Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1885-08-26
/ BoYS sECRET SOCIETY.

4 DOYS SECRET 60ClETE
Boys, do you remember that secret
socisty NJ organized at thu old school
house many years agof I have been
thinking about i f6k wAAk1 Md
Whenever ] think about anything %
long q that, / am obliged TO write
II Vas known % the n. J. i. s." but
what on sarth those cAbalistic initials
we're intended for Was one Of eut pro.
ioundest. secfetA The hsahing oil
those letteFs VA - simple a. could be,
and - the society 10 dead, with no pros
pect Of resurrection. Il strikes me that
! am absolvsd from my bath Of sscteAyj
and I. will explain ~. Tha meeAnine
val plain, barn.yard 'Iuka Jutenile
Literary Society," something which
there was about rs much necessity for
keeping secret Is there would b, fol-
concealing the nXma Oh tht President
Of the United States.
W. organized the II. j. L. s." for /
purpose. We hid a lyceum in the vii
lags, and the old men came in and took
the reins and elected, each othet TO III
Nee And sttnops!ized the thing until
We SCARCELY got . smell. This deter
mined M to start . little boom OF our
own, and the Il. J. L. g." was the re-
suit. We had . form Of initiation,
grips, signs, passwords and other pc,
culiarities too numerous to hnsntion,
and while w. did h5t make O speciality
yf anything but literary excellence, we
incidentally pledged each other eter-
nal friendship, and brotherly devotion,
and Swore 10 shed tho last drop Of bur
blood, Il necessary, to protect d brother
who might deem II advisable to make
our sigh III distresA. II IA sSarceiy
necessary 10 remark that very little
blood was ever shed IS q result OF this
solemn covenant. On one occasion
however, I made the sign Of distress;
A dog had laid hold upoia my sitting
material. and ! wanted help very badly.
Az none Of tho members 81 dur society
we're within twenty miles Of me, how
ever, no blood was shed III ef6ctihg my
rescue. ! simply sneaked away, while
the dog held so much of my pantaloons
in his mouth that he was unable to see
whether ! was in them or not. At the
next regular meeting of the society,
resolutions of coincidence and sympa.
thy were passed, and = COPY ,tf this
same duly ~sngrossed, was furnished me
by the secretary.
Our initiatory ceremony was ohe oil
the worst experimentation bf the sub
lime and the ridiculous / have ever
Der We hoodwinked the candidate
and brought him into The rob,h sing.
ing "Broad II the Road that Leads I'd
DEATH" % we slowly marched him
hfoutd. We always omitted the first
Btanza until after the second had been
sung, and by the time we came to
"And thousands walk together there"
we had walked the candidate up a
plank, q end OF which rested on q
headless barrel half full Of water, and
the other on the floor, timing his pro.
gress SO he would step off the plank
into the barrel just as we came down
heavy on the "there." OF course, he
got wet. We intended he should, bnt
y he had Bolemnly sworn to bravely
and uncomplair ingly submit to our
right honorable rites, all he could do
was to make the best OF it. We then
led him up to . pumpkin, and suddenly
removing the hoodwink, commanded
him to Behold this striking emblem OF
what you are!" Our sensitive fellows
always get mad at this point. Our
password was "Ye-a=e-hou," accented
heavily On the "a" and hoo" and in
the still hours of the summer night it
could be heard al over town, and was
always followed by q chorts Of "Yo.ha-
e-pooI" which was the prescribed an
swer. ! often wonder that the whole
community did not interpret our intent
III using it.
At one timc we had $3.50 in the
treasury, and talked about erecting q
temple, but one of our members
stumped his toe and we had to pay it
over to him as sick benefits. We paid
"a per week sick benefits, and as only
10 cents per quarter could bo collected
% dues and assessments under our con.
stitution, we found our treasury de.
pleted and our lodge in debt at the end
Of the first week Of sickness, and as
We had voted to. buy some silver m
blematic pins with the money on hand,
we all lost courage and let the thing 60
down.
W. had . funeral ceremony which we
were foresworn TO render in full in case
Of the death Of one Of our members.
Looking back to those happy, egotisti-
cal days now, I cannot help feeling
gratiied that the society died before
any Of its members, other wise, the sur
viving members Of the II. j. l.. s."
might have been arrested for disorder
y conduct at . funeral. The society
Is dead, but memory of what it was
lives in the breast Of every mothers
son Of all who were its members, and
all you noed to do to discover that the
old fraternal spirit yet exists, is to go
ont Of doors in Iuka. Illinois, some still
night and yell: "Ye-ha-e-hooi" You
will get more "Yo-a-e-poos!" than you
know what to do with In less than five
minutes. and they will all come from
big, stout men, too Through Mail
The TurCOman at Home.