Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 41, Number 7174, 11 May 1871 — DEDICATORY CEREMONIES OF THE ODD FELLOWS. [ARTICLE]

DEDICATORY CEREMONIES OF THE ODD FELLOWS.

The Odd Fellows' Temple in this city was formally dedicated yesterday morning by Grand Sire Farnsworth and the officers of the Grand Lodge and Encampment of California in the presence of a gathering of ladies and members of the Order, which crowded the Temple and Hall to excess. The ceremonies were commenced with an address, delivered by Samuel Cross, President of the Temple Association, who, in accordance with usage, invited the Grand Sire to dedicate the building to Odd Fellowship and presented him with the keys of the building. The Grand Sire responded, expressing his willingness, and the exercises were proceeded with according to the form of the Order. Samuel Deal acted as Herald of the North ; J. 11. McKune as Herald of the South; Thos. P. Ford as Herald of the East, and S. Pearl as Herald of the West. The following are the declarations and responses (the latter by all the members of the Order) : Grand Master (Past Grand Sire Farnsworth)— was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. ■■ .." Response— Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem ! Grand Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together (at unity in itself). Response— Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. Grand Master— For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Response— Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ; they 6h:ill prosper that love thee. Grand Master— Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. v .">■ Response — For my brethren and companions' sakes, 1 will now say, peace be within thee ! Grand Master— Because of the house of the Lord our Cod, I will seek thy good. Response — be it. Herald of the North— Hear all men : By command of the M. W. Grand Master, and in the name of Friendship, as pure, refreshing and life-giving as this water [sprinkling it], I dedicate this Hall to the practice of thai ennobling virtue, which uniting men as brethren, leaches them to sustain that relation at all times, each iii his turn helping and helped, blessing and blessed. Response— Hehold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren t.i dwell together in unity, for these the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. Herald of the South— Hear all men : Uy command of our M. W. Grand Muster, I proclaim this Hall dedicated to Love, world-wide and ever-enduring [lights the fire on the altar], and may the fire that Is this day kindled upon the altar of our hearts be as perpetual as that which i-urned upon the altar in the secret tabernacle of the Most High, of which this is bat a feeble emblem. Response— Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not Charity, lam become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal; Charity never laileth. Herald of the East Hear all men : By command of our M. W. Grand Mater, I proclaim this hall dedicated to the inculcation and cultivation of Truth [scattering wheat], and may the good seed here sown, of which this Is the emblem, like the grain sown broadcast on the earth, spring up again an hundred fold, for future use and blessing, and may that ennobling virtue, which lies at the foundation of all other virtues, and which is devoid of puile and hypocrisy, teach us sincerity and plain dealing in all our communications, and earnestness in the Inculcation of whatever Is good and true. Response— that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and gpeaketh the truth in his heart, O Lord shall abide In Thy Tabernacle and shall dwell in Thy Holy Hill. Herald of the — Hear all men : Hy command of our M. W. Grand Master, I proclaim this Hall dedicated to Faith, Hope and Charity. Those graces, like these flowers [strewing Qowersj, fill the common air with fragrance, beauty, and adorn all on whom they fall. The practice of these highest virtues Is in itself the fulfilling of that law which commands us to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead aud educate the orphan. Response.— A good man sheweth favor and lendeth ; he will guide his affairs with discretion; he hath di.--persed ; he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth forever ; his horn shall be exulted with honor. At the conclusion of the exercises, the keys having been returned to the President of the Association, the members of the Order formed in procession, to the number of over 1,000, including the Grand Lodge and Encampment, and members of the city Lodges, under the direction of John Talbot as Grand Marshal, and ; S. S. Nixon and J. A. Conh >ie as Aids, and murched down X street to Second, Second to J, ,1 to Tenth. Tenth to M, and M to the Pavilion, wi::ch was soon tilled in every part by the vast thiong which had assembled. After the renditiou of the " Star Spangled Banner," by Godbv & Beebe's band. Grand Master Dannals called the assemblage to order, a id introduced the Worthy Grand Chaplain, J. Siaex, who addressed a brief invocation to the Throne of Grace, the audience showing due , reverence by rising to their feet. An excellent j choir, consisting principally of ladies and gentlemen members of the Philharmonic Society, under the leadership of Prof. Gee, thcu sang the favorite song and chorus, " Our land is Free," with excellent effect. When the :ipplause bad subsided, Grand Sire Farnsworth introduced the Orator of the Day, Newton j Bo'.iih, who delivered the following appropriate ! ::n;l interesting address, which was warmly re- ! cci\ cd by bis hearers : ! On a beautiful night, not long since, I was standing j on the hillside at the intersection or Bush and Stockton j streets, iti - ...i cUoo, when the city hail go;.e to j sletp. Within the narrow limit* of ■■■■:• vidi.-a ntuiiy j 2.ki,U03 tireJ . id; - and busy brains bad taken refuge j fnmi Hie toils, cares and schemes of the noisy day, in tin Mill world of slumber. The street lamps were not burning; and the blending of soft moonlight anci iL»fip a!.. i ',ov gave the scene the wtird beauty of enchantment. For a few moments I endeavored to transport j myself backward in time, and to Imagine myself sianJiritf on the same »pot twenty-five years before, with nothing around me but the b.ire hills, drifting sands am! lonely waters. I recalled tlie Solltode, which shall there never again recur, when the two hundred thousand hearts, whose pulsations I could almost feel, had either not commenced their life-long beat, or were scattered wide aa the world. I tried to realize the sense of that lune'.iness which was bo long the brooding presence of the place. Then the real scene rushed upon me a* one of true enchantment. A magic more potent than that of ring and lamp and wand bad called a city from the waste — the magic of Labor and Art. It required the toil of 860,000 men for twenty years to build one of the pyramids of Egypt, whose only purpn was to are as a ; mausoleum for a dead king. .Now the very name of the j king i- forgotten, the art by which the stupendous structure was built is lost, and the pyramid by the Nile, with ; thirty centuries looking down from Us summit, proclaims to the passing moment only the sad truth that Id the birth-place of civilization the rulers were tyrants and the people slaves. The city about me, all built with a tenth of the labor devoted to a receptacle for the du3t of royalty, was the home of almost 200,0110 living souls. The pyramid and the city were both monuments of skill and labor. The moral of the one was that the labor of slaves in the service of a master is vanity ; of the other, that the labor of freemen, guided by individual -i-> and necessities, is wisdom ; the art of the one is perishable; of the other. Indestructible as the nature of man. Some . human use had called Into existence every bout around me. F.ach was are Used thought — an answer to ?orr.e want, necessity, desire or aspiration of human nature. The housed, built for family shelter, were the visible types of the store •■ of family ties and domestic love. The churches were the mat. rial expression of the religious sentiment, which, varying la form, la wide as humanity, and deep as the well-springs of o<ir being. The school-houses symbolized the love the old feel for the young, and the hope that the children's future may I* better than their fathers' past, The manufactories, shops, stores and banks, the mart* of toil, trade and miney, were the evidences of the ceaseless struggle of lifewita the primal sentence of lalwr. Skillful craftsmen had formed men's thought! into visible things. Not a stone or brick or tirul>:r in all these structure- 1 , had been placed that did not represent some thought «xecuteJ, some labor accutnplis-hcd, Fome triumph of art, some day of toil. Ne;ir me arose the twin spires of the Hebrew synagogue, ami from their gleaming tops there «eeined reflected the l:pM of a moon that ?hone o'er Israel 3,000 yeai ago. Abraham had laid the cor-ner-stone of that bnildiDg; Suiornon had helped to shape its masonry; the tables Moses brought from Sinai were sot -within its walls; there still echoed the voice of Pavid ; V.v: coal " that touched Isaiah's hallowed lips" It : ll lired >;;*>n iu altar. To-day we have met U> dedicate a temple, raised by generous !»■ arts and !ibcr.il hands, and i asa led to ask, what thought does it express, to what use Is it devoted, what necessity d<vs it mx-t, to justify the almost prodigal expenditure of its erection? It stands la fnir proportion!", the pride an! ornament of the city ; but it was no desire f>f architectural triumph that called it into existence ; if so its bricks might have remained clay, its .-tones in the quarry, its timbers In the forest, for the Parthenon, built twenty-three hundred years ago, w.v< transcendently mure beautiful. Its foundations are solid, its materials endurine, but the pyramids, thai were five hundred years old when Solomon was born, will stand a hundred centuries after these walls are du9t. Was there any purpose In this building, any Inspiration in its conception, that » 111 redeem it from decay and preserve Its idea spiritually whole, when its outward form has passed away ? So far as any structure built by hands, whether it be frail as canvas or solid M (rranite, humble as a Ing school-house, or grand as St. I'etcr's, represents a living truth, answers to some abiding want of our nature, that far it is consecrated " above the power of words to add to or take from"— dedicated to human happiness and advancement ; and if It should be destroyed by the elements. or when it shall crumble through lapse of years, the same truth will reembody itself,the same want wl'l call Into existence other an 1 fairer forms.upon firmer foundatlons.while essential truth and man's wants and aspirations remain unchanged. Have we built upon a rock like that? Have the hundreds of members of our Order, here gathered to-day from every part of the State, left then homes and avocation* merely to mske a part of an idle and Beu«less pageant? Is there anything in the tinsel of this regalia to subdue earnest, manly hearts to the temper of a school boy's vanity ? Are these Insignia and emblems simply the toys of grown-up childhood ♦ No ! Decoration, symbol, parade, ceremony, lodge, hall, temple, <ir itio.i are but the outward forms of an inward truth, which alone can give them value — truth old as the morning ol time, younger than the marring of ta-d«y— a truth ttite and time-worn on the lip-, ever new ati'i a redefining presence in the heart — i truth iiut underlies all of good in daman socie'.y— the truth

of human brotherhood. That is not a type lost in one age to reappear in another— but the great truth lor whose development and perfect unfolding all the ages were made. Every page in history contains the record of its struggles and trials, its triumphs and defeats. Free, unrestrained, all its forms are beautiful and its influence beneficent ; Imprisoned and confined, it bursts its way in the terrors of reiJFucion. Its earliest and purest form is seen in the family circle, at tha lireside of home ; Its grandest manifestation is witnessed in the ?tate — civil government aimed with the prerogatives and radiant with the attributes of justice. What is our ideal or country? It is not the laud and the sea— the people, their history and laws. It is something more than all these combined. Let its ling rustle above our beads, we feel the stirring tense, the living presence of human brotherhood in our hearts, Kv;-r\ i human institution is a divinely appointed agency for good in the degree it embodies and represents this principle. Institutions like that at whose instance we have today convened are old as the records of time. Differing in "internal organization and in their immediate objects, there have always been orders and associations, bound together by mystic ties, from whose counsels and deliberations, from whose shrines and inner sanctuaries the great world was shut out. Even in sacred writ we read of something analagOOS, in the institution of a particular order ef men to whose care were committed the rites, ceremonies and mysteries of religion. In the early ages of profane history there were Egyptian schools that were the guardians of learning, and imparted their ; teachings only through impressive ceremonies and under solemn vows. The chosen youth of Greece were initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. There, surrounded by awe-inspiiinz associations, they were taught the great truths of life— truths deemed too sacred for the knowledge of the multitude— with a sense of the duties they owed their country, their fellow men and themselves, and sent forth members of a mysterious brotherhood to illustrate, by their life and conversation, the purity of the teachings they had received. More than 2,500 years ago Pythagoras gathered his disciples together in darkness and secresy ; curtained in mystery, he instructed them in the use and meaning of symbols; taught the high truths of mathematics, the facts of astronomy, the harmony of natural law; filled their souls with a love of virtue, and Inspired them with a hope of immortality. The universal existence of this principle of association may at lea t prove that it responds to a legitimate want of humanity. The time has indeed gone by when the Most High reveals His will to a particular order of men. There is no longer a necessity, a* In the days of the Eastern Magii, to set apart schools distinct from thg world to cherish and cultivate the arts and sciences lest their knowledge should perish from the earth. Free inquiry, a free press and free schools have made these as free, as acces.-ible and imperishable as the air. Science, as in the days of Pythagoras, is no longer driven to the fastness of secret places to inculcate her lessens. Her votaries are not now proscribed. She has come out from the cloister to mingle in the pursuits of men, and is the handmaid of their labors. American youth need no Eleusinian rites to impress upon them the duty of patriotism ; for we have a country to love whose institutions challenge our admiration, and whose honor it is our highest privilege to cherish and protect. Hut still the heart remains the same. Still does it enshrine lofty truths in beautiful symbols, and recognize the emblem as the shadow of the invisible. Still is it awed into reverence and lifted into rapture by Imprestive forms and ceremonies. The principle of fraternization is strong as ever, and the associations it forms find new ties and objects, other purposes and duties. In the associations of the olden time, where n we see the types of our Order, the principle of fraternity, which animated them all, was modified and controlled by the spirit of the age in which it was made manifest. They were associations for the favored few — for the elect of wealth, learning, philosophy and social position. Few were deemed worthy of an elevation to the truths they taught, and the principles they professed. Their privileges constituted the badge of a social aristocracy. Broader ideas now prevail. Whatever is good enough for the few is not too good for the many. The tendency of our age is not to concentrate, but to diffuse — to garner up, but to scatter broad-cast. Odd Fellowship is the old principle incarnated in the new form we deem best calculated to meet the exigencies of the busy,toiling age in which we are encamped. Based upon certain truths, which are alike axioms among all nations, tongues and kindreds, it claims no religious sanction for its teachings; it aspires to no political power ; it does not trace its history back through volumes of legendary love, or hold its patent from the hand of kings. Its works are the seal of its birth-right. Its mission to do good in the daily walks of life. It is essentially humanitarian — it proposes to respond to the j common wants and common duties of common humanity—recognizing all men as the offspring of the same parent, bound together by the ti.s of common sufferings and hope. , a common death and immortality, it scorns the distinctions of rank and fashion, and proclaims the doctrine that the seal of humanity set upon a living being by the hind of God is his title-deed to all the rights and privileges of the race. It claims no monopoly of the principle it represents— is " broad and lil>eral as the casing air." It arrogates no glory for the duties it performs- -feels no j alousy with other and kindred orders, and enters upon no rivalry sive the generous rivalry of good works. Fifty years ago it counted its members by tens — by ten thousands. Originally it was an association for mutual aid and relief, Its commands were to visit the si k, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphan. These are still its injunctions, duties ana daily ministrations. But the field of its usefulness and measure of its responsibilities increase with its growing power. Until quite lately confined in its operations to the United States, now it proposes to gradually extend its branches to every part of the civilized world. In this age whatever stands Still recedes, whatever ceases to grow dies. But it is not enough to open new jurisdictions, institute new lodges, enroll new members, and build new a pies. These will fall off. like the fruit of a blasted tree, unless there is an ever-increasing measure of life within. We cannot live upon the past. We must meet the living questions of the present — rise to the hight of the hour and grapple with it real difficulties. To-day society confronts the hardest problem of civilization. It la not to relieve want, but to prevent it. To find some social adjustment, in which whoever is willing to do honest labor nay be secure o. some field suit d to his capacity, and certain that his toil will be so rewarded by its own products that be can live in the conscious independence of his manhood, in the fair enjoymeut of the blessings and opportunities of life, v.-i bout the fear that a day's sickness, or an boor's accident will bring the wolf to bis door. It ii strange that in a country where there are hundreds of millions of acres of on ettle 1 land ; In an aze when mechanical inventions have ten-fold increased the power of production,' daily bread and comfortable homes should not bs easily within the reach of all. And if it be tr.ie now, ;is i« evidenced by the frenzied protest* «.f "strike?," anil the wail cry of distress that goes up from cities over a speculative advance In coal, what will bt; the condition of affairs when our vacant Joannes <if territory shall swarm with teeming population? Would you beheld the saddest spectacle of this age ? Sea it in the string man seeking in vain for a place to earn hi 3 daily bread, by daily toil. Would i iii discover the danger that threatJns social order? Find i. In the boys of our cities growing up in voluntary or enforced idleness, to graduate into pensioners or outlaws. Whoever will look open-eyed into the future will see that the "labor question;" the question of directing the ri-ing generation into channels of useful employment ; the question oi the equitable distribution of the burdens and rewards of labor so that the droned shall not live upon the workers, and honest Industry may be certain of i: fair reward ; the question of making labor in fact, what we call it in speech, honorable — r;ot only honorable, but honored, is the social problem, far more important than political questions, to which our age should address Itself. It must be Intelligently solved, - r like the blind Samson it will bring the temple down upon our heads. To this question the age does address itself. Not through bad»r«, but In spontaneous popular move* ments ; not so much through laws and political changes, but the instincts of society are reaching out for a remedy from present and threatened evils in voluntary associations. Mutual life and health insurance companies, enabling the man of humble means to free himself and family from the crushing fear of want In the hour of sickness and sudden calamity ; saving societies, whereby small sums can be made productive, and by their aggregation enable the poor man's dollars to compete with the rich man's thousands; co-operative associations, seeking to endow labor with the privileges and enrich it whh the blessings it creates, are wise and hopeful agencies and forms which these instincts take, .*dd to these free schools, open to the children of all, and free press, sending streams of knowledge to every man's door. In the same direction, in the endeavor to diffuse to all the blessings of life, our association i 3 woikinj — humbly and Imperfectly, we confess, but honestly and earnestly. We can not all attain the golden or fatal dowry of wealth. Hut associated together we can have schools, libraries and cabinets. In the charmed circle where we meet the fear of want should be banished. Meeting together frequently in our lodges, mind can sharpen mind, and Intellect strengthen intellect. Surrounded by symbols and emblems, listening to the teachings of the good, we can keep alive in our hearts the sense of the beautiful and love of the true. Our own Institution a model State, I where laws founoed upon justice are administered in love, and whose only sanction is honor, we will constan'.ly strive to inaugurate the era, yet distant, but surely co:ning, hen Labor and Art, two in one in mystic marriage, shall reign, King and Queen, with co- • equal power over an undivided empire. Brethren of Sacramento— Labor and Art have united in the service of Love in the erection of the Temple that crow 113 your generous enterprise. The Temple ! yon have tilt will stand a* a monument of your devotion to the principles you profess, when the brains th;it conceived and the hand* that executed it arc dust; it will stand as a memorial of the present, a tribute to the past, a pledge to the future. Hay It ever symbolise th?l templo not made with bands, whose foundations are laid In works of active Benevolence, whose walls are Justice and Equality, whose columns are Friendship, I-ove and Truth; Faith and Hope whose swelling arch, whose cap-stone, Charity ! At the conclusion of the address, the choir sang the anthem " The Lord is Great;" after which the Chaplain pronounced the benediction, and the audience left the building. The members of the Order acmin formed in procession and returned (o the Temple, where they broke ranks, and the dedicatory observances were ended. » Peace Poltgloticallt Considered.— What a beautiful thing is peaca! The very word is melodious. The Greek Eireenec is euphony itself, and has quite as good a right to be a favorite Christian name for women as Grace, Blanche, Aurora, Dagmar.and others. The Latin pax is short, .-harp, and blunt ; but no one cares how abruptly peace is made, even i if it turn out only a truce. The Romans, untiring warriors at borne, wished their colonies to enjoy peace, at least in name. The chief city of E*tremadura, in Spain, was called Pax Augusta, while Portugal had Pax Julia, the Beja of the present day. Ovid raises Pax to the dignity oi a goddess. There were coins that bore the effigy of Pacifer Hercules, Hercules the Peacemaker, and we have had only too recent evidence of what a herculean task peacemaking is. The French paix, though directly descended from the Latin pax, looks better on paper, and whsn pronounced drops the harsh anal consonant. The German friede is a delightful dissrllable. Friederieh ought to signify rich in peace, if . ii v thine. ♦ In Wisconsin marriages are published under the head " Horrible Accidents. '