The Odd-fellows' Text-book; an elucidation of the theory of Odd-fellowship: embracing a detail of the system, in all its branches ...

Front matter

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Preface

The Fraternity is indebted to Moss & Brother, the worthy publishers of this Work, for the idea of an " Odd-Fellows' Text-Book." At their suggestion, I have written and compiled this Volume. I need not advert to the labor it has cost me to prepare it : I will only say that I have endeavored faithfully to discharge the trust confided to me.

I must not forget to add, that I am gratefully indebted for valuable hints and assistance to Brothers Raleigh F. Daniel, Esq., of North Carolina ; Rev. John D. M'Cabe, of Virginia ; Hon. John Brough, of Ohio ; and Rev. B. B. Hallock, of New York city.

As the author, I may be permitted to say a word for the publishers of the "Book:" they richly deserve the patronage of the Order. They have been most liberal in the employment of means to render the mechanical departments of the " Text-Book" worthy of our great Brotherhood.

RD.

New- York, 1st May, 1851. 1*

TO

WILLIAM HOPKINS,

Most Worthy Grand-Master of the Grand Lodge of Northern New York ;

Right Worthy Grand-Secretary of the Grand Lodge, and Right Worthy Grand- Scribe of the Grand Encampment, of Northern New York ;

JOHN G-REEN,

Past Grand-Patriarch of the Grand Encampment of New York ;

LEWIS K. OSBORN,

Past Grand High-Priest of the Grand Encampment of New York ;

P. DUNG-AN,

Past District-Deputy Grand-Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania ;

J. V. VAN DOREN,

Of New Brunswick Lodge, No. vi., at New Brunswick, New Jersey ;

AND

EDWARD MUSCHAMP,

Of Chosen Friends' Lodge, No xxix., at Camden, New Jersey —

TRUE MEN— FROM WHOM, IN THE VARIED CIRCUMSTANCES OF MY LIFE,

WHETHER OF ADVERSITY OR PROSPERITY — OF EVIL OR GOOD REPORT—

OF MISFORTUNE OR SUCCESS — I HAVE EVERMORE EXPERIENCED

FRIENDSHIP

ENDURING AS ETERNITY, AND AS TRUE AS HEAVEN ;

I AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATE

€\x$ % n nit.

Paschal Donaldson.

Contents

Grand-Master William Hopkins page 9

History and Tendency of Odd-Fellowship 13

Chapter I. — General Remarks — Our Mysteries — Origin of the Order — History — Antiquity 13

Chapter II. — Origin of the Order in America.. 26 Chapter III. — Principles and Tendency of Odd- Fellowship „ 39

Organization of Odd-Fellowship „ j 49

A "Word to the Neophyte 54

The Subordinate Lodge 55

The Officers of a Lodge.. - * ., 64

The Noble-Grand 64

The Vice- Grand 67

The Secretary 68

The Treasurer „ 71

The Conductor „ 72

The Warden 73

The Guardians 73

The Supporters 74

Attendance at the Lodge „ 74

Behavior in the Lodge 75

Behavior out of the Lodge 76

Duty of one Member toward Another 78

Charity should distinguish Odd-Fellows 82

The Proposal of Candidates... ., 86

Discipline of Odd-Fellowship „ 89

Principles of Odd-Fellowship 93

Opening and Closing a Lodge 98

Degrees and Degree Lodges ., 100

Subordinate Encampments 102

State Grand Lodges and Grand Encampments 105

Grand Lodges 107

Grand Encampments Ill

8 CONTENTS.

The Grand Lodge of the United States page 114

Organization of Lodges, etc., and Installation of Officers. . 119

An Odd-Fellow's Counsel : in Nine Chapters 122

Chapter 1 122

Chapter IX 159 An Odd-Fellow's Counsel (concluded) : 167

Secrecy 179

General Regulations of the Order 187

Regalia and Jewels 187

Cards 192

Brothers Travelling 194

Ceremony at Dedication of an Odd-Fellows' Hall 195 Ceremony at the Funeral of a Deceased Brother 200

Form of a Procession of Odd-Fellows 205

Rules for Sub. Lodges and D. D. Grand Masters 208

Application for Degrees 211

Honorary Degree for Ladies 213

Addressed to the Ladies 216

To the Uninitiated 223

Odd-Fellowship and Patriotism 232

Odd-Fellowship and Religion 233

An Address for the Use of Odd-Fellows 234

Condition of the Order in 1850 257

Odes for Several Important Occasions 267

The Odd-Fellows' Temple 267

Anniversary Ode 268

Consecration Ode 270

The Burial 271

Odd-Fellows' Parting Hymn 272

A Manual of Practice, for the Guidance of Presiding Officers, Members of Lodges, etc 273

Officers, and Members of the G. Lodge of the United States 283

WILLIAM HOPKINS, ESQ.,

RIGHT WORTHY GRAND-MASTER OF THE GRAND LODGE OF N. N. Y.

In the year 1837, we were temporarily a resident of the beautiful village (now city) of Auburn, in the state of New York. Our sojourn there was so brief, and our engagements required so large a portion of our time and attention, that we found little opportunity to cultivate the acquaintance of the good people of the town. In sooth, we were indisposed to court society ; for we had been the victim of a stranger, under whose auspices we had left our home in New York : he had promised much but performed — nothing. In other words, we had been "hired" by a sharper, who induced us to take ourselves and our family "out there" by an assurance that, for our services in managing his printing-office, we should receive a certain stipulated sum per week. The " aforesaid" weekly stipend was unfortunately so exceedingly like angels' visits, that, (O that we should acknowledge it !) as we were nude of cash and too proud to ask credit, our situation soon became one " more easily imagined than described."

10 WILLIAM HOPKINS, ESQ.

But " it is an ill wind that blows no good." In the midst of our tribulation, we were so fortunate as to form the acquaintance and secure the friendship of Professor William Hopkins, of the Auburn Academy. He was then, as we have often since thought, a true Odd-Fellow in everything but name. Comprehending our difficulty, and appreciating the awkward circumstances of our situation, he made every effort to lighten our burden and encourage us, in our perplexity. We remember him, then as ever, as a plain, candid, generous man, with a countenance and demeanor which, in every feature, indicated the integrity and sincerity of a true heart. We have not here the space, nor is this the occasion, for a detail of the friendly service and kindness he showed us ; our business is now briefly to furnish a sketch of his life and connection with Odd-Fellowship ; but we have availed ourselves of the opportunity here presented to place on record an acknowledgment of the obligation we owe the friend, whose portrait, as it appears in this book, affords, if there be any truth in physiognomy, a striking corroboration of our assertion that he is in heart and feeling a man. The picture itself, we must add, is as true to Nature as Art ever painted her. It represents William Hopkins in perfection.

" Mr. Hopkins," says the Cayuga Chief, " is a full-sized, square-shouldered individual, thirty-nine years of age, and in vigorous health. A stranger seeing him in the streets, would recognise at once, in

WILLIAM HOPKINS, ESQ. 11

that careless rocking of the shoulders, and in that resolute stride, the frank, cordial, and open-hearted character of the man. He puts down his heel with a hearty good will, and in the same spirit puts his palm in a friend's."

Prof. Hopkins was born in Hebron, Washington county, N. Y. His grandfather was long a senator and judge. His father was a blacksmith and farmer, with whom he lived until eighteen years of age. He then made a determination to secure a collegiate education, which he accomplished ; not through the aid of friends, but his own energy and perseverance. He graduated at Williams' college in 1836. Thence he went to Auburn, Cayuga county, H. Y., and became Principal of the Auburn Academy, which position he still occupies.

Grand-Master Hopkins is a member of Osco Lodge, No. 56, attached to the Grand Lodge of Northern New York. He was initiated into the Order in 1843. A gentleman of high character and commanding talents, the influence of his connection with Odd-Fellowship was speedily felt, not only in his own immediate neighborhood, but throughout western New York — a section well known as the theatre of that romantic hoax, which frightened little children and weak men out of their propriety, yclept the " Morgan Affair" In less than two years after his initiation, Bro. Hopkins had served in the several official capacities of a subordinate Lodge ; and he therefore entered the

12 WILLIAM HOPKINS, ESQ.

Grand Lodge in 1844. From that time until the present (1851), he has been a prominent leader in the Fraternity. In 1847, he acted efficiently as the District-Deputy Grand-Master of the county of Cayuga. In 1849, he was elevated to the office of Deputy, and in 1850, he was elected and installed Grand Master, of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge of Northern New York — which office he now holds. Since his elevation to this position, he has visited a large proportion of the Lodges under his charge, in which he has been received with the most enthusiastic welcome. He is undoubtedly the most popular grand-officer the state of New York has ever possessed. The Lodges unanimously respect him as a man, and honor and love him as a brother.

We will take this occasion to remark, that, under the instruction and official superintendence of Grand- Master Hopkins, the Order in Northern New York is in a most prosperous condition, and a model of correct and perfect " work." For this reputation, we must add, it is indebted also, in a great measure, to the efficiency of William H. H. Prall, Esq., the popular Grand Sec'y of the Grand Lodge of N. N. Y.

With this brief notice of the original of our portrait, we conclude our sketch, by wishing, in the sincerity of our heart, Grand-Master Hopkins a long life of usefulness and enjoyment ; to which, we have no doubt, the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, one and universal, will respond.

THE

ODD-FELLOWS' TEXT-BOOK.

THE HISTORY AND TENDENCY OF ODD-FELLOWSHIP.

Chapter I

GENERAL REMARKS— OUR MYSTERIES— ORIGIN OF THE ORDER— HISTORY— ANTIQUITY.

As love and regard grow out of contact and communion, so, by an unalterable law of our moral constitution, men naturally behold with indifference, if not with aversion and prejudice, objects which seem to hold no sympathy with them, and from whose concerns they are shut out, as it were, by a wall. These influences it is our duty to our Order as far as possible to remove : moreover, we owe an explanation to society at large ; for wherever the conventional compact exists, men are deeply interested in any organization which is formed, or any principle which is agitated among them, as ultimately it must have a good or evil bearing upon themselves. We declare, then, at once, that the whole scope and object of our association is to make its members wiser and better men, — by the equality and condition which it supposes, to break down and soften the arrogance and selfishness of the human heart — to subdue the asperities of sects and parties — to inculcate charity and brotherly love — to strengthen and invigorate all the relations in which man can be contemplated, toward himself, his family, his neighbor, his country, his God. And to these ends our institution appeals directly to bis social, the strongest of all man's instincts. We are simply a society for mutual improvement in virtue, religion, and sound morals ; and for the practice of a judicious, well-directed, and efficient charity. We bring to the aid of this honorable pursuit the principle of social combination ; the same principle of activity and energy which has been applied to all pursuits, whether industrial or moral. It is the remark of an acute and philosophical observer, that the " political associations which exist in the United States are only a single feature in the midst of the immense assemblage of associations in that country Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form associations. They have not only commercial and manufacturing companies, in which all take part, but associations of all other kinds, religious, moral, serious, beneficial, etc. If it be proposed to advance some truth, or to foster some feeling, by the encouragement of a great example, they form a society." These reflections evince the strong necessity of moral, as well as other combinations, to advance the great cause of human improvement ; and even were Odd-Fellowship a thing of yesterday, we might derive from them a sanction for the institution we are seeking to enlarge and perpetuate.

Our "mysteries" are objected to by some, who would confound us in this respect with those secret associations which, at various eras, have scourged the world : yet our reasons for adopting them seem to us simple and satisfactory : for our " mystic signs," without the medium of a common language, bind in their golden chain the tongues and tribes of all the earth. They are a safeguard against intrusion, and a protection from the imposition of the depraved and abandoned. They may make our connection more intimate, and prevent our labors from being regarded with the indifference which familiarity always begets. In every age of the world we may trace institutions, whether formed for mutual protection, or the prosecution of some useful branch of knowledge, to whose proceedings the broad seal of secrecy has been' affixed, the better to shield their labors from the ravages of prejudice and ignorance. Thus, in the infancy of Science, her votaries bound themselves by a solemn vow to reveal to none but the initiated her nascent glories ; and Religion, throwing around the laboratory of Science and Art her solemn sanctions, seized the mystic union of Mind as an agent in enforcing the morals of her creed. Dark and unsatisfying as those teachings were, they tended to impart that regard for moral association which would present motives for perseverance in the acquisition of useful knowledge. In this early age of the world and under these auspices, it is said, was laid the foundation-stone of the celebrated " Elcusynian Mysteries" about which so much has been said, and so little is really known : and, though we admit their subsequent perversion to the worst purposes, in that primitive age, they embodied the perfection of the moral code then known.

At the period referred to, and for ages subsequent, Egypt was the seat of science ; and the learned of every nation crowded her temples, and sought admission to her mysteries — for in them alone were the undimmed beauties of knowledge permitted to shine. Homer, Lycurgus, Plato, Thales, Euclid, and a long roll of remembered names, were initiated by the Egyptian priests, and returned home laden with the wisdom which the world then possessed. A branch of this institution was transplanted into Greece, by the Egyptian Cecrops, the founder of Athens ; and into Judea, doubtless by those wise men who built the temple of Solomon ; and thus by degrees the mysteries passed into most of the Eastern nations, and thence into other countries. Some have charged the excesses of the feasts of Bacchus, and the other abominable rites of heathenism, to this association. They were in no manner connected with them, but were the result of vile imitations, of which, at this distant day, we can form no proper conception. Following in the line of history, through all subsequent periods, we perceive similar associations, modified by time and the religious customs of the countries in which they existed, no doubt shoots of the luxuriant stem that flourished in the nursery of young Science. The "Dionysian Artificers" u Essenes" "Kasadeans" " Fraternity of Builders,'''' and, finally, the "Fraternity of Ancient York Masons"- — all these are only modifications through which the principle of secret social union has passed down to us from antiquity.

We refer to these societies, because the record of their existence is more clear and distinct than that of many others whose memory is lost in oblivion. In truth, the mementoes of the principle of secret association are impressed upon our very language in various forms. Thus, not to go farther, we hear, as a common expression, of the mystery of particular trades, in which the master binds himself to instruct his apprentice ; by which we are distinctly referred to the fact in the history of modern Europe, that when Art began her infant struggles against feudal oppression, her first acquisitions were fenced in and protected by the bonds of mystic union. Her accomplishments were mysteries to which the initiated only advanced by degrees, and under the solemn compact to preserve them inviolate. By these aids did she, with her handmaid Commerce, contribute to raise a noble fabric of English civilization, which has braved the storms of a thousand years. The societies of the ancient Druids furnish another example of the force of the social principle. They, too, had their temples of mystic science, the humanizing influence of which probably preserved their history from the stain of human sacrifice : and, even among the aborigines of our own continent, small, select compacts are said to exist, bound by the seal of secrecy, who communicate by signs, and insist that their societies have existed from eternity. The most interesting of these is found among the Iroquois ; it consists of five Oneidas, two Cuayagas, two Saint Regis, and six Senecas. It is thus avouched, that the natural, as well as the civilized man, seeks a more intimate and endearing connection with his fellow than is secured by the common usages of society. Let it not be objected, that to secret associations may be ascribed frauds, iniquities, and oppressions, the darkest that stain the page of history. Thus, we have not forgotten the "Rosa Croix" or "Brothers of Exalted Dew" the " Carbonari of Italy ," or the " German llluminati" — wretches who paled the very cheek of

2 * night with their atrocities ; nor the Thugs of India, more recently discovered, where the bond of union was cemented with human blood — among whom murder and robbery were accounted degrees of honor, and who for centuries had been applying the knot and cord to their victims indiscriminately, and without discovery or suspicion. Let it be remembered that these societies were really secret in their character : that the members were unknown ; that their places of meeting were concealed ; their purposes infamous : we might as well conclude all government unjust and oppressive, because the despotism of the Old World deprived men of their inalienable rights, as to charge a sound system of moral union with the vices and evils of corrupt association.

With regard to the origin of Odd-Fellowship, we claim for it a high antiquity. At a meeting of brethren, held in the Greenock district, Scotland, in 1S40, Brother Cooper, a gentleman fully conversant with his subject, remarked that our Order was first established by the Roman soldiers, in camp, during the reign of Nero, in the year 55. " At that time," says Brother Cooper, "they were called Fellow- Citizens ; and the present name was given by Titus CaBsar, in the year 79, from the singularity of their notions, and from their knowing each other by night or by day ; and from their fidelity to him and their country, he not only gave them the name of Odd Fellows, but at the same time, as a pledge of friendship, presented them with a dispensation, engraved on a plate of gold, bearing different emblems — such as the sun, moon, stars, the lamb, the lion, the dove, and other emblems of mortality."

The first accounts of the Order being spread in other countries are in the fifth century, when it was established in the Spanish dominions ; and in the sixth century, by King Henry, in Portugal. In the twelfth century it was established in France ; and afterward by John de Neville in England, attended by five knights from France, who formed a " Loijal Grand Lodge of Honor" in London, which remained until the eighteenth century (in the reign of George III.), when a part of them began to form themselves into a Union ;* and a portion of these remain up to this day. The Lodges which have arisen from these several organizations are numerous throughout the%orld, and have been called, at different periods, by the names of the " Loyal Ancient Odd-Fellows" the " Union Odd- Fellows" and the " Manchester Unity Odd-Fellows." This last is of more recent date, and there is no doubt of its emanation from the original sources above-named. Its first introduction into Manchester was about the year 1800, by a few individuals from the " Union" in London, who formed themselves into a Lodge, and continued in connection with the " Union" Order for a time, when some differences caused a separation, and the Association declared itself independent; hence we now have the " Independent Order of Odd-Fellows." — They have kept their word — "independent" they have been since this " difference :" and they have progressed in number, in talent, and in respectability ; at this moment the banner of Odd-Fellowship proudly floats in many a clime, waving over the ruins of pov-

* It is due to truth and candor to remark, that there is no doubt the earlier Lodges of Odd-Fellows in England were of a convivial character.

erty and sadness. The genius of benevolence maybe seen pointing the way where sorrow may be solaced, and poverty ameliorated. Observe the immense number of Odd-Fellows in Great Britain, in the United States, in Holland, Germany, Spain, and even in New South Wales, Gibraltar, and Malta : in short, from the burning rays of the torrid to the cheerless sky of the frigid zone, and in " the islands of the seas," an Odd-Fellow may find a brother. Witness the Fraternity in California, as an example of the beneficent purposes of the Odd-Fellows. What have they not done for the poor, the friendless, the sick, and the distressed? How many, who have gone hence with high hopes and fair prospects — who expected to bring from the "land of promise" the golden substance that was, in their own hopeful imagination, to make them for ever invulnerable (pecuniarily) to the numerous "ills that flesh is heir to," but had fallen, half-way between their starting-point and their goal — have been raised from wretchedness by the kindly offices and sympathy of the Odd-Fellow, and restored to the home which they abandoned for what proved, to them, truly an ignis fatuns ! Yet these are by no means solitary examples. The history of Odd-Fellowship is full of similar acts.

But, with all due respect for Brother Cooper's interesting statement, concerning the origin of the Order, we must be permitted to remark, that, while we will not deny its authenticity, we have very little concern in regard to the antiquity of Odd-Fellowship. We are for jirmcijrfcs, rather than dates, and more disposed to inquire what the Order is, than when it originated. There is a disposition in many minds to view with a kind of sacredness that which bears the stamp of antiquity. Forgetting that

" The Old yields always to the New,"

they often honor and revere systems and institutions, simply because they are " ancient." We are free to say — even though the assertion may subject us to the charge of heterodoxy — that in our view Odd-Fellowship would be no better, as a Fraternity simply, if it were as old as the bow of heaven, or the everlasting hills. We contend that the principles on which it is founded, the objects it has in view, and the good influences that it exerts among men, are matters much more important than its " venerable age." Why should we glorify the past ? Let us for a moment consider this matter. What has man accomplished in modern days, which man in ancient times never dreamed of attempting ! There is no more of the subtle, indefinable light now than there was when the Almighty created it ; but neither the wise Babel-builders, nor Diana's craftsmen, nor the Grecian or Roman philosophers and sages, understood, as Newton did, how to analyze, dissect, and subdivide it, as the anatomist divides his subject. The materials that compose the deadly gunpowder all lay in their secret chambers, when Samson slew his thousands with the jaw-bone, and Shamgar put to death six hundred men in a day with an ox-goad ; yet not until the fourteenth century of the Christian era was it sent out, by Schwartz, of Germany, in its roar and blasting, to terrify and destroy. Water would fly ofTin steam, and was as capable of generating this potent agent in the days of the battering-rams, and the sluggish Grecian ships, as it is at the present time ; but it was left for Watt, and Fitch, and Fulton, to " give it the wings of the wind and the energies of Jupiter." From the day that clouds, mingled with fire and smoke, rolled in fleecy volumes over Sinai's summit, the lightnings have shattered the old trees of the forest, and the thunders uttered their voices of desolation over the ruins ; yet nearly 1800 years of the Christian dispensation had passed away, when Franklin's genius, superior in this respect to the most brilliant minds that had preceded his, gave identity and character to electricity, and subjected the incomprehensible fluid to his will. The principle by which the electric essence might be made the medium of thought and intelligence has ever existed ; yet among all the wise, and learned, and scientific of the ancients, there was no Morse to apply it. The art of printing, a knowledge of which would have been of infinite value and importance to the bookmakers of the ancient world, was not discovered by the "wise men of old ;" but, by an humble German, as late as the fifteenth century.

Odd-Fellowship, as an operative, individual compact, may be " ancient ;" it may claim with some certainty to have originated in the palmy days of old Rome ; but there is positive evidence that its principles — its materiel — have existed from time immemorial. It was the spirit of our system which went up in acceptable incense from the altar of righteous Abel ; which warned the ungodly and vile citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah ; which went with Abraham into the wilderness, among the wretchedly ignorant and idolatrous heathen, and caused him there to rear his altar of true patriarchal piety and genuine worship ;

which led him to the mountain, where the wood and fire were prepared to sacrifice his only son ; and as he raised the shining death-knife to plunge it into the heart of his boy — his beloved — the angel whose soft tones came from the throne, crying "Forbear!" also recorded one of the features of this Order, Fidelity. What we would contend for is principle, not a name ; truth, rather than antiquity ; original greatness, rather than ancient identity. If we affirm, therefore, that Odd-Fellowship as a compact should receive little credit for antiquity, we are always ready to elucidate the fact, that its essence, its principles and power, are coeval and coexistent with the race of Adam. We can see, in the mellow tints of the rainbow that the Almighty bended in the heavens, that principle which gives our Institution one of the gems in its crown — Faithfulness to a solemn promise. We can hear, in the thunders that shook Sinai, the voice of Truth, as its glowing fire flashed in the clouds that lowered about that monument of the Divine presence and power. In the ephod, and the breastplate, and the curious girdle, spoken of in Scripture, we can see the symbols of that benevolence and friendship, which, even in a barbarous and iron age, were delegated to individuals, that the name and excellence of the everlasting God might be declared and revered, and mankind might take their degrees in moral and intellectual advancement. We can see, in the two tablets of stone, that were carried " early in the morning" to the mount, when the Lord descended in the cloud, and the covenant with Israel was made, the signs and tokens of a moral power before which the altars and images of paganism crumbled, and light and reflection shed their healing influence amid the unhallowed groves of the unsanetified idolaters. We can trace, in the friendship of David and Jonathan, an affection that made them lovely in their lives, and that united them in death — a love that made an arrow a tongue to speak, when the murderer whetted his death-knife. Do men inquire how "old" Odd-Fellowship is ? We refer them to the smoking incense that rose from the altar of righteous Abel ; to the dove, as it bore to the ark, that stood above the ruin of a world, the olive-leaf; to old Noah, amid his vine-clad farm, surrounded by the cattle on a thousand hills ; to Caleb and Joshua, as they stood by the heap of stones, reared up as an everlasting symbol to the generations to come, of Friendship, Love, and Truth ; to Jonathan and David, as they stood by the stone Esel, where, in the touching language of Scripture, " David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times : and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded."

We assert, therefore, of Odd-Fellowship, that its materials — its life-blood, and heat, and soul — are as old as the first Sabbath morning — as old as the "solemn and binding obligation" that united the beating hearts of the first pair in the garden of Eden, when " angels were the witnesses, and God the priest."

The patriarch Lot, surrounded by a vicious race who had corrupted the earth, seemed to be the only good man in that dense and abominable mass of wickedness to unfurl the banner on whose folds were written " Fidelity," and the motto, " In God we trust." Daniel, and Jeremiah, and Job, with others, are examples which demonstrate the nature of those moral principles that constitute Odd-Fellowship. As far back in the annals of the past as Cyrus, the Persian king, we can see traces of that spirit, which, superior to the contaminating influences of selfishness, and lust, and pride, rises to the dignity of the man and the magnanimity of the philanthropist. Greece, too, had her Lycurgus, to hurl the shafts of his firmness and humanity against the miscreant demagogue, and to revolutionize the affairs of his waning country. And when Solon, like some appointed angel who can calm the storm and stay the thunders, set his foot on the code of Draco, his generation comparatively became " social and humane;" and Cruelty for a time lost its "travellingcard," and Revenge had no " password." Thus we might follow the history of man from one age to another down to the present clay, and show that, in the darkest periods, what men most desire, "Light" — what they love, "Virtue" — what they ought to practise, "Benevolence" — what is most conducive to peace and happiness, " Truth" — have all had their warm advocates and supporters. But we have said enough on this subject. We must, however, in conclusion, repeat the following sentiment, which is (or should be) familiar to us all : " We are Odd-Fellows, and Odd-Fellows only, when we speak and act like honest men." If we practise the precepts of our Order, we must be good men ; and, whether we be ridiculed or commended, we shall ever have the consolation to know that we are preserving the best treasures of the past — goodness, fidelity, and friendship. Yet we must permit this "past" to repose upon its own merits. As in ordinary life, no man should entirely depend on the opinions and experience of his predecessors, so this