The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-22
ODD FELLOWS PUT IN OFFICE.
THE OFFICERS OF FIVE LODGES
PUBLICLY INSTALLED.

Grand Wilson Gives Away Some OF
the Secrets of the order.
The strength OF Odd Fellows in Savan-
nah was well attested by the attendance
at the public installation exercises at
the Odd Fellows temple last night.
Every inch OF available space in the
large hall, the supper room In the rear.
the gallery and the hallway outside was
occupied. and there were many who were
unable TO obtain entrance. The hall was
so crowded that the officers found them
selves seriously crippled for space in which
to carry out the installation exercises.
and il was necessary on this account to
dispense with some of the formalities.
on the platform with the grand master
were seated Grand Marshal Jonas Men
del, Acting Grand Guardian j. 3. Lance.
Acting Grand Herald Henry NJ. Ward,
Acting Grand Secretary A. r. Fawcett.
Acting Grand Treasurer William Faw-
cett and Messrs. L. A. Falllgant and D.
b. Lester and H. Z. Wilson, Esq.
The grand chaplain. Rev. L. c. Vass,
invoked the blessings Of the Almighty
upon the occasion. After an overture by
the orchestra, the prayer from the opera
'freischutz," Father, breathe an even
ing blessing" was splendidly- rendered
by a quartette, composed of Messrs.
Drummond, Keilbach, Demond and Meyer.
The address of welcome was delivered
by Grand Master A. n. Manucy. The
grand master said that IL was the first
time in years that the Odd Fellows had
held a public installation in Savannah,
and the large gathering fully demon
strated the hold which odd Fellowship
has in this city. After explaining the
reasons for a public installation, the
grand master said:
This gathering demonstrates that odd
Fellowship is a household word in this
community. Fifty-four years ago the first
Odd Fellows lodge was instituted in Geor-
gla. Oglethorpe No. l, of this city, the
120 lodges in the state, and there is hardly
a town nor a hamlet within its borders
honored. Who can tell the story of the
noble work II has done, of the distress IL
has relieved, of the cheer which ii has
brought to the hearts of the widow and
the orphan, of it's countless deeds of
fraternal kindness and brotherly love"
Mr.. Manucy said that Odd Fellowship is
to-day the leading fraternal order of the
world. having 1l,OOO lodges and 60WO
members In America alone. The purpose
OF the assemblage, he said, was TO il
lustrate TO some extent, the workings and
the sacredness of the obligations
assumed by the officers Of the
order. The grand master said that
he was strongly opposed to long addresses,
and for this reason he would cut short
his own remarks.
The address was followed by the song.
The installation of the officers was then
begun. The officers-elect were conducted
from an outer room into the hall by Grand
Marshal Mendel and presented to the grand
master. The officers made quite a host.
The five lodges which participated in the
public installation were Oglethorpe No. /,
Live Oak No. 3, Haupt No IS, Acorn No.
103, and Concord No. II, and there was a
total of about seventy officers installed.
Each set of officers was presented in
turn to the grand master by the grand
marshal, the five noble grands first, then
the vice grands and the others following
in proper succession. Each received the
charge from the grand master, and from
the other grand officers as required by the
ritual, and took the prescribed obliga-
tions: The ceremony was somewhat
lengthy, but it was interesting to many
of those present. who had never seen It
before.
Mr.. G. w Drummond rendered vocal
solo, THE Voice of the Woods" by Ru-
binstein. Mr.. Drummond was in good
voice. and the audience testified its appre-
citation by liberal applause
The address of the evening was delivered
by Mr.. H. e. Wilson, and was one of the
best features of the programme. Mr..
Wilson proceeded to give away some of
of the wives and daughters of the MEM
bers, who were present in large numbers.
He explained the desire of the men to get
into the secret societies by telling his au-
dience that 1t was one of the necessary
consequences of marriage. Every mar
ried man who knew anything at all, he
cieties as possible. The only way a mar
ried man can get to stay out late at night,
he said, is by telling his wife that he has
been to the lodge. He charged Grand
Master Manucy and his staff with having
prolonged the exercises to a late hour for
the especial intent and purpose of con-
the lodges always held late, and that the
explanation usually offered by their hus-
bands were well founded. He then pro-
ceeded to give the whole snap away by
informing the ladies that it was a very
unusual thing for the lodges to hold
such lengthy exercises, and that the us
meeting was 3 o'clock. Some of the old
members almost fell off their seats when
the recorder came out fiatfooted with this
statement, and there was a general mani
festation of uneasiness.
After keeping his brother Odd Fellows
on pms and needles for several minutes
Mr.. Wilson turned his attention to the Of
fcers. He said he had expected to sneak
to large gathering of brother Odd Fell
lows, put he found that his audience was
almost entirely composed of ladies' with
the exception of the officers All the Odd
Fellows present appeared to be officers.
rms, he explained to the ladies' was the
true reason why their husbands so often
arrived nome at late hours. The lodge
meetings, it was true, adjourned early
put 1t was often necessary for the officers
to remain and perform important duties
after the lodge meeting, and as there were
a great many officers, it was easy to see
why SO many husbands were often late
In reaching their domiciles
The speaker was in a critical humor
and next paid his attention to the
cranks OF whom. he said, there were q
number in the order. The cranxiest of ali
the breed, he said. is the crank who is al
ways trying to form Rebekah lodge in
order to bring the ladies in. He had been
a steadfast opponent of the Rebekah
lodge crank for many years, the Speaker
said, but from the interest taken in the
order, by the ladies, judging by the large
number of ladies present, this crank still
has chance. The speaker closed with
an eloquent description of the principles
of the order and a tribute to its noble
work.
The Odd Fellows closing ode was then
sung by the members, and the exercises
closed with the benediction by the chan
lain, Rev. l.. c. VaSs.
After the adjournment the hall was
cleared and dancing was INDUCED in until
O'Clock. The occasion was a Thoroughly
pleasant and most successful one There
could be no better tribute to the strength
of the order in Savannah than the size
and character of the audience which at
tended the exercises. The following is the
list of the officers installed: OgiethorDe
No. IN G., T. R. Hutton; V. G., w III
Whitehead; secretary, w. c. Travis
treasurer r. L. Hoffman: warden. c. L.
Maxwell; conductor, w. p. Spaulding: r
S. N. G., Charles Gross; l.. S. N G.. J. r
I.,se IA d . ~ n