Fraternity (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 3, Ed. 1 Monday, March 1, 1915 Page: 2 of 8
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FRATERNITY
i i
order and carry an insurance for the
benefit of their parents, whose value is
all too often unrealized until after the
"unseen hand" has shut the door be-
tween this life and that which is beyond?
Does it help or hinder the home life of
that family that these children are aware
of their responsibility to the common
center of their lives? Does it or not
add to their self-respect to remember
that they, too, are endeavoring to live
up to their highest conception of their
duty to their own kin? Does it help or
hinder the home life when each mem-
ber who belongs to a fraternal order
brings in his or her quota to the con-
versation at the home table?
Does it help or hinder the home life
when father goes to the lodge, instead
of to the saloon? (He is bound to go
somewhere, as the average man cannot
abide for more than a short time in the
bosom of his family—he is not made
that way.) Does it help or hinder the
home life when mother goes to her
lodge, with all its many activities in-
stead of moping in the house after a
monotonous day's work, until her nerves
are too worn and frazzled to permit her
to add anything but discomfort to the
family atmosphere? However, much
we may believe, and of course we do
believe it, that a woman's sphere is her
home, we also know that she must have
a change of air within that sphere if it
is to continue to be a home in the best
sense of the word. And the working
woman needs her club (which is her
lodge to her) quite as much as does her
more affluent sister and whether she
needs it or not is evidenced by the num-
ber of Woman's clubs existing and
flourishing in this present day of grace.
A friend of mine who observes life
fram many angles has often said that
she was much impressed during a year
of business travel with the devotion of
„the members of a large Order to their
society and the officers thereof. Does
that mean nothing to the women ex-
periencing such emotion? Is it not what
we get from loving that helps us as much
as what we get from being loved? Some-
one has said, "It is not what we take
up, but what we give up that makes us
rich," and so if the devoted women who
make up the rank and file of the great
standing armies of the Fraternal Or-
ders, learn the lesson of service which
is the keynote of life outside of the walls
of their individual homes, do they not
acquire something that they can take
back to that home and so help in its
growth? If none of us ever went away
from our own fireside to learn what
other people were doing in their homes,
I fear we would not progress much, that
we would soon find that "me and my
wife, and my son, John, and his wife,"
we four and no more, make up but a
small part of the greater home that is
comprised in the words "My Native
Land."
If we consider that broader definition
of that word home, that definition that
takes us back to the land of our an-
cestors (wherever we may have come
from), to this "Home of the Free," what
influence has the fraternal order in that
large home? Does it strengthen and
benefit that life of the home in that
wider sense? If not, why not? If it
does not, let us see to it that it quickly
does; but I believe that it does in a
greater degree than we know, for wher-
ever two or three are gathered together
in the name of good and humanity, they
cannot avoid hpving an influence upon
the country at larg*.; they cannot evade
their responsibilities, they must either
advance or retrograde. Let us see to
it that we advance and carry the homes
of the land with us; that we show the
world what an inflence the fraternal
orders have in the world's work, the
world's uplift; that we fill our place
worthily in the scheme of the universe;
that we serve well the world. That is
the true meaning of life service. What
may not the fraternal orders do for
the strangers within our gates, the citi-
zens of the future; those who are coming^
to us in such numbers from the shores
of the older world. Those who are
coming for help and strength and light?
Let us see to it that they do not receive
a stone when they ask for bread; that
we do not forget our obligations to
others who have not had our opportu-
nities for development. Let us show
the world in the future as we never have
in the past, the real meaning of the
word Fraternal, and there will vanish
from our midst those blots upon the
escutcheon of our national home that
should never have ben allowed to be-
come fixed there. If the great Fra-
ternal Orders would unite in all their
strength to exterminate the social evil,
would combine for the elimination of the
child labor disgrace from the rolls of our
country's year book, would demand the
extirpation of the white slave traffic, we
could compel the churches to join in
the crusade for cleanliness and decency
in the national home.
When we do these things, when the
whole adult population is recognized as
citizens, when equal rights mean some-
thing more than a combination of words,
when a single moral standard prevails,
when economic conditions are what they
should be, when these conditions are
brought about by an earnest, concerted
effort upon the part of these forces that
can bring such things to pass, then and
not till then, shall we know the true
meaning of "Fraternalisjn."
When we come to really believe that
it is not only the man or woman bear-
ing the same name as our own, who is
our brother or sister, then shall we know
what the Master meant when He called
Himself, "our Elder Brother." And
then perhaps we shall really know the
meaning of that sweetest word that
was ever written or sung, that magic
word which has no synonym of half so
wonderful a meaning, that word which
comprises all we have known in the past
worth while, all we have to look for-
ward to when our journey here is done,
that word whose fragrance is wafted up
to the very doors of eternity, that match-
less word of our childhood, "HOME."
—Western Review.
SUPREME PRESIDENT, E. S. ROY-
ALL, VISITS DENISON AND
OTHER POINTS.
Banner Lodge No. 6, U. B. A., one of
our most prosperous lodges, held a rous-
ing meeting on February 18th; elabo-
rate arrangements for the occasion were
made, an invitation to our Supreme
President to be present, was extended
and accepted by him. This was by no
means his first visit to Banner Lodge
No. 6, he was not surprised at their hos-
pitality, for he well knew that the mem-
bers of that lodge never did things by
halves. Bro. Royall had the satisfac-
tion of knowing that he was a welcome
visitor, and that his remarks would be
a source of pleasure as well as profit
to the members.
After attending to the regular routine
of business, the lodge took up the initia-
tion of candidates, over twenty pre-
sented themselves and went through the
ordeal without a hitch. The admission
of new members has been a feature for
some time, and Fraternity hopes that
the good work will go on. This was one
of the most successful meetings held by
this lodge for some time past.
From Denison Bro. Royall ran down
to Bonham where he met most of the
members of No. 262, shaking hands with
them and talking U. B. A.; among them,
Bro. Seay, who is very enthusiastic, and
doing good work for the U. B. A
We wish to extend our congratula-
tions to Bro. Seay, for his success in
bringing to our folds Mr. Will Harkins,
County Auditor. "Keep the Ball Roll-
ing."
A call from Wolfe City, Bro. Royall's
former home, on account of a sick
brother, made it necessary to forgo
other contemplated visits.
While in Wolfe City, Bro. Royall
called upon many of the members there.
' ' I —1
Mrs. Scrapp—Statistics show that
married men live longer than single
men.
Scrapp—Yes, and it serves them right.
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Schmidt, Henry C. Fraternity (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 3, Ed. 1 Monday, March 1, 1915, newspaper, March 1, 1915; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth233208/m1/2/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.