Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1897-04-26

MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 20, 1897
THE ODD FELLOWS.

THE ODD FELLOWS.
This is the seventy. eighth anniversary
OF the actual founding of Odd
Fellowship in America. and the event
will be appropriately observed through
out the country.
The Independent Order of Odd Eel.
lows Is a very conservative organiza'
tion, and, like conservative institutions
IN general, is sound. It costs but conn.,
paratively little to belong to the order,
and in Turn it pays to members sick
benefits and funeral expenses. 1t
likewise educates the orphans. and
cares for the widows of deceased mem
bers, and contributes with a libsral
hand for other charitable purposes.
Odd Fellowship is ostensibly human
in principle and benevolent in action,
seeking the best good OF those within
its pale, and reaching beyond its cir
cumscribed limits to do acts of benev-
olence and charity. 1t does, how
ever, not promise the initiate TO make
it mor profitable to be sick than to be
well. 1t does not agree TO make his
family rich when he dies Il makes no
extravagant promises otJsby kind. But
it does say to its members that 1t will
pay them q magnificent profit upon
what little they invest. IL does say
that in consequence of the foolish ones
dropping out, 1t pays. and is thus
enabled to pay to the average member
who sticks more than he pays into the
order, and it does say, solemnly and
trutbful!y, that whatever is promised
will be paid without fail, and prompt.
~.
The only direction in which this
order is not conservative is In the SYM
pathy it bestows when sympathy is
required, and the fraternity it exhibits
among its membership. These ARE
scattered with unlimited freedom, and
they are indeed better than all the mil
lions OF dollars that the order pays out
in its work. In this practical old
world Of ours money is not to be de-
spised, but there are times in almost
every life when sympathy and brother
ly love are far more precious than
dollars, and to those who are in need
of these, this great brotherhood
says: "Come tothe ~exhausless fountain
and drink your FILL"
Although Wildey lived In an age of
calm and quiet. compared with the
present, he patterned not after Rome's
societies Of antique date, nor after
Egypt's mystic shrines, but seeing
mans dependencies upon his fellow
man, he took the beautifully written
narrative of the love Of Jonathan and
David, and builded thereon an endur-
ing temple devoted to Friendship, Love
and Truth, to which was added the
annex OF Faith, Hope and Charity.
Imitators he had-equals nome. Ameri-
can Odd Fellowship was patterned
after no society. antique or modern it
was built upon the basis Of the father
hood of God and the brotherhood OF
man, and it is destined to live while
civilization endures. The Manchester
Unity was the shadow OF which Amer
lean Odd Fellowship Is the structure,
and the latter exists because mankind
has need Of it.
The Independent Order of Odd Eel
lows is q power in our country. The
great majority Of its members are or
Derby, thrifty and intelligent citizens.
They are largely Of the ~so-called mid
class Of societyya class that chiefly
carry on the religious and moral
movements of the day. The cause OF
education, temperance. economical
government, together with the inter
OF the church, would surely fail but
Tor this class, for q true Odd Fellow is
) generous giver; he sustains law and 1
order; be il . sturdy foe to ignorance .
IL all Of its forms, and he abhors vice ,
md hates wrong. (