The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-13

the imputation of cowardice the most
damaging that could be cast upon MN
But loyalty to his king, his lord, his lady
love and his friends and foes alike was
only second in Importance Next came
courtesy, which meant not only pollte-
ness, but also spontaneous modesty OF
carriage, self-denial and careful respect
for the feelings of others. And last came
mui1cence, readiness to relieve want and
SUFFERING and reward service with hoSpi-
tality and ltberality in all things.
In a celebrated passage Burke describes
chivalry as "the unbought grace of life,
the cheap defense of nations, the nurse
Of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise
Never. never more shall we behold thai
generous loyalty TO rank and sex, that
proved submission, that dignitied ODE
dlence, that subordination of the heart
the spirit of an exalted freedom; that SEN
slolilty OF principii that chastity of honor
which felt stain like a wound. which in
spired courage while 1t mitiSated feroclty,
which ennobled whatever it touched. and
under which vice itself lost half its evil
by losing all it's grossness"
Tennyson, in his "Idyls of the King
sing Arthur and His knights of the
ROUND Table in the words Of King Ar
thur himself, has immortalized the spirit
and virtues of true knighthood.
HISTORIC SETTING.
knights of today, this is our historic
setting; This is our background in his
tory; this is our heritage from the past.
Through the veins of some of US courses
the blood of those knights of the olden
time. We are bone OF their bone and
mesh OF their flesh; our ideas of character
are similar to theirs; our platform of prin-
clples is not unlike theirs; we are men
IKE them and our natures are endowed
with the same capacity for rectitude of
lie and conduct. More than this, knowl-
edge to which We have attained they did
not possess. We know what they did not
-tnat the sword is not the mightieSt
power on earth. We know what they
dld not-that the pen is mightier than the
sword We know what they did not
that far mightier than the military great
ness is the intellectual greatness of a
people. We know what they did not
eartnly greatness is greatness of char
acter, of soul. We know what they did
not-that love is the greatest thing in the
world, the mlShtiest power on earth in its
influence upon the hearts and lives of
men. The knights of the oIden time could
not equal our modern knights in valor or
benevolence, in the inward purpose of
hlSn -endeaVor, in those nameless Sraces
OF character, in loyalty TO conviction and
to principle-all of which are so funda-
mental part of true manhood. But,
nevertheless, it seems to me that there
were, many things in which they are
worthy of our emulation.
The ideal mantle ideal knight-does
need to feel as did they-that an obliga-
ton ought not to be lightly taken, but
when once taken should be held ever and
W
need 10 have, as did they, that keen sense
of honor, as sensitive to faint as to a
wound; he does need to be as ready and
willing as We're they to guard as sacredly
and defend as Zealously the honor of a
brother as he would his own; he does
need to have, as did they, that indefin-
able grace of courtesy which meant not
politeness alone, but spontaneous modesty
of department, self-denial and careful re-
spect for the feelings of others; he does
need to feel, as did they, that there can
be ties as sacred and as binding as are
ties of blood or kindred he does need TO
possess, as did they, that overwhelming
sense of duty and loyalty TO obligation,
which in these knights of chivalry today
challenge the respect and admiration of
the world.
Human nature is better today than ever
before in the worlds history. Patriotism,
valor, heroism and virtue are the COM
mon possession of men and women in eY-
cry walk of life. Every crisis in national,
domestic or neighborhood affairs is in
dicative of this. For its illustration we
have only to turn to the ready and willing
response made to the calls for men in our
recent war with Spain-although these
were battles waged in behalf of a foreign
and an alien humanity. 1t was shown,
too, recently in our own state, by the
hundreds of our sympathetic and heroic
fellow citizens and townsmen who eager
ly volunteered their services on the Occa-
sion of the entombment of the two men
by the SnoWSlide at Bingham, in the face
of the fact that all Were aware that by
so doing they were mourning che risk of
losing their own lives. Such instances as
these. however. are not remarkable by
reason of their isolation, for our world
is filled with men. and women. too, who
are ever ready when the necessities of the
case demand it, to lay down their lives
for humanity. Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life,
not for his friend, but for mis- fellow-man-
But the crying need of our world of the
present is not for men who will lay down
their lives, but for men who will take up
their lives and live nobly, live heroically,
live unselnshly, for their friends and for
their kind, not in the great crisis of hu-
man existence, but in the commonplace
routine of everyday life. 1t is here that
is needed that overwhelming sense of duty
terized in so great measure the lives of
the knights of the olden time. More than
at any other time in the worlds history
does our time need. not brotherhood in
arms, but a brotherhood of kindly, SYM
pathetic friends-friends bound together
by ties of love and of sympathy, as were
Jonathan and David, Damon and Pythias,
and those YalorouS and chivalric knights
of old-friends in deed as well as in name;
partners in joy and in sorrow. sharing
dangers and successes, and each Vindi-
eating the others honor as promptly and
zealously as his own.
All civilization has its basis in the home.
1t is but a widening out of the terms
father, mother, child. From the homes
of the land flow the healing streams of
love, of kindness, of sympathy and IN
selfshness into every department of our
common life. Every Pythian castle ought
to be larger home, where dwell brothers
in deed as well as in name, and would
be if every Pythian knight was always
loyal and true to the spirit as well as to
the letter of Pythian principles.
There are in this country today. in
round numbers, 1000 subordinate Pythian
lodges. with a total membership of half
kniO-btS RT0fhPTa ideal iS
a grand one: our opportunity glorious.
Would that we might each attain the
ideal and be equal to the opportunity If
ancient knighthood. with its lower stand
ards and ideals, and lesser opportunity.
could exert the mighty influence which
it did over the lives of men and nations
500 years ago, we. by simply being always
true to the standards and the ideals of
our modern knighthood, ought to exert
an influence wellnigh irresistible over
the lives of the men and the nations of
today Some one has said that, Just the
art of being kind is all our old world
needs" What would it not mean to our
order, to our city, and to our state, If
every knight here present were absolute
ly kind. ever and always, to every broth
err knight. in thought, in word and in
deed. For
THE gnarliest heart hath tender chords
To waken at the name of brother
Such an object lesson, such an influence
here, would work moral and social
revolution in our midst. And now l have
spoken to you of an ideal knighthood it
IS true. but it is not an ideal impossible
Of attainment. 1t need not be postponed
to the millennium, nor is there need of
miracle to compass it. The method is
simple. although it may be difficult. For
the result worth all the effort would be
lnspeakably glorious, and to secure it
we have only to carry the beautiful spirit
Of true Pythianism in our hearts and al
.oW it to hallow our daily lives. And
now. in the language of Past Supreme
Chancellor Colgrove. Our hearts are en-
listed in a great and glorious cause-a
cause which has become an integral part
IF the fabric of our social life; an organ
cation which has touched the deep heart
IF humanity and mas stirred it's noblest
Instincts; an order i'll which men. by the
exercise of the tenets of Pythianism.
nave found the flowers of their own sym
,athy unfolding and the secret spring of
rondrress io1Irified and Strengt henad. an