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them would be executed, they went out as usual. Being denied admission to a saloon, they knelt upon the pavement, and just as
Leavitt began singing, "Rock of ages, cleft for me," a policeman laid his hand on her shoulder, saying, "You are my prisoner." They marched to jail, continuing the hymn. There, they held a prayermeeting, in the midst of which stood the mayor, unable to escape, while men were weeping on every side. They were locked into a corridor, and Leavitt talked through the grated doors with several of the prisoners. She found a woman who had been arrested because of drunkenness. "It is a curious conundrum," said Leavitt, "that here's one woman locked up for getting drunk, and another equally locked up for trying to get people not to be drunk. Curious country this is, anyway!" After their arrest, the women changed their plans of work, going to saloons in companies of two and three instead of by eighties and hundreds. Gospel temperance meetings were held in churches, jails, and hospitals, cottage prayer-meetings in neighborhoods, amid constant efforts made to extend the temperance work.
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Christian workers, she visited saloons, holding religious services within whenever permission was granted, but outside, if it was refused, and always closing up the day's work with an earnest Gospel meeting in the church from which the bands had gone out in the morning. The church would be filled to overflowing with crowds of men and women who wanted salvation. At these meetings, hundreds signed the pledge, and asked the prayers of
Christians.
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When the "Praying Band of
Cincinnati" was reorganized into the WCTU, Leavitt was chosen president. The organization's headquarters of the Union on Vine street were open every day for a Gospel meeting, often conducted by her. For years, Leavitt served as treasurer of the National WCTU, and her appeals
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On May 16, 1874, while engaged in this work, Leavitt, with forty-two others, wives of clergymen and other leading citizens, was arrested and taken to jail. It was a strange story, but suffice it that the mayor said the women shouldn't pray upon the sidewalk's edge. Hardly believing the threat against
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When the crusade burst upon the women of Ohio, Leavitt was among the first to take her place in the ranks of workers, and, on the principle of the "survival of the fittest," was at once promoted to the leadership of the "Praying Band." Day after day, for weeks, accompanied by a long procession of
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The New People's
Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge: With Numerous Appendixes Invaluable for Reference in All Departments of Industrial Life ...
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In 1870, Mr. Leavitt was ordained a
Baptist minister, and was immediately called to the charge of the First Baptist Church of
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148:(WCTU). In 1891, as the "Round the World Missionary of the WCTU", the World's WCTU elected Leavitt its life president.
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In 1854, at the age of nineteen, Leavitt graduated from the Young Ladies' High School of her native town.
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129:(1836 – May 23, 1897) was an American social reformer and one of the prominent figures of the
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Woman and
Temperance: Or, The Work and Workers of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
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broke out. In the autumn of 1861, she become principal of a grammar school in
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She went South as a teacher soon after leaving school, remaining until the
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for help, considered witty and convincing, were among the humors of the
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466:(Public domain ed.). Woman's temperance publishing association.
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
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Abby (sometimes spelled, "Abbie") Fisher was born at
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Presidents of the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union
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19th-century
American newspaper publishers (people)
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508:(Public domain ed.). Park Publishing Company.
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526:. Vol. 4. American Issue Publishing Company.
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322:. The Bangor Daily News. 30 June 1900. p. 3
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523:Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem
487:(Public domain ed.). Eaton & Mains.
204:First Woman's National Temperance Convention
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421:. The Independent. 18 April 1894. p. 1
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463:Thumb Nail Sketches of White Ribbon Women
460:Chapin, Clara Christiana Morgan (1895).
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117: 1866; died 1894)
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556:19th-century American women writers
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520:Cherrington, Ernest Hurst (1925).
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211:National WCTU's paper
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177:Evansville, Indiana
127:Abby Fisher Leavitt
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316:"Temperance"
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541:1836 births
444:Attribution
425:24 December
392:24 December
359:24 December
326:24 December
248:Chapin 1895
41:Abby Fisher
535:Categories
263:DePuy 1887
229:References
138:Cincinnati
94:temperance
66:Occupation
173:civil war
142:newspaper
83:Language
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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