The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-14

imam the scattering and uncertain work
of the disorganized and well meaning
people who act individually. We must
not be too technical in administering our
behefits; We should not in paying, look
Tor reason not to do il, but rather for
reasons to DO it. Odd Fellowship is not
Il money-making or a money-saYing in
sttution. 1t sometimes happens that
odd Fellows lodges make money by saw
ing 1t, instead of by collecting it, And
Yet We are pledged to care for our men,
bers and We must do it. We should not
try to get rich before we are just.
As we become more willing to give to
the members of our own lodge, we will
become more charitable to other people.
A man cannot teach others to do right
VINO does not do right himself 1t is true
charity begins at home; our brethren
and sisters In the order are always at
home with US. They have the first claim
upon us; TO help them is not charity, but
a duty.
The opportunity to do right is always
present. The poor We always have with
you Ali men and women in the order
should seek to cultivate the better i'm
pulses of the heart I know We are quite
too willing to improve other peoples
hearts rather than our own. This is hui
man nature.
The brotherhood of man is the funda-
mental idea of Odd Fellowship 1t forms
the basis of all good government 1t ex-
lists at the family fireSide where the
beauty of kinship adds to the purity of
nome life. 1t is found in the presence
OF organized free government where the
multitudes meet to control public affairs
1t is one of the noblest prerogatives OF
sovereignty, when it is clothed in the
garments of justice and devoted to lib
la ba
is as old as time. 1t commenced in the
patriarchial ages, and it has come down
to us unchanged and Interchangeable Diff
1erlng from time to time as men differ
and as civilization improves; but it is
always the same in principle. 1t may in
the early ages have taught among men
a new religion or inspired new systems
OF duty to each other, or possibly it had
its birth when Grecian youth were ini-
tfated into the Eleusinian mysteries. 1t
may have been inspired by the followers
of Socrates and Pythagoras, when the
Athentans were first learning the mys-
ter!es OF great natural laws American
youth needs no Eleusinian rites to in
spire their patriotism; We have a coun-
try to love, whose honor we are proud
to cherish whose laws we venerate and
whose principles will live through time.
No man can be a good Odd Fellow who
is not good and patriotic citizen.
1t should be here noted that Odd Eel
lowship is not for today but for all time.
1t will last as long as tears are to be
dried, or fountains of sorrow closed or
aching hearts encouraged. Our order
does not trace its birth back through re-
mote ages. 1t is purely American, Or
ganized in America for the people and
for the conditions here. Odd Fellowship
was established in America to meet Am
erican wants, and yet it has already
reached far out over the earth. 1t is an
organization for every day life. Its birth
was among the poor, and we love it all
the more for that reason.
Since the organization of Odd Fellow
ship in America, what strides civilization
has taken. AS a nation we have risen
from third to a first class power;
America is a great people, because in
Americans are good people
In this toiling age, commerce makes
the law and makes and unmakes empire
In such an age, is it not good to have at
least one society dedicated to friendship,
love and truth?
Whose high aim is to benefit man, not
to enrich him; to cultivate his heart, not
alone his head. Why not kindle upon
this altar of modern charity a fame
that will grow brighter and brighter as
the years roll on? Let Us kindle these
fires anew as age comes and youth slips
away. May the pathway of each toiler
he frightened by the hope that will never
become less cheering and that the secU-
rity for the future VIII BE- an uneudiIig
glory.
Tradition tells US that men originally
assembled together fer self-protection,
because they feared the combined power
of their enemies and they surrendered
some of their individual rights to secure
safety to the whole. They forgot or
seemed to forget the charitable side of
human action; that all government is a
necessity for mans safety and well-be-
ing is true, but that good government
depends on mans power to control his
own action and arises. from his capacity
TO govern himself; that is so with all
people, men from lodges, communities
tribes and nations. The better ana wiser
the people the better the nation ard the
better the government.
Odd Fellows, like all Americans, must
remember they owe duty to their coun-
try. That in this great republic tie peo-
pie are the power; that here no "pent
up Utica controls our powers; for the
whole boundless continent is ours
The American flag is but the repre-
of the American people This
nation is our nation, and the flag is our
flag; our fathers made it, and we, their
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