Frances E. Willard

White Ribbon, Volume 29, Issue 7, 1 February 1958, Page 4

Frances E. Willard

Frances Willard was born in New \’ork in September 1N39, and her death occurred on February 17tb She was the founder of the World’s W.C.T.U. in 1883, which was the first worlds organisation of women. She was also the cofounder with Susan I'.. Anthony of tlie National Council of Women and a pioneer of women’s suffrage. "She knew the power of banded ill; But felt that Love was stronger still, And organised for doing good The World’s United W'oman Ikmxl.” Miss Willard once said, “(iod (iranl that we may be so divinely led that history’s verdict upon our work shall be, 4 Bv (rod’s blessing they helped to make the world wider for women, happier for humanity*.** In her book, “France* Willard, From Prayer to Politic*’’, Mary Earhart says, “As Henry Blackwell lias said of her, ‘Miss Willard has marshalled tl/e womanhood of America in support of temperance, social purity and home protection’. Lucy Stone has stated that the outstanding objection to women’s suffrage was that the home was the province of women, and if they attended to that there would be no time for anything else. Frances Willard was the one woman of the century who was able to span this difference. Instead of the home being the chief objection to woman suffrage, she made it the most important reason for woman suffrage, under the clever shibboleth of 1: »nc protection’. “Frances Willard envisaged a woman’s movement, broader than temperance or women’s suffrage, and having as its objective useful womanhood. The Seattle ‘Daily Times’ stated that she created a fighting battalion of some 230,(XX) women who presented suffrage and temperance petitions in every State and Territory of America. Five million pages of suffrage literature alone were distributed annually by the Union”

The fight against beverage alcohol and all social evils that threaten the home and humanity itself is as fierce as e\er it was. Afresh, in this new year of 1958, the challenging call rings out to every Christian woman, fired with the zeal and vision of Frances Willard, and filled with the love of Christ, our Saviour, to give herself Unsparingly in prayer and service for “(»od and Home and Humanity’’.