New Britain herald., 1915-12-06

truer Elks, and consequently truer 1athers, husbands, sons and brothers
 Tt is a noble thing, my Brothers, to remember the dead, to recount their virtues, to sing their praises, and to forget their faults It is a noble thing to give your living tri- butes of friendship, respect and praise.
 'Too often the tributes to the dead is the timely payment of the debts which should be paid, while living. No life is fawless, no life is with out some virtue. Humanity is prone to error. It still bows to the charms of the flesh.
 "Your good work must never die, the golden chain of charity which binds us to the fatherless, the home 1 less must never be broken, charity l must never be your guiding star Un- l charitableness saddens many lives.
 The cruel blow, the harsh word, the
 unkindly thought goes forth from one,
 and the queen of virtues, charity,
 suffers. Your order to be strong
 must be based on kindness and real
 fraternity. Esteem your companions
 while they are living, and show them
 proper regard. When tribute is due
 be prompt to pay tribute Be gener- |
 of your companions faults and be
 ready to forgive and forget trans
 gressions.
 'I deem it pertinent at this time
 to briefly refer to our order, it's his-
 tory, it's aims, it's principles and teach
 ings.
 "The Order of ElSs is one of the , splendid fraternal organizations of
 this country. It was conceived many
 years ago by many good and lovable
 characters who were actuated by a
 desire of laying within the confines , of our country an order, which might
 take as it's golden motto: Do unto
 others as you would they should dc
 unto you. It has succeeded and : prospered because at all times it has appealed to the hearts and consciences and intellectual capabilities of man
 kind. ''The Order is purely an American institution. No person not an Ameri. can citizen can become a member o1 it and no subordinate lodge of Elks l can be legally organized without ter ] ritorial jurisdiction of the United
 States of America. The American flag enwraps it's altars, is the idolize6 symbol of its national allegiance, an6 American manhood and principles
 the source of it's origin and hope fol 5 the future. The almost phenomena growth of the order, and the splendid $ rersonnel of it's membership, is con e elusive evidence of it's inherent merit T and most eloquently proclaims to al the desirability of being numbered
 among it's members. We have prover c by our splendid work the realism o u the beautiful words of the poet: > We live for those who love us, Il For those we know are true, n l For the Heaven that smiles above us c And for the good that we can do.' g we have watched over the in Il terests of the widows and orphan y of our deceased brethren and we hav e played our part to make the burdens ,f duties and responsibilities of Tiff l. happy and pleasant. Our boundles ,r charity has flowed into every par IT. of our country. We have brough " peace, comfort and assistance ant ye have spent hundreds of thousands o s. dollars in relieving the unfortunate e. Our Order has among it's member to ship all races and creeds which con g. tribute to the splendid citizen Id ship of our country, and it is ou IT. duty as Elks and American citizen