The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-04
ELkS' MEMORIAL SERVICES.
THE LODGE OF SORROW IN
ANNUAL SESSION.
Homage Paid to the Memories OF
Those Called Away During
the Year.

the Year.
The annual memorial service of Sac
ramento Lodge, No. $685. Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, was held
yesterday afternoon in st. Paul
Church, Eighth and I streets. The edi-
fee was taxed to it's fullest seating ca
pacity. and in order to accommodate
the great crowd of invited guests,
scores of chairs were placed in addi-
ton to the regular pews.
The church was beautifully decorated
with palms and smilax, and the altar
was appropriately fitted out. Upon it
lay Bible, upon the Bible lay an
elks head, and over all hung the Stars
and Stripes, each Of the articles en-
blematic of the principles and aims of
the order. At the right stood me-
mortal tablet bearing the clock and a
large wreath of white flowers, While at
the left stood a beautiful floral cross,
and behind all was the great candala-
bria splendidly Illuminating that por-
ton Of the church with a soft, rose
tinted light.
AT o'clock sharp the Elks of the
local lodge filed in to the strains of the
Baptiste) played by Mrs. A. T. Pink
ham, and when all were seated the
Elks' quartet, composed of Messrs. r.
T. Cohn, M. ]. Desmond, ]. M. Ander-
son and c. M. Phinney, sang 1.-THE Lord
is My Shepherd" after which the open
ing exercises were conducted by
the Opening Ode" was sung by mem
bers of the lodge.
Chaplain M j. Desmond asked for a
divine blessing on the assemblage, and
Mrs. Frank Bergman sang Saviour,
Blessed Redeemer.''
MELVIN'S ADDRESS.
Henry A. Melvin of Oakland Lodge,
No. III, delivered an excellent address,
in which he> said:
Exalted Ruler, ladies and gentlemen
The heresies of yesterday are the ORTIZ
odoxies of to-day The men who i'm
prisoned Galilee are gone to unremem-
bered graves, while the thinkers of to-
day exclaim, with the great italian:
1.-THE world does novel" So, in all
departments of thought and activity,
Advancement" is the watchword OF
the hour. The astronomer levels the
artillery of heaven" at each distant
star that
In his motion like an angel sings,
stin cholrins TO the young eyed Che
rubims,
and brings to US the wondrOus mes
sage from that far-off world.
The surgeon dips his glittering blade
in the lethean stream of anesthesia,
and makes the scalpel's touch a beni-
SON The naturalist reads the story of
the ages in the rocks. the hills, the
bones of creatures of another era, find
ing
Tongues in trees; books in the running
brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in everything.
In the political world, the monstTous
lie that Kings are of divine ordina-
tion," has gone down in blood and. dis
honor, and in its stead mankind is
learning to pronounce the God given
word Fraternity
AS we look into the faces Of those
who have come, in this closing scene
of the century's final year, to join with
us in laying immortelles upon the
tombs Of our fallen comrades, we real
ize that our fraternity has gained love
and respect, because it is founded upon
the immortal Truth Established as
our noble order was by men of a pro-
fession then generally condemned Gor
in those days actors were not knighted
or invested with degrees from great
universities) it seemed that the Order
of Elks was destined to WELD but small
influence and to gain but little fame.
But these men whose profession it was
TO hold the mirror up to nature in
deed 'tbuilded better than they knew"
n ea6 rla fcrc
of prejudice have melted before the
sunlight of sincerity, until all now be-
hold the temple of our faith glowing
in all its transcendent beauty-its
heaven directing spires wrought of the
pure gold of charity, its cornerstone
hewn from the eternal rock of justice,
its walls scintillating with the price
lass rubies of brotherly love, while on
is altar burns the undying flame of
fidelity. Above it floats the banner of
the free, and we exclaim as we gaze:
Never seraph spread a pinion
over fabric half SO fair
Before that mystic shrine to-day
meet the hearts of all true 'Elks in this
simple but sincere and loving memoir
ial. No narrow sectarianism is here.
No lengthy creeds, no difficult dogmas
are woven INTO our illudl. w re-
spect all creeds. and our theology is
broad enough to contain all true men
within it's limits, for 1t is drawn from
the book of nature. Here all may
meet. heart to heart and hand to hand.
upon the common level Of our grand
principles, within the mystic circles of
our confraternity, believing in that
charity which does not consist alone
in ms-giving, but includes the holier
gift of sympathy; in that justice whose
handmaiden is mercy; in that brotherly
love that writes the faults of a
brother upon the sand his virtues upon
the tablets of love and memory; and
in that fidelity that shall endure
Till the sun grows cold,
And the earth is old,
And the leaves of the Judgment Book un-
fold.
And so as Elks we come to-day, with
reverent hearts and warm, fraternal
love, turning our thoughts to those who
have taken the grand degree OF immor-