Morning journal and courier., 1889-09-04
AT THE HYPERION.

N previously published, was rendered with un- usual success. Wheeler & Wilson's band opened the evenings exercises with excel lent renditions of Rossinis civilian Tell" and Willmer's "A Summers Day in Nor way" The Abt quartette of this ciiy sang Bucks "On the Sea-" and their rendition of the selection called for storm of applause. Grand Master James Bishop presided, and in his opening remarks congratulated the members of the order on the success of the day and the excellence of the programme provided for the evenings entertainment.
 When the quartette had rendered another M., spoke eloquently of "The Order" Odd Fellowship is true fraternal order. The growth of the order has been the development of this grand design of fraternity. Our or der is neither religious or political. As an order no religious faith is taught, but we be- lieve true religion is the lever which raises near to the plane where all men may wor- ship God according to their own wishes.
 "The Mill in the Forest" was selection rendered most acceptably by Wheeler & Will sons band. At it's conclusion Grand Master Bishop introduced the orator of the evening, Hon. John W. Stebbins, past grand master of the Grand lodge of New York, and whose home is at Rochester. Among other things he said: If in any degree the words to which you are about to listen shall seem heavy or dull, I beg of you to attribute it to the speaker and not to his theme, a theme wor- thy of the most burning eloquence and the richest praises. Fifty years ago this after- gathered in the lodge room in this city sev- eral gentlemen, the charter members of Quin- nipiao lodge No. 1. The officials of the Grand lodge of New York established the lodge according to the customs of the order, and not contrary-wise.
 The five pioneers of the order in this state have passed away, but all lived to see their anticipations more than realized. We can say of them in full scripture measure, ''They are gone but their works do follow them" In less than twelve months Quinnipiac lodge had grown from five to one hundred and nineteen members. John A. Kennedy, that grand Odd Fellow who afterward became grand sire, was the man who planted the first lodge in this classic State, here in the beautiful city of New Haven, heath the walls of the great seat of learning from which have gone forth some of the highest intel lects of the age.
 Fifty years ago tonight our ordsr in this commonwealth numbered one lodge and thirteen men. Tonight 1t has sixty-seyen lodges and 13, 900 men. It has twenty four Rebecca degree lodges and twenty cantons of Patriarchs Militant, with 852 men uni formed at a cost of $29, ,26O. The yearly in.  7S4 in assets. It expended during the year $25, ,213 in relief, and it's other disbursements were $11, ,374.
 Do you know that Odd Fellowship was the first order to carry relief to the sick and pro- tect the widow and the fatherlessa The Grand lodge of Connecticut Is the one of 8 sisterhood of fftyfonr lodges acting under @ Sovereign Grand lodge that has a oonstit- uency of 574 ,000 members scattered through thirteen nationalities, including the far off empire of Japan, binding these nations to- gether by the cords of brotherly love.
 After twenty years of struggle the order in this country had acquired only member ship of 9,561, less by almost 4,000 than the present membership in the state. But now there are in the United States s, ,570 suborbi- nate lodges with total membership of 574,- 161. Odd Fellows homes and other benef- oial institutions have sprung up on every hand, affording an enormous amount of re- lief for the sick, for the education of the orphan and the burial of the dead. Aid has been extended to not less than fifteen million fellow beings.
 Many times every week through all the years to the sick and the disconsolate the faithful Odd Fellow has gone bearing not only his financial aid but encouragement, sympathy and love to sweeten the lot of the sorrowful and unfortunate. What orgsniza- tion can show nobler monumenta
 Over forty thousand noble women enrolled in the Rebecca lodges throughout the coun- try and over half million stalwart men en- gagged in this great and noble work. At the close of the next half century we shall have membership of 4,00O, 1000, an annual income of $60, ,000, ,000 and the annual expenditure of $20, ,000, ,000 in relieving the sick and burying the dead.
 The Patriarchs Militant established only few years since, now number eighteen thou- sand and carry as their mottoe "Pax aut bellum," and with the representation of the lamb and lion together upon its shield. This great order diet Not until the last widows tear shall have been wiped away and the cry of the orphan shall be appeased forever shall this order die.
 It took both peaks of Ararat to save the ark. So it takes the church and Odd Eel lowship to return mankind washed of its impurity. Not until the great "well done" shall be heard will the work of Odd Fellow ship be finished. Foil on my brother though narrow men about thee may scoff and ridi- cule; toll on until at last thou shalt hear the gentle voice bid thee "come up higher" MT. Stebbins concluded with an eloquent peroration that stirred the hearts of his hear CTS. The Apt quartette again delighted the big audience, when Deputy Grand Sire Charles M. Busbee of Raleigh, N, O., addressed his brother Odd Fellows. n part he said: I thank you for your kindly greeting which take as an expression of your loyalty officer am. I'll say that feel at home in Connecticut, and in New Haven particularly. I congratulate you on the magnificent dis- play that the Odd Fellows have made o-day, display worthy of the order and this state. have found no more genial gentleman or truer Odd Fellow than he who guides the helm of the order in this state, and who will k.yro s,,A lodge.
 todd Fellowship is simply an organization which, recognizing the dependence of man upon his brother man, has become an order in which man may be of assistance to man. This idea of the interdependence of man is the foundation of the order. Odd Fellowship, taking that idea and carrying it into the do- main of daily life, makes science of 1t. care not how good a man may be, nor how perfect he may be, nor how faithful a servant of God he may be, he becomes better man when he enters the portals of an Odd Fellows lodge.
 "A lodge of Odd Fellows will do more good in community than any other agency. It will bar distress more and will afford more relief The strength of Odd Fellowship, it's glory and grandeur, rest with the subordinate lodges. It stirred my heart to see to day this fine array of men, men of intelligence and strong character, every one of them good cit. izens of this great country. have seen Odd Fellows processions all over the country, but I have never seen one that in point of char acter the participants ranked with the one I have seen to day.
 "The order is the strongest fraternal or- ganization in the world. Strong in the principles which underlie 1t an in the men that compose it. I believe it is still on the threshold of it's career. You can no more stop the growth of this grand fraternity than you can stop the ebb and flow of the tide in your beautiful harbor. I beg of you, my brothers, to keep the fires burning and to guard them with the same diligence that the virgins guarded the eternal fire in the temple of Vssta."
 The audience joined in the. closing hymn and the semi-centennisl was over. Grand Canton Sassacus and Their
 Guests To-Day.
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