The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-12-13
BIG EVENT
CELEBRATED
CONTINUED from Page one.)

Continued from Page One.)
Messrs. L. L. La Pierre, E. r. Hendry,
Mrs. E. A. Jacobsen and Miss Thora
Oss, were seated near the presiding Of
ficers.
The program comprised musical Sc
lections by Mr.. Casceres, Ernest Kaai
and others.
Following some Introductory remarks
of Mr.. Levers, w. O. Smith made an
| address on Excelsior Lodge and some
| of the principles upon which Odd Eel
| loWship is founded. He said he did
not wish to confine himself altogether
| to Excelsior Lodge, although his asso-
Citations had been with that lodge for
about thirty years. Thoughts natural
ly went back to those who were prom
Inent in the lodge at the beginning
of that period. There We're present OF
those whom he remembered then
Brothers Robert Levers, Z. c. Rowe
j. o. Carter and David Dayton. Com
paratively few are living. Those who
among others, had passed away We're
Marshal Parke, Hughes, SaVidge, Bart
hold. They ha@gone and younger men
had taken their places. Mr.. Smith
spoke of the value of celebra ting ami
celebrating birthdays. Anniversaries
in our own lives were of value We
are SO occupied with the present and
the future that we are apt to forget
the past and its pleasant memories. The
past has its great value in our lives
and in the life of an organization.
| There is a suggestion of Immortality
in anniversaries. 1t is a pleasure to
know of the good work which an Or
ganization is doing. Goodfellowship is
a great influence. 1t is a profitable
thing to meet on an anniversary like
this. I wish that the order in Homo
lulu will grow even stronger than it is
and be more useful than it has been
in the past.
DIR. RODGERS ADDRESS.
DR.. Rodgers, D. D. G. s., chaplain,
made an address on the Rebekahs, as
follows:
Brothers, Sisters and Friends: l
have been asked by those who have
charge of arranging tonight IS pro
gram to speak to you on behalf of
the Rebekah Degree of our Order, an
invitation that, however imperfectly |
may meet its obligations, l certainly
regard as a privilege and an honor.
If at the outset [ seem to go very
far back towards the beginnings of
things | pray you will not assume that
my discourse is to be correspondIngiy
long; such is not my intention.
''And God saw that it was not good
for man to be alone,'' so he created
woman to be his companion and help
mate In other words, taking the mar
rative as it appears on it's face, the
Creator is represented as seeing the
imperfection of his own work, and
straightway the Divine Wisdom and
the Divine Foresight, acting by and
through the Divine Power, found and
applied the remedy. Burns, many
of you know, gives the story whlm-
steal and half humorous turn, intimat-
ing that in creating man the Creator
was experimenting or trying his hand
as it were, and that woman was the
final and perfected work of creative
power. Speaking of nature in a per-
sonifed form the poet says:
Her prentice hand she tried on man,
And then she made the lassies o.
We may not attain to the Divine
measure of either power or wisdom, but
we may follow that power and wisdom
so far as they are revealed to US, and
make our daily practice conform there
to, and the more our minds are en-
hghtened and our souls lifted up, the
more fully shall we appreciate and the
more closely shall we follow the Divine
leading, recognizing and honoring the
female element in our common human
ity, not in its material and physio
logical aspects alone, but in all things
moral and spiritual as well.
You NAV take whatever views con-
corning the Bible narrative may COM
mend themselves to your judgment
You may regard the story contained
in Genesis as legend, as myth, as al
legory or as a plain transcript of literal
fact but whatever speculative view
YOU may take there is back of the
story great truth; the permanent fact
of the duality of our humanity and
the abiding necessity for the presence
and recognition of the female element
to secure the highest and finest develop
ment of human nature.
Our fathers in Odd Fellowship wisely
recognized this great principle, some
what dimIy perhaps at first, but more
clearly as the years rolled on. The
ewes of most of them We're not as
widely opened as are our own at the |
present day, but the seed was sown,
the path of progress Indicated If not |
clearly marked out, and the good work |
went on. AS the years pdSSeu On II
became increasingly evident that there |
was great and beneficent work for
woman to do in Odd Fellowship, a |
work that without her recognition and
active cooperation could not be done |
in its most efficient and satisfactory
shape.
1t is not my purpose to give at this
time even brief history of the Re
bekah Degree and the Rebekah Lodges.
The story has been often told and
should be measurably familiar. 1t may,
however, not be amiss to say that in
It's carrier stages this movement for
he recognition of woman met with
some share OF opposition, such opposi-
lion as is likely to be the lot of any
of a markedly original and
character. But the Degree
became firmly established, it grew and