The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation [19]
and girls and boys should early be instructed about the secrets
of their own natures, the object of marriage, and the serious results of any
marriage where true love is not the object. I confess myself that I
was not fit to marry with the ignorance of its holy purpose. Sunday school
teachers, mothers, fathers, and ministers, look into God's word and see the
results of sin. God has written of this so as to force you to educate your
children. Talk freely. Truth will purify everything it comes in contact
with. Ignorance is not innocence, but is the promoter of crime: "My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
About five days after we were married, Dr. Gloyd came in, threw
himself on the bed and fell asleep. I was in the next room and saw his
mother bow down over his face. She did not know I saw her. When
she left, I did the same thing, and the fumes of liquor came in my
face. I was terror stricken, and from that time on, I knew why he was
so changed. Not one happy moment did I see; I cried most all the time.
My husband seemed to understand that I knew his condition. Twice,
with tears in his eyes, he remarked: "Oh! Pet, I would give my right arm
to make you happy." He would be out until late every night. I never
closed my eyes. His sign in front of the door on the street would creak
in the wind, and I would sit by the window waiting to hear his footsteps.
I never saw him stagger. He would lock himself up in the
"Masonic Lodge" and allow no one to see him. People would call for
him in case of sickness, but he could not be found.
My anguish was unspeakable, I was comparatively a child. I wanted
some one to help me. He was a mason. I talked to a Mr. Hulitt, a
brother mason, I begged of him to help me save my precious husband.
I talked to a dear friend, Mrs. Clara Mize, a Christian, hoping to get
some help in that direction, but all they could say, was. "Oh, what a
pity, to see a man like Dr. Gloyd throw himself away!" The world was
all at once changed to me, it was like a place of torture. I thought
certainly, there must be a way to prevent this suicide and murder. I now
know, that the impulse was born in me then to combat to the death
this inhumanity to man.
I believe the masons were a great curse to Dr. Gloyd. These men
would drink with him. There is no society or business that separates
man and wife, or calls men from their homes at night, that produces
any good results. I believe that secret societies are unscriptural, and
that the Masonic Lodge has been the ruin of many a home and character.
I was so ignorant I did not know that I owed a duty to myself to
avoid gloomy thoughts; did not know that a mother could entail a curse
on her offspring before it was born. Oh, the curse that comes through
heredity, and this liquor evil, a disease that entails more depravity on
children
unborn, than all else, unless it be tobacco. There is an object lesson
taught in the Bible. The mother of Samson was told by an angel to
"drink neither wine nor strong drink" before her child was born, and not
to allow him to do so after he was born. God shows by this, that these
things are injurious. Mothers often make drunkards of their own children,
before they are born. My parents heard that Dr. Gloyd was drinking.
My father came down to visit us, and I went home with him. My
mother told me I must never go back to my husband again. I knew the
time was near at hand, when I would be helpless, with a drunken husband,
and no means of support. What could I do? I kept writing to
"Charlie," as I called him. He came to see me once; my mother treated
him as a stranger. He expressed much anxiety about my confinement in
September; got a party to agree to come for him at the time; but
my mother would not allow it. In six weeks after my little girl was
born, my mother sent my brother with me to Holden to get my trunk and
other things to bring them home. Her words to me were: "If you stay
in Holden, never return home again." My husband begged me to stay with
him; he said: "Pet, if you leave
of their own natures, the object of marriage, and the serious results of any
marriage where true love is not the object. I confess myself that I
was not fit to marry with the ignorance of its holy purpose. Sunday school
teachers, mothers, fathers, and ministers, look into God's word and see the
results of sin. God has written of this so as to force you to educate your
children. Talk freely. Truth will purify everything it comes in contact
with. Ignorance is not innocence, but is the promoter of crime: "My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
About five days after we were married, Dr. Gloyd came in, threw
himself on the bed and fell asleep. I was in the next room and saw his
mother bow down over his face. She did not know I saw her. When
she left, I did the same thing, and the fumes of liquor came in my
face. I was terror stricken, and from that time on, I knew why he was
so changed. Not one happy moment did I see; I cried most all the time.
My husband seemed to understand that I knew his condition. Twice,
with tears in his eyes, he remarked: "Oh! Pet, I would give my right arm
to make you happy." He would be out until late every night. I never
closed my eyes. His sign in front of the door on the street would creak
in the wind, and I would sit by the window waiting to hear his footsteps.
I never saw him stagger. He would lock himself up in the
"Masonic Lodge" and allow no one to see him. People would call for
him in case of sickness, but he could not be found.
My anguish was unspeakable, I was comparatively a child. I wanted
some one to help me. He was a mason. I talked to a Mr. Hulitt, a
brother mason, I begged of him to help me save my precious husband.
I talked to a dear friend, Mrs. Clara Mize, a Christian, hoping to get
some help in that direction, but all they could say, was. "Oh, what a
pity, to see a man like Dr. Gloyd throw himself away!" The world was
all at once changed to me, it was like a place of torture. I thought
certainly, there must be a way to prevent this suicide and murder. I now
know, that the impulse was born in me then to combat to the death
this inhumanity to man.
I believe the masons were a great curse to Dr. Gloyd. These men
would drink with him. There is no society or business that separates
man and wife, or calls men from their homes at night, that produces
any good results. I believe that secret societies are unscriptural, and
that the Masonic Lodge has been the ruin of many a home and character.
I was so ignorant I did not know that I owed a duty to myself to
avoid gloomy thoughts; did not know that a mother could entail a curse
on her offspring before it was born. Oh, the curse that comes through
heredity, and this liquor evil, a disease that entails more depravity on
children
unborn, than all else, unless it be tobacco. There is an object lesson
taught in the Bible. The mother of Samson was told by an angel to
"drink neither wine nor strong drink" before her child was born, and not
to allow him to do so after he was born. God shows by this, that these
things are injurious. Mothers often make drunkards of their own children,
before they are born. My parents heard that Dr. Gloyd was drinking.
My father came down to visit us, and I went home with him. My
mother told me I must never go back to my husband again. I knew the
time was near at hand, when I would be helpless, with a drunken husband,
and no means of support. What could I do? I kept writing to
"Charlie," as I called him. He came to see me once; my mother treated
him as a stranger. He expressed much anxiety about my confinement in
September; got a party to agree to come for him at the time; but
my mother would not allow it. In six weeks after my little girl was
born, my mother sent my brother with me to Holden to get my trunk and
other things to bring them home. Her words to me were: "If you stay
in Holden, never return home again." My husband begged me to stay with
him; he said: "Pet, if you leave