The Eleven O'Clock Toast Contest - Competition is tentatively scheduled to happen
on March 10, 2013 at West Shore Lodge #2257 at 2:00 PM
The Exalted Ruler and Candidate enter the Lodge Room
and take their positions at the altar. The Contest Chairperson addresses the Exalted Ruler: "Exalted Ruler _____,
are you ready? When the Exalted Ruler acknowledges he is prepared, the Chimes of Eleven will be sounded. At the
completion of the eleventh chime, the Contest Chairperson will announce "It is the hour of recollection".
The Exalted Ruler will then proceed with his recitation of the Eleven O'Clock Toast.
You have heard
the tolling of eleven strokes. This is to impress upon you that with us the hour of eleven has a tender significance.
Wherever Elks may roam, whatever their lot in life may be, when this hour falls upon the dial of night, the great heart of
Elkdom swells and throbs. It is the golden hour of recollection, the homecoming of those who wander, the mystic roll
call of those who will come no more. Living or dead, Elks are never forgotten, never forsaken. Morning and noon
may pass them by, the light of day sink heedlessly in the west, but ere the shadows of midnight shall fall, the chimes of
memory will be pealing forth the friendly message, "To Our Absent Members."