James Earle Fraser

Fidelity

One of the Cardinal Virtues of the Order of Elks. Heroic sculpture in gilded bronze.

Exalted Ruler: Fidelity is of supreme importance, foronly while we remain faithful to our Obligation will weact toward one another with Charity, Justice and BrotherlyLove. It is the duty of the Exalted Ruler to preside withimpartiality, and it is the duty of the Members, under theirObligation, to assist in upholding and maintaining thehonor and dignity of the Order and of this Lodge. LodgeEsquire, arrange the Altar.

Exalted Ruler: I welcome you to this station for final instruction. You may well be proud that the Members of this Lodge have deemed you worthy of their confidence. I trust that you may continue to merit their approval, and become a true and faithful Member among us. To accomplish this, you must at all times have in mind the solemn and binding Obligation which you have so recently assumed, and I charge you that your highest duty as an Elk is to keep it inviolate. Conscience will not permit you to expunge a paragraph, eliminate a sentence, or evade a responsibility; nor can you lay it aside when you leave the Lodge room, for it must henceforth be your constant guide and faithful monitor.

The cardinal principles of our Order are Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity. Each has been adopted as the motto of a station in the Lodge, Fidelity being the motto of this, the principal station. It is symbolized by the Star which shines above our Altar.

Fidelity implies strict adherence to our Obligation and faithfulness in the discharge of our duty as members of society.

As time runs on, in sun and shade, may you bear with you ever in life’s changing course the sense of obligation and of wrong, and in your heart the rapture of a high resolve.

Life’s story has been often told, yet all must solve anew its problems for themselves.

Our time upon the stage of action is but brief, yet in the drama each must play a part. The character is left for each to choose; a villain if we will, or person of honor, holding high above all things — high as Hope’s great throbbing star above the darkness of the dead — respect for virtue, and love of family and home and friend.

’ Mid swiftly changing scenes that mark the action of the play, we by each other oft may be aided in our part, or from each other catch inspiration for a high resolve; and to this end exists the Brotherhood of Elks.

The Order of Elks is distinctively American. Linking the destiny of our Order with the destiny of our country we have made its Flag the symbol of the crowning virtue.