Sketch of Mrs. Mary Towne Burt, our President 40 CHAPTER IV.--Educational 44 Sketch of Mrs. Ella A. Boole, First Vice-President 51 CHAPTER V.--Evangelistic 53 Sketch of Mrs. Frances W. Graham, Corresponding Secretary 57 CHAPTER VI.--Legislation and Petition 59 Sketch of Mrs. Georgeanna M. Gardenier, Recording Secretary 67 CHAPTER VII.--Social and Political 70 Sketch of Mrs. Ellen L. Tenney, Treasurer 75 CHAPTER VIII.--Miscellaneous 77 Financial Statement, 1874-1894 84 Officers, 1874-1894 85 Annual Meetings 86 World's Fair Banner 87 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Crusade Church Frontispiece Mrs. Mary Towne Burt Facing page 5 Mrs. Esther McNeil " " 14 Mrs. Allen Butler " " 27 Mrs. Maria Hyde Hibbard " " 32 Mrs. Mary Towne Burt " " 40 Mrs. Ella A. Boole " " 51 Mrs. Frances W. Graham " " 57 Mrs. Georgeanna M. Gardenier " " 67 Mrs. Ellen L. Tenney " " 75 PREFACE. Histories are strange things: they uncover so many hidden events, and bring back so many lost memories. A history that traces the beginnings of a reform movement, that weaves the shuttle of memory in and out of the web of the past and presents a perfect woof of fact and incident, is a treasury of knowledge that will not fail to delight and instruct. But the compilation of such a history is no easy task, and especially is this true of an organization with the many ramifications of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of the State of New York. The 14th of October, 1894, marked the twenty-first milestone in our history, and the story that follows is the story of the hopes and fears, the smiles and tears of the past twenty years, mingled with songs of rejoicing for grand achievement. For twenty years this organization has stood with undaunted front against the sin of the state as represented by the legalized traffic in intoxicating liquors and by the awful vice that would put a premium on woman's shame.