The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-11-24

monies Today.
!From the Daily Messenger, Nov. 21.)
Wilmington's great Masonic Fair, in
new temple, was opened 10 the public
at 6 o'clock last night, and already a
tremendous success is assured.
Many Masons and their friends were
for several days past in a state OF
fear ad trembling" lest with the enor
nous amount of work to be done be
fore the fair could be opened, they
would not be able to open Lass night
at all, or if they dd open, that it
would be in a very half-handed SORT
of a way. But the Messenger is glad
to that de- 1ite the apparent
fearful odds Colonel Noble F. Martin,
the manager of the fair, and his corps
of assistants, at the last minute played
a trump card SO muct SO that the hun
dreds Of people who Lhronged the fair
apartments were really ~astonished AT
the degree of perfection which has been
attained in the fair arrangements.
THE OPENING CEREMONIES.
1t was at s o'clock that the opening
ceremonies were held, most worshipful
Grand Master Richard J. Noble, NJ. D.,
Of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina,
being the chief participant. He arrived
here on the $50 p. m. train from his
home in Selma, accompanied by Grand
Tiler r. H. Bradley, of Raleigh, and
Grand Steward Jones.
At s o'clock the Grand Lodge officers
with Colonel A. NJ. Waddell, mayor of
Wilmington, and President of the Fair
Association, and the board of corpora
ton directors assembled on the second
floor Of the temple where they formed a
procession and marched up to the fair
halls or the foo above. Mayor Wad-
dell entered first, escorted by Mr.. w. E.
Springer. They took a position in the
rear of the lodge room and were quick
ly Joined by the grand master, es-
co1tted by Mr.. James F. Post, Jr., by
the grand officers, the chaplain, Rev.
Robt. Strange, D. D., and by the Ma
sonic Temple Corporation directors,
M. S. Willard (president,) Thos. F.
Bagley (vice president), James c.
Munds Secretary, Charles w. Worth,
Iredell Meares, Esq, Isaac Bear, Harry
G.. Smallbones. The other two direc-
tors, James 2. Post Jr., and w. Z.
Springer, had as previously noted, pre-
ceded their fellow directors as escorts
respectively to the mayor and the
grand master.
. The first feature of h ceremonies
was the presentation of the most wor-
shipful master to the mayor by Mr..
James F. Post, Jr., who said:
Il have the honor and it affords me
great pleasure, Mr.. Mayor n presi-
dent, to introduce to you DR.. R.. j. No
BILE, most w%orshipful grand master of
North Carolina"
THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
Upon the presentation of the grand
master, Colonel Waddell, as mayor of
the city and president of the Masonic
Fair Association, welcomed him as fol-
lows:
MOST Worshipful Grand Master:
LAS mayor of this city, I bid you a
Masonic Fair Association, 1 ten
Ger to you the Inequalities of this
most suspicious occasion. AS a Mason,
1 offer the tribute which is due to you
exalted station. And as a fellow citi-
zen of North Carolina, 1 greet your
presence among us as a distinguished
honor.
1.-The Masons of this city feel. a par
donable pride in contemplating this
splendid building which is to be their
future home. 1t S a noble and lasting
monument ito their zeal and energy and
a fitting Illustration Of some of the vir-
tues inculcated by the venerable soci-
ETY. ito which they belong.
1.-The thought which finally fruited
IN this imposing structure was plant
ed several years ago, and was care
fully nursed through unpropitious sea-
sons with Single-minded devotion until
it grew into a fixed purpose, which by
it's very audacity won the admiration
and sympathy of all the Masons Of this
city, and today they rejoice ait its
complete and triumphant realization
eft is the only Masonic Temple in
North Carolina, and it was according
to the eternal fitness OF things that its
majestic proportions should rise where
the first lodge in the state was organ
lied more than a hundred years ago.
Tomorrow it will be your preroga-
tive to dedicate it with the ceremonial
prescribed in such cases. I am sure that
the performance of that duty will give
you even greater pleasure than you
experienced in laying its corner stone
a few months ago, and I trust that in
the years to come the recollection of
these two events will be a source Of
satisfaction to you as marking an epoch
in the history of Masonry in North
Carolina during your administration
as grand master
Ito the officers Of the Grand Lodge
who accompany you, and to all the
brethren from other localities who have
kindly favored us by their presence this
evening, we extend a warm fraternal
greeting, and we beg to assure them,
that as by the law of Masonry the
doors of this Temple must always be
open to them, so also will our hearts
and our homes be while they remain
among us.
1T is no part Of my purpose, or Of
my duty-and it would be anticipating
the programme for tomorrow-to give
larger liberty to my tongue this even
ing. tempting as the opportunity may
be, but I would be oblivious Of the SEN
timent of ordinary gratitude if I failed
to acknowledge, on behalf OF the Ma
sons of Wilmington, their obligation
to the good women of this city for
their arduous' and unselfsh labors in
behalf of the Fair, and to the very
many generous persons, in and out OF
the state, who have SO literally on
tribufed to its success.
And now, nos worshipful, renew
ing to you. officially and personally,
every which hospitality a
C..roocf + pova %ho hano- - ;nxifa u0.,