William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 2

Men came out of the bar to look at these visitors. Still more stopped in the street, arrested by the sacred sounds. A crowd soon blocked the street. Cars could not pass, and waggons had to turn another way. Some persons joked and mocked, others threw copper cents into the circle. Many looked at them with pity, not unmixed with wonder, for the masculine brain is slow to see a chance of moral progress in proceedings which resemble a row, and may easily end in a riot. Yet the women held the side-walk, finished their prayer, got up and sang more hymns. Americans are fond of hymns, and there are few Americans who will not doff their caps and join in singing such pieces as the Rock of Ages and There is a Fountain. After holding the whisky-bar in siege for about an hour, the ladies formed ranks, and marched back to their church, followed by a crowd of men and boys — some of whom, it is supposed, had hardly ever been inside a church before. A short service ended the day.