West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-05-29

suit We had q form ~ initiation,
grips, signs, passwords and other Pc
culiariticS too numerous To mention,
and while We did not mako speciality
of any thing but literary excellence. W.
incidentally pledged each other ctvrna,
friendship and brothcrly devotion. and
swore TO she'd the last drop of our
blood, II necessary. To protoot brother
who might deem it advisable 60 make
Our sign of distress. Ii il scarcely noe.
eSSarN to remark that very little blood
Wa.' over shed rs q result of this solemn
covenant On one occasion. however
| made the >igu of distress, \ dog had
laid hold of my sitting material. and |
wanted help very badly A. mono of
the members of our society were with
i'm twenty miles OF me. however. no
blood was shCd i'm cilcctinc my rescue
l simply sucakcd away. while the dog
held so much of my pautalouns m his
mouth that he was unable tn see
whether | was in them or not At the
next meeting of the society. resolutions
of coincidence and sympathy were
passed aud copy of the same duly
engrosScd, was furnished me hy tnc
secretary.
Our initHtory ceremony was one oi
the worst conglomcratiouS uf the sub
lime and the ridiculous | have ever
seen, We hoodwinked the candidate
aud brought him into the room singing
Broad is the Road that Leads to
Death, aS we slowly marched him
around We always omitted the first
stanza until after the second had been
sung, and 10y the time we came to And
thousands walk together there. we
had walked the candidate up plank.
one end of which rested ON hcadlcss
sarrel half full of water. aud the other
ON the noor timing his progrcS so that
he would step of the plank into the
barrel Just aS we came down heavy ON
the there. OF course he cot wet We
intended he should but az he had sol.
EMMY sworn 10 bravclN and mcom-
plainingly submit To our right honor.
able rites, ali he could do was to make
the best OF IT, We then led him up to
"A pumpkin, and suddenly removing the
hoodwiuk, commanded him go Behold
the striking emblem of what YOU arc,'
Our sensitive fellows always got mad
at this point Our pass word was
"Ge-a-o-hoo, " accented heavily on the
"a and "hoo, and i'm the still hours
of the summer night, il could be heard
all over town, and was always followed
10y chorus of "Io-ha-e-poo" which
was the prescribed answer. often
wonder that the whole community did
not interpret our intent i'm using H.
AZ one time, we had 1886 i'm the
treasury and talked about erecting a
temple, but one of our members
stumpcd his toe and wo had to pay it
over TO him as z ok bcncGtI We paid
four dollars per week sick benefits and
rs only ten cents per quarter could bu
collected as due and assessments under
our constitution, we found our treasury
depleted aud our lodge i'm debt ut the
end OF the first week of sickness, and as
we had voted to buy some silver en-
Dlcmatic pins with the money ON hand,
we all lost courage and let the thing 30
down.
We had n funeral ceremony which wa
were foresworn TO render i'm full i'm case
Ol the death Of one of our members.
Looking back TO those happy cgotistical
days now, ] can not help feeling grati-
fled that the society died before any OF
its members, otherwise, the surviving
members Of the II. j. l.. - might
nave been arrested for dsordcrly con.
duct at "a funeral. The society is dead.
but memory of what IL was lives i'm the
breast OF every mother 3 on of all who
were its members, and all you need to
do TO discover that the old. fratcrnal
spirit yet exists, is 90 go ont Of doors i'm
Iuka, ILL.,, some still night and veil.
1c-a-e-hOOW You will get more "Yo-
ha-e-poos! than you know what 10 do
with IN less than five minutes, and they
will all come from big, stout mon, too.
/ -- IHTOugh UOu