Mr. Allen stepped to the side of the fire.

"Fellows, it is with an ever-increasing satisfaction that I meet with
'O.F.F.,' and I think it would not be out of place to-night to say just
a few words that have been in my mind these last few days. I am proud to
be a member of such a club. I am proud to call every fellow gathered here
my brother. I am proud to have a voice in so clean and democratic a
government. I am proud to be able to find my social amusement and social
fellowship in such ways as this club employs--in hiking and tramping in
the woods and learning Nature's secrets. We will not always be together
in this most happy and congenial group. Fate will soon separate us. Some
will grow old; some will die before their time; some will perhaps be rich
in this world's goods; possibly some will experience poverty's sting. Yet
none of us, fellows, need ever want for real friendship; and, after all,
it's that which makes life glad and beautiful for us, or sad and unhappy
if we do not have it. I have often warned my memory never to lose the
picture of a single one of these simple meals, about the open fire
together, so that in days to come I may go back and refresh myself at
these springs of pure contentment. It's a beautiful thing in a fellow's
life to just be living for the welfare of others, as we are trying to do.
I'm wishing one thing to-night for you all, and that is, that there may
never come a time in your busy lives when you will find it to your liking
to follow any other standard than the one we have set for ourselves here
in this little group. I am hoping that we will never find any type of
social fellowship any more attractive to us than this clean, wholesome,
out-of-door life that we have learned to love so well. The time will
come, fellows--did you ever think of it?--the time must come when we will
not be able to gather at these fires and chat together of our mutual
interests and common woes. But I hope the time will never come when we
can forget the good things for which we stand, day by day, in our living.