The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-09-25

The Vesper Literary association Of
Scranton held its fourteenth annual
reunion in the Penn Avenue Baptist
church parlors last evening.
The committee of arrangements con.
sisting of f, NJ. Koehlsr, chair man:
w, Il. Schimpf. secretary; J. W.
Browning, E. S Williams, Professor
l.. A. Lange and c. f. Pross carried
ont the details Of the evening to per.
fection.
Luther Keller having invoked the
Divine blessing on the repast the large
company sat down to an excellent ban.
quet OF choice and varied articles
which tastefully decorated two large
tables running the length OF the large
room.
A lengthy toast list was after wards
followed up commencing with the re.
marks Of President II. A. Smith who
spoke upon quotation from Milton
ITO know that which before us lies In
daily life is the prime wisdom" and
gave learned dissertation upon the
duty of every man imparting words OF
wisdom when he was able for the ad-
vancement Of his fellow beings. Their
Vesper society had produced men Of
whose record they were proud and
who were carrying out this command.
REMARKS BY PROFESSOR LANCE.
Professor Lange. the toastmaster, in
a feicttous speech referred to the good
which the Vespers had accomplished
in their community aud gave several
bumorous.illustrations Of a "reformer,"
which were appropriate. as he was fol-
lowed by x-Councilman J. w. Brown
ing, celebrated of poll.tax ordinance" 4"
who gave comprehensive address
upon Municipal Reform, aud in re-
ferring to the term "Vesper lights. 80
often quoted during the evening, sug-
gested that the lights should shine in
Scranton upon the street car system.
With regard to taxation he asked
why should the owner Of a house and
lot pay five or six times more taxes
than the gigantic railway concerns
paid on the same amount Of property.
Street sweepings in other cities brought
sufficient revenue to pay the cost Of
cleaning the streets. The care
Of the poor required more con-
sideration and there was suf-
icient room for improvement ip
the poor law sytem of Scranton. The
Hillside home was referred to as the
splendid big white elephant on the
Hillside. Our city water and electric
light supplies should be secured by the
city and not be controlled by the pres
ent owners. and the result would be
that the water would be supplied at
onethird the cost.
They. however. had not sand
enough to carry this out. They want
ed young men Of courage and energy
to remove this combination of private
interest and bring the city back to
good government.
A, A. Vosburg was absent and in his
stead Walter Frank discussed ives
pers Externally" and was followed by
W. E, Schimpff, who made shumorous
speech on college Life"
ONLY CHARTER MEMBERS PRESENT
John Bsnors spoke upon the "Ves-
pers Internally" and incidentally re.
ferred to the fact that he was the only
charter member of fourteen years ago
present that evening. One Of the ex-
cellent speeches Of the evening was
delivered by E. s. Williams upon
"Recollections. Mr.. Williams was
enthusiastically greeted when his can
didacy as recorder of deeds on the
Prohibition ticket was mentioned. Iu
fluent speech sparkling with live
anecdotes he kept his audience in a
continual state of merrimenr. His re,
miniseences Of the early days of the
association were exceedingly we'll told
and enthusiastically received.
Attorney H. G. Reynolds gave 1.-THE
Vespers Fraternslly," Nelson Baily,
"The Vsypers Sisternally." and G. F.
Pross the "Vespers Eternally." S v
Hall. of Green Ridge was present as the
old teacher Of several of the Vsspers
present.