The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-04-27

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Yestseday - ) e1aal ~ ~ osrf;sads q
the Independent ordr q Odd Fellows. The
bond Of unioa betwesa them - members of
the brotherhood ~ nllcisnt = odd lArgs
accession dom atsoad . he esed3y Alnber
in or Own city, belonging to - various
lodges, and henes thers NJ large ~ i'm
posing body partie;paling = tAs eslebsaAion.
We noticed various gsntlsnsn from adjoin-
ing csunt;es present The lAdies, too, alsrac.
tive features of any dsmo0stzation Of the
kind, necessary 70 sdd thersto the elements
Of beauty, asd give il the las1s Of conplete
success, at4snded numerically.
The members Of the Order assembled at
their Hall, corner Of Main and Seventh
streets, shortly after one o'clock p. m. The
procession formed under the direction Of
Marshal ERrE J. LEecH, and Assistant Mar
shall WV. WILSON and E. RorzrRr, and At
nearly 2: 80 O'Clock commenced moving. It
was preceded By the Turner Brass Band,
which played with its wonted beauty and ex-
cellence. The route Of the procession led the
good looking and regalia-ed members OF the
fraternity down Main street to Second;
thence to johnson, thence to Third, and out
Third to Highly thence to Seventh, and up-
Seventh to Chatham Square Church, whore
the exercises of the day took place.
Here choir Of select singers opened the
exercises with beautiful piece. Rev. Mr..
WAR1Se then made an appropriate and elo-
quent prayer. Following this was the we'll
prepared address Of Most Worthy Grand Sire,
ISAAC N. VETrcH. It abounded in rood
thoughts and was an able vindicatisn Of Odd
Fellowship. Its opponents were refuted, and
the grounds of its claims to popular favor
and support strongly enforced Claiming no
great antiquity, it does claim that its history
is an honorable and proud one. Assuming
not to supercede the christian religion, j,
would fain be hubble coadjator in It's one
province of doing good to man, Obedient to
the teachings It him Who spake as never
man spake, It would be the Good Samaritan,
and direct its ministries 70 the relief Of the
poor, sha- helpless, the unfortunate. 1t ID part
Of tho mission of that "pure religion and
indebted before God and the Father" that i,
shall "visit the widow and fatherless in thei,
afaiction," and this Odd Fellowship essays "a
do. Its record shows vast number of wild.
ows and orphans shielded from want, and q
large amount expended for their relief /,
would learn the lesson Of the beatitudes, and
practice the golden r1le Of christian ethics.
Charity is the great bond that unites the mem
bers of the Order, and illiberalism and mar
row prejudices End no place legitimately
within its circle. But we shall not attemp,
to give even q synopsis Of points made by Mr..
VEIrcH. The address will doubtless be pub.
| lished.
When be had concluded the choir sang n
additional piece, and then the procession
again formed and marched to the Hall where
an ample collation. had been prepared, in par
taking Of which genial social spirits reigned
establishing the fact that 'goodr as we'll q.
"Odd,'' is fairly title of this Fellowship.
In the evening the social virtues and
amenities Of the Order were still further cult
waited by sociable, at Odd Fellows Hall
and banquet at the Estes, where gathered
the manly vigor and female loneliness, &C
largely represented in the Fraternity, and tn.
exercises Of the day we're thus pleasantly ant
fttingly closed. We should like to reproduc,
the scenes at EACH To sketch the good feel
ing, the genial spirit, the manifold attrac
ions, the "feast of reason and the flow Q
soul" the cordial fraternal feelings Of tn
masculines, the beauty and witchery of tn
fair sex, the admirable success of ever
feature of these reunions in the evening, a
we'll as Of all the exercises of the day. w
have not space, however, and We close, wish
ing of Odd Fellows Celebrations as Pat Of tn
Fourth Of July, that they might come once
month.