The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-01-01

E~S NNN"N~ AAS DSSN Use ia ~ .SpDV~
tunities. It only inquiries as to his
needs.
Brotherly love, when exercised, en-
genders such sentiments of regard for
the rights of others that no act is done
or permitted by the individual which
infringes upon the equal rights of an
other. The first inquiry win not be,
How much can / gain by this trans
action?" but "Shall l by gaining 1t
deprive another of what is or ought to
be his?"
Justice is the balance in which these
rights n wrongs are weighed; and the
members of our order should be in
spired by its doctrines to make it pre-
vail in all their transactions and to aid
in the cultivation of honor, candor and
true manhood.
Fidelity demands strict loyalty to
truth, the maintenance of Justice and
the exercise of charity. Charity, the
cornerstone, and fidelity, the cap
stone.
We are taught to exercise charity
to the living S65 lays in the year. We
assemble one day in that cycle TO
express our fidelity to the
Of our dead. AS Elks we recognize
/ hAiob IN Ia 10 uSSlCSS dliu IDIIG Will
out influence on it's associates. how
ever brief or thoughtless the contact.
The Influence of the least extends be-
yond the mere touch, beyond the sight
and far beyond the mountaineering.
The teachings of our order, if OBJ
served, will ever increase that in
f~luence, by bringing strangers into
contact, promoting justice and guard
l Inc kho Aioa nc Prsnvl.Is- g. A.
shaft of envy and the tongue of malice.
No member of the order, whether at
tempting to practice It's teachings or
utterly needless, but is under their
~benefcent. though, silent. and perhaps
unknown influence. His life may be
marred by faults; his course may be
\ devious; his word harsh and his aim
low; yet they are straighter, kindlier
and higher than they would have been
without the instructions and associa-
tions of the lodge and the helpful prin-
| ciples it teaches.
The objection so often made to
some church, and to the. church as a
whole, that it contains hypocrites, evil
doors, criminals and those who fail
to practice the precepts which they
preach, is without force. The sugges-
ton that members of our order who
are taught or required to practice
charity, fidelity and the other virtues,
and to bear i'll will toward none are
oblivious to these teachings and do
not differ from, and are not more
brotherly In their conduct than outsid-
ers, is equally unworthy of considera-
ton.
He whose ideals and aspirations are
not higher; yes, immeasurably higher,
than his practices, has unworthy
ideals, and his life is aimless,
The value of these associations can
not be measured by such standards or
methods. 1t is not a question of COM
parisan with others, but solely of COM
parison with ones self. No human be-
ing is competent to judge what another
might or would have been without the
influence of fraternal teachings. We
may grovel in the dust in spite of
worthy examples and associations; yet
without them we might, and doubtless
would be in the mire and slime.
With centuries of civilized ances-
tors behind, some of US are asyet only
modified savages. With a different
heredity n in different environments
we might be wearing rings in our noses
instead of on our fingers.
Greed n religion are largely mat
tiers of habit and temperament. No
single creed is adapted to all men and
without detracting from the merit of
any creed it may be said that the or
ders of fraternity are steps by which
we may ascend to planes of greater
service and attain virtues which go
to make this life tolerable and the
future hopeful.
The difference between Anglo-Saxon
civilization and the so-calIed civiliza-
tons of other ~nationalities lies in the
fact that the former breaches the prac-
tice of faith, hope and charity. These
are unknown virtues in all pagan and
heather religions.
We are assembled today, because,
following the precepts of the order,
we hold sacred the memory Of u
dead. We congregate to dedicate no
tablet of brass or monument of stone.
We gather with no purpose to specify,
or discriminate, between the virtues
of our dead, or between the virtues and
the deeds of one brother and those of
any other. We are here because we
believe that if weighed in the scales
of justice, the virtues of each will far
outweigh his faults. We come togeth-
er because the evil is to be forgotten
and the good forever treasured, and
because nc life has been inspired by
our precepts from which we cannot
embody some element in our own
lives with profit.
We do not come to mourn but to re-
Ejoice in their lives and their fidelity.
1t has been said that MORNINGS for
departed friends is but an expression
of the animal instinct. The dread of
the physical suffering, the pangs of
separation and the lack OF knowledge
concerning the future give death its
terror. All peoples agree that there
Is a hereafter, but it has never been
proven. All agree that the character
and motives of the life here have
some relation to the ability to appre-
ciate and enjoy that other life. 1t is
too much to feel that a knowledge of
wasted opportunities, of acts of op-
preston, of malice, hatred and UNI
Kindness toward our fellows nay so
lessen u capacity to enjoy the So
ciety OF the charitable, the Just the
true and the faithful as to give us a
sense Of disappointment akin to ter
tor?
Man is his own star, and the soul
that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all life. all influence, all
fate,
Nothing to him falls early or too late.
Our acts our angels are, for good or i'll,
Our fatal shadows that walk with us
still.''
One night while on board a ship at