The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-03-01
WATERS ON FRATERNITY.
Brilliant Effort of the Topeka
Orator.

Brilliant Effort of the Topeka
Orator.
The following is from Captain ]. G.
Waters address on Fraternity"
TN the presence of this magnificent
assembly, representing an order which
has come =. to be a great factor in the
experiment, has weathered the stormy
eapes of struggle and vieissitude and is
it would little sort with this nigh occa-
sion to declare the A o. U. w. entitled
share; each having the same benfgnant
air; each bearing its burden of bearded
sheaves; each bending its boughs with the
sweetest apples that ever touched the
taste. What may be. said of this order
gagged in this work; with. however. this
understa nding-'that each mother thinks
her own baby the best
and the good angel Of mercy. leaves her
place next to God, and comes with up
lifted arms, and turns its shining eyes TO
this order. and gives it her JUNCTION and
the bread winner lies prone and dead in
his own home, and forestaying the rude
storm, the roaring gale. from his de-
fenceless brood.
greed, selfishness and unadulterated saw
agery have confederated together to ex-
ed to take it, this order over against
such PlutOnian midnight, shines like
planet IN the east, TeQQ1ng with dawn.
This society has earned its right to
live; it is the poor mans estate; his chill
dren's untaxed inheritance. The rich can
keep the gaunt wolf at bay; they can pre-
vent it from sinking fang and tusk into
the tender flesh of the flock, and stop it
crunches or rends and Stays, but, the
mainstay of the family, whose wages are
his riches. whose hands are his capital
whose health is his roof-God pity US al,
gentlemen. that is another story.
I am commissioned to speak on Fra
T6rnltY.' Its meaning. expmn1ifiPd nv
TINS orderi IS a thing OF substance. a
were Of bkndn te ,t np i Of
sense. 1t means the universal hearth
stone. 1t has no weapon but love. In it's
camps, it breaks bread and tastes salt
from all the ill-humored spleens that out
rage the souls Of man In deadly hos
which destroys race to found a dynasty,
Ihat bridges rivers with dead men to
the ages With CONQUEST and foods f fhe
centuries with tears in its merciless
havoc Fraternity is yindictive toward
all: which has no orbit, save its round
of greed; it CLEANS hateful and red, fed
giving warmth; but glares with balefu!
and malignant light from the opened fur
mace doors of perditon SeIfishness, twin
with avarice, is fraternity's most power
ful foe. 1t makes the meat which it
feeds its appetite is only assuaged by
an increase of appetite: it is the horse
leech's hungry daughter It grows by
EDUCATION until the man is gone: no more
OF him left than there was of prophet
in the whale after Jonah was elected
from its caboose. 1t has no sentiment or
conscience. If it even pretends to be pa
triotic, it is because it wants a son-in-
law made sutler. 1t is the original seven
hurried into the swine and railroaded into
the sea. Fraternity is in eternal opposi-
the spectre of every throne room, where
beauty reigns, where diamonds glisten
it steps on the dais, and the king knows
that history VIII chronicle its prophecy
as tale that has been told. Liberty and
Freedom are its intimateS. The United
States has nothing back of it but a com
mon manhood; it is the glory of our age;
1t makes each star luminous; it hues the
stripes with the flush of dawn, or whitens
them with the shadowless noon.
The yeast is at work in the rising
sponge Some day soon man will come
into possession of the earth and the full
ness thereof, for they are his own The
Gar may then command the steel clad
line line tt to IRE upon the the opposing line Of
will speak to an educated conscience, and
the trigger fingers are numb. Some day
slaughter will cease; some day peace on
earth, good Will to men,, will became a
Fraternity wanders in remotest seas
to lift a people and explores the darkest
eoIthent TO succor a race. 1t is COM
prehensive as the plan of salvation. Its
empire is peace; its domain the world;
its mission the millennium It is an altru-
lists religion The command comes from
NIOQ. 10 love thy ne1gnDOr as thYSelf. 1t
is the one prodigal whose patrimony is
Teplenished wasted. 1t ScatterS but it
will gather; it gives, but it will get; it
will bin a hundred, breaking measure.
Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton
are its saints Every one that ever did
a self-denying act for another; every fire.
man who plunged into the conflagration
who buffeted with death to reach the
ship: every engineer who died with his
these its brothers Every r yE n
dedicated her life to raise her children,
who bore poverty and want and was hun
CRY that her children might have food;
these are its sisters.
TT is the golden rule. It is the sermon
moner. The Good Samaritan is its apos-
tie. 1t is the younger of mercy It is in
all the concord of goodly acts. A part of
every harmony, for there is no evil which
immortal harp is struck. its chord Vi
brates the longest and sweetest: and
when all others are stilled, it echoes on.
past the ear, beyond the sound and into
the heart with
MY brother. my brothers and yours.
And yours, and you, my brothers and
yours.
TT may be difficult to give fraternity a
satisfactory definition. 1t might be bet
ter ,d t, ri As great mountain that
weary; that gives its berries, as Holmes
once said. to the lost children; that lifts
its serious outline like a friendly monu-
ment under all skies steadfast a
friend; always trustful, and always a
comfort and repose.
AS a deep river, whose steady and
ceaseless flood waters a land and from its
jeweled finger filings the dew to all the
mornings in its path, floating its branches
Of promise, that misery may drag them
ashore; rejecting each glance of the sun.
and sparkle of all the good stars; pairing
the green grove with its fellow on its
breast; duplicating the green meadows;
mirroring the sleek and lettering herd;
painting the wayside flowers with pen
ell that is beyond the art of man: franz
ing the picture with the arched bow of
promise which He aforetime set in the
clouds; finding voice at the every ripple
and fall and CRYING Water to drink wa
ter to love in for all Gods creatures .
giving and going, going and giving. on
its sweep to the sea All through the
midnight storm it waits with anxious
heart the first star to pit on its bosom
as hope. As a mighty wood whisper
ing its song to the passing breeze: hons-
ing its myriad Of lesser worlds. the in