LIBRARY OF CONGRI Shelf ..•-S.55& ■bbi UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Jnafbv JZ.FhillipsMy: JOHN B. FINCH. His Life and Work. BY / FRANCES E. FINCH and FRANK J. SIBLEY. '*%%. T FUNK & WAGNALLS, Publishers. NEW YORK : 1888. LONDON : 18 & 20 ASTOR PLACE. 44 FLEET STREET. < * 7 i * *.f Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by FUNK & WAGNALLS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. -3U?I 4S. TO MY ONLY CHILD, John D e> Leon Kinoh, "true portrait of thy father's face," THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED. F. E. F. Be good, sweet child, and tet who will be clever ; Do noble things, not dream them, all day long. Sa shalt thou make life, death, and that vast forever One grand, sweet song. KlNGSLEY. PBEFACE. Grateful thanks are due to many friends for their kindness in furnishing facts and data for this history of John B. Finch. The father, brothers, and sisters, and his boyhood's school-mates and friends have been especially kind in carefully collecting the dates of events in his early life. Loving friends of his later years have laid their loyal tributes of affection plenteously on the altars of memory, and poetry's tenderest strains have trilled the threnodies of sorrow over the silent clay, mingled with their pasans of gladness for the beatitude of the ascended soul. These votive offerings are acknowledged through the pages of this book, and are woven into the story of that great life of patience and pain, of toil and triumph, of devotion to duty, that placed him in the van of Jehovah's marching squadrons till "God's finger touched him, and he slept." €^>2^^c^£> *~$>^~^y< &v£t*~ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE John B. Finch, Frontispiece. Birthplace of John B. Finch, ) John B. Finch at the Age of Thirteen, ) Mrs. John B. Finch, 33 John B. Finch at the age of Twenty-four, . . . .37 Good Templar Missionary Tent, .83 The Boston Conference, 227 Right Worthy Grand Lodge Executive Committee, . 233 National Prohibition Executive Committee, . . . 353 The Home at Evanston, III., . . . . . . 381 John D. Finch, 385 The Home Office, 405 The Lynn Auditorium, .... ..... 411 CONTENTS. PAGE SONNET, "John B. Finch," by A. A. Hopkins xi INTRODUCTION, by Miss Frances E. Willard xiii CHAPTER I. Childhood and Youth 1 CHAPTER II. Young Manhood 13 CHAPTER III. Beginning Temperance Work 27 CHAPTER IV. Red Ribbon Work 46 CHAPTER V. The Good Templar Missionary Tent. , 82 CHAPTER VI. The Inception of High License 106 CHAPTER VII. Joint Debates 142 CHAPTER VIII. Good Templar Leadership 207 CHAPTER IX. Prohibitory Amendment Campaigns 252 x CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. pasb No-License and Other Work 317 CHAPTER XI. Temperance Literature ; 340 CHAPTER XII. Political Leadership 349 CHAPTER XIII. Home Life 373 CHAPTER XIV. Incidents and Characteristics « 391 CHAPTER XV. The Last Journey « 403 CHAPTER XVI. In Memoriam * 44G CHAPTER XVII. Gems from Letters and Speeches '. 518 CHAPTER XVIII. Addresses . An Examination of the Issues 525 Examination of the Issues and Defence 543 JOHN B. FINCH, By A. A. Hopkins. Dead in his splendid prime, The master of surging speech ; Silent the lips that were strong for truth, Tender and touching for Home and Youth, Pleading the Cause of each. Dead in his manly grace, The leader we loved so well, — Silent his form at the battle's fore, Still are the hands that our standard bore Bravely till swift he fell. Dead in his loyal faith, The friend of our faithful trust, — Hushed is the heart that was true and leal, Tender the touches of love to feel, Fading so soon to dust. Dead at the conflict's front, The knight who could know no fear ; Silent the forces he led to-day, Hushed be our hearts as we pause to lay Garlands upon his bier, xii JOHN B. FINCH. Orator, friend, farewell, Knight of the Right, good-by ! Willing to fall in thy splendid prime, Fighting for God and His Cause sublime, Death, like a neighbor, nigh. Tears for the Right, bereft, Tears for the knight gone down !— Smitten and sore in the battle's brunt, He has but won at the surging front Victory's fadeless crown ! INTEODUCTIOK". It is an act of rare heroism and royal friendship combined that gives us temperance people the present volume. " Out of my stony grief, Bethel I'll raise," was the solemn thought of Mrs. Finch as she entered upon the work of pre- paring this memorial, and Brother Sibley, with all a brother's kindness, has devoted himself to the sacred task of helping her whose heart was hurt so sorely. We who sit in our pleasant homes, turning over these attractive pages, must read between the lines if we would know how much more is meant than meets the eye. We must study the handsome face of him who was Prohibition's peerless orator ; we must muse upon his great achievements and his generous heart, ponder the words of her who was his life companion : " He was just as much greater at home, than is the average man, as he was confessed to be greater abroad ;" we must then study the picture of his lovely Refuge, purchased with the coinage of his own affluent brain, and then think what it was to sit down in that grief- enshrouded home, whose firmament was robbed so ruth- lessly of its bright particular star, and try to tell the story of the past. I often think the highest proof of the heart's xiv INTRODUCTION, indestructibility is that even here, clogged by the flesh, it can bear so much and yet not break. As a man, Mr. Finch was to his friends sweetness and light, to his foes wormwood and gall. As a leader, he held official relation to one million temperance men and women — the largest number ever led by one man. His name was familiarly spoken in eight languages by his ad- herents. Pie was Prohibition's chief logician. His sword- marks are in every State where the fight has been, and his reply to D. Bethune Duffield, in the Detroit Opera House last spring, has not been matched in the annals of temper- ance debate. Handsome, graceful, of mellifluous utterance and win- some manners, good gifts were lavished on his birth ; his mind was quick as lightning, his memory magnificently stored, his will invincible. He marshalled argument and pathos, humor and fact, sarcasm and illustration, into phalanx solid as the Old Guard. Elsewhere among these pages 1 have had so much to say of the life, the character, and work of our departed leader, that further mention of them would be inappropriate here. 1 responded to Mrs. Finch's invitation to write an introduc- tion to this book because it came from a valued friend and comrade in the temperance army, and because I would fail in nothing that could express my sisterly regard and admi- ration for him who passed so swiftly beyond the reach of earthly praise or blame. INTRODUCTION. xv I have always been a devotee of books pertaining to biog- raphy. More than any other single influence outside the hallowed ministries of my own home, the reading of biog- raphy has mortgaged me to the endeavor to lead a good and helpful life. Doubtless every one who is making a similar attempt has shared a similar experience. A famous general, on being asked how it was that he could ride up to the cannon's mouth, replied : " At first I could not ; it is the courage of having done the thing." Next to this is the courage of having seen that a thing can be done by some one else, whereupon Imagination, the angel of the mind, seizes upon the experience of that other and makes it one's own. Thus may many an untried but adventurous young spirit win from the brave and regnant life of John B. Finch the courage to " Break its birth's invidious bar, And grasp the skirts of happy chance, To breast the blows of circumstance, And grapple with its evil star." Rest Cottage, Evanston, III., January 1, 1888. THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. O child ! O new-born denizen Of life's great city ! on thy head The glory of the morn is shed Like a celestial benison ! Here at the portal thou dost stand, And with thy little hand Thou openest the mysterious gate Into the future's undiscovered land. Longfellow. The childhood shows the man, As morning shows the day. Milton. "TT71LLIAM FINCH, father of John B., was born in * * Pitcher, Chenango County, in the State of New York, October 24th, 1819. October 28th, 1844, he mar- ried Emeline A. Fox, whose home was in the adjoining township of Lincklaen, where she was born February 10th, 1825. 2 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. The father and mother of William Finch were born in Schoharie County, N. Y. They removed to the western part of Chenango County in 1816, and passed the re- mainder of their lives in the township of Pitcher. The mother of Emeline Fox, though of Connecticut birth, was of French descent, her parents having emigrated to America only a year or two previous to her birth. Her father was born in France, came to America about the beginning of the war of the Revolution, joined the Conti- nental Army, and fought for independence till that memo- rable struggle closed. He-died, aged sixty-five, in Lincklaen, the same year Emeline was born. As far as is known, all the ancestors of William Finch and Emeline Fox were farmers. John B. Finch first saw the light in a humble farm-house in his mother's native town of Lincklaen, March 17th, 1852. In a family of eight children he was the third son. With that matchless beauty of language which makes her lightest word a poem, Frances Willard said : " He had the happy heritage of these hard conditions — obscurity and poverty. But, passing by the palace with its cradled princes, Fortune paused within his humble home and emptied out her horn of plenty upon that royal head." When John was two years of age his parents removed to Union Valley, the adjoining town to Lincklaen on the south-west. Here they remained for nine years. Until he was twenty, all the years of John's life were passed in the quietude of farm life, ten to twenty miles from the railroad THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINGH. 3 or from any large village. Boys and girls reared on the farms among the rugged hills of Chenango County had few oppor- tunities to learn by actual observation of the great world and its mysteries. An occasional excursion to neighboring picnic grounds ; a climb up some rocky ledge ; a journey to a hillside " berry patch ;" a day's angling along some streamlet or in the nearest mill-pond ; a hunt that never resulted in finding game — these were the principal spoils that fur- nished amusement to the boys among whom our great worker was reared. At three years of age he suffered a severe attack of scar- let fever, which left the body feeble and the constitution impaired. As he developed physical vigor so slowly, the pet name " Bird," cooed over his cradle by the anxious mother, seemed peculiarly appropriate, and no other had been given him, till one day he surprised the family by the bold declaration : " Bird ain't no good name for a boy. I'm goin' to be named John." This quiet assumption, full of dignity and determination, so won the brothers and sisters that they immediately adopted that name in their conversations with the little brother, and even the father and mother laughingly and proudly assented to that addition to a name which their bright boy was destined to immortalize. Too fragile to endure the labors and restraints of the 4 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. school-room or the rude sports of the play-ground, he early- learned to depend much upon himself for amusement, and to find in the books his mother had taught him to read that companionship which his slender strength forbade his seek- ing among the children of his years*. When the care- burdened mother could catch an hour's release from the ever-pressing household duties, she would read aloud to her pale, delicate boy, lying on his bed and listening eagerly and intently. The slender resources of the family would not permit the purchase of a supply of books full of absurd songs and impossible tales supposed to be adapted to childish tastes and capacity. In their place the mother and the boy read such books of history and biography as their own home afforded and the neighbors could lend to them. Fortunate poverty, that permitted the mind to be filled with the story of great lives and great deeds rather than with the rubbish of some dreamer's fertile imagination. The father and mother were members of the Congrega- tional Church, and the children always attended Sunday- school, either the Congregational or the Methodist, which- ever was nearest their home in the different towns in which they lived. The mother's deep piety permitted no neglect of Chris- tian teaching in those long vigils by the bedside of her feeble boy. With the histories of modern times she wove the wondrous story of God's providences, lingering long THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH 5 and lovingly by the manger-cradle in Bethlehem, treading reverently along the shores of Galilee, and weeping by the thorn -crowned sacrifice in G-ethsemane. At the age of ten John began attending the country school nearest his home. But the foundation for his educa- tion had been laid long before by the loving mother's teach- ing — laid so deep and strong that the school-room and the recitation were but minor incidents in the search for that store of knowledge which he was bound to win. For four years in Union Valley and Pitcher he continued to attend the district schools near his home. His attendance was often sadly interrupted by lack of suitable clothing, yet he never " f ell behind " his classes. Lessons were never so long nor so difficult that he failed to master them. A single term was sufficient for his accomplishment of the ordinary work of two. Teachers wondered when and how his lessons were learned, and were greatly attracted by his quick, almost intuitive perception. Physical feebleness was more than counterbalanced by extraordinary mental strength. The years of home seclusion had not produced timid or retiring habits in the boy. Just as his whole mind was centred on his school-room tasks, so his scant physical strength was all put forth on the play-ground. His com- panions said he was inclined to be " masterful," but they readily accepted his dictation when they found that it meant new and unique devices for their amusement. 6 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. "With the impetus of these sports and the farm labors now frequently required, the body began to develop more vigor. The intense love for his mother which had been nurtured during the years of her tender watching over his sick-bed now began to manifest itself in outward acts. He would thoughtfully anticipate her requirements, bringing a plenti- ful supply of wood and of water, and relieving her of many of the more burdensome household tasks. For her lie was never too weary to work, his feet never too tired to run upon errands. If the way seemed too hard to the young soul that some- times must have longed to slip the leash of fate and break forth into the realm of its ambitious dreams, the mother's smile brought back the sunshine of content, and gilded every cloud. One year at the district school the brightest boys and girls had been selected, our John among the rest, to recite and " declaim" on the last day of the term. His shoes were old and patched and worn, and he very much desired a new pair for this important occasion. Sore at heart because of the stern necessity that compelled her to deny this reasonable demand, the mother tenderly turned the boy's thoughts away from his disappointment with the words : " Never mind, Johnnie, do your best, and they'll look at your head, not at your feet. ' ' Directed thus from earliest childhood, it was natural that THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 9 all the boy's aspirations should lead him in the direction of mental culture and intellectual development. While yet a small boy he gravely told his seniors that he would " be somebody in the world." Natural history studies were his favorites. Biography and ancient history had been deeply perused in early years with his mother's patient aid. To mathematics he gave such careful attention that he was enabled to pay part of his tuition in some of the higher schools by teaching classes in mathematics. Of grammar he seemed to have a ready mastery. For the modern languages other than his own he cared little, studying only what seemed imperatively neces- sary to attain that comprehensive education for which he was so earnestly working. He studied Latin and Greek to give him broader ideas of the structure and formation of his own language. But in natural history and botany he found a well-spring of unfailing delight, and no boy or man was better acquainted with the fauna and flora of that region. He chased the small game of the woods, more to study its habits than for the pleasure of killing, and he knew the haunts and ways of every furry denizen of the forest for miles around. Equally ardent was his pursuit of flowers, and no triumph of his later life ever filled his soul with greater pleasure than the discovery, in those boyish days, of some new or rare floral specimen in field or forest. His mother loved flowers, and cultivated the prettiest of 10 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. shrubs and vines around her home. John spaded the flower-beds in the spring, and helped to sow the seeds and care for the growing plants during the summer. These labors stimulated his interest, and watching by his mother's side for the daily development of the tender shoots, intensi- fied that interest into a passionate fondness for all the beauties of leaf or bloom in the vegetable world. The aptness at retort which was a marked characteristic of his public life was developed when a child. Stopping one day at the country " store" on his way from school, he was accosted by a clergyman whose austere mariner had made him very unpopular with " the boys." " Well, John, what do you intend to make of yourself when you grow up ?" " I shall try to be a lawyer. If I fail in that, I'll try to be a horse-jockey, and if I can't succeed in that, I'll be a minister," was the reply. Rapid progress in his studies during the few weeks lie was able to attend school each year soon carried him to the limit of instruction provided in the common schools, but fell infinitely short of filling the measure of his desire for an education. How to continue the pursuit of knowledge became an absorbing question. The father was toiling early and late to provide the means of support for his large family. Domestic cares encompassed the mother's whole life. The slender income sufficed only to minister to the family's most urgent necessities. There was not much to THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 11 hope for from the parents, much as they desired to aid John's laudable ambitions. In this perplexing situation his older brothers and sisters came to the rescue. In the neighboring village of Cincin- natus an academy flourished. Thitherward all the studious and intellectual boys and girls of the surrounding country turned their longing eyes, happy if only for a single term they might be permitted to wander in its " classic shades." Some of John's brothers and sisters were at work, earning small sums. Uniting their little savings, they made out a sum sufficient, with careful economy, to pay the expenses of the coveted term in the academy. A small room was rented and furnished, and provisions were supplied from home and carried to Cincinnatus in a little trunk, which the father still preserves. On each Monday morning he set forth, with his little trunk of provisions in his hand, and walked to the village of Cincinnatus, a distance of Hve miles. At the close of the week's school days, on Friday evening, he patiently trudged home again to renew his supply of provisions i and to spend the Sabbath with parents, brothers and sisters. At the end of a single term the small resources were exhausted, and it became necessary for the young man to seek by his own labor the means for further education. His hopes had been too long centred upon intellectual pur- suits to be surrendered now. He therefore determined to 12 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. " work his own way," devoting all he could save of his earnings to the expenses of his education. At the close of his first term in the Cincinnatus Academy , he made application to the trustees of a small country school in the town of German for the position of teacher. Here he taught the winter term of 1868-69. The salary was small, but it enabled him to return to the academy for the spring term of 1869. In the summer of 1869 he worked on a farm near his home. The labors of haying and harvesting were a very severe strain upon a constitution never vigorous, but with Spartan bravery and determination he performed his tasks. He never afterward attempted to work at farm labor except occasionally for a single day at a time. After harvest time was passed, he returned to Cincinnatus, to expend his earn- ings in gathering further stores of knowledge. CHAPTER II. YOUNG MANHOOD. The heights by great men reached and kept "Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night. Longfellow. There is unspeakable pleasure attending the life of a voluntary student. — Goldsmith. FOR his first eighteen uneventful years John B. Finch lived, toiled, and studied in the country townships of Chenango and Cortland counties. Hampered by an im- paired constitution ; fettered by lack of means to pursue his studies ; hindered by frequent demands from home for the performance of various tasks ; retarded in intellectual development by the narrow range of study and the slow progress of classes in the common country schools, a less determined young man would have yielded to despair or settled stolidly into the drudgery of a life of manual labor. That he persistently battled against such odds, and won, illustrates his extraordinary force of character. At eighteen he had far outstripped his school comrades, though none of them had to contend with the obstacles he met at every 14 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. step. His brothers and sisters looked upon him as an intel- lectual prodigy, and were willing to make any sacrifice in their power for his advancement. His father and mother watched his development with honest pride, and felt grieved and pained at their inability to help him toward the realiza- tion of his highest ambitions. He had been so often interrupted in his academic course by the necessity of working to pay his way, that he now determined to pursue his studies for some time to come during the leisure he could obtain while engaged in teach- ing. Not finding an opening in any of the public schools near his home, he concluded, in the summer of 1870, to teach a private school in the little village of East Pharsalia, six or seven miles distant. One of the first men he ap- proached concerning his plan was Samuel A. Coy, whose daughter he afterward married. This gentleman writes : " I was in front of my house. He introduced himself and stated his business in a business-like manner. I invited him into the house, but he excused himself by saying that he was anxious to complete the enumeration of the pupils he would be likely to get, as soon as possible. I asked where he had attended school, and the conversation ran on educational matters and the principles of good teaching. i c I saw, or thought 1 saw, in the brief conversation with him, that he was a youth of more than ordinary ability and talent, and as I became better acquainted with him I was confirmed in that opinion." THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 15 The necessary number of pupils for a good private school were obtained, a building rented, and the teaching promptly begun. After a few days' attendance, one of the more advanced pupils was asked : " How do you like your new teacher f "He understands his business," was the reply, "and attends to it strictly. In explanation he can't be beat. Whatever he knows he can explain so that everybody else can understand. ' ' In this school, as his pupil, he first met Retta L. Coy. As she was pretty, vivacious, and unusually intelligent, the handsome young school-master was greatly attracted to her, and when later in the year he taught a district school in the neighboring town of Preston, he paid her frequent visits, and their acquaintance ripened into a warm, mutual attachment. Eetta Coy was born February 17th, 1852. She early developed a great love of books and study, and before becoming a pupil in the select school had already been a teacher in the district schools for five terms, commencing when she was but fifteen. On the eighth day of January, 1871, the marriage took place. Both bride and groom were too earnest in their pursuit of knowledge and too ambitious to win in the life race to idle weeks away in their honeymoon, or to waste their hard-earned dollars in a costly " bridal trip." Per- haps a soberer or more sensible journey was never made by 16 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. newly-wedded lovers. In Deposit, in the adjoining county of Broome, Laurel Bank Seminary was attracting the attention of advanced students. Thither Mr. and Mrs. Finch went as soon as his winter term of school was fin- ished, and devoted themselves arduously to their studies. Although attending but a single term at this institution, the time was so advantageously employed that on their return to Chenango County, they were both able to obtain situations as teachers in the high school at Smyrna. Mr. Simons, with whom they boarded when they com- menced teaching at Smyrna, recently remarked to a friend : " Mr. Finch was a perfect man while he lived with me. In all our business relations he did exactly as he promised. I believe he wanted to do just right by every one. " We often talked on temperance. He abhorred the use of intoxicants by any one with whom he came in contact. He said he had begun at the foot of the ladder and was going to the top round, and was going there on the tem- perance line, fighting the rum demon." At the close of the winter term at Smyrna, Mr. Finch and his wife removed to Norwich, in the same county. On the first day of April, 1872, he commenced the study of law in the office of Prindle, Knapp & Ray, of Norwich. During the summer he sold agricultural implements to help pay his expenses while pursuing his law studies. In the fall Mr. Finch returned to Smyrna, and finding no vacancy in the Union School in the village, applied for a situ a- THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH 17 tion as teacher in the " old red school-house" one and one half miles south, and was eagerly accepted by the Board of Trustees. He taught the winter term of 1872-73, renting a dwelling near the school-house. In the spring he re- moved to a house on the " creek road," west of the village, and resided there while teaching the summer and fall terms in the Union School of Smyrna. During the fall term he enlisted the interest of the larger boys in the project of planting trees on the school grounds, and by their aid he dug in the woods over thirty thrifty young sugar maples and planted them with great care. These trees are still growing and vigorous, and constitute a fine adornment for the grounds, and a grateful shade in summer. So careful was the selection of young saplings, and so well was the work of setting performed, that not more than one or two failed to grow, or ever required re- placing. About the same time he helped the " boys" to gravel the walk from the school door to the street. J. P. Knowles says : " I think the job was well done, as it has been a good walk up to the present, and I do not know of any repairs." In the autumn of 1873 Mr. Finch and his wife both again obtained situations as teachers in the same school, this time in the Union graded school at New Woodstock, in Madison County, where they taught for about one year. At the close of the fall term in 1874 Mr. Finch spent some weeks making temperance addresses at country 18 TEE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. school-houses and in the towns of Schuyler and Chemung counties. While thus engaged he wrote from Millport to his wife, who was still teaching at New Woodstock : " I speak on temperance in this village next Sunday evening. Pray for Johnnie that he may succeed." At Alpine, in December, he was suddenly prostrated. His wife and his brother came promptly to his bedside and attended him faithfully until he was able to be removed to the home of his father-in-law in East Pharsalia. By the time he recovered Retta was seized with a very severe attack of heart disease, and his returning strength was taxed to its utmost limit by the unceasing vigils at her side. About midnight of the 20th of February, as he bent over her, watching anxiously, she looked up in his face with a smile and whispered, " Lift me up, Johnnie." Tenderly the husband's arms enfolded the thin and worn form, and gently he raised her till her head lay on his shoulder, and he looked in her face to ask if she rested easily. But the question was unanswered. Even as he looked a shadow came sweeping over the fair, pallid face, the light faded from the loving eyes, and the seal of silence was set forever on the lips whose words were music to him who watched and wept. Retta was resting indeed. Around the cottage the winter winds moaned and sighed, but she was resting in the summer-land of perfect peace. Night and darkness covered the cold clay, but the freed spirit rested in the soft sunlight of eternal day. Sorrow THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 19 and tears and breaking hearts in the old home, but Retta rested on the shadowless shore, in joy forever undarkened by gloom. To the young husband the blow was swift and terrible. He could not believe that the great change had come to her whom he loved so devotedly. In the days before the burial he again and again clasped her in his arms, raining kisses on the cold lips, and crying aloud in the agony of his passionate grief, " O Retta, Retta, come back to me !" In all his after years the memory of his young wife's last night on earth was inexpressibly painful. Sacredly shrined in his heart's holiest chambers the image of Retta ever remained. To a few of his nearest friends he sometimes mentioned her sadly and reverently. Only to her who shared with him the labors and triumphs of his later life did he reveal the depth of affectionate remembrance of his lost one, cherished in his loyal, loving heart. After Retta's death he remained some months at her father's house, resting and slowly recruiting his strength, until May, when his father and mother removed to Cort- land, and he again made their house his home, continuing the study of law with the firm of H. & L. Warren. The death of his wife was a blow from which it seemed impossible for Mr. Finch to recover. His temperament was so ardent, his likes and dislikes were so intense, that this first love of his boyish years had permeated his whole being. 20 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. For months he brooded in silence over his loss. He cared for no companions, shunned society, and applied him- self closely and incessantly to study till he was compelled to desist, a severe attack of typhoid fever prostrating him for some weeks. After his recovery his old associations began to assert their influence, one of the first meetings he attended being a Teachers' Institute. The contact with the world roused him from the morbid condition into which he had been plunged by the loss of his wife. He was elected secretary. During the progress of the institute a discussion arose concerning some grammatical question, Mr. Finch taking one side and the professor in charge holding an opposite view. Numerous authorities were cited by Mr. Finch, and the prevailing evidence sustained him. Up to this time the regular annual Teachers' Institutes, provided for by State law, had been the only gatherings of teachers held in the county. At this session of the Insti- tute, Mr. Finch submitted a comprehensive plan for an association of all the teachers in the county, to hold meet- ings every quarter for the discussion of topics of interest concerning methods of teaching and school management. The topics were to be given out by the professor, written up carefully by the teacher he selected, and the paper read at the next meeting, after which there should be a general discussion of the whole subject. Mr. Finch was selected to prepare the first paper. THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH 21 It seemed necessary that he should engage in some re- munerative employment during the winter, and he there- fore applied to the trustees to teach the district school at Texas Yalley, a few miles southeast of Cortland and not far from the school he first taught. In making the contract the trustees said to him : " Mr. Finch, we have some very hard boys in our dis- trict. Do you think you can manage them ?" " Oh, yes, I'll get along with them," was the easy, sanguine response. " But they have 'put out of doors' every teacher we have had in four years, and we have had some strong men." " They won't put me out," answered Mr. Finch, with determination gleaming in his eye. ''Well, if you succeed in managing the boys this winter we shall be very glad." " If you will stand by me I will teach the school and govern it." 1 ' All right, you can depend on the trustees to stand by you." Eo doubt they felt some misgiving as they thought of the sturdy, rugged, full-grown young men from the farms, who attended their school, and then looked at the tall, " slender, boyish-looking youth who, though twenty-three, appeared little more than sixteen. Nevertheless they said nothing, and accordingly school began early in November, 22 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINOH. with Mr. Finch duly installed as teacher. More than a month passed quietly, the " big boys" making no outward demonstration, but ominously scowling at the unusual restraint. The day after Christmas the storm broke. In a letter dated December 27th, 1875, Mr. Finch tells the story : "lam happy this morning in thinking of the victory achieved in behalf of good order yesterday. The facts are these : I have eleven young men whose ages vary from seventeen to twenty-one years. They had said, long before I came here, that I could not teach the school. I have punished two of them before, and, prompted by revenge, the boys in question organized, and yesterday at recess in the forenoon the ' music ' commenced. It is against the rules * to fool ' in the school-room, and in answer to my request to keep still, a large boy said it was none of my business. You can imagine the rest — black eyes, bruised noses, and other marks on those boys are plenty, while I was unhurt. The trustee said to me this morning, ' You will have no more trouble in this school. Go ahead.' " The trustee's prediction, mentioned in the letter, proved true. For the remainder of the winter the school was quiet, and the former " unruly boys" were as obedient and respectful as could be desired. This term closed about the middle of February. Soon afterward a spelling contest was announced in the Normal School at Cortland. All persons who desired were per- THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 23 mitted to participate. The prize to be awarded was a com- plete set of school text-books. When the day of the struggle came Mr. Finch took part. The judges resorted to all the usual devices to puzzle the spellers, but he stood every test and triumphantly carried off the prize, much to the chagrin and mortification of some of the Normal pupils, who had confidently counted on victory for themselves. The winter term of 1875-76 in the Texas Valley district was the last school ever tanght by Mr. Finch. At intervals for seven years he had been engaged in teaching, and had won an enviable reputation as a successful instructor. He had invariably subdued the rebellious spirits who sought to disregard the master's authority, sometimes by physical force, but always by some means maintaining that ascend- ency which is the key to success. One of his old pupils says : " He was wonderfully patient and painstaking with his pupils, explaining over and over again all difficult problems, and never appearing satisfied until the dull- est was made to comprehend every part of the explana- tion." Another who was under his instruction writes : " There was never any petty meanness in his govern- ment, such as is common with some teachers. The younger and the older, the bright and the dull, the quiet and the noisy ones, were all treated with exact equality and justice. 24 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. If he had any favorites there was no indication of it that even the most sensitive could have observed." Mrs. Anthony Volmer, who was under his instruction at the Union School at Smyrna, writes, January 6th, 1888 : "As a teacher he was a splendid success. He had a happy gift of imparting instruction, a rare talent for organ- izing, and a very unusual tact in governing. I never knew a teacher who had so keen an insight into the minds of his pupils, combined with a readiness of explanation that made every difficulty vanish quickly. He led by his strong per- sonal magnetism, combined with great patience." His gentleness was a marked characteristic of his school work. Though firm in his determination to secure obedi- ence to reasonable requirements, there was no tinge of asceticism in his disposition. His wonderful personal mag- netism was as conspicuous in the teacher as in the platform orator. His pupils loved him, and in almost all cases they endeavored to do what he asked of them more to please him than from any other impulse. Their attention to duty was well rewarded. He was always ready to entertain them after lessons were learned, with stories from history, with which his mind was amply stored, or with a vivid descrip- tion of some of the world's wonders. He was the life of the play-ground. In all the out-door sports he excelled. Not one of his "boys" could run faster, jump further, or give a more daring " lead " in the game of " goal." The sceptre of control was laid down, THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 25 and lie was a " boy" with the boys, without seeking or desiring to influence or command. Only when a wrong was being done to some of the smaller children did he, on the play-ground, assume the authority of master. Woe betide the big bully who attempted in his presence to ill- treat " the babies," as he always called them. He would protect little children, if necessary, with his life. Before and after school hours, morning and evening, he pursued a course of college studies, and for the latter three years read law. His progress was nearly as rapid while teaching as while attending the academy and the seminary. There was no time wasted. If he could not follow all scientists in their mysterious explorations, he determined at least to stand in the gateways of knowledge and catch a ray of light from their lamps or a gleam of perception from their watch-fires as they camped on the confines of the " unknown beyond." In every branch of learning he was an indefatigable student. He desired to know something, at least, even if he could not attain all that was to be learned concerning science, art, history and political economy. The mystery of human existence commanded his longest, most patient and persevering investigation. Concerning this he deter- mined to reach the utmost verge of human knowledge, and, if possible, to develop undiscovered truths. The days, months, and years devoted to study in such intervals as he could spare from other duties would not 2G THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. have been sufficient to gather the vast amount of useful knowledge with which his mind was stored, had he not possessed a remarkably retentive memory and a quick, almost intuitive perception. With these endowments he was able to accomplish more with his limited opportunities and alone, than many others would have wrought with the con- stant aid of the best instructors in America's higher institu- tions of learning. CHAPTER III. BEGINNING TEMPERANCE W0KK. TN the year in whicli John B. Finch was born there came -■- into existence an organization whose influence was largely instrumental in turning his thoughts toward the temperance question, and whose systems of work made his development as a leader possible. It may be claimed for the Independent Order of Good Templars that it was the influence of that society which firmly and permanently fixed his attention upon the great problems, the settlement of which enlisted the best energies of his young manhood. A devoted Christian mother had early trained him to loathe vice, and so deeply had the love of personal purity been instilled in his mind that he was not liable to fall into drinking habits or to use tobacco. Reared in the country, where the temptations of the legalized dram-shop are less felt, he grew almost to manhood without near contact with its contaminating influences. Once, when a boy, in company with his mother, he visited a neighboring town. As they were passing a saloon a drunken man reeled from the door, staggering to the side- 28 TRE LIFE OF J0I1N B. FINCH. walk just ahead of them. The mother saw the opportunity to emphasize her home teachings by the terrible illustration before them. " Promise mother again," she said, " that you will never touch the drink that makes men drunkards like that." " Mother, I will never drink a drop of liquor, and when I'm a man I'll shut up the places where they sell it." The mother warmly pressed the hand of her sanguine boy, little dreaming that in his manhood's years, in hun- dreds of towns and hamlets, and even in some whole States, his efforts would be an important factor in the work of " shutting up the places where they sell it." When only fifteen he was mainly instrumental in organ- izing a lodge of Good Templars in the town of Pitcher, where he lived. He was a faithful attendant and worker in this lodge as long as he remained in the vicinity. In the literary exercises and discussions at the lodge meetings he first began to understand his power as a debater. In the lodge at Smyrna, which both he and his wife joined January 2d, 1872, he was recognized as one of the most valuable members. The records show that he took a prominent part in every meeting, being appointed on vari- ous committees, leading the debates, participating in the business transactions, and reading selections. An old acquaintance who. knew him as a brother in this lodge says : " His readiness of debate made him willing to take the THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 29 unpopular side of a question, and the decision of the judges was almost invariably on his side." He debated in the affirmative on the question, "Hesolved, That a free government may restrain personal liberty." The judges decided in his favor. One who has heard him in later years discussing the same question before vast throngs of people cannot help wondering whether, even in those early years, he had not grasped comprehensive ideas of the true intent of righteous government. At another time we find him debating the question of woman suffrage, and winning the decision of the judges for the principle. One evening he gave the lodge a lecture on ' ' The Pro- nunciation of English Words." It was a very instructive lecture, and somewhat amusing, as it contained a few pointed " hits" at local bombast. One evening a large sleigh-load of lodge members rode over to Poolville to visit a neighboring lodge, Mr. and Mrs. Finch being among the number. James P. Knowles, who was one of the company, writes concerning this visit : " Several of us made brief speeches, but we all recog- nized his as the ablest. On the return I sat by Mr. Finch, and we discussed poetry and poets. It was one of the pleasantest visits I ever had with him." In September, 1873, several of the lodges in Chenango County united in the arrangement for a picnic in a grove 30 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. at Lyon Brook Bridge, four miles south of Norwich, where the former New York and Oswego Midland Bailroad crosses a deep ravine. In this picturesque spot a large number of Templars gathered. There had been no pro- gramme arranged, but some of the more thoughtful mem- bers desired to improve the occasion by securing a speaker to give an address. After canvassing the assemblage it was discovered that no one was prepared. In this emergency, and in response to repeated requests, Mr. Finch came for- ward. Barely twenty-one years of age, and even more youthful in appearance, entirely without preparation, he commenced his first public temperance oration. Starting calmly and deliberately with a statement of the Good Templar platform of principles, he steadily advanced with his argument in vindication of these principles, sweeping away with his resistless eloquence the barriers of false logic reared by the enemies of the cause the Order represented, and closing with an impassioned appeal to all his hearers to work with ever-increasing zeal to save the fallen and to remove the drink temptations from their paths. It was a fraternal Templar band who listened, true- hearted men and women, boys and girls, who would have solaced even a failure with brotherly and sisterly com- passion. But they were not prepared for this marvel of success — a surprise no less to the speaker than to them. From this time forward the occasions when he was called THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 31 upon for temperance addresses became more and more frequent. When Ids pupils in school asked him to select their declamations and recitations, he wrote suitable essays or orations on the temperance question for them to memorize. His attendance at his Good Templar lodge was regular and constant, and he always furnished some entertainment for the members — usually an extemporaneous address on some phase of the temperance question. He illustrated all his arguments by citations of evil effects in the community, with which every member must have been familiar. His investigation rapidly led him to understand that the respon- sibility for the evil results does not rest wholly with the proprietorof the drinking-places, and his denunciation of the citizen who would give his sanction to them was scathing. In May, 1876, soon after the closing of his last term of school, he was married to Miss Frances E. Manchester, at her home in McGrawville, N. Y. Professor R. T. Peck, of Cortland, a life-long acquaint- ance and friend of Miss Manchester, furnishes a brief sketch of her history and antecedents. " Miss Frances E. Manchester was born in the town of Solon, Cork- land County, N. Y., May 21st, 1852. Her great-grandfather, Captain Stephen N. Peck, was among the first settlers of the county, where the family has since resided, and his brothers were Elder Nathan Peck, a Bap- tist clergyman of Cortland for many years, and Elder John Peck, a Bap- tist missionary of wide repute in New York City. Darius Peck, a cousin, 32 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. was late judge of Hudson City, N. Y. The family comes in direct line from Deacon William Peck, born in London, England, in 1601, who be- came one of the charter members of the New Haven Colony in 1638. Frances is the daughter of Whitcomb and Lucelia Manchester, residents of Cortland County for many years. Like many women of our land who have attained influence and prominence in literary circles, on the platform, and as leaders of charitable, missionary, and temperance work, she had little to depend upon in early life, in obtaining an education from books, save her own resources. The premature death of her mother laid almost insurmountable obstacles in her pathway, but with that energy characteristic of her life work, she obtained sufficient edu- cation at the home district school and by private study to become a teacher at the age of nineteen. For five terms thereafter she taught school in the vicinity of her home, took a course of study in the Cort- land State Normal School in 1875, and further prepared herself for the teacher's vocation at the McGrawville Academy. " During these latter years she formed the acquaintance of John B. Finch, to whom she was united in marriage May 31st, 1876. This event opened a new era before her, and presented a wide and varied field of labor seemingly suited to her ambition. From that time until the death of Mr. Finch, her work was inseparably connected with that of her husband. " Mrs. Finch joined the Good Templars soon after her marriage, and for three years following travelled with her husband, interested herself in temperance work, and acquainted herself with many of the best authors. In 1879 she was elected General Superintendent of Juvenile Temples of Nebraska, and during that year organized a number of Temples. " In 1880 she did some work in connection with the ' Woman's Suf- frage Reform,' began the study of elocution, and gave many select read- ings and valuable papers and poems before appreciative audiences throughout the country. Encouraged in these endeavors, and desirous C^^Z^<^Us THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 35 of making her efforts of greater value to others, she, in 1883, entered the School of Oratory, North "Western University, at Evanston, 111., from which she was graduated in June, 1881. In 1886 Mrs. Finch extended the greeting of the world's Good Templars to the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union Convention at Minneapolis, and during the past two years she has been officially connected with the Good Templars of the district of which Chicago is the centre. " Mrs. Finch is a woman of broad views and unprejudiced opinions. She possesses that versatility and adaptability to society and circum- stances that well fit her for the great work of temperance reform. The death of her husband has placed upon her new and grave responsibil- ities, so that, in whatever field of labor she may be engaged, her many friends will follow her with their sympathies, and welcome her success in all her undertakings." About the beginning of the year 1876 Mr. Finch received a commission as Deputy Grand Worthy Chief Templar for the State of New York from II. E. Sutton, then the Chief Executive of the Grand Lodge of New York. On the evening of April 26th he organized a lodge at MeGraw- ville, in Cortland County. This began an active Good Templar campaign which resulted in the organization of twenty-nine lodges before the meeting of the Grand Lodge at Saratoga Springs in August of that year. Eight of these lodges were in Tioga County, seven in Chemung, ten in Tompkins, and four in Cortland. Such rapid and successful work was quite a surprise to old members of the Grand Lodge. There were many obstacles in the way, but he met and overcame them all. It had been usual to suspend aggressive work for the Order 36 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FTNCH. during the heated term, but Mr. Finch pushed the cam- paign in midsummer with results commensurate to the energy he put into it. A difficulty with which he had to contend was found in the fact that lodges had existed and slowly died in every town visited. To those who had become lukewarm or disheartened by past failures he gave new inspiration and hope. To people who had never understood Good Templary he gave such thorough explana- tions of the methods and possibilities of work through this instrumentality that he everywhere created great enthusi- asm for the Order. County lodges, composed of delegates from all the subordinate lodges in each county, were organized where they had not already been in existence, and the old organizations were greatly strengthened. The Tioga County Lodge presented him a gold-headed cane, and Chemung County a tine silver tea-set suitably engraved. The Tompkins County Lodge presented him with a handsome Grand Lodge regalia. At the session of the New York Grand Lodge in 1876, Mr. Finch, accompanied by his wife, made his first appear- ance in that body as a representative of Cortland Lodge. He was selected to deliver the principal address at the Opera House public meeting on the first evening of the session. In the deliberations of the session he took a prom- inent part. Here he first became acquainted with the lead- ing temperance workers of the State. During the remainder of the year and the early part of JOHN B. FINCH AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-FOUR. THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 39 1877 lie was engaged in lecturing for the Good Templar lodges in Western and Central New York and in organizing new lodges. In this work he continued steadily successful, greatly encouraging and strengthening Good Templary in every section of the State he visited. The Right Worthy Grand Lodge, the chief governing body of the Good Templars for the world, held its twenty- third annual session at Portland, Me., in May, 1877. Mr. Finch had become so intensely interested in Good Templar work that he desired to be fully identified with every part of the system. " Puss," he said to his wife, calling her by the pet name he always used, " we must go to Portland." " How will you get the money to pay your expenses ?" she asked. " Oh, I'll make some lecture engagements going and coming, and will pay our way out of it," was the easy, confident reply. " I do not think we can afford it, even if you can do that," she replied. " I will remain here while you are gone." " But I want you to go," the husband persisted. " No, Bub, it is not best," Mrs. Finch said, as she crushed the pleasing thought of the enjoyment the session might bring her. " Well, Puss, I must go, even if I go alone. I shall probably make this temperance work my life business, and 40 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. in order to succeed I must get acquainted with the workers and the work in all its branches." The question being settled, he at once planned to make the trip pay his expenses. An arrangement was made with one or two prominent newspapers to write for them daily- full reports of the proceedings of the Eight Worthy Grand Lodge sessions. Appointments to lecture were made for cities where the workers had before asked for his services. Some engagements were unexpectedly offered after the close of the session, enabling him to more than realize his expectations of " paying his way." An incident which occurred on the way to Portland illustrates Mr. Finch's ready and ever-active sympathy with suffering and misfortune. A lady, who was a repre- sentative to the Right Worthy Grand Lodge, lost her pocketbook containing railroad and steamer tickets and all her money. Discovering the circumstances, he gener- ously donated a large share of the money necessary to replace the amount lost, though his own funds were not sufficient to pay his fare home. The Right Worthy Grand Lodge elected him to be one of its official reporters, thus making. his letters for the press doubly valuable. At Portland Mr. Pinch learned most fully the details of the division in the ranks of the Order, which occurred the previous year at the session in Louisville, Ky., by which a THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 41 great proportion of Templars of Great Britain separated themselves from the original society. He gave addresses at Saco and Biddeford, in Maine, and at other points on his way home. Mrs. America A. Brookbank, the present Eight Worthy Grand Superintendent of Juvenile Temples, mentions her first acquaintance with Mr. Finch in the Portland meeting, and her later association with him in Good Templar work : " He came to the Portland session of Right Worthy Grand Lodge a young man, full of vigor and intense earnestness in the work of the Order and the cause of humanity. As a member of the Literature Com- mittee of which he was afterward Chairman, and also having served on his Executive Committee, my regard for him as a Christian and as a philosopher has strengthened as the years have gone by. " He was a friend to the children, and the Juvenile Temple had his warmest sympathy and best counsels. His earnest words and constant devotion to this department of Good Templar work will live on, although his hands are folded to rest. No one can fill his place." Dr. Oronhyatekha, one of the most sagacious and trusted friends and advisers of Mr. Finch in his last years, gives some interesting reminiscences in the International Good Templar : " Brother Finch's first appearance in the Right Worthy Grand Lodge was in 1877, at Portland, Me., the first session held after the great split at Louisville. He came as a visitor from Rochester, N. Y. During the session he acted as a reporter for one of the daily papers published in the city. *' His reports were considered by some a little too full and detailed, 42 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. and there was some talk of bringing him before the bar of the house. When he came to me for a brief sketch of myself, I said to him : * Brother Finch, you had better not say anything about me, for if you say anything favorable of me, you may be hauled up for it by the dom- inant party in the Right Worthy Grand Lodge ; and if you say anything bad about me, I'll have your scalp sure. ' It seems but yesterday, I re- member him so well standing before me with a scornful smile on his manly though youthful countenance, as he replied, ' I guess they won't try to muzzle the press.' The next session was held in Minneapolis, Minn., and he appeared as one of the representatives from Nebraska, and at once took a commanding position in the debates of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge. Then followed the sessions at Detroit and New York, at both of which Brother Finch served on the Finance Committee. He had already established himself as one of the leaders in the councils of the Supreme Body. During the session at New York, in 1881, he moved the appointment of the Literature Committee, which was carried, and the following were named as the first Literature Committee : John B. Finch, Nebraska ; James Black, Pennsylvania ; George B. Katzen- stein, California ; A. J. Chase, Maine ; John O'Donnell, New York ; Lillie J. Disbrow, Connecticut. He retained the chairmanship of this most important committee till he was elected Eight Worthy Grand Templar. The following year, at the Topeka, Kan., session he began to show his individuality, and we find this unprecedented record : * Moved by Representative Finch, of Nebraska, to proceed with an informal ballot for Right Worthy Grand Templar. Carried.' This unusual course led to the election of his friend, Brother T. D. Kanouse. The next session of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge was held in Charleston, S. C, and an examination of the records will show that no one in the body took a more active part in its deliberations. It is related that at this session Colonel Hickman suc- cessfully opposed one of Brother Finch's schemes, but though defeated he was not conquered. Taking advantage, at a later stage of the session, THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 43 of the temporary absence of the colonel, he succeeded in having the matter reconsidered, and then adopted by the Right "Worthy Grand Lodge, to the great chagrin of the colonel. The following year the Eight Worthy Grand Lodge session was held in the Palmer House, Chicago. It was at this session that Mr. Finch's friends first brought him forward as a candidate for the Templar's Chair, but he was defeated, though lacking only three votes of an election. The writer of these reminiscences was a candidate for Eight Worthy Grand Counsellor on the same ticket with Brother Finch, and was elected mainly through his personal exertions. Immediately after the election, Brother Finch came to me to offer his congratulations, and said, ' Now you must prepare yourself, for we will run you for the chair next year.' I replied, * Under no circumstances will I stand in your way. The Order needs you, and you must again consent to run next year.' The next session was held in Washington in 1884, and Brother Finch was elected Eight Worthy Grand Templar by a large majority. He was re-elected by acclamation at Toronto, Eichmond, and Saratoga, and we are sure could have held the chair against all comers for an indefinite time, for each year he be- came stronger in the affections of the members of the Eight Worthy Grand Lodge. It would seem that Providence raised up John B. Finch and gave him specially to the Good Templars, to effect the reunion of the Order. We feel satisfied that no other man could have kept in hand the apparently conflicting elements, and eventually have succeeded in harmonizing them in a united body. Now that we have been reunited, we feel sure that there are no forces existing in the Order that could again sever the bonds that unite us in the one world-wide international society. This grand work of itself would have proved an enduring monument to the memory of our noble and self-sacrificing chief- tain." At Minneapolis, Minn., the Right Worthy Grand Lodge held its twenty-fourth session in 1878. The Grand Lodge 44 THE LIFE OF JOHN B, FINCH. of Nebraska had elected Mr. Finch as its representative at that session. Mrs. Finch accompanied him, and relates the interesting incidents of the journey. Visiting Fort Snelling and the Falls of Minnehaha, he recounted the history and the legends connected with them, vividly picturing the past, and adding greatly to the enjoyment of the coterie of Templars who surrounded him. He loved nature, and all that was beautiful in natural scenery quickly caught his attention. He desired to see and learn all that could be discovered in nature, art, or science, and it was an especial delight to him to visit the scenes with which he had become familiar in his early years by reading and study. In the Right Worthy Grand Lodge, of which he was now for the first time a member, entitled to all the rights and privileges of debate, he took an active part, never missing a minute of the morning, afternoon, and evening sessions, and never being late in arriving. This was a prominent characteristic of all his connection with Good Templar work. When the hour for opening a meeting arrived he w T as always present, and when the gavel fell at closing he was in his place. From 1877 till the time of his death he missed no session of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge nor of the Grand Lodge of his own State. His comprehensive grasp of the whole subject of temperance in all its relations to society, his quick perception of defects in any plan or system of THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 45 work, Lis rapid recognition of the value or worthlessness of remedies proposed — all combined to make his mem- bership in Good Templar governing bodies a most desira- ble aid in perfecting their methods and achieving their aims. CHAPTEE IV. RED RIBBON WORK. Blessed is he who has found his work ; let him ask no other blessed- ness. He has a work, a life purpose ; he has found it and will follow it. — Cartyle. Thine to work as well as pray, Clearing thorny wrongs away ; Plucking up the weeds of sin, Letting heaven's warm sunshine in. WhiUier, TN the years 1876 and 1877 there was a widespread and -*- enthusiastic revival of some of the methods of work which had proved temporarily successful in the old Wash- ingtonian movement. Slight changes in plan, and possibly improvements, were made, but it was substantially the moral suasion effort of 1840 to 1847 repeated. In the hands of broad and liberal leaders the Red and the Blue Ribbon systems became valuable agencies for the pro- mulgation of temperance sentiment and the dissemination of correct ideas concerning the reform. But even where the broadest liberality pervaded the leadership, the inevi- table reaction which followed the periods of " Ribbon" excitements in the villages or cities where revival meetings were held, often affected disastrously the older organizations, THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 47 which had fought for years, patiently and almost single- handed, the moral battles of the community. Good Tem- plars, Sons of Temperance, and kindred societies, giving the whole power and strength of their membership to aid the new movement, sometimes found that when the enthu-* siasm of nightly public meetings had died away, it was more difficult than before to arouse the people to take up the plodding, self-denying routine work of the fraternal temperance bands. Indeed, many members of these soci- eties were borne along on the wave of revival excitement, like the drift on the inflowing tide, only to be stranded at its ebb upon the sandy shores of disappointment or despair. If this disastrous result was possible under wise and lib- eral leadership, it was almost certain under the management of narrow and illiberal men, who here and there took the chief places in the new movement. Men of this stamp were ignorant of the great principles underlying the tem- perance reform, and occasionally one of them imagined, or assumed that his method alone had the sanction and approval of Heaven, and that therefore it was his duty to malign and overturn every organization and system of work except his own. Such influences were more potent to destroy than to build up. The astonishing results of a few days or weeks of work in a city so wrought upon the people that many of them were ready to believe that all other methods of work were ill-judged and even sinful, if some Blue Ribbon apostle so declared. 48 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. Another danger in the new movement soon became apparent. In their eagerness to roll up huge lists of pledge- signers, a few workers had adopted a loose and easy pledge, which might mean abstinence from all alcoholic beverages or only from distilled liquors, according to the interpreta- tion put upon it by the easy consciences of half -converted topers. Most of the workers in the old temperance organizations felt that it was neither right nor wise to oppose a move- ment so vast in its possibilities for good, because a few of its teachers were misguided and bigoted. That there were Blue Ribbon leaders who entertained false views of what true total abstinence consisted, an editorial which appeared in the Western Brewer about this time clearly indicates. • ' Mr. Murphy says : ' The German can go to the beer garden and come home perfectly sober after drinking all day. He is really the most sensible drinker in America.' " Now then, Mr. Finch, you say the Murphy pledge ' allows the Ger- man, who believes his lager is not intoxicating, to indulge as much as he pleases.' Talk about a German who believes his lager is not intoxi- cating ! Don't he know it is not intoxicating? And does not Mr. Murphy know it also, and does he not say so, like an honest man ? " Mr. Finch is a good man in his way, but who made Mr. Finch the judge of lager, or of what constitutes true temperance ? Observe that all the other pledges are particular to forbid malt liquor by name. Mr. Murphy's pledge does not ; and he evidently means it shall not. Mr. Finch evidently does not like Mr. Murphy's pledge. So much the better for the pledge. There is an irrepressible conflict between the true tem- perance men who act • with malice toward none and charity for all,' and THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 49 the professional temperance men who act with charity for none and with malice toward all who oppose them. The partnership between them is dissolved. Welcome, Fbancis Murphy." It will be remembered that the pledge used by the early Blue Eibbon workers, and referred to in the Western JBreicer, read : " I, the undersigned, pledge my word and honor, God helping me, to abstain from all intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and that I will by all honorable means encourage others to abstain." This construction of the meaning of the pledge began to be generally accepted. No authoritative denial of its cor- rectness came from the Blue Eibbon leaders who used it. With such a feeling pervading the public mind, the ques- tion what attitude they should assume toward the movement became a serious one with men whose broad charity and fervent zeal in the cause was a spur to constant effort in its behalf. These conditions Mr. Finch fully appreciated as he looked over the field early in 1877. Weighing carefully yet rapidly the opposing arguments, he determined to under- take " Eed Eibbon" work, not along the lines with other workers already occupying the same field, but in harmony with the ideals fixed in his mind by the uncompromising teachings of Good Templary, the society he had loved so long and for the advancement of which he had recently so zealously labored. 50 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH, Accustomed to the solemn and binding obligation of that Order, he adopted for " Red Ribbon" meetings " THE CHRISTIAN TEMPLAR* S PLEDGE. u I solemnly promise, God helping me, that I will never make, buy, sell, use, furnish, or cause to be fur- nished to others, as a beverage, any spirituous or malt liquors, wine, or cider. " I also promise to do all in my power, in all honorable ways, to discountenance the use of these beverages in the community." Timid people feared that a pledge so rigid in its exact- tions would be rejected by many who might otherwise be brought under temperance influence. But Mr. Finch scorned compromise. " I'll make that pledge win without the change of a letter,'' he said. "I may not get as many signers as I would if I used the weak pledge, but those I do get will be worth having. I won't use a pledge with loopholes in it. I would just as soon have a man drunk on whiskey as on cider or beer." The Good Templar lodges of Western New York, where the Hibbon excitement was at its height, determined to inaugurate a similar work in their several communities. Mr. Finch was selected as the representative and leader of the Order in this new line of work. For a month or more THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 51 he was employed in the villages of Mnnroe County under the auspices of the Good Templars in the pledge work. He used the " Christian Templar's pledge" with uniform success. In the village of Bergen, with a total population of less than six hundred, at the first meeting one hundred and fifty signed the " iron-clad " pledge. In a single evening six hundred and twenty-five persons, or more than one third of the population of the village, signed this pledge in Brockport. The first severe test of the strong pledge was made in Batavia, N. Y., in April, 1877. The rapidly-growing reputation of Mr. Finch had gone before him. Added to this, the popular mind was full of the excitement that was then sweeping over the whole country. Mr. Finch laid the foundations of his work deep and sure. He began by a calm, logical presentation of the claims of total abstinence, its benefits and blessings to the individual, and through individual development, its profit to society. Every evening he advanced the arguments along the lines of his life training, until the hearer was con- fronted with the question : " If abstinence is best for the individual and for society, what right has the saloon to exist V ' No fear of failure in getting signers, no timorousness lest popular disapproval should greet him, deterred John B. Finch from his scathing denunciation of the institution which scattered rum-wrecks everywhere and made Bed 52 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. Ribbon revivals necessary in order to save a few of its half- destroyed victims. Notwithstanding this radical departure from established methods of moral suasion and pledge work, the interest and enthusiasm steadily increased. On the fourth night a larger audience gathered in the hall than the room had ever held before, and after that time no building would hold the multitudes who sought admission. The ninth evening the pledge roll mounted to two thou- sand signatures in a village of only four thousand population. It was the iron-clad pledge, "life-long in its duration." After sixteen nights in Batavia he commenced an enframe- ment of two weeks in Buffalo, IN". Y., which proved equally successful. Always giving utterance to the most radical declarations, even to conservative audiences, his reasoning was plain and his arguments so strong that the most prejudiced hearer was compelled to admit his premises and accept his con- clusions. "While employed in pledge-gathering work he remem- bered the old organizations that had " borne the burden and heat of the day." In every city and village he visited in his Red Ribbon work he directed the attention of the new converts to the existing temperance societies, and explained the benefits of membership in them. He invari- ably left these organizations stronger than he found them. He urged the society workers to gather up the results of the THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 53 revival meetings, and use all their efforts to make reformed men feel at home in the organizations. So strongly was this thought impressed upon the minds of both the old workers and the new pledge-signers, that permanent good results followed. As in the previous year, he devoted the summer months to the organization of Good Templar lodges. In each locality he visited he conducted " Ribbon" revivals for a few days, and then established a lodge to carry on the work after his departure. Daring the latter part of the year 1876 and most of 1877 Mr. Finch was accompanied by his wife in his visits to the different parts of the State where he was called to lecture. One afternoon in September he entered the room where Mrs. Finch was seated, and, in his bright, breezy, and direct style of beginning a conversation, exclaimed : " Puss, let's go to Nebraska." Mrs. Finch could scarcely have been more astonished at a proposition to journey to Kamtchatka. Success was crowning his efforts in New York ; every obstacle was dis- appearing from his path ; from neighboring cities he was receiving an increasing number of applications for his time ; his reputation as a worker was daily extending ; loyal friends were rallying around him ; no brighter prospect of future usefulness could have been asked or expected. It was natural that Mrs. Finch should inquire what had led him to this change of plan. 54 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. a Oil, they need the right kind of Red Ribbon work in the West," was Mr. Finch's reply. "Have you had any calls to go out there?" his wife asked. "No." " Have you corresponded with anybody in that State ?" "No." " Do you know any of the people I" "No one intimately." " Has your work in New York ever been heard of in Nebraska ?" "Probably not." How will you get money to go ?" ' Earn it on the way." * How do you expect to gain a foothold in that State ?" Oh, easily enough," he laughingly answered, and his eyes sparkled with the brave, sanguine spirit that no doubts could daunt or difficulties defeat. Then, growing more serious, he continued, " Puss, I can win anywhere, because I am doing work that must be done." Had Mrs. Finch opposed the project he would have hesi- tated and perhaps abandoned the plan, but as soon as her surprise was over she answered : " Very well, I am ready to go." Her firm belief that all truth is from God, and that He gives to those who lean upon and trust Him special guid- ance, leads her to act promptly and decisively, without u a THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 5o argument or delay. This was one of the occasions when the way seemed to open clear and plain, and all doubts dis- appeared as suddenly as they came. The decision was made. In the two or three weeks that followed Mr. Finch lectured in Niagara, Orleans, and Monroe counties in Western New York. By the third day of October he had saved a sufficient sum to purchase tickets to Nebraska for himself and his wife, and on that day they commenced the journey. Two days later they arrived in Nebraska City with just seven dollars as the total of their possessions. They at- tended a meeting of the Good Templar lodge on the even- ing of their arrival. At that meeting the acquaintance with some of the earnest Templar workers was made. On the following day the Good Templar leaders introduced him to all the clergymen of the city, to whom he unfolded his plans for a Red Ribbon revival. They cordially approved, and the next day, Sunday, October 7th, was fixed for the beginning of the work. Only two days elapsed after his arrival in the State, un- known and unheralded, before he had inaugurated, with the cordial co-operation of all the moral elements of the city, the most successful temperance revival ever conducted there. He attended the Methodist service on Sunday morning. At four in the afternoon and at eight in the evening all the churches united in a meeting at the Cumberland Presby- 56 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. terian Church. In his first address Mr. Finch boldly de- clared his position. He denounced the liquor traffic as an unmixed evil, harmful alike to the individual drinker and to society as a whole. The license system could in nowise mitigate the evil or save society from its ravages. License was only a bargain with an enemy, a compromise with a public crime. Compromise was always a victory for wrong. Truth, righteousness, and justice always surrendered some principle when they consented to a compromise. The courage of these radical declarations can better be understood after an observation of the conditions of public sentiment and business relations then existing in Nebraska City. One of the largest distilleries in the State was in active operation, and was pointed out with pride by many of the business men as a commercial enterprise of vast importance to the development of the city. An extensive brewery, which manufactured vast quantities of beer for shipment to all parts of the State, was almost equally an object of pride to the same class of men. Saloons of every grade, from the lowest criminal " dive" to the gilded palace of sin that pandered to fashionable passion and aristocratic vice, flour- ished in every part of the city. Although these evil insti- tutions did not have the sanction or approval of the moral elements of the community, the grip of their political and social power was felt by all the people. Business men especially were careful to avoid any expressions of disfavor THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 57 to the traffic, lest they might be assailed and ruined by the relentless persecutions of the malignant and merciless rum power. The terrorism which silenced the people extended to the churches, and in some pulpits closed the lips of the pastors. Yery little aggressive temperance work had been done before Mr. Finch's advent, most of the speakers who had previously visited the city having belonged to the milder, moral suasion type of workers. Outside of the Good Templar Lodge, which was by no means a strong body at that time, it is doubtful if ten men in the whole city would have admitted that the principle of prohibition for the whole drunkard-making business was correct in theory or possible in application. On the morning following the first lecture the Daily Nebraska Press said : " After prayer by Kev. W. A. Hanna, the Hon. John B. Finch was in- troduced. Five minutes after he commenced speaking the conviction was fastened upon every hearer that he was listening to one who was thoroughly in earnest, and that boldness in speaking the truth was with him a settled principle. This earnest boldness on the part of the speaker is surely refreshing. He said the discourse was for Christian hearers, who composed the principal part of his audience, and it was so pointed that scarcely a person in the entire congregation felt there was much chance to escape the terrible woe pronounced in the lesson read." The Sunday evening topic was " The Misunderstanding of the Nature and Effect of Alcohol." The Daily News 58 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH reporter caught and preserved some strong sentences from this address : " To claim that stimulants are necessary for man's existence is to claim that, at the creation, God did not know the wants of the creatures He made." " The greater part of man's ills have come from disobedience to Divine law, and the substitution of stimulants in the place of drinks prepared by the Almighty has caused more crime, sin, and misery than any other violation of law.' ' On Monday evening the address was on ''Moderate Drinking. ' ' He commenced with the startling announce- ment : " There are no moderate drinkers. The term receives a different definition from each exponent— one claiming that it means one glass, another two, another three, each man claiming that the number of glasses he drinks is moderate." " All liquor drinking is drunkenness in various degrees. Any man who drinks intoxicating liquors as a beverage is in some degree a drunkard." "The sophistries, ' What I drink will do me no hurt,' and ' I have brains enough to drink or let it alone, ' are the devil's decoy ducks, which have led many a noble youth into paths of disgrace." " No man believes he is a drunkard until he attempts to reform." * ' The moderate drunkard is a more dangerous man in the commu- nity than the common drunkard." On the third evening the church was filled. The local newspapers expressed their surprise that a temperance speaker had succeeded in attracting so large an attendance. For the first time public attention was arrested. Mr. Finch THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 59 canvassed the subject of " Drunkards, How Made and How Reformed." It had been decided to continue the meetings for one week. The interest and attendance nightly increased. No room could be secured that would accommodate the people. Before the end of the week it was determined to hold the meetings through the second week. The pledge roll grew larger every day. "When the series of meetings closed it was found that more than sixteen hundred names had been enrolled. Soon after his arrival in Nebraska City Mr. Finch wrote a letter to an Eastern paper, for which he was a regular correspondent, describing the social conditions and giving some plain statements which might have severely wounded the local pride of sensitive people. A copy of the paper containing this letter having fallen into the hands of certain saloon-keepers, they made a persistent effort to embitter the people against the writer of it, and by thus arousing popu- lar resentment, to break up the meetings and destroy the influence of the speaker. But these devices of the enemy signally failed. The work went on uninterruptedly, and when the last meeting of the series was ended the cause of temperance was more honored and the saloon more despised than ever before in the history of the city. Lincoln next claimed Mr. Finch's attention. Before the close of his first week in Nebraska City very urgent invita- tions had been received from Lincoln temperance men, ask- 60 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH ing him to visit their city immediately. He had named October 14:th as the date on which he could commence a series of meetings for them, but the earnest desire of the people of Nebraska City that he should remain with them longer induced him to postpone his visit for one week. On Saturday, October 20th, accompanied by Mrs. Finch, he arrived in Lincoln, and was tendered a splendid recep- tion at the Commercial Hotel. While the State capital was at this time cursed by twenty- seven saloons, whose power was felt in the community, there had always been a few dauntless spirits in the temper- ance ranks who bore the banners of the cause valiantly. The day following Mr. Finch's arrival in Lincoln was Sunday, and had been fixed for the opening meeting. He attended the Methodist service in the morning, the Young Men's Christian Association meeting in the afternoon, and in the evening opened the series of meetings in the Opera House. Hon. H. W. Hardy, ex-Mayor, in a letter briefly review- ing this and later work, thus forcibly expresses his first and later impressions concerning Mr. Finch and his Red Ribbon and other temperance work : " I first met John B. Finch October 21st, 1877. I was first impressed •with his youthful appearance, so fresh, so fair. My second thought was, ' He bears no scars of drunken debauch, no signs of wild oats sown.' That was a relief. So many of our temperance workers bear the Cain marks, which reformation cannot wholly efface. THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 61 " He gave his first lecture that evening. Before he had half finished my vote was unanimous that he filled the bill. From that time on he always stood first in the temperance heart of Lincoln. He took up his home here, and no wonder that we loved him most, because we knew him best. The dirty tongue of slander wagged against him, but it had no effect here, unless it was to strengthen the love we bore him. When he died the whole city was in mourning. Oh, that he could have lived, as did Wendell Phillips, to see his labor crowned with success— the in- toxicating bowl and the slave chain both buried in the same half century !' * Edward B. Fairfield, then Chancellor of the University of Nebraska, became acquainted with Mr. Finch during these meetings, and has written concerning him : " I knew Mr. Finch well, and was glad to know him as my friend. And no one could know him and not esteem him very highly. His abil- ities on the platform were matchless. His speeches, I think, were always extempore, and yet his sentences might have fallen into stereo- type plates, with no need of reconstruction. They were very effective, blending strong argument, high moral tone, keen wit, aDd irresistible humor. His self-command was superb, while his self-consciousness was scarcely perceptible, and never obtruded itself in any offensive way. In his death the temperance cause has lost its most effective advocate, and Prohibition its ablest champion." The first series of meetings in Lincoln continued every night for three weeks with unabated interest. On the week-day evenings meetings were held in the largest of the churches, and on Sabbath the people gathered at the Opera House. It mattered not what place was selected, no audience-room in the city could furnish even standing room for all those who sought admission. 62 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. As in his previous work, he taught the most radical doc- trines, and while pleading with the drinker and the drunk- ard he never forgot to hurl the anathemas of just indignation and wrath against the licensed pitfalls society permitted to be placed in their pathway, making reform ten times more difficult, if not entirely impossible. Some of the lectures of this course were so highly appreciated that a universal demand for their repetition was made. His address " To Girls," given in the Opera House Saturday evening, November 3d, was one of these ; on the following evening it was repeated in the same place to a vast concourse of people. November 11th the closing meeting in the Opera House was held. The Lincoln Journal, in its report of it, said : " The Opera House was crowded as never before. Every seat on the lower floor and in the galleries was taken, and all the chairs from the stage were brought out. Over two hundred, unable to find seats, stood up, and many, unable to gain admission at all, went away. Mr. Finch took the platform and made the most eloquent, impassioned, and argu- mentative discourse that he has yet given. His remarks were mainly upon the so-called right of the saloon-keepers to sell that which destroys the reason of men." On Monday evening the Methodist church was filled with the reformed men and old temperance workers, who had become very much attached to Mr. Finch during his stay in the city. Tearful " Good-bys" were said and blessings devout and heartfelt were showered upon him. THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 03 The results of the three weeks of work had far exceeded the expectations of the most sanguine friends of the cause. Over twenty-one hundred persons, or more than an average of one hundred each evening, had signed the pledge. A large number of drinking men were permanently reformed. Ten years later, many of these reformed men could be found in Lincoln, sober, honorable, and prosperous citizens, re- spected by even the men who remember their earlier dis- sipation. A Red Ribbon Club was organized on the most substan- tial basis. Under the skilful management of George B. Skinner, w T ho has been for more than ten years its presi- dent, the interest has been steadily maintained, and regular weekly meetings have been held almost without interrup- tion. The Lincoln Red Ribbon Club still flourishes, per- haps the oldest and most successful club in the United States. In establishing the Red Ribbon Club Mr. Finch did not forget the Good Templar Lodge and kindred societies. Large accessions to their membership were obtained through his influence. A children's temperance society was organized, and dur- ing the progress of the revival a daily morning prayer- meeting was held. From Lincoln Mr. Finch carried the campaign to Seward, where results were more speedy and marvellous than at any point in the State previously visited. On the fourth 64 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. day of the revival the gratifying announcement was made that two saloon-keepers had closed their doors and gone out of the business. In the single week in which meetings were held over one thousand signed the pledge. The village contained but twelve hundred inhabitants, and therefore some of these pledge-signers were gathered from the surrounding country, where the enthusiasm of the work had reached. Farmers from ten, fifteen, and twenty miles away came to Seward every evening, and after the close of the service, which often lasted until eleven o'clock, drove to their homes. During the remainder of the year 1877 and all of 1878 lie continued the revival work in Nebraska, except for the months of June and July of the latter year, when he trav- elled in Wisconsin under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars. Throughout Nebraska, in the larger cities, in the smaller villages, and in the country hamlets, the work was uni- formly successful, hundreds of the hardest drinkers signing the pledge and uniting with temperance organizations. In this work he never followed the beaten tracks and regulation grooves. He never adopted a plan simply because that plan had some time been prospered elsewhere, or because it had been generally accepted as best. He gathered the fruits of his campaigns into Good Templar lodges, Red Ribbon clubs, Temples of Honor, or kindred societies, either of which he organized, as seemed best THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 65 adapted to meet the special requirements of the commu- nities in which he worked. In all the larger towns he remained about ten days or two weeks, and in the smaller villages from five to seven days. An incident at York illustrates the absorbing interest which these meetings aroused everywhere. The City Hall was in the second story of a large frame building. The architect and builder had not provided sufficient strength of timber to support without deflection the great weight of the throngs of people who gathered nightly. The dangerous condition of the building was freely discussed by the citizens on the streets and in their homes. But even the fears for personal safety did not deter the same throngs of listeners from assembling each evening. At another town, in his meeting one evening the plaster- ing on the side walls parted, indicating that the floor had settled several inches. The wild impulse to rush from the building seized the audience. Before they half realized their danger, and while most of them were yet sitting, Mr. Finch comprehended the situation, and raising his voice, called out : " Don't move, as you value your lives. Sit perfectly still. Let those nearest the door leave the room first. Go one by one and step lightly." The order was obeyed implicitly and a serious catastrophe averted. 66 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. At North Platte, then on the far frontier, some disturb- ance was feared. It was a resort for "cowboys." The vast grazing regions on every side of the town were wholly unsettled except by the " ranchers" who owned or attended the large herds of cattle. North Platte was the supply depot for all the ranches within a radius of a hundred miles to the north, west, and south. On the occasions when they visited the town for the purchase of supplies or to load cattle for transportation to market, it was the nearly uni- versal custom of the cowboys to indulge in a prolonged debauch. In these cases it was not uncommon for a band of these drunken horsemen of the plains to ride through the streets spurring their ponies to a furious run, and firing their revolvers at every living being in sight, out of doors or within. If there were no men, women, or children to be seen, the dogs, pigs, and chickens became the targets for their shots. Sometimes they rode on horseback into the saloons, and after driving the bar-tenders out, proceeded to coolly shoot the necks off all the decanters on the shelves. Nobody dared dispute the cowboys' dominion. Saloons outnumbered all legitimate business enterprises combined more than three to one. Next after the cowboy the rum- shop reigned supreme. Between these two controlling forces there was little comfort for the Christian citizen, and less hope for the radical temperance reformer. Contrary to all expectation, Mr. Pinch's meetings at North Platte were not only undisturbed, but were marked THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 67 by a degree of wild enthusiasm unequalled elsewhere. The houses were filled, and hundreds gathered around the win- dows, standing on boxes, barrels, and quickly constructed platforms, waving their hats and shouting their applause. Cowboys from far and near came nightly to listen, and hundreds of them left their names inscribed on the pledge roll. From the date of this revival the moral status of North Platte has steadily improved. Though still cursed by saloon dictation in its political affairs, the old regime of rioting and disturbance has been succeeded by the reign of Jaw and order. In Omaha he commenced a series of meetings September 12th, and closed November 10th, 1878, making fifty-eight consecutive speeches. All the following week was devoted to the organization of Red Ribbon clubs and Good Tem- plar lodges in various parts of the city, and on the next Sunday, November 17th, he delivered two addresses, mak- ing sixty in the series. The Omaha Republican reports one of the earlier meetings of this series : " Last night the fifth regular temperance meeting was held in the Baptist church. The large audience-room was full. Seats were at a premium, many standing during the entire evening. Mr. Finch was in his happiest mood and delivered a telling address, which was again and again interrupted with applause. His explanation of the reasons for wearing the Red Ribbon was forcible and to the point. He said and proved by apt illustrations that every honest temperance man should wear it. First, because the saloon-keeper opposed the wearing of it. 68 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. Second, to stimulate his own zeal, and to be counted on the right side. Third, to assist the weak and trembling victim of the cup. He pre- dicted that the saloon-keepers would soon put it on in ridicule, wear it for a time, and then, as the movement progressed, take it off and try to compel or drive others to take it off. A majority of so-called or self- styled temperance men who excuse themselves from wearing the ribbon, simply lack moral courage to wear it. The object of this movement in Omaha is to save men and prevent \oung men from falling. The way to save drunkards is by individual effort. This effort must be put forth by every true man and woman. This work is not Finch's work, it is the people's work, and he is here to assist them, not to have them assist him. The moral people of Omaha are responsible for the moral condi- tion of the city. If every church and Christian in the city had always done their duty there would be no need for an extra temperance move- ment. The only question to be settled is simply, ' Is there a necessity for a temperance reformation in Omaha ? ' Every man and woman who says * Yes ' to the proposition should don the ribbon and go to work. The thing to learn at the outset is that the drunkard is a brother, and go with the spirit of love for him and pity for his condition, rather than recrimination for his errors and sins. These thoughts were illustrated in the way that Finch can alone illustrate, and the effect upon the audience was shown by the large number who went forward and enrolled them- selves among the temperance ranks at the close of the meeting. " The meeting will be held to-night at the same place, and it will be necessary for you to get there by eight o'clock if you want a seat. You can't afford to stay away." Nowhere was the hostility of the saloons more pro- nounced and bitter than in Omaha. The dram-shop had too long dominated that city to relax its grip at the behest of a Red Ribbon " fanatic." From early in the '50's Omaha had been the terminal THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 61) point of Western settlement, and the initial point of Western adventure. When the " gold fever" hired thousands of men to the trial of the unknown dangers of the lonely plains and frowning mountain- passes, in their search for sudden wealth, Omaha became one of the points of depar- ture for the long and tedious journeys. Beyond, there were neither towns nor settlements. Long trains of white-cov- ered wagons daily wound their way over the Omaha bluffs toward the " trail " upon the level prairies that stretched away to the westward for hundreds of miles, bare, monot- onous and uninviting. In those days Omaha was a pandemonium of evil spirits. The saloon bore regal sway. No one dared attempt its uncrowning, or to break the sceptre of its sovereignty. While it is true that many good men made the perilous journey of the plains, a vast number of men from the worst element of human society followed the trail leading toward the land of gold. For these, Omaha furnished the last opportunity for the gratification of their lusts and passions for many weeks. Gambling, prostitution and drunken- ness held high carnival day and night. Before the visit of Mr. Finch great changes had been wrought. The country beyond had been settled by sober and industrious farmers. Legitimate trade had increased, and as the railroads reached further and further westward, much of the vicious and criminal floating population was borne beyond the boundaries of the " river city." 70 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. But while population and pursuits had rapidly changed and improved, the terrorism of the hundred and fifty rum- shops still remained. As night after night, under the magical power of Finch's eloquence, the crowds of old- time drinkers came forward and signed that strong pledge of life-long abstinence, the rage of the saloon-keepers knew, no bounds. Open threats of violence were bandied on the streets. The very air seemed loaded with the menace of murder and assassination. The few brave, loyal, and determined temperance workers armed themselves heavily and sent a detail of several armed men to accompany Mr. Finch wherever he went. At the urgent solicitation of friends, he purchased revolvers for both himself and wife, which they habitually carried. Threatening letters came through the mail, others were delivered by messenger boys, and at different times, upon rising in the morning, they found murder-hinting missives which during the night had been placed under the door of their sleeping-room, which was on the second floor of a quiet boarding-house. These letters were evidently written with the hope that they would intimidate Mr. Finch and his friends, and prevent any further encroachments upon the domain of the drunkard-makers. Many of the missives were written in blood, with the emblems of murder and death conspicuously displayed. On one sheet found under the door, a skull and cross-bones, with a coffin had been sketched, below which was written in red characters : THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 71 "JOHN JB. FINCH, if you don't leave town in three days THIS WILL BE YOUR FATE." Ruffianly men dogged his footsteps whenever he appeared on the streets, day or evening. Through all the storm of rage his work aroused in the drinking-places Mr. Finch remained undaunted. Addison says, through one of the characters in " Cato :" "The Soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger and defies its point." And Mr. Finch, conscious of the righteousness of his cause, looked to God for protection and went boldly for- ward. The year 1878 was one of unremitting labor for Mr. Finch. Over forty weeks of Red Ribbon revival work in Nebraska, with scarcely a single evening for rest ; nine weeks of Good Templar "tent meetings" in Wisconsin, in many instances conducting three services daily ; visits to the sessions of Nebraska Grand Lodge in January, the Right Worthy Grand Lodge, the head of the Order throughout the world, in Minneapolis in May, and the New York Grand Lodge at Uticain August ; active partic- ipation in the deliberations and discussions of the morning, afternoon, and evening sittings of these bodies, from which he could hardly refrain ; occasional single speeches made 72 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. by special request in the cities of other States — these mani- fold labors were crowded into the narrow limits of a single year. In 1877, 1878, and 1879 he averaged more than one speech per day for the three years. As might have been expected, the constant tension of mind and body in these ceaseless efforts sometimes proved too much for human endurance. At one time he fell exhausted and fainting at the close of his speech. At an- other time he was ill for nearly three weeks, scarcely leav- ing his bed during the day, and yet during this whole time, in spite of the protestations of wife and friends, he gave an address full of life and fire each evening. Few persons can realize the amount of will power and nervous energy required to perform such tasks. His indomitable zeal and intense interest in the salvation of men from the drink curse sustained him in these almost superhuman efforts. One spring day he accompanied some friends on a horse- back hunting excursion. The wild pony which he had ven- tured to ride became frightened at the discharge of a gun and threw him, inflicting quite severe injury. Lame and sore from the fall, he stepped upon the platform at the hour for his evening meeting, and addressed the people as usual. The magnitude of influence for good in any moral effort may be estimated from the degree of hostility it arouses among the vicious and immoral classes. If the Christian soldier batters down the enemy's walls of defence ; if he tears from before the hosts of sin their bulwarks of deceit ; THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH 73 if he drives them from their positions, he will hear their curses growing louder and deeper as their defeat grows more certain. Measured by these standards, Mr. Finch achieved marvels of success for truth and humanity. In a few cases saloon- keepers were converted in his meetings. Excepting these men, the entire liquor interest throughout the State cursed, maligned, persecuted, and hated John B. Finch. No malediction was too awful, no denunciation too bitter for their malignant tongues to utter against him. Threats of personal violence and injury were freely indulged by the degraded devotees of rum, and their interested instigators. The vilest calumnies were hatched in the saloons and ped- dled on the streets by conscienceless slanderers. As the venom of the murder-mills increased, one of the beautiful compensations of God's providence gave him requital for his devotion to his work and for the bitter hostility he had aroused. A cordon of loyal, loving friends drew closer and closer round him, ready to shield him from harm. Faster than foes multiplied, the warm, true-hearted legions of friends increased. For every whisper of detrac- tion from his enemies, they breathed upon him a benedic- tion. Into every wound the poisoned dagger points of malice made, they poured the balnf of an unwavering trust and confidence. If violence or crime raised its guilty hand to strike the leader, a friendly host stood ready to avert the blow. Seeing these ever-vigilant defenders gather, the 74 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINGH. would-be assaulters and assassins restrained their murderous impulses, and confined their attacks to defamation and detraction of Mr. Finch, and to such abuse and injury of his friends and co-workers as they dared, openly or secretly, to inflict. In one village the barns and an elevator belonging to a gentleman who had been prominent in the local Red Ribbon work, were fired by a drunken incendiary instigated by the saloons. At the meeting the next evening Mr. Finch said : " Fellow-citizens, we must go on with this work. We cannot sacrifice principle for a few barns and elevators. ' ' In other towns free drinks were furnished to all the drunken loafers who could be influenced to go to the meet- ings and create disturbances. In one of the larger towns, where the rum -shop had ruled almost unrestrained, a hooting mob gathered about the church, hurling stones through the windows, battering the doors with heavy timbers, and greatly terrifying the people. The attack was made by the German saloon-keepers and their German allies, whose ideas of " personal liberty" em- braced the notion that they had the right to sell and drink all the beer they pleased, and mob or murder any man who sought to limit such privileges. A large number of Irishmen, many of them poor laborers, had been converted in these meetings, and were present on the night of the attack. They arose in a body at the first THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 75 warning. One brawny Hercules called out, as he made for the door : " Go roight an, Mester Fench, the b'ys will tind to the Dutch." Another zealous convert shouted : " If yez will say the wahrd, we'll clane out ivery rum- hole in the town." With such a sturdy band of defenders the mob had not courage to contend, and scattered in every direction, no doubt filled with the idea of Goldsmith, that " He who fights and runs away May live to fight another day." After this no further disturbance was attempted, though the beer barons scowled their sullen hatred and muttered curses, " not loud, but deep." In sunshine and in storm ; in the face of foes most piti- less ; against opposition unscrupulous and determined ; in fields of labor that first seemed utterly hopeless ; every- where and at all times that duty called, Mr. Finch calmly and imperturbably responded to the call, ready to do all that human heart and hand and brain could do, leaving the results with God. Rev. J. W. Hamilton, of Boston, says : " John B. Finch was distinguished by his cause, but his * honor was not won until some honorable deed was done.' And his deeds now honor him, but he will ' shine in more substantial honors,' as time re- veals the measure of influence he continues to exert. He was a young 76 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. man, but lie had little of that ' fever of reason ' which we call youth. He spoke the language of men. It was his manly strength and manly art which led men to love him and men to hate him. * ' These three things distinguished him, as I understood him. He was devoted to his work, skilful and honorable about it, and happy in it. His devotion to the temperance reform was evident to my mind from the changes it wrought in his mind. He submitted to follow his conscience, no matter where it led him. His skill displayed itself in his statesmanship. Honorable methods were natural to him ; temptations which threatened him only exalted him. The delight which he took in his work possibly showed that he was a young man. * Every street,' says Bulwer-Lytton, ' has two sides : the shady side and the sunny. When two men shake hands and part, mark which of the two takes the sunny side ; he will be the younger man of the two. ' Mr. Finch walked in the sun." While the press was nowhere very heartily sympathetic with his work, the daily newspaper reports of its progress show some of its interesting features. The Falls City Globe mid Journal comments on the con- version of a saloon-keeper : " Wes. Kalston, proprietor of the Senate Saloon up to the hour of its death, donned the Red Ribbon on Thursday, and signed the pledge of the Red Ribbon Club, which reads as follows : ' I, the undersigned, for my own good, and for the good of others, promise, God helping me, never to use, sell, or cause to be furnished to others as a beverage, any spirituous or malt liquors, wine, or cider.' ' ' There can be no doubt but that the coming of Mr. Finch has done our city great good, and the movement that his work among us has started will not likely cease until much or quite all of the evil that in- temperance has already caused and is yet causing in our beautiful and THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 77 growing city is entirely removed, and the sources of it uprooted and destroyed. Larger audiences than ever before gathered upon any occa sion in this city crowded the Methodist Episcopal Church for the first two or three evenings of the course, until it became necessary to ex- change the church for the court-room in order to accommodate the vast throngs that nightly gathered to hear the famous eloquent lecturer. There could not have been less than twelve hundred present at the lec- ture on last Sabbath evening ; they filled the court-room to overflowing, crowding its aisles and packing its seats until every mite of space that could possibly be utilized, either for sitting or standing, was taken up." One of the chief aims which Mr. Finch sought in all his work was permanence. He determined to guard against reaction by every wise precaution that could be adopted. He always urged the importance of the continuous moral and intellectual development of reformed men, and the necessity of providing rooms where they could meet to- gether every day, or at any interval of leisure, and find pure and ennobling associations and surroundings. The York Republican mentions some of this practical work : " The great event of the week and of the season has been Mr. Finch's lectures. The largest hopes and expectations of the temperance people have been more than realized. Audiences of four to seven hundred crowded the City Hall every night, and were held in the most wrapt attention to the very end. In fact, the interest increased from the very first meeting. People from all parts of the country were in attendance, and the hall, 50x60, was packed till there wasn't standing room, and many had to go away. " The results are most satisfactory. Eight hundred and sixty-six per- sons took the pledge and donned the Red Ribbon, and have gone to work 78 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. in dead earnest to get their friends to go with them. Last night three- dollar shares, to the extent of nearly four hundred dollars, were sold for a library and reading-room, to be established in York, free to all, under the auspices of the Red Kibbon men. It is impossible to estimate the amount of good done." The Nebraska Herald reports the library enterprise in- augurated in Plattsmouth : " Mr. Finch, the great temperance Red Ribbon man, closed his labors here on Sunday evening last by talking to an audience which packed Fitzgerald Hall full. No more can it be said that only nigger minstrels or a school exhibition can induce Plattsmouth to turn out in force. A pale, overworked temperance lecturer brought them all out, old and young. That's saying a good deal for Mr. Finch. " Further, over six hundred and eighty-six persons have taken the Red Ribbon and signed a pledge to abstain from all alcoholic drink as a bev- erage, and $384.53 in cash was raised, which, after paying the expenses, leaves two hundred dollars for the purchase of a library and the establish- ment of a reading-room. " The Red Ribbon library and reading-room found a warm advocate in Mr. Finch. In Beatrice, Crete, Sutton, Hast- ings, and other cities money was raised, in his meetings to put in operation these beneficent institutions in their com- munities. The Saline Co%mty Union said of the work in Crete : " Mr. Finch closed up his work here on Tuesday night. He spoke four nights in the church and seven at the Opera House besides Sunday afternoon, making twelve able and exhaustive lectures on the various points that came up. " The work closed with the organization of the Crete Red Ribbon Club, with a library and reading-room in connection. THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 79 "Mr. Finch's lectures have been practical and convincing throughout. At length a prophet has arisen in the temperance agitation who has found the true way to handle it. His arguments are facts, not personal- ities ; his appeals are to the fitness of things, not to men's passions. The end is that, while coals of fire are heaped upon some heads, it is not the speaker, but the facts that do it. And facts are stubborn things to combat." During the first three years of Mr. Finch's temperance work Mrs. Finch constantly accompanied him, assisting in all his meetings by recitations and select readings, which were always highly appreciated and commended. She often relieved her husband by conducting the morning prayer-meetings which he always inaugurated in connection with his Red Ribbon work. The effort was made to bring the pledged men to understand that there is an Arm stronger than human on which they might lean for help in every hour of weakness, a Saviour who helps when earthly aid is refused. Mr. Finch's great success in pledging men and in keep- ing them loyal to their obligations may be attributed to his teaching them the measure of their own weakness, and the imperative need of Divine guidance and strength to sustain them in their hours of temptation. Dr. S. H. King, of Lincoln, JSTeb., one of the most prominent co-workers with Mr. Finch, thus summarizes his Ked Ribbon work : " The earlier labors of John B. Finch in the Eed Ribbon movement in Nebraska and adjoining States were unprecedented in the accomplish- 80 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. ment of permanent good for temperance, and ultimately Prohibition. His work in this line, inaugurated and carried forward in this State, though it has been largely superseded by the organization of Prohibition clubs, was the school in which not only the individuals composing the Prohibition Party of to-day, but also that larger element which favors the principle, but still clings to the old parties, were educated up to an honest conviction of Prohibition as a policy for the best interests of the State. " While Mr. Finch never omitted any of the essentials comprising the Christian's duty and the obligations due from man to God, his efforts partook more of that practical form— his duty to his fellow-man, his duty to State and nation, performed with a view of bringing the greatest good to the greatest number. " His success in leading men to reform lay in his graphic and forcible manner of presenting the various evils growing out of the use of intoxi- cants, the effects upon the individual physically, socially, and morally ; and as the individual is the unit of society, its evil effects must be shared by the whole people, the innocent suffering with the guilty. So that when men were led to see that to abandon the use of intoxicants was the best course for them as individuals, they were at the same time con- vinced that such a policy was best for the State. " Coming to Nebraska at a time when her people were lethargic on the subject of temperance, when every town and hamlet was cursed with dram-shops under the license system, the abundant fruits of his labor in the Red Eibbon work were the subject of remark and astonishment to even the most zealous and hopeful. " His first engagement at Lincoln, the capital city, was for seven nights. " Many wondered what any speaker could find to say on this one theme for seven consecutive lectures that would interest the same people. The seven lectures were delivered, the interest increasing until no audi- ence-room in the city was large enough to seat those who came to hear. At the close of the first week, arrangements were made to continue the THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 81 meetings for another week, and before that ended the interest had so increased, and signers to the pledge were so numerous, that the meetings were continued during the third week. The twenty-first or last lecture of that series was delivered on Sunday evening at the Opera House, which was crowded to its utmost capacity, hundreds being turned away unable to gain admittance. This illustrates the inexhaustible fund of information, the unlimited scope and variety of his arguments, and the boundless resources at his command as a public speaker. " He delivered upon the jDlatform to Lincoln audiences in all ninety- one addresses. The last of these was on the evening of November 1st, 1886, the night preceding the State election. The Republicans held their final rally at the Opera House the same hour. Their meeting was preceded by a street parade — torch-light procession headed by a band of music to enthuse the masses and draw the crowd. They also engaged the heaviest orator of their party in the State, at a cost of two hundred and fifty dollars. " After all this effort their audience numbered less than five hundred, while the attendance at Finch's lecture was two thousand. Such was the high estimation in which the speaker was held by the citizens in the town where he resided eight years. " The political results of this movement are beyond computation ; some, however, are visible. The Nebraska Legislature of 1881 came within one vote of submitting to the people a prohibitorj 7 constitutional amendment, which measure cost the liquor ring much alarm and many thousand dollars to accomplish its defeat. The same Legislature enacted the present high-license law, which was then regarded as a long stride and a great victory for temperance. " Mr. Finch's labors during his residence in Nebraska may be said to be national, for they were confined to no one State for any long period. Kansas and Iowa were, however, large recipients of his labor. " How much the former is indebted to him for constitutional Prohibi- tion and the latter for her prohibitory statute can never be estimated." CHAPTEE Y. THE GOOD TEMPLAR MISSIONARY TENT. " I am proud of the Order of which I am a member. Looking at its battle-scarred flag, and back over the long and glorious route it has trav- elled, I see hope for the future. I see the time coming when our organ- izations, our forces, shall stand together on the heights of victory and shout over the redemption of the land from the dread curse of intem- perance. And when that day shall come, and drunkenness and misery and outlawry shall cease ; when happy homes and happy wives and children shall no longer fear the encroachments of this terrible curse — then, Brother and Sister Good Templar, take our flag, the flag of Good Templary, with its motto of faith, hope, and charity, and furl it, and lay it away, honored and revered, to be kept with holy things." — From a speech by John B. Finch at Decatur, III., March 31 si, 1882. In God's own might We gird us for the coming fight, And, strong in Him whose cause is ours In conflict with unholy powers, We grasp the weapons He has given — The Light, and Truth, and Love of Heaven. Whiitier. T I THE Grand Lodge of Wisconsin has long been known -*- and recognized as among the most active and aggres- sive of Good Templar jurisdictions. Its leaders have been .J THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 85 talented, earnest, and conscientious men, ever watchful and prompt in attention to its interests. The Grand Lodge executive determined to carry on a vigorous summer campaign in 1878. They purchased a large tent of sufficient capacity to seat more than one thou- sand people. A strong man was employed to take charge of the canvas and see that it was properly raised and the seats arranged under it, and after the close of each series of meetings, that it was packed and shipped to the next point where it was to be used. The services of Mr. Finch were secured for the months of June and July. Two days were devoted to the work in each locality visited. In special cases one or two extra days were given. Three services were held in the tent each day, Mr. Finch being always present at each, and delivering addresses in the afternoon and evening. Wisconsin has a large German population, some counties being almost entirely occupied by that race. Very little had ever been accomplished in the direction of securing their attention to the subject of temperance. The beer saloon flourished everywhere among them, practically unre- strained and unassailed. In the cities along the rivers, where spring freshets bring the " log drives" from the timber regions, a motley crowd gathers to work in the mills. Every nationality is repre- sented by its worst specimens of character, Perhaps in no 86 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH part of the world is the brutalizing effects of beer drinking more marked than in the lumber towns and mill cities of the pineries. When spring opens and the lumber camps are abandoned till the next winter, the vicious current of life in the saw- mill towns is re-enforced by accessions from the " woods," of men whose rude life, far away from the restraints of social order, has fitted them for any disorderly deeds their drink-maddened minds may plan. Most of these men find employment in the mills, which run to their fullest capacity through the summer months. During work hours they are at their places, but " When night Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine." The large numbers of these half-savage men, banded together by the mystic ties of long association, educated in the dram-shop schools of crime, with brains steeped in liquor, and every moral sense stupefied by their continuous potations, make them a dangerous class in any city. The timidity or complicity of the official guardians of the law often enables these depredators to escape punishment for acts the most outrageous, indecent and criminal. It is not uncommonly remarked that the mill-hands " run the town." Later years have shown marked progress in moral devel- opment and regard for law in many of the cities where Mr. Finch found the lawless elements in undisturbed possession THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 87 and in the zenith of their power. German saloon-keepers and German brewers furnished the necessary stimulus to inflame bad passions and incite their victims to open acts of violence and often to bloodshed. The advent of Mr. Finch into cities where the dram-shop sovereignty seemed secure aroused the fierce wrath, of these envoys of Moloch. They scowled their hate as he passed them on the street, and threatened personal violence. The Templar tent, with its flag floating before their eyes, was a daily rebuke that stung them almost to madness, and the brave, strong words of Mr. Finch, with his keen dis- section of the liquor crime, his unanswerable arguments for abstinence, and his statesman-like plea for prohibition filled them with ungovernable rage. The liquor men did not always confine themselves to invective. Juvenal says, " There is great unanimity among the dissolute." (Magna inter molles concordia.) It seemed to be the determination of the saloon sym- pathizers in every town to inflict serious injury on the people gathered in the tent. In spite of the watchfulness of the guards, which it was found necessary to station on the outside, the stay-ropes of the great tent were repeatedly cut, and almost superhuman exertions were sometimes re- quired to prevent the huge canvas from falling and crush- ing or mangling scores of people under the heavy centre pole. In the providence of God no such calamity was per- mitted, but the pitiless rage of the rum-sellers and their 88 THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. besotted minions, who could coolly plot a wholesale slaughter was manifest to all the people, and sank the liquor business lower in their estimation. Drunken men often disturbed the evening meetings, their persistency and sometimes their unguarded expres- sions betraying the instigators who had plied them with liquor and hired them to perform the shameless service. Mrs. Finch usually gave one or two temperance recita- tions at each meeting. One night she recited the old poem, "I've Drank My Last Glass," and was interrupted by an intoxicated man, who muttered a vulgar oath and yelled, ' ' I no drink my last glass. ■ ? Quick as a flash the husband sprang to his feet and stood beside his wife. His eyes blazed with indignation, and it was fortunate for the drunken wretch that he was beyond Mr. Finch's reach in the dense crowd. Although there were many emissaries from the saloons in the tent, and all of them were bent on mischief, Mr. Finch demanded : " Some of you men who can reach him roll that beer- cask outside before we proceed. 1 will do it, if necessary." A muscular friend of good order obeyed the command, and no further disturbance occurred that evening, though many expected the stinging rebuke from Mr. Finch would be the signal for a general onslaught by the liquor forces. The result of the two months' work was a large gain in Good Templar membership and in the public esteem in which the Order was held. The memory of the tent and THE LIFE OF JOHN B. FINCH. 89 its great gatherings of absorbed listeners, and the many conversions to virtue and sobriety made in the meetings, lingers yet among the people. The Good Templar tent campaign of 1878 was so suc- cessful and produced such good and lasting results that the Grand Lod