The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-12-04

eGkyACes HeAo - NAkb AAHs1 "nGH1
q. O. Hughes Delivers an Elo-'
Quent Address i'm Honor of Dead
Brethren - Solemn Ritual Per-
formed - Special Musical Fro
gramme Prepared for occasion.
The FIRST Sunday In December Of each
year II the day set apart by the Benevo..
lent Protective Order OF Eaks to do honor
to the memory Of member who have died
during the year. In Seattle, a. in every
other place In the United States where
there IL a lodge OF Elks sacred memorial
The local services took place In the lodge
room. in the Colman building.
The service was In memory Of six Elks
who have departed from this life since last
December-Judge John A. Ladd. Capt.
George H. Fortson, Wesley Wilson. Bolton
Rogers, Peter Burns and H. J. Greene.
The hall was Allied with Eiks and friends
Of the deceased. The hall was decorated
suitably with palms. chrysanthemums.
violets and vines, and each member OF
the order wore the insignia Of mourning.
The services were impressive. The SOL
emn ritual OF the special occasion was con-
Quoted by Richard SAKE Jones. exalted
ruler Of the local lodge. assisted by the
other officers An appropriate musical pro-
gramme. prepared by DR.. George New
lands and Oscar Moline was rendered.
God That Madest Earth and Heaven
was sung by q quartette composed OF Miss
Marguerite Mckinney, Mrs. W. H. Whit
tlesey. George A. Edmunds and DR.. Carl
HOFFMAN. Miss Marguerite Mckinney
sang soprano solo, There Is Green
Hill Far Away" In her usual charming
sacred anthem, "Give Ear, o Lord" and
number Of hymns suitable to the occa-
sion.
The memorial address was delivered by
p G. Hughes. after a few Introductory re-
marks by Richard SAKE Jones. Mr..
Hughes spoke In manner well bentting
the occasion. and with convincing elo-
quence that made q distinct impression
upon the assembly.
Mr.. Hughes address was as follows.
To Those Who Died.
"Thc first Sunday in each December is
set apart by our order. as a day upon
which We pay tribute to the memory of our
dead On this day we commemorate all our
OF every lodge throughout our land. IN the
vigor and strength of their manhood they
have gone from us; In the midst Of their
tolls their struggles ss their duties death
their homes. by their nresides. where the
hands Of love have minstered to their suf-
ffernss; other In strange lands. without
Some have been taken from US suddenly
others from beds or lingering illness and
pain; some have wasted their lives amid
and beating storms Of torrid lands-others
have died while bearing aloft their coun-
try's nag upon the blood-stained field Of
II shall pronounce no euiogy upon these
--our dead. This Is not time for tears
not a time for the expression of our griefs.
make new and higher pesoISesnso endeayo eq
to see more clearly the duties that have
fallen to us by their departure from our
midst. It Is ours today to look not down,
heaven. II could paint to you the In
SEPARATION of their lives. shining forth from
the sad setting of death-if were to bring
you message from these, our dead--if I
were thus to offer you a motto by which
to guide your lives. that motto would be
" BE noble. and the nobleness that lies in
Sleeping. perchance. but never dead.
Will rise In majesty to meet your own
II ask your indulgence while seek from
the standpoint of lsyman and a brother
to point the lessons Of this day Two great.
f run lament tenets constitute the creed Of
all present, all powerful: and we believe In
the immortality of the soul. We have not
accepted these tenets by. faith, merely.
them because they appeal to our reasons
and abide with us as the sober conviction
OF our. conscious and intelligent thought.
We believe In God, because the laws of the
universe. proclaim him-because science
teaches HIS existence. This occasion does
not suggest the propriety Of any discussion
Of this great tenet Of our faith. It il
appropriate. however, that I should sneak
of the others.
our Brethren stiI Live.
1--WE love to think OF our dead as still,
living: We are unwilling to believe that
their heroisn. their courage their sense of
duty, their fraternal feeling-all that made
them worthy of our love, has persisted with
the dissolution of their bodies. We are not
agnostics.. We do not halt with the craven
to think, yet 1t would be idle for me to
say that we have not all at times. as we
contemplate this. all-absorbing, all-impor-
tant question. felt our hearts pulsate with
standing by the corpse Of his dead broth
err, once exclaimed: Life is a narrow vale
betwixt the cold and barren. peaks. Of two
thought was born of doubt. Yet the very
language offers Its own REPUTATION. Life
springs, indeed. from eternity; It Is eternity
is barren. We cannot fathom the mystery
OF its origin. but we do know that in its
visible manifestations In human form, 1t
proceeds Proc eyer according to immutable laws.
With the first heartbeat there shines forth
the pulsation of the human soul.
Can 1t be that the life thus unfolded,
developed and grown, full-rounded, into
the dear ones we have loved and who
have loved u.s. can end with death? Can
1t be that beyond the grave there lies
only cold and barren eternity? Let
to those evidences that lie within the con.
scious experience of each human being.
"Superstitiou-so- called-is commonly