Bogalusa enterprise and American. (Bogalusa, La.) 1918-19??, 1918-12-05

tick, assisted by Miss Blanchard, sang
Nearer Ny God to Thee"
The memorial address was deliv-
cred by Governor J. Y. Sanders, who
chose for his subject, "Fraternalism. .
The address follows:
"My Brother Elks and Our Guests:
It is a beautiful thought to you and
to me that all over these United
States today, as the. sun is sinking in
the west, there is not a city that has
lodge Of Elks, but what is meeting
to do unto their brothers today just
what we are meeting to do unto ours.
"The Elks are indeed brothers,
near to one another, and as family
meets around the bier Of its depart
ed to think of the good that was in
their life only and to forget all the
bad in them, so once a year the big
family of the lodge meets in its
chosen home to pay parting tribute
to the brethren who have left this
lodge and have become members Of
the Celestial Lodge above.
America is the great land Of fra
ternal organizations. There are
more fraternal organizations in
America, many times, than all the
rest Of the world put together, and
two distinct features Of the fraternal
organizations are things that could
attract our attention in passing: One
| is the absolute equality and democ-
racy of the lodge. No matter what
fraternal or secret order you may
belong to in this country, all broth
ers are equal and practice the purest
democracy that there is IN the world,
and the other fact is that there is no
organization in this country Of ours
that any man can join unless he be-
Lieves in the Divine Power, in other
words, you must believe in God to be-
long to any fraternal organization in
America.
"The Elks have out outstanding
feature, and that is, to be a common
Elk, you must be an American citi-
zen. There is no Elk lodge anywhere
in the world, except in America, your
country and mine. No man can be-
come an Elk unless he is a citizen of
the United States.
'Last Thursday was Thanksgiving
Day, and for many years we have
gone astray in this country of ours
from the original idea of Thanksgiy-
ing. Thanksgiving Day was inaugu-
rated to return thanks to God for the
harvest and for the supplies that
would enable man to live through the
terrible climate of the New England
States, but the average American in
recent years rarely thought of
Thanksgiving as day for thanking
God for His goodness, but looked
upon Thanksgiving as holiday, when
we played football and ate great
big dinner and everything possible in
the way Of good things. But the 18th
of November of this year, falling so
close to the 18th, / do not believe
there was man or a woman in this
beautiful country Of ours who OBJ
served Thanksgiving Of this year in
this manner
eve all thanked God for his good
ness and for this peace which he has
given to all the world.
SIN this lodge of ours two of our
brothers gave up their lives in de-
Tense Of the principles for which we
have been fighting. One lies across
5000 miles Of seas and is buried in a
foreign, but friendly, land, and the
other lies buried in America, but the
one that lies buried in France is just
as close to our hearts and love as the
one who lies buried in America. The
love and fellowship of the Elk can
stretch across the sea lust as easilv
as it can reach across the land, and to
our brother who died in France and
to our brother who died in America
goes out today the love Of this lodge
Of Elks and to their sorrowing fam
lies the heartfelt sympathies Of all
of us.
"The Elks not only meet once .
/, year to do honor to their dead, but
they meet every day in the year to
! try to do some good to those who live
and some good. to those who suffer,
and If might pave this thought with
You today, the&se is not a member Of
this lodge who suffers in the loss Of
any Of their dears ones, but he can
take the sweet consolation that he has
the deepest sympathy Of every Elk.
Not only do we sympathize with our
brothers who have lost their dear
ones, but we also strive to do good to
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