Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-09-02
KNIGHTS, NEW AND 6lD.
The Origin OF the Order Explained
The Life of Sir Wllfred
lvanhoa.

ern knight Templar has never 70
bean able to ascertain whether
when two or more of him are gath
cred together, they should be calico
knight Templars, Knights Templar
or Knights Templsrs, aud IN order
TO spare his feelings. sympathiziaa
press ought clearly to shirk thu
| question, and 20 describe the Chica
go Knights in terms that can not
come in conflict with any possible
grammatical rule.
We all know who the origina
Templars were, for the biography
of eminent Sir WiIfred Ivanhoo, Of
York Commandery, New York, ia s
mine of information on the subject
The Templar was q person who
wore varigated night.gown,
| (whence, perhaps the word Knightl
in the daytime, and took q series
of iron-clad 0aths. He bound him.
self never to marry, vow that did
not put him to much Inconvenience,
but which must have signally failed
TO meet the views of his wife and
children. lie also swore to live in
a state of poverty, vow which he
literally interpreted to mean that
be should earn nothing, but should
live on the eonfiscate& properey of
other people. He took an oath of
| obedience TO his Grand Master. and
undertook TO go to the Holy Land
TO deliver Jerusalem from the Sara.
cane. The lattor obligation had its
manifest advantages Occasionally
the Knight Templer did 90 to the
Holy Land and fgut, but to q much
greater extent he staid at home. He
was, however, always on the point
OF taking the $50 p. NJ. express for
Joppa, and consequently always had
an excuae for declining to do any
thing that did not p'oaae him. III
his children wanted shoes, ho al.
ways remarked that as no expected
to depart Immediately for the Holy
Land, BIO really needed all bis
available money whorowilh to pay
his passage, and could not
possibly buy shoes until his return.
If this rent was due and the landlord
notified him that he must pay at
once. he Immediately wrote him
note, saying that he had Just re-
ceived orders to start for Jerusalem,
and that as it was quite out of the
question for him to call on his ban.
kers before leaving, he would be
compelled TO postpone that little
matter OF the rent until his return.
Thus the Templar who was always
going to the Holy Land, but who
never went, was the envy OF less
fortunate men who had no ready,
made excuses to meet every diff
Guilty. 1t appears from the life of
Eminent Sir Wilfred Ivaahoe that
the Knight Templar frequently took
part in free circus entertainments,
most of which were, doubtless, de-
signed for the benefit of Sunday
schools. In these entertainments
the knights were often badly hurt,
snd there is good reason to believe
that they were occasionally happily
killed. In the absence Of any steady
employment the Knights did good
deal of miscellaneous fighting with
any available neighbors, and Most
Eminent Dis Brian de Bots Guilbert,
Of Jackson Commandery. No. u,
was in this respect a fair specimen
Of the fighting knight.
The modern American Knight
Templar is not at all like his iIlqstri-
GUS predecessor Instead Of white
night-gown with a red cross, he
wears frook. coat, a cooked hat, and
shoulder-strap uniform that
makes him resemble a Chaplain in
the Navy, who has pawned his regu
lating blue coat and been compelled
to transfer his shoulder straps to a
borrowed black coat He does not
take vows of chastity, poverty, and
obedience, and rarely-if we may
credit the reports OF the recent Chi
cage conclave--takes even the total
abstinence pledge. For Jerusalem
he cares nothing, and never makes
the slightest pretenae of going there.
His holy places are Chicago, ST.
Louis, or San Francisco, in one Of
which cities he gathers himself to-
gether once every three years, and
marches in solemn procession,
swelling ii his close buttoned coat
and cock 4 hat, and exciting the
wonder OF the beholding foreigner.
1T these ;riennial conclaves be
always gave public exhibition Of
Templar tactics, which consist in a
series of semi-miltarv evolutions Of
great intricacy and total lack Of pur>
pose To the small boy he is an OBJ
ject of mingled amazement and mirth;
and the public, which regards him az
sort of hybrid between militia
soldier aud the circus performer, fails
to comprehend why be exists and
fatigues himself with tiresome and
expensive triennial conclaves.
Though the American Templar
likes to fancy that he is in some Say
a liEeal descendant of the knights OF
the Temple, he is in his secret heart
aware that he was invented by an
ingenious peddlar called Thomas
Webb, and that he is a purely Amer
lean invention. There are, to be sure,
French and English varieties OF
Knights Of the Temple, but they
have no connection with the Amsfi-
can Knights, and being products Of
the paaper labor Of Europe, could
not be imported into this country ex-
cept upon the payment Of heavy
duty. What the American Knight
TempIar does in the secrecy Of his
lodge-roon il, Of course, a mystery
to the outside world. People who
are immediately below room in
which the knights are accustomed
to gather hear Noises which lead
them to believe that the knights
make practice of falling over a
large amount OF furniture, a theory
which is apparently confirmed By
the fact that thay issue from their
meetings in very heated and ex-
tremely thirsty state. Still, it seems
iutrinsicaIIy improbable that men
| should 90 TO large expense in point