The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1912-01-13
and it's poor rule that doesn't W,

1oui peoC WOIh, gentlemen, is not
shown in the amount of money you've
paid out in sick benefits, then. no,
not at all! Your treasury may be
, oEerdowing or depleted, that doesn't
necessarily signify anything to me.
Inc real determination of your worth
as lodge must be sought for, must
be feund in the spirit of E1ks in the
| process Of making. The perpetuity
OF your organization depends upon it,
1oure doing the most commendable
WORK Wien you get down to the fund
amentals, take the raw material and
TURN IL Out finished product You
nave no need to make apology for the
! KIND, Tor the character, of men you
take provided only you don't have to
apologize for the men you make!
others may criticize you because
you take in this one and that one and
the other one, and they will, but I
don't! If you gentlemen have this
conception, that it's your duty to make
pad men good and good men better.
you've got a real Christian insight!
I'm glad for it! The thing that we
all ought to be criticized for is see
ing man go wrong without making
an earnest effort to get him right.
And it's infinitely easier to get at him
when he's in than it is when he's out
You can't domesticate your deer until
you catch him.
It's no true spirit of "benevolence''
that persists in wrong course, when
we know it's wrong and when others
are being affected by it to their detri-
ment. II the lodge manifests the
spirit that's calculated to help us do
right it's our manifest duty, nay, it's
the acme of ingratitude, if we con-
tlnue TO disregard it's pleas and in
stfuctlons and thus subject it to adj
verse criticism and undeserved CEN
sure.
l am not deceived! There's MOTH
ing the matter with Gopher Lodge as
such; and if you have somebody in it
who's not just what you want him to
be, work on him, put him through an
other initiation, make him better.
that's what the church is trying to
40. That's what worthy organizations
OF all kinds are trying to do and it's
commendable.
You think l mistake the purpose of
your order when l class it as a char
acter builder, but I'm sure l don't!
Here's your ritual, here, beautiful in
expression, chaste in diction, contain
ing beautiful excerpts from master
minds in literature. Here are your
symbols taken from nature and art.
Here's your chaplain whose true word
echOeS the message from Sinai and
OllVet. Here are living men dying,
and dying men who must live Here
we are at the confiuX of eternities try
ing to solve the problems of life, to
untangle the skein of human existence.
10 get some answer to our queries
from that Sphinx called death and have
your ritual and classic lore, your SYM
Dolls and natural science, your Chap
lain and divine revelation, no rela-
ton to our. life problems, no answer
to our life questions, no connection
with our life tasks? Do you think that
lectures and ritual are to be LID serv-
Ice and prayer is to be lifeless word?
Are we not going to turn teaching into
terms OF life, precept into action, get
strength out of signs, encouragement
out of contact, broader conceptions
out of converse, put into lodge-taught
hands and hearts and brains the tools
OF life and tell your man to shape
his destiny. You can do that teach
ing in your lodge every week or two
during life but you can't read that
service for the dead over me but once
and then [ won't, know anything about
it, and would need to care less. What
you say and what you do after I'm
gone won't affect me, neither to my
help nor to my detriment, your fow-
ers will not delight my senseless nos
trils, nor can lattery soothe the dull,
cold ear of death. l will not care
then whether you put me in an oaken
casket or in pine box, whether you
chant your requiem or whether the
cold winds moan a sad farewell,
whether I'm laid in Oakland or buried
in the Potters' Field. You can march
if you will to the music of the dirge
and take your step by the measured
time of the muffled drum, but the
dust in the hearse will heed not at
all the funeral music nor will the dis
embodied spirit be recalled by rhyth-
mic lamentation.
NO, no, gentlemen, were emphaSlZ-
ing the wrong period. I'm pleading
with you to put your emphasis on life,
not on death. I'm pleading with you
to teach that no trappings at death,
no dignity of ceremony, no euphe-
torician, no solemnity of service, can
atone for the tragedy of m1sspent life
nor change the DEGREES of just heav-
en-, nor blind the public eye to we'll
known truth.
The old adage is true, as the tree
falls so it lies. Just as you live, just
SO you die; just as you die, judg-
ment's going to find you SO.
And / would have you make that
word, "benevolence" stretch beyond
yourself and beyond your little span
Of life to your wives, your children,
your worthy institutions. l know
some men who are thoroughly salts
fled when they keep up their dues,
remain financial in their lodges. They
don't need any bank account, don't
need any houses or lots, don't need
any life insurance, don't need to leave
anything behind, to be taken care of
when sick, to be buried when dead,
they don't want anything more. sim
cerely hope that the men of Gopher
Lodge are not using the lodge as an
: excuse, in that way, for not having
anything. Your opportunity demands
that you add something to the sum
! total of the races material assets
i Well be race of paupers forever
! unless we learn that it's an imperative
| duty to produce. more than We con-
sumo, to have a reserve, to spend less
than we make, to transmit something
besides debts to posterity.
! Broaden your Interpretation of that
word "benevolence" until it means
f~, Oh lrnr,