Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-05-07
ODD-FELLO WSHlP.
It's Origin, Principles and Prac-
tical Tendencies.

Church, Lancaster, Wis, on the 29tf
ult., as follows
have great liking for out-of-the,
way places. people, aud events-fol
odd things. odd names, and odd char
acters. Often they possess attrsc
tions and are wonderfully rich in
settings, qualities, providential un-
foldings, or some rare old merit Of
which famous places and contrary
things are entirely destitute.
Back among the hills, few miles
from the Ohio river, in the State Of
West Virginia, on the two banks OF 6
swift-running and brawling stream
is little hamlet called Cottageville
Into this out-of- the-way and unknow {
place [ Glanced to stray while out
upon e geological excursion a few
years ago. Beside its two stores,
its mill, blacksmith shop, and its
score OF dwellings, it has little else
to be named, excepting, of course, its
peculiar people aud its natural at
fractions. There ia no hotel, or inn,
but in a great roomy house, fall OF
sunny cheer, live John and Mary
he the proprietor of leagues of hill
lands, of mill, and store, and shop,
and the father of the people for miles
around. Mary of course is the moth
or +; and il il touching sight to see
with what quiet and cheerful kind
ness she gathers all into her great
motherly heart, where yet there is
room Not drop Of strong drink
is scld or drank in this obscure viii
lage, and a profane word is never
uttered. 1t is governed by the high
est law, and has no need of consta-
Bile or magistrate. In addition to its
moral and social attractions, it is sur
rounded by the most romantic and
inspiring scenery. As you walk or
drive the prospect is ever changing ;
and from rocky crests you look off
upon pictures of surprising lowell
ness-pictures made mp of vine-em
powered cottages, cultivated 6t Ids,
forest crowned hills, deep and dark
ravines, and silvery streams. Among
the happiest Of my memories are
those Of the days spent with John
and Mary, and in rambles amid the
beautiful scenery surrounding Cot
,ageville.
| have rot thought much about it
before, but now as in mind | go back
to that out-of the-way hamlet among
the hills Of Virginia, | cannot help
thinking that it's strange people, with
such old-fas hioned ways, and prac-
ticing the old homely virtues, and
living together as one family, with
no rivalries or jeslousies or envyings
among them, must have been ODD
Fellows. | am certain John and
Mary must have been, because they
were so different from every body |
had ever before met, as full Of good
ness and sweetness as they could
hold, drawing everybody to them by
the magnetism of their sunny ua-
lures, and moulding lives all around
them, through unconscious infiuen-
ces. into beautiful accord with their
own. And so those two or three
hundred people were not simply go
many families, and these grouped
into classes with their higher and
lower circles, but they were a BROTH
erhood with their interests all bound
M in one common bundle-many
membora, and yet but one body.
Their religious creed was very sim
pie one, and oddlikewise: 81 love God,
and | love my fellow men." And
this creed was written on their hearts
and never forgotten. do not see,
therefore, how we can help setting
them down as odd fellows indeed.
Now and then an humble and OBJ
soure place-a hidden corner, or an
almost unknown hamlet among the
hills-is suddenly lifted up out of its
obscurity, and made forever historic
by some grand event of which It is
the theatre, or because the name OF
some illustrious man is associated
with it. And in like manner out-ot.
the-way people are sometimes lifted
up into prominence, and their names
made familiar to all succeeding gen
erations, because some great call has
come to them which they have obey
ed, or some grand opportunity which
they have improved, or because from
them has descended long line O
noble mer.
There once lived in the city o
Edinburge an obscure carpenter by
the name of John Kemp. He wa
known only TO few, and simply a
40 ordinary man. To the grea
world, and to men of science, he wa
not known at all. But when th,
the people of Scotland would build
monument 10 the memory Of 81
Walter Scott, and advertised tor
design, Offering liberal compensa
ton for the one accepted, they foun'
out who $ as John Kemp. His wa
the accepted design, and hencetor
ward he was TO take rank among tn
first architects Of the age, and hi
name to be associated with the mos
| beautiful monument the world ha
ever seen.
| Very likely that all around US ma,
be many al unknown John Kemp
So, too, in bye places, in seclude
hooks and corners, there are thou
sands, unnoticed and poor, who's
natures are rich in the elements c
true greatness, and whose lives ar
kiHgly ana wear crowns.
| Often, from some grand event il
history, a mighty revolution, perhap:
that in its sweep has changed tn
map of nations and reconstruct,
laws and institutions, we go bacl
through many centuries to an out-oi
the-way place, and to out-of-the-wa,
people. And we trace from the las
| to the first the unfoldings of q won
derful plan. In accordance with thi
plan there had to be an unknow