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REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF NEW ENGLAND


being otherwise injured. lie would i)robably have died but for the kind and patriotic hos- l)itality of a wealthy eitizen of the town, who threw o])en his house to liim, as the ])oor wouniled man was seen passing on a stretcher. Colonel Lee was then in the care of his cousin, the Rev. R. B. Howard, brother of Majf)r- general Oliver Otis Howard, who coniuiaiided the Fed(>ral army at Gettysburg until the arrival of General Meade. Major-general O. O. Howard lost his right arm in the Ijattle of Fair Oaks, early in the war, but continued in active and distinguished service till the close of the war, a successful (^hristian soldier.

Mrs. Sargent returned to her home in larin- ington with her two remaining sons. On Novemlier 5, 1868, she married the Hon. Peter S. J. Taii)ot, of East Machias, Me., descended from one of the oldest and most respected families of longland, a man of unblemished character, repeatetlly chosen by his fellow- citizens to fill )x)sitions of res])onsibility and honor in his native town and State. Mr. and Mrs. Talbot removetl at once to Massachu- setts, taking uj) their residence in Maiden, where they made their home for thirty-two years. In religion Mrs. Talbot is a Congrega- tionalist. She is a life member of foreign and home missionary societies.

The two sons, Francis Taft and Winthrop Otis Sargent, were graduated at the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology as mechanical and mining engineers respectively. Francis T. Sargent is actively following his profession in New York. Winthroj) Otis Sargent, as mining engineer, was interested in the lead mines of Missouri. He was attacked with hemorrhage of the lungs, and died on September 5, 1901, leaving a son, bearing the name of his father, antl a daughter, liis wife having died two years previously.

When the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Massachusetts was organized as a branch of the W. C. T. II., with Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, president, Mrs. L. B. Barrett,' sec- retary, and an executive committee of seven women, Mrs. Sarah E. Talbot, of Maiden, was one of the number, a charter member of the new organization. Public meetings were held, churches and halls were crowded, temperance enthusiasm increased, and many thovisand inebriates were reformed, organizing them- selves into Reform Chilis. Timid women, foi'getting that they "should be seen and not hearil," came out from their seclusion, went upon the platform, and as by inspiration joined in the rescue of those held in bondage of the intoxicating cup, their hearts (piickened to realize the sorrows of those in des])air. Ruined homes were visited, the wives and mothers bi'ought into the fold of the Woman's Christian Temjicrance I'nion, their children into the Loyal Temi)erance Legion ajid Sunday-schools. Thousands signed the pledge, redeemed for- ever from the curse of alcoholics and narcotics under this wonderful movement, which seemed like a breath of God from heaven moving upon the hearts of the people.

The first National Convention, resulting in the formation of the Woman's Christian Tem- perance Union, was held in Philadelphia, and the second the next year in Baltimore, Mrs. Talbot attending both as a delegate. At this later convention she had the pleasure of vot- ing for I'Vances E. AMllard as president of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which position she honored many years, until her death, leaving it the largest organization of women in the world. At the International Convention of the World's W. C. T. U., held in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1903, our present national president, Mrs. L. M. N. Stevens, presiding, stated that delegates were there present from " fifty-nine different nations be- longing to the W'orld's W. C. T. U. Federation, representing every section of the globe, speak- ing in many different languages, (iemonstrating the harmony of the work, notwithstanding the diversity of languages," thus fulfilling the prophecy of our sainted president, Miss Wil- lard, that "the white rilibon would yet en- circle the globe."

Realizing the danger from indiscriminate use of alcohol as a medicine, the W^ C. T. U. early organized a department for "Influencing Physicians not to use 'Alcoholic Medication,'" and appointed Mrs. Talbot its first superintendent for the State. She was also appointed the first superintendent of the State department of " Scientific Temperance Instruction