The Dickinson press., 1906-12-15
Woodman Address.

"
Bereaved ones, friends and sovereigns:
By direction of Belfeld Camp, No. s.,
Woodmen Of the World, to which u
deceased friend, in life, belonged, and to
which we, his former associates, all be-
long, it becomes my sad and painful duty
to say a few appropriate words, if can,
at the grave of our departed friend and
brother.
We have assembled here today upon
a sad errand, that of paying the last
solemn acts of respect to a Sovereign of
the Woodmen of the World.
We are reminded this day more forci-
bly, than eve Of the uncertainty of hu-
man life, and while we shall sorrowfully
place the body of our lamented Sow
ereign in the tomb may we all be mind
full of the lesson that it may teach to us.
This hour we contemplate a scene that
may be identical with'one in which we
may ere long be the silent lifeless object.
Our hearts are sad today and every
impulse OF our soul is that of sympathy
tor those who loved our silent Sovereign
best. They will look for his coming but
he comes not; they will sigh for his
voice, but this silence continues forever.
And yet, my friends, he shall not be
forgotten. His kind acts and his pleas
ant words will be treasured as priceless
gems in the memory Of those who knew
him best. In our lodge room today
stands a vacant chair, draped in sombre
black, where our dead brother sat while
performing his duties as an officer Of our
camp. Again has the awful fiat, "Dust
thou art, and unto dust thou shalt re-
turn" gone forth in our midst. A young
mar in the prime Of his usefulness has
been removed from among US by death
He has been relieved from his labors
and all his cares and tolls are over. No
more shall his counsels be heard in our
camp; no 10 shall kind accents of love
flow from those death-sealed lips, nor the
tear of sympathy course down those
pallid cheeks; no more shall the widow
and orphan receive his benevolent kind
ness and aid, and no more shall the voice
OF calumny and detraction wound his
generous spirit
Can you look into the faces of these
sorrowing Woodmen and doubt the full
til!ment of our obligations to the dead?
His mother and loved ones will receive
the care and protection of this camp.
Unto his it shall be done as he has done
unto others. Our dead brothers life
was insured in our noble order. He has
left a worthy heritage in the hands of his
true and trusted friends, who assemble
this day to do his memory reverence.
On this solemn occasion we should
pause and reflect upon the uncertainty
of life and the certainty of death. 1t is
only a few days ago that our deceased
friend was making his plans for future
usefulness, as we are doing today. His
hoort ,r,,e ~1ol ,,vskl <ha o~k:~o 0f
the happiness which the fruition of his
plans would make certain, but all these
anticipations are never to be realized.
The c~onsiderate mind to design and the
willing hand to execute are powerless for
their task today. Today he lies cold in
death, and as he is now, so we shall GER
tainly be. We can tell neither the day
nor the hour when our summons shall
come.
1t is for this reason that we are banded
together in Woodcraft: Woodcraft is to
ennoble its membership. to minister to
employment for those without it; to cast
living; to give honorable burial to our
sacred dead; to place a permanent tok en-
of our esteem upon his grave; to so i'm
PASSS INC 6iolIO NOolIAlC IA tlC OAOlLACI-
hood of man upon our membership as to
make it an important factor in our daily
lives; to encourage broad, charitable
zens, truer friends, gentler sons, more
thoughtful brothers, more considerate
husbands and more reasonable fathers.
It.is not for the advancement of the
interests of any UNCONVENTIONAL dogma.
II &c MT , ro~r,stso~ oAG~o Gov <Ia e,loop
or an asylum for that class of men who
an honest effort in their own behalf in
the battle of life. 1t is for mutual bene-
fit when misfortune ~assails US. 1t is for
substantial aid to our loved ones when
we are gone.
1t is for the entertainment of our FAM
lilies and friends in social sessions, and
thus more firmly weld the fraternal
bonds which so pleasantly unite us, and,
finally. it is to build a progressive and
permanent institution which shall prove
a valiant knight" in the defense of
home and country through the coming
ages.
1t is for fraternal benefits upon frater-
nal principles. 1t is for business bene.
fits upon sound conservative business
principles. 1t is for social benefits upon
the the highest social principles known
to the moral law. 1t is a happy inter
mingling Of fraternal, social and bust.
ness relations, each standing upon its
own merits, each having its own individ'
uality, each being responsible for its
own department.
While one, yet three-a finite trinity
the trinity of a human life, fraternal
social and financial. This, friends, is the
order to which our deceased brother be-
longed; and those whom he trusted in
life will not forget him in death. Ere
the roses bloom again a solid granite
monument will have marked this, his last
resting place, and on that monument will
be inscribed these words, Erected by
the Woodmen of the World" No Wood.
man sleeps in an unmarked grave. And
each recurring spring, when nature has
put forth her buds, and the flowers are
blooming in fragrance, We shall meet tc
decorate this grave. God grant that we
shall have nc other Woodmen graves tc
decorate.
Into the silent grave we now consigr
the mortal remains of our beloved friend
to sleep in the bosom of his mother
1 - 1911 -