The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-05-19


men whose daily prayer shall be
Thy spirit Independence. let me share.
Lord of the lon-heart and the eagle eye'
Thy steps follow with bosom bare, ,
Such, fellow knights, is the courage that
Pythianism seeks TO inculcate: courage
which in turn teaches self-reliance; that
Every man is his star; and the soul
That render az a m 1 nuence al fate
Nothing TO him falls early or too late.
Our acts our angels are; or good or Ill.
Our fatal shadows that walk by US STILL
But, YOU say. how shall we attain this
high standard of conduct? How shall VIE
ascend these heights of moral heroism? L
answer. surely by initiating the example
of those who have gone before. and more
especially the example OF nim whose
name must now be upon every l1p-Pythlas
of Syracuse, our patron saint, who. sus-
tanned by lasting friendship under the
very terrors of the grave exclaimed
"'TIs sweet TO die for those we love-
Yes, up this heavenly stairway to great
results went Pythias of Syracuse, valiant
knight, noble offspring of God, and who,
going up
That honor which shall abate his scythe's keen
And make him heir of all eternity"
Yes, I'D it went Pythias of Syracuse, and
going up taught the world the truth of
the declaration: Greater love hath no
man than this; that he will lay down his
life for his friend" Yes, up this heavenly
stairway of moral heroism went Pythlas
of Syracuse, and upward going performed
that deed which shall ring out like sill
yer bell through the storm of all the CEN
turtles: from whose music humanity shall
catch fresh inspiration, and tolling up
ward through the shadowy years shall
stand erect at last upon The mount OF Its
TRANSPORTATION"
But it will be said that the story Of
Pythias and the heroism which he DIS
played, sustained as it WAS by loyal
friendship is a fancy sketch, or to most
that Pythias acted in obedience to a sud
den bat not well-grounded impulse, an
impulse which men cannot do well to lml-
tate. We shall not stop to argue this.
| The well informed knight finds his answer
to such queries in the history OF PyGhlan-
ism. He cannot forget the names of
Hines, Woodland, Eascley and host of
others, who illustrated i'll their lives that
heroism, that friendship which protects
the knighthood even unto death-men VINO
sacrificed their lives freely that their
brothers in the flesh might live-nen of
whom the world was not worthy
men who illustrated after the high
est type the command, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as myself" spirits OF
whom the world was not worthy: men who
left the sloughs of selfishness to ascend the
heights of friendship charity and benevo-
lence; men who flew with no middle
flight above the Aonian mount" OF lofty
conduct; men who would not linger here
longer to sip the sweets of the material,
but took upon themselves the burden of
the highest manhood and bore them trl-
umphantly through the valley and
shadow of death" to a spiritual victory be-
yond; men of whom coming generations
shall say:
Their deeds, as they deserve
Their names to the sweet ~ re. The historic muse.
Proud of the treasure marches with it, down
Gives bond in stone and ever during brass.
To guard them and mmortalize her trust
Aye, more than this; men for whom the
world was better that they lived and bet
ter that they died; for
las thrills Of long hashed tone.
Live III the VOL so our souls grow me
With keen vibrations from the touch divine
Of nobier natures gone"
And thus, fellow knights, does Pythian-
ism a whole, teach
THAT men must rise on steppir g-stones
OF their dead selves to higher things"
and thus, in certain sense, is Pythian-
ism
Nearer, my God. to Thee;
Nearer to Thee"
Let these thoughts, fellow knights. re-
inspire US tonight let them re consecrate
us anew to the principles which we have
espoused. Let Us as brave Knights Of
PythiaS put on the whole armor and go
forth, and with our shields of purity we
shall doubtless intercept the darts of the
worlds error; and with our sword of the
everlasting truth we shall fall upon and
hew to pieces the Shiny, coiling form of
falsehood. We cannot always divine the
purposes of this life, but one thing we do
know, that we can make the world better
by practicing the tenets of Pythianism.
Let u.s. therefore, advance upon chaos and
darkness; let US work while ii is day. for
the night coIneth when no man can work"
Now indeed it is that our knightly crown
is set with precious gems of opportunity.
And now, in conclusion. let me con-
graduate YOU upon the progress of Pyth-
ianism. In 1864 it was as "a cloud in the
sky, no larger than mans hand To
day 500 900 valiant Knights march to the
music OF friendship. charity and benevo-
lence. Its advancement is unprecedented
in the history OF any organization. Its
progress is onward and still onward; up
ward and still upward; higher and still
higher: high in the spirit and genius of its
work as the stars which 10 the eye of faith
encircle the footstool of the eternal throne;
high in the spirit and genius of its work as
the soul which, when il leaves this earth
" tabernacle, seeks throughout all ages
the attainment of its perfection in the
home of its father, and the BOSOM of its
God.
The following is the program for today:
At $50 this morning the Grand Lodge
and members viii be escorted to the
United States government building by
Wichita Division No. 2
At . &. m. formal opening of the Grand
Lodge. This entire day VIII be devoted To
the business of the Grand Lodge The
visiting Knights will be assigned. to their
quarters.
At 5 p m. Adjourned meeting of Grand
Lodge.
Al 9p. n. A reception Will be given at
Castle hall. X OF. P. TO the Pythan sis
tiers, visiting Knights and their friends
All visiting Knights and members OF
the Grand Lodge: Knights of Pythias. are
requested TO call at headquarters of the
general committee, corner First and Main
and register.
Mr.. David H. Miller. one Of Wichita's
oldest citizens leaves tomorrow. accom-
panied by his wife. for his old home al
Hagerstown, Maryland, proposing 10 visit
Baltimore and Washington. both places
in his youth having been familiar to him
He left Maryland in 1868 aud this is the
first trip back. He expects and will find
great changes. especially in the cities of
Baltimore and Washington. He takes
with him the photograph OF prominent
men of Wichita and pictures Of the town
and expects to lie gone two or three months.