swung his foot up to the top of the desk little by little drew it down and shrank away into the collar of his coat. Meantime the story of the need, and the progress and the prospects of such a law went on, enlivened by incident, softened by tender pleading, strengthened by argument, and supported by a sub-strata of science and fact. Readers of The Union Signal have heard Mrs. Hunt too often to need to be told what she said or how she said it, but that it was never better said than on this crowning occasion, no one would doubt who heard the applause that made the hall ring when she sat down. Among the obstacles to the passage of the bill in Pennsylvania, was a widespread mischievous impression that the whole thing was a gigantic advertising scheme in the interest of certain publishing houses; an impression that has required all the power of truth to combat. It met Mrs. Hunt even here in the form of questions from a member from Philadelphia, who forced from the speaker such a vindication of the whole work, its purpose, processes and methods, as effectually disposed of any insinuations or accusations of those interested in defeating the bill. This little passage demonstrated beyond a doubt the orator's ability to wield not only the persuasive powers of advocacy, but the sharper weapons of defence, and brought her eager congratulations from the throngs of representatives who crowded about the platform at the close.

Notwithstanding this enthusiasm there were many anxious faces in the gallery at the opening of the session this morning. Almost before the amen to the opening prayer had been uttered, a dozen members were on their feet offering the petitions sent in from their various districts, in behalf of the bill for scientific education. The dozen swelled to scores, and the scores multiplied all in a moment until so many boy messengers were flying down the aisles with the papers, and so many arms were waving in the air, that from every seat there seemed suddenly to have sprung a great fluttering white blossom of petition. The clamor of voices grew more confusing, the feet of the messengers flew faster, and the bursts of laughter grew louder, until the chairman, despairing of all attempts to call on the members in order, took them up section by section. Even then it took long enough to read them to suggest what a work the women had done who had secured the thousands of signatures. Among these women is one who has never let one morning of this session pass without a petition from some quarter for the passage of this bill. And they did not stop with petitions, but they bombarded the hearts and heads of their representatives with letters, letters admonitory and beseeching, letters solemn and warning, letters proper and patronizing, letters of all sorts, shapes, sizes and degrees of eloquence, but all pregnant with one mighty purpose, the ultimate passage of the bill.

And this morning it was the second time on the list, and before it came up, one representative after another came and said encouraging and cheering words to Mrs. Hunt, who looked a little as I have seen a mother look whose child was toddling along in its first attempt to go alone, in whose every step she had mother joy and pride, mingled with

to so popularize the science of temperance that the smallest pupils may understand from their school manuals why they should neither drink alcoholic liquors of any kind, nor use tobacco.

On May 28th, of this year, Miss Emma L. Benedict came at the call of the National Superintendent, to aid in the research for the revision of text-books. In consequence of her valuable services, at the close of this year, she was made Literary Assistant, by vote of the National W. C. T. U. convention, held in Chicago.

WORK FOR THE ENFORCEMENT OF TEMPERANCE EDUCATION LAWS

NOW BEGUN.

While there was no prospect of the revision of the poor books, the National Department sent out no plans to secure universal enforcement of the temperance education laws, because more poor books than good would have followed such efforts into the schools. But as soon as we were sure that the books were to be revised this course was changed. The report of 1888 says under head of

"PLAN OF WORK AND SCHOOL LEAFLETS."

"For the aid of all our workers, the National Superintendent has this year prepared a carefully itemized schedule of plans designed to cover every detail of the National, State, County and Local work of this department, a pamphlet of 64 pages, and has sent the same to every State and Territorial Superintendent, and is now sending to all County and Local Superintendents.

The National Department has also issued a series of leaflets that should be given to every teacher and school board in the land. These are being sent out with the Plan of Work as before stated.

OUR MOUNT OF OBSERVATION.

The National Department is compiling a directory which is intended to contain the names and addresses, by States, Territories, counties and localities, of every W. C. T. U. Scientific Temperance Superintendent in the whole country. Over against these we are placing a directory of all the schools of the country. Thus, with our workers all in direct line of communication, and the field before us, our position for the enforcement of our Scientific Temperance Education laws will be the mount of observation that Hugomont was to Wellington in winning Waterloo. For this there must be no break in the ranks of our Superintendents. We are the recruiting officers and the school teachers the drill masters for training the coming total abstinence army that is to banish alcohol from human beverages."

FEDERAL AID FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Efforts to secure the passage of the Federal Aid Bill were renewed during the winter of 1887 and 1888. Petitions were again sent out and returned so well filled with individual names and petitions from churches, societies and other collective bodies, that the National Superintendent of this Department again presented to Congress the prayer of more than 2,000,000 citizens of the United States, making, with those presented the year before, 4,000,000, for the passage of what is known as the Blair Education Bill. The bill again passed the Senate but was again smothered in the House by the refusal of the committee to report.*

1889.

TWO NEW STATES,-TWENTY-SEVEN IN ALL, AND ALL THE TERRITORIES, AND EIGHTEEN REVISED AND ENDORSED TEXT-BOOKS ISSUED BY SEVEN DIFFERENT HOUSES.

Florida and Illinois have this year enacted Temperance Education laws. Added to these legislative gains the great work of the year has been the revision of school text-books on this topic, continued from last year. The reader will remember that a syllabus of what should be taught on this subject in the form of a petition to publishers with numerous and eminent signatures was the immediate cause of this revision. As that petition is the standard to which these books have been revised it is inserted here as our creed or "articles of faith" concerning the matter in hand.

ཇ.

A PETITION TO PUBLISHERS OF TEMPERANCE TEXT-BOOKS.

Thirty-two States and Territories now require scientific temperance instruction in the public schools, and the question whether the children shall receive such instruction is seen to depend largely upon the character of the text-books employed.

2. It was the intention of those who secured these laws that the children should have the latest science concerning the dangerous and hurtful qualities of alcohol used in any degree, and the peril of forming the habit of its use.

The law requires this. Nothing less than this will ever satisfy its friends.

3. Those text-books that are largely physiology, with a minimum of temperance matter that only points out the evil of drunkenness and the danger of excessive use of alcoholic drinks and narcotics, do not meet

See Senator H. W. Blair's letter in Appendix, page 112, as to subsequent efforts for Federal Aid for public schools.

the requirements of the law, and do not satisfy those who secured its enactment and who are determined to secure its enforcement.

4. Therefore, the undersigned legislators who voted for these laws in various states and in the National Congress, the representatives of temperance organizations, and who are familiar with the sentiment and are entitled to speak for the very numerous membership of different churches and other bodies, extending widely throughout the land, and citizens who speak for ourselves, do make respectful and earnest appeal to all publishers of text-books on this subject to revise their publications to conform to the latest results of scientific inquiry, and to meet the terms and spirit of these statutes in making the temperance matter the chief and not the subordinate topic in these books, so that public and authorized expressions of approval and indorsement of all such books can be issued and given wide circulation.

5. In urging this appeal we beg leave to represent that if this new education is to give to the world a coming generation of intelligent total abstainers, as we expect, its manuals of instruction must conform to the following specifications:

1st. They must teach with no uncertain sound the proven findings of science, viz.:

(a.) That alcohol is a dangerous and seductive poison.

(b.) — That beer, wine, and cider contain this same alcohol, thus making them dangerous drinks, to be avoided, and that they are the product of a fermentation that changes a food to a poison.

(c.) That it is the nature of a little of any liquor containing alcohol to create an appetite for more, which is so apt to become uncontrollable that the strongest warning should be urged against taking that little and thus forming the appetite.

2nd. They must teach also the effect of these upon "the human system," that is, upon the whole being mental, moral, and physical. The appalling effects of drinking habits upon the citizenship of the nation, the degradation and crime resulting, demand that instruction here should give clear and emphatic utterance to the solemn warnings of science on this subject.

3rd. This instruction must be as well graded to the capacities of each class of pupils as the modern school readers are. A book fit for high schools put into primary or intermediate classes will make the study a failure there. Truth is just as true and as scientific when told in easy words as when put into stilted technicalities the child cannot understand.

In

4th. This is not a physiological but a temperance movement. all grades below the high school this instruction should contain only physielogy enough to make the hygiene of temperance and other laws of health intelligible. Temperance should be the chief and not the subordinate topic, and should occupy at least one-fourth the space in textbooks for these grades. As only a small portion of the pupils in our

public schools attend high schools, and vast numbers leave with the primary, this instruction should be early and ample. It is not desirable to have a separate book for the physiology heretofore studied in the high school or to limit the amount, but at least twenty pages out of that ordinarily required should be given to the question of the danger of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics, in a text-book for these classes.

5th. This effort to disabuse the minds of the rising generation of fallacies which lead to drink habits should purposely avoid reference to the medical use of alcohol, except to state that as by common consent its lay prescription is condemned, the question of its use as a remedy may properly be relegated to medical treatises, as out of place and misleading in a school text-book.

Lacking in any of these points, a text-book on scientific temperance is incomplete, and the use in the schools of such a book will not result in a strong temperance sentiment among the pupils using it.

Because the question of total abstinence for the children of this country, and therefore of their well-being and that of the land soon to be governed by them, depends so largely upon the teachings in these books, we make this appeal.

COOPERATION OF AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS.

When we came into communication with authors it soon became apparent there was not so much difference of opinion about what is true concerning the subject in hand, as misapprehension as to what special truths should be brought forward. Some writers were misled by supposing that exhortation or appeal after the style of the temperance lecture was desired. These difficulties vanished when they found that we wanted no fanatical preaching, but instead, a full statement as to the origin, evil nature and effects of alcoholic drinks and other narcotics, all told in language that the various grades of pupils can understand.

The great men among these authors who are fully abreast with the reseaches, experiments and proven facts of modern science on this subject, were first to come into accord with the petition standard.

We wish here to extend our thanks to the publishers who have coöperated with us in the revision.

As a result of this we were able to present to the annual National Convention at the close of this year, 1889, the following large variety of books, either so written or revised that they conform to the Petition Standard, and could therefore be endorsed by this Department.