The record-union., 1897-02-12
TALKS ON MARTIAL TOPICS.
Pythlan Knights Glorify the Military
Spirit.
A Very Interesting Event Held I'm
der the Auspices of the
Uniform Rank.

An event of great Importance in Pyth-
Ian circles was the annual meeting and
election of officers of Capitol Division
No. 4, Uniform Rank, at Castle Hall. The
contest, while an animated one, engen-
dered no bitter feeling, the defeated can
didates covering their disappointment
with tact and resolving to work as be-
fore to advance the interests of the
order The officers elected We're as fol-
lows:
Sir Knight Captain, George Ilsley;
Sir Knight First Lieutenant ]. n. Will
Jams; Sir knight Second Lieutenant, H.
E. Fraley; Sir Knight Recorder, John
Il. F. Sheehan; Sir Knight Treasurer,
Ellis Franklin.
The election being over a feast OF rea-
son and flow of soul ensued. Past Sir
knight Captain E. G. Messner responded
to the toast, Historic Value of the Mill
tary Spirit" He said: The martial
spirit has ever played leading part in
national advancement. Turn over the
pages of history and you viii find that
the age of conspicuous military proWess
was usually the era of the grandest in
tellectual achievement Look at the
classic productions of Rome at the time
when she was mistress of the world:
witness the sublime grandeur of English
poetry in the Elizabethan age, when the
Spanish Armada had been routed and
the naval supremacy of Britain estab-
lished: look if you please, at the literary
accomplishments of France during the
revolution at the close of the last CEN
tury, when that country was combat
ting successfully the armed forces of
Europe"
Past Sir Knight Captain Samuel Lieb-
ling treated of The Uniform Rank, the
Right Arm of Our Republic" The mind
and heart of man, he said, should be
cultivated, but his physical nature
should not be neglected. Symmetrical
development is the law of human pro-
sress. Let a people devote themselves
solely to intellectual pursuits, failing to
give proper attention to the development
of bodily vigor and soon will appear the
evidence of retrogression and decay. If
the American people would reach the
sublimest nights of intellectual attain
ment if they would preserve unim-
paired those priceless blessings of lib
erty for which the patriots of 1115
fought and bled on Bunker Hill; if they
as a nation to generations yet unborn,
let them not neglect to improve the ad-
vantage afforded through the military
discipline of the Uniform Rank.
The subject assigned to Sir Knight
Treasurer Ellis Franklin was strategic
Principles, as Developed by the First
Napoleon" The speaker Illustrated the
remarkable genius of Bonaparte by re-
ferring to the unparalleled achievements
of his first Italian campaign. The fer
tility of resources displayed at the siege
of Acre. the liability Of the French in
fantry in withstanding the ferocious
charges of the Mamaluke horse in the
shadow of the Pyramids, and the scaling
of the Alps by the army that triumphed
at Marengo. proved of absorbing inter
est to Mr.. Franklin's hearers.
First Lieutenant J. y. Williams dis
cussed Military Maneuvers, as At
fected by the Airship," and drew
graphic picture of the annihilation of
the armies of the future by the dropping
of dynamite bombs from an aerial fleet
in the clouds.
Addresses We're also made by Captain
Ilsley. Lieutenant Fraley. Recorder
Sheehan and others.