Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-07-29


the service of humanity and of God or
anything elevating, but let no man
sacrifice home life to secret society life
as many do. 1 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 rooms
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 chiidren's shoes. That man has
made that which might be a healthful
influence Q uSurper Of his affections,
and he has married it, and he is guilty
of moral bigamy. Under this process
the wife, whatever her features, be-
comes 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 unromantic as to offer her
| hand and heart. There are secret So
cieties where membership always in
wolves domestic shipwreck. Tell me
that a man has joined a certain kind
and tell me nothing more about him
/ for ten years, and 1 will write his his
tory if he 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 di-
rectory.
Here are six secular nights in the
week. "What shall I do with them?''
says the father and the husband. 81
will give four Of these nights to the
Improvement and entertainment of my
family, either at home or in good neigh
borhood. | will devote one to charita-
BILE institutions. I will devote one to
my lodge" l congratulate you. Here
is a man who says, "Out of the six Sec
ular nights of the week l will devote
five to lodges and clubs and associa-
tons and one to the home, which night
I will spend in scowling like a March
squall, wishing [ was out spending it
as | have spent the other five" That
mans obituary is written. Not one out
Of 10000 that ever get so far on the
wrong road ever stops. Gradually his
health will fail through late hours, and
through too much stimulants he will be
first rate prey for erysipelas and rheu-
matism Of the heart.
The doctor coming in will at glance
see it is not only present disease he
must fight, but years of fast living.
The clergyman for the sake of the feel
ings of the family on the funeral day
will only talk in religious generalities.
The men who got his yacht in the eter-
nal rapids will not be at the obsequies.
They have pressing engagements that
day. They will send flowers to the cOf-
fin, will send their wives to utter words
of sympathy, but they will have en-
gagements elsewhere. They never come.
Bring me malIet and chisel, and l will
cut that mans epitaph. Blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord?' NO
you say; chat would not be appropri-
ate'' LET me die the death of the
righteous, and let my last end be like
his?" NO." you say; that would not
be appropriated Then give me the
mallet and the chisel, and I will cut
an honest epitaph, Here lies the vic
tim Of dissipating associations"
Test of Secret Societies.
Another test by which you can find
whether your secret society is right or
wrong is the effect it has on your
secular occupation. | can understand
how through such an institution man
can reach commercial success. l know
some men have formed their best bust
ness relations through such channel.
If the secret society has advantaged
you in an honorable calling it is 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 l every day
know Of commercial establishments go
ing to ruin through the social excuses
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 drown
ed in the large rotations of cognac or
Monongahela. That secret society was
the Loeb Earn. Their business was
the Vile de Havre. They struck, and
the Vile de Havre went under!
The third test by which you may
know whether the society to which you
belong is good or bad is this: What is
it's effect on your sense of moral and
religious oDllSaton! Now, II should
take the names of all the people in this
audience and put them on roll, and
then should lay that roll back of this
organ, and a hundred years from now
some one should take that roll and call
it from A to z, there would not one Of
you answer. I say that any society
that makes me forget that fact is bad
society.
When l go to Chicago, I am some
times perplexeG at Buffalo, as 1 sup
pose many travellers are, as to whether
il is better II. take the Lake Shore