, 1904-04-12
{ ks
SOME Sf~GEsRUSH PHILOSOPHY
IN RELATION TO a MOST
WORTHY ORDER.
"eill.' in His Scintillatine Solecisms,
Tells Some Wholesome Truths
= Points S9ne Morals Worthy
of Emulation by the Pharisees of
the Better Than Thou" Oea zee.

1850 ~
often downright untruth in order TO
properly punctuate that sensational
preachmeut which is today te: med a
sermon? What warrant for ZACH out
right tommyrot does ne find in the
Word-wherein did the meek and low
ly Nazarene set any such s%criptural
pace as is daily marked up on biblical
blackboards- and to whom was deliv-
cred an eleventh commandment to
souse the soul of the ~socalled sinner
in a celestial swill-barrel lest it sour
e'er he be saved? In what chapter and
verse of Sacred Writ is found divine
license to lie like a well-paid LAWYER
in pleading a case from the pulpit
to lambast and libel with lusty and
lethal lip beliefs and institutions of
which they know little or nothing and
which must have some good in them
else they could not stand the test of
time?
This as u preface. please. to a word
or two on the Benevolent and Protec-
tive Order of Elks. Now | am not a
l%ong-horn myself. Some Of my friends
have suggested when in merry mood
that if symptoms counted. a Missouri
jury would cinCh me sure-but let il
pass. | am not an Eli-know not the
high sign when so hailed. nor can | tell
a buck from a doe along strictly ritu-
alistic lines; but | keep my lamps
trimmed and burning as | mosey down
life's lane. and the recent scurrilous
attack on this fraternity made by a
New York parson named Peters has
simply raised my dander to the pop
| ping point. This reverend gentleman.
ii seems. once met a man who was
wearing at the time an Elk's badge
and a b%Oo2erine belly-full-both SO
much in evidence that you could see
'em a block-and he straightway made
the incident a text for his Sunday
stunt and denounced the Elks as an
association of blackguards and long
barrel brawlers whose sole claim to
distinction lay in their devotion to the
god Dionysius. Now | never did be-
lieve in the doctrine of total depravlty.
There never was but one, and he hung
himself alterheg got action on his thirty
pewter plunks. | believe our jails and
penitentiaries are full of men and wo-
men who have some redeeming traits
who went wrong. but who knew the
right. | believe in ~mercy-that there
are always two sides to every tale
in that divine compassion and love
which was once eVinced for the thief
nv tho ErnES. hnt Union n clerical neg
gets gay and damns and denounces an
honorable and honored fraternity be
cause OF the passing error of one in
diyidual. forget all else save my
solemn dULy as a skunk-skinner, and
there's a busy-Lizzie sign hung out at
these headquarters for Pure Stuph,
immejet.
The Benevolent and Protective Or
der of Els is, as its name indicates,
a charitable and fraternal brother
hood-onC which lives up to its blue
China-one which practices what it
preaChes-which carries into every
day life The precepts which are set
down in and taught by its ritualistic
ceremonies and lectures. Its corner
stone is charity-the relief of the wild
ow and tAtherless and the deserving
brother as well. Although The late la
mented Noah Web. spells the word
but one way, we all know that to it
attach many definitions. There's the
check-book donation, for instance,
which is printed in the papers and
proclaimed to the world through the
medium of a brass band. Then
there's the tight-wad contribution
which is given grudgingly and be
cause the donor can't dodge. These
have no place in the Elk's lexicon
his is a charity which not only re-
lieves necessity but touches the heart;
which is given quietly and unostenta-
tiously and without hope or thought
of reward other than the approval of
the inner self-which feels for the
suffering and afflicted and believes
that good old dough will go a heap
further than spiritul solace and a
truck-load of tracts. The word chart
ty, too. means more than this to the
Elk. 1t means that he who falls may
reform-that everybody is entitled to
another show for his white alley
that Old Noah also lists such words as
forgiveness and forgetfulness in his
excellent unabridged work on orthog-
raphy. The brother-the sister-may
preserved our literature-have peo-
firm footing if so be they get the OPP
portunity-and find the way. Seems
to me l remember something in Holy
Writ which reads the same way.
The order of Elks was founded. orig
inally, by theatrical people-a class
who for over two thousand years have
preserved our literature-have- peo-
pied the world with living characters
born of both history and fiction-who
paint the pictures which amuse, in
struct and entertain us on every stage
in Christendom today. These "vag-
abonds" as many of the clergy call
them. doubtless felt the need of some
tie which would the more closely unite
them in the bonds of real comrade-
ship. Their creed was broad-and yet
it so appealed to humanity that when
the gates We're opened to h world at
large only a few years ago, the order
sprang into prominence by leaps and
bounds until it today ranks with that
which had its origin in the tragic
death of the chief architect of King
Solomon's temple. Many of the most
lovable men-the best ~men-belong
to it in every community where the
NJ l1,~ 80. TI1s- h,,t1l