The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-03-08
FOURTH ANNIVERSARY
OF the Young EEen's DEBATING Club of
EmpOrfa, Held At yyeaver's
Hall Lat lgF~hf

4
" the Young Mems Debating Club of !,
EmPOrta, Held st vyeavers
Hall Last Might n
The fourth anniversary of the Young =
Mems club was celebrated Friday eve'ng ii
It Viewers hail in an attractive and-ap-
'ropriate manner. Besides the members .
If The club there were quite number of $
citizens present, among whom were sew Q
eral members of the Normal faculty. l
The president, S. NJ. Smith, called the
meeting TO order and delivered short Ii
but highly appropriate address; c
speaking mainly upon the work
Of the club slice its organization.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Smiths re- ,
marks very beautiful quartet was sung
by Misses Noise and Haines and George
Mays and Howard Culver, Miss May
Bacon presiding at the organ. Ii
The president then introduced B.F.
Combs, who read an essay on "Con-
which was considered a very
able effort, many of his ideas being
quite original and practical He held
that conscience is the creature of educa-
ton and must not always be relied upon
as moral guide.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Combs es-
say. L. X. Wright, who had been selected
TO write up history of the club, was in
troduced and presented the following
spicy and well prepared account of the /
Organizations dol Dgs since its estab- |
iishment four years ago:
HISTORY OF THE
Great events haye taken place upon |
the earth's surface since the last annlYer |
sary meeting of the Young Mems club |
War, pestilence and famine have visited
various portions of the globe. carrying
destruction to millions of human be
ings. Poets, philosophers and statesmen
have passed away. Three fiery comets
have risen in the eastern heavens, filling
superstitlous minds with horror and dis
may. Vast political changes have taken
place in every nation of the civilized
| world. The home of John Brown has
| chosen q Democratic executive, and Ben.
Butler has been elected governor of
Massachusetts, But, through all these
vicissitudes, agItations and changes, the
Young Mems club has remained strong,
conservative and firm as a rock in the
midst of a stormy eea. Even the most
1
ed unmoved during the tour of Mrs.
| Langtry, and while the whole western
hemisphere has heen upheaved by the
visit of Oscar Wilde, the members OF
the Young Mems club have gone through
il all like Shadrack, Meshak and Abed-
nego went through the frey furnace and
have come forth without even the smell
of iesthetecism upon their pocket hand
kerchiefs.
q LII. 49,
period is little more than record of the
discussion of those problems, moral, So
cial and policical that have risen through
the progress of human development, and
demand solution at the hands of the
present generation, and intricate as
these problems have been, with but few
exceptions, the club has solved them
in such a manner as TO re-
ceive the universal plaudits of mankind.
To record the intellectual achievements
: of the geniuses that have come to light
during the progress of these discussions
would require the labor OF a life time.
The faithful efforts of officers and mem.
bers of the club to make it a financial
and intellectual success, will be referred
\ to by future man with the same pride
that we to-day refer to the unselfish pat
rlotlsm of the citizens of ancient Sparta.
One instance is worthy of mention. Mr..
II. G. Jones, an original Ohio man, serv-
, ed for three consecutive terms as treas
urer of the club, and when he returned
the twenty-five cents entrusted to his
care, with no further loss than the sim
; pie substitution of punched quarter
for the original, the members were SO
gratified that they voted him hand
G speech of Mr.. Parkinson upon that Oc-
casion deserves to be quoted in full
I He said:
Mr.. Jones, in behalf of the Young
3 Mems club of which l have the distin-
guished honor to be member, desire
to acknowledge the extreme obligation
this club is under to you, for the manly
courage and the undisguised patriotism
and the enthusiastic zeal you have man
Tested in the discharge of your duty as
treasurer OF this club. Sir, industry has
lis own reward, frugality is the road tC
wealth, but q rolling stone gathers nc
\ moss. We live in the midst of a great
country, nation bounded on the east
by the Atlantic, on the west by the Pa.
ciflc and crossed in the center by the
great Neosho itself; nation that has
produced more defaulting bank cashiers
and state treasurers than any nation on
the globe, but, sir. you stand to-day rs
the greatest emblem of our progress
/ In the language of the poet you stand
J. a living witness 'to the ages as
no place for fear. As mem
: Der of this club. as a. citizen of the
:, proud commonwealth of Kansas, above
: all sir, as a citizen of the greatest re-
public that ever unfurled a starry ban
ner TO the breeze, allow me to present
you copy of the Normal Cabinet
3 MIR. Jones. however, is not the only
member who has been honored for his
virtue aud morality. So high has the
club ranked In the estimation of the
religious organizations of this city. that
e the w. g. T. U. has used several unavaIi
: ing efforts to make this club an auXiI-
lIary 10 that organization. About two
years ago they appointed committee to
F. confer with the club for the purpose OF
} forming some sort of a union, but the
ladies were SO indiscrcet as to place
, married women upon that committee
who solemnlY and Unexpectedly filed into
. the club room without giving the men,
bers chance to put On their hats or
take their feet off the table, Mr.. Leroy
! Wright being the only member Who
succeeded in getting behind the stove.
The committee said at once that their
: expedition was failure.
AS was stated in the early part of this
history the most interesting features of
the Young Mems club have been the dis
cussiOns thst have taken place within its
folds. No question has been left unfin-
ished from the origin of man to that of
the suppression of pOlygamy. Upon
this latter question there was great
unanimity OF sentiment. Under. the
leadership of Prof. Frank Kizer. all OPP
position to polygamy was efectualIy
subdued. If there was any one thing
1 fO D. IF 1I,o
club it was the agitation of the prohibit
| ton question. At meeting held on
March 2, 1882, after the regular literary
exercises had been disposed of and the
members were engaged in a quiet and
harmonious discussion OF a business
matter, Mr.. S. NJ. Smith arose and
claimed the attention of the club 10 Of
fer resolution. he said he was about
TO perform one of the most solemn and
unpleasant duties of his life, but, new
ertheIess, it was duty and he believed
he would be doing himself and his
country an injustice If he did not in
sist on this club taking some action up
on the question of prohibition, and IN
order to bring the matter clearly and
conciseiy before the club he offered the
following resolution and moved its
adoption:
Resolved, That prohibition is the
cause OF the present scarcity OF r'd
headed women
The quiet, peaceful club room at once
became the scene of violent struggle
on the part of the members TO gain the
recognition of the chair. The editor of
the Democrat finally succeeded in gam
/ ing the floor. He said:
4 Mr.. President am heartily in SYM
patty with the gentleman in Offering
the resolution, and shall have no hest
fancy in casting my vote in its favor.
consider, sir, that the greatest evil that
overshadows the human race to-day is
prohibition, the actual necessities of life
are becoming so scarce under its baneful
| influence that hunger and deslitutiOn
are staring us in the face. There are