Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-05-10
Address by bon. George r.


other, it is well to pause, and, on these
anniversary occasions, to take note of
what progress we are making in our
! portion Of the worlds great work.
whether age are acting we'll our part in
the great drama of life, to consider
what errors We have fallen into in the
/ past, and to take counsel together and
devise new plans for the future.
| Although Odd Fellowship has been
established in this country only little
moro than half century, yet such has
been its rapid increase, both in. mem
bers and influence, that today it. chal-
ienges the admiration and respect Of
the civilized world. What then is
IOdd-FelIowship? What its origin, its
history, its principles, its objects and
its aims? What the secret of its rap
id growth and wide spread influence?
tThe earliest records of human his
tory furnish proofs Of the existence. of
secret associations and societies. among
nearly all the nations Of the earth
They have. every where accompanied
and advanced civilization, and been
. conservators and promoters ofreligious,
scientific and political truth. As has
been we'll said, 'sall through the dark
night of the feudal ages, the various
mechanics, crafts and guilds, aud other
secret associations, kept the feeble
light of knowledge, virtue and free
dom glimmerisg around the surround
ing gloom of 8emi-heathen darkness,
until the world at large, awakening
from It's leaden sleep, lit its thousand
torches at the hardly preserved tapars,
and threw the blaze of a general re-
viyal Of religion, letters, arts and scien-
ces once more over our benighted
race.
And since that revival similar asso-
Citations have aided no less, in speeding
onward the food-tide of civilization,
humanity and freedom to its present
full-fowing progress. The reform that
has swept away doctrines and institu-
tons Of error and Of wrong, grown
hoary with ages of general acknowl-
edgment and reverence, replacing them
with the truth and the right, has often
been nourished in the silent secrecy of
a chosen few, until it gained strength
TO go forth boldly, and grappIe success
/ fully with the monster errors and 81
ant vices of the age. Great principles
that have shaken empires. overturned
thrones, and stricken the shackles from
the oppressed. have frequently gather
ed their earthquake po~cr in the pri-
vacy Of isolated circles which met to
deliberate for their country's welfare
and separated to spread abroad the
light and strength which Heaven gave
the fer to direct the minds and nerve
the arms Of the many"
Among the secret societies Of mod
ern times we know Of none that has
excelIed the benefcent influence of
Odd Fellowship, in relieving the sick
and distressed and especially in pre-
renting suffering and poverty in the
families of its members. An institu=
ton manifesting SO much influence,
performing SO much good, preventing
50 much evil, and increasing so rapid
ly and widely in. numbers aud power,
may well attract public attention and
excite a laudable desire to know its
origin, progress, principles, its aims
and its objects.
4 love Of mystery and blind venera-
ton for antiquity has induced most
associations to claim an origin traceable
to the remotest ages of the world and
! Odd-Fellowship has not been wanting
in historians who have attempted to
establish its origin in the remote ages.
One Of these traditions is that our
great forefather, Adam, Was the foun-
der Of our order Another tradition
declares the Order to date from an an
cient society among the Jewish Priest
hood, founded by Moses and Aaron.
Another traces it to Egypt in the days
OF Abraham. Another that it origin
ated among the Roman Soldiers in the
year 55. But truth, which is one Of
the cardinal principles OF Odd-FelIow-
ship, oomPe}s Us to repudiate all these
traditions.
! Odd-Fellowship needs not the sane
ton of antiquity to consecrate its
principles.
Diminishing these traditions, we find
in 176S in the city of London a socie-
ty of Mechanics and laborers hearing
the motto Of our order and presumed
to be lodge of Ancient and Honorable
Loyal Odd Fellows.
Of this society history gives us the
following account: