Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-09
FRIENDSHIP, LOVE AND TRUTH
Address of p. G. M. Thomas A. Askew,
Delivered at the 42d Anniversary of
OglethOrpe Lodge No. L, 1. .. U. +

tuesc lew out comprehensive WORDS; Wnat
Wondrous works have been compressed with
IN that period of the worlds history; what
changes IN Its maps-what progress IN It's
culture, arts, sciences, civilization, literature,
commerce, manufactures, and all the elements
which make up the intellectual and material
supplies OF life, and which so profusely ad-
minister to the comfort, happiness and wealth
of man.
Tonight we do not propose to follow these
changes or go over the worlds history during
the period named, but cOnfine ourselves to a
brief review of Odd Fellowship and what it
has done since the first lodge was instituted in
georgia. On the 4th of March, 1912, the first
lodge OF Odd Fellows was instituted, and the
first altar of odd Fellowship was erected in
Georgia, and the flag of the order proudly
hOlsJed 10 the pinnacle OF its first temple. and
as the gentle southern breeze kissed and I'M
furled 1t the never dying notices of the order,
Friendship, Love and Truth" and "In God
we trust" shOne forth in bold relief,
proclaiming its mission to the jewellers Of
your beautiful city, and caused them to Won
DER what was II and why it came to dwell
among them. Upon a careful and thorOu gh
investigation they found that it was an in
stltutlon every way worthy of their conf
dence and support; found that odd Fellowship
ha9 us origin with the sons of tOil-its object
reHef, protection and brotherly lOve-its
principles were wisdom and common sense
applied TO practice. 1t was to lead men
whose daily bread depended upon their daily
thus secure in health the means of support
When Frustrated by disease. Thus fraternity,
SICK Denents and charity constituted the ground
work OF this noble order. All these are mixed
up with the daily life Of man. Fraternity is
large and develops the soul. Benefits and
charity how from it as freely as water from a
clear, pure and bubbling spring. Thus good
VIII to men, thus care and protection of the
widow and the orphan, has bound and ever
VIII blnd Odd Fellowship together with the
lasting links of Friendship, Love and Truth.
As rule, men are many times sick before
they dle. And while new orders, modelled
after odd Fellowship, promise to pay certain
sums 10 the family OF a brother, after his
death, the first principle Of Odd Fellowship,
instituted at its BIRTH is to benefit brother
when in life aud at the time they mostly need
the brotherly care and aid of their fellow
men. BY virtue of our fraternity, our care of
the sick and distressed, our protection Of
the widow and the orphan, and our burial
of the dead, we have become a great
beneficial, moral, intellectual and educational
institution. Our cause is, therefore, worthy
OF the nODlesJ aspirations Of man, and a
cause as equally our duty to advocate as it is
our pleasure to pursue. True. our name 10 a
singular one, yet to us it is an honorable one.
Some say we go back as far as the creation
for the name that Adam was undoubtedly
the first Odd Fellow. Perhaps he was; our
name may not sound as soft and melodiOus, or
embOdy in its meaning the DAYS OF chlyalry
and its deeds Of YalOr on the battlehelds OF
earth, vet
Though odd our name, and wrapt in mys-
tery's shrOnd,
Our acts, our deeds, shall speak for us aloud,
BY them alone we stand or fail;
We hold the hand Of fellowship to all.
Could all the world our secret action see,
Mankind one mighty Brotherhood would be. y
Our name has been rendered dear to our
hearts by its glorious deeds Of benevolence and
philanthropy, and by the great moral and re-
ligiOus principles associated with it, until its
singuarity Is lost in its moral value and
beauty.
The great first principle of the order being
fraternity-a universal fraternity of the
= .gsrs~4
written in fearful emblems on the broad face
of creation. that misery and misfortune, des-
titution and death are in the earth. and every =
where to be met with, calling for commisera-
ton, succOr and sacrifice, to dry the tear upon
the cheek Of sorrow, to lift the veil from the
darkened abode Of want, to raise the drOop-
ing head bowed in solitude and mourning and
diving for sympathy. to amcliOrate and soften
sacred injunctiOns to feel for and relieve
others woes, odd Fellowship faithfully keeps.
Odd Fellowship asks no question as to mans
religious faith or political principles, but
rests satisfied when it becomes manifest that
he is upright mana man of integrity, a
true man, fearing God and loving what God
has made. 1t loves the poor man in his rags
as well as a Prince in his purple. In the
lodge room the distinction which the pride
and arrogance OF men set up between
classes and conditions of men are broken
down, and all stand upon a common level. Its
tendency ls to soften the asperities of life,
subdue party strife, and by the sweet and
powerful attraction of its teachings unite in
one harmonious brotherhood men Of all
classes and creeds. The sunbeams do not ask
if il be a genial soil before they fall upon it.
The raindrops do not ask, be il desert sand or
prolific earth before they light upon it, but
sunbeams and rain fall upon the evil as well
as the good, thereby teaching us that our
love, our charity and our compositions are not
to be guided at all by the element of faith, of
cTeeds, OF sects or of nations, hut by the great
law. that wherever humanity suffers there
the human heart should sympathize.
Odd Fellowship is moral, not religious
society. 1t was against vice in every form.
Friendship to man prompts the contest. The
gentle influences of love supply the weapons.
Truth cOnsecrates the effort and leads to VIC
tory. 1t arrays itself against no church or
religious belief, nor does it arrogate to itself
the functions Of the church., but no man can
be a member of this order unless he believes
there is a God. To convert man from his sins
and prepare his soul for death and eternity,
we leave to a better and hOlier institution
Odd Fellowship has its work among suffering
humanity, and has ever shOne brighter when
FURNISHED in the fires of aillietion. Her rituals
her emblems, her lectures are uOt taken from
historical events, or legends of old. They are
taken from the Holy Writ.
Bright pages of history, like stars beaming
out in the midst of the dark and stormy
heavens, reflect the lustre of friendship, love
and truth. But what more sublime teachings
of friendship, brOtherly love and truth than
in the records of the Bible. Who has not felt
q thrill Of unspeakable subllmity when read
of Jonathan and David? Who has not re-
garded with profound reverence the noble,
self-sacrfcing love of the great law giver of
the Jews? Where do you find more beauti-
full illustration of Love thy neighbOr as thy
SELF than in the parable of the good Samari-
tan? Where more glorious teaching of truth
than we find in the Bible, and which has its
place on our affairs?
These are the ground work that form our
three links, these are what makes our ritual
so grand and Impressive, our lectures such
gems of beauty. Emblems and symbols were
once used to more fully impress the scholar
and a people with the great truths taught.
so are they used in Odd Fellowship to impress
upon its VOtaries the teachings OF the order
They are taken from the starry heavens and
the beautiful earth, they are displayed on the
walls of our lodge rooms, they adOrn the per-
sons OF her members. Those various colOred
regalias You see around you, those Jewels that
are attached to them, all have their appro-
pirate mean ng, each and all of them have a
lesson to impart, and they speak more elo-
quently than the words from the lips. AS there
are sermons IN trees, stones and running
brooks, so there are sermons in every emblem
of Odd Fellowship.
odd Fellowship asks no special notoriety.
1t seeks not the shout of the multitude nor the
praises OF the bigot. 1t has lived long enough
to make reputation and to gain the worlds
recognition. Out of the ''nettle danger she
has plucked the flower of safety and in the
golden promise light of the future, its ever
living principles will bear it down the stream
OF time until time shall be no more. Planted
like an acorn 1t has grown into a majestic
oak. Though born in obscurity, nurtured in
poverty, racked amidst storms, passing
through pestilence, fire and the horrors
Of war, with foes without and enemies
within, she has grown in strength, in useful
ness, and in the affections of the good and
true, wherever her affairs have been erected.
When sculptured monuments and marble
tombs shall be no more, when honor;s gaudy
plumes shall wlther and decay, when magni-
cent temples and lofty domes shall be leveled
with the ground, the triumph of the princi-
pies of Odd Fellowship shall flourish in i'm
mortal yOuth-they shall never perish.
The flag with its notices that was
planted on the banks of your own
Savannah AZ years ago, not only waves there
still, but has been carried and planted all over
your State, and now waves from the seabOard
to the mountains, from the Savannah to the
ChattahoOchee. To night we assemble here
as band of brothers, and with fair and lovely
women as our guests, to celebrate the 42d birth
day of the first lodge instituted in Georgia
on March /, 1912, with five charter members,
and was named in honor Of him who planted
the first colony the banks of the
Savannah, and the founder of your beauti-
full and renowned city and State.
Some of the youthful brothers of the
others express themselves that the old fOgies
had better retire and give way to young
blood. If by calling us old fOgies they mean
that Oglethorpe Lodge has ever been true to
the pure teachings OF the order-that She has
followed the landmarks-that she has en-
deaYored to practice what the Order teaches
that she has been conservative in her coun-
she visits her sick, protects her widows and
orphans, we accept the name and feel proud
Of it, and unless the coming young blood can
surpass her in all these and in her devotion to