1895: WCTU singing in Chinook
The Oregon state convention of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, campaigners for the prohibition of alcohol, ended in a fun way.
Mollie and the babies (image credit: Facebook)
Here’s the last paragraph of a letter to the editor that reports on the proceedings:
…The spirit of harmony and good-fellowship which pervaded the convention, remained with the delegates and manifested itself in many ways on the homeward trip. It was a jolly crowd that waved adieus to the Roseburg ladies, and as we steamed away a voice rang out in the words of a familiar hymn, one after another took up the refrain until a full chorus of voices “made music in the air.” In the lull which followed the musical outburst, Mrs. R.M. Robb edified the company by singing a hymn in Chinook; this was quickly followed by a song in Chinese by Mrs. M.M. Blain, and in answer to her came another song in the Yaimax [Yainax = Klamath] language by Mrs. Groff. Before the applause had subsided Miss Wold sang wierd [a weird] melody in the Sioux tongue, this was followed by the counting of numbers up to 12, in the Potawatamie [Potawatomi] language, by Mrs. Marsters. Mrs. Bishop gave her tribute in a plaintive German song, and Mrs. Shane added to the entertainment by a recitation in Italian, Mrs. Ramp, a veteran among us, sang in her clear soprano, “I’ll vote for Mollie and the Babies, don’t you Know.[“] But it remained for our own Mrs. Smick to “cap the climax” which she did by singing a song in the Paunee [Pawnee] language, accompanied by the Indian characteristics and gesticulations, and the war-whoop which she gave at the finale brought every woman to her feet, and almost made the hair on their heads rise in expectation of the application of the scalping knife. And so you see that these earnest, faithful women who are bending their energies for the protection of the home against the liquor traffic, can unbend occasionally, and when they do, oh, what fun!
— from the Albany (OR) State Rights Democrat of May 31, 1895, page 1, column 3
A vote for “Sallie/Katie/Betsy/Mollie and the babies” was a common Populist political slogan at the time.
Hearing this from a woman gives it a lovely twist, as though she were also campaigning for female voting rights!
That milestone was achieved in 1912 in Oregon.
