The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-06-05

many sorrow-bedewed pillows it has
helped to smooth and alleviate, how /
many broken hearts it has bound up
and given courage to begin anew the
battle OF life, we can feel proud of our
noble order and that such is its handi-
work. Oh, viewed and contemplated
from such where is there man or
woman with right thoughts towards
themselves and the world who would
not wish to be in such and help swell
this mighty torrent of good made up
of the accumulated Titles of us all,
yet when once, together in vastness,
cheapness and good deeds, is without
parallel.
The relief feature OF our noble order
is unsurpassed. In most of the orders
like it there is the sting around this
relief fund which mingles the bitter
with the sweet. 'That is, you have
to die to win" Something no one
likes to do for the sake OF the prize
only.
Our order has sought to strip the
relief fund of this bitterness as much
as possible, and attained an excellence
of which l wish especially to speak.
1t is this: That when a member
reaches the age of seventy-fve years,
or when by disease or accident he be-
comes permanently disabled from fol-
lowing his usual or some other occu-
patton, his relief fund certificate is
paid to him. How consoling to such
members who, by accidence or disease,
are stricken down in life, with their
occupation gone and distress, want
and misery staring them and their
loved ones in the face, to be able to
honorably turn without the faint of
the aims taker TO such an organization
as this, and as surely draw Compel
ency that shall at least keep the wolf
from the door, while to him, in whose
veins the life blood has grown aged
and chilled, with the frost of seventy
five years, his life, as it were in the
past, and thoughts only on the dear
ones that have gone before, whom he
shall shortly follow under the lone
someness that pervades the soul ere
that shsll come in the darkness of the
night, who gladly call their dear
shades around and wish himself a
shadow, how pleasant it must be,
whether with competency or not, to
think and know that he has made
and realized this provision for himself
in his old age.
1t is impossible in the limits of
single address to touch upon all of the
beauties of our noble order. There is
attached to this order home securing
features of which | would like especi-
ally to speak, but it would require an
address devoted exclusively to this to
fully explain it. 1t is sufficient, how
ever, to say that by paying the small
sum of $40 per month member can
obtain and own all paid of from a
! $1,000 to a $4,000 home in from eight
to ten years. The next one, however,
to which | wish to call your attention,
is its moral and social features. No
one can enter our ranks without being
deeply impressed with its sacred and
holy calling. And once within its
portals, every noble quality of your
nature is appealed to that you may
be maintained and advanced in
higher scale of being. You are
taught lessons of benevolence, charity
and good deeds, and how to live and
act towards each other and your fellow
man. There is not word, sign, SYM
Dol, banner or degree that has not
these teachings in it, while in the
council room honor and truth is made
to greet you at every turn. Justice
weighs your rights in even poised
scales, while universal love cements
the bonds of true fellowship, and to
that friend, lady or gentleman, who
would live up to the full measure of
our noble order, | commend the fol-
lowing lines as truly descriptive of
them and their works:
Beautiful faces are those that wear
II matters little, If aged or fair
Whole soul honesty printed there.
Beautiful ewes are those that show,
Like crystal panes, where heart fires glow
Beautiful thoughts that burn below.
| Beautiful lips are those whose words,
| Leap from the heart, like songs of birds,
Yet whose utterances prudence girds.
| Beautiful hands are those that do,
| Work that is earnest, and brave, and true,
Moment by moment, the long day through.
Beautiful feet are those that go.
| On kindly ministries, TO and fro,
| Down lowliest ways if God will so.
Beautiful shoulders are those that bear,
Ceaselessly burdens of homely care,
| With patient grace and daily prayer.
Beautiful lives are those that bless,
| Silent rivers of happiness.
| Whose hidden fountains few may guess.
In the greatwork our order is doing
and proposing to do l see from the in
terest, energy and activity here dis
played, that the council fires of our
order burn brightly In your hearts,
and that San Marcos council proposes
to do her part in all that is required
| - H.. C,t,,otoI tIo loo,,1.f,,1 -