River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-01-24
fellowship.

Isl, 1851, Is sent - you, anu sIel Mouiu
respectfully ask that you publish 1t III
your valuable paper.
My DEAR FRIENDs:-ln attempting TO
talk to you this evening, | have chosen
the subject of 0dd-Fellowship as my
theme. In the first place | desire to say
chat anything that has for its object the
advancement of human happiness or lIl-
telligence: anything that tends TO the
amelioration of the conditions of the hu-
man family, or to lesson the ills and mis-
cries incident upon human lie; any
thing that draws closer the ties of human
sympathy, and strengthens the bonds OF
brotherhood between man and man, Is
not only worthy our appreciation, but our
warmest support and admiration mat
such are the objects and aims of Odd-Fel-
loWship.none who have taken the trouble
to investigate its principles and operations
will attempt to deny. When the Al
mighty Architect of the universe spake
and this sphere which we inhabit, burst
into light and loneliness every fundamen-
tai principle on which our order is based,
was stamped with the signet omnpo-
tence upon her young and unstalned be-
ing, there to remain in legible and en-
dearing characters, as constituent ele-
ments of her perpetnity and eXlstance.
Friendship then wove her sllken bands,
Love breathed forth her strains of mutu-
al sympathy and confding tenderness,
while Truth, around, above, and be
meath, shed forth her blaze of living
light, as pure and unsullied as the rays
that emanate from the throne of the
Eternal God. Upon these three great
pillars rests the structure OF our order;
around them cluster our brightest
hopes and fondest anticipations; here the
venerated patriarchs of our ancient and
honorable order in bygone days, have
worshiped, and with unstained hands
have transmitted down through the lapse
of time the sublime mysteries, the sac
red rights the solemn and eternal truths,
unfolded to those who enter Within the
arcana of our temple and bow as sincere
supplicants at the inner veil of our alters.
We shall endeavor to show that Odd-Fel-
lowship is calculated for the most extern
sive moral good, it is evident that in order
to collect an assemblage of persons, and
continue TO increase them as body, there
must be some powerful motive of action.
First curiosity to collect; second pleasure
and some useful end in vieW In order to
continue them. The singuiarity of the
title of Odd Fellow, is better adapted to
excite curiosity than any other, 1t fills the
mind with a desire to know what IS
meant by 1t, and such a desire is seldom
appeased until the mystery is unrayeled
by becoming member As it is an odd
name without the Lodge, so the manners
are perfectly odd when one is introduced
the first time, within the stiffness by the
oddly instructive ceremony, when Judlcl-
ously conducted. The odd appearance
of the Lodge when its officers are seated
in their respective stations, the odd 81
lence and decorum which prevails, the
odd mode of honor and respect paid to
the chair, and the three odd links that
bind us together Friendship, Love and
Truth-all combine to fill the minds OF
every new member with satisfaction and
surprise, far exceeding their most sangu-
inc expectations As [ said before, there
must be some useful end i'll view to con
tinue them. The principles OF Odd-Fel-
lowship are those of humanity and relig-
ion. Its object is to promote the general
good of mankind, and spread abroad the
lights of morality and knowledge. 1t not
only benefits the common cause OF phil
authrophy, but insures to its members III
the hour of adversely and trlbulatIon
source of safety and comfort that none
save the arm of the Omnipoten can de
stroy. A parents affections may change,
the friendship of the world may turn to
hatred, even love may be turned to loath-
ing and disgust, but the ties that bind us
/ IOEclnGE are nGN6I 6uIi0ClCtt. NPtAA SlethAlAo
of brotherhood are only dissolved by
death-no. not even death can rend
them, they descend to the widow and
orphan. The Language OF our order is
more potent than any strain of eloquence
that ever fell upon the human ear; A
stranger, penniless, and frlendless III a Tor
egn land, breaths its tones and ms necessl-
| ties are relieved, sickness comes and layslts
| paralyzing hand upon him, and through no
| friends or relatives be near, brother OF
| the mystic tie administers to his wants,
and soothes his distress. The sick
| amongst us are not left to the cold hand
l of the public charity; on the contrary
| they are visited and their wants are pro-
| vided for quito of the funds they themselves
| have helped to save and which III times
| of need they can honorably claim Not on
lv this but we are obligated to admins
ter the last solemn offices to the remains
of a departed brother, and see them re-
specially and decently consigned to the
| bosom of mother earth; to the living our
fraternal sollcitude is no less exercised.
1t is also our duty to watch over the con-
duct OF our brett ern, even III their COM
mon intercourse with men, as well as
| with one another, and to demonstrate
| with those who shall wander from the
paths of rectitude, or trespass on the rules
| of morality. In all ages ana, IN all coutl-
/ tries, our order has stood forth the cham
pion of liberty and religion. 1t IS not
necessary to go back and trace the pro-
gress of our order, from its establishment
down to the present period, or point out
its deeds and history, suffice 1t to say,
that thousands of years ago, the Egyptian
| Astrologer found in our temple the secrets
| of Astronomy, and the Chaldean Shepard
at his watch at night gazed upward to the
| starry heavens, drew from our oracles
the sublime truth that there were worlds
unknown, incalcuable, and immense, and
| that over all presided an unknown and
| mysterious, yet OmnIpotent power. Since
that time down through all the interven-
ing centuries, we behold the eastern ma
gil, the Jew, the Greek, the proud and
naughty Roman, bending at its shrine
and burning incense upon its alters.
Emerging from the gloom of the middle
ages, we see it the animatlng spirit OF the
revolution that succeeded 1t, and going
onward with the tide of science and civ
| iliZation-from nation to nation and from
country to country-until it found ge-
NAL home on Freedoms soil. True it is
that storms have howled around, and at
times we beheld it, glittertng like pale
star at morn betwixt light and darkness,
on the horizons verge, yet the storm has
| passed away, ana again II mas DuiSI lOitIl
IN renewed strength and beauty 1t has
been said by some, as an objection, that
| it is a secret order and that secrecy is dis
consonant with innocence, and true 1t is,
| we are in part secret society, but |
| would ask YOU, Is secrecy a crime? The
world itself, the universe, the God of
eternal truth, are surrounded with an i'm
penetrable veil that no mortal eye has
ever pierced, and shall il be denied that
these exist, because they are not reveal
ed at our bidding Shall we pronounce
them evil because their operations are
hidden from our view. and are above our
comprehension? Again, who can define
the mind. who unfold its constituent ele-
ments and hidden springs? The light
ming that plays in bright yet fearful
beauty amid the storm has been traced
nome TO the bosom of the cloud from
which it leaped, and its minutest princi-
pIe developed and investigated The
earthquake, at whose shock nations
trembie and countries become desolate,
has been accounted for and its most Sc
cret particles revealed and analysed. But
who has traced home the lightning of the
mind, who analysed those mental earth
ouakes. that have shaken the moral
world to its very center, and ditfused
light and knowledge, amid the abodes OF
| Ignorance and superstition? Shall the
| eminations Of genius and all there be re-