violently for awhile, but without the force to bear them down. Our space
will not permit us to more than glance at some of the incidents
attendant on this singular crusade. The excitement that followed its
inauguration in the large city of Cleveland was intense. It is thus
described by Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton in her history of the Woman's Crusade,
to which we have already referred:


HOW THE CRUSADERS WERE TREATED.

"The question was constantly asked: 'Will the women of a conservative
city of one hundred and fifty thousand go upon the street as a
praying-band?' The liquor-dealers said: 'Send committees of two or three
and we will talk with them; but coming in a body to pray with us brands
our business as disreputable.' The time came when the Master seemed to
call for a mightier power to bear upon the liquor traffic, and a company
of heroic women, many of them the wives of prominent clergymen, led by
Mrs. W.A. Ingham, said: 'Here am I; the Lord's will be done.'

"On the third day of the street work, the whisky and beer interest
seemed to have awakened to a full consciousness of the situation.
Drinkers, dealers and roughs gathered in large numbers on the street to
wait for the praying women. A mob, headed by an organization of brewers,
rushed upon them, kicking them, striking them with their fists and
hitting them with brickbats. The women were locked in a store away from
the infuriated mob, who, on the arrival of a stronger body of police,
were dispersed, cursing and yelling as they went. The next day, taking
their lives in their hands, a larger company of women went out, and
somewhat similar scenes were enacted. Meantime, public meetings, called
in the churches, were so crowded that standing room could not be found.