The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-12-08
LODGE Of SORROW
Impressive Services Held in
Memory of Deceased Elks.
Excellent Annual Address Civ
en- BY W. A. Funk.
Musical Program a Feature
of The Exercises.
Presbyterian Church Decorated
For Occasion.


From Mondays Daily.
The annual memorial service of Man
kato lodge No. 225, Il. p. o. F., was
held at the Presbyterian church yester-
day afternoon at three o'clock The
church was filled, as usual on these oc-
casions. The pulpit and altar were beau
tifully decorated with flowers and plants
The excellent musical program publish
ed Saturday was carried out and al
ter the ritualistic work by the officers of
the lodge, the annual address was given
by Hon. w. A. Funk. 1t was as fol-
lows:
Exalted Ruler, Brothers and Friends:
We have met today to pay our tribute
To the memory of departed brothers,
and to revive the memory of their lives
and deeds in our minds and hearts. In
what l shall say upon this solemn
occasion, | shall indulge in no attempt
at oratory. Were | a silver tongued
orator, capable of superb flights of elo-
quence, still | should hesitate to deal
i'll high sounding phrases and periods.
The occasion is one of sad reflection and
every influence tends to subdue us. We
look not, upon such an occasion, for
entertainment and pastime. Every in
fluence of the day--the sweet thoughts
and meditations of the audience-all
should cluster about the memory of our
departed brothers. Since last we met,
the hand of death has been laid with
resiStless power upon three of our mem
bers, and while we are still the servants
of Time, they have mingled their beings
with the realities of eternity. Their
names you have heard read from the
roster of our cherished dead, All broth
ers of ours-all friends of the speaker,
who keenly feels their loss. Brother
Donovan, always social and kind.
Brother st. John of Heron Lake, in my
old country, courteous III manner, up
right in every method, one to whom /
owe a thousand acknowledgements for
deeds of friendship and fealty. With
loving family, and multitudes of friends,
he died alone and unattended. Died like
Moses of old, with only his Maker to
witness his passing and to close his
eyes in death. Sad, end to cheerful
life. You of my brothers who knew
him, loved him. My words cannot por-
tray him to you who knew him not.
Our brother, departing during the year,
was known to you all. DR.. L. ID. Steel,
with his large body and great, big heart,
was familiar to all the people of this
community. | doubt if our city holds
Il better man or truer friend. | doubt
if a man could have been called whose
loss would have been so felt by the
poor and the needy. Brother Steel felt
himself Il servant of humanity. When
those in sickness and distress called for
him, he never stopped to ask who would
pay the bill. No night so dark or
stormy-no road so rough and long, but
that he would answer every call of
suffering humanity. His very presence
was better than medicine to the weak.
the sick and distressed. His courtesy
and kindliness were proverbial. Even
his dunning letters, (when he wrote
any, almost invariably began with
my dear Friend" And this because he
was a friend to all. With most of life
still apparently before him-with the
shadows still falling to the west, he was
cut down as the sturdy oak, and lives
only in our memories. Over the graves
of these newly departed brothers, as
well as the brothers who went before
great hearted Brother Lee, Brothers Kee-
gan, Collins, Leland, Martin, Boehmer,
and Slade, we mingle our tears, and re-
call the virtues of the departed. Had
they only virtues? Had they no faults
Perhaps they had. No doubt they pos
sessed some of the shortcomings and
failings which seem inseparable from
human existence. But with the charity,
characteristic of our order, we pass
their failings by. John Keats. dying at
Rome, before his later writings had
made him famous, weak and despond-
ent, dictated the epitaph now seen up
on his tombstone: Here lies one whose
name was writ in water" SO we would
in water or the ever shifting eradicat-
ing sands, write the faults of our broth
ers, living and dead. The charity of
our order, manifests itself in this as in
a hundred other ways. Let me not be
misunderstood. Lawbreaking, malicious
wickedness, and debauchery of the in
nOcent, find no favor among us, and will
not be tolerated in the members of our
order. The man who reyiles the idea
of the God of the Universe-who SCOTS
and reviles the good and the true-who
yields not obedience to the laws of our
countrywide tramples upon the rights
of the poor, the helpless and the inno-
CENTS not an Elk, and cannot become
or remain one. But with the Nazarine
of old, we draw the mantle of charity
owe, many of the defects of the children
of men. When the woman, trembling
with fear and conscious guilt was taken
before the Master; he said, Let him
who is without sin, cast the first stone"
In passing judgment upon our fellow
men, we try to remember that we are
not without sin.
| have in mind two streams. One
pursues its peaceful course through field