The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-12-06
OUR ABSENT BROTHERS
Of in


! worth more than all our other social
ties. This is because they give the
/ first throb to the heart and unseal
the deep fountains of its love. The
Home has the further merit of being
the chief school OF human virtue.
Washington Irving once referred to
| the paternal home as the rallying
place Of the affections, and another
has called it the seminary of all
other institutions. Certain it is that
there is no place like it to make men
All authorities are agreed that its re-
/ sponsibilities, joys. sorrows, smiles,
tears, hopes and solicitudes form the
/ chief Interest in human life To
Adam paradise was home. To the
good among his descendants home is
paradise. And the GROWING glory of
the home is the wife and mother.
The Chinese have proverb that a
hundred men may make an encamp-
ment, but it takes woman to make
a home. In line with this but some
what amplified and wider in its scope
us the saying of Tying that households
| there may be, well-ordered and
Astounding in comfort; families there
may be, whose various members I've
in harmony and love,-but home, in
! its highest sense, there cannot be
where there is not one whom manly
choice has made wife and infant lips
have learned to honor with the name
OF Mother Next to God we are indebt-
| ed to women, first for life itself, and
then for making it worth having.
Ruskin tells us that the buckling on
OF the knights armor by his lady's
hand was not mere caprice of
romantic fashion. 1t is the type Of
an eternal truth that the souls hon
or is never well set to the heart I'M
less a woman1s hand has braced it,
and 1t is only when she braces 1t
loosely that the honor Of manhood
fails. may be somewhat old-fashion-
ed in my ideas, but it seems to me
that there can be no higher ambition
| for true woman than to be faith
full wife and happy mother. | am in
accord with those who hold that 1t
is the place which God has given won.
an, and she who fills it we'll is as
honorable and as honored as the
most illustrious man can be. 1t is
accepted as a truism that if we would
know the political and moral condi.
ton of state we must ask what
rank women hold in It. Their influ-
ence embraces the whole of life "The
woman's cause is mans. They rise
or fall together-dwarfed or Godlike,
bond or Free
To the protection of the home anf
, the preservation Of woman's honor
unsullfed every member of the Elks
order is solemnly pledged If any OIL
you have thought of them as royster
ers, with Indifferent ideas as to NOR
ais, intent only on their own pleasure
| be at once undeceived. Good fel
lows?" Yes. I grant that they are
, good fellows. Good fellows in the
: highest and best sense OF the term
! Too good to do aught to harm pure
: woman Their mission is to scatter
s sunshine, not cause tears They arr
$ optimists, all of them, and the.
s preach and practice the gospel of goot
j cheer 1t has been aptly said tina
t what sunshine is to kowers, smile,
Y are to humanity. They are bu
I; trifles, to be sure; but, scattered
: along life's pathway, the good the,
S do is inconceivable. The true Ell
y seeks to make others happy. and n,
i. one knows better the superiority o
t example over precept. The late e. F
G Whipple once said that God is glori
l. fed, not by our groans but by on
|, thanksgiving; and all good though
n and good action claim a natural al
t. lance with good cheer. II furthe
argument be needed in justification
of characteristic Elk trait it is to b
n found in the declaration Of an EN-
5. nent theologian that cheerfulness
friend to grace; 1t puts the heart l
tune to praise God, and SO honors re
= ligion by proclaiming to the worl
=, tndL We serve SOOu master.
The Elks order teaches also tina
only as we live lives that are relpfr
to others do we live the lives W
should live. To one and ali it says:
4, Don't crowd and push on the marcl
r. of life,
;. Or tread on each others toes,
!. For the world at best, In Its grea
unrest,
70 Is hard enough as 1t goes.
d Oh, why should the strong oppres
~ the weak
lie Till the latter go to the wall?
ID On this earth OF ours, with its thorn
IT and flowers,
! There is room enough for all.
2, II tagging brother falls behind
"a And drops from the toiling, band.
e II fear and doubt put his soul to rou
s. Tuen lend him helping hand
Or Cheer up his heart with words of hope
,e Nor season the speech with gall;
ly In the great highway, on the busies
= dav