The Portland daily press., 1880-12-09
K. OF P.
Dedication Of their New Hall

The new hall, or, in knightly parlance the
''castle." of the Knights of Pythias was form
ally dedicated last evening by the Grand Off
GERS of that Order in this State, in conjunc-
tion with the officers of the Lodges of this city.
All the rooms of the society were thrown open
for inspection, but the regalias and other para
phernalia were not displayed. The hall proper,
of which description has appeared in these
columns, with its new fittings looked bright
and lighted up we'll, and was filled, all of the
available space being taken up by extra seats.
The larger portion of the audience was com .
posed of ladies who seemed eager to witness
the few mysteries that were presented.
The dedication exercises began shortly be-
fore eight o'clock, when the various local Off
GERS filed in and took their respective stations
their only distinguishing marks being their
badges and positions, After going through a
portion of the ritual, the Grand officers came
in and the local officers resigned their stations
to them. Under Grand Commander W. F.
Garcelon the ritual was concluded and the cas-
tie hall was declared in memory of Damon and
Pythias to be dedicated to Friendship, Chival-
ry and Knightly Service.
Commander N. G. Cummings welcomed the
audience, and was especially pleased to see so
many ladies present. At the conclusion of his
speech of welcome he introduced Mayor Sem
ter to respond for the city of Portland. The
Mayor said he hardly knew whether to say Mr..
Chairman or Mr.. President lin fact he did
not know what to say, for he had never belong
ed to a secret society,-but he could say that he
was citizen of Portland. There were some
present who would remember with him the
Portland OF some years ago when it contained
but one-ffth of its present population, or about
1000 inhabitants, and at that time halls were
small and few in number. But it has grown
and is now prosperous. 1t has sometimes been
called wicked place, but he had always re-
PEELED that assertion. Its tone is high and it is
owing to the high character of its citizens, and
especially those represented in such societies
as this. He hoped the society would not fall
into the error OF the Masons, who claim such
mentioned in the Inscriptions on the pyramids
OF Egypt. and some even traced their
existence back to the time of Adam and
even before. But as speech is silver and Ell
lence golden, he would give them the golden
drops. In closing, he said, we received Port
land from those who went before US, and we
shall leave 1t to those who are to come after
us, and every one, whether he is q society man
or not, should work for its welfare.
Owing to the absence of Hon. J. A. Locke.
who was expected to speak for the Masons, the
chancellor called somewhat Unexpectedly up
on DR.. Gordon, who responded in happy
vein.
. Hon; BENZ. Kingsbury. Jr. spoke for the
Odd Fellows in q humorous vein, and was
greeted with much laughter.
Grand Commander Garcelon made brief
speech in behalf of the Knights of Pythias,
and at the termination of his speech the exer-
cises were closed.
The exercises were interspersed with music
by Will Stockbridges quartette, accompanied
ON the organ by Miss Annie E. Greeley.
After the exercises at the hall were conclud-
cd, the grand officers and invited guests ad-
jourped to the United States Hotel, where
banquet had been spread for them.