Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1845-09-18
Odd Fellowship.


The following article from the Savannah Georgian
in relation to the order of Odd Fellows will apply
to the society every where, with the exception that
the amount of 90 dues and benefits varies little
in different States.
Among the peculiar characteristics of the present
century, and one which for good or evil will be pro-
ductve of most important results, is the principle of
Association. The spread of knowledge and increase
of political liberty have forced, upon the most
unbelevng, the sacred truth that power resides with
the people, while the msfortunes of the people and
their long protraced struggles in bygone days, for
the attainment of that Legitimate power have equally
nculcated the fact that ii alone be made availa
BILE by combination. The truth, thus elected by its
applicability to political and governmental affairs,
has gradually extended to social and private relations,
and mankind haYe discovered that the weakness incl
dent to nature an6he accidents of fortune only
be guarded against by system of mutual dependence
and support The spread Of this principle in Europe
is eSinced by the constant illusions of their political
fessayists; the Acknowledgements its Importance In
This Western Hemisphere. from which it took Its rise,
is shown in the rapid advancement of the Order of
Odd Fellows From the cynic who can see In the
symbols of the Order but the paythings of children,
and whose iconoclast propensites woud-urge him to
destroy all images, whether they be embems of char
iy; and love, of worship and dolatry we presume
not to defend the institution but to the of reec
ton, whose vision extends beyond the surface into
Odd Fellowship In its practical working is mutual
health-insurance company. The premiums paid are
the regular dues of the Lodge; the insurance, the
mutual benefits Of the Order. The fees which entitle
the applicant to all the degrees of the subordinate
Lodge, amount TO twenty dollars The annual sub
scripton is seven dollars and half If this be regu-
arly paid, and the conduct of the brother be worthy
the institution, ne receives while sick the of FIVE
dollars per week, paid weekly for the period during
which i'll health incapacitates him from pursuing his
ordinary business avocatons should he have entered
the higher degrees of the Encampment, which is
attended with the additional expense of ten dollars
and annual contribution of FOUR he receives eight
dollars per week.
The expense attending his attainment of the high
est degrees, is thirty dollars The annual contribu-
ton is eleven dollars and half less than the interest
upon hundred and fifty dollars, and should misfor-
tune overtake him, and wasting disease lay upon him
It's affecting hand he receives not as charity but
debt due to him from his Lodge, the sum of four
hundred and sixteen dollars per annum, that
for any less period of tme being the interest upon
an investment of five thousand two hundred dollars at
eight per cent.
In life insurance, taking the age of thirty, which
is under the mean age, in all the schemes to insure
for life in Georgia, for the sum of five thousand dol
lars, there is required an annual payment Of one
hundred and ffty-seven dollars and half to insure
ones health for the annual interest five thousand
two hundred dollars requires after the original pay
ment of thirty dollars, but the sum of eleven dollars
and half yearly, with the difference in favor of the
latter, that the premium on a life insurance policy
increases with the age of the applicant-in Odd Eel
owship there is such distinction, except in some
few Lodges an increased charge of perhaps five
dollars is made in the initiatory payment And these
benefits are extended, not only when at home with
his own Lodge, but wherever in this broad land from
Maine to Texas, the pillars of Friendship, Love and
Truth planted. In every Lodge the aid will
be offered to the brother of another Lodge in his dis
tress, and becomes charge against the Lodge to
which he is regularly attached.
To these benefits may add the personal attend
ance of friends during bis Sickness and their
ul services should that sickness terminate in DEATH
with provision for his widow and orphans who else
might be thrown the cold and pulseless charity of
the world. The nober and more exalted features of
the institution the kind feeling which companionship
generates the charity more than the charity of mo-
news which wells the faults of brother and sustans
him whom the world in its caprice would discard !;
the sacred bond which unites so many discordant
materials in a common Observation-Disclosures are re-
served for the initiated alone to know and feel.