Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-04

Elks Sunday Afternoon at 3 o'clock,
when the annual memorial services
were conducted at the club rooms.
Howard G. Bennett gave the memorial
address in which he stressed the fact
that the past is important only in
the influence it has on the present
and the future, saying that death had
not separated the Elks from their
fellows, who have passed on in that
the influence of their lives is still
felt.
Special music was a feature of the
services, which We're conducted by
friends and relatives Of the men on
the roll of honor were present. The
memorial address was The principal
feature of the program. It follows:
Such an occasion as presents it
self today, affords us one of those
pleasant and profitable opportunities
to turn aside from the swiftly on
rushing current of American affairs,
and tarry a while as in a hmpid,
peaceful eddy. even as a mariner
takes his bearings, that we may re-
view and reflect upon the events
of the past, study the status of the
present, and strive therefrom to gain
somewhat of knowledge, perhaps
something Of inspiration for the fu-
ture that holds its responsibilities
of citizen duty for us all.
New Problems
To-day we gather under different
conditions, under different surround
ings, with new problems that must
be solved if we are to hand down
to our children the heritage they have
a right to expect from us. | feel
that I am sustained and inspired by
an appreciation yelling up from the
hearts of true friends, loyal brothers
accord and sympathy with the cere-
monies of this occasion. Yes, more
that I feel that the choir invisible
is chanting beautiful hymns of appre-
citation of these holy rites and adora-
ton of the great Exalted Ruler of
the Universe under whose divine and
beneficent dispensation the B%eneyo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks
has attained such distinction, and our
ton of the sunshine of His precious
favor and care. So, let us blot from
our memories the horrors Of the past
few years, forget the sordid things
of today. cease for a moment the
struggle for advantage and pay hon.
age and reverence to u dead.
Human life calls for an explana-
ton. There is so much in it that
is hard. There is pleasure here,
also much sorrow. Around US we see
young men defeated in their ambi-
lions. youthful dreams cut short, life
cruelty blasted. We see the never
ending struggle with poverty, the I'M
ceas.ng worry of business and the
home; we see terrific struggles with
weaknesses and passions; slavery to
sin and the helplessness of old age.
We see nations of the earth clutch
ing Zach other by the throat with at
tendant horrors that are ~unspeakable.
And then we hear the question
asked: is life worth living?' Philoso-
ply does not give US a fitting answer
for it says, Life is a dream, q sleep,
a shadow, a vapor that appeareth for
a while and then vanisheth away Its
offspring is seen in the attitude Of
epicurean and stole. The one says,
Let us eat, drink and be merry. for
tomorrow we die The other, Mans
lot is emptiness
But when one comes into the bright
light of the teachings and principles of
this order. be secures an explanation
of life that is at once satisfying and
sustaining. He learns that he is not
the scion Of sticks and stones. That
the God of whom he Graves to know
is an ever present father who walks
beside him into unknown tolls and
through the deep valleys to uphold and
cheer him. This order teaches him that
childhood and youth are but the prim-
airy grades of life, death but COM
mencement and all the time between
spent in learning how to live. That
growth in character is the goal that
the great Exalted Ruler has set for us.
That a mans disgrace is not that he
is imperfect. but that he is willing to
be. A mans glory not that he is
perfect. but that he is ever striving
TO be. That the totality Of struggle is
the measure of life's greatness.
Honor Dead
To-day as ole by one our brothers
and our friends pass on, we experience
suffering and sorrow, yet always and
forever our grief is tempered and mel
lowed by the knowledge that without
our dead, life would be a void; senti-
ment would not exist, beauty would
be unknown; we would not care for
Immortality but that we hope to meet
our dead; they are the inspiration of
religion, the source Of lasting hope,
Life would be death and death would
be eternal without our dead. In graves
their bodies may turn to dust but to
us they never change. In walks, in
drives, in Gains, in storms, in smiles,
in tears, in tenderness and love they
live and live and live and can never
change or die.
80 this service is instituted out of
respect for our departed brothers and
for serious thought upon the part of
the living. We do not come here TO
mourn with morbid minds nor sit in
sulien protest at their taking off, but
rather to wave them a salutation from
afar, for they are not gone. they are
not lost, they are merely away and
though we yearn with outstretched
hands and weary hearts for their re-
turn, 1T may be that with the broader
view vouchsafed to them not us. that
better off by far than those thew
left behind upon the shore.
$50 this memorial day should be an
occasion for pride, reverence, tender
ness and hopefulness, not sorrow, not
grief, not heartache. The dear ones
who have gone before have left us
this healing balm to wounded hearts.
this precious legacy, our country.
Our order is endeavoring to carry
on humanitarian work along the lines
laid down by the Great Master mind
and so far as mans limitations permit
to carry out the tenets of the great
golden rule. To do unto others as we
would that others should do INTO Ms