PROMOTED.

White Ribbon, Volume 19, Issue 228, 18 June 1914, Page 10

PROMOTED.

MRS LILIAN M. N. STEVENS. Once more Wh»te Ribboneis are called upon to mourn for a leader, one who has fallen on the field of Honour. Mrs Stevens was born in Maine, and passed her early life in that State. One who loved her wrote; “She is as strong as Maine’s granite rocks, as steadfast as her ocean waves, and as easily moved by humanity’s needs as her pine-tree tops. ” Like Frances Willard and many of our leaders, she began her public work as a teacher. At 21 years of age she married, and her husband and only daughter were ever in full sympathy with her in her work. Her daughter is President of a local I'nion, of which her mother was a member. When Miss Willard organised the Maine W.C.T.U. in 1875, Mrs Stevens joined, and threw herself heartily into the work, and became Treasurer, and afterwards President of this Union. In 18<>4 the office of National Vice-President at Large was established, and Mrs Stevens was nominated by Miss W illard to fill this important position. In 1898 Miss Willard was promoted to higher service, and the burden of National leadership fell upon Mrs Stevens. How bravely and faithfully she shouldered this burden is known to us all. She was closely associated with Neal Dow in the great fight which won Constitutional Prohibition for Maine. Again, in 1911, when Liquordom put forth all its strength to have the question resubmitted to the electors, did Mrs Stevens lead with unwavering courage and unfaltering faith, the W hite Ribbon fore es to victory.

Her daughter says of her: “I never saw her angry, and I never knew her to be unjust.” During the last few months her strength failed, and on April 6th she entered upon higher service. Among her last words were these.

“Give my love to all White Ribbon friends in the State, the nation, and the world.”

“Thou art not idle; in thv higher sphere Thy spirit bends itself to loving tasks, And strength, to perfect what it dreamed of here, Is all the crown and glory that it asks.

From off thr starry mountain peak of song Thy spirit shows me, in the coming time, An earth unwithered by the foot of wrong, A race revering it<* ow* sublime. FROM DOMINION PRESIDENT. Dear White Ribbed Sisters, I am sure your prayerful sympathy will be with our comrades in America in their sudden and sore bereavement. 1 know hr personal experience how difficult it is at the noontide hour, which to many is the busiest time M the day, to get even a few moments to join in the world-wide circle of prayer, l ut surely at sometime between dawn and dark we can make time to meet at the mercy seat in prayer for our sisters and their work in America. Each victory they win helps us; every onward step we make assists them to go still higher. The enemy we are organised to fight is the same foe in every land. If we banish liquor from the Dominion it will be easier to overthrow liquor in the States. We are a world wide federation, and work each for the other. Now think of that brave leader, with unwavering zeal, going from one Convention to another, under great physical stre>s, but without a murmur or complaint. Think of her past the midnight hour, already in the Valley of the Shadow (though, perhaps, unaware of the fact herself), dictating a message, and at 7 in the morning in the Presence of the King. Think of her and other leaders who have given their lives, and practical!) died in harness, in their effort to free their land from the curse of the liquor traffic, and then let us ask ourselves, what can we each do to make up for such an irreparable the Unions bereft of their leader, but without stopping to mourn or lament, with aching, sorrowful hearts, going steadily on to the goal set before them, “A Saloonless Nation,” and then let us join them in prayer and glad service, and show our sympathy in a practical way by consecrating our time, our talents, our every gift, in the determination to win through for God and Home, and Every Land. — Yc urs, to see this thing through, RACHEL DON, Dominion President. 54, Canongate, June 23, IQI4.

FROM WORLD’S W .C.T.l*. Dear Comrade* in the World’s W.C.T.U., — You will without doubt later hear from our dear World’s Secretary, Miss Anna Gordon, particulars of the home-going of our great leader, Mrs Lillian M. N. Stevens. Knowing however, how burdened Miss Gordon will be at the present time through the National duties which will fall upon her, 1 am sending a letter to my personal friends giving some of the particulars I know 1 should want if I \\ere in your place. I do not need to tell you that we are sorely stricken in our National Union. It was evident to many of us at the last Conventions that her great powers of endurance were gr ing way. She presided at her own State Convention in September, went immediately to the Conventions of two other States in the Middle West, returning for the World’s at Brooklyn and the National in Ashbury Park, at both of which she presided in her own inimitable fashion, although evidently under great physical stress. From Ashbury Park she went to Chicago to plan the great Constitutional Prohibition Amendment Campaign, returning to Washington for the march and the great mass meeting the steps of the Capitol, on December the nth. It all proved too much for hci already overtaxed strength, and although she has been at her desk steadi!) until within a very few weeks, and continued her dictation until the day before her death, her strength failed rapidly at the last, and at 7 o’clock on the morning of April 6th she passed into the life beyond. I know her homegoing will bring deep personal soriow even to the hearts of those who never saw her, and I am especially thinking of the dear comrade whom I met on my own world tour who so often enquire after our National President. She was conscious and cheerful to the very last, dictating messages at 12.30 on Sunday night, as she died at 7 o’clock Monday morning.

We must be much in prayer for our great World’s work, and I know you w ill not fail to pray especially for the White Ribboners of the United States. I trust you will not feel that I am assuming any official duty in sending this. I am simply writing to my personal friends, as I should want them to write to me were the circum*

stances reversed. We are going forward in faith and confidence that a blessing will come to our work even through this severe sorrow. 1 need not tell you with what splendid courage Miss Gordon is taking up her work for National Constitutional Prohibition. The hearings are to be in Washington on the 15th and 16th, next Wednesday and Thursday, and a number of the State Presidents are to gather there to push rrtis great movement, which is gaining such momentum throughout the entire Yours in love and in a common sorrow, KATHARINE LENT STEVENSON. April 9, 1914.