Woman of the Century/Lillian M. N. Stevens

STEVENS, Mrs. Lillian M. N., temperance lecturer and philanthropist, born in Dover, Me., 1st March, 1844. Her father, Nathaniel Ames, was born in Cornville, Me., and was a teacher of considerable reputation. Her mother, Nancy Fowler Parsons Ames, was of Scotch descent and a woman of strong diameter. Mrs. Stevens inherited her father's teaching ability and her mother's executive power. When a child, she loved the woods, quiet haunts, a free life and plenty of books. LILLIAN M. N. STEVENS. She was educated in Westbrook Seminary and Foxcroft Academy, and, after leaving school, was for several years engaged in teaching in the vicinity of Portland, Me. In 1857 she became the wife of M. Stevens, of Deering, Me., who is now a wholesale grain and salt merchant in Portland. They have one child, Gertrude Mary, the wife of William Leavitt, jr., of Portland. Mrs. Stevens was among the first who heard the call from God to the women in the crusade days of 1873-74. She helped to organize the Maine Woman's Christian Temperance Union, in 1875, and was for the first three years its treasurer, and since 1878 has been its president. She has for ten years been one of the secretaries of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She is corresponding secretary for Maine of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections, treasurer of the National Woman's Council of the United States and one of the commissioners of the World's Columbian Exposition. She is one of the founders of the Temporary Home for Women and Children, near Portland, one of the trustees of the Maine Industrial School for Girls, and a co-worker with Neal Dow for the prohibition of the liquor traffic. Her first attempt as a speaker was made in Old Orchard, Me., when the Woman's Christian Temperance Union for the State was organized. The movement fired her soul with zeal, and she threw her whole heart into reform work. She has become widely known as an earnest lecturer and temperance advocate. Her utterances are clear and forcible and have done much for the cause, not only in Maine, but also in many other States. As a philanthropist, she labors in a quiet way, doing a work known to comparatively few, yet none the less noble. She is known and loved by many hearts in the lower as well as in the higher walks of life. Her justice is always tempered with mercy, and no one who appeals to her for assistance is ever turned away empty-handed. Her pleasant home in Stroudwater, near Portland, has open doors for those in trouble.