The Forrest City times., 1892-03-18

 tributed to good cause be our recnm pense, and we will still be happier and better for having thus acted. Make the lodge room pleasant for every one is a duty we owe each one. and attend as often as 1t is consistent with other interest is our duty. Staying away isolating ourselves Is not that which builds us up and makes us strong. While our membership is l45 ,n3l not quite so large as formerly, we are all older and we must increase our number to keep pace with advancing years; for it is indeed
 "Too true--lifes shores are shifting,
 Every year,
 And we are scaward drifting
 Every year;
 Old places, changing, fret us,
 I The living more forget us,
 There are fewer to regret us
 Every year"
 And it behoves us to realize the fact that we must increase our member ship every year or increased assessments must follow; and If we will take the interest we should we can increase in numbers, thereby making our insti- tution stronger and better every year. For brethren, life is but the vestibule of death and our earthly pilgrimage is only a Journey to the tomb, and We should make the voyage as happy and | as pleasant as is consistent with duty. Where can we go that will be more pleasant than to the lodge room when in good working order? Every one trying to build up the social part of the institution, and suggesting and discussing matters of interest. Do we not know and realize that by coming l in contact with each other and ming ling together that we are better for it every way? As the electric spark is the result of friction, so truth is the result of that kind of thinking, acting and minging. So
 ''ro do and not to dream,
 To be and not to seem,
 Purpose to fulfill"
 is our mission, for there is nOth- ing that SO tends to make Us misan- thropic and mean as isolating ourselves. By association with our fellow men we come to have more charity for them and to better understand ourselves. The bookworm is never practical, but the traveller is. The most successful men are the greatest students of hu- msn nature. 1t Is a detiicult matter to | find member of any secret society who is dull and stupid. If not natur- ! ally as bright as some, he improves by association with those who are so and | at every society session and lodge 1 meeting he gets some new Ideas which l prove a benefit to bim in his business | and social life. It is, indeed, true that | charity begIns at home. and 1 have not | the slightest doubt that the central l figure of our order and the mystic 70. | NJ. A" were first conceived about the ! hearthstone. When John Howard | Payne wrote Home Sweet Home he at once walked the enthusiastic delight of the world and this little song by which he will be known so long as our language lasts was his supreme cry of l desolation ill that awful Babylon when he struggle so long. There is no l art in the verses; the lines have metri- l cal flaws, 1t is said, but their sweet ness lies in ths unaffected simplicity of | their sorrown-a sorrow which few human hearts have not felt and with which. brethren, the great heartof hu- | manity must sympathizs forever. The | art-loving millionaire, MT, Corcoran bore the expense of removing his re- mains from Tunis to the United States | What gracious and beautiful thought it was, yet we mighr ask whether it
 was for the best? Was there not a strange pathos lowering about that distant African grave which cannot | attach to Georgetown Heiehts? But the great millionaire loved him mors. perhaps, for having written these few sweet lines than all things else he wrote, said or did. Yes, nome, sweet home" Is the foundation of nearly all l good and is the birthplace of charity. 1 The prevailing idea Of charity is to 1 give aims to the poor, but this is only a small branch of its teaching, and l care should be used not to abuse this. Charity may be called the great foun- | datiOn stone upon which our beautiful structure stands, and we should carry it in our hearts and let it's light shine | through every action; and although we ] do wrong and have left undoDs many things which we should have done. yet if we try to live up to this beautiful principle it will give us happiness by day and contentment by night, and with true charity for our rule. the | sculptor, Time, twill leave no harsh lines upon age" and will tighten the burden of life in ourselves, our loved ones and all we may chance to meet on ''life's rugged and uneven journey" 1 believe it was Ruskin who said ''They, at least, are little to be envied in whose heads the great charities lie dead.o Yes, for the heart that has no charity is dead and can accomplish no good on earth, and certainly has no 1 hopes for the future. The world is ever ready with harsh and unkind meanings for the sayings and doings of others, but charity teaches us to put the best construction on the words and actions of others, it teaches us to feel the woes of others, to hide the faults we see, and, as Pope beautifully says,
 ''The mercy I've to others shown
 That mercy show to me.'
 It teaches us to be better and truer and nobler men. 1t has been said that the grandest words in our lan- guage are liberty, thought, reason and truth, but the tenderest words, breth- ren, are charity. friendship, hope and love. The first group opens to mankind broad and expansive fields to explore and dwell upon and will eventually banish ignorance, fear, superstition and m, ioary. hflt tba lattar vroun erfvoo