The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-09

as the synonym of intellectual activ-
ity of practical charity and of broth
erhood divorced from bigotry. We
dare not grasp the latent possibilities,
the almost certain realization of 80 or
100 years. The mind, bewildered, reels
beneath the attempted computation OF
the charities performed, of the sor-
rows assuaged, of the many times that
manhood has been uDlifted and Wo-
manhood ennobled and invigorated,
when hoary centuries shall have plant
ed on the yet juvenescent brow of Elk
dom the venerable crown of antiquity.
"And now, when we assemble here to
honor the memory of our departed
brothers, each recollection associated
with them and with their work is gen
tie as the songs that are chanted by
summer zephyrs when the reaper gar
ners home the golden sheaves; as fra
grant as the spice-ladened breezes that
sweep from Oriental bowers DER Araby
the blest.
Let us reVerentially remember the
absent ones of that congenial band at
the shrine Of whose memory we in an
especial manner owe fragrant no.
mage. We shall always honor them.
To all we give our tributary need
of veneratcn: to those who sleep well
where sculptured marble and cOnse-
Grated urn tell the story of their
Worth-Whose names have passed from
the general recollection of the plod-
ding Nvorld,-but are craven in fade
less lettering on the hearts of those
they loved; to those who labOred side
by side with their brother Elks through
the swift revolving years. and have
but recently been decked with the
laureled wreaths Of Immortality.
we come here to perform, in the
, broad light of day, with the COM
munity for witnesses, a sacred duty as
we commemorate the virtues of cur
absent brothers, and as we renew to
them our pledges of love and devotion.
which no separation can mar, no shad-
ow of deaths wing can blight. With
us they have lived and loved. Their
career on this earth is ended, and they
have passed to those peaceful abodes
where no spectre of saddening sorrow,
no phantasmal appearance of corrod-
ing care can disturb their placidity.
"Our absent brothers were of earth's
heroes: for, not all its contests are
those of the ensanguned scenes OF
slaughter. Many of the worlds
sublimest heroes are not those who
win their laurels amid the lannon's
roar, but those, who, where'er their lot
is cast, each day, each hour, each min
ute do the work they find at their
hands to do and do it well. Life is a
field Of moral contests and of moral
victories; and he is also a hero, who
unselfshly, uncomplainly, aids the tri-
umphs of right, of justice. Of probtty
of integrity has made the world
the better, the purer, because he has
lived and acted
and, as we see every creed and ev-
erv age, every cline and every tongue
in some form conjoining to express the
vivifying thought that the hero Of
life's transitory battle is the hero of
eternity-that the good and great are
immortal-we grasp the same cheer
ing thought as we commemorate our
absent brothers, loved and unforgotten.
Secure in their immortality, no dross,
no dregs Of regret. no impotent
whispers Of doubt affect the love eter-
nal and unchanging, which we pledge
them now. as oft IL was pledged, when
in bodily presence and speaking form
they were tangibly beside us.
standing here in this presence, be
fore those with whom for years they
went in and out speaking to those who
knew so intimately their deeds of ben
efactfon for the veal of others, their
answering loyalty to right and duty,
II needs not that I should enter on any
extended eulogium, which would be but
the repetition of a twice told and ia
miliar tale.
"Citizens Of Worcester, you knew
them In all the high worth Of their no
BILE manhood. Brothers of Worcester
Lodge, you knew them in all the gen
crous breathings of q fraternalism
which linked your lives with theirs in
bonds Of love. I need not tell you,
who were daily witnesses, of the viz
tues which have embalmed their lives
with holy memories and associations
pregnant with ministrations Of instruc-
ton But II no panegyric of mine can
add one iota to your knowledge Of
them: IL no words of mortal can in
crease the brilliancy of the lustre which
encircles your enshTined love to them
their unwavering love to you, l may at
least present to your contemplation
that balm breathing consolation, the
fair chaplet Of their Immortality.
"On this cOnsecrated day in every
city Of the fairest land beneath the
sun. from the wave-worn cliffs of
Maine to the sun kissed tides that
lave the Golden Gate, from the source
of the Father OF Waters to the Cres-
cent City at it's mouth, the brother
hood Of Elks and their friends have
met as we meet here. to renew their
pledges of devotion to the absent.
Theirs are no funeral garbs; theirs
are not the sOmbre trappings of woe;
theirs not the plant Of despair, for
we assemble, not the living to mourn
the dead, but the living to greet the
living removed to a higher and nobler
sphere. We assemble in the assured