The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1914-02-20
Charity is Promoted
By Knights of Pythias
Declares J. Il. M. AdQir

Representative Adair last night
spoke as follows to the large crowd
attending the Knights of Pythias Col
den anniversary celebration:
Il am glad to be here for two rea-
sons. First, because | am interested
In Pythianism, and want to do what
l can toward the advancement of our
order. Second, because it gives me
opportunity of meeting and mingling
with so many citizens of this beauti-
ful, progressive and prosperous city.
| remember very we'll my FIRST visit
here. 1t was when l was a boy fif-
teen years OF age. l was living with
my mother in a little old log house
three miles north of Portland. 1t was
the first time l had ever been out of
the county. and the sights 1 saw here
at that time were wonderful to me-
The Richmond then was not the Rich
mond OF today. Now | see a city of
twenty-five or thirty thousand peo-
pie, with beautiful homes, splendid
streets, magnificent business blocks
standing as monuments to the energy,
enterprise and progressiveness of
your business men, while your many
churches with their domes and spires
pointing heavenWard, is an absolute
guarantee of your moral standing l
congratulate you on your progress as
we'll as upon the fact that you are
citizens of one of the best cities in
the state of Indiana.
A Truers Friendship.
Let us not forget while We are
here assembled that the great ad-
Vancement of our nation, the rapid
progress OF science, the wonderful at
tainment of art and the vast improve
ment in literature has been stimu-
lated and aided by the establishment
Of truer Friendship, a more liberal
Charity and a purer Benevolence, and
that the order of the Knights of Pyth-
las has been one Of the leading fac
tors in the establishment of such prin-
ciples. Founded upon such principles
as these our order has grown until it
has spread it's broad wings over every
nook and corner, no matter how OBJ
scure, Of this broad land of ours.
Order Has Kept Pace.
The progress of the order of
knights of Pythias has easily kept
pace with the advancement of our ma
ton. Since the birth of Pythianism m
this American continent has been
crossed in every direction by rail
roads, dotted over with beautiful and
opulent cities, made so light with cleo
tricity that midnight darkness seeks
a hiding place in the domes and
spires Of mangnifcent structures
while the telephone has made $4,000
600 people practically one family talk,
ing to each other as if around the
freside. During this time the dark
and gloomy caverns of superstition
have been transformed into temples
of thought, and the demons of the
past are but the angels of today. The
numbering stage coach has been sup
planted by the lightning sped engine
and now you can eat your dinner one
day in New York, the next in Chi
cago, the next in Denver, and the next
on the Pacific slope. The scientific
world has sprung from the cradle OF
its existence to its present state of
development since the birth of Pyth-
ianism. Such rapid progress and
higher civilization has done a great
deal toward the betterment and ele-
vaton Of mankind. But it remained
for the order of Knights of Pythias to
establish degrees of friendship, char
ity and benevolence which will cor
rect the wrongs that selfishness and
hatred have fastened on our social life
and develop charity and brotherly
love for our fellowman.
Growth of the Order
With this purpose in view the ban
ner of Pythianism has been planted on
every hilltop and in every valley from
the pineries of Maine to the orange
groves of California. and from the
Great Lakes on the north to the Cult
on the south. and has always kept
pace with the progress of the nation
I'VE love our order because of the
splendid work it has done in the ele
walton of mankind everywhere. We
love it because Of the lessons ii
teaches and the good it has accom-
! plished. We love it, too. because the
requirements for membership is not
| based upon wealth or position or upon
I cast or class, but because it is based
on true manhood. We love it because
| it is the home of the common people
of our land. We know God loved the
common people because He has made
| SO many of them. A man may not
| present a good appearance, his hands
may be hardened and blackened from