The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1905-05-08

Aullpu ne AdllS III Win DtNEi men /
kindred creatures, and as they travel |
on. the spark of brotherhood ignites
within their souls, and after centuries
of inhuman strife men recognize, the
oretcaliy at least, the ideal order Of
fraternity. The Fatherheod OF God
and the Brotherhood of Man Truly,
in the contemplation of racial advance
ment, we can say with England's re
Gently deceased laureate;
yet | doubt not through the ages one
increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widen
ed with the process of the suns"
Damon and Pythias.
Brightly, indeed. through misty and
timestained centuries shines the story
SO full of pathos and uncelhshness, OF
Damon and Pythias. 1t was en-
shrined in song and story by the peo-
pie of sea-girt Greece, but it remained
for a son of a republic. across the
ocean from its birthplace, TO immor-
talize the drame enacted in Sicily so
long ago-B c.. 400 In 1864, Mr.. J.
H. Rathbone, the founder of the order.
formally organized Washington lodge
No. l. Washington, ID. G. The mem
ores of Damon and Pythias, the sworn
friends and comrades. and that. of Di-
onysius, tyrant of Syracuse. shall en-
1 dure as long as chancellor commander
of the supreme lodge Knights of Ply
thias of the world Yields the gavel of
his office And, SO long as selflshness,
cruelty and oppression are enshrined
in human hearts there will be many
a Dionysius to combat and TO convert
TO the COMPLAINED way of brother
hood, and Damon and Pythias friend
ship must continue to be the cement
binding together these souls in tender
and fraternal love as the storied three
Of Syracuse were indissolubly bound.
Duties of Knighthood.
"As citizen knights of the republic,
certain duties deyolye upon you; re-
| sponsibilites are yours, and magnifi-
cent opportunities are everywhere pre-
scented. AS members of a fraternity,
the basic principles of which are NOR.
al. you should grow, not only numeri-
cally as lodge but individually en-
large morally and spiritually To
attain this growth, ideals should be
yours Now, ideals are cumulative;
they expand as the ego grows. Stand
ards of morality, ethical rec procity
spiritual conceptions are On a higher
plane than ever before in the world :
history As we ascend the Alps OF
progress, fogs of ignorance, intoler
ance and superstition are left behind
in the valley of humanity's morn, con
: sequently our horizon OF duty and OPP
portunity Is ever enlarg ng. This is
as it Should be, the conformation tx
S the divine plan drawn upon infnity''
trestle-board by the master-architec
Of the universe But, while the fore
going IS true, do not infer that an un
broken march Of progress has beer
made by the race; long ages, the mex
orable finger Of law pointing ever K
the causeway Of righteousness, have
been bitter tutor for fallibe man.
! a LOOK into the Fast
Let us gaze into the past again
, Before US stretch the sand-coveret
ruins Of fallen Babylon, and in tn
distance are faint evidences Of TIL
debris of Egypt's splendid civilization
What Is the cause Of this chaos? Lis
ten, from millions of sepulchres, com
the hollow tones of kings. priests
7 law givers, we were unfaithful to GU
\ highest and best conception c
y right, hence our DOWNFALL And thu
! nations, systems, and individuals, Ell
: tering the lists of time, have battle
/ Tor supremacy; but, building upo
shifting sand, instead Of the rock {
: ages they wandered from their reve
atoms of INTERPRETATIONS from Deit
and now lie deeply buried With
A the nadir Of forgotten centuries
u "My brother Pyfhians, for vol
y speaker has raised his visor in veal
Z gene by within the castlehall, va
n stand in the lists of twentieth-centnr
81 ortunity-knightly deeds are you
to do. You are to endeavor to NAL
this old world better. to assist u
needy, reprove and admonish the {
r ring in a spirit Of love, to live up
the obligations you assumed when c
tering the fraternity.
ID An Age of Change.
}. eve are living in an age of chang
New occasions are almost daily teac
a..
ing new duties Men, systems al
q institutions, weighed in the balance
~ are often found wanting Opportul
ty does not wait, and if we would tai
advantage of her, we must be vigila
and alert.
Age of Commerciaism.
This Is also an age Of commerce
N ism and of 'materialism.' Multi n
~ lionaires are now the rule rather tn
the exception, Modern business me
DDS, some Of them, have been sever,
arraigned by eminent sociologists, a
IL has been limited that many deals
recent years have not been 'squal
Numbers of men and women, VIII
they do not publicly proclaim tn
ideas, say by their lives that they
not believe in any future. They
dorse the matcriaistic dictum of
physicist no thought without