The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation [86]
own wrong doings.
{illust. caption =
Mrs. Carry Nation's "Home for Drunkards' Wives and Children"
One of two fine properties in Kansas purchased by Mrs. Carry Nation with the
money she earned on her lecturing tours. In this way she believes she can
bring comfort into the lives now darkened and saddened by the saloon curse.}
When I was at Coney Island, I was asked, what I thought of William
McKinley's administration? I said: "I was glad when McKinley
was elected for I had heard that he was opposed to the liquor traffic.
I did not know then that he rented his wife's property in Canton, Ohio,
for saloon purposes, and after his election he had been a constant
disappointment to me; that he was the Brewers' president and did their
biddings; that we as W. C. T. U. workers, sent petitions, thousands of them
to Mr. McKinley to have him refuse to let the canteen run. That we
were willing to give our boys to fight the battles of this nation, to die
in a foreign land, but we were not willing that a murderer should follow
them from their home shores to kill their bodies and souls." This
was said at the time that he was thought to be convalescent from his
death-wound. I said: "I had no tears for McKinley, neither have I any
for his assassin. That no one's life was safe with such a murderer at
large." This roused hisses; some left the hall and there was a murmer
of confusion. One man threw a wad of paper at me, but I said: "My
loyalty to the homes of America demand that I denounce such a president
and his crowd." It was a common thing to be hissed. Once I
spoke in Sioux City, Iowa, in the church where the martyred Haddock
preached. The crowd was so large, the church was filled and emptied
three times. I had cheers and hisses at the same time. At the first
meeting I was talking at the top of my voice, the audience was clapping
and hissing and a good evangelistic brother by my side kept pounding
his fist of one hand into the palm of the other and shouting: "She is
right! She is right!" That was a great meeting, and I shall never forget
it, neither will anyone who was there. I spoke three times to audiences
that night. I have been hissed, and after giving the people time
to think, have been applauded by the same parties. "Oh, fools and slow
of heart to understand," Jesus said.
Murat Halstead, who wrote the book called, "Our Martyred President
or the Illustrious Life of William McKinley", wrote some positive
falsehoods concerning me. This Halstead has always been a defender
of anarchy or the licensed saloon.
William McKinley was no martyr. He was murdered by a man who
was the result of a saloon and could not tell why he murdered the President.
I could tell of many amusing incidents, indeed. I could fill a book
of interesting anecdotes. Once when I was among the Thousand Islands
of the St. Lawrence, in the summer of 1902, a characteristic woman with
a very low dress, with a very long train, the whole a mixture of paint,
powder, lace, flashy jewelry and corset stays, with as much exposure
of person as she dare, came to me in an affected manner, handed me a
roll saying: "I am a temperance lecturer, here is one of my bills." I
replied: "If you are such, you had better make a practical application
of temperance and cover up yourself." The change of her countenance
was instantaneous and she with a queer almost startled look said: "You
go to He--l."
Once in Elmira, N. Y. the streets were so crowded that we had to
leave the Salvation Army Hall. I climbed in a farmer's two horse wagon.
He came out of a saloon and gathered up the reins and laid the whip
to his horses, which were caught so as to let me out.
Mr. Furlong, my manager, had a keen sense of the ridiculous and
would let me alone when I started out. He said he knew I could take
care of myself. Often when I would rise to speak to the thousands in
the parks, there would be yells and groans, and a manager at Youngstown,
Ohio, said to Mr. Furlong: "She will not get a chance to speak."
Mr. Furlong said: "You watch how she
{illust. caption =
Mrs. Carry Nation's "Home for Drunkards' Wives and Children"
One of two fine properties in Kansas purchased by Mrs. Carry Nation with the
money she earned on her lecturing tours. In this way she believes she can
bring comfort into the lives now darkened and saddened by the saloon curse.}
When I was at Coney Island, I was asked, what I thought of William
McKinley's administration? I said: "I was glad when McKinley
was elected for I had heard that he was opposed to the liquor traffic.
I did not know then that he rented his wife's property in Canton, Ohio,
for saloon purposes, and after his election he had been a constant
disappointment to me; that he was the Brewers' president and did their
biddings; that we as W. C. T. U. workers, sent petitions, thousands of them
to Mr. McKinley to have him refuse to let the canteen run. That we
were willing to give our boys to fight the battles of this nation, to die
in a foreign land, but we were not willing that a murderer should follow
them from their home shores to kill their bodies and souls." This
was said at the time that he was thought to be convalescent from his
death-wound. I said: "I had no tears for McKinley, neither have I any
for his assassin. That no one's life was safe with such a murderer at
large." This roused hisses; some left the hall and there was a murmer
of confusion. One man threw a wad of paper at me, but I said: "My
loyalty to the homes of America demand that I denounce such a president
and his crowd." It was a common thing to be hissed. Once I
spoke in Sioux City, Iowa, in the church where the martyred Haddock
preached. The crowd was so large, the church was filled and emptied
three times. I had cheers and hisses at the same time. At the first
meeting I was talking at the top of my voice, the audience was clapping
and hissing and a good evangelistic brother by my side kept pounding
his fist of one hand into the palm of the other and shouting: "She is
right! She is right!" That was a great meeting, and I shall never forget
it, neither will anyone who was there. I spoke three times to audiences
that night. I have been hissed, and after giving the people time
to think, have been applauded by the same parties. "Oh, fools and slow
of heart to understand," Jesus said.
Murat Halstead, who wrote the book called, "Our Martyred President
or the Illustrious Life of William McKinley", wrote some positive
falsehoods concerning me. This Halstead has always been a defender
of anarchy or the licensed saloon.
William McKinley was no martyr. He was murdered by a man who
was the result of a saloon and could not tell why he murdered the President.
I could tell of many amusing incidents, indeed. I could fill a book
of interesting anecdotes. Once when I was among the Thousand Islands
of the St. Lawrence, in the summer of 1902, a characteristic woman with
a very low dress, with a very long train, the whole a mixture of paint,
powder, lace, flashy jewelry and corset stays, with as much exposure
of person as she dare, came to me in an affected manner, handed me a
roll saying: "I am a temperance lecturer, here is one of my bills." I
replied: "If you are such, you had better make a practical application
of temperance and cover up yourself." The change of her countenance
was instantaneous and she with a queer almost startled look said: "You
go to He--l."
Once in Elmira, N. Y. the streets were so crowded that we had to
leave the Salvation Army Hall. I climbed in a farmer's two horse wagon.
He came out of a saloon and gathered up the reins and laid the whip
to his horses, which were caught so as to let me out.
Mr. Furlong, my manager, had a keen sense of the ridiculous and
would let me alone when I started out. He said he knew I could take
care of myself. Often when I would rise to speak to the thousands in
the parks, there would be yells and groans, and a manager at Youngstown,
Ohio, said to Mr. Furlong: "She will not get a chance to speak."
Mr. Furlong said: "You watch how she