Show I A SOCIETY OF I BACHELORS Weddings Often Result from Reunions History of the Odd Organization Organiza-tion Which Is Fourteen Years Old Nokomis IIITho famous bachelors bach-elors picnic was held tho other day at this place the home of the Illinois Illi-nois Bachelors association Nokomis claims no other distinction than that of being the birthplace of such a body and the devotees of the single life were feasted and entertained from sunrise until dark Tho bachelors state is regarded In this community as the ideal life Bachelors Bach-elors parade the principles of their cult to the world from the mecca of single blessedness Hundreds came from all surrounding places within a radius of 50 miles Unmarried persons of both sexes attended by companies and battalions to aid In the beatification of bachelor dom A feature of the entertainment was a wedding ceremony performed before the assembly of skeptical celibates Tho history of the association dates back to Aug 10 1892 when a few forlorn and hopclcs bachelors of Nokomis No-komis Invited their fellow unfortunates unfortun-ates to unite with them In a grand picnic at which time new schemes for more successful attacks on tho rapidly I Increasing ranks of unmarried young ladies wore given out to tho faithful Many marriages resulted in this reunion re-union and even the president of the order fell a victim to the charms of a fair enchantress Tho ranks became so depleted from this meeting that before another could bo held it became necessary to reorganize the society which was done rise reunions held on Aug 10 1904 and on Aug 16 1905 were most successful Fully 20000 people Wero In attendance attend-ance at each of the gatherings and unlquo programmes portrayftig tho existence ex-istence of a bachelor wero success I fully carried out I On these occasions as on previous ones every member woro a yellow badge upon which was scribed the motto of tho order None that I love r moro than myself I At the last reunion the prize of the oldest bachelor girl was awarded to a giddy young woman of 92 summers who In spite of her advanced age failed to exhibit any signs of being I afraid that she would lose out in tho contest for a bachelors heart and a happy homo After the last two reunions an epidemic epi-demic of weddings broke out A matrimonial mat-rimonial wave seemed to sweep through the ranks of the society and claimed for its victims many of its faithful officers who tendered their resignations and became benedicts A number of bachelor girl clubs In central Illinois are the outgrowth of the bachelors reunions Prominent among them Is the Hlllsboro Bachelor Girls club of Hlllsboro which dates Its organization back several years It is composed of wealthy handsome hand-some and talented young women of nlllaboro and all are members of prominent families In Montgomery county Quito a friendship exists between be-tween the two associations and several sev-eral weddings between Its members have resulted The present officers of tho associa tionnro C P Hamlin president G D Scott first vice president William o Adden second vice president Fred W Ernst secretary and George Hel derbrandt treasurer |