The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-28
FRATERNALISM
 FEATURES MEET
Rebekah Team Debarred By Transportation
 Delay

Birmingham delegates returning from the annual convention fthe Sovereign Grand lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, held recently at Jacksonville, Fla, state that the meeting was one of the most successful in the annals of the order. While much business was transacted at the several sessions of the sovereign body, and much benefit was derived therefrom, the delegates were given plenty of entertainment, both under the program of the body and by the citizens committee of Jackson vile, who did all in their power to see that the visitors had a pleasant time
 A disappointment to the Birmingham delegation came from the. fact that through delay in the transportion of their paraphernalia, the Myrtle Rebe- kah degree team was debarred from a participation in the degree team con test, in which they had entered. Tho Myrtle team had every expectation of securing one of the prizes, as they had been rehearsing for the competition for some time, and, according to compe- tant authorities, had one of the best degree teams in the country. Their dis appointment, however, has determined them to put forth greater effort to cap ture a prize next year.
 Fraternal Spirit
 A noticeable feature of the entire session of the convention was the spirit of fraternalism that was pre- valent at all times and occasions. This was made the subject of special con- ment by the Jacksonville Journal as follows:
 How membership in .fraternal or ganizations gives men and women an opportunity to make friends in every section of the country-and even of the worlds aptly shown in the crowded hotel lobbies in Jacksonville the past few days as the hundredth session of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows gets under way. Odd Fellows from Florida. Members from North Dakota shake hands with much glee with their friends from South Carolina. Visiting delegates from the Rocky mountain states have merry reunions with visi- torsfrom some of the prairie states, when they learned to know at previous conventions.
 Odd Fellows from New York prove to be 'just folks" like their colleagues from a village in Texas, Pennsylvania and Onions who mixed it up" with Georgians and Mississippians at Get tysburg and Antietam discover at the Odd Fellows convention that they are brothers after all.
 Forty-eight states are represented at the convention and there are forty eight groups of friends. The Odd Eel lows golden links of Truth, Love and Friendship bind them in amity, fra ternity and good will.
 Not only are sectional lines com pletely obliterated, but national boun- dry dimes, too, disappear under the genial influence of the order. Canadian Odd Fellows find they have so much in common with those of the United States that they all seem as one broth erhood as they exchange greetings and mingle and chat and prepare for their united sessions.
 And from distant lands, from Den- mark, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Swift zerland and other countries came greet ings of good will, for Odd Fellowship has thousands of members in all these countries.
 The 35,000 Odd Fellows who will be in Jacksonville this week include busi- ness leaders, lawyers, judges, farmers, druggists, mechanics, workmen of all kinds-but Odd Fellowship makes no distinction of class. In this fraternal order they all meet as friends and CO., workers for the common cause and the good will of all.