Mobituaries by Mo Rocca

Author:Mo Rocca
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2019-11-04T16:00:00+00:00

They named their group the Washington Temperance Society after George Washington—apparently unaware that the first president lived out his retirement at Mount Vernon running a thriving rye distillery.

The Washingtonians made it their purpose to evangelize, urging each member to recruit new members. Their motto was, “Let every man be present, and every man bring with him a man.” At first they continued to assemble at Chase’s, but soon the tavern owner’s wife pointed out that her husband was accommodating “customers” who weren’t buying any alcohol. Even worse, these men were undertaking a campaign that would, if successful, drive the tavern out of business. Thrown out of the bar for being sober, the pledge-takers began to gather at private homes. Soon they had enough members to rent a hall.

As the crowds grew, Mitchell, the group’s president, realized their meetings needed some entertainment. Drinking games were obviously out of the question. So Mitchell began the tradition of personal testimony—having each man stand up and recite his own story of alcohol abuse, up to the moment where he resolved to change his ways once and for all. It was a story people loved to hear, over and over.

John H. W. Hawkins, a milliner (that’s a hatmaker), had turned to the bottle after being wiped out in the financial crisis known as the Panic of 1837. He became famous for winning converts to the Washingtonian movement with this heartrending testimony:

Never shall I forget the 12th of June last. The first two weeks in June I averaged—it is a cross to acknowledge it—as much as a quart and a pint a day. That morning I was miserable beyond conception, and was hesitating whether to live or die. My little daughter came to my bed and said, “I hope you won’t send me for any more whiskey today.” I told her to go out of the room. She went weeping. I wounded her sorely, though I had made up my mind I would drink no more.

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