Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-05-25
THE CITIZEN
Secret Society Titles


which we note in this country is that OF
the Independent Order of Hoo Hoos, now
spreading in the West, and said TO be on
the point of gaming foothold in the East.
This Joyous body, as we learn from chance
reference to it in the newspapers. is given
to holding concentrations at stated inter
walls. with the aid of such officers as Su-
preme Sharks, Grand Yice-Snarks and
others as wonderful. The exact object
which the worthy Hoo Hoos have for ex-
isting has not yet been disclosed to us,
though we suspect that their aim may be
no more serious than to promote the gay
ETY. of nations.
But their appearance calls attention
anew to the extraordinary faculty possess
ed by the American people for forming
strange secret societies with resounding
names, and managed by officers bearing
reverberating titles. On the whole, the
Hoo Hoos, W ith their Sharks, are rather
modest, and seem to lack originality.
few years ago there was said to exist in the
State of Texas secret society called the
Gracious Pack of Free and Unterrified
Jimplecutes, the head officer of which was
an Exalted Supreme Willipus-Wallipus,
and with Grand Benign Old Giascutus
and Chief Refulgent and Irideseent Gee
Whiz. 1t is possible that this order meyer
existed beyond the subtropical magma
tion of a correspondent; but, on the other
hand, there was no particular reason
to doubt its existence. The account
sounded, and still sounds, reason
able. The calling of an officer Refulgen'
and Iridescent seems to us especially prob
able, since many societies, with names
modest and undemonstrative rather thar
otherwise, bestow upon their officers titles
which stir the soul of the listener like the
sound of a trumpet.
Indeed, may not our persistency as
people in launching new and remarkable
societies result from our love of echoing
titlesq And may not this love spring from
a genuine need for them born Of our uttel
rack of titles in civil lifei May there mol
be implanted in the human bosom an alb
solute and certain demand for titles which
causes man who cannot hope ever to be
come Sir or Lordship to snatch hun
grily at the chance of being an Exalted
Puissant GrandP Further confirmation o
this view may perhaps be found in the
fact that every man among US who knows
enough about a cannon to point ou
promptly and certainly the muzzle is Col
onel, while men have repeatedly reached
the rank Of Captain and Major in civil lit'
who are quite at sea on the point OF the
exact location o this important part of a
gun. only hollIng, in a general way, that
it is around one end somewhere. But sup
posing that We are correct in tracing the
love of society titles, which fairly glow
and dazzle by their own light, to our ma
tional lack Of orders Of nobility, it would
be nc argument in favor of peerage, but
rather the reverse, since if the societies
satisfy the inburn cravings for titles, as
they seem 10 DO, they are better in the
respect Ii at the members undeniably pay
for the things themselves, while in the
case of ge it is suspected that the
untitled have in the end to provide
more or less directly for its board and
lodging
Not only do many wonderful secret soci-
eties seem to satisfy certain needs of the
human constitution, but it does not appear
that they do any particular harm in any
other direction. We arrive at this conclu-
sion from the fact that, so far as we are
aware, there is no Society for the Suppres-
sion f Societies. 1t is true that among
the charges made by an Omaha woman,
applying recently for divorce in South
Dakota, was that her husband belonged
to too many secret societies; but he seems
to have been an exception. He belonged
to so many, it appeared BY the evidence,
that attendance upon them all practically
amounted to desertion. Not only was he
a member of all the standard and we'll
known lodges, but all of the new and
sporadic as well. including, we suppose,
tue Hoo-Hoos. She bore with him a long
time, not even complaining when he join
ed the Ancient Order of the Colts of the
Wild Ass, and become Exalted Puissant
Chief Colt. But when on one of his rare
and brief visits to his home for the pur-
pose of putting on uniform, in the max
ing of which the ends OF the earth (especi-
ally the bright-colored ends) had been rob-
bed, he announced that he was about to
join the My site Band of the Noble Sons OF
Belial, with the hope of some day beeom-
ing Worshipful Grand Oldest Son, she re-
belled and started for South Dakota. She
secured her divorce; but this man was
clearly an extremist; besides, another
woman got divorce in the same court be-
cause her husband fell down stains and
Jared the house.
Just at the present moment the secret
society seems to be eclipsed in popularity
by the industrial army" a number of
which are reported still to be proceeding
SLOWLY across the country toward the cast
err edge, like flies fvundering over the
surface OF section Of sticky fly paper.
But tie Industrial army is Thing ol the
hour, and can in no way supply The place
OF the gorgeous new secret societies, es-
pecially as the army is said TO discourage
titles, which would seem to show lack of
sagacitv on the part Of the leaders.-Hdr-
perS Weekly.
Montana is said to be large enough to