Norwich bulletin., 1912-12-02

It is this evolution that has given | birth to the Order of Elks. A century 1 ago they would have had no following, i but the world grows better; men sense more and more their obligations to their fellows, and hence has come this medium through which those obliga- uons can be so well discharged.
 To many men mans theology seems to have crushed from Gods religion too much of it's vitality and power, but within our walls 1t is taught creed as strong and simple as the teaching of the Man of Galilee, the gospel of the Jericho road to treat your neighbor as yourself. This is @ mans world, and here among men can be found some thing to satisfy the innate desire we all have for precept that can guide us as we deal with men. The order not only strengthens our good impulse, but guides it. We not only tell what to do, but how, and do it. We not only open the door to practical oppor- tunity, but point the way to practical results
 But we do more than this. While man owes duty to his fellows, he owes, too, duty to himself. As years go on we accumulate behind us an in- evitable background of sadness-the soberness of responsibilities. the fading
 
 more frequently furrow the years, all tend to obscure the sun if we let our selves sit in the shadow. But we should never let ourselves forget that outside the sun is shining and that thousand doors are open through which we can escape from the gloom to the brightness.
 There is music, art and literature waiting to make us forget (and happi- ness has been defined as the art of for getting), and best of all there is the gift of human companionship. For no matter how full in other ways, a life without love and friendship is very dreary and lonely one.
 And right here lies the supreme personal value of an organization such as this. The exigencies of business and environment keep most of us apart and prevent the close contact that is 1 necessary if one man would under i stand another. We see our friend to- day, and then a month may pass with out another glimpse of him. so that to all intents and purposes We remain strangers yet-but a fraternal order i furnishes a common experience and a common interest, and by thus broaden ing the ground for meeting creates and strengthens the tie that binds.
 But to my mind our order has even wider, more significant meaning than all this. We stand as a protest against the mere materialism of today l-our mission is not to make money, but to use and spend 1t when charity calls; not to preach to our members the duty of success at the cost of an others failure, but to teach them that
 justice to others may mean sacrifice of self; not to advance the belief that
 competition requires the surrender oi
 sympathy, but to teach that brotherly
 love requires us to do to others as we
 would they should do to us-a fidelity
 to our neighbor as well as ourself
 These ideals we place above tho
 mere material things of life, and ir
 doing this we perform an act of i'm
 portance not only to the individual but
 to the state.
 Sentiment is the breath that make. of patriotism living fact. It is sen.
 timent that painted the co1ors on oul ) flag. Religion, liberty. love, hannines'
 and. everything worth living for i: sentiment By its help comes love tt earth and with it's sisters. faith ant : charity, it leads along path that doe : not find it's ending in the grave. It i the reason we are here today. l makes life worth living and heavel l worth praying for. And when we clos } against it the windows of the soul w shut from out our lives a force fo ] happiness and a power for good. And because we make life happier } because we make it better, we stan } for the ideals that after all are the req 5 and vital things of life, our order vii t grow until everywhere shall it be rec 3 ognized as one of the great force ] making for the uplift of the world. The orchestra rendered Evenin g Star by Wagner, and then came tn 8 closing ode, Nearer, My God, to Thee. Mortuary Record of 43. s The list of deceased members ( s Norwich lodge follows: James = Coats, w. M. Rawson, John c. He! e W. J. Moriarty, John F. Griffin, Georg A. Allen, Charles W. Tubbs, o. : Durell, John J. Sherlock. S. J. Dunl
 George w. Brown, James Haggert,