Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-04-05
j. o. o. f.
Commemorative Address By Kew. Z.
GIay Mclean, before ShiekEsaW
LOage. Number Eight.
'he following is the presentation ad-

The following is the presentation ad-
dress of Rev. Eds. Gray Mclean, recently de-
Hvered before Chickssaw Lodge No. s, l. o. d..
F., while on a fraternai visit to Banner Lodge,
No. l47, when the last named body presented
TO the mother lodge portrait of Hiram d..
Connell, Z. g., p. c: r, n. w. q. p, who died
Under this order OF business. Noble Grand
g ., desire to lay aside my insignia of
office, and even my Individuality. for I come
NOT in my own, but in the name of the lodge
/ love, anG as the mouth-piece of Banner, /
am to greet her mother in friendship, love
and truth and ! ask your indulgenee, SIR
should I fail to remember You as the object OF
my remarks, and address myself 10 the Wearer
OF the ermine in old Chickasaw.
In the name of Banner lodge, then, my
brethren, II l. mine to welcome you, and in
this distinguished privilege take delight In
the name OF her membership, welcome you,
whose kind and paternal bearing toward us
always, has encouraged and cheered our
young lodge in her arduous duties; in the
name of the beautiful principles we both in
culcate, welcome you; aye, in the name OF
friendship, love and truth-in The name of the
welfare OF the order in our midst, welcome
you; for l fee4 that this fraternal visit is for
our common good.
But change has marked your featuyes, our
honored mother. since last you gathered, with
your daughter, in The sacred circles of our or
der. Faces are missed from your number, in
to whose earnest eyes we were wont to gaze,
and from whose lips once fell lessons Of use
fulness, rich in love. Their footballs shall
tread the hallowed precincts of our lodge
room no more, and their voices have died in
echoes along their silent arches. Their feet
tonight press the golden streets of the New
Jerusalem, and their voices, rich and fun,
mingle with the organ-nOtes of the upper
lodge-roOm. One especially. whose words and
precepts were 50 grateful 10 us IN our arduous
toll, we miss Tonight; and if the spirits of
the beloved departed are permitted of their
God to participate in the interest they loved
on earth, surely the spirits of many faithful
are lowering around this scene, where Odd
Fellows are striking hands in fraternal re-
union and calling to their minds lives that
have closed.
Ye whose hands are hard and whose faces
are wrinkled with the responsible duties of
our order, do ye know those features9 Here
the speaker unveiled the portrait Did you
ever look into those eyes and find encourage
ment to. press forward, because they were
lighted with a true dd-FellOW' s soul? Did
YOU ever meet that face when sbouIder
to shoulder and heart to heart, you
fought the early battles of our order on the
Bluffs of Chickasaw? And when, years ago,
before most of us had ever belted ON his apron,
when financial embarrassments gathered
thick and fast around this palace of brother
ly love, when untiring vigilance and faithful
Iabors were prominent in its preservation?
All, those heaving bOsOms, ye venerable past
grands, and those tell-tale tears that mark
your furrowed cheeks, bespeak how beautiful
are your silent tributes to the memory of Past
Grand Connelli And when, my brethren,
fresh from the last hard struggle, tell me,
When the black wings of the death angel
famed our city in the face, as over IL it
passed and cast its gloomy shadow over all its
friends, who, hand in hand with you, watched
September, when the fearful fever cut him
down-the Memphian, the Odd-Fellow, the
gentleman?
We come not empty. handed to welcome
our mother this evening, but through respect
for him, and gratitude TO you, in whose lap
we were nursed in our infant days, we present
you this portaait of your noble CoDnell. His
face was among your number when last your
lodge door swung open to greet your visiting
daughter; on that occasion if you remember,
and that event we shall never forget, it pleased
you 10 hang on the bosom of our lodges
father, token of your respect for him and
regard FOR US, a beautiful past grand's regalia.
That regalta we return you In miniature this
evening, circling shoulders that wore itOn the
last anniversary occasion, but that shall wear
1t no more in our midst The warm heart that
once moved it with its throbs for others woes,
is still to-night-his long and useful life has
closed on earth-and though he is not with
You, he leaves behind him beautiful legacy :;
and it is not yours alone, but ours, and the
common Inheritance of every lover of our
noble order. moan his example. The page
OF his life has no stain upon it; and his life IS
star In the crown of our beloved brother
hood. In that life our precepts were not only
taught, but practiced; not only inculcated,
but developed. for his mission among us was
to live up to our laws. He visited the sick, -
he buried the dead, - he comforted the dis
consolate, he protected the widow, he 4" edu-
Gated the orphan" and on our shoulders has
fallen the mantle of usefulness he run so long.
In that example does our Connell still live:
and now, my brethren, one and al, on this
most solemn occasion, while that life is so
vividly before our memories, let us resolve
that henceforth and forever in us that exam
pie shall live, loving the order thai he loved,
working in the mission where he worked. till
at last our labor OF love is done, and he shall
hail us with the counterSign on the other
shore, In that grand lodge whose commuui-
cations of peace shall never end.
Take this picture home-our lodges mother
and hang it in your hall, where the mild
features can ever beam on your loving meet
tngs; and in the gallery of your memory hang
also pictures of his many virtues, that you,
like he, may prove the world there is an odd
Fellowship that lives In mems lives.