The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1921-12-05
MEMORIAL
SERVICE FOR
THE ELKS
Odd Fellows Hall Scene of
Impressive Service Sum
day Night

| Nearly 200 Elks and thel
friends gathered at Odd Fellow
hall Sunday evening to attend tn
annual memorial services of 81
Johnsbury Lodge, No. 1343, Bene
VIOLENT and Protective Order of tn
Elks which was in charge of P
D. d. G. Exalted Ruler C. Ro.
! Calderwood. 1t was the larges
attended of any of the memoria
services ever held by the lodg'
| and was most impressive and in
spring. The officers assisting th'
| Exalted Ruler were Esteemed
Leading Knight Harry w. Wit
ters,, Esteemed Loyal Knight Rob
| ert P. Nichols, Esteemed Lectur
ing Knight Jutten A. Longmoore
Esquire Oscar Beck, Chaplain Ar
thur Wakefield, Inner Guard, Sam.
uel Z. Richardson, Tyler, Horace
f. Anderson, Secretary. F. w
Magoon, Treasurer, S. A. Moore
Trustees, George w. Caldbeck l.
s. Jewett and Frank E. Harris.
Musical selections were given by
an orchestra composed of Al
phonse f. Drouin, Paul E. Sar-
gent, Ralph J. Provencal, Ray
mond Laughlin and Glenn V.
Mooney. Miss Lillian Richards
and Mrs. Hazel B. Levasseur cave
two well rendered solos and the
ritual was carried out under che
direction of Exalted Ruler Cal
derwood. Lighted candles were in
front of the assemblage in men,
ory of the seven brothers who
have died since the lodge was es-
tablished, Dr.. Henry A. Folsom,
Arthur B. Carr, Albert F. Gilmore,
Charles c. Locke, Henry Burgess,
Charles A. Bancroft and Bernard
S. Eastman. As the secretary call
ed each name taps were sounded
by the bugler, Rolfe Schoppe, and
the candle was snuffed out by the
Esquire, Oscar T.. Beck. After
other impressive rites the oration
was delivered bv Arthur F. Stone.
The address, which is published by
request, here follows:
at is inspiring to think that
this solemn service, rich in its
symbolism, is being held tonight
in hundreds of lodges throughout
the United States where over n
million Elks and their friends have
gathered to memorialize their de-
parted brothers "whose faults we
write in the sands, their virtues
upon the tablets of love and MEM
ory." If it seems to you that this
beautiful service has an air of
mystery about it let me remind
you that the two great events of
our existence, life and death, are
also shrouded in mystery.
"The French historian, Monsieur
Taine, says that after several cen
turies of barbarism and idolatry
there came to England in the MD
die of the sixth century a band OF
Roman missionaries, bearing a
crucifx and chanting the litany.
They were received by the burly
Saxon king, and after the service
one of his chiefs arose and said,
"'Oh, king, you remember what
sometimes happens when you are
sitting in winter at the table with
your earls and thames. Your fire
is lighted, your hall is warmed,
and without is cold and snow and
storm. A swallow flies in at the
door, pauses for a moment and
then flies out. The brief moment
is pleasant to him, but he soon
passes from winter to winter, IN
the twinkling of an eye. Such,
methinks. is life compared to the
uncertain time beyond. 1t ap-
pears for awhile, but what comes
after and what came before we
know not. If we can learn from
these men it were well for u.s."
sI saw at Amherst College last
June among their collection of
fossils from the so-called bad
lands of the Dakotas an egg that
was four million years old. If, as
geologists tell US, there has been
life in this great round world for
four million years, how brief IS
our own existence and how mystic
rious it all is. Since that egg was
laid to the present time we have
gained no new knowledge of what
Fife is. And our knowledge of the
life beyond is just as great
But there isn't a person
in this hall tonight that does not
believe in God, in the life that is
and and the life that is to come.
There is not a race in the world,
| care not what its color or its
creed may be, that does not believe
in the immortality of the soul
Centuries before Christ rose from
the dead Job. in his grief and per
secution, uttered that triumphant
Easter song, 81 know that my Re-
deemer liveth."
civilian Jennings Bryan found
in an Egyptian tomb some kernels
of wheat that had laid dormant
for 5000 years, yet still possessed
with that mystery we call life. If,
he said, these kernels had been