Article October 24, 1925 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from William H. Atwell, Larry R. Armstrong, Stanley Baldwin, Harlan, Herbert M. Gesner

[William H. Atwell, as quoted in the Elks Magazine, New York, New York]

It is a great thing to be chosen by the ballots of citizens to political office; it is a great thing to be chosen by the Governor of a state or the President of a nation for important work; but it is a still greater honor to be chosen by the voice of a great fraternity where selfishness plays no part, and where love is the dominating spirit. ... I summon all strong-thinking and nation-loving Elks to a twelve-month consecration to the motto, "He 'went about doing good.' " ... You are to be guardians and saviors to little men and women. You are to hear the call of life; you are to know that bodies are more than gold, and that the soul of a child or the virtue of a woman is of more value than the building of a city! Your fields are to be broadened. The city is not to be neglected, but the smaller town is to have a redoubled energy. Christmas and Thanksgiving are to be left on the calendar, but any day, and any need, and any time are to be the hours of service. . . . He "went about doing good," not only to the individual, but he "went about doing good" to his country. The stirring days of the present and the mysterious, veiled, unseen days of the great future that lies out before us, must not dull our intellects to the vital importance of continued watchfulness for the perpetuity of our country and the glory of our institutions.

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