The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-06-22
THE WOODMEN OF THE WORLD
UNVEILEDA MONUMENT TO MEMOIR OF
SOVEREIGN WILLIAM UI RICH.
Interesting Ceremony at Oakdale
Cemetery Sunday Afternoon Rain
Interferred Somewhat With Exer-
cises Which Were Nevertheless Very
Successful-Beautiful and Veil De-
livered Grafton by w. j. Bellamy,
Esq.


Woodmea of the World, Live Oak
Camp No. 6, unveiled a handsome mon
ument to William Ulrich, deceased, at
Oakdale cemetery, at 4:30 o'clock SUM-
day afternoon. The most notable fea-
lures of the ceremony were the
music by the special quartette, n a
splendid grafton by William j. Bel
lamy, Esq. In fact. the Grafton by Mr..
Bellamy is spoken Of by every one who
had the pleasure of hearing it as one
Of the most beautiful and appropriate
they have ever heard and was deliver
ed in a very fluent and pleasing man.
ner.
The rain, which fell at intervals dur
ing h afternoon, interfered consider
ably with the unwilling ceremonies.
On this account it was impossible to
have the ceremonies at the grave, and
they were held at the cemetery lodge
instead, and a committee was sent
from the lodge to remove the veil from
the monument at the proper stage in
the progress Of the ceremony.
The exercises opened with Nearer,
tette, which consisted Of Miss Carrie
White, soprano; Miss Kate Stolter,
alto; Mr.. ". w. Hodges, tenor; MI. A.
5. Holden, baritone; Mr.. A. H. Yopp,
accompanist.
Other selections rendered by the
quartette during the progress of the
exercises were The Radiant Morn
Hath Passed Away among the Dead
Our Sovereign Sleeps" Funeral an
them) and Savior, When Night In
wolves the Skies" Another musical
selection was One Day Nearer My
Home" rendered as a solo by Mr.. A.
S. Holden.
Quoted in a very impressive manner
by Rev. J. H. Hall, of Fifth Street
Methodist church, and Mr.. John ].
Fowler read the poem why Should
the Spirit of Mortal be Proud?"
MIR. BELLAMY'S GRAFTON.
The Grafton by Mr.. Bellamy was the
principal feature of the exercises, and
the following synopsis will be read with
interest:
Ladies' and gentlemen:
Tribute to the dead, monuments to
mark their resting place and flowers
elnblematic of low. have been in vogue
since first the world began.
The pages of history are emilia
zoned with the glory and grandeur of
monuments, mauSOleumS, pyramids,
pillars, columns and arches, erected in
WI oSS oiIN III DC a oil dllu
honor to gods, kings and statesmen.
Magnifcently constructed, artistic in
design and wonderfully executed;
some memorials of an obsolete people
still survive and stand to-day as dignu
fled testimonial to the memory of their
dead N a wonder to the world of
| science and art.
Warriors, who amid the clash, roar
and din of battle blazed a pathway to
glory; poets and authors, who in sons
and story reflected the customs, pas
sions, aspirations and achievements of
times; a~strologers, who sought to
grasp the invisible and unravel the
mysteries of the universe; emperors,
presidents, potentates, legislators,
statesmen and all whom the world
hold great, have had erected to their
memory shafts of granite, tombs of
brass and statues of bronze.
In th@ 9ges past, OH all sides we see
memorials of the great but no sign to
preserve the memory of the toilers. Ia
cation. Why is it that the rich and
the great should have monuments
erected to their memory and the poor
way-faring man be ignored?
1.-The Woodmen of the World nave
decreed otherwise, they provide a mon
ument for their dead whether they be
rich or poor-and this is right. For
All who inhabit this great earth
Whatever be their rank or worth
Are kindred, and allied by birth
And made of the same clay
ard as all men in the 'sreat democra-
cy of death are equal it is betting
that the memoir Of all hould be pre-
served.
Sacred history is respondent with
the magnificence of the tombs, tenn.
pies, monuments and memorials of the
Hebrew kings whose sayings have
been the theme and praye of Chris
'iah!y for centuries. The monuments
of Zacharia, Absolom and Jehosephar
still survive having stood the storms
and wear of a thousand years.
The resting place of the mmacu
late Jesus-the sublimest, grandest al
purest character in all history-is to.
day marked by a shaft of marble and
a memorial to serve as an outward
and visible sign of the reality and ex
istence of the Son of God.
I'VE wander on from sacred pre-
cinctS to profane history and see tn.
cruelty, d~espotism and greed of tn,
Pharoahs Of ancient Egypt evinced il
the s~tupendous and gigantic pyramids
Wn1ch tower like mighty mountains il
the fertile plateau between the Nil,
and the Libyan desert. These pyra
mids, the sepulchres and tombs o
Egypt's kings still stand as they hav,
stood for centuries an unsolved prob
lem of science, the wonder Of art ant
the delight of the ~archaeologists AM
travellers. So throughout the past me
MORALS have been erected in every ag
and cline and still remain attesting t,
INC present generations the existcpc
of the past.
In accordance with this honore'
custom of erecting monuments, whicl
Is a cardinal principle Of our order, w
assemble here to-day to pay tribute t
a deceased Woodman, to garland hi
grave with the beautiful flowers an,
substantially perpetuate his memoir
~dedicating this handsome marble mon
ument.
This Is indeed a solemn occasion
and although frought with grief an
sorrow. it is nevertheless an even
that should teach us many valuabl
lessons and tell US Of the brightness
n glory beyond the grave.
1T is highly fit on an occasion o
this kind. that we should examine on
Utmost souls. contemplate u futur
life and realize that this earthly Pill
grimage is but "a transitory state an