willingness, would address the multitudes on the mountain side, or the one wicked woman at the well.

Her ability as a speaker was immediately recognized, and it was not long before the announcement that she was to speak would call a larger audience than any other name. During her first summer she spoke in country churches that were literally packed, and farmers had their flattopped, dairy wagons under the windows covered with people, eager to hear and get a sight of this rare, womanly woman. Once, it is said, there was a larger audience outside than the densely crowded audience inside.

Mrs. Woodbridge truly complied with Rev. E. E. Hale's injunction: "Take hold with God in His steady work for uplifting the world." She could not have been more laborious and faithful if she had continually kept Lowell's stanza in her mind and heart as the motto of her life:

"O small beginnings, ye are great and strong,

Based on a faithful heart and weariless brain!
Ye build the future fair, ye conquer wrong,

Ye earn the crown, and wear it not in vain."

Or if she had heard in some night vision her own blessed Lord saying to her in the language of Bishop Coxe :

"On! let all the soul within you,

For the truth's sake, go abroad!
Strike! let every nerve and sinew
Tell on ages - tell for God!"

it is difficult to see how this dear soul could have been more faithful, or earnest.

A few months ago Mr. Woodbridge, viewing with consternation the vast and ever growing quantity of temperance documents and papers and reports of speeches stowed away in his garret, consigned a wagon-box full of them to the flames. Among them were the newspaper reports of the public efforts of the years between 1874 and 1880.

One of the papers that somehow escaped destruction is the following letter and testimonial from the Vermont legislature :

SENATE CHAMBER, MONTPELIER,
Nov. 20, 1878.

-I

MRS. WOODBRIDGE: I take this first opportunity to send to you this testimonial of our appreciation of your lecture and hoping for your continued stay in our state. May God bless and spare you long to "cry aloud and spare not" against this great sin.

Respectfully yours,

JOHN B. MEAD.

MONTPELIER, Nov. 20, 1878.

This may certify that we, the subscribers, members of the Vermont legislature,-listened with great pleasure to an address from Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge, of Ohio, on the eve of November 18th, upon the subject of temperance; and we hesitate not to cordially recommend to all good people, everywhere, who are desirous of advancing this great reform, as a very interesting, eloquent and forcible lecturer, at the same time evincing the grace and dignity peculiar to her sex, as, in the name of her Master, she entreats His followers to be diligent in the business of helping to redeem the world from the rum traffic. We hope she may receive a cordial reception and suitable recognition among our people, and that she may tarry long in our state.

JOHN B. MEAD, Senator.

F. G. BUTTERFIELD, Judge Advocate Gen'l.
EDWARD CONANT, State Supt. of Education.
CHAS. W. KING, Senator.

H. P. CUSHING, Chaplain of the House.

She went from Ohio on a telegram's notice to deliver this address and the bill she advocated was carried.

The above testimonial shows that within a little more than four years of the time that she first heard her own voice in public, she was instructing and delighting one of the most intelligent legislatures in the land. Many a time, since then, has her voice been heard in legislative halls;

and no man ever heard it who was not impressed with at least two things:-first, that she was a perfect lady in her manner; second, that in intellect she was the peer of any legislator in her presence.

In 1879, Mrs. Woodbridge was elected president of the Ohio W. C. T. U. In 1880, she delivered her first annual address in which are passages of beauty and power worth preservation. Some were as follows:

Sisters of Ohio! Children of the King! We are met to-day on the mountain side. Looking downward and back over more than six years of travel, we praise God for the way He has led us, and for what He has wrought through us. Looking upward and on, trembling with human hope and fear, but steadfast in this promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end," we renew our allegiance to Him, and once more bring ourselves a willing offering for His service. His light, sometimes dimly recognized, has led us through the darkness of the past; and, though the clouds have not scattered and the sky is not clear, we know at the mountain-top is the shining of the Sun of righteousness, and when reached, "the kingdoms of this world will be the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ."

At this, our Seventh Annual meeting, with "our eyes lifted unto the hills, from whence cometh our help," we consider the special interests of our state, and the general interests of the National society.

The year has been one of great prosperity. In all directions there has been activity, and we have learned the meaning of our Crusade Psalm as never before, even in the days of the anointing. While praising God, the injunction has been heeded. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help," and we have realized, "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for help, whose hope is in the Lord, his God," and with new power have grasped the assurance that the way of the wicked He turneth upside down," and with renewed praises have sung, "The Lord shall reign forever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations."

Do not, I beseech you, let anything supersede the study

of the Word, and of prayer, when we assemble ourselves together at our weekly meetings. Prayer is our "vital breath"; without unceasing, importuning prayer of faith we die. The Word of God is our daily bread, and no more can we live without food than without breath.

In 1876, a woman of Ohio, as wife of the President of the United States, was called to preside over a home from whence, as she has proven, untold influences for good or evil may proceed. Lucy Webb Hayes, born of God, and baptized with Crusade fire, determined that good, and good alone, should flow therefrom while she was its presiding genius. When, disregarding the harmful precedents of the past, and the demands of society into which she had just entered, she banished intoxicating ' liquors from her table, saying, "I must do what is right; God will take care of the rest," she enshrined herself in the hearts of the men and women of this nation. How shall this woman of positive conviction and moral power be honored? How shall her name and influence be perpetuated? was the query. This has been answered by the earnest temperance people of Delaware, the President's birthplace, and the early home of Mrs. Hayes, who have proposed a suitable testimonial for which a fund is being raised. God called this woman from the Crusade State; and I trust our gratitude for this baptismal blessing to us and to her, and this honor, will be made manifest by liberal donations.

I cannot close this address without a few words to those sisters into whose families the death angel has come within the year. There are few of us who, at some time, have not known such sorrow, and while I bring loving sympathy to the afflicted from those who have this year been exempt, I would that the closing words of the beautiful little poem, sent me by one who understands that the Master's chisel cuts in many ways, might be the breathing of every soul and ascend as sweet incense to our God.

Wrought silently out to beauty
Of such degree

Of faultless and full perfection,
That angels' eyes

Shall look on the unfinished labor
With new surprise,

That even His boundless patience
Could grave His own features
Upon such fractured and stubborn stone.

'Tis the Master who holds the chisel;
He knows just when

Its edge should be driven sharpest,
To fashion then

The semblance that He is carving;
Nor will He let

One delicate stroke too many,
Or few, be set

On forehead, or cheek, where only
He sees how all

Is tending-and where the hardest
The blow should fall,

Which crumbles away whatever
Superfluous line

Would hinder His hand from making
The work divine.

With tools of thy choosing, Master,
We pray thee, then,

Strike just as thou wilt; as often
And when, and where

The vehement stroke is needed,
I will not mind,

If only thy chipping chisel

Shall leave behind

Such marks of Thy wondrous working
And loving skill,

Clear carven on aspect, stature,

And face, as will

When discipline's ends are over,

Have all sufficed

To mould me into the likeness

And form of Christ.

-Margaret Preston.

No one can read these gentle words without perceiving that here was a woman sitting at the feet of Christ, and feeding her soul upon the heavenly manna. The Bible was her favorite volume, and its spirit shapes every line.

evidently, too, the Master's mallet and chisel had been do