Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-06-27
THE BIG SHOW OPENED.
Speeches Made from the Elevated Stage
Near the Midway Entrance.

Speeches Made from the Elevated Stage
Near the Midway Entrance.
AS soon as the parade disbanded,
there was break for the Island. The
passenger wagons were filled and the
yachts were crowded, while many
walked over the bridges. Charley
Feinler, who is a veteran in handling
crowds at ticket Office, had his hands
full for the first two hours, and sew
eral thousand people passed through
the gates before the fair was declared
formally opened There was rush to-
ward the elevated stage, which was
respondent with its Oriental decora-
tons, and all the available space in
front was occupied when Congressman
B. B. Dovener arose and asked for
order.
He made afew appropriate re-
marks, and introduced Governor G..
Wesley Atkinson, who addressed the
throng as follows:
II1E GON ERNOR ADDRESS.
My, fellow Citizens of Wheeling, Ladies
and Gentemen:-One cannot but be i'm
pressed by this august presence and this
splendid display. count it, indeed. a
privilege, upon an occasion so traught with
interest, to be permitted to speak, for a
short time, TO this massive throng of my
fellow countrymen. am here to-day at
the request of the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of .Elks, an institution known
all oyer the civilized world, to whose en-
terprise our people are indebted for this
splendid demonstration.
Secret societies, my, friends, were old
and well established when the soldiers of
Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Brit
AIM old when Alexander carried the civil
lzation of Asia into Europe; old when the
Pyramids; We're constructed on the banks
of the Nile; old when Nineveh and Babylon
We're piled upon the banks of the Tigris
and the. Euphrates They antedated Rome
solomon; and no one can deny that secret
societies did not lay the foundation stones
country, back to the landing of the Pill
grms at<Plymouth and the Cavaliers at
jamestown. they trace their origin; and
they have been gaining Roadway ever
since. If l mistake not, they will continue
to grow by the rolling OF the years The
people-the common people-demand them,
! Standing to-day in the twilight of the
nineteenth century, some of you may ask
what need have we for secret societies like
the Elks, what have they done. and what
in the ages when the blackness of pagan.
ism shrouded the world; when idols were
set up for worship in the temples; when
the advocates of religious rites were SUBJ
jected to cruel torture; when many were
compelled to bow the knee to Baal then
it was that thoughtful men assembled in
secret counsel and resolved TO be free and
TO think for themselves, and there they
decided to worship the true and living God
All along the centuries societies like the
Elks have stood out bravely and heroically
for religious liberation, and openly and
publicly proclaimed the doctrine of the
Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of
man: and by such action they have made
the, world better and broader and nobler
and grander.
My fellow citizens, mighty things have
been worked out in this. the youngest of
the great nations, as the nineteenth CEN
fury is grandy rolling olft and yet we are
entering upon new era 20 be begun by
teenth was only the preparation. What
we behold to-day is but the presage of
law of the ages. A point which was yes
terday invisible is the goal of to-day, and
will be, the starting point of tomorrow
We look into the future and hail the COM
ing of the morn, radiant and effulgent
when this beautiful world which we now
inhabit will be ablaze with the radiant
Splendor of new discoveries which would
bind the eyes of those now living, were
they in their fullness to break upon us now
1t seems. to me, my friends, that more po-
tent to-day than at any other period of
the worlds history, are most manifest all
instrumentalities for the lettering of the
human race. May the lightning spare the
walls of our glorious civilization, and may
peace. like a ministering angel. nlumine
our firesides. and may the shadows of the
centuries continue TO be upon our splendid
Ohio valley-the richest of all the great
valleys of the earth.
Man should not live for himself alone
Where is the one who can look along the
line of the receding ages, back into the
long forgotten past, who will say that
man should not live outside of HIMSELF
Not one. The true. manly man will seek
to aid others. and will strive TO preserve
that which IS most perfect, most Beautiful
and ennobling in the earth. Thus the sub
tie and mischievous speeulations of the
ancient sophists have been supplanted by
the philosophy which recognizes, not only
human morals. but the divinity of God,
and the eternity of the soul. Like beau
tiful stream, ripping over the rocks and
crags and pebbles of its channel, flowing
by every door, singing ever the same sweet
song of untiring love gIaddening all
hearts: and aicng the course of this true
gospel of peace. benevolence and protection
spring forth the fragrant flowers of beau
hy. innocence and truth to adorn the lives
of all believers and lend a lasting perfume
TO the works of faith and labor and love
Such. my friends, is the chief purpose OF
an order like this one called the Eiks
ut has been properly said. my hearers.