for immediate victory, pressed their members into incessant service; the
woman's unions, aware that the battle is to be a long one, ask only for
such help as can be given consistently with other duties."

As the result of this intelligent effort at effective organization by
the women who inaugurated and were prominent in the "Crusade," we have
"The Woman's National Christian Temperance Union," with its auxiliary
and local unions in nearly every State; one of the most efficient
agencies in the practical work of temperance reform which the country
has yet seen.




CHAPTER XII.

THE WOMAN'S NATIONAL CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION.


During the summer of 1874, when the reaction which had checked the
"Crusade" was recognized as something permanent by the more thoughtful
and observant of the women who had been engaged in it, they paused for
deliberation, and took counsel together. Great victories had been won in
the brief season during which they were masters of the field; and now
that the enemy had rallied his forces, and intrenched himself behind
law, public opinion, politics and the State, should they weakly give up
the contest? Not so. They had discovered wherein the weakness, as well
as the strength, of their enemy lay, and had come into a new perception
of their own powers and resources.