The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation [20]
me, I will be a dead man in six months."
I wanted to stay with him, but dared not disobey my mother and be
thrown out of shelter, for I saw I could not depend on my husband. I
did not know then that drinking men were drugged men, diseased men.
His mother told me that when he was growing up to manhood, his father,
Harry Gloyd, was Justice of the Peace in Newport, Ohio, twelve years, and
that Charlie was so disgusted with the drink cases, that he would go in
a room and lock himself in, to get out of their hearing; that he never
touched a drop until he went in the army, the 118th regiment, Thomas L.
Young being the Colonel. Dr. Gloyd was a captain. In the society of these
officers he, for the first time, began to drink intoxicants. He was fighting
to free others from slavery, and he became a worse slave than those he
fought to free. In a little less than six months from the day my child
was born, I got a telegram telling of his death. His father died a few
months before he did, and mother Gloyd was left entirely alone.
Mother Gloyd was a true type of a New England housewife, and I
had always lived in the south. I could not say at this time that I loved
her, although I respected her very highly. But I wanted to be with the
mother of the man I loved more than my own life; I wanted to supply his
place if possible. My father gave me several lots; by selling one of these
and Dr. Gloyd's library and instruments, I built a house of three rooms
on one of the lots and rented the house we lived in, which brought us in
a little income, but not sufficient to support us. I wanted to prepare myself
to teach, and I attended the Normal Institute of Warrensburg. I was
not able to pay my board and Mr. Archie Gilkerson and wife charged me
nothing and were as kind to me as parents. God bless them! I got
a certificate and was given the primary room in the Public School at Holden.
Mother Gloyd kept house and took care of Charlien, my little girl,
and I made the living. This continued for four years. I lost my position
as teacher in that school this way: A Dr. Moore was a member of the
board, he criticised me for the way I had the little ones read; for instance,
in the sentence, "I saw a man," I had them use the short a instead of
the long a, and so with the article a; having them read it as we would
speak it naturally. He made this serious objection, and I lost my place
and Dr. Moore's niece got my room as teacher. This was a severe blow
to me, for I could not leave mother Gloyd and Charlien to teach in another
place, and I knew of no other way of making a living except by teaching.
I resolved then to get married. I made it a subject of prayer and went
to the Lord explaining things about this way. I said: "My Lord, you
see the situation I cannot take care of mother and Charlien. I want you to
help me. If it be best for me to marry, I will do so. I have no one picked
out, but I want you to select the one that you think best. I want to give
you my life, and I want by marrying to glorify and serve you, as well as
to take care of mother and Charlien and be a good wife." I have always
been a literalist. I find out that it is the only way to interpret the Bible.
When God says: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him he
shall bring it to pass," I believe that to be the way to act. My faith does
not at all times grasp this or other promises, but there are times when
I can appropriate them and make them mine; there are times when I can
pray with faith, believing that I have the things I pray for, other times it
is not so.
In about ten days from that time I made this a subject of prayer, I
was walking down the street in Holden and passed a place where Mr.
Nation was standing, who had come up from Warrensburg, where he was
then editing the "Warrensburg Journal". He was standing in the door with
his back to me, but turned and spoke. There was a peculiar thrill which
passed through my heart which made me start. The next day I got
a letter from him, asking me to correspond with him. I was not
I wanted to stay with him, but dared not disobey my mother and be
thrown out of shelter, for I saw I could not depend on my husband. I
did not know then that drinking men were drugged men, diseased men.
His mother told me that when he was growing up to manhood, his father,
Harry Gloyd, was Justice of the Peace in Newport, Ohio, twelve years, and
that Charlie was so disgusted with the drink cases, that he would go in
a room and lock himself in, to get out of their hearing; that he never
touched a drop until he went in the army, the 118th regiment, Thomas L.
Young being the Colonel. Dr. Gloyd was a captain. In the society of these
officers he, for the first time, began to drink intoxicants. He was fighting
to free others from slavery, and he became a worse slave than those he
fought to free. In a little less than six months from the day my child
was born, I got a telegram telling of his death. His father died a few
months before he did, and mother Gloyd was left entirely alone.
Mother Gloyd was a true type of a New England housewife, and I
had always lived in the south. I could not say at this time that I loved
her, although I respected her very highly. But I wanted to be with the
mother of the man I loved more than my own life; I wanted to supply his
place if possible. My father gave me several lots; by selling one of these
and Dr. Gloyd's library and instruments, I built a house of three rooms
on one of the lots and rented the house we lived in, which brought us in
a little income, but not sufficient to support us. I wanted to prepare myself
to teach, and I attended the Normal Institute of Warrensburg. I was
not able to pay my board and Mr. Archie Gilkerson and wife charged me
nothing and were as kind to me as parents. God bless them! I got
a certificate and was given the primary room in the Public School at Holden.
Mother Gloyd kept house and took care of Charlien, my little girl,
and I made the living. This continued for four years. I lost my position
as teacher in that school this way: A Dr. Moore was a member of the
board, he criticised me for the way I had the little ones read; for instance,
in the sentence, "I saw a man," I had them use the short a instead of
the long a, and so with the article a; having them read it as we would
speak it naturally. He made this serious objection, and I lost my place
and Dr. Moore's niece got my room as teacher. This was a severe blow
to me, for I could not leave mother Gloyd and Charlien to teach in another
place, and I knew of no other way of making a living except by teaching.
I resolved then to get married. I made it a subject of prayer and went
to the Lord explaining things about this way. I said: "My Lord, you
see the situation I cannot take care of mother and Charlien. I want you to
help me. If it be best for me to marry, I will do so. I have no one picked
out, but I want you to select the one that you think best. I want to give
you my life, and I want by marrying to glorify and serve you, as well as
to take care of mother and Charlien and be a good wife." I have always
been a literalist. I find out that it is the only way to interpret the Bible.
When God says: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him he
shall bring it to pass," I believe that to be the way to act. My faith does
not at all times grasp this or other promises, but there are times when
I can appropriate them and make them mine; there are times when I can
pray with faith, believing that I have the things I pray for, other times it
is not so.
In about ten days from that time I made this a subject of prayer, I
was walking down the street in Holden and passed a place where Mr.
Nation was standing, who had come up from Warrensburg, where he was
then editing the "Warrensburg Journal". He was standing in the door with
his back to me, but turned and spoke. There was a peculiar thrill which
passed through my heart which made me start. The next day I got
a letter from him, asking me to correspond with him. I was not