The triple links

Front matter

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THE TRIPLE LINKS,

OR

Preface

Being somewhat acquainted with our beloved Fraternity in its practical workings as well as with the high ideals of the originators as revealed in the principles and teachings set forth in the different degrees, there appear unto me certain needs that rise from "the Good of the Order." The longer I have been in the Order, and the more Often I have met them the more forcibly I have been persuaded that a volume of this kind and nature would assist both the initiated who love Odd Fellowship with sincere devotion, and the uninitiated who desire to know what Odd Fellowship is. Therefore, to meet these crying needs and to satisfy their kindred demands this volume is sent forth. Like a barge upon the sea so is this vessel, laden with its exemplifications and teachings, sent forth upon its voyage on the great sea of thought. It may meet the squalls of criticism, or the hurricanes of ridicule, however, for the sea is not always smooth. Wherever it is tempest tossed the most, there its strength is most beautifully evidenced. If it should meet the sunshine of commendation and the radiance of appreciation it will be well, for the truth it contains within its sails will surely bring it into some harbor there to leave its blessings and its encouragements.

B. NI. Powell.

THE FIRST ODD FELLOWS SONG.*

I. When Friendship, Love and Truth abound

Among a band of brothers, The cup of joy goes gaily round,

Each shares the bliss of others.

Sweet roses grace the thorny way

Along the vale of sorrow, The flowers that shed their leaves to-day

Shall bloom again to-morrow.

How grand in age, how fair in youth,

Are holy "Friendship, Love and Truth."

II. On halcyon wings our moments pass

Life's cruel cares beguiling.

Old Time lays down his scythe and glass,

In gay good humor smiling.

His revernd front adorning.

He looks like Winter turned to May,

Night softened into morning.

How grand in age, how fair in youth

Are holy " Friendship, Love and Truth."

III. Ambrosial rills of pleasure

Can man desire, can heaven bestow,

A more resplendent treasure.

Adorned with gems so richly bright

We'd form a constellation, Where every star with modest light

Shall gild his proper station.

How grand in age, how fair in youth, Are holy "Friendship, Love and Truth."

— James Montgomery,

* The society known as the Ancient and Honorable Loyal Odd Fellows was engaged in a demonstration of some kind in the vear 1788. They carried a banner unfurled to the breeze, on which was "inscribed their motto: " Friendship, Love and Truth." The Poet seeing the procession and banner was profoundly moved and penned the above poem. Undoubtedly the Poet was in perfect sympathy with the order.

FRATERNITY.

Born in the heart of man is the desire for fellowship. The tiny babe will, at first, look with wondering eyes into the face of the observer and, receiving a kindly and sympathetic message, coo back its thanksgiving. From whence came this knowledge of comradeship? Is it not innate, the very heritage of man? The beast can roam the woods and fields alone, make his hiding place and home in the solitary jungle, and, following his own inclinations and satisfying his own appetites and passions, will be always happy and contented. The bird of the air may rise into the azure blue, and alone ride the storms, mount the very whirlwinds and in far withdrawn distances from his mate or nest, sound his note and sing his own sweet lay. Just as long as he is permitted, in his own element and atmosphere to lead his own life after his own way he will be happy and contented. But away from these he will droop and die. Comradeship is not essential to his happiness.

Man is radically different. He demands companionship. Alone, the highest and the best in his life cannot be attained. It is only in mingling with his kind that the most beautiful of all elements of character and of soul is possible. The clear sky of his own peace and contentment may be over him, but that sky becomes clearer when, forgetful of self, io The Triple Links, or

he lives and acts for his fellows. When he can give and receive, then is he great, but where he can give the most and receive the most then is he the greatest. Alone, living the life of the beast of the field he cannot do this.

The highest companionship is evidenced in kindred aims and thoughts. When there is nothing in common, fellowship cannot possibly exist. W T here the greatest scope of vision is mentally shared there the greatest fellowship is possible. To get men to think alike on a theme or element of life is to introduce them into a common world which they possess co-ordinately. The pilgrim fathers thought and prayed. The same passions of their lives, passion for deliverance from oppression, and freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience, formed the mainspring of all hope. It was that spirit which unfurled the sails of the Mayflower, carried the precious cargo of immortal souls across the stormy Atlantic, planted the seeds of Universal liberty on a fertile soil, and nourished the tender plants that sprang up all over the broad acres of a new continent.

The united effort of the Jewish people was founded upon a common vision. That vision was centered in the promised Messiah — one who would rule over all and who would reveal all things unto his own people. Like the blossoming fields and the budding woodlands from nature's breast other virtues and excellencies came from this hope until

Odd Fellowship Exemplified. n

Israel became a peculiar people, distinct from all the other nations and until queens and kings, beholding her splendor, exclaimed, "the half has never been told."

It was a common thought and aim, backed with the devotional self-sacrifice, that made the Dominican and Franciscan orders of the middle ages such powerful forces for the time being. It is the same principle that binds together the Jesuits of to-day and has made them the rulers of the Vatican for these years past, allowing them to shapen the thought and belief of the present Roman Catholic world. Who can check the power of a united world ? No one, for " united we stand " amid severest trials.

The scientific mind, accustomed to profound research, finds its atmosphere of life in the communion of congenial and awakened spirits of inquiring mould. When in such society the hours fly, the past is only a fleeting shadow, the present is never slow in its sweep and the future is forever knocking at the door for admission. Why ? Because the sublimest companionship has been discovered. To the careful observer the aim and purpose of all good is to furnish a common basis of true living. To erase discord and to expung differences is only to find a common interest. Then from this foundation or corner stone a beautiful, as well as mighty structure may be built. How often this has been successfully done! The greater the common interest the broader is the basis and then the greater and more imposing will be the superstructure. The source of all fraternity is found innate, born in man, the heritage of God to man. To no other form of creation do we find bequeathed such a craving or such a possibility. For God said "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," and it was so. No other word, from man to man, Fraternity. means so much as the word Fraternity. This is the foundation, broad and deep, upon which rests universal brotherhood. Man is a creature of misfortune and care, the results of his own limitations and ignorance. So in the hours of darkness and trouble he cries out for some sympathizing friend. He must have a friend to comfort and cheer him. This is the field of labor for brotherhood. If he can not find a fellowman who can give him the comfort and assistance needed he cries out to his God who is the created image of his training, of revelation, or of his own imagination; and some times of all three. This is the field of the Fatherhood of God.

Iyife is short at most, and soon, like a shadow that continueth not in one stay, we pass away and reach the goal from whence no traveller returns. When this is a realized personal truth then the lights of time are all eclipsed by the light of eternity. Surrounded by innumerable mementoes of his mortality man is forcibly reminded that in the midst of life he is in death. It was but yesterday that he looked upon the coffined form of a smiling infant. To-day he sees the ambitious yet cautious youth, in the bloom of life, hope and preferment consigned to an untimely grave. To-morrow he will bid a last farewell to the casket containing the earthly tabernacle of a great, gifted, noble and lovely soul, who, after a long and eventful pilgrimage through a happy life "Draws the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams." How often the traces of the ravaging Destroyer are seen in the midst of the busy haunts of men, changing joy into sorrow, fairest hopes into gloomiest wastes and severing the most tender and endearing relations. He, who to-day laughs to scorn the shaking spear, to-morrow may be as helpless as the puny infant on its mother's breast or the lump of clay trodden under the feet of men. „ "As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourish eth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more." So death always reminds us and teaches us, if we seriously meditate upon the solemn admonition it affords, " that our hearts should foster no evil, which is the bane of society, the fountain of all wrong; the progenitor of crime, hatred and violence." But this enemy to man will continue his destructive tendencies until the peace and light of benevolence and love shall take the place of tears and woes, thus bringing the era of universal brotherhood. But now we are called to shed the sympathizing tear with our fellow men in these changes, under the shadows of sorrow and in the thickest of pain. Thus man's humanity makes him think of his dependance upon his fellowmen.

From the experiences of life we derive our lessons. Some of these are profound, far-reaching and eternal. One of the most valuable lessons taught us is that the good man will never be forsaken by his God, and his children will be richly rewarded. David said, "once I was young but now I am old. I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread." Again we learn that the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon their children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate God, do wickedly, and love unrighteously, and that "they shall not live out half their days." To pursue truth and to shun evil we need the brotherhood of men. For the cry in the conflicts of life is for fraternity, for some one or a class of individuals interested in the one battling on the firing lines. We all know the manly man stands the best show in life and readily endorse that profound philosophy as given by the writer, the poet of the Knights of the Round Table, in picturing Sir Gallahad, when

he says:

"His strength was the strength of ten, Because his heart was pure."

The world respects the true, the wise and the virtuous, but falsehood and vice are despicable to all men, even to those who practice them. All the world declares that "the honest man is the noblest work of God." The fraud, the hypocrite and the thief are dishonored and despised even in their own households. We are often surprised at the variances between our opinions of men and the attitudes their households assume toward them. But men are not always what they seem. We may be greatly deceived in judging by appearances. A man may have a rough and uncomely exterior but a true, warm heart within. Broadcloth has the advantage of Homespun in appearance, but at heart Broadcloth may be corrupt and debased while Homespun is true and manly. The poor man with rough, hard, horny hands and humble garb may be an angel of mercy and beneficence. Only when we sound the depths of the power of brotherhood in a man and discern how much he feels the common lot of all can we discover his worth.

The world is full of evil. Selfishness, avarice, greed, malice, hate and envy form different divisions of the Army of Destruction. Man, by his own evil passions, brings himself under slavery far more bitter than human bondage. If he suffers himself to be led captive by his lusts or evil tendencies he soon must be cast into the lowest depths of wretchedness, misery and despair. Love, however, as evidenced in brotherhood, is the panacea of all these social evils. Dissensions and strife with their kindred spirits are routed when love comes in. In what soil are the roots of love nourished? Nowhere save in the soil of brotherhood. The worst foe to man is not he who steals his substance, but rather he who blasts his good name. For man's reputation is dear unto him, and he guards it with jealous care.

God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Thus from this one creation sprang the images of God until the world has been deopled. Therefore, all men belong to one common family and are brothers. As man gropes his way through life in darkness and in doubt he is guided by the spirit of brotherly love into the light. He cannot shut himself up in his own self and refuse the good offices of his brother man. "None liveth unto himself." No human being can be absolutely independent. It is a self-evident fact that

"God never made an independent man; 'Twould jar the concord of his general plan."

All men are brothers and God is the Father of us all, for "in him we live and move and have our being." Fraternity subsequently became the corner stone; yes more, the foundation, both deep and wide, upon which the social structure of life is built. No wonder that even the heathen philosopher declared that we (men) were the offsprings of gods, for when we are at our best we reflect in our conduct, the image of that Father after whose likeness we were created and are now formed. God is the sum total of man's conception of the perfect in every field of thought. The highest ideal of mortal mind is

Odd Fellowship Exemplified. i"

manifested in the thoughts that cluster around its Deity when it shapens the thought, act and hope of the individual. Probably no phrase in human utterance is so lofty, weighty and profound as "the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man." For upon that truth are based the principles of Friendship, Love and Truth, the trinity of Odd Fellowship.

What better material could pos-

Lo^eand Truth. sibl >' be llsed in a superstructure than Friendship, Love and Truth!

True Odd Fellowship must battle against vice in all its forms. In fact, the battle is on. We cannot evade the issue. But we can go forth with light hearts and cheerful faces for "Friendship prompts the contest; Love's gentle influence will supply the weapons, and Truth will consecrate the effort and lead to victory." If this trinity of brotherhood were universally practiced by man to man immediately this world would take upon itself the hue and coloring of Paradise, for then we would have a perfect safeguard against the ills of life and could sing with Pope:

"No more should nation against nation rise,

No ardent warriors meet, with hateful eyes,

Nor fields with gleaming steel be covered o'er,

The brazen trumpet kindle rage no more;

But useless lances into scythes should bend,

And the broad falchion in a plowshare end:

Then palace should rise; the joyful son

Should finish what his short-lived sire begun;

The vines a shadow to their race should yield,

And the same hand that sowed should reap the field."

What glamor settles around the word Friendship. Friendship, A thousand memories arise and demand the attention for the by-gone friends. However poor a man may be he is not entirely friendless. The finer and more kindly sensibilities may become blunted by time and the heart may be hardened by selfishness, but yet there lingers a spark of the former regard. "To be rich in friends is to be poor in nothing." Many people talk lightly, flippantly and carelessly of friendships. Why do they do so? Because "they don't know the meaning of the term. They are not the stuff of which friends are made." Perfect friendship is rare. Happy are you if you have a true friend, and happy is your friend when you have a true friendship for him. For "that life alone is rich which holds one perfect friendship, in which mutual sympathy is mutual clairvoyance as well; in which sacrifice on each side would be luxury and not a trial; in which the bond is indestructible because it is that of the Spirit, and, therefore, divine and eternal." Was that not the case of Ruth and Naomi? Ruth could say to her mother-in-law: "Thy people shall be my people, thy God shall be my God, and where thou art buried there will I be buried also." Was not the friendship of Damon and Pythias perfect? One was anxious to die for his friend, the other was determined to deliver his friend. Sacrifice was a joy and a luxury. Pain or death in behalf of the friend had lost its terror and its pang for each, and, therefore, it was to be embraced for the other's deliverance. To rob friendship of its lustre is beyond the power of man, and that structure built from this element will become immortal. No one can place friendship in the crucible to analyze. No one can lay it on the dissecting table to examine its parts. No one can apply the power of the X-ray to get a picture of it. "Friendship is a relation that defies analysis, defies explanation, and defies all the known laws of the chart of polite society because it is grounded in something far deeper and more abiding. It is something in which to believe as one believes in God."

Benevolence, the tree of fraternity ripens the triple fruit of Friendship, Love and Truth. Get benevolence, brotherly kindness and charity in the breast and you have the elements of sublime possibility for happiness — happiness which you bestow upon another and that which is the reward coming to you as the prize of your own nobility. Benevolence sheds a peculiar lustre around both the object of bounty and the giver of benefit. It crowns the bestower with the glory of meekness and challenges the admiration of men and the approval of the Son of Man who said, " Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." Out of the hearth-stone of such acts are born the impulses of love, begotten by and inspired with the desire and the power to sacrifice for others. Thus love does not manifest itself in fair words and smooth phrases but in deeds — deeds

2o The Triple Links, or

performed by willing hands, expressing not Love, the excitement of pity, but the sympathetic

life that suffers, weeps and rejoices with the unfortunates as brothers beloved.

Mutual relief can only be afforded by the union of men for the purpose of aiding each other in the time of difficulty, danger and distress. Thus the woes of men are relieved and the sympathies are cultivated which lay the foundations for friendships that death alone can break. Many a sacred devotion of love has been kindled at the hearth of mutual relief. Here in the association for mutual relief and assistance men of all classes and conditions enter into covenant relations together and contract or bargain to protect and defend, to help and admonish each other. It drives away caste, and removes the visionary lines of classes and distinctions. Here upon the foundations of fraternity the structure of love is builded. How often the shame of dependence brings the blush to helpless man. Alms receiving crushes the sensitive natures as nothing else can. Rather would they bear the sharp agony and keen pang of poverty, hunger and starvation than to beg assistance from cruel hands. Eternity alone shall unfold the crimes and foul deeds committed under the crushing shame of beggery. The unfortunate pines and is consumed in secret. Under the pressure of hunger he does what in a saner moment he never would do. Under the bond of Fraternity, Friendship and Love aid can be given, thus sparing the fair name of manhood and saving many an one from a life and memory of crime and shame.

Under no other relations do we find truth so early accessible. Brother man will give the truth to his brother man. The struggle of the Truth, ages has been after the truth. For centuries the discoveries in realms of science and art were only revealed to oath bound brothers. It was in the chambers of secrecy that advanced thinkers dared unburden themselves. How and where to find the truth have been the questions always asked. All men surely recognize that if facts were known and read of all men the demon of crime and folly would be forever routed. Brotherhood of men is the panacea. When brotherhood is believed and lived, when fraternity is practiced by all then this glory which has been the Utopian dream of every lover of mankind will be a present reality to every practitioner. Truth makes us free. No longer then will selfish gains keep from suffering humanity the only panacea, nor will brutish force mar the birthright of God's creatures.

Every true man fights evil. Prejudices must not rule. Selfishness must not be enthroned. Avarice must not control our lives. . We need not enumerate the evil of this world for it masses itself like a solid Roman Phalanx at all hands, moving slowly onward to capture the citadel of our souls. It requires every power we have and can gather together to gain the supremacy. In the massing of virtue we have our only safe guards and bulwarks of defense. Very truly the battle is on.

It was upon the mountains of Galilee, overlooking the beautiful Lake of Gennesaret that Jesus sat and said to the listening multitudes: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." This is the law of fraternity. Shall one puny man in the great universe of God stand aloft from his fellowmen because he is not of the same creed, faith or practice? Yonder is the Jew with his faith and sacrifices, with his phylacteries and roll looking for the coming of his Messiah. Shall we exclude him? Nay, he is a brother man. Yonder is the Mohammedan with his oriental dress, his sword and shield, and his confession. Shall we exclude him? Nay, he also is our brother man: Yonder is the African with his broad, low brow, his massive jaw, thick neck and peculiar nose and lips. Shall we exclude him? Nay, he is our brother man. The Golden Rule — the law of fellowship, the command of fraternity — makes all men brothers, for we are to love God with all our soul, mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. We are to love God supremely and above ourselves and our neighbors as — equal to — ourselves. God is no respecter of persons. In his sight a man is a man no difference whether he is of the orient or Occident, whether he has a fair, white skin and ruddy complexion or not. Out of the strangely obscure past comes the cry of a soul, "Am I my brother's keeper?" It is the cry of a rebellious spirit, conscience stricken, defying the Almighty. The answer of the compassionate Father stirred the impenitent soul to its very depths and left the mark of crime upon it, "thy brother's blood crieth out unto me from the ground." Unto every soul with which man comes in contact he owes a tribute and to a certain degree he is his keeper. When misfortune comes and is followed by the hand of crime it is the blood of our brother that crieth out unto God against us. We are our brother's keeper for there is a Universal Brotherhood.

Chapter II. THE ANTIQUITY OF ODD FELLOWSHIP

The existence of a fact or thing does not depend upon the knowledge of its existence or a label whereby it is distinguished from other facts or things. The explorer had not directed his boat up the Nile nor traversed the rugged path near its source for centuries but the Nile and its source existed without a name. The poor Indian roamed over the happy hunting ground of the primeval forests, decades before the prow of a brig from, civilized Europe touched the shores of the new world. The lightening played in the heavens, leaping from "peak to purple peak remote" long before the hand of a genius ever seized it, saddled and bridled it, and leaping upon its back made it the servant of man. The power of steam has laid hidden in the clear water of the placid lake or rapid mountain stream since the beginning of time, but it was the hand of a modern intelligence that manifested its utility at the call of man. Long had the X-ray struggled to assert its superior use to the research and investigation of the inquiriug mind before its power startled the scientific and intellectual worlds. All these existed and waited the ages past for a mind to read God's thoughts after Him, yet their prior existence is none the less convincing to the mind of man.

Man may take a drug, believing it to be another drug or medicine, and call it by a wrong name or no name at all, yet the effect upon the system will be the same as if he had known the truth. The physician may give his patient an unknown remedy for his malady which will work its cure. The power of the drug or remedy does not depend upon the knowledge of the recipient. It has a power, a force, a potential energy essential to its own constituency, an innate and imparative entity without which the remedy or drug would be changed. It is non-essential zvhere you find it, there you will find coexistant with it the potential part. A certain dog was poisoned by accident. He staggered toward the woods and, upon finding a certain root ate it and was cured. The poor Indian who loved his dog, filled with dread and anguish, follows him. The Indian, amazed at the cure, wonders at the power of the herb and marks it. Later he is poisoned. In his extremity he, too, finds the same herb. He eats it and he also is cured. From this time on this peculiar herb has a peculiar name and is known among the men of the forest. Its potential element has been reached.

Nobility of life is not letter but spirit. Wherever are found the elements of nobility there we discover the nobility of life. There is a wide difference between the beast and the man. Different elements make up each life. Wherever you find either set of elements there you find the distinct creation. A man is a man for the life is within him. He will act the part of a man. Wherever we find the principles of Odd Fellowship there it exists, even if not in name. It does not change the jackal to paint his fur or stick ostrich feathers in his tail. Where we see men desiring more light, loving virtue, practicing benevolence, seeking and pursuing truth, expressing devotion to fellowmen, there you find a distinct and noble type of Odd Fellowship.

ANTIQUITY OF FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS.

Many institutions have been the heritage of the ages, having been handed down to us from our remote forefathers. Many more have arisen only to sink in oblivion. A few have only names to give the proof of their former existence without a single torch to lighten any night of darkness. In Christ's time we read of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. The latter especially was a secret fraternity of great power in its day. In the palmy days of Greece there was an order of peculiar mark, called the "Elensynian Mystries." The candidates, after six days of trying ceremony and under an awful oath of secrecy were admitted into the inner sanctuary where they were allowed to see the sacred objects of the order. The corner stone of this institution was laid away back in the infancy of science whose votaries were bound together by solemn vows to reveal to none but the initiated her glories. Religion also had thrown her solemn sanction around these mystic acts of science and art, thus widening her empire of power. Egypt was known for her profound researches in early scientific fields. Here guilds and orders abounded. The Grecian philosophers and writers were initiated by the Egyptian priesthood into their Egyptian erudition and mysteries and would return home to Greece laden with the world's wisdom. Euclid, Thales, Socrates, Plato and Lycurgus were among the many who were thus enlightened. By this method the secret organizations passed over the world and from this source we have had both bad and good organizations. x\mong the latter are the "Dionysian Artificers" "Kasadeans" "Fraternity of Builders" and "Fraternity of Ancient York Masons" whos.e existence testifies to their power.