Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-09-26
Governors Speech to the
Odd Fellows.

Governor Smith was given an enthu.
siastic reception by the Odd Fellows in
Baltimore this week and his speech was
heartily cheered. He said;
Grand Sire. Grand Representatives of the Sow
ereign Grand Lodge. Ladies and Gentlemen
1t is with peculiar feelings of pride and pleas
ure that the people of Maryland throw open their
doors to you the representatives of the Sovereign
Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows of the World. coming as you do from all
parts of the earth, and representing an organiza-
ton which includes within its ranks over 900
intelligent devoted members; a mighty army
pledged to fight the sin of selfishness and to up
hold universal beliefin the brotherhood of man
and the Fatherhood of God.
1t is always a qualification to welcome ladies
and gentlemen within the borders of our State
and to place our best before them. 1t has been
my privilege and pleasure since occupying the
Office now hold. on many occasions to express
to large and distinguished bodies of visitors our
very natural appreciation of the honor conferred
upon us and upon our State by reason of their
meeting here, and to extend to them personal
and official welcome to our great and beloved
State of Maryland. Our doors are open to our
guests and our hearts are in our welcome. We
endeavor always to live up to the reputation of
our section and State for sincere cordially and
ungrudging hospitality.
But to-day it is different We cannot agree
that the members of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows who are here to-day, wheresoever
they may live, are to be classed as visitors. We
desire to make them feel that they are in their
own home.
We cannot regard the Order as foreign cor
poration, because Maryland claims the proud
distinction of being the birthplace of its legal
existence. The corporate life of the Order began
with its Maryland Charter; and its physical ex-
istence, the groat influence it exerts, the good it
does to-day, is due to the efforts of an unlettered
Maryland genius, whose bones rest in Maryland
soil, and whose memory is fittingly commemor-
father of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
Thomas Wildey. the Baltimore mechanic
The first Lodge of the Order, the old Washing
ton Lodge, was organized and struggled for its
life here in Baltimore and it still survives.
That Lodge was the parent whose numerous
children have increased in numbers, prosperity
and power until they have overshadowed and
outgrown their parent They have run over
this country and are scattered everywhere, but
still by their eloquent words and their unselfish
lives they are proclaiming throughout the world
the basic principles of the Order, which were first
taught to Odd Fellows here in Baltimore, Friend
ship, Love and Truth.
Therefore in welcoming you here to-day in the
name of the State of Maryland do not welcome
you as strangers. And though we may have
killed for you the fatted calf still we do not
gard you for that reason as prodigal children;
but we welcome you most cordially and sincere
ly to your ancestral home as devoted worthy
children, who have come, some of you from a
long distance, to visit the birthplace of your
Order, to pay proper tribute to the memory of its
Father and Founder, Wildey; and to its friend,
biographer and patron, John L. Ridgley.
The Grand Lodge of Maryland, and indeed, all
the people of this State, are to be congratulated
ON having with us to-day the highest representa-
tives of an Order devotedly Jealous in the cause
of humanity. and therefore so renowned, inf1uen-
tial and honorable as the independent Order of
Odd Fellows.
The ideals of your Order, so lofty and pure as
almost to be beyond the reach of infirm and
erring humanity, must influence yonr members
for good, and make all those who endeavor to
practice its teachings better men and women,
better citizens. more patriotic, and teach them
the truth of what has been said before that 1.-THE
greatest thing in the world is love-.
But the benefcent effect of the principles of
your Order is not confined alone to your list of
members. Organizations such as yours must be
most beneficial and helpful as agents for peace
and good government to the State and the nation
1 hold it is impossible to have within the great
mass of our people band of citizens holding the
tenets you profess, going about striving to live
up to those principles day by day, and relieving
distress and doing good without its effects being
felt as a power in the State l believe sin and
crime will decrease just SO far your principles
of fraternal love and truth sieze upon and guide
our citizens in their relations to each other and
to the State.
We welcome you. and we welcome your propa-
ganda. We rejoice as State and a Nation in the
spread of the dominant idea of your Order that
we each owe something to our fellow man, and
congratulate the Order and the world that you
have done so much to teach the world not to live
for self alone.
hope your stay with us on Maryland soil may
be entirely agreeable and it is our sincere desire
to do that which will contribute most to yonr
happiness and pleasure while we may boast the
privilege of entertaining you.
We wish you success and the greatest prosperi-
ty, honor and peace.
We believe the great fraternal organization
which had its humble beginning in this city, and
like that wonderful book. Pilgrims Progress, was
conceived by an unlearned artisan, will grow
and grow as long as its pure, simple but majestic
principles are worthily observed by its members,
and faith in Friendship, Love and Truth sur
n. rf1 nf osxy oE