but we had set out to have a fire, and
were determined by some means or other to make it burn, so we
sent for some coal oil and poured it on and we soon had a
blaze. The man who could sell such liquors would not be likely
to keep the pledge. He is selling liquors again.

The crusade began at Washington C.H. only two days later than at
Hillsboro. And Washington C.H. was the first place where the crusade was
made prominent and successful.

On Friday morning, December 26, 1873, after an hour of prayer in the
M.E. Church, forty-four women filed slowly and solemnly down the aisle,
and started forth upon their strange mission with fear and trembling,
while the male portion of the audience remained at the church to pray
for the success of this new undertaking; the tolling of the church-bell
keeping time to the solemn march of the women, as they wended their way
to the first drug-store on the list. (The number of places within the
city limits where intoxicating drinks were sold was fourteen--eleven
saloons and three drug-stores.) Here, as in every place, they entered
singing, every woman taking up the sacred strain as she crossed the
threshold. This was followed by the reading of the appeal and prayer;
then earnest pleading to desist from their soul-destroying traffic and
sign the dealer's pledge.

Thus, all the day long, they went from place to place, without stopping
even for dinner or lunch, till five o'clock, meeting with no marked
success; but invariably courtesy was extended to them; not even their
reiterated promise, "We will call again," seeming to offend.

No woman who has ever entered one of these dens of iniquity on such an
errand needs to be told of the heartsickness that almost over-came them
as they, for the first time, saw behind those painted windows or green
blinds, or entered the little stifling "back room," or found their way
down winding steps into the damp, dark cellars, and realized that into
_such places_ those they loved best were being landed, through the
allurements of the brilliantly lighted drug-store, the fascinating
billiard table, or the enticing beer gardens, with their siren
attractions. A crowded house at night, to hear the report of the day's
work, betrayed the rapidly increasing interest in this mission.

On the twenty-seventh the contest really began, and, at the first place,
the doors were found locked. With hearts full of compassion, the women
knelt in the snow up