The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-05-01
THE ODD FELLOWS CELL ITERATION
The J6ih Anniversary of the order appropri-
ately commemorated in Ottawa
on Monday.

the fraternity in Ottawa, to the number of about
200, in obedience to proclamation from til,
Grand Sire, Joined in appropriately celebrating
the Seth anniversary OF the organization Of the
order in America,
At two o'clock the procession was formed in
manner and form as published a week ago. The
line Of march was gone over and the exercises at
Plymouth Church gone through with, when the
mem bers retained to the hall OF Lodge A. where
the following resolutions were adopted
Res0llrd THAT we, as body Of Odd Fellows
assembled, tender our thanks to the Glee Club
for the excellent musical assistance rendered Us
at Plymouth Church this afternoon.
ReSolttd, That the thanks Of this body be and
are hereby rendered the proprictors of the Ply
mouth Church for the use OF their audience room
to-day.
Rcsotie9, That the heartfelt thinks Of the Of
tawa Lodges together with their visiting broth
ers assembled be extended to Past Grand +. Y
Griggs for the able and eloquent address by him
delivered to-day, and that We request copy o!
the same for publication.
The following is the address referred TO and is
well worthy a careful persual;
ADDRESS OF PAST GRAND +. Y, GRIGGs.
Gun powder is power. One ounce prepared by
location and ompression-direCted by fuse and
fire, gives more effect than u ton of the same
black granules loosely scattered. That ton,
compressed and located within the centre, di-
rected by fuse and fire, would shitter this earth
into upinhabitable fragments. The sharp, quick,
incisve action of one man has more force than
the half hearted pretences of large community.
Let that community unite on that one quick, in
cisive action, and all barriers would go down.
All forces, whether mental, moral or physical, to
be effective, must be prepared for aud directed
towards the end to be gained.
There may be in these two rivers power
enough TO run the machinery Of the world We
may prepare dams, buildings and machinery, bu;
unless the waters are directed onto the wheels,
so far power is concerned, the the rivers might
as well be stagnant pools.
In and around our city there are many such
peculiar and diversified forces Il call material ad
vantages forces) which If prepared by a combined
effort and judiciousy directed, would lift us to q
position of numbers and influence to be the sec
ond city in the state. II all the rich men would
ignore mistaken self. interest and combine If eac b
one Of us would have q respectable pride and
work to that end, it would be gained. An army
may be composed of Il host of true patriots, will
ing to meet the foe, yet for want of proper pre-
paration in drill or for want of proper direction
by officers, be q useless mob. The same army
directed by the best officers in the world per.
feet in drill, able to execute any movement, ca
ger for the fight fearless as the upper thunder
cloud, without arms or ammunition would go
down before the foe as reeds before the hurri.
cane. / have used these SMILES to call your at
tention to the power there is in Odd Fellowship,
the preparations made for its use, and the neoes.
sity of personal and combined effort TO make it
beneficial.
The power of Oddfellowship is the principle Of
right actIon--not impulse, not Imagination, not
reason, not Judgment, but intuition ofDivinity-
the principle upon which rests the creative and
sustaining power Of the Eternal God. The sim.
pie proposition is, that without this principle
the physical and moral universe would relapse
into that far back chaos from whose formless
void and shapeless darkness it has worked out
this beautiful world. 80 far and only so far as
this principle is refused, mlsery is fate; SO far
and only SO far as tits maintained, happiness is
sure. Now this is the power in and OF Oddfellow.
ship. For the application OF this power, the or
der has made such preparations In detail aud
comprehensive finish, that il only needs the d..
rection OF its tens Of thousands OF members, sin.
KY and combined, to move the world Upward
ana retarn humanity to its kinship with the
Father. In this short essay can mention but a
few Of the preparations the order makes to gain
the grand results she has right to claim.
Combination ID one and the first Of it's prepa.
raticns. One man, though using the best ma.
cbincry, can do but little in building Pacific
Railroad. One hundred-one thousand-ten-
twenty thousand men combined, or with proper
Instruments and machinery, would effect its con-.
pletion. Without single drops of water Their, can
be no Siagara-withOut combination Of drops,
there could not be that awful presserc in It's
thunderous leap. The trite motto; I'm Union
there is strength Is true in proportion TO the
number and strength Of the tbers so joined. 1t
is the combining of single messbers into lodges,
lodges into state organizations states into com
monwealths and commemorative into the earth's
area that gives the pressure its full force.
Another OF the preparations are the mysteries
that surround it from its outmost circle to its
grand centre. These mysteries are intended to
attract the inquirer into the circle of its in1u-
encc, and when within the circle, they call forth
the active energies Of the mind to seek out their
meaning. These mysteries can only be under
stood by constant research, and in the grandeur
and magnitude of the total results. All things
around US are mysteries, without which to in
cite research, the human mind would be as inert
as the form encasing it. Mans whole life can
not solve the mysteries of the government of the
universe, or of life and death. No one has claim
ed 10 do it completely Science and study (sci-
ence is but the result of study can give you the
laws Of life and death, of gravity cohesion, adhc-
sion, attraction, repulsion, and all other laws
governing matter; but the why remains mys.
terry. In all that pertains TO Oddfellowshp, the
initiated student can even solve the why.
Secrcsy is another and one OF the strongest at
tributes Of our power. The greater forces are
evolved by a hidden process. There is secret
in the heart OF every natural LAWN the springs
OF every mans natural life and the motives of
his moral actions. The secresy Of the army's
movement is often the battle won BY secret
means Oddfcllowshp beats back and oyercomes
those enemies of humanity. Vice, want misery,
sickness and even death itself--man last, great
enemy-is relieved of much of its terror. Though
it is our secret, could tell you Of many battles
fought and won. If you would listen you
would hear many men bless God that
they were Odd Fellows. IL you would open your
eyes you would see its blessed influence where
least expected. / have but little to say to him
who finds fault with our order, especially its Sc
crets, except this: fhe is fit to be an odd Eel
low, the door is open, and his fault-finding is
either ignorant criticism or foolish blab Blab is
an English word, believe; at least it expresses
my meaning. Our ceremonies are the most i'm
prcssiyc, our obligations the most binding, our
lessons of the puresl truth, our creed the Dee
aloguc, our banners are shcencd with glorious
light our emblem from Gods best teachings, our
symbols from Gods best demonstrations our
warnings against sin and danger ever present,
with our firm pillars of friendship love and truth,
and prayer 10 our Father for hclp,-are some
of the preparations TO advance the interest Of
Oddfcllowshp
our three pillars, Friendship, Love and Truth,
are strong enough to bear up this sin-cursed and