The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-17

NORTHFIBLD, Mimi, June 1e-(Spe-
cial.)-The cornerstone of the Mime
sofa Odd Fellows widows and orphans
home was laid today with appropriate
ceremonies in the presence of 6,0Qo peo-
pie. The occasion was banner day for
the city and also for Minnesota Odd Eel
lows.
Trains commenced to arrive early this
morning and it is estimated that fully
1900 visitors arrived in the city during
the forenoon.
The St. Paul delegation came over the
| Chicago Great Western in nine coaches,
| accompanied by Seibert's band Owa-
tonna sent four coaches of visitors with
a band and there were large delegations
from Mankato and Austin. The Red
Wing delegation was accompanied by the
State Training School band and the 1509
which comprised the Minneapolis dee
cation, including the Patriarch's Militant,
| who had with them the Journal News
boys band
The local lodges had their members
1 divided into committees and aside from
! the decoration of the buildings and
| streets devoted themselves to receiving
and entertaining the visitors. AS the
various delegations arrived they were
escorted to the grounds of the home
where a basket lunch was served at
noon.
| VISITORS WELCOMED.
| At 1 o'clock there was a parade of the
| visiting lodges and the Patriar chs Mi l.
tant through the principal streets to the
| home.
| After music by the band, Mayor M. w.
| Skinner welcomed the Odd Fellows to
the city and was followed by C. s. Ives,
| of st. Peter, president of the board of
| trustees of the home in short intro
ductory address. Mr.. Ives said that the
| Odd Fellows were pioneers in the move
ment to care for the widows and or
phans of their brothers and that a home
similar to the one now building was pc
! culiar to the order, although other or.
| ders had their methods of taking care of
] their people. He described the strenuou;
work of raising the funds after the idea
I of erecting the home funds had taken
tangible form at Winona in 1891 The
board Of directors elected at the grand
| lodge at that time had been instructed
to raise funds, and they had done so by
! the constant repetition of the request.
| please give" Now there was $35 900
! to their credit, which, with the 120 acres
| Of land given by Mortified, and valued
| at SIS, 000 made a total of $50, 900 secured
at an expense of less than $500.
| While poor houses might be of some use
| as an economic factor, few self-reSpecting
| people cared to know that they or their
| families would some day be left Rs
nuhlics imnOVAriShed charge killed a
| mans sense of independence to receive
| something for nothing. Hence the Old
/, Fellows had provided a fund from which
a certain sum is paid each week to those
temporarily unable to care for them
selves. It is not paid as a matter of
charity, and the recipients know that
they have right to their own contribu-
| lions to this fund. On these broad
principles the Mortified home was
| founded. In closing, Mr.. Ives alluded
to the certified check for S., 600 from tho
ST. Paul lodge, No. Q; the certified check
for 1000 from DR.. r. Schiffman, of ST.
Paul, and the pledges made by the lodges
in the grand council, amounting to about
SOCIAL for the home.
The audience sang the opening ode of
Rebekah lodge, and Rev. James w.
Strong, D. D., president of Carleton col
lege offered prayer. The Metropolitan
quartette, of Minneapolis, followed with a
selection.
IN THE STONE
Grand Secretary A. L. Bolton, of st.
Paul, read the list of articles placed in
the box which was placed in the corner
stone. The following were the articles
placed in the stone
Holy Bible, journal of the sovereign
grand lodge of 1898, journals of the grand
lodge of Minnesota from 1881 to 1893, jour
nails of the grand encampment of Mime
sofa from 1891 to 1885, proceedings of the
Rebekah Assembly of Minnesota from
1891 to 1928, constitutions of the grand
lodge of Minnesota, grand encampment
of Minnesota, Rebekah assembly, sub
ordinate lodges, and subordinate encamp
ment of Minnesota constitution of Re-
bekah lodges of Minnesota, tmprints of
seals of grand lodges, grand encamp-
ments, and Rebekah assembly, copies of
the National Rebekah, Odd Fellows Re
view articles of incorporation of the
home, Mortified Independent, Mortified
News, membership certificate, first Re
bel<ah wheel, book of forms, list of sub
scribers for the purchase of the site, re-
ports of the grand officers for 1899, and
assembly officers for 1899, and of the Off
cial souvenir of the laying Of the corner
stone.
The ceremony of laying the stone was
impressively performed by Grand Master
-.
president of the Rebekah assembly;
Grand Patriarch M. C. Kelsey and Dep
uty Grand Master Ira E. Sumner.
GRAND SIRES ADDRESS.
Grand Sire A. S. Pinkerton followed
the ceremony of the laying of the corner
stone with an grafton. He said in part:
Such an impressive ceremony as we
have just witnessed is of especial signifi-
canoe to the old Odd Fellows, because 1t
is but the, thirty-second step in that line
of humane advancement which was be-
gun In the Pennsylvania coal fields, above
Scranton, many years ago.
When I was much younger than I am
now it was my fortune to witness one Of
the great mine accidents in which MANY
miners lest their lives. The people were
of course, desperately poor, and the chill
dren and widows whose fathers or hus.
bands had been taken from them had lit
tie in prospect but starvation, when the
miners of the district dubbed their mea-
gre savings and furnished one of the
poor cabins of the country as a home
the first step taken toward instituting
widows and orphans homes by the Odd
Fellows but from that humble begin
same jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and
there are thirty-two homes similar to the
one whose corner stone has just been
laid in these United States. They repre-
sent $1;000,000 of actually Invested funds
But the United States is not the only
country in which Odd Fellowship is sys-
tematically taking care of the needy
within and without it's ranks The order
in Denmark has recently built and
equipped lepresy hospital in Iceland at
Odd, Fellows or not are received. In
complying with the laws of Denmark
the institution is placed nominally under
Odd Fellows flag floats be. jde the flag
Of Denmark, and is pre-eminGntly an Odd
Fellows home, by and for Odd Fellows.