Two Decades | Page 3

those who will come after us, and for those who will kindly read these pages, "May God bless us each and every one."
MARY T. BURT.
NEW YORK, November 9, 1894.

MRS. ESTHER McNEIL.
(VETERAN CRUSADER)
Esther Lord was born in Carlisle, Schoharie county, New York, in the year 1812. Her father was a Connecticut Yankee, her mother a native of Massachusetts. When Esther was ten years of age her father died, leaving ten children. We know little of the struggles through which they passed before reaching manhood and womanhood.
In 1832 she was married to James McNeil, of Carlisle, and together they enlisted under the Washingtonian movement to fight the demon drink. About a month after her marriage she became a Christian, and, with a new heart, God gave her the desire to be of use to others, and she offered herself to the Lord to care for homeless children. Although she has never been blessed with children of her own, yet the mother heart has not been empty. In 1868 she with her husband moved to Fredonia, Chautauqua county, New York, with eight homeless children to be put to school. Two years later her husband, who was a member of the State Temperance Society, died, and in this same year one of her dear girls died.
In 1873 she entered the list of crusaders, and became a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, organized December 22, 1873. This union has continued to be the leading union in the county, holding weekly meetings, and loyal always to county, state, and national organizations. Mrs. McNeil was the first county president, and for the past seventeen years has been the local president in Fredonia. Although now past eighty-two years of age, yet at the twenty-first annual convention she led the "Crusaders' Hour" with great acceptance.
[Illustration: MRS. ESTHER McNEIL.]

PROLOGUE.
When history shall have recorded the events of America's nineteenth century, prominent among them will be the "Woman's Crusade," a movement whose strength, please God, will not be spent until the last legalized saloon has disappeared from this fair land.
Hillsboro, Ohio, claims the birthplace, and December 23, 1873, as the birthday of this momentous event. True, from this place and day the influence deepened and widened, spreading to other localities with wonderful rapidity; but to Fredonia, Chautauqua county, New York, is accorded the honor of inaugurating the work, December 15, 1873. How was this brought about? The story in brief is this:
On Saturday evening, December 13, Dr. Dio Lewis, of Boston, had delivered a popular lecture in Fredonia, and upon invitation of the Good Templars remained to deliver a temperance lecture at a union service Sunday night. The audience was large, but there was no indication of unusual results from the meeting. The speaker presented the truth so forcibly, and recommended plans of procedure so practical, that the audience caught his spirit. At the close of the lecture it was evident something was going to be done, and that right speedily. Dr. Lewis outlined a plan of work which he had seen tried with success in his own village when a youth, and later in other places. The thoughtful ones saw its feasibility, and numbers spoke upon the question. Rev. Lester Williams, pastor of the Baptist Church, said he believed in striking while the iron was hot, and asked all the ladies who sympathized with the proposition to hold a meeting of consultation relative to the work to rise. Nearly every woman was upon her feet. A list of fifty names was secured of those who were ready to act, and a committee consisting of Mrs. A. L. Benton, Mrs. Dr. Fuller, and Mrs. J. P. Armstrong, Jr., was appointed to draw up an appeal to be presented to the various liquor dealers of the town.
A meeting was called at the Baptist Church for Monday morning, December 15, at ten o'clock, to adopt the appeal and inaugurate the work. The past few days had been dark and gloomy, but Monday was bright and beautiful. Mr. Williams remarked that in it they could see the smile of God upon the movement. About three hundred people gathered at the appointed hour--men and women. The following appeal was submitted and adopted:
APPEAL.
In the name of God and humanity we make our appeal:
Knowing, as we do, that the sale of intoxicating liquors is the parent of every misery, prolific of all woe in this life and the next, potent alone in evil, blighting every fair hope, desolating families, the chief incentive to crime, we, the mothers, wives, and daughters, representing the moral and religious sentiment of our town, to save the loved members of our households from the temptation of strong drink, from acquiring an appetite for it, and to rescue, if possible, those that have already acquired it, earnestly request that you will pledge