n public, when to do so provoked the severest criticism. The
following extracts are taken verbatim from the original MS.:

Welcome, Gentlemen and Ladies, to this, our Hall of Temperance. We
feel that the cause we have espoused is a common cause, in which
you, with us, are deeply interested. We would that some means were
devised, by which our Brothers and Sons shall no longer be allured
from the _right_ by the corrupting influence of the fashionable
sippings of wine and brandy, those sure destroyers of Mental and
Moral Worth, and by which our Sisters and Daughters shall no longer
be exposed to the vile arts of the gentlemanly-appearing, gallant,
but really half-inebriated seducer. Our motive is to ask of you
counsel in the formation, and co-operation in the carrying-out of
plans which may produce a radical change in our Moral
Atmosphere....

But to the question, what good our Union has done? Though our Order
has been strongly opposed by ladies professing a desire to see the
Moral condition of our race elevated, and though we still behold
some of our thoughtless female friends whirling in the giddy dance,
with intoxicated partners at their side and, more than this, see
them accompany their reeling companions to some secluded nook and
there quaff with them from that Virtue-destroying cup, yet may we
not hope that an influence, though now unseen, unfelt, has gone
forth, which shall tell upon the future, which shall convince us
that our weekly resort to these meetings has not been in vain, and
which shall cause the friends of humanity to admire and
respect--nay, venerate--this now-despised little band of Daughters
of Temperance?...

We count it no waste of time to go forth through our streets, thus
proclaiming our desire for the advancement of our great cause. You,
with us, no doubt, feel that Intemperance is the blighting mildew
of all our social connections; you would be most happy to speed on
the time when no Wife shall watch with trembling heart and tearful
eye the slow, but sure descent of her idolized Companion down to
the loathsome haunts of drunkenness; you would hasten the day when
no Mother shall have to mourn over a darling son as she sees him
launch his bark on the circling waves of the mighty whirlpool.

How is this great change to be wrought, who are to urge on this