Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1901-08-02
sunshine and benediction into the


l would not recognize it. l am ignor-
ant of their passwords, and l must
Judge entirely from the outside. But
Christ has given us q 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 socie-
ties make good men. A bad man will
not stay in a good society. A good
man will not stay in a bad society
Then try all secret societies by two
or three rules.
Infiusnce Home Life.
Test the first: Their influence on
home, if you have home. That wife
soon loses her influence over her hus-
baud who neryously and foolishy
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 II 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 nothing higher than his own
attic or lower than his own cellar?
That wife who becomes jealous of her
husbands attention to art or literature
or religion or charity Is breaking her
own scepter Of conjugal power. I
know an instance where wife
thought that her husband was giving
too many nights to Christian service,
to charitable service, to prayer meet
ings and to religious convocation. She
Systematically decoyed him away until
now he attends no church, waits upon
no charitable institution and is on a
rapid way to destruction, his morals
gone. his money gone and, fear, his
soul gone.
Let any Christian wife rejoice when
her husband consecrates evenings to
the service 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 of men Who are
guilty of this sacrilege. They are as
genial as angels at the society room
and as ugly as sin at home. They are
generous on all subjects Of wine sup
pers. yachts and fast horses, but they
are stingy about the wives dresses
and the children's shoes That man
has made that which might be a
healthful influence usurper of his af-
lection and he has married it, and he
is guilty Of moral bigamy. Under this
process his wife, whatever her fea-
lures, becomes uninteresting 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 unroman-
tic as to offer her hand and heart
There are secret societies wnere mem
bership always involves domestic ship
wreck. 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 ne be still
alive The man is a wine guzzler, his
wife broken hearted or prematurely
old, his fortune gone and his home a
mere name in the directory.
Evils Of Bad Assocla lions.
The doctor coming in will at q
glance see 1t is not only present dis
ease he must fight, but years Of fast
living. The clergyman, for the sake
of the feelings OF the family ON the
funeral day Will only talk in religious
generalities. The men who got his
yacht in the eternal rapids will not be
at the obseouies. They have pressing
flowers to the coffin, will send their
wives TO utter words of sympathy, but
they will have engagements else
where. They never come. Bring me
mallet and chisel and / will cut that
mans epitaph. Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord?" NO" you say
that would not be appropriate Let
me die the death Of the righteous, and
let my last end be like his?" mo" you
say, that would not be appropriate"
Then give me the mallet and the chisel
and will cut an honest epitaph. Here
lies the victim of dissipating associa-
tionsi"
Another test by which you can find
whether your secret society is right or
wrong IS the effect 1t has on your secu-
lar occupation. I can understand how
through such an institution a man can
reach commercial success. know
some men have formed their best bust
ness relations through such a channel.
II the secret society has advantaged
you in an honorable calling,it Is a good
one. but has your credit failed? Are
bargain makers now more anxious
how they trust you with bale OF
goods? Have the men whose names
were down in the commercial agency
Al before they entered the society
been going down since in commercial
standing? Then look out You and 7
every day know Of commercial estab-
lishments going to ruin through the
social excesses Of one or two members.
their fortune beaten to death with
ball players bat or cut amidships with
the front prov of the regatta or going
down under the swift hoofs of the fast
horses or drowned in the large pota-
lions Of cognac or Monongahela That
secret society was the Loeb Earn
Their business was the Vile de Havre
They struck, and the Vile de E1evre
went under,
In the Last Hours.