Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/44

Rh Partington saw active service in Louisiana and Texas, and wiis also with Sheridan's army at Winchester. He remained with the Thirtieth until its consolidation with other regiments, when he was honorably discharged and returned home. Owuig to the hardships of army life Mr. Partington's health failed, and he died December 13, 1867. He was a member of the Chestnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Portland. Mrs. Partington also joined that church after their marriage, and she retains her membership therein.

In the spring of 1861 Mrs. Partington united with the Independent Order of Good Templars, joining Arcana Lodge, of Portland, the first lodge organized in the State. She has retained her membership and interest for more than forty years. Elected Grand Worthy Vice-Templar of the State in the early days of the order, she organized lodges and conducted effective missionary work. In 1871 she was engaged in gospel temperance work in Eng- land, giving many lectures. Returning home in the fall of 1872. she was chosen State delegate to the International Supreme Lodge, Independent Order of Good Templars, which met in London early hi 1873. At the close of its sessions she was engaged by the Hon. Joseph Malins, the head of the order, as Grand Lodge lecturer for England. For more than two years she contiuned her work in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, lecturing to crowded and appreciative audiences. Among pleasant incidents she related the following:—

"While travelling through Ireland, I stopped at a little whitewashed cottage, and asked if the woman living there could give me a supper of bread and milk. The woman replied, 'Walk in and sit down in your own place.' As I entered, I noticed in the centre of the room a large pine table, around which the family had gathered. The only chairs at the table were the ones occupied by the father and mother. The three elder children were seated upon stools, while the two younger were standing. Yet at the table was an empty stool, and before it a plate turned down. That was what the woman had called my 'own place.' I asked her why she had called it my place. She replied, 'We have a little superstition that, if we always keep the stranger's plate on our table, the dear Lord will always send enough to fill ours. And he generally does,' she added. It was a beautiful thought, and it would be well if we followed the example of that poor Irish peasant woman.

"While in Scotland I was invited to speak in Lord Kinnard's castle. There I had an audience which never would have come to any public hall. They all seemed interested and well pleased. I spent five weeks on the Isle of Jersey, the guest of -Sir Philip de Carteret, the last of that old baronial family."

While abroad, she was the recipient of many gifts, among them elegant regalia from friends in Ireland. On her first trip to Edinburgh she lectured seventy-four consecutive nights, and conducted services four times on Sunday. On her second visit, when leaving the city, she was escorted to the station by a band of music; and, as the train rolled away, sixty members of the band united in singing "Will ye no' come back again?" A local paper thus referred to her meetings: "Mrs. L. C. Partington, of Portland, Me., one of the representatives of the recent Right Worthy Grand Lodge session, has again visited Edinburgh. Although upon this occasion an invalid, seeking rest, she managed during her nine days' visit to address with great acceptance nineteen meetings, and left with the cry ringing in her ears, 'Will ye no' come back again?'" The Dundee Courier reported her lectures, and added: "Dundee is enjoying a rich treat in listening to the stirring addresses of Mrs. Partington, of Portland, United States. The enthusiasm with which she is everywhere received increases nightly. . . . Her whole heart is in the work." The Londonderry (Ireland) News and the Ballymena (Ireland) Advertiser referred in complimentary terms to her work, the editor of the latter stating that he had never heard "better argument or more convincing and eloquent advocacy of any cause."

Upon returning again to America, Mrs. Partington travelled in twenty-two States, giving lectures from Maine to California. The Baltimore American said of her: "One of the largest and most enthusiastic temperance meetings ever held in this city was conducted by Mrs.