The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1890-08-20
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
FIFTY YEARS HENCE,

There Is . Masonic Lodge in New
York which holds its meetings in I'll
daytime. 1t is known among the fra
ternlty as the afternoon lodge" or tn,
matinee lodge" and it's membership i
CHIEFLY made up of actors, musicians
morning newspaper men and other
whose occupations oblige them to be Of
duty at nights.
This lodge, the designation of which
IS st Cecile, No. 500, L. and A. NJ, cele
brated its twenty-tifth anniversary OF
June II in the commandery room of thu
Masonic temple. A large audience o
members and friends were most agree
ably entertained by number of actors
singers and instrumentalists, including
Fred solomon and George Olmi of the
Casino, the County Fairn quartet, Goo
W. Morgan, the organist, and others.
when the programme was rather more
than halffinished, Mr.. Chas. II. Goyar,. q
former master of the lodge, was pre-.
scented to the audience, and gave most
unexpected address. He began by say.
ing that twenty-five years was quite
long enough to determine the vitality of
an organization, and that it was reason
aple TO suppose that st. Cecile Lodge
was destined to an existence of
great duration and vigor. 81 have no
doubt, said he, shat fifty years from
noW' In this same indestructible edifice,
there will be celebration by the mem
bers of this lodge of the magnificence of
which we can form only a slight concen.
ton. | expect to be present on that oc-
caslon. Uaughter.) 1t has often been
said that sickly people live the longest
II they are not too sickly. They
are prudent and temperate because thew
have to be. Therefore, as l have nos
enjoyed robust health for over twenty
years, and never will again, expect, by
reason OF the extraordinary precautions I
Will have to take, that / will be alive
when all my big red-faced brethren of
middle age have died off from congested
livers. apoplexy, fatty degenerations
and other ailments peculiar to those
who live not wisely but too we'll Twill
ask you to imagine that the seventy-fifth
anniversary has arrived, and that an old
gentieman-not lean and slippered
pantaloon,' but tolerably well-pre-
served old chap--by the name of Govan
Is brought forward and introduced as
the oldest living past master Of ST. Co.
Gle lodge. will pull myself together
and say something in this strain:
Itr1t
the great s-Chicago-where I
have been making visit to some of nv
grandchildren and great grandchildren,
who are settled there. Worshipful Bro.
Griffith of this lodge, accompanied me
TO the station, and as the electric express
was about to start, not more than |
SIX hours since, his last words we're:
Tell the brethren of St. Cecile that al |
though can not be with them in the
lesh | will be with them in the spirit.
'Iell them also that Twill address them
Tor few minutes through the macro-
telephone. Fifty years ago it took me
nearly third of the time to reach this
spot from the eastern section (then
called Brooklyn) as it did to-day to
,ome from Chicago, and as overlooked
his beautiful city from the top of the
'unnei tower, at the western end of this
treet' before descending the chute, and
ecalled the smoke-enshrouded desert
II Drick and mortar known as New York
n the past, l rejoiced that had been
pared to see this happy time. can an
,reclate the change as you men can not.
GU nave never known what it was TO
I've In city with SO few parks; that the
My playground for most children was
ne streets; where iEtead of the beau
iiul elevated sidewalks, with all tho
eeail stores on the same level, with
oao"ays underneath, and the ground
oors OF the business district given nm
D wholesale traffice, horses. CARRIAGES
arts ard pedestrians, bales, barrels and
oXes were all jumbled together on the
us1y ground, and you had to risk your
le at every crossing; where, instead of {
ne silent electric motor, which takes ,
gu Wherever you want to go at the rate
nVe miles minute, you had to de- G
end on horrible, nerve-wearinp ar
ON stills, called an elevated
lifoad, which roared like a leviatban
ME IL crept like snail, and on which 7
'u shiVered in winter and stewed in
MINER o"eo III
MS Is now city of homes, but in q
J younger days it was largely city of O
'vels. Since the Government first q
OK the transportation business out of i,
o hands of rascally corporations it has o
adually become possible for every q
'rkman to sit under his own roof-tree. G
IL now costs no more either in time
money to ride twenty miles than it h
rmefly did to ride one mile, and the G.
rnons OF Westchester and Long Island h,
u East Jersey lying within a radius of y,
enty miles from this spot, which were &c
ce solitary and desert-like, now bios 4,
III ike the rose. In my early DAYS in
ndreds OF thousands of strong men q,
'mped the country looking vainly for re
melody to hire them / have seen -,
men picking up rags and paltry odds IN
ends in the street for livelihood.
ave seen little children barefooted on III
Vemr9r nights selling papers or beg ot
lg pennies. l have seen swarms of r,
I'M at work in dingy factories when h.,
y ought to have been at play. have hi
II SICK men at work, when they ought tlt
nave been in bed, because they could oo
afford to stop. All these evils were 10
IN my time, because of system of sn
alton which choked production at on
fountain head and permitted a few Eta
IFS TO grow rich at the expense of he
ir toiling brethren. ~
Meanwhile the people, though dimlv we