The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-02-25
PHILLIPS'S EULOGY
AT EAGLES ANNUAL
MEMORIAL SERVICE
Secretary of States Eloquent
Address Thrills MembersOf
Bridgeport Aerie

Secretary of State Albert e. Phillips |
thrilled the members of Bridgeport |
Aerie of Eagles at the Memorial SER
vices Sunday evening with his touch |
ing euIogy. The hall was filed with |
Eagles and their guests.
Following are the deceased mem !
bers of Bridgeport Aerie whose deaths |
occurred during the past year:
James eastman, Timothy J. Crow
ley, Thomas MCGEE, Patrick Connery,
James r. Ryan, Henry Calvin, Thomas
L. Dardis, Joseph Scheitfnger, Jr., Cor
nelius Cashin, George E. Thompson,
John J. Baker, James E. Burns, Thos.
Fay, James T. Sullivan, John Howard,
Edward J. Skerrett, John Quirk, John
Brady, James J. Burns. Following is
the address of Secretary Phillips:
On these occasions are spoken many
platitudes. We utter words; we man
ufacture sentim ents. We indulge In
cant. But on the seats beneath this
platform are wrinkIed faces and pal
sled fingers of human beings to whom,
our words, though empty sounds to
us, bring g1adness home, If spoken
sweetly of their dead. The dead! our
dead! How much that means! Health
may be lost and fortunes be Destroy
ed, but God himself has not the pow
er to deprive us of our departed NO
other face or form can win them from
US. They are beyond the charms OF
| the seducer and the allurements OF
| the destroyer. All else may change,
! planets may be destroyed and suns
put out-on this revolving sphere,
| mountains be stricken down and coun-
| tries disappear, but our cherished
| brothers who have passed into the
| great beyond are preserved in the en-
! baIming of beautiful and touching
| memories. They live in the sunsets
| they recall, and the moments their
conpanionship made molly. They are
| ruif in cir
and devotion. Their unselhshness we
| cannot put away. Youth has its toys,
/ manhood its dreams and plans,-of
| things that are to be. They come
and go and are forgotten. But. to
age when toys and dreams are gone,
the only thing that never changes,
the only thing that will endure is the
| sweet and everlasting memory or our
own who have passed away. Death
| is the only loss that sweetens life. 1t
| gives the final touch to tenderness
Failure to gain distinction, property
or power taints life with bitterness,
but when our loved are lost, the tears
| we cannot hold, wash out of life its
malice and despair, and in the dark
ness of the futures night, lights then
| appear, that show another realm
| where death is life. without our de-
i narted. sentiment would not exist
| beauty would be unknown. We would
not care for immortality but that we
/ hope to meet them in the Great Be
You'd They are the inspiration OF
! religion; the source of lasting hope.
Life would be death, and death would
/ be eternal without our cherished ones
who are separated from us. Graves
may turn their bodies into dust, to
US they do not change. In walks, IN
drives, in storms, in springtime calns,
in smiles in tears, in comforting and
love, they live and live and 1ive-and
| ia or oh D6adI
Sorrow for the dead is often ming
led with regret for acts of Kindness
left undone and words of helpfulness
left unsaid Should not, therefore.
j. such an occasion as this teach US &c
be more thoughtful of the living than
; ever before? Why should our kind
ness and our forbearance deal only
, with the dead? Have not the living
equal claims upon us? If this occa-
sion serves to teach us this lesson and
! to revive our sometimes wandering
! faith in humanity, it will have sup
piled a memorial to the dead worthy
of their memory and mourne suitable
; than tablets or marble or bronze.
: Is We are told that this is pre-emin-
{ entity a practical age when men pride
5 themselves most of all upon theiI
s ACCOMPLISHMENTS in the world OF
: events In that field, success is the
2 measure of achievements, and failure
y is dreaded as men dread disease. Mer
i are proud and prone to believe them
4 selves superior to their fellow orea-
4 ures, but this ought not to be so. The
:. brotherhood and equality of mer
t should be based upon the equality o
justice, not upon environment ol
: wealth. It is not your political posi-
e ton nor the social standing which
f you hold in your community, nor i
r | it the accumulation of wealth or tn
{ amount of intellectually or education
| of In n
| OPPORTUNITIES afforded you that go t.
| make up life. Above the accumula
: ton of wealth, above social standint
e in your community, above politica
# position and influence. intenectualit!
s and education, there stands as tn
: highest of all life's assets, the kindl
deeds which throughout your lives
your are able to render to the caus
a of humanity.
r tional, fraternaI and benevolent insti
= tuition. It occupies a unique posi-
e ton Within it's fold the rich an
e Door the strong and weak are place
n upon an equal footing. The real ties
II in life is not one of class or wealth
h but of merit and worth. Charity
/ brotherly love and doing good are no
restricted to classes. None are S
poor that they cannot help others
a The plain common people need fra
8 ternal protection and help and ca
Il this age is the prosperous man VIII
j. can look around him with sympath
j. and the poor man who can look upo
the prosperous man without envy
Equality is the basic principle, tn
;, grand sentiment upon which this OF
SANITATION was founded, it is tn
% watch-word that has made this ma
= ton great Our great men, the fore
leading the battle of progress in thi
Id country have come from the ranks c
n the plain people, and these men, goo
Il | enough to fight the battle of life, =:
- battle of this country, the battle {
progress, the battle of humanity, ar
good enough to sit with in a lodg
and to Join in the work which is be
+I,Ie ~