The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-09-06

Tod. Such organizations are trying 10 dis.
miss from their associations all members
who are IN favor Of anarchy and social
chaos. They viii gradually cease amy.
thing Ike tyranny over their members,
and VIII forbid violent interference with
any. mans work, whether he belongs TO
their union or Is outside Of IL, and will
declare their disgust with any such rule
as that passed in England by the Nam
chester Bricklayers Association, which
says any man found running or working
beyond a regular speed shall be fined two
shhlings aud nxpence for the first olIense,
five shilhngs Ion the second. ten shillnqs
Tor the third, and If still persistng shall
be dealt with as the committee thinks
proper.
There are secret societies in our col
leges that have letters Of the Greel, alpha
bet for their nomenclature, and their
members are at the very front In scholar
ship and irreproachable in morals. while
there are others the scene OF carousal. and
they gamble, and they drink, and they
graduate knowing a hundred times more
about SIN than they do Of geometry and
Sophocles. In other words. secret socie-
ties, like individuals, are good or bad, are
the means OF moral health or of temporal
and eternal damnation. All good people
recognize the vice of slandering an indi-
vldual, but many do not see the sin Of
slandering an organization.
There are old secret societies in this and
other countries, some Of them centuries
old, which have been widely denounced
as immoral and damaging in their inhu-
ence, yet / have hundreds of personal
friends who belong to them, friends who
are consecrated to God, pillars in the
church, faithful in all relations of life, ex-
amples of virtue and piety.
One OF these secret societies gave for
the relief of the sick in 1873 in this coun,
try 81 ,490274. Some of these societies
have poured a very heaven Of sunshine and
benediction into the home of suffering.
Several OF them are founded on fidelity
TO good citizenship and the Bible. I have
never taken one Of their degrees. They
might give me the grip a thousand times
and l would not recognize it. / am ignor-
ant of their passwords, and / must judge
entirely from the outside. But Christ has
given us rule by which we may judge
not only all individuals, but all societies,
secret and open. BY their fruits We shall
know them" Bad societies make bad
men. Good societies make good men. A
bad man will not stay in a good society.
Then try all secret societies by two or
three rules.
Test the first: Their influence on home,
if you have home That wife soon loses
her influence over her husband who nerv-
Ously and foolishly looks upon all evening
absence as an assault on domesticity. How
are the great enterprises Of reform and
art and literature and beneficence and
public veal to be carried on if every man.
is to have his world bounded on one side
by his front doorstep and on the other
side by his back window knowing moth
ing higher than his own attic or lower
than his own cellar? That wife who be-
comes jealous of her husbands attention
to art or literature or religion or charity
is breaking her own sceptre OF conJugal
power.
know an instance where a wife thought
that her husband was giving too many
nights to Christian service, to charitable
service, to prayer meetings and to reli-
gious convoeation. She systematically de-
coyed him away until now he attends no
church, waits upon no charitable institu-
ton, and is on a rapid way to destruction,
his morals gone, his money gone and, l
fear, his soul gone.
Let any Christian wife rejoice when her
husband consecrates evenings to the serv-
ice of humanity and Of God or anything
elevating, but let no man sacrifice home
life to secret society life, as many do.
can point out to you a great many names
They are as genial as angels at the society
rooms and as ugly as sin at home. They
are generous on al subjects of wine sup
pers, yachts and fine horses, but they are
stingy about their wives dresses and the
children's shoes. That man has made that
which might be a healthful influence q
usurper of his affections, and he has mar
ried it, and he is guilty of moral bigamy.
Under this process the wife, whatever her
features, becomes uninterestlng and
homely. He becomes critical of her, does
not like the dress, does not like the way
she arranges her hair is amazed that he
ever was so unromantic as to offer her
| hand and heart.
There are secret societies where member
| ship always involves domestic shipwreck
! Tell me that a man has joined a certain
! kind and tell me nothing more about him
! for ten years and | will write his history
if he be still alive. The man is a wine
| guzzler, bis wife broken hearted or pre-
maturey old, his fortune gone and hi;
home mere name in the directory.
Here are six secular nights in the week
"What shall I do with them" says the
father and the husband. 81 will give fOul
of these nights to the improvement and
entertainment of my family, either al
home or in good neighborhood. I will de
vote one to charitable institutions. | vii
devote one to my lodge" I congratulate
you. Here is man who says, "OGt Of thu
six secular nights of the week J will de
vote five to lodges and clubs and associa
tions and one to the home, which night
will spend in scowling like a March squall
wishing l was out spending it as I hav
spent the other FIVE" That mans obitu
airy is written. Not one out of 10000 tina
ever get so far on the wrong road eve
stops Gradually his health will fai
through late hours and through too muc
stimulants he will be frst-rate prey 70
ervsipelas and rheumatism of the heart.
The doctor coming in viii at a glance Sc
it is not only present disease he mus
fight, but years of fast living The clel
gyman for the sake of the feelings of tn
family on the funeral daY will only tai