Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1926-08-05
MASONIC PICNIC
WELL ATTENDED
Address of DIR. Abernethy Was Mas
terpiece of Eloquence; Orphanage
Class Gives Concert
BY r. n. BALDWIN

BY R. n. BALDWIN
A large crowd of MaSons, with
their families and friends met in the
American Legion Park here Tuesday
morning at II O'clock for the annual
picnic given by this fraternity.
The meeting was called to order by
Dr.. J. D. Rankin, of the Appalachian
State Normal The audience stood
and sang America and Prof. Rankin
led in prayer invoking Gods blessing
upon the occasion, the Masonic order
and the speaker Of the hour. He also
introduced the speaker Rev. j. E.
Abernethy, presiding elder of the
Statesville district of the Western
North Carolina Conference.
DIR. Abernethy's Speech
DR.. Abernethy began his address by
saying that he had decided to change
his subject from "The Bible and Free
masonry to Manhood. He spoke
for one hour, but it is doubtful if
anyone present thought he used more
than half that time, so Interested were
they in what he had to say
"freemasonry, ne said. ''was old
when Hannibal stormed the gates of
Rome, old when Alexander fought
at Arbela, old when Homer wrote
the Had. nine centuries , before
Christ"
Manhood
"Throughout ali these sloW-crawl-
ing centuries, Masonry has stood for,
and has pied for, and has emphasized
manhood" he continued. Since
Diogenes went forth with his lighted
lantern in the daytime looking for an
oncso man, Masonry has stood for a
hundred per cent manhood Masonry
has always said what an American
writer Of literature said, If thou wilt
to thyself be true, then it doth follow
as the night the day, that thou canst
not be false to any man. James A.
Garfield was asked when he was a
boy in college what he intended to
make out of himself. His answer was,
My first desire is that | shall make
man. If | fail in this one thing,
then | must certainly fail in every
thing else. The Lord told His Droob-
ct in days of old. Go thou into the
street and see if you can find for
me man. The street was full of
people but manhood was at a prerni-
um then. Manhood is al a premium.
today.
"We have leaders in commerce,
leaders in politics, leaders in industry.
leaders in the school, leaders in So
ciety, and leaders in the church; but
The thing that God cares most for in
this world is lacking. Conscience is
whispering into The mind of every
young man in the world today, BE a
man But the voice of conscience is
often stilled by avarice, greed and
corruption. We have commercial
corruption, political debauchery. in
dustrial knavery, scholastic decep-
tons, ecclesiastical frauds, and social
Waywardness in every section of the
country. Manhood is often yery
much lacking.
The only thing that can counte-
ract these terrible deinquencies is the
ideal of one hundred per cent man
hood that is advocated by, and we
always hope is reflected by the order
of Freemasonry.
Our organization has always stood
for, still stands for, and shall for
ever stand for manhood. BY this
mean lnright, outright, upright, down
right, alright manhood
"A long time ago some workmen in
Rome built walls and used keystones
made of wax. After while the
wax would crumble and give way.
The arch would fall and the building
would be thrown down. 1t was then
that Mason coined the word sin
cere.' This word means without
wax. 1t means that in the archway
of manhood there should be no wax
OF deception, but that the keystone
should be one hundred percent gran
ite. 1t should be out of imperishable
marble. 1t should be of the cleanest
silver, and of the purest gold.
"What we need today is men and
women whose lives are so clean, so
pure, so holy, so noble, so grand, that
we would not be hamed to have ev-
cry man and every woman copy all
we do and all we are"
People Who Are Apathetic
DR.. Abernethy said he was dividing
mankind into three classes for his dis
cussion. The first class he discussed
was the Indifferent class, the class
that cares for nothing, the folks who
cannot become aroused over the prob
lens of the day He said this class
was willing for the worst to come to
the worst and no matter what may
happen they would not become
aroused, nor perturbed, nor disturbed
in the least. "This is the class that
must be watched and guided and
guarded by those of us who want to
see the right triumph and help the
best things to prevail. This is the
class that fiddles while Rome is
burning. America has her enemies
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