The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-04-24
Butte Department.


goodly array of his countrymen? / an
glad that Englishmen choose a day
each year to assemble in social con
| course and interchange expressions OF
| good will and good cheer. This day
should be and undoubtedly is one Of
| pleasant memories; memories of hap
| py days spent in a beautiful country
across the sea; memories that must be
sweet to all of us here assembled. Let
me for a moment wander across the
| Atlantic to our beloved country. Me
| thinks / am once more in your country
and mine. and as / am thus engaged,
| delicious recollections crowd DER me.
Can you not picture with me for a few
moments the grassy swards and green
hedges of Cornwall? At this time OF
the year England. and particularly the
youth of England, where you and i
have perhaps spent the happiest hours
of our life, is decked In all the fresh
beauty of spring. To us in Butte Ii
would be a treat to transport ourselves
to scenes where we can find all nature
clothed in loveliness and greenery.
Me thinks ! can hear the wild waves
dashing with savage playfulness upon
the rock-bound coast of Cornwall. Me
thinks / can hear the Sabbath chimes
from some village steeple not so far
away and can become imbued with
that spirit of peace, content and hap
pineSs so prominent among the miners
homes in dear old Cornwall And then
the flood of memories carries me with
irresistible torrent from admiration of
the beautiful in nature to some more
personal attractions. Perhaps / may
carry you in imagination to your
mothers. who are to-day either read
ing or longing for some news from
Butte to many other dear ones, per-
haps a father. a brother or a sister or
q sweetheart, who may at this very
moment be trying to picture the sur
roundings Of their loved ones who are
living in Butte, who are at this mo-
ment in this hall. Yes, my friends, II
is good for us to indulge in these fan
cies, to strengthen these family. and
these national ties that bind US more
closely to our kin across the sea- And
then again more solemn thoughts crowd
DER me as / think of those loved ones
from whom we parted not so long ago,
parted, my friends, but a short time,
to meet in that land of bliss where no
ocean can divide us, and where we
shall all be united without any bar
riers of race, or impediments of land
and sea. And IL in these sad remi-
niscences sanctifed by everlasting and
certain hopes there should fit before
you the image of a dear mother or
father. l hope you will take a few
moments for solemn and serious
thought and ask yourselves IL you are
living up to those precepts and that
example that your loved ones have left
you as a blessed heritage. Are you?
Are we? Am I living up to those sac
red English traditions of manliness. of
loyalty, of patriotism that have been
the secret OF England's success, that
have made the English nation and the
Anglo-Saxo people the missionaries of
culture, civilization and Christianity?
1t is good for us to ponder well these
things and to resolve with renewed eff
fort and ever increasing vigor to plant
in this land of our adoption living en-
blems of the chivalry. the faithfulness.
the industry, the manliness, the loyalty
and the patriotism of Englishmen. /
feel that IL we live up to the teachings
of our mothers, II we obey and do fulfill
the traditions of our mother country.
II we inherit as we do the courage of
our conviction, the name of English
man in these United States. in this
grand and glorious West and in this
magnificent mining camp of Butte,
will be synonymous with that of good
father, good son, good brother, good
husband and with IL all that of good
citizen. And believe, and speak with
the earnestness of full conviction that
the order of the Sons of st. George
was InlS purpose, IndI
IL has for its chief object the bringing
together of Englishmen and their des-
cendants for their mutual advantage.
The Sons of st. George necessarily
urge upon their members their duty to
each other and to society at large, and
those who live according to their pre-
cepts and teachings cannot fail to be
better husbands better fathers and
better citizens. II Is entirely non-po-
r4a AyNtr rftl a
ing irresponsible limitations TO the
contrary. l am proud to have the OPP
portunity of declaring from this plat
form, that the Sons of st. George have
nothing to do with politics l should
deprecate. and should INCREASINGLY, /
with all the small powers at my COM /
mand, oppose any attempt OF a Son of |
St. George to use his membership of I
this order as a means for political pre- !
ferment. For years / deprived myself |
of the privileges of membership in this !
order, for fear that by entrance to II /
my motives should be misunderstood. |
The aims of this order are far higher /
than politics. How can / improve up /
on the rhetoric or pathos of those /
beautiful stanzas in our opening ode:
Here as we faithful brothers meet,
United still in heart and hand
To firmly by each other stand.
In sickness, health, in veal or woe,
In fortune or prosperity,
Our sympathies will ever flow
In deed. of love and charity.
To cheer n brothers aching heart,
To soothe him on a bed of pain,
To take the afflicted widows part
The orphans cause e'er to maintain.
Be this our object and our aim,
AS onward through the world we
move.
So may we hope at last to claim
The password at the realms above.
That English have a right
% unite for political purpose nobody
AN deny, but that such a union is
made under the auspices of the Sons of
81. George. l most emphatically deny, |
and most unhesitatingly assert that
believe IL TO be the unanimous opin-
on of all lodges OF ST. George to dep