Excuse St. John

The W. C. T. U. braneh In this place luis requcsted us to print the follnuing nicle from the Union Llght, tlic official orjran : The Union Kignal has a letter, wrltten to oueol the chlei office of the Illluois V. C. T U. Ironía lady in Olney, llliuoiB.tu which town the republlean managers went for the aflldavlts wit which they stabbed Gov. st. .Joliu In the back on the eve of eleclion. too late for the false charges ngainst his obaraoter to be met by counter affidnvits. This lettí-r (wlrch can be seen at our oiflce, and is of midutibted aulhority,) stqtes that at the ge of nineteen John I'. St. John was roairied to n woman in Olney. Boon alter he lelt. to get work, helng poor and obliged to soek employmenl where be could flnd it. In about three inontlis he ri'turned.mioxpectedly, and oingtoliis homo was confronted ty Indisputable proof of his wife's lnfldellty. Not willlnK to put a reproaeh upon the prospectivo mother of bis cliild, he qnielly left home, remalned absint livu years, tlmt she, wlio bad so cruelly deserted " at bis own flreside lilm to whom she had pledged honor and faitb, nilght, In the fechnical lauguage of ilie late, procure a divorce on the grouud of ' ileserllon." The woman subsequeutly married again. lier son was acknowledged by iov. 8t. John was provided for by hlm.lived at hls brothcr's In Olney lor years, and bas ïiow, by hls fatber's efforts. R good position in Washington. Oov. St. John rcturned to Olney. aud ironi oue of its best families raarried the noble woman who bas so long been bis clilef comfort and counsellor. Hiscourse throughout bas been most honorable, and the partisan party wblch aimed a poisoned arrow at an nntarnished record Mili be met by the execration it merits from all good men and women. The AY. C. T. U. havilig now called down tipon tbelï licads the displeasure and distrust of many earnest temperance people for having allowed their noble unión to be made the catspaw by which designing demócrata .ulied their chestnuU out of the lire, and thereby electing to the pmsidentlu! ehair that tuodel of temperance, Grover Cleveland, it is now no surprise that they should still wish to ive their action anothcr coloring by endcavoring to excuse the indiserctions of their would-be hero, St. John. It is too bad to see intelligent Christian ladies blindly following an ignisatuus of temperance slrhply bécause it has the name dear to them. It should be rernembered that an igttii fatuus looks briglit and attractive, but it comes i'iom dcad and decaying matter, and it leads lts victinis into the swamp where is no certain footing. That same false light of' political jiower led to destruction every Red lïibbon club in this state, aud that, too, witliin a year after that benelicent organization had become a most potent factor for reformation. Yet ts sudden and recent fate is no raming to tlie W.C. T.U., which is fast running ioto the pitfalls and quagmires of politics and womcn's rights. t„ u .-.- . -. „i.-i.i „i ,!,„ W C. T. U., the clergy of the city have so far lost conlidence in thein that lust week they decided uo longer to publish their notices from the pulpits. This stand should be made everywhere. For inasm och as our Sunday afternoon temperance meetings had bccome in an open way political caucuses and the pastors of th9 city had refused to read thelr notices, just so now there is just cause against the W. C. T. U. If these notices are read, we as republicana shall demand that our rallies shall be thus advertised. For theic are more republican cliurch goers than there are of all otlier politica! faiths combi ued. As to the excuses for St. John, they will be regarded as rathcr transparent by the public who read, observe and think. That he should many, then leave )iis young wife and go oft' " to get work ! ' J ii those days work was plenty any where in Illinois, and for him immediately alter marriage to desert his wife for three months, looking for work, is not sufficiently credible easily to be swallowed. From the similarity in their treatment of the women wlio trusted in them It s no wonder that St. John feit a fellovv-feeling for Cleveland, and staid in the field to help him. That it was St. John's purpose to help elect Cleveland is shown by the fact, that in every doubtful repúblicas state, such as New York, Ohio, Iudiana and Michigan, he stiaiued every nerve to get votes, knowiuí: that they were neaily all drawn from Blaine. On the othcr hiiud, in doubtful soiitlieru democratie States no prohibition elecioral ticket was put tip. Yet, the prohibitionists claim more followera in the south than in the noitli. A residen tof this place reeen tly returned from an extensive trip through Kansas and lowa, and he ascertained that where St. John mm best knosvn he was most dispised. The republican party had taken him up and had made him what he was (of more reputation than he merited or could otherwise have obtained). Then after siicking that orange dry he cast it contemptuously aside, and not content withsimply taking anothcr lic CUled that which had just nonrished him. Such demagoguery is despicable. The ])iippet having stnitted bis brief hour upon the stage wlll now retire to the oblivion of a eontemptible forgetfulness. And unless something is quickly done the W. C. T. U. will find itself buried wlth the Red Ribbon clubs, with a coroner's verdict of "It did not know that the blunderbups was loaded which the democrats had left for it to piek up and fooi with."