Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-07

moral and immoral forces, set in mo-
ton by men who have lived IN the
past, and we are but the living pieces,
of conducting metal through which
that good or evil may be transmitted to
our posterity. No man is. SO strong
| that he can fully resist the transmit
ting power of good and evil No man
is SO insignificant that all the ages Will
not feel his influence. Are we made OF
the metal that will try tOstop at the
transmitting office the evil and to God
speed the good?
Man is q free moral agent. He is like
wise a free immoral agent. He may work
for good or he may work for bad. Every
man leaves behind him an immortality,
that if he has, the world cannot escape.
Whether he may be rewarded hereafter
for Thea good he has done, OF punished for
the evil, the world cannot escape the
harvest he has soWn. TIs fruit whether
it be good or bad, the world must cat.
AS We SOW so must We reap, and likewise
must the world reap your sowing.
TO live a life that you may be saved
is selfishness-that others may be, is sac
riiice. 1t is more blessed to give than to
receive. il is cnnobl;ng to live for an
Immortality on earth that Shall cause no
man to fail after YOU have ceased to live;
that no act or words of yours, even in
it's most distant echo, shall turn brother
by a hairs breadth from the path Of
virtue, Of fidelity, of tGth ana Of justice.
Since the institution of this lodge three
brothers have passed away ThciI names
and virtues are inscribed upon the tab
let's of love and memory.
True to the principles of our orGer we
have met here to pay tribute TO their
memory. 1t is 4 beautiful thought and a
beautiful custom to meet on q special oc-
ca sion and to remind. the living of the
life and works of those who have died
] has been a custom through all the
ages for man to visit in thought and in
fact the graves of the dead. Memory is
a tie that binds the present to the past
ard the living to the dead.
The theories, the dreams, the hopes and
the visions of the great beyond all unite
to tnrn us back to the lives and the last
resting places of our departed friends.
Reason as We will and theorize as we
may, the human heart will not, cannot,
give up it's dea6. The lessons learned in
the chamber of death or at the TOMB of
living with the one eternal truth that life
is but passing moment, and during that
moment we should govern ourselves so
that we may look with satisfaction upon
tie life we have lived, and with calm
ness upon what the future has in store
for us.
The poet Bryant has given us in verse
q splendid rule of conduct in his poem
4..fz -
made up of two Greek words meaning
a View of Death. This poem is familiar
to all Elks and its injunction tells us to
$50 live. that when thy summons comes
to join
The innrmerable caravan that moves
To that mysterious realm, where each
shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry slave at
night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained
and soothed
Py an unfaltering trust, approach thy
grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his
couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant
dreams.
After quoting those beautiful lines it
seems almost a sacrilege for me to put
any thought of miEe into verse. But
these lines I have written 7 give to you
believing that your criticism will be tenn
pered with Charity, which is one of the
cardinal principles of brotherhood.
While some may think the prayers of
VIII move the very stars of Heaven,
And even Gcd upon his throne.
The weight and load Of life 70 man
And atoms Of this mortal earth
Are moved by faith and works alone.
With prayer and faith the man is drawn
r. higher planes Of life or earth,
His daily work is rightly wrought;
W-ithoi,t this hope and faith at dawn
His nightfal kindly shields from view
The life of good he used for naught.
The Immortality of life
Is soreht by some among the stars:
Free them from work and mortal STRIFE,
And kindly deeds by man to man
Are dimly seen beyond the clouds
But charity and brotherhood.
The faults Of man will wash away,
AMI memory will sure enshrlne
His name with ills he has withstood'
His work in life will not be lost
From end to end of world and tlme
| In work of life and rule Of hall
| With abnegaton self is lost.
And mystic cord doth bind us mere
| That each to each and all to all
| Nav give no i'll and take no good.
| And each to all grow near and dear.
By word. by look. by kindness power,
| Mans brotherhood in charity
Is shown at right, at noon, at morn,
| The stroke of eleven is not the hour
| Alone to keep the pledge ard faith
That warm the hearts of Elks forlorn
|
FoRTY-FIRsT ANNIVERSARY.