Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-12-03

der and Presented a Very Pretty
Scene-The Most Impressive and
Elaborate Ceremony in the History
of the Local LOdge-About Two
Hundred EIks Were In Attendance.
The Order of the Exercises.
Wheeling Lodge No. %, P. B. o. Elks,
conducted their annual memorial ser
vice yesterday afternoon at the Opera
House. The service was very impress
sive and the most elaborate in the
history of the order in this city. 1t
is the custom of the order through
out the country to conduct memorial
honor of the departed brothers. With
in the past year four members of the
local lodge have died. These deaths
increase the silent roll of the order
in this city to twenty in all. They
are:
Samuel A. Miller. A. T. sprague,
r. T. Mansfield, John D. Brown,
Joseph Melrose, J. F. Cline,
Samuel Letzkus, Milton B. Mabis,
William Davis, c. w. Seabright,
Robert B. Simpson, {. II. Brannen.
Albert Adler, Otto Tyson,
A. d. Garden, A w. Armbruster,
T. ]. Geraghty, a. NJ. AIberts.
At two O'Clock some two hundred
and fifty members of the order assem-
bed at the lodge quarters in the Rod
gers block and marched in body to
the Opera House where all the seats,
except those inside the dress circle,
which were reserved for the lodge mem
bers, were occupied by friends of the
order. On the stage with it's hand
some settings, further enhanced
by means of palms and other tropical
plants, were seated Exalted Ruler
Charles C. Schmidt, Secretary John F.
Richardson, Chaplain Louis e. Schrad-
er, Hon. James A. Rice, of Canton, who
delivered the memorial address, Rev
J. G. Robb, who delivered the eulogy
the Rev. Jacob Birmingham, rector OF
ST. Lukes, and St. Luke's vested
choir.
At either side of the stage was large
elk head, symbolic of the order, with
the antlers fairly covered with electric
incadescent lamps in purple and white,
the order colors. On the desk of the
Exalted Ruler, mounted on marble
stood a miniature elk, with antlers
covered with very small electric lamps.
Toward the rear of the stage stood a
a monument of imitation marble with
the names of deceased members in
scribed over a mass of evergreen stud
ded with winter chrysanthemums. The
whole furnished an impressive scene
for the service.
The exercises opened with an orches-
trail overture, Dramatic" by Eilenberg,
by the Opera House Orchestra. The
service was then formally instituted by
Exalted Ruler Schmidt.
The next was a chorus by St. Lukes
vested choir entitled The Radiant
Morn has Passed Away" by Wood
ward. The choir was accompanied by
Miss Sage, the choir organist.
The responsive service was next con-
Quoted by the lodge officers. At the
conclusion the opening ode was sun
by all present, Lodge Organist Killmy-
er accompanying.
After prayer had been offered by the
Rev. Birmingham, an instrumental duet
for p0rDet aDd trop,hopo u,oc ,o-do,
ed by Messrs. Hoose and Yahn and
the orchestra.
The Hon. James Allen Rice ex-Mayor
OF Canton, O., member of the order in
that city, delivered the memorial adj
dress. 1t was an eloquent effort and
was heard with minute attention. He
spoke as follows:
MY Good Brother Elks. and Ladies
and conference.-the is the first Sunday
in the month of December, 1900. In 1868
at New York City. a small number of
men banded themselves together and
formed what is now known as the Benev-
olent and Protective Order of Elks. The
corner-stones on which this fraternal
structure is reared are Fidelity, Charity
and Justice, and Brotherly Love. Its
motto is: The faults of our brothers we
should write upon the sands; their vir-
tues upon the tablets OF love and mem
Dry
TT now enjoys membership of about
$1,000, comprising more than 800 separate
md distinct lodges. 1t is represented in
every State in the Union, and as no city
may have more than one lodge, in as
many cities as it has lodges. On the first
Sunday in December each year all the
lodges of the order hold what is known
as the annual Lodge of Sorrow.
You, ladies and gentlemen, who honor
Wheeling Lodge No. IS with your presence
exercises conducted by its Lodge of Sor-
row. The honored task of here pronounc-
ing the general eulogy to Elkdom is by
TINS lodge assigned to me. /, therefore,
address myself on the subject of our or
der more especially to those of you who
are not members of the same
Our membership is confined to male
CITIZENS past twenty-one years of age.
While it is true man is admitted to
membership with a view to beneftting
the order, it is equally true that the or
Ger, IN so admitting him, seeks to as
greatly benefit him. While gentle wo-
man is not admitted to membership with
sympathies and good influences. To her
generous bestowal of both we acknowl-
edge our Indebtedness for much of the
success and popularity of our order In
partial return for this we delight, from
time 90 time, to hold in her honor what
we term the ladies' social session. We
do much more. however. We inculcate
and inspire in every brother a higher re-
gard for the greater appreciation of her
lnnumerable graceS and priceless virtues
Not an Elk is there but is bound by the
strongest of fraternal ties to defend and
maintain the chastity and virtue of the
wife, mother, sister, or daughter of a
c and h.N,, n.