TO SUBORDINATE LODGES: Beneficiary Statement OFFICE OF GRAND SECRETARY AND TREASURER, } PEORIA, ILL., December 31, 1903. The following is a statement of receipts in the Beneficiary Department for the month of December, 1903: Beneficiary Assessment Notice No. 123. To the Treasurers of Subordinate Lodges: PEORIA, ILL., February 1, 1904. Dear Sirs and Brothers-You are hereby notified of the following deaths and disabilities: Assessments for death and disability claims are hereby levied as follows: For each member whose name appears on the rolls of membership on Jan. 31, 1904 (also for all members having taken a withdrawal or trans fer card after Jan. 1st, and for all members who died or were totally disabled since that W. S. CARTER, SPECIAL NOTICE.-All remittances must be made by BANK DRAFT, MONEY ORDER, OR EXPRESS ORDER. Members initiated on or after Febuary 1st, are not liable for this assessment. Treasurers are required to forward 82.00 Grand Dues for each new member initiated since last returns were made. It will be noted in the right hand column that the above claims are all paid and the date of payment given. 9. Under no circumstances should the members of a local lodge depart in the least from the ritual adopted by the 10. Grand Lodge. It is not sacred, but it was designed for the Ladies Society. If 11. conditions change-if a weakness appear -at the proper time it will be placed in the hands of those best skilled in ritual-making, who will add not one thing that does not conform to the true spirit of its character. If officers have their parts committed -and most emphatically they should commit them, for no officer need flatter herself that she has ever exemplified the work of the ritual impressively with her eyes glued to a book-if the entire ritualistic work is made as solemn and impressive as the ritual designs it, the full beauty of the teachings of the society will be delineated to the satisfaction and pleasure of the most critical, the impression received of the society by a can No. 113, Ft. Orange, Albany, No. 118, Rensselaer City, Rens- No. 10, Helpmate, Elkhart, 52 Someone has Hurrah for No. 60. surely been doing some good work in Harrisburg, Pa. Why not write us a letter and tell us to whom the credit belongs? The sisters of No. 3 are more than pleased over the increased membership of 58, but do not relish going back to fourth place. However, dear Sisters of 99, No. 3 already has four candidates awaiting admission with a "class of ten," to be taken in during this quarter. So you must hurry. It is not strange that the thoughts of the writer often wander to No. 125 of Jackson, Michigan, where she assumed the obligation and was instructed in the (326) work of our well-loved society. Not the least of her pride in the "big ten" concerned Charity Lodge. What has happened to 125? We, "who lead," are great people; but do you know, sisters, since April 15 (almost nine months) there has been an increase of only sixty-three members in the entire membership of the "big ten." Many of the smaller lodges have made better showings. There is no credit in simply leading, we must grow in proportion to the advantages that surround us. However we will not stop to find fault with, or to mourn the lost opportunities of the last nine months. Let us see what we can do during the next three. The next report will appear in the May issue, and the one question that will concern every member of each lodge in the "big ten" is: Did the membership of her lodge increase during the quarter? Not, why didn't it, but did it? The lodges that do not grow shall not lead. Our "little rustlers" shall not be overshadowed by big, non-progressive, societies. Still the writer has faith in those "who lead" and would be more than disappointed if they were "weighed in the balance and found wanting." Watch the May issue. What is Good. Beauty, said the page; Home, said the sage; Fame, said the soldier; Equity, the seer. Spake my heart, full sadly. "The answer is, not here." Then within my bosom Softly this I heard: "Each heart holds the secret, Kindness-is the word." John Boyle O'Reilly. Robes. The robes of other societies are beautiful, their floor work is excellent, their lectures are ennobling, but they were not designed for the Ladies Society and are as out of place in it as the four Ionic volutes would be upon a roundhouse. These societies have selected historical characters or incidents from which to elucidate their teachings and exemplify their aims and objects; their rituals conform to them; their robes are correct historically and each one has a meaning. The writer believes in robes, she believes in floor work, she believes in anything that will add to the impressiveness of our ritualistic work; but she would have them all mean something, she would have them founded upon ideas, designs, characters or incidents consistent with the purposes and nature of the Ladies Society. Let us not be in a hurry to make a selection. Let us give to this matter our best thought. Levity. Do not imagine that the ritual does not provide fun enough. If the thousands of women who are eligible to membership in the Ladies Society but who are not members, understood that there is absolutely no "buffoonery" in the initiatory ceremony-no side-degrees to embarrass and annoy them-we would add one thousand names to our roll of membership in one month. There is a time and place for everything. Levity at times and under circumstances is well and good. It drives away the spells of monotony. But in a lodge room, when questions should receive serious consideration and when candidates are being instructed in the work of the Order it is unwarranted. A good president will be stern and strict in regard to this. She will have the courage to stop in the midst of any workno matter how important-and rebuke a member who is playing the clown at the wrong time. The Blackball. It is To blackball is to censure, to injure, to harm, to disgrace; and to blackball wilfully where a blackball is underserved is to violate the sacred principles of our Order. The following from an exchange is good and should have a general reading: "The blackball is not a club with which to revenge a personal grievance. not a dagger for a coward's use to even up an old score. It is not a brush dipped in black paint with which to besmear the character of one who may hold different views from our own. A blackball is a fraternal shield to protect not individuals but the Order from those who would injure it. It should never be cast with a prejudiced mind or a selfish thought. The "Thread Tooth." Remember it is a serious thing to constitute one's self a judge, jury and executioner in one single act unless the Order's interests demand it." Our Aims. My friends, how many times are you Asked, "What are you club women trying to do? What in the world are you aiming at? To a great many people it seems SO strange That a woman should wish to broaden her range Of thought, that she should ever desire to climb Those intellectual heights sublime, Philosophy, science, history and art. How little is known of a woman's heart! Her loved ones will have the benefit. That we club women are on the brink The needs of the little ones at her knee, and beaux. The club has given to every woman A love for the beautiful, good and human. Our homes are more cultured, we now are above The gossip and scandal the ignorant love. Our aim is the knowledge that elevates, strives, And we make better sweethearts, mothers and wives. -Ella Darling McKillip, The dentist looked at the incisor about which complaint had been made, and nodded significantly. "I see," he said. "Thread tooth." The words conveyed but little intelligence to his hearer, and failing to comprehend their significance after a few moments' reflection, she asked what he meant by it. "You do a great deal of sewing, don't you?" he asked. "Yes," she replied, in a bewildered way, "but I don't see " "And you bite your thread instead of cutting it, don't you?" interrupted the dentist. "I don't know-" "Well, I know. Of course you do. Nothing else would have made this tooth look as it does. This biting of thread is the most pernicious thing in its effect on the teeth that a woman can do. It is surprising how many of them have fallen into the habit. It would require only an extra second to take up the scissors and clip the thread, but the woman who sews lifts the garment to her mouth, and with those sharp teeth severs the thread, thereby gaining a fraction of a minute, perhaps, but thereby literally sawing the enamel off her teeth. Gnawing thread once or twice a day can not possibly be harmful, you argue. Probably not. But when you bite it a score or more times a day, and repeat that every day in the year, the effect is bound to be seen at last in what I call the 'thread tooth.' "If it were only the silk and fine cotton that women bite, it wouldn't be so bad; but you don't stop at anything. Why, the other day I was in a house where a woman was sewing buttons on a child's shoe. The thread she was using was little less than a rope in thickness, but she bit it off just the same. Before I went away she said she would be around to see me professionally in a few days, as her teeth had been troubling her. I asked her which one needed being attended to. She pointed out the one that served as scissors, of course. I can't tell a woman's age by looking at her teeth, but I do know whether she does much sewing or not."— Penny Magazine. Two Sides of the Question. The London Express prints this poem with a double reading. Read it as it stands, and woman is highly flattered, |