The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-22
Brother Workmen, let us render

And the JOY or meeting mere.
With the singing of this hymn of the
order, the annual memorial services OF
the A. o. u. w. and the Degree OF
Honor opened at the Metropolitan
opera house yesterday afternoon. Along
the front of the stage there were forty
three chairs draped with Grape and fes-
of the theater was filled. The members
of lodges of the city had assembled
and marched about the streets. Sew
eral hundred were in line, and with a
band marched in a circuitouS route to
the Metropolitan. The balcony was re-
served for the marchers, who were so
numerous that many were obliged to
stand. The parquet was reserved for
members of the Degree of Honor, and
the remainder of the house, as well as
the foyer, was crowded. Many were
unable to get into the capacious thea
ter.
The memorial services, held every
year, in honor of the members of the
order who have died during the year,
IS beautiful feature of the societies.
During the year thirty-fiVe members
of the A. o. U. w. and eight members
of the Degree of Honor passed into the
mystery of the hereafter, leaving their
memories to be cherished by those left
behind. The ceremonies of the after
noon were a fitting testimonial to the
fraternal spirit of the orders.
Calls Roll of Dead.
The roll of the honored dead was
read by L. Ramaley, who spoke briefly
of the custom of holding the memorial
services. Mrs. Ida Wilson made an ad-
dress on the subject of fraternal socie-
ties, rendering a tribute to the late
Olof Olson, and concluding with an ap-
propriate quotation from "Thanatop-
sis"
Miss Grace Danz sang with fine eff
feet the hymn, abide With Me-" Fol-
lowing the song, F. H. White, grand
master workman, delivered a memorial
grafton. He said in part:
Grafton Is Eloquent.
eve are again met to weave a
wreath of amaranthine to the memory
and in honor of the brothers that have
passed beyond the horizon of our Wis
ion. We are convened to gather some
sweet thought of the great hereafter
which holds and conSerVeS the worth
of all departed things. Once more Ire
we engaged in thoughtful contempla-
ton of the inevitable hour, when, as
Bryant has so truly said, we will have
to take our place in the innumerable
caravan that moves into that mysteri-
Gus realm where each one takes his
place in the silent halls of DEATH
Once more are we reminded of the
joys and pleasures of the beautiful but
dead yesterday. Once more in a re-
Prospect live we over the hours and
anxieties of the closing year. Once
again in fancy do we watch the falling
shadows of the angels wing rest upon
the forms and features of our brothers
whose names have been called in the
services of this hour, and from there
has been no audible response.
"By all these impressive ceremonies
are we reminded of the uncertainty of
life. How like a dream, a passing va
por, is existence here below! Mid sun
shine and shadow smiles and tears,
pleasures and pain, hope and despair,
to quickstep and dirge, move we all in
our daily walks, viewing the successes
and failures of human effort and inten-
ton, and listening now to daughters
song and now to sorrows Wail-and
this is life.
"All around us are seen the evidence
of the immutable law of growth and
decay, and Of the ultimate harmony
of immortal life. Whether in the YER
dant field or In the barren waste, be-
hold we ever the evidence of inevitable
change. Walk in the domain of nature;
roam the fields and by the Wayside
sit; behold the modest violet lifting
its tiny head heavenward above brown
leaf clover, sweet harbinger of spring
time. See the red rose of glorious
summer, it's fragrance in the air, its
crimson crest above the myriad of les
ser flowers. Note the beautiful chrys-
anthemum blooming in the chill OF
autumn to cheer us after summers
farewell. View then only dead flow
ers, in the lap of winters sleet, cut
down by winters frost! Such is the
dream of flower life. But each season
and each year repeats itself. The
violet, the rose and the chrysanthe-
mum bloom and fade only to live and
bloom again. They die and are born
again. AS it is in the domain of flow
1t is in the world of men.
What signify all these visible signs
of the immutable? Every breeze, the
moan of every ocean wave, the muir
muir of the sea, the signing, whisper
Ing forest, the rustic of the leaf, the
sweet song of the happy bird, the tor
rents roar, the complaining brook, the
hspings of youth, the subdued tones Of
decrepit age, the solemn stiffness OF
midnight's hour, the hum and rush Of
monday activity, all the sounds Of
nature, in one universal chorus, sins
forever the solemn requiem of dyins
world, and reveal the omnipresence Of
that omnipotent divinity, which
brought us hither and can in a mo-
ment take us thither Yet nature
wastes nothing. Nothing ever perishes
The fragrance of the flower lives ever
The essence, the spirit Of men, is i'm.