Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1898-03-05


relative to the educational effects OF
the Fraternal Beneficiary Societies.
1t is true that they were preceded in
the field of fraternal work by con-
siderable number of purely frater-
nal societies, which Joined hands
with the church and every other
| civiizing influence to improve the
condition of society, but neither the
| fraternals referred to northe church
seemed to be able to cover the field
and include within the range of
their influence large elements of so
cieties which are now embraced in
the Fraternal Beneficiary Orders.
Nan is necessarily largely selfish,
and does not readily appreciate the
beauty of pure unselfshness. 1t is
only by degrees that things can be
accomplished and by combination
of that which serves selfish ends
with unselfish teaching, the Frater-
nal Beneficial Orders have been able
to include within the range of their
influence great masses of mankind
which were not being reached by
other agencies. The lessons in CO.
operation, with it's value and effect
iveness, are being constantly learned
in the Fraternal Beneficial Orders.
The nature and uses of fraternity
| IN 80 20 the LrAxul cd erp of mon
whose minds and hearts Were previ-
ously untouched. Their characters
are being elevated, their nature soft
ened and their hearts attuned to
finer sympathies than they knew
before. 1t is great object lesson to
selfish man to see band of men
calling themselves brothers, giving
attention and aid to suffering
| brother, attending funeral, or pour
ing their bounty into the laps OF
widowhood and orphanage. A man
cannot we'll belong to such society
and be called upon month by month
to pay his assessments without real
izing that although the money he
pays is for the purchase of protec-
ton to his own family, it is going
directly to the relief of some other
family which has been deprived OF
its protector, which teaches him the
sweetness of unselfish benehcence
and elevates his character.
In another sense these societies are
doing a great popular educational
work. They are teaching men the
necessity of making provisions for
those who, at death, they will leave
behind them. They have made it 80
popular for men to belong to such
orders that it has become almost a
condition to a mans responsibility.
In these times, when almost every
man one meets on the street IL wear
ing a button which indicates his
membership to some Fraternal Ben
ehcial Society, which affords to him
social advantages combined with
fraternal relations and assured pro-
lection to his family in the case of
his death, u man not thus provided
must feel himself to be neglectful
of duty, and something less than he
ought to be. 1t is true that the SEN
timent to fall in with this movement
is yet so weak that many who once
start on the road to right living fall
away and allow themselves to lapse,
but it is likewise true that the con-
stant pressure upon such men gives
them an uneasy conscience, until
they restore their former relations
Whatever may be the future of the
Fraternal Beneficial Societies, their
influence is wholly good, and in the
outcome they will establish condit
ions which will secure protection tc
wellnigh every family, and thus
mitigate, if it cannot entirely re
move, the poverty and destitutior
surrounding widowhood and orphan
age, and lift from society the burden
of the charity for which these class
es call upon it. No greater improve
ment can be made in society thar
thus to replace suffering and depen
dence with prosperity and self-sup