Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1885-08-19
A BOYS SECRET SOCIETY.

A BOYS SECRET SOCIETY.
boys, do you remember that secret
society we organized at the old school
house many years ago? / have been
thinking about it for o week, and
whenever l think about anything SO
long as that, ] am obliged to write.
1t was known as the II. J. L. S., but
what on earth those cabalistic initials
were intended for was one of our pro-
foundest secrets. The meaning Of
those letters was as simple as could be.
and as the society is dead, with no pros
pect of resurrection. 1t strikes me that
! am absolved from my oath OF secresy,
and / will explain it. The meaning
was plain, barn-yard "Iuka Juvenile
Literary Society,"" something which
there was about US much necessity for.
keeping secret as there would be for
concealing the name Of the President
of the United States !.
pseAaine4 IA q !. |. si0S 4
sIjlI III pose W. h3d U iyteum II tKc w
1age, and the old men came in and took
the reins and elected each other to Of
fee and monopolized the thing until
we scarcely got a smell. This deter
mined us to start little boom of our
own, and the II. ]. L. S. was the re-
suit. We had a form of initiation,
grips, signs, pass words and other pc
culiarities too numerous to mention,
and while we did not make specially
Of anything but literary excellence, We
incidentally pledged each other eter-
nal friendship and brotherly devotion,
and swore to shed the last drop of our
blood, If necessary, to protect brother
who might deem it advisable to make
our sign of distress. 1t is scarcely
necessary to remark that very little
blood was ever shed as a result OF this
solemn covenant. On one occasion,
however, I made the sign of distress.
A dog had laid hold upon my sitting
material, and wanted help very badly.
As none Of the members of our society
were within twenty miles Of me, how
ever, no blood was shed in effecting my
rescue. simply sneaked away, while
the dog held so much of my pantaloons
in his mouth that lie 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 of the
same duly engrossed, was furnished me
by the secretary.
Our initiatory ceremony was one OF
the worst conglomeration of the sub
lime and the ridiculous l have ever
seen. We hoodwinked the candidate
and brought him into the room sing
;pr, URrooI 30 @bo Road %Lof ooJo Ar
DEATH" rs we slowly marched him
around. We always omitted the frst
stanza until after the second had been
sung. and by the time we came tc
"And thousands walk together there,
we had walked the candidate up q
plank, one 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, but
as he had solemnly sworn to bravely
and uncomplair ingly submit to oul
right honorable rites, all he could dc
was to make the best OF it We thcr
led him up to pumpkin, and suddenl,
removing the hoodwink, commanded
him to Behold this striking emblem o
what you are!" Our sensitive fellows
always get mad at this point. Oul
password was "Ye-a-e-hoo," accented
heavily on the "a and "hoo." and in
the still hours of the summer night il
could be heard oil over town, and was
always followed by chorus of "Yo-ha
c-poo!" which was the prescribed an
swer. / often wonder that the whole
community did not interpret our inten
in using it.
At one time we had $2S6 in the
treasury, and talked about erecting Q
temple, but one of our members
stumped his toe and we had to pay i
over to him as sick benefits. We pait
81 per week sick benefits, and as only
10 cents per quarter could be collected
as dues and assessments under our con
stitution, we found our treasury de-
pleted and our lodge in debt at the enc
OF the first week of sickness. and al
we had voted to buy some silver en-
blematic pins with the money on hand
we all lost courage and let the thing q,
| down.
We had funeral ceremony which w
were foresworn to render in full in cas-
of the death of one of our members
Looking back to those happy, egotisti
cal days now, | cannot help feeling
| gratified that the society died befor
any of its members, otherwise, the sur
viving members of the Il. J. L. s..
might have been arrested for disorder
ly conduct at q funeral. The societ,
is dead, but memory of what it wa
lives in the breast OF every mother
son of all who were its members, an
all you need to do to discover that tn
old fraternal spirit yet exists, is to &
out of doors in Iuka, Illinois, some still
night and yell- "Ye-ha-e-hoo" Yo'
will get more "Yo-a-e-poos!" than 20
know what to do with in less than fiv
minutes. and they will all come fror
big. stout men, too ThrO,tyh Mail.