My friend Mrs. Thompson, Part 3
Lead Summary

By
Steve Roush-
Ladies and gentlemen, as I sit on the front porch of the Mother Thompson Home in a time long past, Mrs. Marie Thompson Rives, the daughter of temperance pioneer Eliza Jane Trimble Thompson, is reading me a letter that longtime national president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union Frances E. Willard penned to Mrs. Rives’ mother.
Miss Willard had just detailed how Mother Thompson, after hearing that some of the delegates were threatening to leave, had regrouped the temperance troops at the annual convention in 1889 in “one of the most inspired moments” that she had ever witnessed as Eliza Jane threw around Willard’s shoulders the shawl she had worn in the Crusade procession years earlier, and standing beside Willard called on the delegates to rally.
Mrs. Rives continues Miss Willard’s letter, “Best of all, this dramatic action was wholly unpremeditated. Mother Thompson had brought the shawl to give it to me as a surprise; she had no idea that our sisters contemplated leaving us; but she is that kind of a woman. She has her forces well in hand; she is imperturbable; as (James A.) Garfield said of his true-hearted wife, ‘She is unstampedeable.’ This great quality is not only inherited and innate, but comes of the culture of a lifetime in ‘the peace of God that passeth understanding.’
“It was my good fortune, as far back as 1876, to make a tour among the Crusaders of Ohio, visiting well-nigh 40 of their towns and villages. I could write a volume on the history, experience and inspiration of that memorable pilgrimage. It was one of the few times in my life that I ever went forth alone; and I was mothered in the homes of those devoted women with a tenderness that will never be forgotten.
“My own stipulation in making the trip was that I should go to Hillsboro, the home of Mrs. Thompson, and to Springfield, the home of Mother Stewart, in both of which we took sweet counsel together. Mrs. Thompson’s home is the old family mansion where the governor spent all his days and which he bequeathed to his beloved only daughter.
“It stands on a slight ascent and in a wooded grove, at the edge of a well-built town of 4,000 inhabitants, and is roomy and hospitable as heart could wish. Here I met Judge Thompson, the genial, witty lawyer and husband of our leader; Mrs. Marie Thompson Rives, the accomplished elder daughter; and Henry Thompson, the youth who brought the tidings to his mother that she was expected at the church on that memorable morning. I longed to see that lovely younger daughter, who from her pocket Bible brought to her mother the Crusade Psalm, that is the Magna Charta of the White Ribbon Movement; but she was gone, having been married to Herbert Tuttle, the distinguished professor in Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
“Those were delightful days in that happy home. We visited the famous Crusade Church and made the acquaintance of its pastor, the Rev. Dr. McSurely, who befriended the women from first to last in all their work. We held meetings in the basement of his church, where the first Crusade Praying Band convened; we read the Crusade Psalm from the old Bible and sang the Crusade hymn. And I have now in my den at home, given me by dear Mrs. Thompson, a relic of the Crusade days from a Hillsboro saloon, one of the first ever visited.
“There she is living still, our Crusade mother, surrounded by her dear ones. It is fortunate for us that we have the record of the ‘beginnings of things’ in the movement of which we are a part, penned by the faithful hand whose chirography I seem to see, ‘plainer than print,’ as I dictate these words to my stenographer here in Eastnor Castle, England, a place which I should never have be held, in a country which would probably never have been like home to me, except for her; but which is now mapped out to the White Ribbon Movement, and led by the choicest flower of the nobility of England. And all this is because there were women who dared, women who believed in God, and went bravely forward when the Divine call had touched their hearts; and of them all, Eliza Trimble Thompson was the leader.”
As Mrs. Rives closed the book, she said, “Miss Willard dated the letter, May 20, 1895.”
Let’s pause for now, and we’ll continue next time.
Steve Roush is a vice president of an international media company and a columnist and contributing writer for The Highland County Press. He can be reached by email at roush_steve@msn.com.
Miss Willard had just detailed how Mother Thompson, after hearing that some of the delegates were threatening to leave, had regrouped the temperance troops at the annual convention in 1889 in “one of the most inspired moments” that she had ever witnessed as Eliza Jane threw around Willard’s shoulders the shawl she had worn in the Crusade procession years earlier, and standing beside Willard called on the delegates to rally.
Mrs. Rives continues Miss Willard’s letter, “Best of all, this dramatic action was wholly unpremeditated. Mother Thompson had brought the shawl to give it to me as a surprise; she had no idea that our sisters contemplated leaving us; but she is that kind of a woman. She has her forces well in hand; she is imperturbable; as (James A.) Garfield said of his true-hearted wife, ‘She is unstampedeable.’ This great quality is not only inherited and innate, but comes of the culture of a lifetime in ‘the peace of God that passeth understanding.’
“It was my good fortune, as far back as 1876, to make a tour among the Crusaders of Ohio, visiting well-nigh 40 of their towns and villages. I could write a volume on the history, experience and inspiration of that memorable pilgrimage. It was one of the few times in my life that I ever went forth alone; and I was mothered in the homes of those devoted women with a tenderness that will never be forgotten.
“My own stipulation in making the trip was that I should go to Hillsboro, the home of Mrs. Thompson, and to Springfield, the home of Mother Stewart, in both of which we took sweet counsel together. Mrs. Thompson’s home is the old family mansion where the governor spent all his days and which he bequeathed to his beloved only daughter.
“It stands on a slight ascent and in a wooded grove, at the edge of a well-built town of 4,000 inhabitants, and is roomy and hospitable as heart could wish. Here I met Judge Thompson, the genial, witty lawyer and husband of our leader; Mrs. Marie Thompson Rives, the accomplished elder daughter; and Henry Thompson, the youth who brought the tidings to his mother that she was expected at the church on that memorable morning. I longed to see that lovely younger daughter, who from her pocket Bible brought to her mother the Crusade Psalm, that is the Magna Charta of the White Ribbon Movement; but she was gone, having been married to Herbert Tuttle, the distinguished professor in Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
“Those were delightful days in that happy home. We visited the famous Crusade Church and made the acquaintance of its pastor, the Rev. Dr. McSurely, who befriended the women from first to last in all their work. We held meetings in the basement of his church, where the first Crusade Praying Band convened; we read the Crusade Psalm from the old Bible and sang the Crusade hymn. And I have now in my den at home, given me by dear Mrs. Thompson, a relic of the Crusade days from a Hillsboro saloon, one of the first ever visited.
“There she is living still, our Crusade mother, surrounded by her dear ones. It is fortunate for us that we have the record of the ‘beginnings of things’ in the movement of which we are a part, penned by the faithful hand whose chirography I seem to see, ‘plainer than print,’ as I dictate these words to my stenographer here in Eastnor Castle, England, a place which I should never have be held, in a country which would probably never have been like home to me, except for her; but which is now mapped out to the White Ribbon Movement, and led by the choicest flower of the nobility of England. And all this is because there were women who dared, women who believed in God, and went bravely forward when the Divine call had touched their hearts; and of them all, Eliza Trimble Thompson was the leader.”
As Mrs. Rives closed the book, she said, “Miss Willard dated the letter, May 20, 1895.”
Let’s pause for now, and we’ll continue next time.
Steve Roush is a vice president of an international media company and a columnist and contributing writer for The Highland County Press. He can be reached by email at roush_steve@msn.com.