Woman of the Century/Emily Pitt Stevens

STEVENS, Mrs. Emily Pitt, educator and temperance worker, went to San Francisco, Cal., in 1865, and her life has been devoted to educational and temperance work on the Pacific coast. EMILY PITT STEVENS. In 1865 she started an evening school for working girls, by permission of the superintendent of the city schools. The night school was popular and successful. During the first year the number of students grew to one-hundred-fifty. Miss Pitt became the wife of A. R. Stevens in 1871, and her happiness in her domestic relations intensified her desire to aid the less fortunate. She organized the Woman's Cooperative Printing Association and edited the "Pioneer," a woman's paper produced entirely by women, on the basis of equal pay for equal work. She was aided by prominent men in placing the stock of the company, and through it she exercised great influence in advancing the cause of woman in California. Ill-health forced her to suspend the paper. She is a gifted orator, and she is known throughout California as an earnest temperance worker. She lead in the defeat of the infamous "Holland bill." which was drawn to fasten the degradation of licensed prostitution on California. She lectured for three years for the Good Templars and was for two years grand vice-templar, always maintaining a full treasury and increasing the membership. Since the organization of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in California she has labored earnestly in that society. She has contributed to the columns of the "Bulletin," "Pharos" and "Pacific Ensign," and has served as State lecturer. She joined the prohibition party in 1882, and she led the movement, in 1888, to induce the Woman's Christian Temperance Union to endorse that party. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is active in the benevolent work done in the Silver Star House, in sewing-schools and in various societies. In 1874 she instituted the Seamen's League in San Francisco, with her husband as president and herself an officer. In 1875 the old seamen's hospital was donated by Congress to carry on the work, and the institution is now firmly established. She attended the Atlanta convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, as a delegate, and is now one of the national organizers.