The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1909-01-25

The opperSSor'S wrong, the proud Ian
contumely
The pangs of disprized love, the laws
delay,
The insolence of office and the
spurnes,
That patient merit of the unworthy
take.
When he might his quietus take with
bare bodkin?
But that the thought of something be-
yound death,
That undiscovered country, from
whose bourne,
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes US rather bear the ills we
Than to fly to others that We know
All of us have our fardels to bear;
we are occasionally even subjected to
the laws delay, and we sometimes
srunt the groan under what seems to
be a weary life, but with the special
| privileges that surround those of us
| who belong to this organization we
are never even tempted to go to the
extreme that Hamlet did. We have
| the blessed privilege of knowing that,
however dreary seems the prospect,
we are sure to find the welcome hand
of good fellowship extended 20 us
whenever we cross the threshold of
this lodge. We know that, however,
black the sky, the clouds viii clear
| away under the mellow sunshine in
! this genial world of Elkdom, which Is
| all our own.
We are enjoined, however, by the
precePts of our order to look higher
than the mere qualification of our own
desires, the mere dispelling of our
own unhappineSS. There are thous-
ands of clubs and organizations thru
out the land where good-fel!owship
reigns, but nothing more. Not thru
that alone could this organization
have achieved it's remarkable success
and accomplished what it has in the
short years of it's existence.
One of the first and cardinal princi-
pies of our order, as embodied in it's
ritual, is this:
''An Elk is one who loves his fellow
man."
1 remember as child to have learn
ed poem about "Abou Ben Adhem.' -
Perhaps you all know it, but as it is
short and seems particularly appro-
pirate to this occasion, | will repeat
IL TO you:
"Abou Ben Adhem, (may his tribe in
creaSe.)
Awoke one night from a deep dream
of peace,
| And saw within the moonlight of his
room,
Making it rich and like lilly in bloom
An angel, writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Ad-
hem bold,
And to the presence of the room he
said,
What writest thou?' The vision rails
ed it's head
And with alook made all of sweet ac-
cord,
Answered, The names of those who
love the Lord"
And is mine one?' said Abou.-'Nay,
not So"
Replied the angel Abou spoke more
But cheerily still, and said, pray you
then
Write mine as one who loves his fel-
low men,
The angel wrote and vanished; the
next night
At came again with a great wakening
light
And showed the names of whom love
of God had blessed,
And 10, Ben Adhem's name led all the
rest"
The wish of the author has been re-
alized-the tribe of Abou Ben Adhem
has increased and multiplied through
out the length and breadth of this
mighty land-the E1ks, the cardinal
article of whose faith is to love their
fellow men, now spread their teach
ings of brotherly love from more than
thousand other temples such as this
we are dedicating tonight.
1t may well be that the founders of
our Order had this significant and
| well known poem in mind when they
| put the sentiment in the ritual, or, at
| least, that it truly and accurately
epitomized the cdux of their faith
namely, that the love of our fellow
man is, in fact, the love of God. Out
| of this sentiment, indeed, has come
| the four other great and noble ideals
which serve as the foundation stones
of our establishment. Charity" Jus
tice," tBrotherly Love-" and "Fide1i-
ty" are all the attributes of those who
love their charity" in
that it denotes that broad humanity
and sympathy, without which these
can be no such thing as love; Jus
tice," because in larger sense it
weighs the strength of the one against
the frailty of the other. and passes
gently upon the inherent weaknesses
out it friendship is travesty and love
impossible; and 'fBrotherly Love-" it
self the embodiment of all the others
How very deep and powerful the
imeaning of all these words. 1t is well
that they should be written as they
are in blazing letters on the four
sides of our lodge room. 1t IS well
that every member of our order should
stop and think over their full signifi
lcance. In them are bound up all tnai
is most noble and God-like in the rela
ton of soul to soul. Out of them
grows those two other particular at
tributes Of Elkdom, to which 1 shall
now but briefly call your attention
1 refer to "Benevolence." and PRO
: lection" 1t is a pure benevo'encs
that is our ideaLtne doing of good b.
unselfish and unostentatious acts o