The Daily Missoulian., 1911-12-04


bloom OF freshness, how grand It
would be. But alas, the supernatural
does not happen. When the Grim
Reaper strikes, those who fall cannot
come merely living men Of memory.
Under the teachings of our order.
all hearts warm to one another with
the glow of an abiding affection. and
no Elk ever departed this life un-
noticed or Is forgotten afterWard We
do not merely utter funeral prayer,
chant a mournful anthem, and then
dismiss all into the dark chambers OF
death and forgetfulness. but the MEM
ory of our brothers is held in sacred
trust:
They did not fall
Like the flowers that no man noticeth,
But like "A great branch of some state
Rent in tempest and flung down to
death
"The faults, the failings and the er-
rors OF the dead, whatever they may
have been belong in no sense to the
world. Their defects we leave to the
mercy Of the Merciful. to the judg
ment of God, whose forgiveness is
necessary for the best Of what we do
and are. Let the broad mantle OF
charity be draped over their fmper-
fections' Beside the grave I'VE speak
only Of achievements. Then let us
record their virtues on a tablet nf
love and memory. but let their faults
be writ in water
eat this, our hour of devotion to
the memory of the dead, while we
mourn our loss and give expression in
form and In word, to our sorrow, our
feelings might be very properly ex-
pressed in the following exquisite and
almost angelic words, as though
echoed from the dead in the heavens
above: l.
/" .Mortals who would follow me.
Love virtue; she alone is free
She can teach We how to climb
Higher than the sphery chime;
Or, II virtue feeble were
Heaven itself would stoop to her
"And, listening further, the same
echo will bring to our ears these
words:
Courage brother. do not stumble,
Tho thy path be dark az night:
There's a star to guide the humble;
Trust in God and do the right
" Some will love thee, some will hate
thee,
Some will flatter. some will slight;
Cease from man, and look above thee;
Trust In God and do the right
ut IL inexpressably strange how q
beautiful dream can be realized. and
how that dream can be so mysteri-
ously ahattered-the magnificent
preparation to live, becoming the
magnificent preparation to die. Oh.
how pitiful that one should fall just
as the sun began to shine with smil-
ing face upon his future. just when
life was young and limb was 1.-the:
just at the height Of his power and
strength, and just as opportunity was
beckoning or even when he had
reached the climax OF his career.
"I4eaves have their time to fall
And flowers to wither with the north
winds breath:
But thou! thou hast all seasons for
thine own, o death!'
1T is said that every cloud has
silver lining. l believe there never
was regret SO profound. that there
was not somewhere in the gloom,
comforting spirit-no sorrow ever SO
accute and hopeless. that some con-
soling thought did not creep In to
sooth the anguish of the heart. We
mourn for our brothers who have
succumbed to the conqueror of all
mankind. but find comfort In the
thought that in the silence of tke
receding world they felt upon their
broWs the breath Of eternal MORN
ing and find an uplifting consola-
tion In the belief that their souls have
grown into higher beings.
ut is sad to contemplate the death
of an Intimate friend; yet death is
only a temporary separation, the be-
ginning of new, life, life better.
nobler. grander than the one through
which we are now passing--an ad-
vanced step in Gods eternal plan.
How inspiring it is to contemplate