Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-12-09
TRUE PYTHlANISM.
An Address Delivered by Colonel
Geo. c. cabeII, Jr.
Before tho First District Pythinn convcn-
don, Held In Berkiey. Tuesday Evening.
November a7th, 1900.

November a7th. 1000.
The following Is the address on True
Pythianism." delivered by Colonel Geo.
c. Cabill, Jr.. at the First District
Pythian convention, last Tuesday even
ing, November 90 1t was much adj
mired by all present. and we give pub
iicity to it by request of many Pythians
who desire to see it in print:
Brother Pythians. Ladies and Gentle
men:
Some poet has beautifully said that
the sweetest thing in life is loves
young dream" and that sentiment has
struck u responsive chord in the breasts
OF many, young and old, but beg
leave to take issue with the purveyor
of sentimental thought by changing
the word love to friendship SO that
the lines may read, there is nothing
half so sweet in life as pure, unalloyed
friendship. Nor by doing would
imply that age has made me prosy or
blase. by depriving me of the capacity
for enjoying the tender musings of the
heart Not at all. 1t has not been such
q great number of years since as
college student, after misunderstand-
ing with my best girl. 1 found myself
chanting; the time I've lost in WOO
Ing, in watching and pursuing the light
that lies in woman's eyes has been my
souls undoing; though wisdom oft has
sought me i scorned the love she
brought me; my only books were wo-
mans looks and follys all they've
taught me-" And then after the elapse
of few days, my sweetheart and L
having become reconciled and she
again my toOtSy wootsy the muse with
my Tyre and forth would come Moore's
exquisite tribute to femininity; "Oh,
: woman, in our hours of ease, uncertain
coy and hard to please, when pain and
anguish wraclk the brow, ministering
angel thou" We never get too old to
be sentimental and when the Angel of
Death comes with his sickle keen, he
finds the youthful and the aged alike
awooing, but we who thave passed the
days of juvenile fancy and come into
the years of maturer thought. realize
that what the love-sick swain denom-
mates the divine passion" is simply
species Of fascination, the effeves-
cence OF eXuberant youth. When we
descend from the clouds of imagIna-
ton and enter the realm of fact, we
are confronted upon the Threshold
with the truth that under a certain
amount of pressure, the warmest heart
grows cold. and that it is but a short
step from torrid love to frigid hate.
What emotions thrill the breasts of
the young as they view Juliet looking
down upon enamored Romeo and hear
him in dulcet tones eXclaim: Soft!
what light through yonder window
breaks? 1t Is the east and Juliet is the
sun. Arise fair sun and kill the envi-
Gus moon who is already pale and sick
with grief that thou her maid art far
more fair than she. Be not her maid
since she is envious her vestal livery
is but sick and green and none but
fools c N
lady. o, 1t is my love. o. that she
knew she were. She speaks yet she
says nothing; what of that? Here eye
discources l Will answer 1t. / am too
bold, tbs not to me she speaks; two
of the fairer stars in all the heavens
having some business do entreat her
eyes to twinkle in their spheres till
they return. What If her eyes were
these they in her head? The bright
ness of her cheek would shame those
stars as daylight doth a lamp; from
eyes In heaven would through the airy
religion stream so bright, that birds
would sing and think it were not night.
The young man sitting by his sweet
heart in the proscenium box. turns and
gazing fondly into her liquid eyes, muir
nurs; that. dear. expresses my feelings
y for you. and can now fully appreciate
The condition of the old Roman poet
dyer Horace, when he sang: amen
tccum vivere tecum obean libens, with
i IL
ingly would die All. so tender and
true. And yet, ere the curtain is rung
down upon the death scene in the last
act, the poor boy has forgotten his en-
dearing terms and in his jealous rage
is looking daggers at his erstwhile dull
cissima because forsooth he has dis
8 covered her making eyes at another fell
low. And this is the heavenly feeling
about which poets frame their sweet
est verses and musicians draw from
their instruments the most dulcet
rhapsodies. This is love; the simon
pure. double barreled. unadulterated
stuff; rockribbed, copper lined, all wool
md a yard wide, warranted not to rip.
wear, tear nor run down at the heels.
This is what we Outlines mistake for
true affection and in our ignorance.
becoming skeptical and misanthropis:
scott at the idea of the existence of a
lasting. enduring. abiding feeling which
the sensible term. friendship Friend
ships foundation are principles as i'm
mutable and everlasting as the eternal
hills. Bearing all things, suffering
long, 1t shines as the brightest star in
the constellation of virtues. 1t is not
an ephemeral emanation from the
e heart; 1t Is an eternal product of the
brain. A mother fondly gazes upon the
innocent features of her sleeping babe.
and as she looks wondrous beauty
lights up the windows of her soul. TO
the rest of mankind, that little speck
of clay may be caricature, Il fright :;
to the maternal eye it possesses the
form and features of n miniature
Apollo. Its ugliness keeps pace with
It years; manhood finds the former
babe. vicious. ungrateful, debauched.
With lettering footsteps he reaches
gray hairs that silvered while mother
kent her weary vigil WAITING lono,p<,