Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1902-12-11

themselves from us; were free
from our superstitions and vague and
foolish fears, and stood loftily by them
selves, wrapped in their own superior
wisdom. Therefore hath it been..wise-
ly ordained that no set of creatures of
our race shall beyond the reach of
their helping hand 50 lofty that they
will not fear our reprOches, or SO
mighty as to be beyond our reach. If
the lofty and the learned do not lift
us up, we drag them down. But unity
is not the only watchword; There
must be progress also. Since, by a
law we cannot eva"e, we are to keep
together, and since we are to progress,
we must do it together, and nobody
must be left behind. This is not a
matter Of philosophy; it is matter Of
fact. No progress which did not lift
up all, ever lifted any. If we let
the poison of filthy diseases percolate
through the novels of the poor, death
knocks at the palace gates. If we
leave to the greater horror of ignor-
ance any portion of our race, the con
sequences of ignorance strike US all,
and there is no escape. We must all
move, but we must all keep together.
1t is only when the rear guard comes
up that the vanguard can 60 on"
"This is true Of all progress, relig
ious, moral and social. Ours is not a
religious society. 1t is one Of many
orders, and but means to the common
end and purpose OF all, tie betterment
of the world. We believe our order
has done much good. We hope it may
do much more.
"We are met to honor the dead Of
our order, and in so doing particularly
recall our obligations as Elks.
"We are asHed, DO you believe in
the Immortality of the s0ul?' Let me
put the question differently, and chang
ing the matter to fit our case, quote
questions and answers,
''The dead of our order have gone to
the undiscovered country
Whether their journey thither was
but one step across an imperceptible
frontier, or whether an interminable
ocean, black and unfluctuating and
voiceless, stretching between these
earthly coasts and those invisible
shores, we do not know. Whether on
the morning after death they saw a
more glorious sun rise with unimag-
Unable splendor above a celestial hori-
zon, or whether their apathetic and
unconscious ashes still sleep in cold
obstruction and insensible oblivion,
we do not know. Whether their ener-
gies found instant exercise in another
world; whether they found work in a
higher order than ours, or whether
their powers were dissipated and dis
persed with their parting breath we
do not know. Whether they yet re-
member US as we remember them, we
do not know. These are the unsolved,
the insoluble problems or mortal life
and human destiny, which prompted
the troubled patriarch to ask that
momentous question, for which the
centuries have given no answer: ''If a
man die, shall he live again?"
"We do know that in honoring our
dead we honor ourselves and obey the
laws of our order. Let me say, in the
language Of another: If Immortality
is splendid but delusive dream; if
the incompleteness of every career,
even the longest and most fortunate
be not supplemented and perfected
after its termination here, then he
who breads to die should fear to live,
for life is a tragedy more desolate and
inexplicate than death.
';There is no love in nature for the
extinct. With US there is a sanctity
in death which is not given to life.
We love the dead the more that they
are dead. And this is true, not only
Of those whom we loved in life, but of
others whom we never knew. True in
its degree, of the good and great who
died a thousand years before our day.
Our own dead we jealousy treasure in
our secret hearts, with a love which
sometimes sleeps but never dies; with
a longing for them which is faith in
their life after death. This is the
normal confession of the heart of the
immortality of the soul; it is the voice