The Arkansas banner., 1850-06-18
eRATI0N.

| Wenty years ago. on The hrst occaslon or our appearance upon the public stage, honored by your confidence and generous Partality, it was my for l tune to address the assembled Order, iu e0mmeno- 1 rating the 18th Anniversary of American Odd Fel- IlOwahip-six years ago, upon this very spot, you | sgain invited me to the same pleasing office. tam hers once more, at your bidding by the will of Him in whose hands the Issues of fife, to share with you in the joyous scenes of yet another anniVeF- sary of that beloved Order, whose career of prOs- perity has, perhaps. had parallel in the history of the benevolent efforts oIthe age.
 This suspicious day closes the cycle of thirty-one years since Odd Fellowship instituted In this, your city, by my venerable iris ud Thomas WiIdsy. | it's founder, whose presence tn midst csnnot fail to awaken 10 the midst of those of us who have been his contemporaries, many eventlui reminis- ceuces, and to inspire you all with the liveliest | qualification. We are here with glad hearts, surrounded by the typical. yet significant insignia aud the pregnant i symbols of Odd Fellowship, to mark the occasion, as epoch in the progress of its history, to cut pour profound gIatitads towards Him whose humanity conferred upon Us 90 rich heritage, to look out from the comparative eminenee which we have reached, through the long vista of the past, | upon the chequercd pathway Of our being The l contemplation of the scene overwhemes the widest | imagination, aud swes oar hearts with mingled | emotions of pleasure and proht--2leasnre in view l of the amount of human benefaction, achieved by l our united, though noissless labor, and profit de- rived from the experience, which the past abuu dantly supplies for the guidance Of oar future eounsels.
 This retrospect brings up before US the tender | and sickly infancy of Odd Fellowship, pohrtrays the faiterng footsteps of its youth, trembling amid and perils which beset it's path, not less perhaps, l from diseased constitution, than from deserved popular disfavor; turning from this exhibition, We behold the order under the influence Of healthful correctives, at once scattering to the winds Of hea
 .he and foilies of It's youth, and entering | upon a career, which has been rapid and difIu. 1 sive. that when we look upon the one picture, aud then upon the otler, wrapt ia astonishInent Following in it's track, in imagination, we are car red through every State and territory. and district of this vast Republic, recognizing wherever we go, whether in city, town, village, considerable set clement upon the teemng earth, the foot print of our order; leaving our own happy land, we pursue it's onward course through the deep waters and be- hold its temples lifting their lofty spires in the Isles of the oceans, aud treading still onward, wherever the adventurous step of the Anglo Saxon dares to penetrate. In this day of wonders, whether we re- gard tho developments of mind, or the daring enter
 prise of man, whether you consider the gigantic march of this nation toward its great and glorious destiny, 6r the up-heavngs for freedom of the long oppressed and trodden down of the old world, SUI perinduced by onr example of the capacity Of man
 for self government. whether you array in detail, tine ten thousand wonderful conceptions of the age, which perhaps distinguish it ss the most remark
 able n the history of the world, you will find no
 
 the lights aud shadows of romance, clothed in tbe drapery of the marveeous, as the upgrowth, as if by magic, of the State of California. Sprung into life by single leap, peopied in twinkling. ready equipped with all the machinery and detail Of law and government. is political career has not beeu more remarkable tiau has been the progress of Odd Fellowship, within its borders. Ere ye. the government had supplied the protection of law; ere yet the church had carried the broad banner of the cross; ere yet man recognized the security of life | had xveti, rls al 1as
 dard in that distant land Scarce had the first tide of adventure, which now swes the shores of the Pacific. impeiied by the golden charms Of that Fl Dorado of the West, e5bed and flowed, the flag of our Order flung to the breeze, from the an- cient towers of Panama, from the semi-civilizsd plains of the Sandwicher, and upon the then bleak and inhospitable shores of California
 These, my brethren, are some of the reminiscent ces which the occasion assembled to cele- brate is calculated 10 inspre to complete the tsi.
 review which the contrasts affords turn your eyes upon Odd Fellowship in lS32 composed of two Lodges in the city of Baltimore with one hn ndred and fifty members; ia 1853, with 5000 members; in lst3, with 1000 members, and lastly in lS49 | with l50, 600 members, 900 lodges, a revenue of S700 ,000, and disbursing in that single year for charity and relief four hundred thousand dollars This is the spectacle, which we this day present. 1 as the fruit of our united abors. One hundred and fifty thousand free citizens of thIs Republic banded 1 'for deeos Of good and errands of mercy,' guided l by common head, speaking mystic tongue 1 worshiping upon one broad platform, irrespective l of religious or political creeds sects or parties | dedicated 10 the voluntary championship of hu- 1 naaiy, setting apart the best energies of mind and heart, and devoting days nights and weeks, months and years, or life to stay the desolatiag hand of want, to mitigate the pangs of life to exemp!ify the htruthfulness of the Brotherhood of man. What moral spectacle! and had time to pursue the sub ject, and were t proper on an occasion like this. to array before you the detail of our minstratioas
 in behalf of human distress. might display pic. ture, which however truthful, most of our fellow citizens wiihoat the order, would be disposed to regard merely a highly colorsd sketch of fancy. From this discursive review of the progress of the order. whilst we learn to cherish the value of the institution, also forcefuI!y presented with illustration of that ndomitable energy, which pre- eminentIy distinguishes the Anglo Saxon lineage, over all oher races of men. Under the iu- sprations of the occasion, whilst our hears glad dsned in the contemplation of our work, it is also natural that we should pause iu sober rehexiou to analyze these events. How, we may inquire, has this institution, n the hands of men of extraor- dnary talents notoriety, fastened itself uPor the affections of the peoPlef How, that whilst the parent from which it sprung, in Great Britain. has | failed 10 attain any considerable rank among the associated efforts for good in that country, has the | American ordsr commanded the regard and con6- dencc of the good the vrtuous, and the wise.- | These suggestions, my brethren, opsn wide field | to the mind, and. if followed out, will readily solve :ae seeming enigma An explanation of this apparent anomaly, will be best supplied by cur sorry glance at political career people.
 1 If we would appreciate the age in which we live, we must mark the impress of mind upon the mas sos, and upon the institutions by which they ara sarronneed, we must note the influences which that impress has also from time to tme exerted In m auding the aggregate character. There Is no
 means of Illustration perhaps more simple and vivid ,,an that afforded by eonrastf, therefore, citi
 zens of this republic, feel that love of couatry .s ever yelling up from the full ountains of hearts we must bear in mind tisa this lass conception Of our true position Is supplied by ti,e instructive con- trast which other naiiobs, other governments, and other people present. whose social and political con
 dition, along side of our own, serve to strengthen our patriotism. and to stimulate our hopes and wishes for the enlargement of human freedom
 If this contrast indicates higher and more re-
 fined civilization, as the inseperable accompaniment