Fergus County Democrat. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-1919, 1905-12-05

the heartfelt welcome of a brother
The fundamental principal of our
order is charity; not the charity which
prOclaims it's deeds from the house
tops and upon the highways, or en-
blazOns them in flaming letters before
the world, but the charity whose
works are wrought in silence with
out display. Not the charity uf gold
alone which feeds the widow, clothes
the orphan and brings the perfumed
flowers to the invalid's drea:y cot,
but the broad charity of humanity
which recognizes the virtues os others
and our own imperfections.
By the motto of our order we are
taught to trace the faults of our
brothers upon the shifting sands, that
most tickle and unstable substance
whose outlines are obliterated by the
ebbing tide, and whose particles are
swiftly scattered to the passing winus.
Their virtues we engrave upon endur-
ing tablets of love and memory, where
neither wind nor wave. nor Iayages
of time itself. can dim their golden
lustre.
1t is eminently fitting and proper
that on this one day of the year that
course through this busy life, and rem
der humble homage to those who la
bored with US hand in hand in Elk
dom's cause till summoned to higher
sphere Of action; that we should put
aside the lighter sentiments associ-
ated with our order and reflect that in
our eager scramble to obtain the full
est need Of pleasure from the present,
we should not forget the debt we owe
tur comrades Of the past.
The honors Of this day are for the
lead, but its lessons are for the living.
TO i|.ose whose work is finished,
whose i:urtbI7 COZ rse is run. /! has NJ
meaning to impart and no message to
convey. To us it teaches lessons Of
the deepest significance. In recalling
the virtues of those who have gone
before, we are taught that the intlu-
ence of a noble life will never die;
that though this mortal clay will
crumble into dust, good works will
live forever. The highest honor that
we can pay to those who have gone
on the long journey is to emulate
those virtues for which we now re-
member them.
But more than all, in honoring the
dead today we learn again the lesson
as old as time itself; that life is but
transient state and that the slender
thread which links US to this mortal
earth is but fragile strand. We are
again reminded that the brothers
whom today we have are but travel
ers a little farther on the road along
which we are journeying. For death
is an impartial master and has no ia
vOrs to bestoW. He knocks alike at
the door of the princes palace and the
peasants hovel; he beckons alike to
the saint and the sinner. The mighty
monarch and the prattling babe alike
obey his summons. No more can
stalwart youth repel his chill advance
than can decrepit age, for none can
stay his ruthless hand nor win his
royal favor.
The most we know of death is the
certainty of it's coming, and this
knowledge we have learned in bitter
lessons. We have seen our loved ones
in it's cold embrace, and in our loss
have felt the fullest measure of it's
crushing power We have seen it
scorch the tender buds Of childhood's
rosy morn, wither the early bloom of
SOutA CAulIoAl 1lOOlllluCs duu scar
the full-bloWn blossoms of manhood's
afternoon.
We know that man is called upon
to cease his earthly pilgrimage, and
his mortal form consigned to mother
earth. Beyond this all the wisdom
and research of the ages has taught
us nothing. The question What is
death?" has come ringing down the
centuries seeking in vain it's answer
The grave will not give up it's secret,
and those who solve it's mysteries
send back no tidings to the loved ones
left behind. From the remotest peri
DDS of antequity sages and seers have
sought to penetrate the secrets of ex-
istence and solve the mysteries of
creation. With never waning zeal
they have exhausted the resources of
all the principles and theories of pril-
osophy, studied the consultations
appealed to the heavens above and the
earth beneath seeking to be enlighten-
ed as to the origin of the world and as
to mans final destiny. Their anxious
Questionings have died upon the emp
ty air, unanswered and unechoed."
We cannot know what lies beyond
the open grave Or see across the vale.
The skeptic looks upon the rigid form,
unseeing eyes and pulseless clay, and
in the assurance of profound conceit
says, This is mans final state" His
flesh will be resolved to dust, and to
him the weary cycles of eternity will
bring no more than slumber."
But from creations earliest dawn
man has steadily refused to accept
this monstrous doctrine. Despite the
want of certain proof, the lack of oc-
ular demonstration, despite the argu-
ments of the agnostic and the infidel,
there has ever been implanted in his
soul an unshakable belief in the eter-
nal life. Wherever man has bowed his
head in worship, wherever suppliant's
lips have uttered words of prayer, and
wherever human hearts, freighted
with a weight of crushing sorrow,
have turned in mute appeal to an un-
known power for solace-there have
been found the evidences of mans in
herent longing for the joys of immor-
tality.