Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-01-05
TOWN AND VICINITY.
Inaugural RcCcptiOn.


John n. Benson, Exalted Ruler, was
toast-master Of the evening and Messrs.
+. G. Beall, Clayton Purncll and d. F..
McMullen responded in their usually
good style, Mr.. Purncn at some length
as follows upon "Our Lodge"
Mr., Chairman, LadieS, Gentlemen, ami Broth-
erS Il always feel embarrassed when | at
tempt to address this lodge of Elks. From bit
ter experiences in the past have learned to eX-
peCt that if | endeaYOr to talk SensiDly all 80
to sleep; on the other hand, If | try to be
funny, all go away. Now, you Will agree
with me in thinking that this treatment is
very urkind Besides, take it, naturally of
course, as Il grave reflection upon the tastes
and capacities of the members. | take 1t IN
this way because | cannot afford to take 1t in
any other way. 1t is easy. therefore. to see
how little ground have left to stand upon,
so far at least as this body Is concerned, and
in what ! may have to say on this occasion
shall far as possible, ignore these unruly
members, and address my remarks to our
guests, who are not members of the fraternity.
These, know, will prove themselves TOO polite
to run away, and TO consIderate to % 10
sleep, however strong the temptation may be
to do either.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, my friends is a great brotherhoOd-the
greatest, me j"djce, among the fraternal organ
In two years it has grown from a member
ship of twenty thousand, distributed among
two hundred lodges, to membership OF some
eighty thousand, represented by about SIX
hundred and nifty lodges scattered (ohIy III
cities or towns OF i've thousand, or more III
populatiOn) all over the United States from
Maine to California, and from Alaska to
Florida.
1t is secret organization. Whether or not
this fact explains why the ladies' are not
li,,iI, lnr IN In mot IN
hazard an OPINION.
Only citizens OF the United 0tateS, ABOVE
the age OF tWenty-o one years, possessing certain
other qualifications, can join the order. Each,
tche" he enters at least, must possess, or SHOW
that he possesses good moral character Dut
we uo ioi cEaEeli piSetEiS Mi'n
otiielo Va LIS n M 'it ,dortni
to NEEDLE with his rights in the premises.
He must however declare his belief in the
existence of a Supreme Being. Many reig-
ions denominations all political and various
nationaIitles are therefore, represented in its
membership
The individual units COMPOSING this
brotherhood are | believe more closely unit
ed than in any other similar society. Its
growth has been almost phenOminal and the
outlook for the future of the Order was never
in its history more encouraging. There is, l
thlnk, Soou reason LOT tilis SIoNth' Iheie
Is that III us prlllciPiea anu pIac''.cs "n'?n
altlacls lheh iuo II "uu p Tii ''. W -.
Ohce an Elm ai"'Sa an iiN 10 " "e Ia
laG tI as Weil DIS III tlleoi! - o,, r,i.,, no
me loTI ~ on, ;dt,it ,'
Ghaflty' Justice' protileily Low anu i''Ii's
upon THESE VhlS great Vi 6ail'~"'ioH N'' '''"
ou M al, ;t , ,ool ,,o,. i,i,, ..,
Inc cnarlIy WHICH we teaCii may pGHin "'
nome put we no iioI 9uIel 1t ~ eil" me-
~ Is liol vi lhat hiru iiCiI Coii'o' oi'i 80
inc giving away vi 'iiio Hoi.u SoUus ~ -
Oh hlSnel, ploauol ,ooiei y lo' ~ 10 IN,
oience' II IS s oou.WlI toMaIuS men tio
laults VI oul nlo'oIo w w uPoii t,lo
saiuSi IhelI NLI'ueo upon 'iio '""lc'" vi l"'o
anu liiehlols .L,:1 T. ,, =. ,,
us JuSuCe 10 l'oI ''iiiu' 9C1N" - MN"
the iacls' ana requires 'liaV Jug 'l'eli' oe given
with equity. It's teaclillis Is
Render to every man his due;
But remember thou also art man.
lis Brotherlv Love would wipe out the
narrow and narrowing egoIsm which re yards
self as the center of every interest and substi-
tnte for il that broader altruisn, which teaches
that all men are brothers
Its Fidelity teaches its members to be true
TO themselves knowing they cannot then be
false tn any man or TO any principle With
PnIonius we saw
al 10 +h;ro o,,r soIfhatr,,,
iii1 60 49, e. ~ ~ m 49,, ,,iL, tL i,
Anu II mus loip"I ao ny i'Sii' tio 10Y
lhou 0"ii'' i'o, '''e'' ~ -''', '''r
To be true to these principles ana all they
teach is to be true Elk. Hence no true Elk
can be bad man; he must be good citizen.
Our aim IS to educate, toelevate to ennoble
the individual, and, through nm, the COM
munity in which he lives. Under our Order
teachings he must be true to himself, true to his
home true to his trends, true TO MS country,
true to his God
Believing that the most eihcaclous way IN
which to make men good Is to make them
happy, we delight to mlhEle with each other
in friendly, social intercourse. our Oruer IS,
therefore, pre-emlnently social organization.
This feature OF 1t has at times ana III places
caused II To be mlsJuuSed, ana III some cases
harshly spoken OF as an aggregation OF mere
ekerS after pleasure, or as Horace says
"EPtcHFt dc Jif9e p0fct whose aims ana pur-
poses are best eXelnplllled III tne hlotto, Let
us eat, drink ana be merry, lot tomorrow
we lie" we nave been the target OF much
unreasonlng criticism. ouch crluCiSh, com
ing from @Hh0W the Order, couid not OF
course be based upon knowledge OF the
facts, and criticism, not based upon
thorough knowledge OF all the facts involved,
cannot be intelligent, ana may De-ln TACT,
generally is ridiculous.
In their anxiety that we shall not escape
punishment for what we have done, our
critics, with blind, unreasoning zeal attack us
for what they telgn to believe we intend to
do and i'll dong so serve to recall the example
of the plous old German VINO set out TO PUNISH
his son for profanity when the boy had al
ready succeeded IN convincing the father That
he had actually said nothing at all. well,
ten, you links tam It, sald the determined
parent, "und vlps you Tor dot. whenever
| hear such criticism, am also reminded OF
the worthy, but misguided dlNlne VINO sought
to find in the Bible suitable passage upon