has yet seen.

CHAPTER XII.

THE WOMAN'S NATIONAL CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.

During the summer of 1874, when the reaction which had checked the
"Crusade" was recognized as something permanent by the more thoughtful
and observant of the women who had been engaged in it, they paused for
deliberation, and took counsel together. Great victories had been won in
the brief season during which they were masters of the field; and now
that the enemy had rallied his forces, and intrenched himself behind
law, public opinion, politics and the State, should they weakly give up
the contest? Not so. They had discovered wherein the weakness, as well
as the strength, of their enemy lay, and had come into a new perception
of their own powers and resources.

ORGANIZATION.

The first step taken was to call conventions in the various States where
the Crusade had been active. These were attended by delegates chosen by
the local praying-bands. The result was the organization, in some of the
States, of what were known as "Temperance Leagues." Afterwards the word
"Unions" was substituted for Leagues. Having organized by States, the
next thing was to have a National Union. In August of that year, the
first National Sunday-School Assembly was held at Chautauqua Lake, near
Buffalo, New York. Many of the most earnest workers in the temperance
Crusade, from different parts of the United States, and from the various
denominations of Christians, were present, and the conviction was
general that steps should at once be taken towards forming a National
League, in order to make permanent the work that had already been done.
After much deliberation, a committee of organization was appointed,
consisting of a woman from each State. This committee issued a circular
letter, asking the various Woman's Temperance Leagues to hold meetings,
for the purpose of electing one woman from each Congressional district
as a delegate to a National Convention, to be held in November, at
Cleveland, Ohio. A single paragraph from this circular will show the
spirit that animated the call.

"It is hardly necessary to remind those who have worked so nobly in the
grand temperance uprising that in union and organization are its success
and permanence, and the consequent redemption of this land from the
curse of intemperance. In the name of our Master--in behalf of the
thousands of women who suffer from this terrible evil, we call upon all
to unite in an earnest,