p. (387) | WHAT SHE DID

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 22, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 25.

WHAT SHE DID.

CHRISTIANA DICKSON, the wife of one of the first settlers of Erie County, Pennsylvania, was a small, blue-eyed, low-voiced woman, extremely timid, but she had a horror of drunkenness.

She lived in days when the use of liquor was universal. But when her sons were born, she resolved to put a stop to whisky drinking in her home. Her husband being absent, her brothers called for the help of the neighbors, according to custom, to put up a barn needed on her farm. They all assembled and went to work, while she prepared a great dinner. After an hour or two, whisky was asked for. She refused to provide it.

Her brothers, and, at last, an elder in the church, came to reason with her; to tell her that she would be accused of meanness. Without a word the little woman went to the barn, and, baring her head, stepped upon a log and spoke to them:—

“My neighbors,” said she, “this is a strange thing. Three of you are my brothers, three of you are elders in the church—all of you are my friends. I have prepared for you the best dinner in my power. If you refuse to raise the barn without liquor, so be it. But I would rather these timbers rot where they lie than give you whisky.”

The men angrily went home; the little woman returned to the house, and for hours cried as tho her heart would break. But the next day every man came back, went heartily to work, enjoyed her good dinner, and said not a word about whisky.

This led to a discontinuance of the use of whisky at barn-raisings in the country. Her sons grew up strong, vigorous men, and did good work in helping to civilize and Christianize the world; their descendants are all of a high type of intellectual and moral men and women. If she had yielded this little point, they might have become like many of their neighbors—drunkards.

Our forefathers redeemed the land and drove out the wild beasts and serpents; but there are vices still to be conquered, for which we need women of high souls and gentle spirits, like Christiana Dickson.—California Voice.