The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-27

grand lodge was necessary as a body in which to vest authority and propagate the order, but there were few members when it was established. Franklin lodge No. ?, which aftefward proved the savior of the fraternity, was chartered in April, 1864, and located at the navy yard. It be- gan with thirteen members, and in its success effectually disproved any and all theories in regard to the lack of luck where that number is concerned
 In a little while several other lodges
 including one at Alexandria, Va, were established. This with two others soon died Rathbone resigned from his lodge and from the order he had founded, and in the summer of 1865 Franklin Lodge No. 2, having absorbed Washington No. ], wa5 the sole survivor of the Pythian movement It struggled bravely along. it's members accepting with stoic philos- ophy all jeers and gibes. For there were persons who chose to make sport of this struggling fraternity wits it's high sound ing titles. it's few members and it's rec ord of dead lodges. Nothing daunted. they managed to keep the Pythian spirit alive and a canvass for members result ed in fifteen applications for membership in 8 new lodge. Franklin Lodge assumed the rights of a grand lodge and char tered Mount Vernon Lodge No. 5 Rath- bone sought and was granted readmission to the order and was selected to revise the ritual He also reorganiZed the grand lodge and became grand chancellor.
 Then the Pythians spread into several states, and a new impetus was given the life of the order. In q few years the su preme lodge was established in Washing ton and things were put on firm foot Ing. The first supreme chancellor, Samuel Read of New Jersey, was a great organ izer, and did much to promote the growth and perfect the details and imNroVe gen eral conditions in the order. The trou- bles of the Knights of Pythias were not all over, however. Like the two friends in old Syracuse, they found they must bear many trials together to prove the ''mettle of the pasture" When affairs were supposed to be moving smoothly 1t was found at a Richmond convention that the supreme commanding scribe was a defauter and financial collapse was narrowly averted. So for two conyen- tions representatives had to pay their own expenses, and the organization had hard sledding. Finally. through the en- ergy and indomitable courage of the workers improved conditions came about, and life stretched out in a smoother, more promising path before them.
 An important feature in the Knights of Pythias at present is the endowment rank, or insurance feature, which was established at Cleveland in 1877. At Cleve- land, also, arose the movement to make sindependent drill companies within the order and the uniform rank originated. Thls uniform rank is now the military feature of the knights of Pythlas, and the soldierly bearing and knightly air invariably attract great attention. The first time the uniform rank appeared in a public parade was in St. Louis in 1880, and since that time 1t has been a lead ing feature in all biennial conventions. It includes S0,VVJ members drilled under United States army regulations and avail able for service in event of the country's need. In fact, the Pythian army was most promptly offered to the United States when war was declared with Spain. It is now under a maior-general, although the supreme chancellor Is the commander -in-chief. Since the Pythian army has become so prominent there Is a lively bidding between cities to secure the biennial meetings of the order and thousands of excursion tickets are sold into the cities in which conventions are held.
 The Knights of Pythias fraternity is distinctly American. The order follows the flag which it's members have sworn to protect and uphold. and there are now lodges over sea in Honolulu and Manila as full of patriotism and brotherliness as the ones that have the capitol dome always in sight The government of the order Is modelled after that of the Unit ed States, whose institutions 1t so great ly reveres. There is an executive de- partment with the supreme chancellor at it's head; the legislative department, rep resented by the supreme lodge, and the judicial department whose powers are vested in the supreme tribunal which has original and appellate jurisdiction.
 The supreme domain Is subdiVlded into grand domains whose boundaries are the same as the various states and terri experience the branches of it's govern ment have been perfected until its ma chlnry works like that of a national gov ernment, and the amount of the work done in the management of the orders affairs may be guessed from the fact that the record of convention makes q volume of 600 or 700 pages. In point of membership the Knights of Pythias is exceeded only by the Odd Fellows, the F-eemasons, and the Modern Woodmen of the World, and on the rolls appear helpful men who are daily living out in private life the doctrines of brotherli- ness and helpfulness that Pythias and his friend practlced long ago in Syra- cuse when Dionysus was king.
 Tomorrow-The Benevolent and Pro-