ful were their efforts, that in a few weeks their membership
swelled to hundreds, and the whole city was in a state of excitement
over the new and strange work which had been inaugurated.

From Bangor, the excitement soon spread through the State. Dr. Reynolds,
believing that God had called him to the work of saving men from
intemperance and leading them to Christ, gave up his profession and
threw himself into the work of preaching temperance and organizing
reform clubs. Within a year forty-five thousand reformed men were
gathered into clubs in the State of Maine. In August, 1875, at a meeting
of the National Christian Temperance Camp-Meeting Association, held at
Old Orchard, Maine, where temperance workers from all parts of the
country had congregated, the president of the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union of Salem, Massachusetts, learned of the great work of
reform progressing in Maine under the leadership of Dr. Reynolds, and
invited him to introduce his work in Massachusetts by holding a series
of meetings in Salem during the month of September. So the work began in
the Old Bay State, and within a year, forty thousand men of that
Commonwealth, who had been habitual drinkers, were organized into reform
clubs.

FORMATION OF CLUBS.

The method pursued by Dr. Reynolds in the formation of these clubs is
very simple. There is a constitution with by-laws, to which the
following pledge is prefixed: "Having seen and felt the evils of
intemperance, therefore, Resolved, That we, the undersigned, for our own
good, and the good of the world in which we live, do hereby promise and
engage, with the help of Almighty God, to abstain from buying, selling
or using alcoholic or malt beverages, wine and cider included." Article
III. of the constitution gives the qualification for membership: "All
male persons of the age of eighteen or upwards, who have been in the
habit of using intoxicating liquor to a greater or less extent, are
eligible to membership in this club." After organizing a club of persons
who have been addicted to drink, Dr. Reynolds appeals to the Christian
women of the locality to throw around them the shield of their care and
sympathy, and urges upon the people at large the necessity of upholding
and encouraging them in every possible way.

The meetings of the clubs are held at least once during the week, in the
evenings; and on Sunday afternoons or evenings, the clubs, with the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union