HERALD Official Organ Of The Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME 53 — NO. 33
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE, SPJST, P. 0. Box 100, TEMPLE, TEXAS
(Our guest editorial was written this week by Sister Lillian Kruse, member of Lodge Pokrok No. 88, Houston. The poem on this page is her favorite.—Ed.) Now that we have enjoyed for one year the effects of decisions reached by delegates to the XIXth Convention, it is interesting to give thought to our Youth program and to study reports of Youth activities. This interest is intimately entwined with the solicitation of the kind of families the SPJST seeks to obtain as new members. According to the editorial last week we have 10,296 youngsters who are under 16 years of age. How many are 12 and under was not stated, but it would be a fine achievement to get them to maintain an interest in our Order throughout their lives. This group is now tied closely to us by apron strings. Its members usually find something to amuse themselves with anywhere they are taken by their parents. They may put up some resistance to being taken to lodge activities where there is no provision for the retention of their interest, but their parents always enjoy the last word and they do go. On the other hand, teen-agers have always been spoken of as a very important segment of our organization. We have talked to them about the roles they have been expected to play in the future of our Fraternal Order.
OUR YOUTH ACTIVITIES SOLITUDE By Ella Wheeler Wilcox Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone. For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own. Sing, and the hills will answer; Sigh, it is lost on the air. The echoes bound to a joyful sound, But shrink from voicing care. Rejoice, and men will seek you; Grieve, and they turn and go. They want full measure of all your pleasure, But the y do not need your woe. Be glad, and your friends are many; Be sad, and you lose them all. There are none to decline your nectare,d wine, But alone you must drink life's gall. Feast, and your halls are crowded; Fast, and the world goes by. Succeed and give, and it helps you live, But no man can help you die. There is room in the halls of pleasure For a long and lordly train, But one by one we must all file on Through the narrow aisles of pain. However, we have all too often been disappointed by their loss of interest in our interests and by their departure from the scenes of our activities.
CZECH-AMERICAN FESTIVAL AT THE STATE FAIR
AUGUST 18, 1965
Now, the old problem of the young member lost to active participation in lodge activities seems to be on its way to being solved. Lack of provision for holding the interest of juveniles as they grow to maturity has been the most significant single reason for losing young members from active participation in lodge affairs. Special emphasis on the relationship of our Order to its rapidly maturing teenagers is now the order of the day. It is gratifying to see that almost $10,000 was appropriated to Youth activities this year. This financial support of years of talk about the importance of our young people to our Order is "a giant step" in the right direction, In recent years admirable youngsters have encouraged youth activities by providing talents making them winners in talent contests, by establishing themselves as youth royalty, and by demonstrating the remarkable ability to become "Miss ',SPJST." Now that we are supplying more material support it can be expected that young members with a keen interest in lodge affairs will increase in number. The youngsters now participating in this improved youth program must be Tavorably impressed by provisions made for them by their Fraternal Order. We can be confident that they are being encouraged to develop lasting interests
® DALLAS, OCT. 10th