Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-12-04


with kings,
The powerful of the earth-the wise, the
good,
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past.
All in one mighty sepulchre.
And millions in those solitudes, since frst
The fight of years began, have laid them
In their last sleep-the dead reign there
So shalt thou rest; and what If thou with
draw
In silence from the living, and no friend
Take note of thy departure? All that
viii share thy destiny. The gay will
laugh
When thou art gone, the solemn brood
Plod on, and each one as before. will
His favorite phantom; yet all these shah
Their mirth and their employments. and
And make their bed with thee"
Yet in spite Of the soundest philosophy,
in spite Of hope and belief in immortal
ity, we cling tenaciously to life. That is
as it should be. This life is worth the
living. 1t is worth battling for. In Gods
own time we shall be gathered to our
fathers, but meanwhile it Is good to 1.-Two
intensely, purposefully. joyously, and 10
work out our destinies with faces toward
the rising sun.
That life is good, that living, and SEN
tient, we can move amid the beauty anu
the majesty of nature. inhale the fra
GRANGE of the flowers, listen to the song
of the birds, the signing of the wind, the
ripping of the brook and the roar Of the
angry surf; that living we can mingle
with those we love and share with them
the knowledge that life's joys are but the
keener for it's sorrows, and its sunshine
hut the brighter for its storms-all this
explains quite naturally and simply our
shrinking from the thought or death
Yet it does not whollys account for it.
Above all else we dread the possibility of
being forgotten by our friends. Alone
and forgotten in the GOODNESS and ever
lasting silence of the tomb! The picture
powerfully grips our imagination. Such
thoughts are morbid and irrational, no
doubt, but now and again they will steal
upon US. And this, too, in spite of the
consultations of religion and the belief in
a glorious immortality.
The all-sufficient answer to such dis
turbing reflections is tWo-told: FIRST,
our memory never fades from the
hearts of those who love us, and true
friends do not forget. They remember!
They remember! And in the light of
that immutable truth, we realize anew
the priceless value of friendship.
Again, there are certain days dedf
Gated by the living to the memory Of
the dead. This is such a day. BY fit
n, hn
nevolent and Protective Order of Elks
has set aside the first Sunday of each
December for assembling to do honor
to the memory of their departed broth
ers. The service is simple, beautiful,
impressive.
We have listened today to a roll call
of the absent. They answered not, but
upon the tablets of love and memory
their names shall endure forever" for
the object of our Memorial day is Ito
remind the living that an Elk is never
forgotten Upon the Memorial tablet
in our lodge room their names are suit
ably inscribed, With the forget me not,
the amaranth and the clinging ivy,
emhlematic of charity, Immortality and
brotEerly love, we have dedicated our
altar to their memory.
Primarily this service is for the
dead. But its secondary and mighty
purpose is for the living. The certainty
of being thus remembered when we
shall be called to 1.-THE windoWIess nal
ace of rest does much to rob death of
its grimness and terror. Not only will
we be remembered, but our lives and
actions will be reviewed in the soft
light Of charity. THE faults of our
brothers we write upon the sand, their
virtues upon the tablets Of love and
memory" That is the motto of the
Elks. If the cardinal principles of our
order-charity, justice, brotherly love,
fldelltN-mean anything, and I think
they do, our motto should be applied
IN liberal measure to the living. For the
lesson to be drawn from death is that
of greater tolerance and charity to-
ward the living.
We of the living reverently and ten.
derby consecrate this hour to YOU of
the dead We are thinking of vou. and
of all that was highest and finest and
noblest in you, and we have neither
thought nor memory of aught else. If
you were to send us back message
would it not be this: LET the living
be to the living as the living are to the
DEAD. Search for the good; be slow to
believe the evil. You render full ms
tice to the dead-why not to the Iiv
ing?"
Such is the message that would come
from the strong, true, loyal hearts that
nave ceased to beat. Let us take that
message home with us today and pom
der upon 1t at that hour of tender
significance when the great heart of
Elkdom swells and throbs-the golden
hour of recollection, the Homecoming.
OF those who wander, the mystic roll
call OF those who will come no more. I"
And in that golden hour Of recollec-
ton, let us remember that each de-
parted brother had professed his be-
lief in the Supreme Being, and think
OF him as having approached his grave
sustained and soothed by an unfal-
terin5 trust" To him let us apply
those words spoken Of a martyred
President by great statesman whose
home still lies beneath the shadow Of
our State House:
Let us think that his dying eyes
read mystic meaning which only the
rapt and parting soul may know. Let
us believe that in the silence of the
receding world he heard the great
waves breaking on a farther shoro