A Temperance Firebrand Comes to the Tabernacle
Mrs. J. C. Stone brings wit, sarcasm, and a stinging critique of men's monopoly on citizenship to a packed Baptist tabernacle.
The story, cleaned up
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Monday evening at the Baptist tabernacle, Mrs. J. C. Stone, state lecturer for the I.O.G.T., delivered a characteristic lecture on temperance. The room was packed, and Dr. Lackey in introducing the lecturer stated that it was the largest audience but one he had ever seen gathered in Aberdeen. Mrs. Stone is a fine looking woman of middle age, and the lecture bristled with wit and sarcasm, being especially hard on the men, or 'people' as she called them. From her experience in presenting temperance petitions signed by women to legislatures she concluded that women were neither people, citizens nor folks; they might be the missing link; they could be wives, mothers, sisters, cousins or aunts of the people, but 'people'—never. The lecturer was strongly opposed to license in any form, and cited instances where saloonkeepers had distributed among school boys tickets good for a certain number of drinks to gain new customers.
“She concluded that women were neither people, citizens or folks... they could be wives, mothers, sisters, cousins or aunts of the people, but 'people'—never.”
This reflects the fierce temperance battles that culminated in Washington's prohibition laws. It highlights the intersection of the women's rights movement and the moral regulation of public spaces in early Aberdeen.
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