Frances E. Willard First Edition: "Let Us Fling Ourselves Out Into The Thickening Battle" 1905

1905. WILLARD, Frances. What Frances E Willard Said. New York, Chicago, Toronto, London, Edinburgh: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1905. Edited by Anna A. Gordon, a fellow American social reformer. Measures 5" x 7.5". First edition in original maroon cloth boards. 171 pages. Includes frontispiece portrait of Willard with printed signature underneath. A book of suffragist Frances E. Willard's quotations, beginning with "Let us fling ourselves out in the thickening battle; let us live the life of action, which is the only true and happy life. Men tell us God is a force; nay, He is that purposed force behind all forces, that combines head, hand, and heart; God is ACTION-- let us be like God." Large dampstain to endpapers, pastedown, and frontispiece. front and verso; Title faded, spine sunned; corners bumped. Interior is clean and tight, however. Overall in good condition.

Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Willard became the national president of Woman's Christian Temperance Union in 1879 and remained president until her death in 1898. Her influence continued in the next decades, as the Eighteenth (on Prohibition) and Nineteenth (on women's suffrage) Amendments to the United States Constitution were adopted. Willard developed the slogan "Do Everything" for the WCTU and encouraged members to engage in a broad array of social reforms by lobbying, petitioning, preaching, publishing, and education. During her lifetime, Willard succeeded in raising the age of consent in many states as well as passing labor reforms including the eight-hour work day. Her vision also encompassed prison reform, scientific temperance instruction, Christian socialism, and the global expansion of women's rights.