AND THE CITIZENS OF ROGERSVILLE, TENN., 
 
 Oa the 4lli day of July, 1849, 
 
 AT THE LAYING THE CORNER-STONE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ODD-FELLOWS’ FEMALE INSTITUTE. 
 
 BY REV. J. D. McCABE, 
 
 OF ABINGDON, VA. 
 
 ABINGDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY COALE AND BARR. 
 
 1849 . 
 

 
 •* 
 
 * v •• »• * 
 
 A' V 
 
 V *. 
 
 •- t.; 
 
 Pamphlet Collection 
 Duke University Library 
 
THE FLOWERS COLLECJ1Q. 
 
 Hall Hawkins Lodge, No. 41, I. 0. 0. F., \ 
 Rogersville, 12th July, 1S49. ^ 
 
 Re v. Dr. McCabe: 
 
 Dear Sir and Brother — The undersigned Committee, ap- 
 pointed by Hawkins Lodge, No. 41, tor the purpose of solicit- 
 ing for publication the able and eloquent Address delivered by 
 you before them, and a large number of the Brotherhood, on 
 the 4th instant, in this place, take pleasure in testifying lo the 
 general satisfaction manifested by all who were present on that 
 occasion, and trust that you will, at your earliest con venience, 
 furnish us with the manuscript of the same. 
 
 With high considerations, we remain 
 
 Fraternally Yours, 
 
 JAMES K. SIMPSON, ) 
 
 ROBERT H. HALE, > Committee 
 EDW. J. ASTON, ) 
 
 Abingdon, July 14th, 1849. 
 
 My Dear Brethren: Your very flaftering communication of 
 the 12th inst. came to hand by this morning’s mail, and in re- 
 ply to the wishes of my brethren, I can only say, that if they 
 consider the thoughts hastily thrown together in the address I 
 had the honor to deliver before them on the 4th inst. worth 
 the preservation they propose, the MS. is at their disposal, to 
 receive such direction as they may be pleased to give it. 
 
 Very truly yours, in F. L. & T., 
 
 JAS. D. McCABE. 
 
 Jas. K. Simpson, ) 
 
 Robt. H. Hale, > Committee. 
 
 Edw. J. Aston, ) 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The 4th day of July having been selected as the occasion for 
 laying the corner-stone of the ODD-FELLOWS’ FEMALE 
 INSTITUTE, under the control and patronage of Hawkins 
 Lodge, No. 41, I. 0. O. F., the brethren assembled at their 
 Hall on the morning of that day at 10 o’clock, and proceeded 
 in procession to the First Presbyterian Church, where the ser- 
 vices were opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Sawyer, an 
 ode was sung by the brethren, and the following Address de- 
 livered by Rev. Dr. McCabe, Rector of St. Thomas’ Church, 
 Abingdon, Va. The Fraternity, after the exercises at the 
 Church, proceededto thefoundation of the contemplated build- 
 ing, where, after order had been restored, prayer was offered 
 by the Chaplain of the Lodge, Rev. Bro. Sawyer; after which, 
 the Chairman of the Building Committee presented to D D. G. 
 M. Barnes'* the plan of the building, requesting him, in the 
 name of the Trustees,, to lay its first stone. To this address the 
 D. D. G. M. responded, and the stone was laid in its place to 
 solemn music. The D. D. G. M. then deposited in the stone 
 a copy of the Digest G. L. U. S., Constitution and Gen’l Laws 
 G. L. ofTenn., By-Laws of Hawkins Lodge, a copy of the 
 Holy Bible, several gold and silver coinsof the coinage of 1849, 
 also a parchment scroll containing an account of the origin and 
 purpose of the building, name of Lodge founding the Institu- 
 tion. officers of the G. L. U. S. and State ofTenn., President 
 and Vice President of the U. S., Governor of Tennessee, and 
 architects of the building. The whole was hermetrically seal- 
 ed up in a tin case, and placed in a chamber cut in the stone, 
 over which a slab of marble was placed,, secured with cement. 
 A large s$one was placed over the whole, laid in hydraulic ce- 
 ment. Rev. Bro. Good, of St. James’ Church, Greeneville, T., 
 offered up a dedicatory prayer; after which the bretheren ad- 
 vanced and cast flowers on the stone — the D. D. G- Master 
 proclaiming the first stone of “THE ODD-FELLOWS’ FE- 
 MALE INSTITUTE” well and- truly laid. 
 
 The procession was re-formed and proceeded to the Court- 
 House, where they partook of a splendid and sumptuous din- 
 ner, prepared by the ladies of Rogersville and vicinity, after 
 which they marched to the Hall and were dismissed. .Mem- 
 bers were in attendance from various neighboring Lodges. It 
 was “a great and glorious day.” 
 
 * At the request of D. D. G. M. Barnes, Rev. Dr. McCabe performed these- 
 duties, the forms for laying the corner-stone having been prepared by him.. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 From the brilliant assembly now before me— from the scenes 
 and circumstances of the present hour, while the heaving heart 
 of a great nation is glowing with patriotism, and millions of 
 freemen are gratefully bowing in adoration at the altar of free- 
 dom’s God — from the busy, joyous present, memory wanders 
 back to the days of other years,— days when our fathers, who 
 won this broad land from the wilderness, demanded, in the free 
 spirit of their Anglo-Saxon lineage, the rights secured to every 
 Englishman by the British Constitution, and which were bv a 
 corrupt ministry denied to them, — days when the hope of Run- 
 nymede , the great principles of the “ petition of rights ,” were 
 wrought out amid “the sound of trumpets and garments rolled 
 in blood,” tokening strife between the oppressor and the 
 oppressed. 
 
 In Carpenter’s Hall, in the city of Philadelphia, 56 patriot 
 sages are assembled. Upon their deliberations is suspended 
 the weal or woe of 3,000,000 of freemen. The eyes of thirteen 
 anxious colonies are directed towards them — the hoary des- 
 potisms of the old world, startled out of their dream of power 
 and sense of propriety, are looking with trembling anxiety to 
 their doings. The Cavalier and the Roundhead , the Church- 
 man and the Puritan , sit together in council as brothers. — 
 A Churchman from Virginia had moved a declaration of inde- 
 pendence of the mother country — a Puritan from Massachu- 
 setts had seconded that motion. A committee had been ap- 
 pointed to prepare that document, setting forth the grievances 
 of the colonies. The morning of the 4th day of July, 1776, 
 has dawned upon the world, and the result of that committee’s 
 labors is before the Continental Congress. The deed is done! 
 — the problem, that man is capable of self-government, is an- 
 nounced, and appealing to God for the rectitude of their inten- 
 tions, and with a firm reliance upon his divine providence, 
 they declared the thirteen colonies absolved from all allegi- 
 ance to the British Crown, and that they were, and of right 
 ought to be, free and independent States. With a sublime 
 heroism, “above all Greek, all Roman fame,” they, in support 
 of this declaration, pledged to each other “their lives, their 
 fortunes , and their sacred honor.” Has this pledge been re- 
 deemed? Go ask the storied fields of battle and of blood, from 
 Lexington to Yorktown — fields classic in our country’s annals 
 — go ask the glorious land in which we live — “a land of tower- 
 ing mountains, bold hills and fertile valleys, of £ rock and tree 
 
G 
 
 and flowing water,’ unsurpassed in the beauty of its scenery, 
 with shifting wood, calm broad lakes, pinnacles torn and 
 thunder-splintered, and cataracts clothed in rainbow and in 
 foam,” forming a vast temple of freedom, where inspiration 
 gives life to intellect and letters, — where art speaks in the 
 canvass and the marble , and spells enwrap the poet, and awake 
 his harp to notes of more thrilling melody than ever fell from 
 the trembling strings of the Lisbian lyre. Go ask our eagles 
 as they “scream southward from crag to crag,” “from the great 
 lakes to the sunny waters of the heaving gulf” — from the blue 
 waters of the Chesapeake to the bay of San Francisco — from 
 the island of Nantucket, where the morning’s sun first gilds 
 the land of freedom, to where “the purple day” fades over the 
 tired emigrant of Oregon — over all this vast area of 3,000,000 
 of square miles, the proud armorial bird of our country looks 
 down with triumph on “the land of the free and the home of 
 the brave,” and over all floats the star-spangled banner, in 
 evidence of the redemption of the solemn pledge made by our 
 patriot sires on the 4th day of July, 177G. 
 
 But a change comes over the vision of memory. Fifty years 
 have passed away since the eventful day of ’76. No longer 
 colonies dependent upon a mother-land, our country has taken 
 rank with the foremost nations of the earth. The burning 
 words spoken in the Declaration of Independence, have moved 
 upon the great deep of European feudalism, and as a “city 
 set upon a hill,” young America has become a beacon to the 
 world. Fifty years have rolled away, and the anniversary of 
 Freedom’s birth-day again dawns upon her favored land. But 
 there is a cloud in the sky — there is wailing in the land — the 
 dark shadow of the cypress mingles with the myrtle. The 
 eves of a mighty nation are turned in sadness to Virginia — to 
 Massachusetts. St. Thomas of the mountains, the venerable 
 Sage of Quincy — both members of “Me immortal committee ,” 
 the one the author of the Declaration of Independence, the 
 other its most fearless, noblest advocate — are upon the couch 
 of death. The dark angel has come and called for them. Ob, 
 it is a scene of surpassing beauty to see these glorious old men, 
 who first looked out upon life from their ancestral halls, as the 
 subjects of a mighty earthly prince, now in good old age de- 
 parting to their reward, after having been the rulers of a gieat 
 and free people, the first citizens of the mightiest Republic on 
 earth. The noon-day’s sun poured his effulgent beams around 
 the departing spirit of the one — the soft and tranquil zephyr 
 of the evening fans to sleep the spirit of the other. But hark! 
 There comes to the ear of one of these dying sages a sound of 
 revelry and music, that arrests the parting spirit in its flight, 
 and causes it to linger awhile in the flesh. It is the deep 
 booming of artillery, mingled with the pealing note of the 
 
7 
 
 trumpet. It breaks up the lethargy of the dying man. Startled, 
 he asks, what means that sound? He is answered — -it is the 
 4th day of July. His eye kindles with the fire of other days^ 
 Memory carries him back to that dark hour when he stood 
 with the immortal band in Carpenter’s Hall, and spoke words 
 that thrilled the deep heart of the colonies, like “the cry of 
 the free eagle to his chained and fettered mate.” There is joy 
 in his heart — there is triumph in his eye. It is enough! Like 
 old Simeon he can say, “Now Lord lettest thou thy servant 
 depart in peace.” He raised himself up — his hand was lifted 
 as though he would join in the shout that hailed the jubilee of 
 Freedom — but the time of his departure had come. An an- 
 gel’s hand gently loosed “the silver cord,” and falling back, 
 lie exclaimed — “ This is a greed and glorious day.'’'’ 
 
 Seventy-three years have passed. Again “that great and 
 glorious day” dawns upon our land. Again the great politi- 
 cal sabbath calls us to the consecrated altars — to the worship of 
 the temple from which are proclaimed to the world liberty and 
 equality, secured by law and order. 
 
 My brethren of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, Fel- 
 low-Citizens of East Tennessee: This is indeed a great and 
 
 glorious day, and the purpose for which we are here assembled 
 is one which will still farther illustrate its greatness and its 
 glory. This national festival has been very properly selected 
 as an occasion to illustrate the expansive benevolence and 
 pure patriotism of Odd-Fellowship, by the foundation of an in- 
 stitution of learning, giving evidence of the tendencies of the 
 Order to promote and conserve the useful, the good and the 
 true. 
 
 The deed that is now doing, will outlive the excitements of 
 the present — when the acts of to-day shall have become the 
 history of the past — when the cap-stone of the edifice, the foun- 
 dation stone of which you are now assembled to lay, shall be 
 covered with the moss of years, your children’s children will 
 look upon its time-marked walls, and remembering the doings 
 of this day, will proudly say, “My father helped to rear this 
 noble pile.” Hawkins Lodge of I. 0. 0. F., as an agent in 
 the diffusion of light and sound education, will then be “ green 
 in the memory' 1 ' 1 of the noble matrons and maidens of East 
 Tennessee. Time is the impartial tryer of man’s work; he may 
 cast down the column of the warrior, and overturn the shrines 
 of idolatry and false religions, but he dare not lay his hand up- 
 on the monuments of virtue, or remove one stone of the tem- 
 ple we dedicate to the glory of God and the good of man. 
 
 This day is the symbol of great and enduring principles. Its 
 annual recurrence serves to remind us that upon the citizens of 
 this great Republic, devolves, in an eminent degree, the re- 
 sponsibility of working out man’s highest religious, social and 
 
8 
 
 political destiny. It becomes us, therefore, seriously to inquire 
 into the means by which the blessings bequeathed us by dur 
 fathers, can be best secured from falling into that abyss of li- 
 centiousness into which all the nations of antiquity were preci- 
 pitated and perished. 
 
 We have extent of territory — the elements of strength and 
 prosperity. A civil constitution, which, “with all its pretend- 
 ed defects and alleged violations,” has conferred more bene- 
 fit upon mankind, than any other instrument ever conceived 
 by the skill of the human intellect. A merciful God has pour- 
 ed down upon us, in one continued stream, the richest bless- 
 ings ever bestowed upon any people. The great question for 
 us to determine is, how shall these blessings be preserved, and 
 in all their integrity transmitted to those who are to come af- 
 ter us? It is important that this question should be practically 
 determined — we may have long held the true theory upon this 
 subject — the time has come for us to act, if we would save our 
 country from the bloody tomb of all former Republics. 
 
 That there is danger to our wide-spread and glorious con- 
 federacy of States, is apparent to even the most superficial ob- 
 server of the signs of the times. It is a truth, sadly attested 
 by history, that Republics never tend to despotism, till licen- 
 tiousness and anarchy have built their tombs, and lawless in- 
 dividuality, spurning law and order, has chaunted their requi- 
 em. Despotism is the shelter into which unquiet spirits have 
 run for protection against the madness and fury of a wild and 
 unlicensed liberty. 
 
 It was not despotism that demanded the blood of Phocion — 
 it was not despotism that ostracised Aristides — it was not des- 
 potism that first bowed to Caesar, amid the dishonored shrines 
 of Roman freedom — it was not despotism that crushed the hopes 
 of right-minded Frenchmen in the first revolution — that con- 
 ducted Louis to the scaffold — sent the virtuous LaFayette into 
 exile — and from the shreds of French Democracy manufactur- 
 ed imperial robes to adorn the person of the First Consul. It 
 is not despotism which is even now convulsing Europe with 
 the earthquake throes of aimless revolutions, giving birth to 
 the red Republican, the Communists and Socialist factions of 
 Paris, and giving over the destinies of the seven-hilled city 
 into the hands of a brutal and licentious mob. No ! it was, it 
 is, the demon of anarchy — the unbridled fury of unlicensed li- 
 berty, that, overleaping the barriers of reason, disappoints all 
 the rational hopes of freedom, and eompells the masses to fly 
 to despotism , to chains and fetters, rather than endure the great- 
 er tyranny of its licentiousness. 
 
 Do we not see the beginning of these things in our own 
 country? Who that has watched the course of affairs in the 
 Federal City during the past 12 months, together with the 
 
9 
 
 movements of the newspaper press in various parts of otir coilrU 
 try, but has felt that we have fallen upon evil days — that a 
 tempest is brewing, which, if not arrested, will burst with de- 
 solating fury upon our country. Disunion, a word unknown 
 in the vocabulary of American freedom, has been bandied from 
 North to South. The very walls of our National Senate-house 
 have echoed to the tones of treason. The voice of Washing- 
 ton, “bidding his countrymen frown indignantly on the first 
 dawning of an attempt to alienate one portion of the country 
 from the other, or to sever the political bands which connect 
 its various parts,” was unheard arnid the strife of selfish Ihte- 
 rests, and excited sectional passions ! 
 
 The North ! the South ! are they not brothers — children of 
 the same family — reared around the same great political hearth- 
 stone — joint heirs to the same great inheritance? Shall the 
 mere sectional fanatic, be he from the North or the South , pro- 
 duce discord in this family, and attempt, for unhallowed ends, 
 to parcel out this inheritance? No ! it cannot be done. Ere 
 a fair division can be made, the bones of every battle-field, the 
 sweat and blood of every toilsome march, must be gathered up, 
 and the South and the North must each have its own, as they 
 lie strewed over the country, from Lexington and Bunker Hill 
 to Camden, Guilford and Yorktown. And even then, who shall 
 claim the ashes that sleep in the hallowed shades of Mount 1 
 Vernon. Washington was Virginia’s son, but she gave him 
 to the country — he belongs not to the North , nor to the South — 
 he was “the boon of Providence ” to the world. My countrymen, 
 shall this glorious Union be dissolved at the bidding of selfish, 
 ambitious and fanatical politicians? No ! I hear repeated, in 
 indignant tones, Tennessee has contributed too much of the 
 blood that beats in the veins of her brave sons to cement the 
 union of these Slates, to witness so foul a deed. Let us, then, 
 lay our hands upon the altar of our common country, and on 
 this holy day, and in the spirit of one of your noblest sons, 
 proclaim that the Constitution — “ the Union — it must, it shall 
 be preserved .” 
 
 But the question recurs — How shall this be done? The elec- 
 tive, representative, and federative principles of our political 
 institutions, while founded in the spirit of wisdom, and secur- 
 ing the most unbounded blessings — while guided by intelli- 
 gence, and while affording security and protection — yet rest 
 for their authority upon the simplest of all propositions, that 
 all men are equal, and entitled to equal political rights— a truth 
 which converts eveiy citizen into a sovereign — compells him, 
 by a kind of moral necessity, to express an opinion upon all 
 questions of State and National concern, and, as .far as his in- 
 dividual influence goes, to control the action of Government. 
 To enable each individual to form his opinions to discharge 
 
10 
 
 Ibis duty properly, requires no small share of intelligence and 
 virtue. The masses, if ignorant and vicious, soon become, un- 
 der the guidance of unprincipled demagogues, the slaves of 
 prejudice and passion — the ready instruments of “murder, trea- 
 son, stratagem and spoils” — and thus disappoint the hopes of 
 rational freedom, and cause our proud armorial bird “to falter 
 in his towering flight,” — “his shield will be dashed to atoms, 
 and every arrow in his talons will be broken,” while from his 
 riven bosom will gush forth the blood-drops of the heart, to ex- 
 tinguish the last fires that will ever be lighted on the altars of 
 Liberty. 
 
 The people must be educated — the seeds of virtue and intel- 
 ligence must be scattered broadcast over the country — 'the com- 
 mon school must be erected in every neighborhood. It is to 
 these that the lovers of constitutional freedom — the friends of 
 law and order — must look for the protection and perpetuation 
 of our free ins’itutions. So entirely and profoundly were the 
 fathers of our country impressed with this truth, that in their 
 communications to Congress, they urged it as of the first im- 
 portance. 
 
 That illustrious citizen, whose name will be the watchword 
 of elevated patriotism through all time, and whose fame, like 
 the unwasting fire of the vestal’s altar, shall burn with undirn- 
 rned beauty, 
 
 “When wrapped in flames the realms of ether glow. 
 
 And Heaven’s last thunder shakes the world below,’’ 
 
 in his first message to Congress thus speaks: 
 
 “There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, 
 than the promotion of Science and Literature. Knowledge is, 
 in every country, the surest basis of public happiness. In one 
 in which the measures of the Government receive their im- 
 pressions so immediately from the sense of the community as 
 in ours, it is proportionally essential. To the security of a free 
 Constitution, it contributes, in various ways, by convincing 
 those entrusted with the public administration, that every va- 
 luable end of Government is best answered by the enlighten- 
 ed confidence of the people; — by teaching the people them- 
 selves to know and valuetheir own rights, to discern and provide 
 against invasions of them. To distinguish between oppression 
 and the necessary exercise of lawful authority — between bur- 
 dens proceeding from a regard to their convenience, and those 
 resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society — to discri- 
 minate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness — che- 
 rishing the first and avoiding the last, and uniting a speedy 
 but temperate vigilance of encroachment, with an inviolable 
 respect for the laws.” In his farewell address to his eountry- 
 jnen, he again declares that “Institutions for the general diffu- 
 sion of knowledge, are objects of primary importance to the 
 
1J 
 
 nation.” Thus endeavoring to impress upon the minds of his 
 countrymen, the important conviction that by education, “the 
 pre-eminence of free Government is secured, by all the attri- 
 butes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command 
 the respect of the world.” 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, whose veneration for his country was alone 
 equalled by his devotion to education, recommended “public 
 institutions” of learning, as contributing not only to the “im- 
 provement of the country,” but to its preservation. Mr. Mad- 
 ison, whose wisdom, whose simple, pure and elevated patri- 
 otism, has left its impress upon the institutions of his country, 
 thus speaks of the vital importance of national education: — “A 
 well instructed people can alone be permanently a free peo- 
 ple.” He impresses upon Congress the necessity of making 
 appropriations for this purpose, “to strengthen the foundations” 
 and “to adorn the structure of our free and happy system of 
 Government.” A short time before he retired from the Presi- 
 dency, be declares that it is the conviction of his deliberate 
 judgment, that without the general diffusion of knowledge, 
 “the blessings of liberty cannot be fully enjoyed, or long pre- 
 served.” Sound information should be diffused thi ough all 
 classes — universal education and universal suffrage should go 
 hand in hand — in intelligence and virtue, should be the stabil- 
 ity of the limits. Let the common school be felt in its most ex- 
 tended influences. I do not mean by the common ■school, a 
 limited education for the poor, making a distinction between 
 them and the rich as such; in the beautiful language of a living 
 divine,* “we utterly repudiate as unworthy, not of freemen 
 only, but of men, the narrow notion that there is to be an edu- 
 cation for the poor as such. Has God provided for the poor a 
 coarser earth, a thinner air, a paler sky'? Does not the golden 
 sun pour down his golden flood as cheerfully upon the cottage 
 as upon the rich man’s palace — have not the cotter’s children 
 as keen a sense of the verdue, freshness, fragrance, melody and 
 beauty of luxuriant nature, as the pale sons of kings'? Or is it 
 that God has stamped upon the mind the imprint of a*base 
 birth, so that the poor man’s child knows with an inborn cer- 
 tainty that his lot is to crawl, not to climb'? It is not so— God 
 has not done it — man cannot do it. Mind is immortal — ; mind 
 is imperial — it bears no mark of high or low, or rich or poor— 
 it heeds r.o hound of time or place, or rank or circumstance — 
 It asks but freedom — it requires but light — it is heaven-horn 
 and aspires to heaven. Weakness does not enfeeble it — po- 
 verty cannot repress it — difficulties do but stimulate its vigor. 
 The poor tallow-chandler’s son, who sits up all night to read a 
 book which an apprentice boy lends him, shall stand and treat 
 with kings — shall bind the lightning with a hempen cord, and 
 
 Bishop Duane, of New Jersey. 
 
12 
 
 bring it harmless from the skies. The common school is not as 
 inferior, not as a school for the poor man’s children — but as 
 the light and the air are common — it ought to be the best school 
 —in all good works, the beginning is one-naif. Who does not 
 know the value to a community of a plentiful supply of water, 
 and infinitely more than this is the common school, for it is the 
 fountain at which the mind drinks, and is strengthened and re- 
 freshed for its career of usefulness and glory.” But to be ef- 
 fective, the system of education must not consist in the culti- 
 vation of intellect alone; if it is so restricted, you will have the 
 beautitul form, but it will be as cold and inanimate for good 
 as the Promethean creation, before fire was stolen from heaven 
 to animate it — it will be as impotent in softening the obdurate 
 nature of man, as the pale moon-beam to thaw rhe arctic ice- 
 berg, Education must be considered a training for two worlds 
 — a discipline for the heart as well as the mind. “The fear of 
 the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the 
 holy is understanding.” It was intellect unsanctified by mo- 
 rals and religion that plunged France in the awful vortex of 
 atheism, and deluged her fair land with a revolutionary bap- 
 tism of blood, and it is under such auspices that unsanctified 
 Pnilosophy attempts to wreath the evergreen of freedom around 
 the volcanic crater of excited human passions, and to erect the 
 Temple of Liberty upon the unstable waves of anarchy and 
 lawless passion. 
 
 “***** Talents angel bright 
 
 If wanting worth, are shining instruments 
 
 In faise ambition’s hands, to finish faults 
 
 Illustrious, and give to infamy renown.” 
 
 I am aware that there have been men in the highest walks 
 of science, masters in the Temple of the Arts — individuals who 
 have been hailed as the benefactors of their country — who, in 
 their speculations, have rejected the sacred influences with 
 which we would incest true education. Nevertheless these 
 influences have been around them, their torch was lighted at 
 the altar before which they refused to dow, and their conduct 
 was directed and restrained by the moral influence of these 
 principles operating in the communities in which they lived — 
 or if they in their lives transcended the limits thus imposed 
 by God and good men, we may indeed admire even in its per- 
 versions the bold and daring intellect, like an archangel ruin- 
 ed, but we are constrained to mourn over their infamy, and 
 their genius, which, rightly employed, would have command- 
 ed the admiration of the world, is, alas, like “the polished 
 lance and glittering corslet of the slain warrior, or the ivy 
 wrapping the thunder-riven hemlock, twining the freshness of 
 Jts verdure around rottenness and decay.” 
 
 I know that there are those who sneer at what they call cant 
 
13 
 
 and whining about religion — they speak of the blessings we 
 possess — the intelligence we may diffuse, leaving God and his 
 law entirely out of notice. Trust not such persons — if they are 
 politicians, shun them as you would the plague. Trust no 
 man, commit by your suffrages the destinies of your country to 
 no man, who does not feel the importance of these truths. The 
 history of the past is full of melancholy warning — heed it and 
 be wise. 
 
 But, while much is said at this day of the importance of edu- 
 cation, it is very .generally regarded as belonging particularly, 
 and by a sort of prescriptive right, to the sterner sex. In our 
 plans of common school education, the importance of cultiva- 
 ting the female mind, has hitherto been regarded as subordi- 
 nate. This is a fatal mistake. 1 hesitate not to say, that no 
 wide diffusion of intelligence and virtue can he expected, while 
 the female is left in ignorance, or her mind but partially cul- 
 tivated; it has been very truly said that “woman is the index 
 to a nation’s character — her position in society, always deter- 
 mines the degree of civilization, intelligence and morality, to 
 which a nation has arrived.” 
 
 The influence of Christianity has very greatly, and very just- 
 ly, changed the position of the female in social life, and has 
 given to her a high and holy mission. Not onlv is she the 
 companion of man in all the high and ennobling pleasures of 
 life — she is more than this — his monitor and guide. In this 
 interesting sphere of action, her influence is more powerful and 
 enduring, than any other that can be brought to bear. It may 
 be truly said that a man’s character is formed in the nursery, 
 beneath the unslumbering vigilance of a mother’s love — the 
 Bias there given, the instructions there received, outlive the 
 waywardness and excitements incident to youth, and deter- 
 mine the character and moral elevation of the man. Who that 
 remembers Mary the mother of Washington, in contrast with 
 Letitia the mother of Napoleon, but must acknowledge the 
 influence of the mother in the formation of character. Com- 
 pare the character of the pious Cow per , with its sweet and 
 plaintive melancholy, and the morbid sentimentality of ihe 
 brilliant and eratic Byron, and the influence and associations 
 of the nursery and home will be seen. Let the mothers of the 
 land be Cornelias , and the sons will be Gracchi. 
 
 If the susceptibility of the female for high moral and intel- 
 lectual culture was properly developed — if all the mothers of 
 the land were rightly and soundly educated — their care for the 
 future happiness of their offspring would cause them to lay for 
 them in early life a broad foundation for the construction of 
 elevated character, in the maintenance of sound education, and 
 the consequent improvement and perfection of our national 
 character. The educated mother will always make great sacri - 
 
14 
 
 fees to educate her children. This is a rule almost without a 
 single exception. The present system of female education is 
 exceedingly defective — the great effort of the hot-bed systems 
 of fashionable female education is to fit young ladies for socie- 
 ty — the memory is taxed while the thinking faculties lie dor- 
 mant — a mere smattering of French and music, and a small 
 acquaintance with the conventional usages of society, derived 
 from a few fashionable novels, is the ne plus ultra of qualifica- 
 tion demanded for the parlor and fashionable drawing-room. 
 The immortal mind is left without mental discipline — without 
 knowledge of the holy mission God has committed to woman. 
 This system of education causes the domestic d uties, when as- 
 sumed, to be looked upon as merest drudgeries — as barriers to 
 the proper enjoyment of iife — household affairs are confused 
 and neglected — duties to children are discharged by proxy — 
 study, which was a task to the girl, is intolerable to the mother 
 — and the mind committed to her training, is left to grow and 
 expand in its unpruned wildness and ill regulated receptivity , 
 to acquire the elements of its own future undoing. This is no 
 exaggerated picture — it is but a faithful outline of the systems 
 and effects of fashionable education, and is but a few steps re- 
 moved from the general gloom of ignorance, in which the 
 minds of large numbers of the sex is shrouded. 
 
 This condition of things calls loudly for correction, for it 
 cannot be doubted that, to a great extent, the true strength of 
 the nation is to be found in the virtue, the intelligence, and 
 true refinement of the female sex; if this is neglected, much of 
 the benefit which would otherwise be secured by the educa- 
 tion of the opposite sex will be lost. 
 
 I am aware that much attention has been given to this sub- 
 ject in East Tennessee, especially in your neighboring city of 
 Knoxville, in the admirable Institutes, under the direction of 
 accomplished teachers, is sound mental training for vonr 
 young ladies to be obtained; but much yet remains to be done, 
 before this portion of your State can be furnished with all the 
 requisite facilities in this important enterprize. The institu- 
 tion now about to arise under the patronage of Hawkins Lodge, 
 I. 0. 0. F., commends itself to the serious consideration of ev- 
 ery mind, and especially should it receive the countenance and 
 support of those whose local position will enable them to par- 
 ticipate more fully its benefits. 
 
 There is one aspect in which this institution of learning can 
 be viewed, that especially commends it to consideration. It 
 is a fact, painful, but undeniable, that the facilities for educa- 
 tion, throughout this portion of our country, have been greatly 
 interrupted and abridged in their healthful influence by the 
 bickerings and jealousies of rival sectaries. Religion, whose 
 mission it is, to elevate the whole man, sou! , body and spirit , 
 
15 
 
 has been rendered “hideous in the eyes of rttcf'n, by her own 
 professed votaries”— instead of soothing and allaying the strifes 
 of men, and rebuking even the vicious but in love , those 
 
 professing to be its disciples have divided communities and 
 strengthened the hands of error and vice, by the wasting con- 
 tagion of an ungodly example. 
 
 This has not been the fruit of religion — this is not in conso^ 
 nance with the sublime teachings of Jesus of Nazareth — but ra- 
 therthe effect of varying human opinions and divided views with 
 regard to speculative , not fundamental truth. Education has 
 suffered in this way ; singly no one of the sects could promote 
 the cause of education very extensively — union was out of the 
 question, for each was afraid of strengthening the hands of the 
 other. A common ground is needed — a principle of compre- 
 hension in which no party will be called upon to surrender any 
 of their peculiar principles, and by which all may be benefit- 
 ted. Just such a plan is furnished by the institution now be- 
 fore us — “The Odd-Fellows’ Female Institute.” The cha- 
 racter of the Order, by which this institution is founded and 
 sustained, gives assurance to those who may patronize it, that 
 its peace shall never be disturbed by such jarring discords.— 
 Odd Fellowship must prove recreant to all its solemn pledges 
 — it must renounce its character, before such can be the case* 
 It stands aloof from all political and religious disputes — it 
 presents a broad platform of equality and union, upon which 
 all may meet, and forgetting the virulence of party strifes^ 
 unite in the maintenance of what all admit to be fundamental 
 and true. 
 
 An institution under the patronage of such a society must be 
 ever free from denominational bias , while assurance is given 
 that the great and fundamental truths of religion will be in- 
 culcated, without reference to the mere subjective differences 
 by which earnest religious minds are divided. It is in such an 
 institution, — it is under the auspices of such an Order — that the 
 true mental and moial character of the young women of East 
 Tennessee will be developed. It is thus that by a sound and 
 practical education, they will be qualified for their holy trust, 
 as the guardians and instructors of infancy — the friends of 
 youth — the companions of manhood — the sweet solacers of de- 
 clining age — the conservers of their country’s destiny — “Hea- 
 ven’s last, best gift to man.” Beats there a heart here to-day, 
 that does not feel an ardent interest in this good work, and who 
 has not determined, to the extent of ability, to aid a scheme 
 which, in its local and national tendencies, is so great and be- 
 neficial'? 
 
 But, I see written upon many an upturned face, the enquiry. 
 What is the character of the Society that promises to do so 
 much? What is Odd-Fellowship ? This enquiry is doubtless 
 
16 
 
 agitating tnany minds in this assembly, They wish to know 
 something of a society which but a few months since was un- 
 known to many here, even by name, and which to day stands 
 forth in this community as the dispenser of local and national 
 blessings. Such inquiries as these are pertinent- We owe 
 explanations to society at large, and society has the undoubt- 
 ed right to demand these explanations from us. In a nation 
 like ours, where the authority of the Government is derived 
 from the consent of the governed, and the aggregate of indi- 
 vidual virtue forms the basis of public virtue — ail are deeply 
 interested in every organization formed— and every principle 
 which is agitated among them — because ultimately they may 
 have a good or evil bearing upon themselves and through them 
 Upon the future destiny of society. So far from repressing the 
 spirit of public curiosity, it is a duty growing out of our alle- 
 giance to our country and to our Order, to encourage that spirit, 
 and to gratify its laudable demands, with “line upon line and 
 precept upon precept,” exposition and explanation ; in so far 
 ns we do this we minister to that “eternal vigilance,” which 
 is the price not only of civil , but also of moral and religious 
 freedom. 
 
 Odd-Fellowship is an institution formed by good men for the 
 advancement of the principles of benevolence and truth. The 
 foundation of the superstructure is laid in the acknowledgment 
 of universal fraternity — that man is bound to sympathise with, 
 to aid and protect his brother man;— upon this foundation is 
 erected a system of practical benevolence, that sends its influ- 
 ence through all society; and that this may not degenerate into 
 an indiscriminate system of alms giving, which converts the 
 earnings of honest industry into a reward for pauperism and 
 idleness, it has established certain checks and balances, by 
 which its active goodness is restrained within proper limits. 
 Its first duty is to its own household, but its influence is felt 
 beyond — uniting good men, in the practice of acknowledged 
 duties — requiring no surrender of religious or political creed 
 — leaving speculation for practice — it has gone forth among the 
 homes of men like some missioned spirit of good^ with its 
 words of kindness — -its deeds of comfort — wherever it has mo- 
 ved it was for the healing of disease — the alleviation of pain 
 — the tear of sorrow has been wiped away, and the face ot an- 
 guish illumined with a smile — “it has no marble altar — no 
 Wreathed statue, no offerings of incense, but hearts of affection 
 build up its shrine— the widow and the orphan are its living 
 monuments, and gratitude pours out for it a free libation. Uni- 
 ting men under the influence of the social principle, Odd-Fel- 
 lowship demands the practice of benevolence and charity — 
 and in order to impress these duties upon the mind, and fur- 
 nish incentives to action in those moments of relaxation to 
 
17 
 
 which all men are subject, it has instituted solemn ceremonies, 
 ordained frequent meetings, and formed a language of signs — • 
 all designed to produce a habit of benevolence, and by educa- 
 ting the moral faculties, promote the well-being of society.— 
 The principles emblazoned upo i our banners, and inscribed up- 
 on our altars , are Friendship, Love and Truth, and it is the 
 constant and unvarying inculcation of these principles, that 
 causes Odd-Fellowship to be strictly practical. We are asso- 
 ciated to preserve no striking and beautiful traditions — to teach 
 no original truth — to enunciate no occult mysteries. We re- 
 ceive with reverence the teachings of God’s holy Word, which 
 tell us that we are the children of one common Father — breth- 
 ren of one family*— fellow-travellers through the same dark 
 world of sin, alike needing the sympathy and support of our 
 fellow-men — that we are bound as stewards of God to use 
 wisely the things which have been committed to us in trust, 
 for the advancement of the general good. It is true, that the 
 means of our Society do not enable us to relieve all the wants 
 of all men, but they do enable us to mitigate the sufferings of 
 many. The relief is, in the first place, justly restricted to the 
 members of the Order and their families; but these demands 
 answered, relief is extended to others as far as we possess the 
 ability. The pecuniary contributions of the members, which 
 consist in small weekly sums, constitute a fund for the exclu- 
 sive purpose of relieving the sick, burying the dead, educating 
 the orphan, and protecting and assisting the widow. In this 
 respect our Order is a vast mutual aid society , “differing from 
 all others in ihe perfection of its organization — the universali- 
 ty of its extent — and the motives presented for action in high 
 and benevolent teachings, which lead from specific and enfor- 
 ced duties, to the voluntary performance of the noblest deeds 
 of charity.” While, therefore, our Order, in its organization 
 and development, is founded upon eternal principles, it only 
 gives direction to known and admitted truth, and enforces the 
 duties it teaches by discipline. It is formed for action, and he 
 who will not work, is not permit! ed to remain a drone in the 
 busy hive. 
 
 From this very general view’, we may pass to a consideration 
 of some of the specific benefits of the institution secured to each 
 and every member, by the stipulations of covenant agreement. 
 
 1. If a member of the Order is unable to attend to his ordi- 
 nary avocation, from sickness or Providential disability, he is 
 paid every week, during the continuance of such disability, a 
 sum varying from 3 to, $5. He is visited by the officers and 
 members of his Lodge, and proper attendenee furnished to 
 watch by his sick bed, and attend to his wants. 
 
 2. In case of death, he is decently buried at the expense of 
 the Order, his remains are followed to “the house appointed 
 
 O 
 
 O 
 
18 
 
 for all the living,” and the dust is smoothed on his grave by 
 the hand of sorrowing friendship. 
 
 3. The duties of Odd-Fellowship end not here. The chain 
 of earthly fellowship may be broken, but some of its severed 
 links remain, in the persons of the stricken widow and the 
 helpless orphan — Odd-Fellowship repairs to the desolate home, 
 re-fills the cruse of oil and replenishes the empty barrel; over 
 the night of desolate widowhood it watches with sympathizing 
 care, and comforts the stricken-hearted mother with assurance 
 that her fatherless children will be protected and educated ! 
 
 Pause for one moment to examine the strong argument fur- 
 nished in favor of oui Order by this view of its character. The 
 young man in business far from home — the man of family, who 
 earns his bread by the sweat of his brow — can, when in health, 
 easily spare four or five dollars annually, and thus secure such 
 aid and attention during sickness, as could be obtained by no 
 other pecuniary expense. Especially does the man of family 
 reap an advantage in a pecuniary point of view, which no other 
 investment of the same amount of funds could yield. The mer- 
 chant, the man of business, visiting our northern or southern 
 cities, may be taken sick — and who that has ever been sick, a 
 stranger in one of the large hotels, but knows the neglect with 
 which persons under such circumstances are treated? — they 
 may have abundant means to procure the attention of hirelings, 
 but they cannot purchase kindness and sympathy. The pos- 
 session of an Odd-Fellow’s Card will secure all this; for its 
 presentation to the Lodge is an assurance of fraternal attention. 
 These, you may say, are the common duties of humanity, ac- 
 knowledged by all men, and needing no societies to enforce 
 them. 1 grant that they are the duties of common humanity, 
 but are they performed? 
 
 We have no idea of the amount of suffering endured by vir- 
 tuous poverty, when the supplies procured by industry are cut 
 off by sickness — when the strong man is prostrated, and lies 
 stricken and helpless, knowing that loved ones are in want — 
 when no friendly footstep crosses the threshold of the obscure 
 home to which he hashed to conceal from a heartless world the 
 bitterness of his poverty — Oh ! the agony of the hot tears that 
 blister his fevered cheek, as he nightly kisses the parched lips, 
 and looks upon the famine-pinched faces of his children, as 
 they go supperless to tlieir bed of straw. Who can tell the an- 
 guish of his heart, when the wife of Ins bosom bends over him, 
 with her pale, earnest face, and as she wipes the fever-drops 
 from his brow, with the sublime energy of woman’s endurance 
 whispers resignation ! — hope ! Alas ! what has he to hope for 
 his loved ones, if God m his providence should call him away ? 
 Nothing! That wife will be a broken-hearted widow, strug- 
 gling single-handed against poverty, exposed to the insults of 
 
19 
 
 a heartless world, — those children will be reared in ignorance, 
 it may be, for a life of shame — a death of disgrace. But how 
 different would be the condition of such a person, if in the 
 days of his health and strength he had become a member of 
 our noble Order — competency would have smiled around his 
 hearth-stone — sympathizing friends would have watched a- 
 round his sick bed, and he would close his eyes in death with 
 the sweet assurance that his family was left in the care of bro- 
 thers whose constant duty it is to “protect the widow and edu- 
 cate the orphan.” 
 
 I could give you numerous instances of the advantages se- 
 cured to individuals who, when they entered the Order, did not 
 dream of ever needing its benefits. The advantages of this as- 
 sociation is further seen in the fact that it brings together men 
 of the most discordant opinions, and unites them in the bonds 
 of brotherly love, affording by its- frequent meetings social in- 
 tercourse, free from the contaminating influence of vice. It 
 promotes the morals of community, by restraining its members 
 from all intemperance and other illegal practices, under penal- 
 ty of expulsion, and the publication of their names in connec- 
 tion with the offence for which discipline is executed, through- 
 out the limits of the Order. It is ealculatad to make men so- 
 cial and humane, by bringing them frequently together to de- 
 vise means and measures for the relief of their distressed fel- 
 low creatures, thus breaking down the barriers erected by sect 
 and party, and uniting men as citizens of one country, ll the 
 world ” — members of one family, u the human race.” 
 
 But there is one point of view in which we may regard our 
 Order, which gives it a strong claim upon the patriot and the 
 philanthropist: I mean its political tendencies. There are at 
 present in our country about 200,000 Odd-Fellows, annually 
 expending a sum amounting to between 3 and $400,000, for 
 purposes of education and relief — thus exerting a humanizing 
 Influence over the angry passions and discordant dispositions 
 of men, and widely disseminating that moral virtue which is 
 the true cement of our civil institutions. Education we have 
 showm to be one of the chief, if not the chief agent in securing 
 and preserving both civil and religious liberty; m the very na- 
 ture ©f things, the influence of Odd-Fellowship, as a dispenser 
 of education, will be felt in those classes of society which are 
 most generally deprived of its blessings, and who can estimate 
 the moral force and stability it will thus impart to Government, 
 by exalting the majesty of the laws, and surrounding the chair 
 of the Chief Magistrate with a pure and enlightened constitu- 
 ency! The mind of the nation is its best treasure, and as the 
 cultivation of it is provided for, so will the permanency of its 
 institutions and the purity of its administration be secured. 
 
 I know that it is the cant cry of the demagogue that such so- 
 
20 
 
 eicties are dangerous to Government. This objection might 
 be urged with some show of reason in an arbitrary Government, 
 known only to the people by its exactions and oppressions: but 
 in a country like ours, where every citizen is a sovereign, and 
 the magistrate only reflects the will of the people, by whose 
 free suffrages he has been raised to office, and to whose ranks 
 he must return, the objection is a denial of the capability of a 
 virtuous citizenship to uphold and maintain the Government 
 they have created. The records of history show that the most 
 objectionable forms of secret association in the old world, have 
 ever been leagues foimed against oppression, and in all their 
 political interferences, have ever done battle in behalf of po- 
 pular rights. Much more must an Order, the constitution of 
 which precludes the introduction of political and religious dis- 
 cussions in its Lodges, and which, while it cherishes the most 
 exalted sentiments of patriotism, inculcates the most elevated 
 morals, be regarded as conservative in its tendency. We hesi- 
 tate not to say, that the heart that feels most deeply for human 
 wo and suffering, is most susceptible of patriotic devotion — the 
 hand that has oftenest wiped away a tear from the eye of sor- 
 row, will strike the hardest blows in defence of its country’s 
 honor — no blood that stains the battle-fields of Mexico, shone 
 more brightly or flowed more freely than that of ihe Odd-Fel- 
 lows — the roll of Tennessee’s noble sons, who fell battling in 
 that distant land, will illustrate this fact — indeed few regiments 
 mustered in those fatal fields, that did not leave to moulder in 
 foreign dust the bones of some noble spirit. Who could tell 
 their number— -braxe spirits of our slaughtered brothers, ye are 
 not forgotten — “Death and glory” will keep their “eternal 
 sabbath” around your distant tombs, and a grateful country 
 will annually weave fresh garlands to your memory, as she 
 calls her children to rejoice upon the high festival of freedom. 
 
 Such, my countrymen, is the character of the institution 
 which has been growing up in your midst — which, in the last 
 thirty years, has done more for the relief of distress and the 
 education of the orphan, than any other human institution of 
 its age and means, on our continent ! It is not a secret socie- 
 ty, in any objectionable sense of that term — its principles are 
 published to the world — its members are known to be among 
 the noblest and best of our land — its halls grace many of our 
 towns — the printed proceedings of its legislative and judicial 
 head are open to the public — -the only secret things are its ce- 
 remonies of initiation and its language of signs. 
 
 I know it is sometimes urged that the institution comes in 
 contact with the claims of the church, and creates conflicting 
 duties. This is impossible — the Order of Odd-Fellows is com- 
 posed of Christians of every denomination— they all acknow- 
 ledge individually the authority of the church, and in the most 
 
21 
 
 perfect obedience they unite to do precisely what the teachings 
 of the church commands to be done. Singly they could not 
 effect as much good as when united. Precisely the same ob- 
 jection may with equal propriety be made against all voluntary 
 associations, societies for colonization, life insurance, banking 
 and other purposes. The fact is, the church makes no specific 
 provision, in any one of its branches, for the performance of 
 the duties in which Odd-Fellowship engages — it does not, in 
 any one of the sects or denominations, make provision for their 
 discharge. Where has it made provision for the sick members 
 of its communion, furnishing watchers by their beds every 
 night for months, supplying them with money to procure the 
 necessaries and often the delicacies of life? What provision 
 has it made for the support of the widow? — the education of the 
 orphan? What provision has it made to take care of the sick 
 stranger, and in death to give him decent burial? Where are 
 these provisions? — shew them to us, and I hesitate not to say 
 every good Odd-Fellow will at once fail into his denomination- 
 al ranks, and work in the good cause. But no such provision 
 exists — there is no systematic plan in the church enforced up- 
 on its members by discipline. All the conflict our Order can 
 have with the church, is to reprove its apathy. I trust in God 
 it may be made an instrument to provoke the church to activi- 
 ty, by shewing what a mere human society can do, with “her 
 usages of old” — her bonds of love — her deeds of self-denial — • 
 her requirements of discipline — those days when her children 
 shewed their faith hy their works of mercy and love. Odd-Fel- 
 lowship wields the old means , because the church refuses to 
 use them. And is this wrong? Shall all these deeds be left 
 undone, because a few fanatics, Judus-like , will murmur at the 
 expenditure, and sell the precious ointment to increase their 
 own ungodly gains? Is it right — is it proper — to feed the hun- 
 gry, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick? — is it right to bury 
 the dead, protect the widow, and educate the orphan? Who 
 will say it is wrong to do these things? What is Odd-Fellow- 
 ship, but associated action in the performance of these duties? 
 Scarcely a century has passed since the spot upon which we 
 are assembled was covered by the dense forests of a virgin land; 
 no sound broke the stillness of the solitude, but the “wolf’s 
 long howl,” or the war-whoop of the prowling savage. On the 
 bosom of the bright streams that roll on to mingle with the fa- 
 ther of waters, no sign of life was seen, but the Indian paddling 
 his bark canoe. What has caused the change that has come 
 over this scene? — what has converted the howling wilderness 
 into a home for talent and refinement — broken up the lair of 
 the red man, and enthroned hospitality where all was wildness 
 and barbarism? What has waked up the song of the laborer — 
 the click of the artizan’s hammer — the hum of the thrifty mul- 
 
titutfe — the creations of taste and refinement] Associated ac- 
 tion! the banded power of the early settlers — the same kind of 
 power that forty centuries ago upheaved the giant Pyramids 
 that survive the ruins of desolation, as the hoary connection 
 between the past and the present, “like monuments over un- 
 known graves, heralding the glory, though their worn inscrip- 
 tions tell not the names of those who sleep at their bases.” 
 From the active virtue and sweet charities of the domestic 
 circle, to the integrity and stability of the mightiest nation up- 
 on earth, this principle of associated action is seen at work. It 
 is a principle of power and of might — direct it you may, de- 
 stroy it you cannot. Like steam, if confined in iron bonds, it 
 will burst its fetters and scatter death and destruction around; 
 and yet, like the well-broke horse, it may be harnessed and 
 driven in safety. Associate men will, if their association be 
 not turned to the melioration of human woe — to plans for the 
 moral and social elevation of mankind — it will be seized upon 
 by the factious and discontented, the licentious and the vile, 
 as a potent engine to overturn the social and religious institu- 
 tions which now serve to check their excesses. Will men, 
 under the influence of the social principle, seek the bar-room, 
 the gaming house? Give them some other attractive place of 
 assembly, where virtuous thoughts and moral habits, will be- 
 come chosen themes, and preferred practices. Will they unite 
 in secret clubs, to agitate treason with the bitter spirit of the 
 Jacobin, and seek to unsettle government and society with 
 their vain discontents and utopian schemes of social equality] 
 Unite them by the charm of secrecy, to perform works of mer- 
 cy and benevolence. God has sanctioned this principle of 
 association in the institution of his holy Church. Elevated 
 above the discords of earth, uninfluenced by the changeful 
 policy of time, it is to constitute one vast association designed 
 to concentrate the action of its myriad members into the effec- 
 tive unity ot one catholic body. When this perfection is 
 attained, minor associations will not be needed. 
 
 But it is objected that the institution is an expensive one — 
 the gaudy regalia, the splendid halls, processions and music. 
 The same objection may be made to all societies. The regalia 
 is but the symbol of the duties that are inculcated, and tends 
 to remind its wearer of his profession of “Friendship, Love &, 
 Truth,” and is toothers a means of designating him from the 
 multitude as a member of our Society, as the military costume 
 designates the soldier from the civilian. These things may be 
 carried to excess, and doubtless sometimes are, not because it 
 is necessary , but to gratify the taste of individuals. We see si- 
 milar extravagances in other things, and yet they pass uncen- 
 sured: As, for instance, when costly churches are erected — pews 
 splendidly cushioned — some 50 or $100 paid for a single Bible, 
 
23 
 
 when one at 5 or $10 would have answered as well — large 
 sums expended for Sabbath School banners, badges and pro- 
 cessions — when individuals appropriate to buy useless furni- 
 ture to decorate their houses sums of money which might and 
 should be given to God’s poor — not unfrequently is it the case 
 that the useless apparel and golden ornaments of the objector 
 would buy an Odd-Fellow’s regalia twice over. 
 
 Another and 'protean objection is, that Odd-Fellowship takes 
 persons from home at night. It does, generally, once a week. 
 We know that men generally will associate, will meet together 
 at night, to discuss the events of the day; and often they meet 
 in places and under circumstances calculated to do them no 
 good. I ask, therefore, the wife — mother — sister — would you 
 not much prefer that your husband — son — brother — should be 
 at an Odd-Fellow’s Lodge, where virtue is inculcated, and be- 
 nevolence and truth practiced, than at the bar-room of a drink- 
 ing-house, a disorderly political meeting, or perhaps some 
 worse place? You have assurance that when at a Lodge, they 
 are at least in a place secure from the contaminating influence 
 of vice. If you object to their visits to the Temple of Friend- 
 ship, and especially if that objection lead on your parts to un- 
 kind treatment, cold and averted looks when they return home, 
 you insult and outrage their spirit of independence, lose your 
 influence over the mind, and run the risk of driving them to 
 extremes of which otherwise they never would have dreamed. 
 Violent opposition to things of this kind on the pari of a wife, 
 sinks the husband in the estimation of community, and does 
 him serious injury. It causes him to be looked upon as the 
 slave of his wife’s whims. No man should enter upon a con- 
 nection of. this kind without consulting his wife — if she have 
 reasonable objections, endeavor to remove them; but after the 
 step is taken, no true ivoman will ever, by an imperious and 
 unreasonable opposition, disgrace herself &. injure her husband. 
 
 Such, my brethren, is a brief and imperfect view of the no- 
 ble Order that has grown up in your town to illustrate the hos- 
 pitality and patriotism of East Tennessee. That there will be 1 
 opposition, is to be expected; for what that is lovely or of good 
 report, has ever escaped the sneer and the scowl of the gloomy 
 Pharisee, who, while he tyths anise, mint and cumin, neglects 
 the weightier matters of the law, making it void through his 
 traditions. But our principles may be tried by their fruits; 
 and who can rise up and say these fruits are evil, or that asso- 
 ciated action , by which all the achievements of the age has 
 been wrought, is 'wrong? Like “the still small voice” upon 
 the ear of the Prophet, when the wind, and the fire, and the 
 earthquake had passed, Odd-Fellowship, the noiseless spirit 
 of benevolence and love, has trained its children to follow in 
 the path of desolation and affliction, whispering peace, and 
 
u 
 
 6674 
 
 binding in the golden bonds of Friendship, Love and Truth, 
 the sheaves left standing in the fields over which death and 
 sorrow, the great reapers, have passed. 
 
 Look over the field of our appropriate labor for the evidence 
 of these works. See yon stricken widow, bowed down and 
 sorrowful; the hope of her heart is quenched, and she mourns 
 like the mateless dove. But there is a change — an arm of affec- 
 tion is cast around her — a hand of love has wiped away her 
 tears. That arm was our Order’s arm — that hand an Odd-Fel- 
 low’s. See yon orphan, with no earthly parent to watch over 
 him — no mother to caress and wipe away his burning tears— 
 no shelter for his defenceless head. Look! An arm is cast 
 around him — he is sheltered and cared for — his darkness is 
 gone — his mind and his heart are cultivated, and his glisten- 
 ing eye tells of gratitude and love. The spirit of Odd-Fellow- 
 ship has been there. “Go to the spot where the sunbeams of 
 summei rest in their secret and solemn beauty upon the green 
 and grassy grave, there lies one who was a stranger, but whom 
 many followed to ‘his marble sleep.’ The evergreen was de- 
 posited, the silent tear fell like dew, the clods ofthe valley were 
 thrown sorrowfully above him, the verdant turf was laid lightly 
 to mark the spot, and they that turned away in that funeral train 
 were Odd-Fellows.” The true Odd Fellow, he is out in “the 
 field gathering the ready harvest” — in “the workshop, laying 
 his strong hand to the anvil, the loom, and the forge,’’' in the 
 counting-house, employed in the pursuits of professional labor. 
 He is at home, fulfilling the duties of parent, husband; gladden- 
 ing the hearth and the board, by the virtues of the social spirit. 
 “He is by the bed of sickness, wiping the moist brow, and cool- 
 ing the parched lip — he is in sorrowful places, ministering to 
 poverty, comforting affliction, and relieving distress.” He is 
 upon the field of his country’s fame and glory, where rank 
 after rank goes down in “the shock of bright blades,” and be- 
 fore “the vollying death-shot,” with dauntless heart and eagle 
 eye, battling for freedom. He is here to-day, building monu- 
 ments to illustrate his country's glory, laying up a munition of 
 rocks for its defence. Brethren, go on — unfurl the white ban- 
 ner of your Order — give it proudly to the breeze — let its tri- 
 umphant folds intertwine, and become blended with the stars 
 and stripes of the freeman’s hope and home; till oppression 
 breaks his sceptre, war lies crushed on his harness — “till man 
 is bound in brotherhood to man — till vearsare changedtosmiles, 
 and groans to benedictions” — then upon each return of this 
 u great and g’orious day," a regenerated race will hail with 
 joy that flag of glory, and sing 
 
 “Triumphant float that standard sheet, 
 
 Where breathes the foe but falls before it' 
 
 With freedom’s soil beneath our feet. 
 
 And freedom’s banner streaming o’er us."