Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-08

plain and across the valley to trace
the way of the steed which bore him to
his home; you have looked in on the
meeting of the family; you have heard
the angushed cry of that fond wife as
the awful truth burst upon her; you
have listened to the wall of the ba be
gathered for the last time in it's faith
erS' bosom; you have seen the bursting
agony of that parting; you have felt
the horror and dlsmay of the moment
when, discovering that his slave had
slain his horse in seeking to save his
masters life at the loss of that of his
friend, Damon felt that Pythias must
die for him. You have looked in upon
that Syracusan dungeon where
Pythias' lovely bride vainly pleaded
that he would improve the means of
escape she had provided and fly with
her; and you have seen the finger of
the dial-plate hasten toward the APP
pointed hour and Damon not yet re-
turned; you have heard the gates
creak upon their rusty hinges as the
hostage is led out to execution; you
have beheld the Tyrant gloat over the
Fastening sacrifice as he waited the
proof of Damon's broken faith: you
have watched the glow in the west
grow brighter as the sun FASTENED to
the setting, while over in TIC east the
shadows were climbing the walls of
embattled Ortygia; and just then, as
headless trunk and a trunkless head
would in a moment be all earth held of
this brave soul, you have seen the
guard-line broken, and breathess,
dust-stained Damon fall fainting at the
foot of the scaffold.
All these have you beheld in the clear
vision of present reality, and your
hearts have bounded with new meas.
urc of gratitude and pride that these
might be your eXemplars; and you
have accepted with an enthusiasm
that knows no waning the holy work of
perpetuating such a friendship, and of
making universal so unselfiSh q deyo-
ton.
You enter this house of worship and
proclaim yourselves soldiers by your
chosen symbols, the helmet sword and
spear, and still more by the military
dress which you brothers of the Uni
form Rank wear; you have laid aside
your citizens dress of daily use, you
have put from your hands the imple-
ments of toll by which you earn your
daily bread, and you show yourselves
today in military garb, with helmet,
plume and sword, and yet you are not
numbered, nor desire to be, among
the armed forces of the nation; you do
not design to draw those swords in
nj,
life or to Stay a foe: your dress is a
symbol, that and nothing more; moth
ing more, but it is that; a symbol or a
masquerade, and surely not a mas
querade. for you would not insult the
God of Heaven by masquerading in
His temple, and turning the service of
prayer and praise into a hidcous farce!
No, your dress is symbolic; by it you
proclaim that you recognize yourselves
as warriors, warriors in fight where
no human blood is shed because you
war not with flesh and blood, but with
principles, intangible it is true, but
more to be dreaded than any hostile
squadron drawn up in battle array.
Friendship, Charity and Benevol-
ence,' your motto, you declare against
Sefishness; Seltishness, the leader and
captain of all the evils cnslaving man
kind; Sclfishness, the one great foe of
man which God has resolved ultimate
ly to destroy, and by destroying lift
man up again into His own likeness,
partaker of the Divine Nature,
BY declaring war against selfshness,
you draw the sword against every foe
of man; all sorrow all pain, all mis-
cry, rise from sin, our own i'll deeds or
the i'll deeds of others; and every
form of sin, every form of injustice,
every form of i'll doing, springs from
the prolific rot of selfishness Utter
ly uproot selfishness from the breasts
of all men, wholly Danish it and it's
fruits from the world, and there would
be neither sin nor sorrow left to desc
late the lives of men!
Pledged to this conflict with selfish
ness by your VOWS four times repeated
and each time more strongly than be-
fore, pledged to it in the face of the
world by the symbolic dress you wear,
you come today into the house Of God
seeking help and inspiration from our
Father
You have learned the lesson Of
friendship as taught by our illustrious
example You would now enter into
that friendship which Jesus Christ is
the solitary example and teacher.
David and Jonathan, Damon and
Pythias, Tennyson and Hallam, have
taught you and illustrated in their lives
that pure noble devotion which has led
you to give yourselves to the cultiva-
ton of friendship. The friendship of
these men was devotion for each other.
You would master the secret of divine
friendship by which, each man. be-
comes the friend of all other men. We
are apt to flatter and congratulate you
fraternity men on these occasions, but
YOU come not here for this today. You
have done much of good, but it was all
for your pledged friends and they have
earned all your help and love and care.
But l come to tell you of that noble,
exalted brotherhood you may enter by
passing into the friendship of Jesus
Christ This friendship will teach you
| to forgive, to aid and defend even your
| enemies. Christ sets this ideal in the