Show r I I I I I I A I A I f There was a fair amount of activity among the fraternal orders last week and an average amount of business was transacted The ladies of the Eastern Star had a select and very enjoyable excursion to Garfield on Saturday Sat-urday which was attended by most of the members of the orde and their gentlemen friends rooi The subordinate lodges of the Odd Fellows have had a very good week i considering the other matters business and political that have occupied attention atten-tion elsewhere Degree work in two of the lodges and the receipt of applications i applica-tions for membership dn several has been an encouragement for good attendance I at-tendance and is a harbinger of what will come in the near future and each body is looking forward to an increased membership during the winter months Death has assailed one of the lodges Salt Lake Xo placing dn the tomb the body of one of its oldest members Brother Tiderman of Stockton passing pass-ing away at the age of 66 The funeral occurred on Friday last Jordan Lodge No a and Fidelity Lodge No 17 were well attended lodges on Thursday and Friday evenings members being advanced to the second and third degrees Salt Lake Lodge 102 and Enterprise Lodge No 15 eceived applications from candidates while Jordan No G is reported as having several persons knocking at the outer dor RcljcUak Olfl Fcllotvship There is no meeting of Rebekah lodges on the fifth Saturdays of the months so the ladies devote those nights to entertainments and conviviality conviv-iality On Saturday night a pro I ramme musical and literary had been prepared followed by a collation the ladies know so well how to serve ttn bidding something over a hundred and fifty guests welcome the noble grand of Naomi made a capital speech and the audience after being seated fvere delighted in listening to a selection selec-tion of exercises in which Mr and tMrs Maack were heard in pianoforte I solos and duets Miss Margie Mulvey Miss Lucille Penrose Miss L Quinlan I Miss Brown and Mr S W Darke in readings and recitations and Miss Jessie Crawford Miss Dunlap Miss Corinne Harris and Miss Emma Maack sang several choice pieces It was a Splendid party and a fitting conclusion to tue summer months The Orders American Origin The earliest records of human history rurnish proofs of secret associations among nearly all the nations of the earth They have everywhere accompanied accom-panied If i they have not advanced civilization civ-ilization and been the conservators if not the promoters of religious scientific scien-tific and political truth As time has passed and educational facilities increased in-creased benevolent and fraternal or Uers have advanced step by step until they today are acknowledged the world over of having their place in the great work of the century the promotion of human vclfare About the year 1809 the more intelligent intelli-gent members of Victory lodge in Manchester England saw the necessity neces-sity of reforming many of the peculiar habits of the Odd Fellows and making mutual relief and charity the main objects ob-jects of their order But it was not until 1813 that the agitation for improved im-proved methods bore fruit In that year a convention of friends of reform was held 3n Manchester when several odges seceded in due form from the Union order and constituted the Independent Inde-pendent Order of Odd Fellows This is the first time we hear of the order under that title From the writings of a reverend brother bro-ther a member of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in the second quarter of the present century and whose history was endorsed by Past Grand Sire Thomas Wildey and many members of the G L of the U S in 1S52 we learn that many attempts had been early made to establish Odd Fellowship on this continent but from various causes all successively failed The early made was selfinstitution Any number num-ber of Odd Fellows uniting and forming form-ing a lodge received a charter from a neighboring lodge John Duncan of Washington Lodge No1 Baltimore claimed to have been initiated in that city in 1832 Shakespeare Lodge No1 of New York was in existence from 1806 to 1S11 and again In 1813 to ISIS Frince Regent lodge was instituted in JCew York by Englishmen in 1816 but an odor of nationality surrounding it prevented its success Then came lodges Washington No1 Baltimore 181 Franklin No2 Baltimore 1819 Btassichusetts No1 Boston 1820 Franklin No2 New York 1821 Penn svivanja No 1 Philadelphia 1821 Co lumlbia No1 New York 1822 Washington Wash-ington No3 l New York 1822 Columbia No4 New York 1822 all formed by sullinstJtution and as late as 1823 borne of them believed themselves to bf the only lodge in the United States But the earliest successful Institution 0 i 1 jhM of Odd Fellowship in this country and the commencement of our present order or-der 1ates from April 26 1819 and to Thomas Wildey belongs the credit of laying the foundation of the order that today overshadows any similar organization in this hemisphere and from which all other sister societies have taken their model In fact the order of Odd Fellows has been patterned pat-terned after by all the secret benevolent benevo-lent affiliations and is virtually the mother of them all Thomlas Wildey a prominent London Odd Fellow reached Baltimore in 1817 during the prevelance of yellow fever which excited his sympathies and showed him the necessity of an order like ours After much work he was joined by John Duncan John Cheath am and Richard Rushworth and Washington Lodge Xo 1 was then self instituted But it was 1820 before a charter could be had from Manchester In 1821 No1 was constituted the Grand Lodge of Maryland and the United States Thomas Wildey being the first grand master For several years the order made but slight progress Its founders and members were comparatively obscure men But Wildey conscious of good motives persevered bating no jot of hope or effort Afiter some persuasion in 182223 the lodges of Philadelphia New York and Boston applied for and were granted charters by the grand lodge of Mary land and the United States Thus all the lodges in this country were united I I under one acknowledged head The complex national and Mary land stato lodge proving unsatisfactory unsatisfacto-ry to the other state lodges the grand lodge of Maryland and the United States surrendered its charter to the state grand lodges collectively and united with them in organizing a distinct dis-tinct grand lodges of the United States which held its first annual communication communi-cation on Washingtons birthday in I 1S23 And thus was completed the admirable ad-mirable structure which has proved so effective in promoting the welfare and growth of Odd Fellowship on this hemisphere There were yefc two things lacking to complete the independent sovereignty sovereign-ty of the order in Americathe legal recognition by the Manchester Unity and the necessary charter acknowledging acknowl-edging its independence To procure these boons Wdldey visited England in 1826 where he was greeted as the father fa-ther and founder of American Odd Fellowship The first prayer was readily rea-dily granted but the second refused until upon the day of his departure for home he was surprised when the coveted parchment was placed in his hands by Grand Master Derbyshire I bearing date May 15 1826 That charter char-ter granted sole jurisdiction over Odd Fellowship in this country to the grand lodge of the United States As opportunity offers a condensed biography of Thomas Wildey and further fur-ther interesting facts relative to early Odd Fellowshin will appear in our Mondays issues I I i Kiilsrhts of Pythin The event of the < week in Pythian I circles was the reception tendered tot to-t e grand chancellor on Tuesday August 27th by the five lodges of this I city The affair surpassed anything lof the kind ever given in Pythian circles I cir-cles in Dhis domain About one hundred i hun-dred and fifty leading men and representative repre-sentative knights were present to do honor to their faithful friend and standard stan-dard bearer John P Meakin The tables were arranged antistically in the shape of a triangle in the centre I of which a table was placed at which sat Grand Chancellor Meakin Judge L P Boyle of Chicago Judge J C McXally and Mr Fisher < Harris At 930 Mr Ed W Duncan took his position as chairman of the committee commit-tee and toastmaster for < the occasion and right royally did he serve Near the close of the feast for the Inner man Mr Duncan in a few felicitous remarks stated the object of the gathering gath-ering and expressed his delight in seeing such a gathering of knights to do honor to one who had done so much for the cause of Pythianism in Utah In introducing each speaker the toastmaster quoted from the poets I first Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime And departing leave behind us Footprints in the sands of time The first toast of the evening Our Grand Chancellor was responded toby to-by P C D X Straup who referred in glowing terms to the untiring efforts of Brother Meakin both in and out of the lodge room for the cause of humanity hu-manity under the banner of Friendship Charity and Benevoletice Grand Chancellor Meakin in reply said Words are almost idle in attemptIng attempt-Ing to express the overwhelming gratitude grat-itude and appreciation of the heart in receiving such honor Every Pythian should bear in mind that Each life should be a written book Which all men come to read A story of a noble aim Of thought and act and deed A long face and a whine are not necessary but a cheerful face and an honest heart are He exhorted all togo to-go ahead and not be discouraged for said he II Tin not so much what now we areAs are-As what we may become God reckons on the growth of man Eternity gives room We are working for universal peace and eternal good will among Ithe children chil-dren of men Let us be untiring In our efforts Judge Boyle made a grand speech upon the objects of the order and pointed out what true friendship really re-ally Is Itev J D Gillilan responded to the toast Damon and Pythias He beautifully I I beau-tifully painted the two heroes living I and dying for each other he pictured I i2 < j M > i what a friend should do when a friend I was downcast and unfortunate Mr Fisher Harris gave his experience experi-ence during his initiation and closed his speech with flights of eloquence which thrilled the souls of all who heard He said those men were suitable for the order of Knights of Pythias I I who loved their homes who appreciated appreciat-ed the tender kiss of a loving wife and the clinging affectionate embrace of little children whose greatest happiness hap-piness was by the fireside of home sweet home Judge McNally responded to the toast Our Order He told of the many good things which had been done and the great work yet to be done As long as hearts beat and eyes tell the story of affection so long would Pythianism liveS live-S R L H Farnsworth spoke upon the uniform rank and told of its growth and splendor At the close of his address he referred in fervent language lan-guage to his friend our friend every bodys friend our grand chancellor Meakin and urged everyone present to assist in spreading the cause of Py thianism into every hamlet and every town in fair Utah Chief Tribune N W Sonne decker made a splendid talk on the endowment endow-ment rank urging every member to do his duty by protecting his family with a valuable insurance such as the endowment rank afforded I G V C W B Wedell G at of A Ed Pike and several other prominent knights addressed the assembly The committee P G C Ed W Duncan Dun-can George E Eord Sig Simon N W Sonnedecker J D Gillilan brought credit upon themselves and honor to the order in the way they managed the pleasant affair Brother Duncan near the close read the following letter from C K of Rand R-and S H C Wadleigh of Ogden Ed W Duncan chairman committee reception to Grand Chancellor John P Meakin Salt Lake City Dear BrotherThe receipt of your Invitation to be present at the reception recep-tion to be tendered to our grand chancellor chan-cellor was received by me with much pleasure and I have looked forward to the event as being an epoch in the Pythian history of Utah whose memories memo-ries would remain with me a source of satisfaction and gratification worthy of the occasion My inability to attend and assist in doing honor to one who is worthy of our heartiest support in his official position po-sition whose life work is the elevation of humanity and whose efforts are always al-ways at the service of the downtrodden downtrod-den and the oppressed whose kind words and warm handclasp have made him tho friend of those whose lot seemed cast in troubled waters whose surging waves were ready to engulf their prey whose friendship I value and appreciate at its highest worth cause me the keenest disappointment disap-pointment I have had for years With this letter comes my best wishes wish-es for the unqualified success of the movement and realizing that it cannot can-not be otherwise I am fraternally yoursH H C WA < RDLEIGH C K R S Mr Duncan then thanked the brothers broth-ers for their presence and hoped many more such meetings were in store for the Utah knights The hand clasps were then made I and the farewells said and from every heart the feeling went forth God be with you till we meet again A KNIGHT OF PYTHIAS Who Was There A O F of A The programme for entertaining the visiting Foresters from California as noted in these columns last week was carried out in a fitting manner and the visitors were well pleased with the Utah way of doing things A large number of the Foresters and Companions Compan-ions of the Forest met the party at the reception in the Knutsford parlors and at Saltair and were well pleased with them and feel quite honored by the party stopping off at Salt Lake as the only place that they halted on the entire trip was at Denver The party were very much pleased with Salt I Lake and Mr Rasmussen had great fun at Saltair and found the bathing much more pleasant than the old Pacific Pa-cific although he did get a little taste of the salt water The party left on the 745 train for Boston where Supreme Chief Companion Compan-ion Bremer will rap the gavel on September Sep-tember 2 convening the supreme circle after which they will go to Cleveland where Supreme Chief Ranger Thorne will do likewise on Sept 10 The name of the order will probably be changed to Foresters of America dropping Ancient Order of and the numbering of the courts will be changed chang-ed to include the American courts only on-ly A fine ritual has been gotten up by a Forester in Brooklyn which will probably be adopted and numerous changes will also be made in the laws of the order besides putting the endowment endow-ment rank on a more substantial footing foot-ing The plan proposed with a few changes will make it second to no insurance in-surance system The membership of this branch of the order is already very strong and with the proposed changes the order will make itself a formidable opponent to all other insurance insur-ance The attendance at the several courts and circle meetings is still light on account ac-count of the warm weather but the applications for membership are commencing com-mencing to come in and in another month we can expect a large atend ance and numerous new members enrolled en-rolled Court Salt Lake will have a candidate next Thursday evening and Court Palantic should have several on Tuesday evening F M Shire a member mem-ber of Court Palantic is sick wiht typhoid ty-phoid fever at 258 East Third South 0 c i street and Court Palantics sick committee com-mittee are expected to visit him on their respective days and when necessary neces-sary furnish a nurse to stay with him Viola Circle will have its regular monthly social this evening in the hall of the I O O F temple Refreshments Refresh-ments will be served and dancing card playing etc will help to pass away the evening very pleasantly An admission of fifteen cents will be charged at he door or two for a quartet quar-tet All Foresters companions and their friends are cordially invited to attend at-tend Join with the companions and have a good time and a good supper A O U W The local lodges of this order are keeping keep-ing well to the front in every way The regular meetings are well attended new members are beri admitted at every meeting and the enthusiasm and interest is well sustained The Chicago Dispatch of Ausr 27 contains con-tains an article on the A O U W to the effect that there is dissensions and internal in-ternal disagreements in the order which threaten its stability Well informed members of the order however say that Jicrc is i little if any thing of truth in the article and that the statements are either entirely untrue or grossly overdrawn As the article will be of interest to the members of the order we reproduce it verbatim as follows fol-lows Trouble of a serious nature threatens the stability of the A O U AV for years regarded as one of the strongest fraternal organizations in Amrica The difficulty which has been suppressed for several months has reached an alarming stage one of the factions into which the order has been divided having declared its intention in-tention of carrying the fight into the courts on an application for a receiver cOfIs rt Onsft1 i The storm burst In its full fury when Grand Master Kelly announced in several of the local lodges that the former grand lodge had recklessly squandered funds leaving the amount set aside for the maintenance of its successor in a badly depleted condition thus necessitating a special assessment to meet current expenses ex-penses Fully 15 per cent of the members have withdrawn several lolges haying med protests against the action of the supreme su-preme lodge and extremists declare that from 23 to 7 per cent of the members will withdraw In the next few weeks Raised the Assessment The trouble commenced at the last fleeting of the supreme lodge in Chicago said John K Jamison an originator and prominent member of the order When the order was founded the members agreed to a contract by which the assessment assess-ment was to be 51 per member This was seventeen years ago and the assessment has remained the same until the present time Now the supreme lodge has raised the assessment OH the old members to 125 and reduced it to 50 cents on the new members This caused the first row The members mem-bers who have built the order object to this discrimination It was on this account ac-count that the lodges have filed protests and many members withdrew The next trouble was more serious A proportion oC the assessments is set aside I for the maintenance of the grand lodge This is sufficient to keep it liberally supplied I sup-plied with funds Notwithstanding this there have been three and possibly four special assessments for the expenses of the grand lodge during the past three years From a membership of 22fX0 in Illinois this makes the neat sum of JGGOOO There is supposed to be a report made of this to the members and doubtless there will be beWm Wants Xo Receiver Apjtoiiicil My idea is 1 that a receiver should not be asked for but that the case be taken before some court in chancery to get a legal decision on the attempt to freeze out the old members I do not believe that the depletion of the treasury is as great as some people claim and while those who want the receiver are doing lots of talking I would not deem it advisable ad-visable This is the whole matter in a I nutshell The old members dont like it they do not think it is fair treatment after bearing the fight for years to hc charged an increased assessment and young men get the same insurance for 50 cents that they them elves paid t for A large proportion of the old members came in between the ages of 21 and fl I and paid their dollar assessment Expenses Too Heavy Another objection is that the expenses of the grand and supreme lodges are too heavy The last session of the supreme lodge was participated in by 175 delegates at a cost to the members at large of 32500 or JSOO per delegate This comes out of the general fund The session of the grand lodgc costs 3200 per day and the officers are liberally paid the recorder drawing the sum of KJCOO and having plenty of time at His disposal to do other work For a fraternal organization the expenses are too heavy by far As to the financial condition of the order continued Mr Jemison every claim has been paid in full and the creditable cred-itable record will continue 1 was surprised sur-prised to hear of Grand Master Keilys charges made to the lodges Grand Master Kelly is confined to his bed and could not be seen Numerous members representing both factions admitted ad-mitted that there was serious trouble in the ranks The Mncenbees The Maccabees is a new order for recognition but recently established in this city and territory and bids fair to roll up a large membership before the end of the year As yet there are but three commanderies in Utah Salt Lake Tent No 2 Ogden Tent No1 and one at Park City of a few days standing Tent No2 in this city has for its officers W A Wright commander and William Tatrous recordkeeper Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of every month in the I O O F building on Market street The new order is fraternal benevolent and social One of its strongest features is an insurance benefit though as yet no auxilliary for them has been established in connection con-nection with the order In Utah Within With-in a short time however a lady organizer or-ganizer will be sent here from Chicago f Chi-cago when it is confidently believed an added impetus will be given generally I gener-ally throughout the intermountain section The Maccabees excursion today over the Union Pacific to the Utah Hot springs is being run under the auspices aus-pices of the Ogden commandery and the Salt Lake commandery together f1 1 f with their friends will join forces hoping to not alone have a large crowd but incidentally to procure additional ad-ditional funds to promote the work of I organization in Utah j |