The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

292 THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

the organization of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union
and became its first president. She worked too hard, gave
too much of herself, broke down; and on January 12, I922,
died.
The Young Generation of January, 1922, revealed, in its
fulsome eulogy, the esteem in which she was held:
"Josefa Abiertas, the woman, the Christian, the Reformer,
and the Lawyer... perished with the January flowers, in
the springtime of womanhood.
"She was a woman. Her home she cherished and loved.
Of her home-folks she was the morning-till-night bread-earner.
"She was a Christian. Every day she spent as God's day.
Her duties to her Church she fulfilled with zeal and fervor.
"She was a Reformer. The cancers of society she exposed
on the steps of the temple. Her convictions she made public
without the least fear. Her last public service in the line
of reformation was her appearance at the public hearing before the Municipal Board of Manila. It was about the proposed anti-smoking ordinance. She fought for its passage.
Those who saw her speaking can remember her form trembling with the emotions of a Christian, her eloquence knocking
at the hearts of those who listened, with the divine rectitude
of her cause.
"She was a Lawyer. She was a Christian Lawyer.
"She is gone, but the name Josefa Abiertas shall live. The
Pasig may change her course, or her waters may cease to
flow, but the sweet memory of that 'fair flower' shall linger
in our hearts....
"HER MEMORY IS GOLD, and as such it shall take
its place as THE CURRENCY OF NOBLE WOMANHOOD."
In an oration called "The Filipina Woman's Best," which
won the first prize in the College of Law, National University,
Miss Abiertas bids woman "come out on the stage of Philippine affairs, and let her play the part of a heroine, for it is only
in doing so that she can be considered as bringing her best
gifts to the altar of the land she loves.
"In this age of enlightenment, I presume that no Filipino,