Our Girls Part 23

JACOB SCHNEIDER AND HIS DOUGHNUTS.

I cannot close this subject better than with a "little story" about my friend Jacob.

I called upon him about nine o'clock in the evening, and found him alone, and very seriously occupied with a big wooden bowl of doughnuts. I asked him:

"How many, so far?"

"Oh, eight or ten, perhaps."

"Did you have supper?"

"Oh, yes; I ate supper, and I shouldn't touched these, but somehow I didn't feel very well, and was sorter lonesome, and these doughnuts are kinder company for me, ye know. The old woman always fries them in the evening, and when they are nice and hot I sometimes eat more 'n twenty on 'em, just to sorter pa.s.s away the time, ye know."

WINES AND OTHER ALCOHOLIC DRINKS.

Woman rules in the social sphere, and is responsible for its vices.

If women would expressly disapprove of wine-drinking, soon, among the decent cla.s.ses, it would become obsolete.

Clara P. came from Portsmouth to Boston about twenty years ago, to seek her fortune as a teacher of the piano. Wholesome in person, and interesting in manners, she not only won pupils, but social recognition.

At a reception in Somerset St., she was asked to join in a gla.s.s of wine. Hinting at a shadow in her family history, she quietly declined, and fell into a sad, thoughtful mood.

A month later, at a similar gathering in the same house, she was confidentially told by the lady of the house, that two gentlemen who were present at the previous reception, had just requested her not to offer wines, as Miss. P. was made unhappy by it. The wines were not brought out, and no farther allusion was made to the subject. At several other social gatherings, when Miss P. was present, the same respectful deference was paid to her feelings; and yet this young woman did not belong to the most influential cla.s.s.

Mrs. F. was married two years, when rum turned her little quiet home into a h.e.l.l. Broken-hearted and sick, she left her baby son with her sister, and came to Boston to rest her aching head and sore heart, and to earn a living. She advertised for a place as housekeeper, and had several interviews with ladies and gentlemen who were in pursuit of a housekeeper. She told her story to each one in turn, and was quickly dropped by one and another, until her last dollar had been paid for bread and shelter; and then came a manly man who was touched by her sad recital, and said at once:

"Come, work and rest with us."

He took her to a beautiful house in Mt. Vernon St. and left her in charge of a fashionable, helpless family. Mrs. F. soon established herself in the confidence of the household. In a few days there came a party, and the housekeeper was busy enough. Among other duties was the delivery to the waiters of bottles of wine. Mrs. F. called the gentleman of the house, and said:

"You have been very kind to me, and I will do anything for you, but I hope you will excuse me from this; my hands refuse." The Colonel called one of the colored boys, and gave him the key of the wine- cellar, and the entertainment went on as usual. Up stairs the housekeeper's notion was mentioned, and one of the young men cried out:

"Come gentlemen, fill up, fill up; here's to the health of the brave housekeeper, and long may she wave."

The lady of the house thought it very queer, and next day sought an explanation. It was, after some reluctance, given with tears and pa.s.sionate e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns. The lady thought there might be danger; indeed her husband and oldest son had of late seemed too fond of wine. Several conversations followed between the two mothers, and the lady, just previous to the next social gathering, said to her husband at the breakfast table, in the presence of her sons:

"What do you say to having no wine tonight? That story of Mrs. F.'s has really frightened me?"

"Now," said the husband, "don't _you_ go to preaching temperance; it's enough to have one woman in the house teaching morals."

"But," said the anxious wife and mother, "I was not preaching; I was just asking what you thought of it; and if you were willing, I had made up my mind to turn over a new leaf in our receptions."

_Husband_,--"Well, then I shall go in for abandoning coffee and tea.

I think they do a great deal more harm than wine!"

_Herbert_,--"Yes, and how it would sound with all our fellows here, to tell them with solemn faces, that we were afraid they would all become drunkards, and so we must deny them. Oh, pshaw! I should never hear the last of it."

_Mother_,--"I can only say that when they were here last, several of them, including my own dear Herbert, drank too much."

_Herbert_,--"I think we had better turn it into a prayer-meeting at once."

_Father_,--"Oh well, mother, let us eat our breakfast in peace. We will speak of it some other time."

During the day the two mothers held a long conversation, in which Mrs. F described the beautiful, fresh face and spirit of Charles, before the dreadful thirst took possession of him, and the horrible, brutal oaths and pa.s.sion which followed.

The two sad ones closed their long conversation, as women are wont to when in real trouble, by earnest, tearful prayer.

The lady of the house said to herself, "My husband is always declaring that I am the queen of his castle; that he attends to everything in his business outside, and never wants me to interfere; but that he leaves everything at home to me,--that here I am mistress of all. I wonder if this is so. G.o.d helping me, I will try my authority, this very night."

John was ordered to bring round the carriage, and soon after, a lady might have been seen down in Kilby St., in earnest conversation with a certain well-known wine merchant; and just before dark, two men, with a wagon at the back door, were very busy up in the rear of Mt.

Vernon St.

About eleven o'clock that evening, the Colonel rang the bell for Richard, when the good wife interrupted him by saying:

"Gentlemen, will you not join me in a cup of coffee to-night, instead of the wine?"

"Certainly, madam, most certainly! while we are your guests, we place ourselves at your disposal!"

The bright urn was brought in, and placed upon the side-board, and the waiters, who had received special instructions, acquitted themselves with marked success.

If you could have placed your ear at a certain keyhole, after the family had retired that night, you would have heard a very earnest conversation.

A woman is heard to say, "But, husband, what do you mean, when you say that I rule here, just as you rule in your business? Do you mean to say that when I see my own darling son entering the path that leads to a drunkard's grave in our own house, I have nothing to say or do, but must wait for you to determine the details of our social entertainments? What do I rule over in our home, if not over the entertainment of our guests? What would you say if I were to go down to your counting room to-morrow, and attempt to over-rule your decisions? You are always saying that I am supreme here in our home, and now when I alter a little the details of our social entertainments, you say that I have a.s.sumed to determine what you shall eat and drink, that you won't be henpecked, and that you won't stand it, and all that sort of thing. Will you be kind enough to tell me which portion of the housekeeping you intend to leave to me, and exactly, in detail, what I may attend to here in our home, without asking your permission. It's of no use for you to say that I may attend to everything else but this one thing; G.o.d has given me a yearning for our boy, and, if you will force me to say it, for my own dear misguided husband, which forbids my abandonment of my duties and rights in this matter. In the light of this poor woman's dreadful history, G.o.d has shown me my duty, and, my dear husband, I shall perform it in His fear. No more wine will be served in our house, on any occasion, with my consent."

_Husband_,--"I will turn that meddlesome woman into the street to- morrow morning before breakfast, bag and baggage!"

"You will do nothing of the kind, for I have determined to keep her."

"Well, we'll see; I will hustle her off as soon as I am out of my bed."

Of course she was not sent away; and when, a year after, that family was earnestly pushing the interests of the cause of Temperance, the Colonel went himself with Mrs. F., the housekeeper, to bring her little son to the city, where in the beautiful home on Mt. Vernon St. he soon became not only a pet, but, as usual, a king and tyrant.

These events occurred about twenty-seven years ago. To-day Herbert, --the oldest son--and Mr. F., the housekeeper's husband, are partners in one of the largest concerns in this city.

If women knew how complete is their dominion in the social sphere, and would exercise their power, rum and tobacco would quickly disappear from the better cla.s.ses, throughout the civilized world.

An effort among a few young women in the neighborhood of this city, induced more than fifty young men to abandon cigars. One young fellow swore by all the G.o.ds that he would smoke as long as he pleased, and so he did; but he did not _please_ to continue very long after several of the young ladies had had interviews with him.

In Dixon, Ill., fifty good women called at every rum-hole in town.

There were forty nine of them. In each place they read a touching "Appeal from the Women of Dixon to the Venders of Intoxicating Drinks in Dixon," joined in a brief prayer, sang a verse, and went on to the next "rum-hole." This they repeated every day for a week, when there were no places left to visit.

The women of Battle Creek, Mich., tried the same thing. One hundred of them went, without parade or notice, to all the "rum-holes" in the city every day, till there was not one that dared open its doors. I was there at the time, and could tell you thrilling stories of the encounters of these n.o.ble, brave women with the venders of what a clergyman--a friend of mine--calls "liquid h.e.l.l-fire."

But I hasten on to give you a very interesting ill.u.s.tration of the power of woman in the summary abatement of social nuisances.

Although in lecturing upon "Woman's Influence in the Cause of Temperance," I have frequently given the facts entire, with the names of the parties, it has occurred to me that in writing it out for a book, it would be only just to avoid mentioning names, as many members of the families involved, are now most respectable people, and earnest advocates of Temperance.