allen House," and 
 each has a peculiarly engaging history some dark, terrible, 
 and exciting. The book is full of suggestions to all to young 
 men, that truth, honor, and integrity may govern them to 
 young women, that they may not be dazzled by condition or 
 prospect. The reading of this volume may influence many 
 young in the right direction. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 WHAT CAN WOMAN Do? 
 
 Mrs. Weakly and Mrs. Glendy estranged Mrs. Eldridge from 
 her family by artful and false persuasions, and caused misery 
 and almost a total wreck in the Eldridge family. Poor Katy, 
 a sweet, fairy creature, having thoughts and feelings in advance 
 of her years, was the means, in a critical moment, of reclaiming 
 her father, and winning him to the high road to prosperity, as 
 also to the eventual reconciliation. As to the kind offices and 
 influences of Dr. Penrose and his amiable wife, and the good 
 Mrs. Lamb, and the infamous conduct of Judge Gray and Mr. 
 Craig, we refer the reader to the splendid and very affecting 
 work. No young woman who peruses its pages will ever re 
 gret it. With mezzotint frontispiece. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 23 
 
THE WITHERED HEART. 
 
 From the stern school of life we are here presented with the 
 sad, heart-breaking realities that are often around us. Jane 
 Enfield was a true and lovely girl, capable of the highest hap 
 piness. Had she not married, her life might have passed 
 along prettily and tranquilly like a pure and sparkling stream 
 through grassy meadows; but she married John Hardy, whose 
 self-will and disregard of the finer qualities of her nature, swept 
 over the chords of her heart as a heavy and unskilled hand 
 over an instrument, producing at first discord, and soon snap 
 ping the tiny strings in twain. Oh, how sad was her life, and 
 how our emotions are aroused at perusing her history! This 
 work has gone through several editions in England. With 
 mezzotint frontispiece. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 THE ANGEL AND THE DEMON. 
 
 A thrilling work, in which Mrs. Dainty procures an angel, 
 in the person of the accomplished Florence Harper, as govern 
 ess, whose influence upon the children is productive of the 
 best results.. In her fondness for and abuse of authority she 
 makes the position of Florence a very trying one, until, finally, 
 she hurriedly discharges her. She then engages a demon, in 
 the person of Mrs. Jeckyl, as governess, who becomes repulsive 
 to every one, and employs mesmeric means and familiar spirits 
 among the children until she is sent away. Afterwards one 
 of the children is stolen, when Uncle John, the angel and the 
 demon, all figure prominently. The contents are truly start 
 ling, and make this one pre-eminent among the author s best 
 works. All should read it. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 24 
 
THE TRIALS AND CONFESSIONS OF A HOUSEKEEPER, 
 
 Showing the grave, instructive, agreeable, and amusing 
 trials, perplexities and incidents at times peculiar to house 
 keeping. Mrs. Smith traded her husband s new cloth coat, 
 which she mistook for an old one, to a china-ware vender 
 for a pair of vases, which prevented Mr. Smith from going to 
 church on the following Sunday. Mrs. Smith hired a cook 
 who had a literary turn, and became so deeply interested in the 
 "Wandering Jew" that she did not see the cat eat up the pre 
 pared turkey, or know that the pudding was burning to a 
 crisp all of which compelled Mr. Smith to entertain a friend 
 upon broiled steak and potatoes. Mrs. Smith next employed a 
 domestic who used a gallon of best sperm oil every few days in 
 lighting the fire, the smell of which drove Mr. Smith from his 
 comfortable bed at an unusually early hour. Thus Mrs. Smith 
 continues, and affords us lively pictures from real life. With 
 illustrations. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 ARTHUR S GOOD TIME COMING. 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 The Good Time Coining, 
 
 The Allen House, 
 
 What Can Woman DoP 
 
 The Withered Heart, 
 
 The Angel and the Demon, 
 
 Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper. 
 
 Six volumes, in uniform style, bound in cloth, and put up 
 in a neat case. Price per set, $7 50. 
 - 25 
 
ARTHURS ADVICE TO YOUNG PEOPLE. 
 
 The purpose of guarding the young against false views and habits, 
 and strengthening them against the many temptations in life, is 
 everyivhere apparent in this excellent series. We urge its several 
 volumes upon the attention of young readers, each of which is com 
 plete in itself. 
 
 ADVICE TO YOUNG MEN ON THEIR DUTIES AND 
 CONDUCT IN LIFE. 
 
 It treats of the origin of man, tells of the age of responsi 
 bility, and the common errors into which young men fall, such 
 as spending money uselessly, going in debt for clothing, hav- 
 ing an ambition abroad for being "genteel," and indulging in 
 vicious habits. It further gives us very valuable hints as to 
 friends and associates, the improvement of the mind, self-educa 
 tion, music, dancing, truly polished manners, amusements, self- 
 government, indolence, intimate friendships, home, parents, 
 sisters, conduct among men, courage, religion, bad habits, 
 health, entering business, marriage, etc. Many interesting 
 facts in the lives of prominent men are cited, and interesting 
 incidents narrated. It is thoughtful, and, if it is carefully read, 
 in a thoughtful spirit, it will prove the most useful and highly 
 beneficial book of the kind ever published. Every young man 
 who gets it will assuredly prize it for its valuable information, 
 
 its clear views of life, and its elevating thoughts. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 26 - 
 
ADVICE TO YOUNG LADIES ON THEIR DUTIES AND 
 CONDUCT IN LIFE. 
 
 Intended to guard against fatal errors, to correct false views 
 of life, and inculcate useful lessons. Young ladies can here 
 learn much in regard to entering upon life, habits of order 
 and neatness, domestic and culinary affairs, the improvement 
 of the mind, the external condition,. gossiping and evil speak 
 ing, dress, health, the treatment of their brothers, their con 
 duct towards parents, the equality of the sexes, their conduct 
 toward men, the character of the men who are received as 
 visitors, receiving attentions from men, early marriages, mar 
 riage, the year after marriage, a common mistake, etc. The 
 book is full of interest, and furnishes many instances in support 
 of its views. With steel frontispiece. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 TEN NIGHTS IN A BAR ROOM, AND WHAT I SAW 
 THERE. 
 
 The sad and terrible history of the " Sickle and Sheaf," 
 and its landlord, Simon Slade, is intensely exciting. Poor 
 Joe Morgan, his noble wife Fanny, and their angelic little 
 Mary, are among the most interesting characters, and the 
 scenes between the daughter and father, ere her little spirit 
 joins the angels of the resurrection, are so deeply impressive 
 that few men or women can read them without frequently 
 shedding tears. The ruin of Judge Hammond, the death of 
 his son, and the gambler Green s death, are full of the dark 
 and terrible. This work affords some of the most sharply-drawn 
 sketches of scenes and characters to be found in any book in 
 the English language. With Illustrations. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 27 
 
THE OLD MAN S BRIDE; OR, THE LESSON OF THE 
 DAY. 
 
 There are those who make marriage a matter of bargain 
 and sale. The history of Helen Lee sets forth in a strong 
 light the error of such a course. Helen was a brave-hearted, 
 accomplished, and beautiful girl, and the sole dependence of 
 her aged parents, who had once been in good circumstances. 
 She was tempted to sacrifice herself upon the altar of wealth 
 to relieve her parents from their embarrassing circumstances. 
 Goaded on by need of assistance from others she yielded, and 
 married old Adam Bullfinch. Having loved Henry Welford, 
 she married where she loved not, and had the honesty of heart 
 to warn Mr. Bullfinch of the fact before marriage. The death 
 of her husband, and her subsequent marriage with Henry Wel 
 ford, conclude this touching story. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 THE HAND WITHOUT THE HEART; OR, THE LIFE 
 TRIALS OF JESSIE LORING. 
 
 Jessie Loring in a moment of overpersuasion, consented to 
 marry Leon Dexter. She repented the step, but being a noble- 
 spirited young woman, yielded to the dictates of honor and be 
 came his wife. Her trials and temptations were greater than 
 those ordinarily encountered, but she swerved not from duty 
 arid religious principle. She loved Paul Hendrickson, yet re 
 mained faithful to her husband, whose jealousy caused unhap- 
 piness, and finally a separation. A divorce followed, then the 
 marriage of Mr. Dexter to an English lady. Afterwards we 
 are acquainted with the happy union of Paul Hendrickson and 
 
 Jessie Loring. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 28 
 
GOLDEN GRAINS FROM LIFE S HARVEST-FIELD. 
 
 Lively pictures of actual life, inculcating true principles, 
 pure affections, and human sympathies. One of these presents 
 the history of Albert Earnest, who was ambitious and selfish. 
 His misfortunes were numerous and of a deplorable character, 
 such as the loss of a child, followed by the death of his amiable 
 wife, whose life was marred by no little neglect and sorrow. 
 Another beautifully describes "The Mother s Dream of Hea 
 ven," while still another tells how Henry Miller through a dis 
 honest act lost the hand of the loving Emily Weldon, and how, 
 through repentance and years of upright industry, he gained 
 both wealth and the object of his love. These golden grains 
 are shaken from the full ears, and will afford strength to the 
 weak and tempted, comfort to the afflicted, and good impulses 
 to all. Cloth. $1 25. 
 
 ARTHUR S ADVICE TO YOUNG PEOPLE. 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 Advice to Young Men, 
 
 Advice to Young Ladies, 
 
 Ten Nights in a Bar Room, 
 
 The Hand without the Heart, 
 
 The Old Man s Bride, 
 
 Golden Grains from Life s Harvest-Field. 
 
 Six volumes, in uniform style, bound in cloth, and put up in 
 
 a neat case. Price per set, $7 50. 
 
 29 
 
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any 
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 or to the 
 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 
 (415)642-6233 
 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books 
 
 to NRLF 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days 
 
 prior to due date 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 MAR 1 7 1989 
 
 MITQ DISC DEC C 7 Qfl