The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-12-24
MEMORIAL ADDRESS.

| AZ the aDnual IhttllHS VI tii'
Elks Dec. 8, by Harry F. Kelley:
The Order of Elks makes especial eff.
fort towards having reverence for the
memory of their members who have
died one of the emphatic features of
the organization and in pursuance Of
this purpose observes this day each
year by some service calculated TO KEEP
that memory green. The order by this
loyalty to the memory Of those whom
no more successfully stands the supreme
test of friendship, the ability to survive
the grave.
IT, be detailed to say something ap-
propriate upon death imposes an embar-
assing duty, difficult because SO common,
and common both in that it is cease
lessly recurring thing and in that all
humanity shall receive its cold embrace,
but particularly difficult here by reason
Of the high standard set for these occa-
sions by this lodge in former years.
1t requires some presumption for a
lay man to address himself to this theme
when brilliant men fortified by years
devoted to its study offer to us each
week the best results of their toll and
Inspiration, and still it may be refreshing
to hear the faltering thoughts upon these
problems of one picked at random from
the mass.
when we pause in the routine of
our every day duties to ponder upon
this life, and speculate upon the probab-
lie meaning of our existence here, as we
do tonight, the first query that forces
Itself upon NJ, the searching, piercing
question which defies attempts at eva
sion, which persists against the will.
which insists upon consideration and
| presses for IN answer the riddle in COM
parison with the infinite Importance of
which, the most momentous affairs of
our brief visit upon earth dwindle into
nothingless, is one which is az old AZ
| time and ~ new IA this day, about
which everything has been spoken that
can he said and yet forever enhancing
in its solemn mystery, the problem apt
ly put by the prophet thus and if
man die shall he live again An at,
tempt to speak a few words upon life
and death appears inevitably to resolve
itself into an expression Of the probaoil-
ity and possibility Of eternal life in what
we call the human soul and leads in
spite Of the seemingly utter impossible.
ity of the furnishing of conclusive proofs
OF an affirmative which will defy the in.
exorable demands Of the logican, in
spite of the lack of any dire ct evidence
which will stand the exacting tests ap-
| piled by science to other problems, to
a statement Of a perfect faith, certain
knowledge, that man does rise superior
| to the dissolution of his earthly clay.
| This is one Of the anomalies of history;
to no other concept does humanity cling
with such desperate adherence. The
human mind recoils from extinction. A
Mentor seems to whisper 'you shall
survive" The man normal in mind
and healthy in body loves life. To him
it is precious If this brief span of it be
such treasure what ineffable Joy to
live forever Must we steel our hearts
to suffer the end of our individuality
when our summons comes? Is this pleas.
ing hope merely childish wbim born
of Mans egotism or is there rational
ground for hope of a future?
In every age and cline men have
sought to state the reasons for the faith
that was in them The greatest thinker
of the Pre- Christian world and one of
the mountain peaks of intellect in uni
versal history brought to bear upon this
problem all the force of his giant reason
ing powers and laid the foundation for
nearly every argument used today in
attempts to establish the thesis. The
orator pictures in exalted phrase the re-
surrection Of nature with each recurring
! springtime, and points to her temporary
death when her flowers fall. her beauty
fades and winter wraps her in an icy
shroud, leaving her ~ apparently lifele4s
~ the mausoleums of our dead, asserting
that the annual fading and reviving of
ii Id, forest and flower supply by I'M
nistakable analogy the answer that the
soul of man will likewise hear the words
of hope when the autumn OF life draws
tn its close. The great pioneer physicist
toiling in his laboratory searching out
the laws that control the forces of ma.
ture learns that not particle of matter
has ever been lost, nor has the original
force in the world ever been diminish.
ed, that annihiation of matter or force
il an 'mpossibility; that from the begin
ming there has been no gain, no loss no
destruction, then voices his firmer con
viction that the spirit, of which matter
ia but the servant, is immortal, that his
own personality must be, even more
than force or matter, indestructibe !
The historian announcing that his re
searches Indicate that the race life un-
ceasingly works towards perfection in
sis.s that the undeniable laws which per |
init no exceptions require by reason of
their universal application, the perfec
tion of the individual life, which pal |
pably is not completed here, draws from