THE ORDER OF THE MOOSE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 62, 6 November 1912, Page 6

THE ORDER OF THE MOOSE.

WHY IT IS SO NAMED.

The Only Eteast That Can't Lie Damn. Now that tbo emissaries of the Loyal Order of the Moose of the World have found their way to Sydney, the people who are asked to join the new organisation naturally want to know why they should. It was explained on a recent Saturday evening at a smoke concert held by the Moose (says the Daily Telegraph). “The moose is a great fighter,” Pap J. Beveridge informed the gathering (“pap” in the Moose corresponds to “brother” in other lodges). The bull moose would fight to the death in defence of the young or weak ones of the herd. His knee-joints were so formed that it was impossible for him to kneel or lie down. He stood erect all bis life. Unlike other animals, his head was erect, because to a large extent be foods off trees, while other beasts get their food off the ground. When ex-Prosidcnt Roosevelt was shot, he said, “It takes more than that to kill a hull moose.” “Moreover,” said Pap Beveridge, “those who joined the Moose would find it had a most beautiful ritual. Ho had read all the .great poets, from Homer downwards, and ho could appreciate fine language ; but ho would make bold to say that no one could improve very much on the language used iu the ritual of the Order of the Moose. The order was open to any white man. ft had been suggested that a “kangaroo’ lodge he formed in Australia, but the objection was that it would he local, whereas the Moose was world-wide.”

Pap Long, the organiser, who has come from America to start the Moose in Australia, said the Moose was the biggest social order of the kind in the world. Membership anywhere entitled one to membership in every other lodge of Moose in the world. The order bad a membership of Over a million, and was established in the United States, Canada, Hawaiian Islands, Philippine Islands, and Europe. It supported every kind of “sport, and formed Moose' teams for every game. There were club-rooms in every city where,the order was established, which the wives and lady friends of members were invited to use. The order formed Moose orchestras, Moose amateur theatricals, and it had a sick benefit fund upon which members could draw from any .Moose lodge, irrespective of where they might happen to be, provided they were financial members of their own lodge. Already there had been over 250 applications for membership in the Sydney Lodge.

Pap W. L. Duncan explained the meaning of the word “pap.” The three letters stood for “purity, aid and progress,” which was the motto of the order. The final item was the Moose yell: Howdy, howdy, P.A.P., We are M.0.0.5.E. Get the password, get the rap, Howdy, howdy, howdy Pap.