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Part of the American
History & Genealogy Project |
Mary Harris Armor
Mary Harris Armor
Mrs. Mary Harris Armor of Eastman,
Georgia, was called "The Southern Joan of Arc" She is
state president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and
has electrified the whole community. North and South with her
match-less eloquence, her unanswerable logic, and her magnetic
personality, as she has gone from city to city pleading, the
cause of prohibition.
Mrs. Armor is credited with being the
main factor in the passage of the state prohibitory law for
Georgia and she is now in constant demand as a speaker at
Chautauqua's and all over the country. Mrs. Armor's chief claim
to distinction, aside from her platform work, is the fact that
she raised a subscription of $7,000.00 in a single evening, for
the work of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
One who was present at that memorable
meeting, said: "A panic was on, the banks had closed down.
Everyone who had money had it glued to the bottom of his pocket.
When the little Georgia woman announced that she was going to
raise $5,000 before she sat down, everybody smiled. She made no
speech but talked simply, but the appeal went to the hearts of
every one present. She was pleading passionately for her people,
she was a Joan of Arc calling on her countrymen to rise, buckle
on the sword and defend themselves.
She was eloquent, formidable, tragic.
Her humor would steal a smile from the lips of grief; she was
malevolent and objurgatory against her enemies; she was strong
in her rhetorical efforts and intensity. Chaste, eloquent and
moving a marvelous woman truly!" She said all that 5,000 people
could stand and $7,000 was raised. Mrs. Armor is in demand all
over the country to speak for temperance and philanthropy.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
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