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THE 
 
 ODD FELLOWS' AMULET: 
 
 OE, 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF ODD FELLOWSHIP DEFINED 
 
 THE OBJECTIONS TO THE ORDER ANSWERED; 
 
 AND ITS ADVANTAGES MAINTAINED. 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC,* THE LADIES, AND THE ORDER. 
 
 BY / 
 
 . D. W. BRISTOL, 
 
 REV, 
 
 n 
 
 PASTOR OF THE M. E. CHURCH, AND P. G. OP OSCO LODGE, NO. 
 AT AUBXTBN, N. T. 
 
 AUBURN: 
 
 DERBY, MILLER & CO., PUBLISHERS. 
 
 1848. 
 
* 
 
 h^ 
 
 <&• 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1848, 
 
 BY D. W. BRISTOL, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
 
 Northern District of New Y^)rk. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY 8. N. DICKINSON, BOSTON. 
 
TO THE FRIENDS OF HUMANITY, 
 
 WHO "WOULD SEE 
 
 WRETCHEDNESS AND SORROW BANISHED 
 
 FROM OUR WORLD, 
 
 AND WHO ARE STRIVING TO GIVE 
 
 UNIVERSAL PREVALENCE 
 TO THE DIVINE LAW, 
 
 "3Do unto others as ge toouttr i)abe tljem tro unto gou," 
 
 THIS WORK IS 
 
 RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction, 5 
 
 PART I. 
 The Principles of Odd Fellowship Defined, 15 
 
 PART II. 
 Objections Answered, 36 
 
 1. "It may be used fqr Political Purposes," 39 
 
 2. " You administer Unlawful Oaths and threaten Un- 
 
 lawful Penalties," 47 
 
 3. " The Poor cannot become Members of it," 50 
 
 4. "Odd Fellowship is limited in its Operations," 56 
 
 5. "You create Distinctions in Society," 62 
 
 6. " Yours is a Secret Institution," 66 
 
 7. " You do not admit the Ladies," • • • « 92 
 
 8. "The Church and Keligion cover the whole Ground," 103 
 
 9. " It turns the Bible out of Doors," 123 
 
 10. "Odd Fellowship is Freemasonry Revived," 127 
 
 11. "Your Society compels the Good to associate with 
 
 the Bad," 131 
 
 12. "Your Regalia is Useless, Expensive, and Extrava- 
 
 gant," 150 
 
 13. " We object to your name — ' Odd Fellows ! ' " 158 
 
 14. "It makes Christians fellowship the Wicked and the 
 
 Infidel," 162 
 
 1 5. " Odd Fellows are bound to shield each other from 
 
 Punishment when Guilty,"- 167 
 
 PART III. 
 Advantages arising from Odd Fellowship, 175 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 A word to the Public, the Ladies, and the Order,- 235 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 The Institution of the Independent Order of Odd 
 Fellows has arisen out of the force of circumstances. 
 In all ages of the world, and in all countries, there 
 have been reverses of fortune, poverty, oppression, 
 and a carelessness on the part of those in easy or 
 affluent circumstances in attending to the wants of 
 the needy, and the absence of those social feelings 
 which are so important to the harmony and comfort 
 of the great whole. Under such circumstances, 
 nothing is more natural than that those who are thus 
 exposed to what all instinctively dread, should resort 
 to some means to avoid the unhappy fate which has 
 overtaken others. To do this, wealth is sought by 
 all, as the most certain antidote, as the surest protec- 
 tion. In its pursuit, multitudes fall through its open 
 
VI INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 meshes into the dark whirlpool they were endeavor- 
 ing to avoid ; while others, who are so fortunate as 
 to attain the goal of their fondest wishes, arrive there 
 with seared and calloused sensibilities, often without 
 health or friends, or a disposition to employ their' 
 means for their own or others' happiness. That such 
 is the present state of society, under all the improve- 
 ments and advantages of the present age, few, we 
 apprehend, will be prepared to deny. 
 
 It is this spirit, not the want of means, but a fear 
 and an interest for self, for self alone, which has allow- 
 ed want to gloat itself to surfeit on its countless vic- 
 tims, and fill the annals of the day with the shocking 
 details of misery, suffering, and crime, which exists 
 in the very midst of affluence, and with good laws, 
 too, for the relief of those who are in need. Im- 
 pressed with these facts, men have endeavored to 
 devise means by which they might avoid a catas- 
 trophe so much to be dreaded, and at the same time 
 remedy those other social evils which exist in society. 
 
 They have seen one and another means fail which 
 had this object in view. The parts composing these 
 social structures have been so imperfectly joined as 
 to be easily loosened, and the whole, one structure 
 
INTRODUCTORY. VU 
 
 after another, has fallen into decay. This has sug- 
 gested the necessity of a closer compact, a firmer 
 union of materials, to give solidity and permanence 
 to the body. As the result, we have the present 
 organization of Odd Fellowship, which so far has ad- 
 mirably answered the end for which it was formed ; 
 and we trust it will continue to do so, until more 
 powerful influences shall assert their proper dominion 
 over the world at large. It is a striking fact, that 
 those who most frequently suffer from poverty, are 
 not those who were born in indigence, and have thus 
 remained from a kind of choice of their own ; but 
 they have been either in what is termed comfortable, 
 or affluent circumstances in life, and by some sudden 
 shift of fortune, or some unlooked for reverse in the 
 ever-changing affairs around them, have been precipi- 
 tated from their elevation, and immured in the dark 
 obscurity of poverty. Such feel more keenly the 
 degradation, which, by common consent, attaches to 
 indigence, than those who never knew the comforts 
 of competence. 
 
 Hence, they have an aversion to make known their 
 actual wants ; they put on the appearance of cheer- 
 fulness, while, as was the case with the young Spar- 
 tan, the fox is eating through the living flesh to their 
 
Vlll INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 very vitals. This class of poor, above all others, are 
 worthy of commiseration and the support of friends ; 
 and they need these, to guard them, on the one hand 
 against despair, and on the other against that misan- 
 thropy which so often sports with the best feelings of 
 man when in adversity. For such have to contend 
 against the power of a double affliction ; they must 
 bear up under the oppressive weight of poverty, 
 while, at the same time, the recollections of the past, 
 and of disappointed hopes, help to fill up their cup 
 with unmingled bitterness. To those acquainted with 
 the history of the poor in our great cities and large 
 towns, the above remarks will not appear as specula- 
 tion, since they are well aware that many who com- 
 pose this class, are those who have been reduced to 
 what they are, either by a long course of sickness, or 
 the more cruel treachery of supposed friends, or by 
 Providential occurrences entirely beyond their con 
 trol. Such, with broken health and broken spirits 
 are painfully toiling on to obtain a scanty subsistence 
 or else submit to the agony of contending with fam 
 ine and starvation themselves, or what is more cruel 
 see those dearer to them than their own lives, gradu- 
 ally wasting away before their eyes. One great 
 design of this institution is to prevent to some extent 
 these evils from falling on this class of our great 
 
INTRODUCTORY. IX 
 
 family, by furnishing, in the time of need, the means 
 which shall secure them from the abjectness of want, 
 and thus save them from sinking into despair, when 
 all their worldly prospects are darkened. 
 
 Not only does it bring relief of a pecuniary na- 
 ture, but it brings what is still more valuable — it holds 
 the unfortunate in his place in society, and by the 
 intercourse of friends, causes him to feel that misfor- 
 tune is not a crime. Of course, we cannot expect 
 this institution to do every thing which ought to be 
 done in the world ; but should it succeed in banishing 
 only a small amount of the physical affliction incident 
 to this life, it will have performed a worthy office for 
 our race ; or should it succeed in preventing only one 
 human being from falling into moral crime, it would 
 deserve the praise of having saved an incalculable 
 amount of suffering. 
 
 It is, perhaps, the case, that we are unable to 
 appreciate the value of that which remedies an evil, 
 until we shall have actually tasted the bitter cup our- 
 selves ; then we shall be able .to appreciate the office 
 which would have saved us the misery we are called 
 to endure. It may be so here. He who goes about 
 the world administering to wants which already have 
 
X INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 a being, is regarded and praised as a philanthropist. 
 Such an one is indeed worthy of all honor. But 
 he who employs his time and means to prevent 
 evil and wrong, is seldom or perhaps never thought 
 of in this world, as being the instrument of good to 
 man. It remains for the world to come, to reveal 
 which has really been of the greatest use to his race. 
 There we may learn that to save from evil, is a great- 
 er virtue than to remedy it. This last is more par- 
 ticularly the office of this society, and it is for this 
 reason, doubtless, many have been led to suppose 
 that it was doing but little in the sphere which it had 
 selected as its field of labor. Indeed, it is one great 
 design of this institution, to protect from those ene- 
 mies of our peace those associated with us, and 
 thereby save a vast amount of mental and physical 
 suffering, as well as moral degradation. 
 
 It may have been expected that we should say 
 something respecting the antiquity of the Order. 
 This we have not done in the body of this work for 
 two reasons, the first is, it did not come properly into 
 our plan, and secondly, we regard that as a subject 
 of no importance whatever to the institution itself. 
 When or where the Society commenced, is matter of 
 small moment ; whether in the first or the fifteenth cen- 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XI 
 
 tury, whether at Rome or among the hills of Scotland, 
 whether among the early persecuted Christians, or 
 among those of a later day, it matters not. These 
 considerations can add nothing to its weight or real 
 value. It must be taken for the intrinsic worth which 
 it now possesses. Could we prove Odd Fellowship, 
 in its present form, to be as old as the pyramids, it 
 could make it no better ; while, if we show it to be 
 good and useful, it detracts nothing from its real 
 worth, though it should be conclusively shown to have 
 been originated but yesterday. The great question 
 to be settled is, its principles. These we have no hes- 
 itancy in saying, are not only good, but ancient, as old 
 as the Bible, from which they are taken. 
 
 As to the propriety or impropriety, the utility 
 or inutility of such institutions, there is, doubtless, 
 as is the case with a multitude of other subjects, a 
 great variety of opinion. While there will be some 
 who will consider them useless, and even dangerous, 
 there will be others of equal judgment, who will 
 consider them useful, and even essential to the pub- 
 lic weal. And as in nearly all countries, men are 
 allowed to think and act according to their own 
 inclinations on such subjects, we suppose they will 
 continue to do so on this. This Society will live, and 
 
Xll INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 men will continue to unite with, and love it, while 
 others will suspect and oppose it. Each class will 
 use their own legitimate privilege as citizens, being 
 responsible civilly to the government under which 
 they live, for what they do and say, and morally to 
 God, the sovereign Judge of all men. 
 
 We have no hard things to say of our opposers, 
 no censure to cast on them ; and should anything be 
 found in the following pages, which can be construed 
 that way, no one will regret it more than the author. 
 It is certain two wrongs can never make one right. 
 If those who oppose us are pleased to censure us 
 unjustly, we are not in the least disposed to add to 
 the amount of evil by retaliation. 
 
 We have endeavored to set before the world our 
 principles, and the reasons which govern us in the 
 course we have elected. This we have endeavored 
 to do with candor and fairness. We may not have 
 succeeded to the satisfaction of all. Nor is it proba- 
 ble all will be led to embrace our views, or be con- 
 vinced by the reasons we have given. Indeed, it 
 would be a miracle if they should, since men differ 
 with reference to the most obvious truths, on other 
 subjects. It has also been our aim to furnish members 
 
INTRODUCTORY. XU1 
 
 of the order with the means of their own defence, 
 when attacked by those who do not understand the 
 principles of the institution, or who through prejudice 
 oppose them in what they conscientiously believe to 
 be a work of duty and humanity. 
 
 How far we have succeeded in this, they must 
 judge. In doing this, we have endeavored to adhere 
 to facts, as they actually exist, philosophically and 
 morally. "We may have erred ; if so, it has been in 
 all honesty, and after much study and thought to 
 avoid error. Our impression has been from the first, 
 and is now, that this is the cause of humanity — one 
 which will bring to the suffering aid, and to those 
 participating in its active duties much present profit- 
 able enjoyment, and ultimately many blessings from 
 those who were ready to perish. 
 
 Auburn, N. Y., 1848. 
 
PART I. 
 
 THE 
 
 fllriwtyte of ©^ Miw$$\$ )Bcfwb* 
 
 HE association of men, for 
 mutual improvement and pro- 
 tection, is as ancient as human 
 society. 
 
 Anterior to the flood, when 
 Nature was in its early in- 
 fancy, and men were few, they 
 banded in union, for entertain- 
 ment, instruction, for profit, and 
 safety. Hence, at this early day, 
 cities rose, girded with walls for their 
 ; defence, and arms were forged, to 
 
16 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 give success to martial enterprises, or to 
 repel invasion. In the Patriarchal age, the 
 same features of society are exhibited to 
 us, and the lines of demarkation are more 
 distinctly drawn ; for here each family is 
 united as a little state, with its laws, and 
 Parent as its Priest and Prince. At one 
 time, these appear singly in carrying for- 
 ward their immediate interests ; but when 
 the necessity is great, and the foe numer- 
 ous, they form confederacies to secure their 
 purpose and to defend their rights. Abra- 
 ham and the confederate kings, who march- 
 ed out in defence of Lot, the kinsman of the 
 Patriarch, is a beautiful illustration of the 
 use they made of this law of union. Under 
 what may be termed the Prophetic period, 
 we have a still more perfect delineation of 
 the same law of union. The families of 
 God's ancient people were in the land of 
 their bondage kept distinct, not only from 
 the Egyptians, their oppressors, but from 
 each other, and this, not as the result of 
 
17 
 
 caprice on their part, but by an actual 
 requirement of the Author of their peculiar 
 national and religious existence. When 
 they left the place of their oppression, they 
 were required to do so by families, and by 
 tribes ; when they passed the highway 
 through the sea, they did it by the same 
 rules; their journeyings for forty years in 
 the desert, were governed by the same law ; 
 and it was under the same requirements 
 that they entered the land of promise, and 
 received, by lot, their appropriate place in 
 the long-looked-for rest ; the lines bounding 
 their appointed inheritance being accurately 
 denned. 
 
 Nor is the Christian era less character- 
 ized by the same distinguishing marks. It 
 has been, and is now, distinguished by its 
 churches, each having a noble end in view, 
 but separated into a great variety of departr 
 ments, few of which act as a unit, though 
 all are contemplating the achievement of 
 the world's good. 
 
 2* 
 
18 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 It is the same in the world of morals. 
 Each worthy object has been, from time to 
 time, singled out, and elevated to such 
 prominence as to commend itself to the sup- 
 port of the community at large, and rally 
 around its standard the good and virtuous 
 for its support. Such is-the case in the cul- 
 tivation of letters, the morality of the tem- 
 perance cause, the circulation of the Holy 
 Scriptures and religious reading, with name- 
 less other good and worthy objects which 
 distinguish the present age. Indeed, so 
 universally does this feature -of society pre- 
 vail, that we are justified in the conclusion 
 that it is founded in a law of our nature ; 
 for it is exhibited not only in civilized soci- 
 ety, but among the semi-barbarous, and bar- 
 barous tribes of our world. 
 
 In the palmy days of Egypt, Phoenicia, 
 Greece, Rome, and even among the wild, 
 but noble race who roam our own wide wil- 
 derness, we trace the same union for mutual 
 protection and advantage. We look in vain 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 19 
 
 for the spot in our world where this feature 
 does not obtain. Nor is it the result of 
 study, or contact with civilized men ; but it 
 arises spontaneously out of the necessities 
 which cluster around man when first he 
 breathes in the world. 
 
 The wild man of the tropics, and he who 
 is clad in the skins of beasts at the poles, he 
 who roams among the Himmalehs, and he 
 of the Andes, as well as the polished Euro- 
 pean, is controlled by the same imperative 
 conventional rule, which arises out of a law 
 of his own existence. 
 
 It is this feature in society which, we 
 conceive, justifies, if it does not proclaim the 
 necessity for, the existence among men of 
 an institution like that of Odd Fellowship : 
 the design of which we shall now proceed 
 to consider. 
 
 If in any employment or enterprise, 
 those engaged in it are unable to show some 
 worthy object which is contemplated by 
 them, they have but small claim on the in- 
 
20 
 
 dulgence of the world, to which they appeal 
 for countenance and support ; but in so far 
 as the object they have in view is worthy 
 and important, by so much may they look 
 for sympathy from those to whom they 
 make their appeal. Such, we are aware, is 
 the case with the cause of which we now 
 speak. It has been the misfortune of this 
 institution, that it has been considered 
 secret — to what extent, those without have 
 not been agreed; yet this notion has pre- 
 vailed so widely, that comparatively few 
 have taken the trouble to examine whether 
 the allegation was founded in fact, or how 
 far the society felt itself at liberty to make 
 public its principles, its objects, or its opera- 
 tions. That there are some things con- 
 nected with this institution which are 
 necessarily secret, we do not pretend to 
 deny ; but they are only those things which 
 relate to the immediate interests of the 
 order, and they have not the most remote 
 bearing on the least interest of any one not 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 21 
 
 connected with it. But the idea of secrecy 
 has led some to suppose, innocently, no 
 doubt, that all search would be in vain; 
 and hence, they have either never made the 
 attempt, or have received what they may 
 have casually met with, respecting the 
 order, with dark suspicion, or with cold dis- 
 trust. Such may be surprised to learn that 
 the principles and objects of the order have 
 never been veiled in the least, but have 
 been published and scattered as widely 
 through the land as our circumstances 
 would admit; yea, more, that the reports 
 of the state of its membership and its 
 finances, with its constitution and by-laws, 
 have ever been given to the world. 
 
 Having said thus much, in this place, of 
 the past, and of secrecy, w r e are now pre- 
 pared to speak more fully of the design of 
 the institution of Odd Fellowship. 
 
 The first advantage arising from this 
 society, of which we shall speak, is the 
 practical knowledge it gives its members in 
 
22 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 the manner and art of doing business in 
 deliberative bodies. Those acquainted with 
 the embarrassments of one unpracticed in 
 this art, can at once appreciate the advan- 
 tages of a school where he can practice, and 
 study the art of speaking and action, in the 
 enjoyment of respect, and free from fear 
 and embarrassment. 
 
 The Lodge-room is such a place. Here 
 all those distinctions which obtain in society 
 without are dissolved, here all meet with 
 equal interest, and enjoy equal respect. No 
 matter how humble the circumstances of a 
 member may be, or how few the advan- 
 tages he has enjoyed, he is here regarded 
 as a member and a brother; and as such, 
 he is protected and respected, his opinions 
 are weighed, his judgment is honored ; hi a 
 word, he is made to feel that he is a man. 
 He is not made to cower and feel abashed 
 under some rude rebuff, or to close his lips 
 under the unmannerly sneer of an amused 
 and promiscuous assembly. 
 
23 
 
 Under such circumstances, the most 
 timid finds out that he can learn as well as 
 others, and confidence in one's self gives 
 courage for more public action, when cir- 
 cumstances demand it. 
 
 All business in the Lodge-room is classi- 
 fied and arranged in the most beautiful 
 order, and every proceeding is forwarded 
 with the most exact harmony ; so that the 
 least attentive member cannot fail to have 
 more or less method incorporated into his 
 general habits of life. 
 
 Indeed, order and regularity are among 
 the first principles taught by the order. 
 The rotation which is demanded by the 
 institution in conferring its offices, cannot 
 fail, sooner or later, to call out the talent of 
 its members in one or another active busi- 
 ness department of a deliberative or incor- 
 porated body. While the constant recur- 
 rence of these active business scenes, cannot 
 fail to keep the details fresh in the mind, 
 until they are fully and permanently im- 
 
24 THE ODD FELLOWS 5 AMULET. 
 
 printed on the memory. It is in this way 
 that this institution is noiselessly and cheap- 
 ly instructing and preparing thousands of 
 our countrymen in the first great duty of 
 American citizenship, and instead of mak- 
 ing them worse, is actually making them 
 better, because more orderly and intelligent 
 citizens. 
 
 Another object contemplated by this 
 institution is to make men " social and 
 humane." Who has not more than once 
 lamented the social distinctions which have 
 obtained in society ? distinctions, not found- 
 ed in moral, or intellectual worth, but which 
 rest on the mere circumstance of property 
 or connections! Who has not seen some 
 that ranked high, when mind, or morals, or 
 attainments are considered, who have been 
 made outcasts from the very society they 
 were fitted to adorn, because they were not 
 rich, or had no connections who were in 
 favor with such, to lift them into rank ? 
 How often do we find such bound with the 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 25 
 
 menial's chain, and compelled to drudge for 
 those who, in comparison to them, are mere 
 intellectual dwarfs, whose moral beauty 
 bears no better comparison with that of 
 their menials, than the present glory of the 
 remotest star with the cloudless noonday 
 sun. Nor can society, as it at present ex- 
 ists, remedy this defect in our social system. 
 Such an order of things always has, and, per- 
 haps, always will exist. Nor do we pretend 
 that Odd Fellowship will prove a universal 
 remedy for this evil, because there are some, 
 in every community, whom its. plastic hand 
 will not be permitted to touch ; but this we 
 can assert, and without fear of successful 
 contradiction, that within the circle of its 
 influence this baneful contagion will meet 
 with a prompt and successful remedy ; that 
 under its patronage, men will be taken 
 at their true value, artificial lines will be 
 obliterated, and society will stand togeth- 
 er as they came from the hand of the 
 Creator, " who has made of one blood all 
 
26 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 nations of men to dwell on the face of the 
 earth." 
 
 The basis on which the institution rests, 
 is a sufficient guarantee of this. Indeed, it 
 cannot depart from this rule, without vitiat- 
 ing the whole system, because this is one of 
 the important, we may say, most important 
 principles on which it rests, and out of 
 which arise many features of its beautiful 
 details. Who will say that an office like 
 this has no humanity connected with it? 
 Who will not sympathize deeply with the 
 family whose head is thus lifted above the 
 clouds and darkness which had gathered 
 around his social prospects, into the radi- 
 ance and beauty of equal enjoyment with 
 his fellow men, to whom he never would 
 have been known, but for the friendly 
 offices of this institution ? 
 
 He is truly humane, who not only 
 clothes the naked, and feeds the hungry, but 
 who hunts out the wounds which lie fester- 
 ing deep in the afflicted heart, and applies 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 27 
 
 the healing ointment of consolation, by re- 
 dressing the wrongs which have inflicted 
 the hurts he would cure. And yet such is 
 a prominent office of Odd Fellowship. 
 
 Another prominent object contemplated 
 by this order, is to train and correct the 
 moral feelings of men. 
 
 To those who have looked upon this in- 
 stitution as evil and only evil, in its tenden- 
 cies, this may appear a most strange posi- 
 tion, but it is one which is nevertheless true. 
 While this society boasts the discovery of 
 no new principle of action, by which to 
 govern the lives of its members, it does 
 claim, and that with all truth, to enforce 
 upon them no lower standard of morals 
 than that which is taught in the Holy 
 Scriptures. Hence, nearly all the instruc- 
 tion it imparts, is drawn from that sacred 
 fountain of right- and these great truths 
 are enforced by all the sanctions which 
 God has appended to his instructions to our 
 race. Its discipline, the rules of which are 
 
28 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 before the public, is mild and sufficiently 
 lenient, and at the same time firm and 
 unbending when made to bear upon the 
 erring, should they prove incorrigible to 
 its milder efforts at reform. 
 
 The penalties employed by the order, 
 are moral and reformatory in their charac- 
 ter ; affording sufficient time for affectionate 
 efforts of brethren to recall the erring from 
 his wanderings, and save to him a character 
 put in jeopardy by uncalled for moral 
 eccentricities, and at the same time afford 
 to the mass of members the opportunity to 
 exercise that forbearance and carefulness 
 with respect to another's reputation, which 
 must always produce a happy influence on 
 the heart and life of those who are its sub- 
 jects. But should the exercise of these 
 friendly attentions to the erring prove una- 
 vailing, he may be fined, reprimanded, or 
 suspended; and should these fail of the 
 effect they are designed to produce, the 
 offending brother must endure the highest 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 29 
 
 penalty known to the order, he must be 
 expelled. 
 
 The chamber of sickness, and the house 
 of mourning, to which every member of 
 this society must sooner or later be called, 
 not as idle spectators of distress, but as 
 those immediately interested in the scenes 
 which are transpiring before them, cannot 
 fail to have their influence on the heart, 
 though it were iron. There they visit not 
 a neighbor merely, but a partner who is in 
 distress. But their partnership is not of 
 that gross nature, as some have supposed, 
 which relates to commerce and to gold, but 
 one which is founded in view of the certain 
 but dreaded hour which to one of their 
 number has now arrived. They have been 
 cultivating affections and sympathies for 
 months, it may be years, which should fit 
 them for the delicate and tender offices 
 demanded by this time of trial ; and now 
 the fearful hour has come, which makes one 
 the subject of suffering, the others his inter- 
 
 8* 
 
30 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 ested attendants. Under such circumstances, 
 can the hardest heart be unaffected by the 
 approach of those lofty moral sentiments 
 which live and breathe in the chamber of 
 adversity ? Can the hand called to admin- 
 ister there be reached out, and the red 
 heart, big with sympathy and affection, not 
 be pulsating in its palm? Can the eye, 
 though unused to weep, now fail to be 
 moistened with the dew of generous sym- 
 pathy ? It cannot be ; these are circum- 
 stances which reduce the lion of our nature 
 to the mildness of the lamb. Yet scenes 
 like this are addressing the heart and the 
 conscience of members of this institution 
 daily. Nor do they cease with the hours of 
 sickness, but speak from the low, narrow 
 house appointed to all the living, to admon- 
 ish survivors of their certain end ; they live 
 and move in the faces and swelling bosoms 
 of the wife and children, left behind by the 
 departed. The moral they teach dies not 
 away with the sound of the falling clods on 
 
31 
 
 the coffin of him who is at rest, but prolong 
 their echo with the memory of his name. 
 
 Such is the eloquence which appeals 
 directly* to our moral nature, in the designs 
 and operations of this institution, and if 
 they fail to impress the heart with proper 
 sentiments, and commend to the life proper 
 habits, we are at a loss to determine what 
 means are within our reach, which can be 
 be more effectual. 
 
 Nearly allied to the object named above 
 there is another. It is to relieve the wants 
 of the needy ; not as many have supposed, 
 the wants of those connected with this in- 
 stitution only, but want wherever found, 
 and we have the ability to extend to its 
 subject aid, without distressing our families 
 or ourselves. It is true, the funds of this 
 institution are accumulated for a specific 
 end, and they are to be religiously devoted 
 to that end ; but this does not alter the 
 principle, nor the extent of its application, 
 as they are only the instrument, not the 
 
32 THE ODD FELLOWS* AMULET. 
 
 end had in view. The practice to which 
 this principle is reduced, is evidence that 
 the principle enforced, and the object 
 avowed, is not an empty pretence, but that 
 it is interwoven, as far as possible, with the 
 life of all connected with this society. For 
 each has an amount which he is to contrib- 
 ute each week, for a given purpose, as the 
 price of his continuance with the establish- 
 ment ; so that when the evidence of a tide 
 of beneficence flowing from his soul ceases, 
 he also ceases to be numbered among its 
 members; as it is then evident that his 
 heart is barren of those sentiments the soci- 
 ety strives to inculcate ; and that, as a con- 
 sequence, he is unfit for those kindly offices 
 which are expected at his hands. 
 
 We have already seen how the members 
 of this order ar^ found with the afflicted 
 and the distressed. They never meet with- 
 out inquiry, if " any one knows of a sick 
 brother, or a brother in distress." And 
 when relief is demanded, it is controlled by 
 
33 
 
 a most perfect system. It is not the case 
 that to-day the afflicted is overwhelmed 
 by a tide of attentions, and to-morrow be 
 allowed to suffer a perfect dearth ; but, as 
 regular as the succession of day and night, 
 the countenances of his friends beam on 
 him, with inquiries for his welfare, and the 
 kindest offices for his comfort. Care and 
 anxiety for attendants comes not down like 
 corroding rust on the hearts of his friends ; 
 rule appoints them, and law and affection 
 secure their attendance. Nor does the 
 office of such terminate with the member 
 who suffers, but it is extended to the wants 
 of his family ; should death strike down 
 their prop, the members of this order inter- 
 pose, to hold up those who were dependent 
 on him for support. The widow and the 
 children of the departed member are at- 
 tended, relieved, and protected, by the 
 father's friends, when he is no more. In 
 this society the widow finds a friend, and 
 the orphan a guardian, who will defend him 
 
34 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 in the inexperience and the waywardness 
 of youth, one to protect him when vice and 
 immorality lurk in ambush for their early 
 victim. 
 
 Such are the objects contemplated by 
 the Independent Order of Odd Fellows — 
 such the principles which govern them in 
 their intercourse with each other. None 
 have ever appeared to controvert the law- 
 fulness or worthiness of the avowed objects 
 of the institution. They are of a nature 
 too high, and of a character too sacred, for 
 any to presume to invade them. Yet, while 
 all acknowledge the excellence of the ob- 
 jects, and even confess their paramount 
 claims on society, they have not been want- 
 ing who question, in all honesty, no doubt, 
 the propriety of the means used for the 
 attainment of the end contemplated. And 
 some, doubtless, have even felt that the 
 means were not only questionable but actu- 
 ally criminal. Such, of course, while they 
 have cherished objections, have not been 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 35 
 
 backward in expressing them. Believing 
 snch objections to have been cherished in 
 honesty and candor, we shall proceed to an- 
 swer them kindly, and we hope, to the mind 
 enquiring after truth, conclusively. 
 
PART II. 
 
 HAT there are those who ob- 
 ject to this institution, is not 
 to be urged as an objection 
 to the institution itself, since 
 we know of no society, or law, 
 or general arrangement in the 
 world, which has not now, or had 
 at some time those who were un- 
 friendly to it. So that the mere 
 fact of there being objections, can be 
 no objection in itself; it is merely 
 conjecture, which only exists in the 
 mind of the objector, independent of all 
 specific data, and may or may not naturally 
 
37 
 
 arise out of the subject, as a consequence of 
 some one or more of its laws or principles 
 of action; the whole is only conjectural, 
 and can pass only as private opinion, 
 without tangible or apparent evidence ; and 
 yet we have heard this gravely urged as a 
 good reason against this society. But, were 
 we to admit this as a conclusive reason 
 here, and thence adopt the principle, then 
 by our own precedent we must relinquish 
 our hold on the most firmly established and 
 venerable truths, and allow, not only our 
 own just opinions, but all truth, to be scat- 
 tered to the winds, since there is not one, 
 either law, custom, or organization, against 
 which objections have not, at some time, 
 been urged. The mere fact, therefore, of 
 their being objections, should have no 
 weight with any one, until they are drawn 
 out in detail, and shown to arise legiti- 
 mately out of the subject under considera- 
 tion, and to lie certainly and truthfully 
 against it. 
 
 4 
 
38 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 With these remarks on the nature and 
 weight of objections, when urged in opposi- 
 tion to subjects, we will proceed to take up 
 the specified objections usually urged in 
 opposition to this institution, as far as they 
 occur to us, and apply to each the test 
 which truth will justify. 
 
"It mat) be nBtb for apolitical purposes." 
 
 HE first tangible objection we 
 meet, as we present this sub- 
 ject to the public, is, "It may 
 be used for political purposes, 
 and it may thus endanger the 
 state, or affect unfavorably the 
 lawful interests of those who com- 
 pose it," 
 It would be a sufficient reply to such 
 an objection, merely to announce the 
 ^fact, that the institution is composed 
 of individuals of all political parties. Were 
 they all of one of the great political divis- 
 ions of the day, there might be some ground 
 for the objection. But, it will be remem- 
 bered, they are composed of men of every 
 shade of political views, and who has ever 
 
40 
 
 known the instance of an individual who 
 has sacrificed his political relations to those 
 of an ordinary character ? So far from be- 
 ing capable of political uses is this institu- 
 tion, that the thing is utterly impossible. 
 Those who differ in political views, hold a 
 mutual watch over each other, so that, any 
 movement of the kind would be like an 
 endeavor to raise an insurrection in the 
 face of day, while surrounded with superior 
 forces, who were placed to prevent the very 
 thing the few were endeavoring to accom- 
 plish. Were we even to admit that there 
 are those now in this society, so base as to 
 desire an achievement of the kind the 
 objector supposes, or that there ever will be, 
 still there will ever be found in the society 
 itself, two classes, who would not only de- 
 feat, but expose the attempt. 
 
 The first class would be those who are 
 their political opponents. These could 
 never be so blinded as to succumb to 
 any intrigue on the part of those to whom 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 41 
 
 they were opposed in views not lawfully 
 connected with the institution itself. The 
 second class are those who have the good of 
 the institution at heart, and who would 
 never submit to see it used for any other 
 than the great and worthy purposes for 
 which it was established. One, if not both 
 of these classes must exist in every Lodge ; 
 for it certainly would involve greater credu- 
 lity to suppose that all could be brought 
 to a uniform way of thinking, where men 
 are so decidedly opposed as in politics, 
 and at the same time be corrupted and 
 drawn off from their avowed object, than to 
 suppose that a conservative principle has a 
 place, in the form we name above, in the 
 institution itself. But there is still another 
 view, which sets the objection aside at once. 
 It is this: the whole compact would dissolve 
 by its own law, the moment it is given up 
 to political or sectarian interests ; for that 
 moment those who do it have invaded the 
 charter under which they live, and have cut 
 
 4* 
 
42 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 every bond which unites and holds them in 
 fellowship, and by that act have absolved 
 every member from his obligations to their 
 jurisdiction; while the powers of such a 
 lodge revert to the authority which at first 
 granted them. And so sacred are these 
 views, that no meeting for business is ever 
 opened, without a caution to members to 
 shun this rock, while heavy fines keep sen- 
 tinel, to guard the enclosure against the 
 entrance of those agents which, by their 
 power, have shivered society into so many 
 atoms, and rained upon it such bitterness 
 and discord. The very elements, therefore, 
 of which this great body is composed, utterly 
 refute the objection opposed to it by the 
 objector ; for his fears can never be realized 
 until a radical change can be effected in the 
 mental and moral constitution of men, and 
 that change such an one as has, up to this 
 time, in the history of the world, baffled all 
 attempts of the most powerful cunning and 
 designing of our race ; for the history of man 
 
43 
 
 does not afford us an instance of success, 
 where such an attempt has been made, even 
 where the bonds which have united parties 
 have been of the most terrible and binding 
 character. Where the penalty visited upon 
 the betrayer of his trust, has been death in 
 its most terrible forms, the mind and the 
 conscience have refused to be held captive 
 by them. How, then, can it for a moment 
 be supposed, that an institution holding its 
 members together only by moral ties, can 
 attempt the wide-spread mischief contem- 
 plated by the objection, and not be detected 
 at the very outset ? The very idea must be 
 its own refutation. 
 
 Men who would differ on political subjects 
 out of the lodge-room, were such subjects 
 admitted there, would do so in it, and on 
 the other hand, those who agreed without 
 its doors will do the same within: but if 
 those who thus differ, contend with such 
 interest for a mastery of views and a ma- 
 jority of votes in all places, and at all times, 
 
44 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 can it for a moment be supposed that there 
 is a place in the universe, where one party 
 could advance its interests in the presence, 
 and to the detriment of the other party, and 
 they not only hold their peace, but concur 
 in the very measures designed for their own 
 defeat, and, as they believed, measures which 
 would result in detriment to their own 
 interest ? We repeat it, the idea is its own 
 refutation. 
 
 Having, as we think, answered this objec- 
 tion conclusively, so far as relates to this 
 particular society; a work which we have 
 treated more at larg;e than we otherwise 
 should, lest our opponents should say we had 
 evaded the question at issue ; we wish now 
 to enquire, what there is in the objection, 
 after all, which can justify its claims to the 
 importance which those who use it would 
 seem to intimate that it possesses ? on what 
 fact can those who urge it fix, to justify their 
 apprehensions? where in history can they 
 point to one solitary instance, where such 
 
45 
 
 an institution has ever interfered with the 
 affairs of justice, or with civil or political 
 administration ? when have they ever figured 
 in any revolution, or change of government ? 
 We are aware, such things have been con- 
 jectured and alleged, but where is the cred- 
 ible proof? Can such a circumstance be 
 found within the wide circle of historic 
 record ? We are pointed to the Jesuits of 
 the Papal Church, and the Jacobins of the 
 French Revolution, but it should be remem- 
 bered that these hold no parallel to the sub- 
 ject under consideration. One of them is 
 professedly a purely religious institution, 
 designed only for one sect and one purpose, 
 which is the propagation of the faiti. The 
 other was purely political ; it was formed 
 and used only for political purposes, and 
 hence was composed of only one political 
 party. 
 
 The foundation of this objection is, there- 
 fore, a mere vision, a baseless conjecture ; 
 one which has been run^ over the land with 
 
46 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 the voice of a trumpet, until it is believed 
 to be uncontrovertible, while there is not 
 even a shadow of any thing but mere con- 
 jecture for its support. Where what are 
 termed secret societies have done harm, has 
 been in the hands of a corrupted, intolerant, 
 supreme church. The evidence of their 
 harm elsewhere remains to be found and 
 given to the world. But, says the objector, 
 " your society has the power, and hence may 
 do harm." Indeed ! So your son has the 
 power, and hence he may become a mur- 
 derer. What then? Why, according to 
 this objection, and the argument which is 
 hung upon it, you should hang him at once, 
 of course ; and thereby, by possibility, you 
 may save the life of some valuable citizen, 
 and your son from the actual guilt of murder. 
 Does common sense revolt at such a premise 
 and conclusion 7 Then it objects to the 
 course, pursued by the opposers of this sub- 
 ject on this ground, for the cases are pre- 
 cisely parallel in principle. 
 
HE, 
 
 " Uott administer Hnlaroful ©atljs anb threaten 
 Unlawful ijpntalfe." 
 
 ANOTHER objection which we 
 hear urged in opposition to 
 this institution is, " You ad- 
 minister unlawful oaths, and 
 threaten unlawful penalties." 
 To one who has passed 
 through all the grades of this 
 society, this objection cannot be 
 other than novel! To one who, 
 after having passed the threshold of 
 a lodge-room, and ascended through 
 all the regular gradations to the high- 
 est honors of the institution, and enjoyed its 
 beautiful moral and catholic teachings, 
 drawn as they are from the wisdom of the 
 inspired volume, and in his whole course has 
 never heard of' an oath, nor even been made 
 
48 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 to tremble in view of a penalty more terri- 
 ble than a fine, reprimand, suspension, or an 
 expulsion ! We say for such an one to hear 
 that he is bound by the most startling oaths, 
 and surrounded by the apparition of the 
 most terrible penalties ; it can be matter not 
 only of deep surprise, but of unalloyed 
 amusement; that is, if one can be amused 
 by that absurd propensity of our nature, 
 which is more ready to devour the most 
 deformed absurdity, than it is to receive the 
 truth in the spirit of true charity. 
 
 The truth is, Odd Fellowship has no 
 oaths, and threatens no penalties other than 
 those of a moral nature. It has fixed its 
 principles in the true philosophy of things ; 
 that is, it founds the safety of its trusts in 
 the value of that which is committed to the 
 care of its members, well knowing that if 
 their integrity will not hold the charge in- 
 violate without, it is in vain that they bind 
 them with the chains of oaths and deadly 
 sanctions. 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 49 
 
 Oaths and penalties would be out of 
 character in such an institution. They 
 would not be in keeping with its design, 
 they would be a strange infringement on its 
 harmony, and a contradiction of the doctrine 
 of mutual confidence and trust the institu- 
 tion is designed to promote among men. 
 
 They could not, therefore, be introduced, 
 without altering the complexion of the 
 whole fabric, and essentially changing its 
 design. We have already seen that moral 
 culture is one great design of this associa- 
 tion, and mutual trust and confidence is one 
 of the means it has selected by which to 
 promote the virtues of trustworthiness and 
 integrity. So much for this objection ; one 
 which, though strenuously urged, is with- 
 out foundation, and without application 
 when made to the Independent Order of 
 Odd Fellows. 
 
" &l)e JJoor cannot become Jtlemba* of tt." 
 
 NOTHER objection which is 
 often urged in opposition to 
 this institution is, " The poor 
 cannot become members of 
 it." Such an objection, when 
 rendered into good English, 
 amounts to this : You do not ad- 
 mit persons gratuitously to your 
 association, and then take upon 
 yourselves the obligation of support- 
 ing them when want shall visit their 
 dwelling, or sickness invade their per- 
 son ; or, in other words, you do not propose 
 to take all the poor in the land, and by your 
 associated charity make them comfortable, 
 by discharging a duty equally binding on 
 the whole community ! If this be a proper 
 objection, where in the wide world is the 
 
51 
 
 association to which it does not apply ? If 
 the force of this objection should be suffi- 
 cient to overturn every fabric to which it 
 applies with equal strength as to Odd Fel- 
 lowship, where, in the whole compass of 
 society, is one which could exist an hour ? 
 " Your society is bad because the poor can- 
 not join it!" That is, every institution 
 which is not open to the poor man is bad, at 
 least, is not good ; and therefore ought to 
 fall ! But where have we ever heard of a 
 stock company which has made a dividend 
 to the poor, of an amount equal to those 
 who had made investments for its success ? 
 What banks, manufacturing companies, or 
 stockholders in railroads, or insurance com- 
 panies have ever done this ? What mercan- 
 tile house has invited the whole or a part 
 of any community, from which they have 
 made their profits, to become equal sharers 
 with the proprietors, in the avails of their 
 labor, foresight, and frugality ? We doubt 
 if such a thing was ever thought of, only in 
 
52 
 
 connection with objections to Odd Fellow- 
 ship ; a society, which, odd enough, and 
 unlike any of these when any of their class 
 become poor or fall into distress, proposes 
 to look after its own members in the hour 
 of adversity. It is perfectly well known, 
 that the associations which are named above, 
 are formed for the sole purpose of making 
 money. Other advantages may arise out 
 of their existence incidentally, and doubt- 
 less do, but money is the avowed object 
 which gives them being : and yet such asso- 
 ciations are not only considered laudable 
 but praiseworthy ; notwithstanding, not one 
 poor man in the whole community owns 
 a share in one of them, or ever receives a 
 shilling of their profits, only as he renders 
 an equivalent in labor, yet these associations 
 are not only tolerated, but nursed in the 
 bosom of every community ; and no note 
 of objection is ever heard against them ; 
 but when an association awakes in society, 
 which contemplates the alleviation of dis- 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 53 
 
 tress, the promotion of the social virtues, 
 and the cultivation of those benevolent 
 feelings so much needed in the world, then 
 all is wrong, every motive is sinister, and 
 the whole field of thought is ransacked for 
 objections to overthrow it. But is this 
 objection founded in truth ? Is it the case 
 that poor men cannot become Odd Fellows ? 
 Where is the man who knows the instance 
 where a single individual has ever been 
 rejected, because he was poor? So far 
 from this being the case, is it not a glorious 
 truth, that the great proportion of Odd Fel- 
 lows are poor men ? A majority through 
 the United States and Great Britain, it may 
 be found, on investigation, are laborers. It 
 is true, the institution is represented among 
 statesmen, and all the professions, and 
 among capitalists. Indeed, every class in 
 community is represented in its halls ; and 
 still we hazard nothing in saying, the mass 
 of the society is made up of laboring men. 
 What, then, becomes of the assertion, that 
 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 " the poor cannot become members." That 
 paupers cannot, we freely admit ; but that 
 able-bodied, moral, industrious men cannot, 
 we strenuously deny, and we challenge the 
 world to produce one such instance. 
 
 " But he cannot procure the means which 
 will enable him to become a member ! " 
 Indeed, and can he procure land, or even 
 the necessaries of life without the means ? 
 Is he in want of no means to procure even 
 the most ordinary articles which his exist- 
 ence demands ? Can he attain to even the 
 common privileges of society without means? 
 And why make this institution an exception 
 to all others, even to the one to which the 
 objector belongs ? Why bind upon it bur- 
 dens which neither it nor any other society 
 could bear for an hour ? No society which 
 makes pledges can redeem those pledges 
 without the means ; hence every association 
 has a price, which is to enable it to respond 
 to those calls which, according to its con- 
 stitution, may be made upon it 3 and he 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 55 
 
 who has no stock in a partnership, has no 
 claim on the appropriation of its avails. He, 
 therefore, who has done nothing for this 
 institution, has no claim on it, more than 
 he who never paid a shilling for land, has a 
 claim on the possessions of a neighbor ; or 
 he who has no policy, and never had, has a 
 right to look to an insurance company for 
 indemnity for loss by fire. 
 
"©bfr jTdloiusljip is itmtteii in its ©^rations." 
 
 NOTHER objector comes for- 
 ward and very gravely tells 
 us, that "Odd Fellowship is 
 limited in its operations." — 
 We hardly know what to 
 make of this objection, it is 
 so broad and sweeping in its 
 declaration. If it means that 
 there is partiality in its offices 
 and offerings, then we are prepared 
 to deny the allegation unequivocally, 
 and appeal to the published consti- 
 tution of the society, and to its practice, 
 where no difference is or even can be 
 known, either in letter or in fact, between 
 what the world calls the most honorable, or 
 the most obscure ; for there is no difference 
 known in the distribution of the funds, or 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 57 
 
 the offices of kindness, in the constitution. 
 The high, the low, the rich, the poor, meet 
 with the same respect, the same treatment. 
 But if, as we suspect, the objector means to 
 say, this institution does not bestow its aid 
 indiscriminately on all the poor and needy 
 through the land, or that Odd Fellows do 
 not do as much for the needy as other 
 citizens, why, then, we have something to 
 say in reply. 
 
 That Odd Fellows do not devote the 
 funds of the institution to indiscriminate 
 charity, is true ; for these funds are raised 
 for a specific purpose, which is, to aid 
 members and their families in the time of 
 sickness and death. They could not, there- 
 fore, apply them to any other purpose, 
 without a violation of their published rules, 
 unless all the members were agreed to such 
 appropriation. And, even then, such an 
 application of funds, to many minds, is of 
 questionable expediency ; not because they 
 have not the right, where all the proprie- 
 
58 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 tors are agreed, but on the ground of 
 precedent, which may from time to time be 
 urged, until, in the end, a kind of claim 
 will be set up, which may in time lead the 
 institution beyond the boundaries it has 
 fixed for its government, and thus defeat, or 
 cripple to a greater or less extent, its origi- 
 nal design. 
 
 But if the objector means to say that the 
 members of this institution are not in the 
 habit of doing as much for those in want as 
 other members of society ; or, in other 
 words, that this institution dries up the 
 fountains of their general charity, then are 
 we prepared to meet them in the issue. Is 
 it not the case that members of this society 
 pay as much to the legal calls upon them, 
 as other men of the same pecuniary ability ? 
 and in the occasional cases of distress which 
 call for aid, are they more stinted in their 
 gifts than other citizens ? We believe not : 
 at any rate, we have never had the misfor- 
 tune to meet with such an instance ; nor 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 59 
 
 have we had the fortune, whether good or 
 bad we do not pretend to say, to meet with 
 the objector who would allege that he 
 had ! he only thought such might be the 
 tendency ! Now, we inquire, in all honesty, 
 is this a just criterion of judgment ? is this 
 a just ground of condemnation, or even of 
 objection ? What may, by possibility, be 
 the tendency ? Alas, if such be the ground 
 of objection and condemnation, we know 
 not what cause, however good, may not 
 pass under the ban of condemnation. On 
 this ground we will object to wealth, for it 
 may, nay, it has led to aristocracy and 
 oppression! We will object to religion or 
 religious societies, because they, too, have 
 led to bigotry and persecution ! We will 
 object to learning, because in some instances 
 it has conferred upon its possessor a power 
 which is dangerous! And thus we might 
 reason with reference to every subject, 
 until we had vitiated and filled with poison 
 the very elements of society. We will not 
 
60 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 name instances, which have come to our 
 knowledge ; but let the objector go through 
 many, we will not say all our large towns, 
 and enquire who have been the most for- 
 ward in alleviating the wants of the poor, 
 and we happen to know that in several 
 instances at least, he will be told that this 
 very class of citizens, to whom he objects, 
 because their beneficence is so circum- 
 scribed, was the only class who, for whole 
 winters remembered, or made any consider- 
 able outlay for the benefit of the destitute. 
 These were the men who sought, in their 
 cellars and hovels, the hungry and famish- 
 ing, and administered to their wants to the 
 amount of several hundred dollars, in a 
 single season. And this money was not 
 taken from the funds of their Lodge, but 
 contributed by individuals for this specific 
 purpose. With such instances before us, 
 and they are not few, will it be said that 
 the operations of the order are circum- 
 scribed ? They are circumscribed, indeed, 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 61 
 
 to a certain extent, but it is by the same 
 power which ever limits the benefactions of 
 the kind-hearted every where — the extent 
 of their ability. Such is the spirit, and 
 feeling, and action, this order is ever des- 
 tined to awake in the minds of its members ; 
 it not only gives them the theory, but the 
 practice of true benevolence. 
 
JJou mate ©isttnctions in SocktA." 
 
 SUALLY when we arrive at 
 this stage of the discussion 
 on this subject, we hear the 
 whisper of some kind friend 
 who says, but "You create 
 distinctions in society." 
 We frankly acknowledge, 
 could this objection be made to 
 appear well founded, as urged 
 against Odd Fellowship, it would 
 have not a little weight in preju- 
 dicing our mind, and fixing our hostility to 
 the institution ; for one thing is certain, which 
 is, that we need no more distinctions among 
 us than we have at present. For who has 
 not seen and lamented over the atoms into 
 which communities are shivered ? "We have 
 the distinction of letters, of wealth, of 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 63 
 
 politics, and of religion ! with a thousand 
 other nameless distinctions, which present 
 the inhabitants of a single neighborhood 
 knotted into groups, as though they were 
 people from different quarters of the globe, 
 or distinct races, each considering his neigh- 
 bor inferior to himself. Now, if Odd Fel- 
 lowship is about to add another class to the 
 long catalogue which already exists, then 
 we join with the objector to oppose its 
 onward march. But is this the case ? On 
 what ground do those different classes meet 
 in the lodge-room ? 
 
 They meet not only as fellow-citizens, 
 but as men ; not as belonging to this party 
 or that sect, but as heirs to the same ills 
 and the same reverses which fall to the lot 
 of our common race ; they come together, 
 not to further this or that party design, 
 but to prepare each other's mind for the 
 trials to which each is so certainly liable, to 
 heighten each other's enjoyment in social 
 and fraternal intercourse, and to give assur- 
 
64 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 ances of aid and support when the dark 
 whirlwind of life's reverses shall come 
 sweeping down and overturn the fair fabric 
 of earthly hopes, and when death shall 
 smite his victim, and through him strike 
 other hearts. At such a time they pledge 
 to be there to bind up, and console, and 
 alleviate the quivering and bleeding mem- 
 bers. 
 
 They meet to train their bands, not to 
 battle with parties which may choose to put 
 themselves in hostile array ; but to contend 
 with the more subtle and hostile foe, disease, 
 and to be prepared to reach out the hand 
 of aid, and speak the word of sympathy to 
 all who may need it — to snatch from the 
 grave half its gloom, and from bereavement 
 half its sting, by giving to the widow and 
 the fatherless the assurance that they are 
 not quite alone in this world of sighs. 
 Such is their business, and it is thus they 
 meet. In their assemblies is not heard the 
 hoarse croaking of a purse-proud aristocracy 
 
65 
 
 clamoring for a moneyed and an unworthy 
 ascendency over their equals, and not unfre- 
 quently their superiors. Here the high 
 are made low, the low are elevated, until 
 all occupy the one great level of our 
 nature ; all are impressed with the great and 
 truthful sentiment, that by nature "there is 
 no difference." Such are the distinctions 
 created by Odd Fellowship, and these only. 
 Nor are they peculiar to the lodge-room : 
 they extend to all the walk of members of 
 the order. 
 
 If such teaching and such practice are 
 "creating distinctions in society," then is 
 this order open to that objection ; if not, 
 then it is clear of the charge. If breaking 
 down the artificial lines which have been 
 drawn by an arbitrary and a capricious 
 hand be a virtue, then is this institution 
 entitled to the praise of that virtue ; if such 
 be a vice, then it must, yea, is even willing, 
 to bear the odium of that vice. 
 
"Ucmrs is a Secret Institution." 
 
 MOTHER, who contemplates 
 this subject, appears confi- 
 dently mailed in an objec- 
 tion, which he is confident 
 no weapon can penetrate, 
 protected, as he believes 
 himself, from crown to toe, he 
 looks defiance as he proclaims, 
 like a true knight pronouncing 
 his challenge, "Yours is a secret 
 institution." 
 
 We are aware that this objection 
 is most strenuously and frequently urged 
 against this institution, we are unable 
 however, to see the force of such an objec- 
 tion, unless it proceeds upon this principle, 
 that all which is secret must necessarily be 
 suspicious ! And we believe this is the 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 67 
 
 light in which this subject is usually viewed 
 by those who object to secrecy in an insti- 
 tution. As this objection is considered one 
 of considerable importance, by those who 
 urge it, and by many is doubtless advanced 
 as unanswerable, we propose to view it in 
 all the lights and aspects in which it may 
 occur to our mind, and so far as we are 
 capable of doing it, furnish an answer to 
 the honest enquirer after truth on this sub- 
 ject ; and where we fail in this, we may 
 succeed at least in giving to our opposers 
 an apology for our usages. 
 
 What, then, is meant by secrecy, as 
 applied to the Independent Order of Odd 
 Fellows ? It is important that we under- 
 stand what the objector means, as the 
 objection, undefined, is one of immense 
 latitude. Does he mean to afnrm that the 
 public are unacquainted with the fact of 
 who are members; that this is one of the 
 unrevealed and unrevealable features of the 
 institution ? if so, a greater mistake was 
 
68 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 never labored under by any toiling mind, 
 for this is a fact which none have ever 
 attempted to disguise. Who are, and who 
 are not members all have a right to know, 
 and may know by simply making the in- 
 quiry. So that the charge of secrecy can- 
 not attach to us in this respect. Does the 
 objection apply to the place of meeting ? 
 This cannot be, for wherever there is a 
 lodge, the place where it meets is, or may 
 be known to all; and is often visited by 
 all classes of citizens : here, therefore, is 
 no secret. Does it relate to the time of 
 meeting ? This cannot be : since every 
 lodge, in published documents which it 
 gives to the world, fixes the time of its 
 meeting for the entire year, not only the 
 day in the week, but the hour when they 
 may be found in session. So that secrecy 
 cannot be charged here. Does it relate to 
 the rules which govern them in their meet- 
 ings ? Assuredly, this will not be charged, 
 for these are made public. And we may 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 69 
 
 say the order is anxious, even more anxious 
 that the public should have these papers 
 and the information they contain, than they 
 are to avail themselves of them. In this 
 instance, therefore, the charge of secrecy is 
 not sustained. Can it be said the objects of 
 the institution are secret ? We know not 
 with what propriety this can be charged, 
 for these are openly avowed by every 
 member, and by several periodicals, which 
 are published for the institution ; and are 
 thrown broad-cast over the continent. So 
 the charge is not applicable in this instance. 
 And will the charge of secrecy hold in 
 relation to the general interests of the insti- 
 tution ? We apprehend not ; for we are 
 confident, that so far as general arrange- 
 ment, number of lodges, number of mem- 
 bers, amount of receipts and expenditures, 
 and the condition of the order, in each state 
 in this Union, is concerned, no society pub- 
 lishes fuller statistical reports than this soci- 
 ety ; and they are so published as to be open 
 
70 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 to the inspection of all persons who will take 
 the trouble to peruse them. And beyond 
 all this, the transactions of their great cen- 
 tral bodies are open to general inspection ! 
 Now, we inquire, what does any other soci- 
 ety, in this or any other country, more than 
 this, to inform the world of its doings ? In 
 all this we have not found a place for the 
 charge of secrecy ! Where, then, are we 
 to find room for such a charge ? If it be 
 levelled now, let it aim at a definite point, 
 then we can plead to it with certainty. 
 
 "But you have some things connected 
 with your society, which you do not make 
 public ! " Indeed ! And this is what you 
 charge on this institution as sufficient to 
 give it character ; this is enough to make it 
 a secret society, because it has some things 
 which it will not tell the world ! Now, if 
 this be secrecy, properly so called, we have 
 multitudes of secret societies ; indeed, they 
 make up the mass of society in which we 
 live ! If the fact that a society or an organ- 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 71 
 
 ization has some things which may be con- 
 sidered its own peculiar property, may be 
 charged upon it as secrecy, why, then, we 
 venture little in the position, that society is 
 the keystone to the great arch on which all 
 good society rests. 
 
 Let us for a little time study this subject 
 of secrecy so much is said about, as con- 
 nected with general society. Is there noth- 
 ing in families, nothing in their relations 
 and government, which would be highly 
 improper to be known abroad ; matters 
 which should be considered their own prop- 
 erty, and with which those who Live around 
 them have no concern, but which, were they 
 known, would be a torpedo in the bosom of 
 a neighborhood before peaceful, and an 
 alarming annoyance to those who were their 
 innocent authors ? All, who know any 
 thing of the internal arrangement of families, 
 know this to be the case ; and hence the 
 verdict of reprobation which the public and 
 Divine Kevelation has rendered so unspar- 
 
72 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 ingly against all tattlers and tale-bearers ! 
 We say this verdict is rendered on a univer- 
 sal acknowledgment of the rectitude of 
 individual claims on what concerns them 
 alone. And so firmly is this principle fixed 
 in the mind of society, that the dependant 
 who would wantonly invade it, could not 
 hold his or her place an hour ; and with the 
 recommendation of such a character, would 
 fail to find place or employment in any well 
 regulated or even good society. And that 
 citizen, no matter how worthy he may be in 
 other respects, if possessing this single taint, 
 is considered an enemy to the peace of 
 society, and as a leper, is cast from its 
 bosom. 
 
 Having reached this first step in the 
 argument, we are now prepared to advance 
 to another. It is well known that assistants 
 are employed by every commercial house. 
 Now, suppose these were to give to the 
 public the secrets committed to their trust 
 by their employers, and this of necessity, 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 73 
 
 for they must understand the details exist- 
 ing between the establishment and those 
 indebted to it, and to a certain extent the 
 financial state of the concern : we say, 
 suppose they were to give these, with a key 
 to all marks employed by the house they 
 serve, to the world, does any man in the 
 least acquainted with business need to be 
 told the result ? 
 
 Certainly such a course could not fail to 
 awaken distrust, suspicion, the wreck of 
 confidence, the overthrow of hopes, and the 
 failure of establishments which, had they 
 been left to work themselves clear of their 
 embarrassments as they might have done, 
 embarrassments inseparable from business, 
 would have come up out of the wilderness 
 crowned with honesty and abundance. But, 
 through the betrayal of one little trust, one 
 secret, dismay, oppression, heart-burnings, 
 and a thousand nameless ills have stalked 
 through a peaceful and prosperous country, 
 overthrowing all that was fair, making their 
 
74 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 cruel blades drunk with the blasted hopes 
 of multitudes, and the spirit of friendship 
 in which they had lived. Such is not specu- 
 lation, but histpry ; and few there are 
 engaged in business, who might not attain 
 the same end, by the same process. What 
 has befallen one man, may befall another ; 
 and all through the betrayal of one secret 
 apparently trifling ! The security of indi- 
 viduals, and of society, depends on the 
 safety of such trusts. We believe there is 
 not one lover of society, who would have 
 such secrets fewer, or less sacredly kept. 
 
 Let us take another instance, connected 
 with the ordinary affairs of society, as an 
 illustration of this principle. Every bank 
 has connected with it a board of directors, 
 who usually meet two or three times each 
 week, to counsel and advise with other 
 officers of the institution, for its safety and 
 success. And it is perfectly well understood, 
 that the inquiry with them is not, whether 
 this or that man needs their aid, but whether 
 
75 
 
 it will be safe and profitable for tliem to 
 extend it to him. Now, no one can say 
 that these persons have not a right, we may 
 say, a moral right, to guard in this way their 
 own property, and to counsel on the safety 
 or hazard of a proposed investment ; yet 
 who will say that it would be to their credit 
 or advantage, or to the credit or advantage 
 of the applicant, or for the good of society, 
 that all should transpire which occurs in 
 their committee-room ? Although the busi- 
 ness of these men holds such an intimate 
 relation to the vital interests of so many 
 persons around us, can we pretend to say, 
 either that we know all that is said and done 
 when they are together, or that we have 
 even a right to know ? Here we have to all 
 intents and purposes another secret society, 
 one intimately connected with our pros- 
 perity, whether we will or no, and yet we 
 hear no note of complaint against it on this 
 ground ! and why ? why, because the good 
 sense of the world acknowledges the neces- 
 
76 
 
 sity of its secrecy, and of course its right to 
 be so. 
 
 We have found the principle of secrecy, 
 to a certain extent, connected with our do- 
 mestic, commercial, and moneyed relations; 
 and that such a state of things was neces- 
 sary for the good of individuals as well as- 
 for the safety of the great body of society ; 
 let us now see if the same necessity exists 
 in connection with any or all of the pro- 
 fessions. 
 
 How is it with the physician ; could he 
 find employment, were he to divulge all 
 which arises in the course of his practice ? 
 He may make such development it is true, 
 but he may do it only to the initiated, to 
 those who are equally bound with himself 
 to keep the trust inviolate, or in other 
 words, to those of his own profession. 
 Others may not, they ought not, to know 
 these things ; they are the property of his 
 patient, entrusted to his care, and he is 
 responsible for their safe keeping. Indeed, 
 
77 
 
 it is questionable whether he has a right to 
 communicate all even to his own profession ; 
 whether there are not many things which 
 he holds, that should never pass beyond the 
 treasury of his own mind. 
 
 He should, he must be secret, for he holds 
 treasures which are invaluable to those who 
 have, from necessity, entrusted them to his 
 care, but which could not, if given to the 
 world, enhance the happiness of any one in 
 the least. To the rightful proprietor it is 
 above price, to all others it is worthless. 
 
 We repeat, therefore, he is bound to be 
 secret ; and if he is not, a just reprobation 
 and a want of bread, will be the righteous 
 penalty which he must endure. 
 
 Then, again, take the legal profession. 
 What client would submit the details of 
 his case to counsel, with the assurance that 
 the whole would be given to the public ear ? 
 Or what class of men exist who would 
 employ one as counsel, even in the most 
 trifling cause, who was in the habit of 
 
78 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 treating the confidence of his clients in such 
 a way? It would be in vain such a man 
 might plead scruples of conscience on the 
 subject of secrecy r , and an unwillingness to 
 keep what he knew from society ; the good 
 sense of that very society would feel itself 
 abused by the very plea made in justifica- 
 tion of a sickly recreancy, and would hurl 
 such a being from its circle, as a moral 
 pestilence which all ought to dread. 
 
 The clergyman in the prosecution of his 
 duties not unfrequently finds himself in the 
 same condition. 
 
 He and his officers are frequently made 
 the involuntary treasurers of facts and cir- 
 cumstances, which it would be worse than 
 cruel for them to unfold to the public ; not 
 on the account of a single individual, but 
 for the sake of parties who are innocent and 
 unoffending, yet who must be- more or less 
 unfavorably affected by the circumstances. 
 We are not under the necessity of suppos- 
 ing these to be circumstances of what the 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 79 
 
 world calls crime ; they might consider 
 them matters of indifference, and some 
 even as praise-worthy, and still they might, 
 if made public, essentially affect the happi- 
 ness of many : while, as there is no neces- 
 sity that they should transpire, and no real 
 good could result from it, their divulgence 
 would be a wanton trifling with the feelings 
 and interests of others. Such is but a cur- 
 sory glance of the secrecy which not a few, 
 but all enjoin upon the professions; which 
 not only choice, but necessity demands they 
 should keep locked up in their own breasts. 
 And so necessary is this same hated feature 
 of secrecy considered, that provision is made 
 for it almost every where ! No grand jury is 
 empanelled, without being solemnly sworn 
 to keep secret what transpires in the jury- 
 room. No ecclesiastical body meets, which 
 does not reserve to itself the right to clear 
 its galleries, and transact business by itself, 
 or in other words, in secret. Every legisla- 
 tive body has the same rule, and a betrayal 
 
80 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 of the trust imposed in secret session, in- 
 volves a penalty of no less magnitude than 
 expulsion. 
 
 The senate chamber of each state, and 
 of the United States, is guarded by the same 
 sanctions. The cabinet of each governor, 
 and of the President of this Union, is to all 
 intents and purposes a secret society; and 
 so they are in every government under the 
 heavens. All diplomatic proceedings are 
 transacted in secret. While the prosecution 
 of war could never be successful, without 
 the incorporation of the feature of secrecy. 
 Science, though apparently open to all, is 
 secret ; and he who would enjoy the bliss of 
 her mysteries, must pay, in time and money, 
 the price of membership, and endure the 
 slow and painful process of initiation. 
 
 Nature is secret ; and though man, for 
 six thousand years, has been endeavoring 
 to possess himself of her hidden treasures, 
 up to this hour they have eluded his re- 
 search. 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 81 
 
 At the outset, he knew that matter pos- 
 sessed form, extension, and divisibility ; he 
 knows that now, and but little more ; the 
 essence ever has, and perhaps ever will, bid 
 defiance to his investigation. This, with 
 the ten thousand means by which nature 
 carries on her stupendous processes of pro- 
 duction and reproduction, ever has been, 
 and is now, to the human mind, one vast 
 and unexplored wilderness. And above the 
 whole is enthroned the Infinite, whose ways 
 are in the deep, and whose chariot is the 
 whirlwind, whose throne inhabiteth justice 
 and judgment ; He who spake and it was 
 done, who commanded and it stood fast ; He 
 who hath his secret place. Tell me, man, 
 canst thou, by searching, find Him out ? 
 And wilt thou say still, that secrecy wraps 
 in its dark folds iniquity, and is suspicious ? 
 But if this be too mighty for thee, then go 
 and seek for the springs of thy own being ; 
 grasp, if thou canst, the life of the active 
 spirit within thee, trace the path of its flight, 
 
82 
 
 and tell us how it records the burning 
 thought it gathers ia its wanderings. Thou 
 canst not ! Then thou, too, art secret ! and 
 is thy inmost being to be suspected because 
 thou knowest it not ? 
 
 We find secrecy everywhere. 
 
 As it exists in society, we can trace some 
 reason, some necessity for that existence ; in 
 nature we cannot, but we know it is there ; 
 and our faith proclaims to us that it is right. 
 We are not, therefore the less happy, be- 
 cause of the existence of many things with 
 which we are not acquainted. The truth 
 is, there is, there has been, and there ever 
 will be secrecy in the world, and among 
 men ; and it is now complained of, only be- 
 cause mischief has been done under its 
 cloak. But if every subject which has 
 furnished a covering for crime, is to be in- 
 discriminately condemned on that account, 
 then we have no protection for the most 
 sacred of all subjects, nor for the most ele- 
 vated virtues. The knaves most to be 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 dreaded, are those who " Steal the livery of 
 heaven to serve the devil in." And under 
 the cloak of a God-inspired religion, what 
 crimes, wdiat cruelties have not been perpe- 
 trated. It is not, therefore, in the use, but 
 in the abuse of these privileges, that w T e 
 ought to complain ; and if we understand 
 the charity aright w r hich the Scriptures 
 inculcate, w T e have no more right to accuse 
 our neighbor who uses his privilege of 
 secrecy, of being sinister in his design, than 
 we have to accuse him of the same motive 
 in becoming religious, or in embracing any 
 one of the great moral virtues ; for in either 
 instance the heart is hid from us, and our 
 only safe criterion of judgment is by the 
 fruit one produces after his profession. 
 
 If men become w^orse after becoming 
 connected with these institutions, if this is 
 the general tendency, or if a majority of 
 those bearing such relation become w r orse, 
 then condemn the institution, as one which 
 exerts an unhappy influence. But if these 
 
84 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 aberrations are only occasional, if they are 
 not more frequent here than they are in 
 other more sacred and authoritative insti- 
 tutions, then candor requires that we place 
 them to the credit, not of a bad institution 
 and a defective discipline, but to a bad 
 heart. We come now to inquire to what 
 extent, and why Odd Fellowship is a secret 
 institution. 
 
 We have already seen that its secrets 
 could not relate to who are members, their 
 place of meeting, their time of meeting, 
 their constitution, by-laws, business, or ob- 
 ject ; that it could not relate to the great 
 central bodies which hold jurisdiction over 
 the whole, for all these are matters of noto- 
 riety, which it is the wish of the institution 
 to give to the world. In what sense, then, 
 is Odd Fellowism secret ? It is to this in- 
 quiry we now propose to give an answer ; 
 not that we intend to tell what the secret is, 
 but to state the points at which it is secret. 
 Odd Fellows are required to be secret, in the 
 
85 
 
 first place, so far as relates to persons who 
 propose to become members of the order. 
 
 The reason of this is, the character of 
 each candidate mnst be subject to the inves- 
 tigation of a committee appointed for that 
 purpose, who must report to the lodge the 
 result of their investigations ; and the pre- 
 caution of secrecy is taken, so that in case 
 the report of that committee should prove 
 unfavorable, and the applicant be rejected, 
 he might suffer no loss, but occupy the same 
 position in society he did before his appli- 
 cation. The injunction of secrecy, in this 
 instance, is to protect the applicant, not our- 
 selves. The second feature of the institu- 
 tion which involves secrecy, relates to the 
 fact whether persons we do not know are 
 members or not. 
 
 This institution is designed to be one the 
 world over ; and to give its assistance not 
 only in the chamber of sickness, and to 
 those who reside in our immediate vicinity, 
 but to the virtuous needy wherever found. 
 
86 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 When such present themselves for sym- 
 pathy or aid, the inquiry is not, to what 
 nation does the applicant belong, but is 
 he what he claims to be? is he in want? 
 These • questions being properly answered, 
 his wants are redressed, not as a charity, 
 but as a debt. It must be obvious to 
 every one, therefore, that such an individ- 
 ual should be furnished with a true title to 
 what he claims. If he is a true man, he 
 has such a title ; and this title is unknown 
 to all except the members of this order. 
 
 This, in a word, is their great secret. 
 This, it is true, might have been given on 
 paper, it might have been written ; in which 
 case it is equally true, it might be stolen, 
 or counterfeited, or lost. Hence it was 
 thought preferable to furnish members with 
 a title that should speak a language which 
 was the same everywhere, and which could 
 be used in all nations, and at the same time 
 be of a character to defy counterfeiting, and 
 the encroachment of robbers, or the perils 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 87 
 
 of shipwreck : a title w r hich, while reason 
 holds her dominion over the nian, might 
 ever be present with him. To accomplish 
 this, each member is furnished with pass- 
 words and signs which cannot be mistaken. 
 And as the several ranks attained in the 
 order entitles the member to more or less 
 for his support in time of w r ant, he is by 
 this means enabled to decide the fact and 
 the amount of his claims beyond a doubt. 
 He holds by the power of a word his title, 
 his claim, his right upon strangers for their 
 offices of kindness and appropriations, not 
 as a common beggar, but as a joint pro- 
 prietor with them in the institution to 
 which they mutually belong. His secret is, 
 therefore, his property, his title-deed, his 
 policy of insurance. And no man has any 
 more right to claim that secret, nor has he 
 any better title to it, than he has to claim 
 for his own either of the documents named 
 above ; it is the property of its possessor, 
 widen he had the same right to purchase as 
 
88 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 any other property ; and having paid for it 
 his money he is protected in its possession, 
 by the same law which protects him in the 
 possession of other property. 
 
 The fact of the title existing only in a 
 sign, or a word, in a moral point of view at 
 least, can make no difference, so long as it 
 guarantees to him certain valuable consider- 
 ations, under given circumstances. 
 
 Such is the secrecy of Odd Fellowism ! 
 no more, no less ! Wherein is it more 
 secret than most of the institutions around 
 us, on which no one has ever thought to 
 lay such a charge ; and wherein would 
 society be bettered were this objectionable 
 feature, which runs through its length and 
 breadth, to be abolished ? Wherein, indeed, 
 would it not be made almost infinitely 
 worse ? Who, were there no secret cement, 
 no hidden cohesive power to resist the re- 
 pelling influences, which are constantly act- 
 ing upon it, and which hold it together, 
 would be bail for its stability and present 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 89 
 
 order ? Let him that would, imagine, if he 
 please, for one moment, such a society ! a 
 society stripped of all secrecy ! where every 
 thought and every word of every individual 
 should be laid open to the day — the con- 
 versation of every circle should be simul- 
 taneously reported to all ears — the business 
 of every house, and every man, with their 
 wishes and designs, all accurately mapped to 
 every eye — the counsels of every chamber 
 forced upon the attention of every individ- 
 ual person. What is accruing in the hovel, 
 and in the palace — in the prison, and on 
 the gallows — in the mechanic-shop, and in 
 the halls of legislation — in the field, and 
 in the bed-chamber — in the cell of the 
 recluse, and in the banqueting halls of 
 affluence — with the sick, and with the 
 well — in the street, and in the kitchen — 
 in the abodes of moping ignorance, and 
 in the halls of science — in the place of 
 mirth, and in the church of God. Suppose 
 
90 
 
 he were gifted to see and know all this, as 
 he certainly would have been had the Infi- 
 nite designed there should be nothing secret 
 in this world, by some kind of pre-science, 
 and yet be endowed with all the sensibilities 
 which our nature now possesses ; and would 
 he desire to live in such a society ? Could 
 he survive such frightful disclosures for a 
 single day ? 
 
 And yet, strange as it may appear, this 
 is what those contend for, in effect, who 
 denounce all which is secret, or what is the 
 same thing, all which they do not know, as 
 suspicious. Yet, such is the appalling chaos 
 to which the objectors to secrecy, if their 
 views were carried to their legitimate re- 
 sults, would hurl society. For, as relates 
 to the objection, what is applicable to a 
 society composed of a few, is equally appli- 
 cable to an individual, or to a million ; or 
 if there be any difference, the preference is 
 to be given to the many, for as numbers 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 91 
 
 increase, the power to do mischief is dimin- 
 ished ; as the success of an effort to corrupt, 
 deceive, or control for evil becomes less as 
 there are more minds to act upon ; and 
 hence, the chances of detection will become 
 greater in proportion to numbers. 
 
"S>ou bo not abrnit % £aii*0." 
 
 HEN we arrive at this stage 
 of our investigations of this 
 subject, we often hear a 
 dulcet voice mingling with 
 the general cry against us, 
 and if we interpret rightly 
 its mellow articulation, it says : 
 "You do not admit the ladies 
 into your institution." 
 By this, we suppose the objector 
 means to carry the idea that the 
 institution is eminently selfish, being 
 designed exclusively for the entertainment, 
 convenience, and protection of the men ! 
 But is this the case, according to the ex- 
 position we have given above ? Or does 
 the objector mean to say, that because the 
 ladies are not permitted to participate in 
 
93 
 
 the active work of a lodge-room, they 
 therefore derive no advantage from the 
 results of that work? Does he mean to 
 say, because the fair daughters of our good 
 republic are not compelled to follow" the 
 plough, they, as a consequence, receive 
 none of the blessings of the harvest, which 
 a thousand glad voices join in shouting 
 home ? That because they are not com- 
 pelled to tread the slippery shrouds, or 
 climb the giddy mast, or toil behind the 
 counter, or in the counting-room, they 
 therefore enjoy none of the blessings of 
 commerce ? That because they burn not 
 life away over tomes of legal treasure, 
 they have none of the protection of law ? 
 That because they do not exhaust their 
 being in the fatigues of politics and the 
 toils of legislation, that therefore they are 
 not partakers in the blessings of civiliza- 
 tion ? 
 
 If the female, though she does not 
 participate in the busy cares of these and 
 
94 
 
 a thousand other callings, and knows but 
 little, perhaps nothing, of their details, is 
 nevertheless a partaker of their fruits, 
 why shall it be said she enjoys no advan- 
 tages from, nay, that she is rejected by Odd 
 Fellowship, because forsooth it is not made 
 an exception to many other institutions 
 with which we are surrounded? Is the 
 fact that ladies are not admitted to the 
 privilege of the ballot box, or to the 
 offices of state, an imputation on her in- 
 tellect or integrity, or is it not rather out 
 of respect to her character, and with a 
 view to pay a high compliment to her 
 native modesty, and to venerate the posi- 
 tion in which God in his wisdom has 
 placed her, that her relations in these 
 respects are as they are ? 
 
 Let not that be charged on Odd Fel- 
 lowism as a crime, which in general society 
 is looked upon as a virtue ; let it not be 
 said that when it pays the highest com- 
 pliment in its power to the fairest portion 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 95 
 
 of the Divine creation, it is mantling loved 
 ones with insult. Females are not de- 
 barred the lodge-room, because they have 
 not the capacity or the integrity necessary 
 for its business. 
 
 We indignantly repel such a charge ; but , 
 for the same reason that would not allow 
 us to put her in any other office or stern 
 duty, which nature, and the God of nature, 
 when he fixed the offices devolving upon 
 the respective sexes, designed for man, and 
 for which He in a peculiar manner fitted 
 him. 
 
 But if the objector intends to assert that 
 the ladies have no interest in the existence 
 of this association, we must inform him that 
 here he is again in fault, and that he lias 
 unfortunately mistaken the great design 
 of this institution. Were it not for our 
 mothers, our wives, our sisters and daugh- 
 ters, this association would lose half its 
 power to exist — it even may be doubted 
 whether it would exist at all. Has the 
 
96 
 
 mother or sister no interest, when the son 
 or brother is in a distant land, in the fact 
 whether he be friendless and alone, whether 
 he dwells in solitude or in society ? Is 
 there no sweet cordial to the heart, in the 
 knowledge that a far-off child, or brother, 
 though in the land of strangers, and far 
 from the tenderest of all sympathy, that of 
 a mother's or sister's bosom, is yet where 
 the tide of kindness springs up to cool a 
 fevered brow, and allay the pain of those 
 throbbing temples ? Let those who have 
 no sympathy with such a case, go and ask 
 of those whose fondest hopes lie buried in 
 distant lands ; ask such not of the anguish 
 of separation, for that is ever sufficiently 
 keen, even under the most mitigated cir- 
 cumstances ; but of the agony arising from 
 the thought of one so near the heart, one 
 cradled on the bosom of love, one who had 
 been guarded from the first morning which 
 heralded his being, with all the tenderness 
 a mother's heart knew how to lavish upon 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 97 
 
 it : ask, we say, of trie agony which rent 
 that spirit at the thought that such a loved 
 one suffered and died alone ; that in the 
 furnace of consuming fever, his chamber 
 was cheered by day only by the stillness 
 of solitude, by night by the dying rush- 
 light, which threw only a tomb-like gloom 
 through the place where he lay ; that no 
 mother's or sister's hand was there to smooth 
 the pillow pressed by that aching head, no 
 sympathetic mind to suggest a ray of hope, 
 or anticipate a want, or tenderly respond 
 to calls made audible by suffering, no affec- 
 tionate attention to mark, with all the pre- 
 cision of tenderness, the casual words which 
 fell from his parched and broken lips ; that 
 there was no ear to listen to the expres- 
 sions of disordered reason, as strong affec- 
 tion compelled it, even when dethroned, 
 to think of home and those dear as itself 
 who lingered at its hearth-stone ; none to 
 mark the affectionate action, and words of 
 home, when reason was again brought back 
 
98 . THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 to her accustomed seat to whisper her last 
 adieus to the world from which she was 
 passing away. ! could I have been 
 there, exclaims that parent, that sister, or 
 the best loved child, to have found a last 
 recognition, to have received but one word, 
 one adieu ; or, could I only know even 
 that he was attended gently and kindly, 
 how would such an assurance crown with 
 flowers the arrow which now penetrates 
 my heart. "Would it be no solace, no bliss 
 to woman, under such circumstances, to 
 know that the gentle and affectionate 
 offices proposed by Odd Fellowship were 
 not forgotten, that they fell like a fra- 
 grant dew around that pillow, and were a 
 cloudless sunshine on the path of that 
 world's pilgrim to light him down to the 
 grave. Or when sickness lays its power 
 upon the husband and the sire, has woman 
 no comfort in the daily visits of those 
 whose covenant obligations bring them to 
 her home of affliction, who pour words 
 
99 
 
 of tenderness and encouragement into her 
 ear, who affectionately minister, as those 
 who feel their obligation, to her seeming 
 wants, who tell her that the afflicted one 
 is not only a neighbor but a brother ? Is 
 it no solace to her heart, to know that 
 there are those who will mingle their 
 tears with hers in the hour of bereave- 
 ment; who, when the cherished of her 
 soul is laid low in his narrow and dream- 
 less bed, will lay the clods lightly on his 
 bosom, which is now still forever; who 
 will so draw the curtain over the commerce 
 of the grave, as that she shall not be made 
 to feel, by the visits of the sexton and the 
 undertaker, that the world makes merchan- 
 dise of her affliction ? Has woman no 
 interest in those who, in her widowed 
 loneliness, wrap in the mantle of their 
 protection her children, when life's adverse 
 whirlwind sweeps down upon them ? No 
 interest in those who will lead her father- 
 
100 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 less son or daughter along the path of 
 learning, and teach their inexperienced 
 feet to shun the pit of ruin which lies 
 hid in their way ? Woman no interest 
 in a union which takes those dearest to 
 her by the hand, and leads them away 
 from the vicious enticements around them ; 
 which takes such from obscure retreats, and 
 gives them a right, and learns them to min- 
 gle in society as men ? And can it be said 
 that woman has no interest in all this ? 
 It is true, Odd Fellowship while it makes 
 such provision for her, does not ask woman 
 to participate in the trials and embarrass- 
 ments of its merely business scenes; but 
 is she therefore excluded from all partici- 
 pation in the application of its means of 
 relief? By no means, for while stronger 
 arms prepare the means and concert the 
 plans of relief, they frequently leave to 
 woman's affectionate nature and sympa- 
 thetic heart, to her modest, unobtrusive 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 101 
 
 tenderness, the application of what has 
 been provided for the comfort and cheer- 
 ing of the needy, the suffering, and the 
 friendless. Such is the relation the ladies 
 hold to this institution, such its relation 
 to them and to their interests. * In the 
 language of an eloquent and famed advo- 
 cate of this cause, u Odd Fellowship is not 
 designed to bring angels down, but to raise 
 men up to heaven." 
 
 Beyond these, we know not what ad- 
 vantages there are which woman could 
 enjoy by being a member of this associ- 
 ation. For, now, she directly or indirectly, 
 inherits all its gifts, and enjoys its moral 
 and social influences; what more could she 
 receive as a compensation, were she loaded 
 with the cares incident to the active busi- 
 ness of the association ? She could enjoy 
 none whatever, and it is for this reason 
 she is not recognized as an active partici- 
 pant in its merely business meetings. In 
 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 this, whether right or wrong, the order 
 has conformed to the good sense and 
 fashion of the world. If this practice be 
 wrong, why, then, the custom of the world 
 is wrong. Reform that in this respect and 
 you will reform us. 
 
vnOo 
 
 Stye <&t)txn\) cmb ItUligton comx % mtyolt 
 ®rotmb." 
 
 T is usually a very easy mat- 
 ter to find fault and start ob- 
 jections, to any subject, much 
 more so than to obviate them ; 
 and those who controvert this 
 subject seem to be aware of 
 the fact : accordingly, when we 
 arrive at this stage of the con- 
 troversy, we are called upon to 
 meet this objection, "The church 
 and religion cover the whole 
 ground." The conclusion drawn from 
 which appears to be this : therefore, 
 there is no necessity for such an insti- 
 tution as the one of which you are the 
 advocate. No one can hold the church in 
 greater veneration than we do; no one^e 
 
104 THE ODD FELLOWS* AMULET. 
 
 think, can desire to exalt it more ; for 
 few are more indebted to it than our- 
 self. We feel assured that the church, 
 the glorious church which the Saviour 
 purchased with his own blood, is not, 
 nor can it be second to any subject or 
 any interest this side of heaven. We, 
 therefore, accord most cheerfully with the 
 proposition, " that the church," by which 
 we mean all Christians, " covers the whole 
 ground." We say we. mean all Christians, 
 when we say the church ; for being Chris- 
 tians, they hold the doctrines of the Bible, 
 which are able, nay, they have made them 
 wise unto salvation. The Bible inculcates 
 every possible virtue ; hence, the church, 
 which is made such through embracing the 
 Bible, must embrace every possible virtue. 
 But while we most cheerfully accord with 
 the proposition, we must beg leave to dis- 
 sent from the conclusion the objector draws 
 from it ; for in assenting to that, we should 
 be compelled to depart from the wholesome 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 105 
 
 usages of the church, and contradict the 
 true philosophy of our being. Were we 
 to adopt the conclusion of the objector, 
 we must renounce all distinct organizations 
 altogether, and have but one great organ- 
 ization, and that the church ; and that 
 must not exist as now, it must be a unit ; 
 for each distinct communion would say, 
 the Bible favors me, and you, therefore, 
 are superfluous. At least, it would be said 
 of usages which have no direct Scripture 
 sanction, which are innocent in themselves, 
 and are adopted as matters of convenience, 
 or of necessity, for the time, that this or 
 that not having a Scripture sanction must 
 be relinquished. While some, even, would 
 strike out from the wholesome articles of 
 religion every rule of morality, and every 
 exponent of Christian duty, alleging that 
 the simple text is enough to govern men, 
 as it is from this alone that we derive our 
 knowledge of duty ; and that any part, 
 attached by human hands, is a wanton 
 
106 THE ODD FELLOWS* AMULET. 
 
 invasion of religion : for this, with the 
 heaven-given spirit speaking through it, is 
 enough to govern Christians. They would 
 say, he who hath this rule, and is a Chris- 
 tian, needeth no other. There would be 
 no allowance made for the ignorance and 
 prejudices of men, whose views and feel- 
 ings are often capricious and varying, and 
 who, even after conversion, need to be 
 schooled by Wholesome rules and restraints 
 into the practice of Christian virtues, which 
 they have too long opposed and rejected. 
 But, admitting the truth of the objector's 
 conclusion, we must relinquish our organ- 
 izations for the promotion of knowledge ; 
 and sabbath schools, tract societies, tem- 
 perance societies, colonization societies, 
 Bible societies, education societies, hu- 
 mane societies, and every other class of 
 benevolent organizations formed for the 
 good of the world, because religion covers 
 the whole ground. 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 107 
 
 For seventeen centuries of the Christian 
 era. the world adopted this creed, and what 
 was the consequence ? Why, the pall of a 
 starless night rested on all moral subjects, 
 and moral death rioted in the darkness, not 
 only on the bodies, but on the intellect and 
 on the souls of men. For half a century, 
 these societies have existed and operated ; 
 and be it said to their boundless praise, in 
 that time more has been clone to redeem 
 the world from the power of sin and misery, 
 than in the seventeen ages which preceded 
 them ! But let us not be understood as 
 asserting that these societies have arisen bv 
 an inherent power, or that they have oper- 
 ated by an internal life peculiarly their own. 
 We mean to say no such thing; but we 
 intend to say this : religion has originated 
 them, religion has carried them forward, 
 religion has imparted to them the vital 
 principle, and they are her highest encomi- 
 ums, for they are the glittering waymarks 
 which report her progress in the world. 
 
108 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 The conclusion of the objector would not 
 only obliterate these portents of a religious 
 day to our earth, but it would strike with 
 fearful force at the root of all civil govern- 
 ment, scattering to the winds the wholesome 
 laws and restraints which now guard the 
 interests of society. For if religion covers 
 the whole ground, then our whole system 
 of legislation and civil jurisprudence is, to 
 say the least, superfluous, and ought to be 
 abolished, and the whole world fall back 
 under the Theocracy which characterized 
 the early history of the Jews. Such would 
 be the result of such a conclusion ; for if 
 one society or institution, which is whole- 
 some in its influences, can be pronounced 
 unnecessary because religion covers the 
 same ground, then another can, and &o on, 
 until the whole, as by a mighty tide, is 
 swept away. If this be more than the ob- 
 jector intended, it is his, not our fault ; the 
 conclusion is one of his own choice, and we 
 have only traced it to its legitimate result. 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 109 
 
 If, in blindly beating down* one foe of his 
 own creation, be has, in his zeal swept away 
 whole ranks of his bosom friends, by his 
 artillery discharged at random, the fault be 
 his : we did not ask him to fire. We said 
 the conclusion was a contradiction of the 
 philosophy of our nature. We think it 
 even so. That is a trite and true adage, 
 which says "What is everybody's business, 
 is nobody's business," and is fully justified 
 in all the transactions of life ; for who needs 
 to be told that energies, whether of one or 
 many individuals, if divided, are powerless ; 
 that it is only when concentrated, that the 
 physical or moral powers are fully under- 
 stood and known. It is in this correct view 
 of things, that the whole economy of our 
 mental, moral, and political, and we may 
 say, our religious enterprises are founded. 
 There are certain things in one of these 
 great departments which ought to be done. 
 Some are keenly awake to these interests, 
 
 but they cannot secure them alone. Some 
 
 10 
 
110 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 are indifferent respecting them, while others 
 are decidedly opposed to the whole. 
 
 Under such circumstances what is to be 
 done ? It is evident the object cannot be 
 secured in the midst of this Babel-discord. 
 What is to be done? Why, go through 
 society, and gather up those elements which 
 possess an affinity for each other; bring 
 them together and organize them ; give to 
 the organization a head and corresponding 
 parts, with centre of motion ; make of them 
 one complete body, set this whole in motion, 
 let it be guided by concentrated intellect, 
 and impelled by concentrated forces; and 
 who that does not see how a good force, 
 directed to a good end, must necessarily 
 accomplish a good work. 
 
 Jefferson could write an unrivalled dec- 
 laration of independence, and Henry could 
 make thrilling patriotic speeches, but they 
 could not make a free people ; nothing but 
 the concentrated energies of a whole nation 
 could do this. Washington could command 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. Ill 
 
 an army, but it required the united strength 
 of an army to gain one victory. Wilber- 
 force could demonstrate that slavery was 
 wrong and cruel, but nothing less than the 
 united effort of the whole British people 
 could unloose the fetters of one slave. And 
 the pulpit may, in tones never so eloquent, 
 tell of the wants of a world lying in dark- 
 ness, and of the duty of the church to pour 
 light into those desolate regions, but nothing 
 short of the united and heaven-aided ener- 
 gies of that church can emancipate them 
 from a darkness which may be felt. What 
 is true in relation to the instances named 
 above, is true in relation to every subject of 
 general interest. There must be a given 
 point at which all must aim, and when that 
 is known, every energy must be strained to 
 reach it. 
 
 It is on this principle every institution is 
 founded — the concentration of energies — 
 and this is a feature which signally charac- 
 terizes our holy religion, as well as every 
 
112 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 other cause. "Where two or three are 
 gathered together in rny name, there am I 
 in the midst/' says the glorious One. It was 
 on this principle that the apostles gathered 
 the fruits of their ministry into churches; 
 and it is on the same principle that govern- 
 ment and society, with all their ramifications 
 rest. It is true the church and religion 
 cover the whole ground, for these institu- 
 tions are the offspring of religion; to her, 
 and to her alone, are we indebted for every 
 beneficent thought towards the well-being of 
 our race. This is as true of Odd Fellow- 
 ship as it is of either or any of the institu- 
 tions or societies named above. All, we 
 believe, attribute to the Christian religion 
 the present advanced state of the civilized 
 world. All acknowledge that the great 
 difference which exists between the nations 
 of Europe and America, and the tribes of 
 Asia and Africa, arises mainly from the in- 
 fluence which religion, and the Bible — the 
 great teacher of religion — has had over 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 113 
 
 these civilized races. This justifies the 
 remark which we made above, that these 
 societies were evidences of the advance of 
 religion, and its influence over the world. 
 
 But while we credit the church for all 
 this, we must confess we are not prepared to 
 adopt another sentiment which we think is 
 implied in the objection — it is this: that the 
 church is bound to support all the poor who 
 may be in her communion. That her mem- 
 bers are exhorted to charity and hospitality, 
 and that in her collective capacity she is 
 called upon to make collections for the des- 
 titute, we most cheerfully admit ; but that 
 she is to take whole families upon her 
 hands, and supply all their wants, we think 
 admits of a serious doubt. In a country 
 like that of the United States, for instance, 
 where the government has made provision 
 for the comfortable support of the poor and 
 the unfortunate of all classes, where each 
 member of the state is taxed for this pur- 
 pose, to the extent of his ability, we cannot 
 10* 
 
114 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 see how, on the principles of equity, it can 
 be demanded of any branch of the Christian 
 church, that in addition to their bearing an 
 equal proportion with others of their fellow- 
 citizens, and supporting among them the 
 gospel of peace, they should take on them- 
 selves this increased burden, and at the 
 same time take it from those hands which 
 are strengthened by the constitution to bear 
 it. Beyond this, the church has a wider 
 field before her. As she looks from her 
 lofty position over the field embraced in her 
 great commission, and contemplates the 
 millions who are perishing for want of the 
 bread of life, which she holds in her hands, 
 she can but feel, and we think we hear her 
 say, "the world is my parish." Is it not 
 enough, that through the operation of her 
 tireless energies, she has roused the public 
 to a sense of its duty to the poor at home, 
 and incited it to care for them ? And now 
 may she not with propriety, go after those 
 abroad ? In such an enterprise we can but 
 
115 
 
 feel that the church acts worthy of herself, 
 and we must say to her traducers, that in 
 the last few years she has acted well her 
 part. 
 
 But more than this : we apprehend, 
 that were it understood that the Christian 
 church was to maintain all the poor who 
 might be connected with her communion, 
 were it understood that she was to admin- 
 ister to all temporal as well as spiritual 
 wants, it would furnish an unworthy motive 
 to men to connect themselves with her ; and 
 as a consequence, many would flock to her 
 bosom, not from a love of the cross, but 
 from a love of bread. We know it has 
 been so. When the church has been 
 secular in her objects, she has always 
 been secular in her membership, and 
 what is more lamentable, she has, under 
 such circumstances, been secular in her 
 ministry. From the opening of the fourth 
 century to the days of Luther, is a strik- 
 ing illustration of this truth. Even now, 
 
116 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 where there are very few inducements of 
 a temporal or secular nature connected 
 with her communion, is she imposed upon, 
 and her beauty marred, and her peace 
 and harmony disturbed, by the encroach- 
 ments of the designing and the unworthy. 
 Even the pulpit, with the protection of 
 all the heaven-sent sanctions with which 
 it is surrounded, and all the precautions 
 which wisdom and goodness could devise 
 to guard it, is not unfrequently made a 
 facility, by the depraved, for securing their 
 ends. For these reasons, we say we doubt, 
 especially under a government like ours, 
 whether it is the design of its great Head 
 that the church should burden itself with 
 a pledge to support all the poor and help- 
 less who may be thrown into her bosom. 
 We question whether caution would think 
 it safe to suggest such an inducement. 
 
 With such views, we cannot be other- 
 wise than pleased, when we see men organ- 
 izing themselves for the purpose of driving 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 117 
 
 want from the world ; who, though de- 
 tached from the church, are nevertheless 
 her auxiliaries in the great work of alle- 
 viating human suffering, and who have 
 derived the first thoughts of their mission, 
 their impulses and motives from her. 
 Should it be said by the objector to these 
 views, that the church might discriminate 
 and detect the imposter, we answer, since 
 the days of Peter and Paul, when or 
 where has she done it ? when has she had 
 the power to do it ? She has never 
 been endued with the gift of discerning 
 spirits. It is only by their fruits she can 
 determine who are worthy and w r ho are 
 unworthy ; and, often, when these are 
 brought forth, it is too late, the mischief 
 has been done, the wound inflicted, and 
 the marred body must be left for time to 
 heal its hurts. Such is the office we claim 
 for Odd Fellowism. That position is hum- 
 ble and subordinate, it is true, when com- 
 pared with the exalted position of the 
 
118 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 church of Christ ; yet, while it remains 
 praiseworthy to supplant a vice and im- 
 plant a virtue, while moral economy is 
 such that he who is induced to imbibe a 
 virtue, is advanced in so much as that 
 virtue is important, towards what he ought 
 to be, we cannot consider this institution, 
 in a moral point . of view, unimportant. 
 Some may have made injudicious compar- 
 isons between Odd Fellowism and the 
 church, but they have done it without 
 understanding the true relation of either. 
 Odd Fellowism was never designed to inter- 
 fere with, or enter into competition with 
 the church, any more than the temperance, 
 or education society. Nor is there an inti- 
 mation, or an expression of any design, that 
 it should or could in any wise be taken as 
 religion. It teaches the importance of the 
 relative duties which we owe to each other 
 as citizens, and social beings ; it derives 
 these lessons from the pages of the Bible, 
 to which it appeals at every step of its 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 119 
 
 working, and enforces its precepts by the 
 God-given sanctions it contains. It is on 
 this ground that we claim for it a place 
 among the moral auxiliaries which the 
 religion of the Bible has given to our world. 
 So that, while we accede to the truthfulness 
 of the proposition, that religion and the 
 Bible cover the whole ground, we feel 
 impelled to the conclusion that such a prop- 
 osition has no injurious bearing on Odd 
 Fellowism, more than any other organiza- 
 tion not strictly a church; and that this 
 much abused subject still most properly lifts 
 its beautiful form, smiling with kindness to 
 the world, amid the arid wastes, as an 
 important auxiliary to humanity, and to the 
 moral interests of our world. Some have 
 instituted invidious comparisons between 
 Christian churches and Odd Fellowism, 
 because, occasionally members in these 
 churches have been in want, or have suf- 
 fered, it may be, for some of the necessaries 
 
120 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 of life. What we have said above, should 
 be a sufficient answer to those who make 
 their comparisons before studying their sub- 
 ject. Such may censure the community 
 where these things occur, or its officers for 
 not doing their duty ; but why censure the 
 church in its collective capacity ? Has it 
 not done for these what it was designed to 
 do by its author ? Has it not preached to 
 them the Gospel ? Has it not moulded 
 society around by its influence, and reared 
 the frame-work of the ark which is to afford 
 shelter to such when the floods of want 
 break loose upon them? Has it not 
 appointed the proper officers, and furnished 
 them with the means to make every appli- 
 cant comfortable ? Then censure them not 
 as a church, but censure the community. 
 That the church may do this work, if she 
 please, that she finds an indescribable pleas- 
 ure in doing it, when she has the ability, 
 there can be no question. But that she has 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 121 
 
 promised to do so generally, or that it would 
 be expedient, or even safe for her to do so, 
 is questionable. 
 
 But how is this in Odd Fellowism ? We 
 have here a society formed for this express 
 purpose, a society which, while it claims no 
 exemption from public charges or common 
 charities, proposes in the hour of adversity 
 to give its members maintenance to a cer- 
 tain amount each week, during their inca- 
 pacity to help themselves, and this, not as a 
 charity, but as debt. To secure the means 
 necessary for this, they make each member 
 a contributor to a certain amount, the fund 
 so arising to be devoted to this purpose. In 
 sickness, they propose to give their members 
 all the attention necessary, or which their 
 situation may demand. To secure this, they 
 have an organization, and rules to govern 
 that organization, for this specific object, 
 
 Under such an arrangement, and with 
 such provision, ought not their sick and 
 distressed members to be cared for and 
 
122 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 attended ? Ought not this to be done be1> 
 ter by them than by any other class in 
 society ? They would be censurable, more 
 than censurable, did they not redeem their 
 pledges, under these circumstances. Indeed, 
 it is no disparagement to any people, to 
 have it said the sick among Odd Fellows are 
 better attended than any other class of men 
 in like circumstances. 
 
it turns t\)t Sible out of EDoors." 
 
 T has been well and often 
 said, "a fool may ask ques- 
 tions a philosopher cannot 
 answer." And we have learn- 
 ed by this time that objections 
 are quite as available as ques- 
 tions. Another objection which 
 is often urged against this institu- 
 tion is, that " It turns the Bible 
 out of doors." 
 
 After what has already been said, 
 this may appear, as it really is, a strange 
 objection ; and the more so, as the fact that 
 every lodge-room is furnished with a Bible 
 is one which is by no means secret ; a fact 
 which the objector might have learned, had 
 he only taken the trouble to enquire of any 
 
124 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 one who knew, or which he could have been 
 permitted to do, gone into a lodge-room and 
 seen for himself. Yet this objection has not 
 only been stated in private conversations, 
 but by the aid of the press and newspapers 
 trumped through the land. We will pass 
 no censure on those who can find time and 
 heart to do such undesirable work, as impli- 
 edly to cast on many, whose life as well as 
 profession speaks a different language, the 
 imputation of infidelity. 
 
 We will only leave with them the inquiry, 
 is such the charity which thinketh no evil ? 
 and pass to assure them of the far-known 
 fact that every lodge-room is furnished with 
 a copy of the Sacred Scriptures ; and more, 
 which is, that most of their lectures and 
 charges are extracts from those pages of 
 wisdom and authority; that whether men 
 ever heard the words of Inspired Wisdom at 
 home or in the church or not, if they are 
 Odd Fellows they must see and hear the 
 Bible read, and have its precepts enforced 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 125 
 
 upon them. All the way they travel in the 
 order, whenever they meet, then they must 
 hear the voice of the Bible, not as the words 
 of man merely, but as the voice of God ; nor 
 as directed to a promiscuous assembly, but 
 to them as individuals. If this be turning 
 the Bible out of doors, if this is treating it 
 with neglect, if this is high-handed impiety, 
 why, then, we submit with patience to the 
 imputation of heathenism and infidelity, 
 until our accusers shall show us what is 
 meant by bringing the Bible within doors, 
 when in this respect we may mend our 
 ways. And if we can be persuaded that 
 the Bible of which they speak, will not 
 make us as vindictive and censorious, and 
 as uncharitable as they show themselves to 
 be, we may be prevailed upon to adopt it. 
 But until that time, they will please excuse 
 us if we continue to use the commonly 
 received and authorized version of the Word 
 of God ; until that time, we shall be under 
 
 the necessity of teaching our members such 
 
 11* 
 
126 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 antiquated precepts as the following : "Thou 
 shalt not covet." " Thou shalt not bear false 
 witness against thy neighbor." (i Charity 
 suffereth long and is kind, is not puffed up, 
 behaveth itself not unseemly, hopeth all 
 things, endureth all things, charity never 
 faileth." Such is the turning out of doors, 
 and the rejection of the Bible, of which Odd 
 Fellows are guilty; may they never be 
 guilty of a greater crime. 
 
©ito jFdlotosljtp is fxmwsonxQ Eemx)ri>." 
 
 HE mind of man hath sought 
 out many inventions. How 
 true ! And never was this 
 saying more true in relation 
 to any subject, or class of sub- 
 jects, than it is in relation to 
 those which excite our prejudices; 
 never is the mind more fruitful in 
 expedients than when it is in search 
 of excuses with which to ward off the 
 N attacks of those subjects which in 
 spite of our prejudice, are assailing and com- 
 mending themselves to our conscience, and 
 our judgment. It seems to us this is the 
 only apology we can make for this far 
 reaching after objections to a subject like 
 this. But we will not complain ; so here is 
 another, — "Odd Fellowship is Freemasonry 
 
128 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 revived." How far this may be true, we 
 are unable to say ; though we confess that 
 to us it appears highly improbable, that 
 two institutions which are identical, should 
 exist in the same place, at the same time, 
 under different names, and without any 
 intercourse. Yet we know this to be the 
 case with these institutions, both in Europe 
 and America; those who are Odd Fellows 
 unite with the Masons, as a distinct and 
 separate society. And Masons do the same 
 in uniting with the Odd Fellows : which we 
 cannot see why they should do, if the insti- 
 tutions were the same. Beyond this, the 
 two fraternities have no intercourse what- 
 ever. How this could be, and the institu- 
 tions be one and the same thing, we are 
 unable to account. Such being the facts in 
 the case, it seems highly improbable that 
 they should each possess the same character, 
 and not exist under the same form. There 
 is still another fact in relation to this sub- 
 ject, which is simply this: We know 
 
129 
 
 nothing of Freemasonry only what we have 
 read in books. Now, if what has been 
 published as an exposition of the internal 
 operations of this institution be true, then 
 we perhaps know as much about Free- 
 masonry as the objector, and a great deal 
 more about Odd Fellowship, and we can 
 assure him that the two institutions so far 
 from being identical, are in no wise alike ; 
 if that be untrue, then neither the objector 
 nor ourself know anything about it. Let 
 this, however, be as it may, one thing is 
 certain, if we can depend on reliable testi- 
 mony ; which is, that these institutions, so 
 far from being the same, are in no way 
 similar; unless it be that members are known 
 in each of them by certain signs and tokens, 
 instead of a written title or certificate, which 
 would be likely to make them resemble 
 each other about as much as they both 
 might resemble the savages of our western 
 wilderness, who it is well known, make 
 
130 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 themselves understood by the same process, 
 they having no written language. 
 
 Whether, after this explanation, and as 
 we think refutation, the objector will persist 
 in urging the identity of the two institu- 
 tions, is to us quite as unimportant as it is 
 uncertain. 
 
"Uonr Sorietg rompris tlje ®oofc to associate 
 mitt) tlje Bab." 
 
 HY do you bow to that 
 poor negro," said a person 
 once to the immortal 
 Washington, as he . walked 
 the streets of one of our 
 populous cities ; and the reply- 
 was worthy of the man : " Shall 
 I," said he, "manifest less man- 
 ners than he ? " And it is thus 
 we should reply to those who ask us 
 why we condescend to unite with 
 persons connected with no church in 
 the promotion of good and worthy objects : 
 Shall the Christian, the follower of Him 
 who went about doing good, have less in- 
 terest in the improvement of the world than 
 they ? And yet we often hear this objec- 
 
132 THE OJ)D FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 tion urged against this institution, " Your 
 society compels the good to associate with 
 the bad, and is objectionable on this ground, 
 if no other." We might reply to this ob- 
 jection, and it would be answer enough 
 to it, by the simple inquiry, whether the 
 good ought not to associate with the bad ? 
 whether bad men, left to themselves, will 
 be very likely to become better ? Does 
 the objector mean to convey the idea by 
 this objection, that good men ought to 
 become recluse — that it is their duty to 
 assume the habits and practice of the an- 
 chorite ? that so soon as a man is converted, 
 he should withdraw from the world alto- 
 gether ? Is this the doctrine he would 
 teach us ? How does this accord with the 
 instruction the Bible gives us on this sub- 
 ject? "Behold," says the Great Teacher, 
 " Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the 
 midst of wolves, be ye therefore wise as 
 serpents and harmless as doves." What is 
 the doctrine which the Saviour taught those 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 133 
 
 from-the-world separatists, when he sat at 
 the table of Matthew, the publican, as an 
 invited guest, and they denounced him, 
 because he kept company with sinners? 
 What is his irrefutable reply to these his 
 traducers ? "I came not to call the right- 
 eous, but sinners to repentance." And in 
 his recorded prayer, just before he left his 
 disciples for the hall of Pilate, and the cru- 
 cifixion scene ; what was the burden of that 
 omnipotent plea ? "I pray not that thou 
 shouldst take them out of the world, but 
 that thou shouldst keep them from the 
 evil." Such are the views of the adored 
 Saviour of the relations of his people to the 
 world. He does not pray that his disciples 
 or his people should be taken immediately 
 to heaven, but that they should be " kept 
 from the evil " — from sin, not from sinners, 
 for it is to these they are sent ; their errand 
 is " to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 
 The Pharisee who came to worship in the 
 temple, could not keep company with the 
 
 12 
 
134 THE ODD FELLOWS* AMULET. 
 
 poor publican, who came on the same 
 errand ; and yet that same poor publican 
 went down to his house with what the ar- 
 rogant Pharisee could not obtain ; he went 
 down justified. These and a thousand 
 other Scriptures show us how wonderfully 
 some men have misapprehended the great 
 and important doctrine of the Scriptures 
 on this subject. That Christian men are 
 exhorted to " come out from the world, and 
 be separate," is a most true and wholesome 
 doctrine. 
 
 But let us understand this doctrine, 
 which certainly cannot mean that Christian 
 men shall literally go out of the world, and 
 abandon the society of their neighbors, who 
 may be so unfortunate as to be without the 
 change which has made them Christians. 
 What, then, is intended to be taught by 
 that Scripture ? is it not this ? Christians 
 will abandon those things and practices, 
 which the word of God makes it unlawful 
 for them to use, but which are indulged in 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 135 
 
 by unregenerate men. They will perforin 
 those duties which are enjoined upon all 
 men "by Jehovah, but which are neglected 
 by those without the religion of the Cross. 
 They will be actuated by those motives 
 which are apprehended by faith in the 
 atonement, but motives which are wholly 
 disregarded and lost sight of by irreligious 
 men. It is by such lives they will separate 
 themselves from the world, for such lives 
 will necessarily render them unlike it. It 
 is by such a walk, that they like righteous 
 Noah and Lot will reprove the world of the 
 ungodly, for such a walk must ever be 
 opposed to its practices. 
 
 Such, we apprehend, is the true doctrine 
 of separation from the world. And this, 
 we think, was taught by Paul, when he 
 assured his brethren that it was unlawful 
 for them to commune with the adulterous 
 and the covetous, and persons of this class ; 
 yet he says they cannot be free from them 
 entirely, for then, says he, " Ye must needs 
 
136 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 go out of the world." As though he had 
 said, you cannot be free from such persons, 
 indeed you ought not to be, but you ought 
 so to live that your lives may reprove 
 them ; you must mingle with such here, 
 from the necessity of the case ; the " wheat 
 and the tares must grow together until 
 the harvest," so that you cannot be free 
 from such persons while you are in the 
 world. 
 
 This Scripture contact of the good with 
 the bad, of the moral with the immoral, the 
 religious with the irreligious, is the true way 
 to try the strength of the one, and reclaim 
 the other. We are aware that the plea is, 
 that the good will be liable to become viti- 
 ated with this too liberal contact with care- 
 less and irreligious men; but it is to be 
 feared that he who has not religious integ- 
 rity sufficient to bear the shocks with which 
 these make their onsets upon him, is want- 
 ing in that integrity which would enable 
 him to bear a trial of his faith in any form 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 137 
 
 in which it might be presented by the 
 world, with which he necessarily comes in 
 contact, in the ordinary transactions of life. 
 In other words, it may be donbted whether 
 he possesses the deep-seated, gennine prin- 
 ciple of religion at all. The good common 
 sense of the world practically discards snch 
 a view of man's relations in this life. Hence 
 it is considered morally right, for the Chris- 
 tian and the non-professing man to form 
 partnerships, the religious and the irreligious 
 members of society mingle in the civil and 
 political affairs of the day, and we often see 
 them occupying the same field, side by side, 
 in urging forward great moral interests. In 
 this we are often led to rejoice ; for while, 
 on the one hand, we see in these instances 
 the grasp religion has on the popular heart, 
 on the other, we trust that those persons 
 who have been brought so far, by the force 
 of right principles, will, through the force 
 of the same truth, be carried still onward 
 
 to the wished-for and all-important goal. 
 12* 
 
138 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 It will doubtless be said by some, that even 
 in some of the cases named above, the con- 
 tact is questionable : the connection of 
 good men with politics, for instance ; but 
 we reply to this, by saying that the very 
 things to which objection is made, have 
 arisen through the carrying out of the prin- 
 ciples of the objector. 
 
 Good men, through mistaken views of 
 their duty, have given up these subjects to 
 the interested and the unprincipled, until 
 anarchy pervades the whole, and now, with 
 uplifted hands and averted eyes, they 
 lament over the confusion which prevails; 
 a state of things for which, if they could be 
 made to feel the fact, they are responsible. 
 And it is thus many will ever act. Instead 
 of summoning to their aid a strong and an 
 invincible moral integrity, and then going 
 forth and throwing themselves into the 
 breach, and with giant efforts rolling back 
 the dark wave which threatens them and 
 the world, they will wrap themselves in 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 139 
 
 their sacred seclusion, leaving the field open 
 to every intruder who is pleased to occupy 
 it. There they will rest supinely, and let 
 the devil work, without let or hinderance; 
 and occasionally they will take the trouble 
 to look out from the crevices of their 
 retreat, and then the land is filled with 
 their bitter wailing, as they cry, " Oh ! the 
 desolation ! Oh ! the moral waste ! " Nor 
 can such by any means be drawn from their 
 retreat, unless it should be to cast a stone at 
 some daring brother, whose heart has ached 
 long enough over the wide-wrought ruin, 
 and who has come forth to try what his 
 strength can do towards repairing some of 
 the breaches which have been made in the 
 moral enclosure. Such persons are full of 
 alarm when a new enterprise or a new 
 science lifts its light or promise over the 
 land, and, without giving one hour to deter- 
 mine the merits of the subject, are prepared 
 to send out the alarm wide-spread, and 
 impeach or disfranchise all who dare to 
 
140 
 
 differ from them in their hasty and unjust 
 conclusions. No matter how high the tal- 
 ents, how far-reaching the intellect, or how 
 strong the moral integrity of the man whom 
 they condemn; he has embraced interests 
 and views which these judges do not under- 
 stand, which are at war with their long- 
 seated prejudices, and which they cannot 
 appreciate ; and, as a matter of course, all 
 the moral excellencies, which have been 
 maturing and growing firmer for years, 
 must pass for nothing, they must now give 
 way, and fall about his ears. The spirit 
 which gave Galileo the choice between 
 recantation and death, for asserting the most 
 sublime physical truth known to our world, 
 is not dead, but still lives and works among 
 men. 
 
 But the course pursued by the objectors 
 to Odd Fellowism is at once the most curi- 
 ous and strange. First, they assert that the 
 institution is one of a most dangerous char- 
 acter ; they then take it for granted that all 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 141 
 
 who are connected with it are corrupt and 
 dangerous men, which of course would make 
 the institution still more dangerous. Then 
 they assert that it is highly improper for 
 good men to connect themselves with it. 
 Such is the course of reasoning pursued by 
 the opposers of this cause, tacitly, if not in 
 reality. That they are impotent to prevent 
 the existence of such institutions they 
 acknowledge ; that something of the kind 
 ever has existed in the world is a fact ; that 
 such societies ever will exist, while men 
 claim and enjoy the right to select for them- 
 selves relations in private life, is highly 
 probable. Under such circumstances, what 
 is to be done? Why, according to the 
 objector, we are to withdraw from them 
 every conservative influence, and let them 
 riot on the interests of society, without the 
 vigilant eye of one who has the integrity to 
 hold them back from mischief, or sound in 
 the ears of those in danger the alarm. 
 They object to the connection of good men 
 
142 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 with them, while, if there is real danger, 
 these are the only men who can be 
 depended upon, to give us notice of that 
 danger. It is now we hear the note, you 
 are all interested ; bad men are there, and 
 you have a common interest in covering up 
 and disguising your proceedings. But how 
 is this ? We find in these societies the most 
 prominent and trustworthy members of 
 every church ; here are men of prominence 
 from every circle in society ; here are cler- 
 gymen from every church in Christendom, 
 except Papists ; men whose piety is spotless, 
 whose character cannot be impeached ; men 
 whom we would believe on any other sub- 
 ject, and under any other circumstances : 
 all of whom tell us the same story; all 
 bring back the same account of this institu- 
 tion, and they do this after having studied 
 it long and attentively too. Now can it be 
 possible that all these men, after all the 
 tests which have been applied to their 
 moral integrity, after all the professions 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 143 
 
 they have made of attachment to the truth, 
 after all the evidences they have given of 
 the fact, are corrupt at the core, and deceiv- 
 ers and base hypocrites ; that, Judas-like, 
 they are prepared not only to sell their 
 master, but their country, for the interest 
 of this society, which none consider more 
 than secondary in importance? So much 
 for the corruption and baseness of the mem- 
 bers of this institution. Let him believe it 
 who can ; let him judge thus who dare with 
 his Bible open before him. Indeed, if this 
 is the charity possessed by our opposers, 
 with all their professed goodness, we greatly 
 prefer that which is taught by Odd Fellow- 
 ship ; for were one of its members convicted 
 of such slanderous denunciation of his 
 neighbors, were he never so honorable, he 
 could not escape the penalty of immediate 
 expulsion from the order. Nay, we say, let 
 good men be found here, and if the order 
 be what its opposers suppose it to be, we are 
 assured they will either give the alarm to 
 
144 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 a threatened world, of the volcano which is 
 boiling and abont to burst under their feet, 
 or they will snatch from the hands of those 
 who hold it, the lever with which mischief 
 is about to overset the world, and thus 
 secure society against the general and fatal 
 crash. So far as this institution is concerned, 
 in bringing the different classes of society 
 together, there is more reason to rejoice 
 than to indulge in unnecessary alarm. It is 
 indeed a happy feature of our age, that the 
 world finding itself by far too much divided, 
 is putting forth some great and laudable 
 efforts to bring its scattered fragments 
 together and make them cohere ; not by 
 giving up any view or doctrine which any 
 one may regard as essential to his views, but 
 by that all-pervading love by which the 
 Saviour designs to bind man to man, and 
 bring our race to heaven. Such a union is 
 not designed to obliterate the lines which 
 mark the boundaries between virtue and 
 vice, nor to confound the one with the other, 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 145 
 
 but to tolerate innocent non-essentials in 
 our brother, and at the same time give a 
 strong, because a united, discountenance to 
 all which is sinful and dangerous. 
 
 This is the same principle on which Odd 
 Fellowship brings its elements together. It 
 teaches its members that they are not to 
 meet under its outspread banner as rich, or 
 poor, as Baptists or Presbyterians, or Episco- 
 palians, or Methodists, but as men who are 
 liable to reverses and suffering, as moral 
 beings who are constantly in need of moral 
 culture and moral restraints ; that their busi- 
 ness here is not to discuss this or that, or the 
 other end, but act mutually to make each 
 other happier and better. 
 
 If this is not a fair field for the powers of 
 good men, if this be not a place and a work 
 appropriate to the best of men, if this is a 
 place to endanger the purest feelings, the 
 most exact sense of right, then we have 
 failed to understand the duty of man to man, 
 and the relation of good morals or of religion 
 
 13 
 
146 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 to this life. If teaching men that it is their 
 duty to be good citizens, good parents, and 
 good neighbors, to live peaceably with all 
 men, to love God with all the heart, and 
 their neighbor as themselves, to practise 
 universal kindness, to look upon the whole 
 globe as the field of their charitable labors 
 and to do all they do as in the presence of a 
 heart-searching God, whose eye is ever upon 
 them, and to whom they must give an 
 account for all their actions here ; if point- 
 ing them to the grave, and urging the uncer- 
 tain, it may be the early period when they 
 will certainly accupy it as their abode, as a 
 reason why they should curb their passions, 
 and bring every affection into subjection to 
 the perfect law of love ; if all this, which is 
 enforced on Odd Fellows, endangers the 
 character of the good, then we have learned 
 for the first time, that the same great truth 
 may at the same time give life and produce 
 death — may work a radical reform, and 
 entomb in a ruinous error. And yet these 
 
147 
 
 truths are taught and enforced in Odd 
 Fellowship. 
 
 The objector will doubtless say, there is 
 nothing new in all this, the same things are 
 taught from the pulpit. This we cheerfully 
 acknowledge, and hence conclude they will 
 do no harm if taught in the lodge-room. 
 
 One thing we must be permitted to 
 express here, it is this: that the spirit of 
 religious intolerance, which has pervaded so 
 many minds, and which has so often been 
 manifested in relation to this subject, which 
 says, "stand there, for I am holier than 
 thou ;" that spirit which forbids men to think 
 for themselves, however they may act, has 
 done the church of God, as well as the 
 world, infinite mischief. Men will think and 
 act for themselves. They feel an assurance 
 that they enjoy this right by permission of 
 the highest legislation in the universe ; and 
 when they know they are justified in their 
 action by the great charter of liberty which 
 he has given them, — when men under these 
 
148 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 circumstances meet with opposition, and 
 from those who profess to hold that charter 
 in high estimation, and even to be governed 
 by its spirit deeply engraven on their inner 
 heart, they will ever feel less respect for 
 such men, and will be influenced by them 
 less in all subsequent time : it will even be 
 fortunate if they do not pronounce the pro- 
 fessions of such hypocrisy, and the very 
 substance of the new creation of their in- 
 ward nature, which they profess, a farce ; 
 and little wonder, for such manifest any 
 other than the liberal feeling and the 
 catholic spirit which the great charter of 
 religious liberty inculcates, and which the 
 lowest intellect can understand. 
 
 We do not mean to say by this, that op- 
 posers to Odd Fellowship cannot be Chris- 
 tians, or that many do not and have not 
 opposed this order from honest convictions 
 of duty. However this may be, the disaster 
 of which we speak is not the less certain, 
 or less ruinous. When instances can be 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 149 
 
 found where the faith of men has been 
 unsettled, where religious habits have 
 been undermined and Christians have 
 been plunged into error by the teaching 
 or the practical workings of this order, 
 then, and not before, may it with consist- 
 ency be pronounced dangerous. 
 
 13* 
 
(fetramgant." 
 
 WO knights once met on the 
 high way at a place directly 
 over which a shield was sus- 
 pended. After the usual 
 civilities, common to travellers 
 of their time, one remarks to 
 the other, "this is a beautiful 
 brazen shield." "No," said the 
 other, " you are mistaken ; it is a 
 silver shield." "I must insist," said 
 the first, "on the veracity of my 
 senses ; it is certainly of brass." " It 
 cannot be," said the second ; " my eyes tell 
 me it is silver." " You must be plying me 
 with falsehood," said the first knight, in 
 anger. " And you would push the lie down 
 my throat," retorted the second. So each 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 151 
 
 drawing his blade, they concluded to deter- 
 mine whether the shield was brass or silver 
 by arguments of steel. While they were 
 thus engaged in earnest endeavors to cut 
 each others' throats, covered with dust and 
 blood, a third person made his appearance, 
 and being informed of the cause of their 
 difficulty, told the astonished combatants of 
 what they had entirely overlooked, which 
 was the fact that the shield had actually 
 two sides, and that one was of silver and 
 the other of brass. The fact in the case 
 was, each knight had examined only his 
 own side of the shield, and was prepared to 
 pledge his blood that he had got the right 
 of the whole subject. It is often so here ; 
 each man takes the side which lies towards 
 the way from which he comes, and each 
 believes he has got the whole subject ; but 
 we should bear in mind that every question, 
 like the shield, has two sides, one is silver, 
 and the other brass, and he must take the 
 whole mass if he would find both. 
 
152 THE ODD FELLOWS* AMULET. 
 
 It strikes us this is too much the case 
 with those who urge their objections to this 
 society, and especially so, when we have 
 heard this objection urged, "Your regalia is 
 useless, expensive, and extravagant." It is 
 well known that one of the most successful 
 modes of teaching has been by symbols. 
 In some ages of the world this form of im- 
 parting instruction has been used altogether, 
 and in sacred things this form has been pre- 
 ferred above all others. Hence among the 
 Jews their external religion consisted almost 
 entirely of symbols. 
 
 These have been continued in the Chris- 
 tian religion, where we have Baptism and 
 the Lord's Supper ; and what could more 
 beautifully and sublimely express what 
 they were designed to represent? One 
 peculiarity in symbolic teaching is, that the 
 sign be simple in itself; which also con- 
 stitutes to the furtherance of the great 
 end of this kind of instruction, which is 
 that it be enduring. 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 153 
 
 Suppose, then, we wish to teach the 
 importance of unity and purity, and at the 
 same time produce uniformity in the ap- 
 pearance of a company of men, and distin- 
 guish the relation each bore to the object 
 which engaged our attention, and still 
 have symbolized before each individual the 
 peculiar obligation he is under, and the 
 specific duties he is to perform ; how could 
 this be done better, and in a more simple 
 way, than by a collar and apron, to which 
 should be attached a simple color, which 
 should at the same time tell the rank and 
 duty of the wearer. Such is the design of 
 the regalia of the order. If it be said that 
 it is simple, we have only to reply, then it 
 is just what it was designed to be. 
 
 But it is further said, much of the regalia 
 is extravagant, and involves needless ex- 
 pense. Lodges are not in the habit of pur- 
 chasing such regalia ; theirs is common and 
 cheap. The expense of the costly regalia 
 of which they complain, is a matter to be 
 
154 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 settled between the wearer and the objector. 
 If he thinks this a matter of his concern, 
 and can make the purchaser of costly 
 regalia think so too, he may, perhaps, pre- 
 vail on him to be more economical in future. 
 But we have the curiosity to look at this 
 matter of expensive equipage a little fur-, 
 ther. We have often seen, on occasions of 
 military parade, the very class of persons 
 who object to expensive regalia, stand with 
 chained attention, admiring a corps of mili- 
 tary, praising the neatness of their equipage, 
 and envying the soldier his place. They 
 would even bring their children to look 
 with them on this jovial death-pageant, and 
 admire this or that officer, as with glittering 
 sword and shining tinsel flashing in the sun- 
 beams, he gave his orders, which, when the 
 reality should come, would send fifties or 
 hundreds of immortal souls to the spirit 
 world, and make as many wives widows, and 
 twice as many children fatherless ; a pageant 
 which must ever be attended with hardness 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 155 
 
 of heart, and with all the immorality of the 
 camp ; which must dry every tear by the 
 representation of human suffering over 
 which it would remorselessly roll its iron 
 war-wheel, and crush with its remorseless 
 war-tread in its barbarous charges to death, 
 hushing groans by the shout of battle or 
 the thunder of arms; while the desire to 
 alleviate the bleeding and mangled forms 
 which strew the field, does not once enter 
 into the economy of the profession. And 
 the objector admires this glittering array, 
 and never once thinks to censure this lavish 
 expenditure for death purposes; and yet 
 the equipage worn by one of these minions 
 of the Angel of Death, would furnish a 
 whole lodge with the badges of the order. 
 But no sooner does an Odd Fellow make 
 his appearance with the badge of humanity, 
 and of moral lessons, by which to train his 
 better feelings to tenderness, and instead 
 of making widows and orphans, to alleviate 
 
156 
 
 their sorrows and administer to their wants, 
 than the welkin rings with u Oh ! the 
 extravagance of Odd Fellows ! " But sup- 
 pose Odd Fellows should wear just such 
 badges as the objector would have them, 
 how long before we should hear another 
 objector from another quarter saying, "You 
 cannot think very highly of your institu- 
 tion, or you would clothe it better." 
 
 The truth is, persons connected with this 
 society feel that it is worthy of a proper 
 representation, and while it continues as 
 it is, we sincerely hope it may enjoy such 
 attention and representation ; for of all this 
 we believe it every way worthy. 
 
 Men are not very apt to lavish attention 
 on unworthy objects, especially those of a 
 moral nature ; but when they do this, and 
 more especially when persons of all classes 
 do this, it is very good evidence that the 
 subject which they treat thus, is, in their 
 judgment, one worthy to be honored and 
 
157 
 
 respected. Those who understand the 
 subject the best, reckon Odd Fellowship to 
 be worthy of this attention ; and those who 
 know little or nothing of it, complain of 
 them for rendering such a judgment, and 
 maintaining, without compulsion, such a 
 practice. 
 
 14 
 
& u n h o 
 
 tOe object to ptxr name — ' GDttr Idioms ! * " 
 
 T would seem as though the 
 opposers of this institution 
 were determined to cripple 
 or crush it under some form. 
 Hence, when they are met at 
 one objection, where they had 
 entrenched themselves, they im- 
 mediately fly to another, as 
 though they hoped, by taking 
 shelter under successive subterfuges, 
 or starting a whole array of phan- 
 toms of their own creation, to frighten the 
 lovers of this cause from their position, or 
 by clothing the public mind with prejudice, 
 to bar effectually the onward march of the 
 order. Here, then, after we had patiently 
 threaded our way through the mazes of a 
 whole wilderness of objections, and hoped 
 
AMULET. 159 
 
 here to find rest, we are aroused from our 
 fond hopes by a whisper in our ears from a 
 spectre-like form, " We object to the name 
 of your institution — ' Odd Fellows ! ' " Oh ! 
 horror! So here we are again, fairly at 
 sea, navigating this dangerous name-ocean, 
 where, we suppose, according to the objec- 
 tor, many a fair craft has foundered on a 
 name, a horrid name ! Yery well, what is 
 there in a name, after all? Are names 
 essential qualities of objects, or merely signs 
 of qualities? Nay, are they the signs of 
 qualities at all? Is not their office still 
 lower than this, and do they represent in 
 any way, unless it is by conventional agree- 
 ment, under certain circumstances, more 
 than the fact of mere existences ; and these, 
 quite as often as otherwise, arise from 
 merely accidental circumstances, of which 
 numberless instances might be given. For 
 instance, the name of Christian was origi- 
 nally designed as one of reproach, but not- 
 withstanding, was adopted by the church at 
 
160 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 the time, and has been by the world since. 
 So with the terms Puritan and Methodist. 
 Now if men have been pleased to furnish a 
 nomenclature for this order, and it has seen 
 fit to adopt what has been furnished to its 
 hands, of what harm has it been guilty, 
 more than those named above ? 
 
 In these instances, the cause was enough 
 to elevate the name, and make it respec- 
 table. Let it be so in this. 
 
 The name does not make the thing. 
 Neither does it add to nor detract from it a 
 single quality. We might apply the term 
 virtue to vice, but this would not change 
 the quality of the action one iota, nor 
 would it render, the one less odious, or the 
 other less commendable. Were we to call 
 gold lead, or lead gold, these metals would 
 retain the qualities they now possess, in 
 spite of the name ; and so with men. How 
 many have borne the name of Socrates, but 
 did the world ever enjoy more than one 
 sage of Athens ? Many a Washington has 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 161 
 
 lived in our day, yet there is only one who 
 is entitled to the appellation of Father of 
 his Country. We have known many 
 Frankhnsj and yet the world boasts of 
 only one who could devise the means to 
 master the hissing lightning, and tame it 
 into the service of man. Who does not see 
 in all this, the cause or the man giving 
 character to the name, and not the name to 
 the cause or the man. It is true, a name 
 might have been found by which to desig- 
 nate this institution, possessing to the pop- 
 ular ear a little more euphony than the one 
 it has, but so long as it answers our purpose, 
 and as there is no law for imprisoning or 
 hanging men for their names, we hope we 
 may be permitted to wear ours. 
 
 14* 
 
" M makts Christians frUcwsfjtp % iflukefo 
 anb tlje JnfiM." 
 
 IOGENES, it is said, on one 
 occasion, was seen walking 
 the streets of Athens at noon- 
 day with a lantern, and when 
 enquired of what he was look- 
 ing for, answered, "■ I am look- 
 ing for an honest man." So it 
 seems our opponents, at noon-day, 
 not contented with the light 
 which already blazes on this subject, 
 are abroad with tapers, rush-lights, 
 and torches, peering into every crevice and 
 corner, not to find a virtue, however, but to 
 see how many bad things they can guess, 
 and find, and say, about Odd Fellows. It is 
 further objected, that "it makes Christians 
 fellowship the wicked and the infidel." 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS* AMULET. 163 
 
 This, however, is only the same objection 
 which we have already answered, put into a 
 new dress; but notwithstanding, we will 
 answer it, as there is one feature presented 
 in this form, which was not fully expressed, 
 and therefore was not met under the objec- 
 tion which asserts that this society compels 
 the good and the bad to associate together. 
 The great difficulty in this form which the 
 objection has assumed, appears to be in the 
 persons whom we fellowship. If it is 
 intended to be said that we fellowship all of 
 the man's belief, we flatly deny the charge. 
 There is not such a thing hinted at in the 
 whole order. The institution does teach 
 toleration, which we suppose means simply 
 to allow every man the same privilege which 
 we ask for ourself, that is of selecting and 
 enjoying his own opinion, on any and every 
 subject; and this is a right which is guar- 
 anteed to every man, in all moral and civil 
 codes. " Hence that man's opinions are tol- 
 erated, though not espoused, by every mem- 
 
164 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 ber of society. The objecto? fellowships the 
 very men to whom he objects, as an Ameri- 
 can citizen, as a temperance man, as a 
 benevolent man ; that is, he fellowships him 
 just so far as he thinks he is right, and no 
 farther. The fact that he is persuaded that 
 he thinks right, and acts right, on some sub- 
 jects, does not make it follow as a necessary 
 consequence that he does so on all subjects. 
 This is the principle of fellowship among 
 Christian churches. They act together, and 
 have what is denominated fellowship, not- 
 withstanding each holds much of what the 
 other denominates error ; they fellowship as 
 far as they agree. Such is the case in Odd 
 Fellowship. We believe it is the duty of 
 all men to be friendly, to help each other in 
 the time of need, to contribute to each 
 other's happiness and comfort. Here we 
 are agreed ; here we mutually believe each 
 other to be right ; and so far, and no farther, 
 our fellowship extends. We do here* what 
 good common sense^ and reason, and the 
 
165 
 
 Bible demand of every moral being — 
 approve what we conscientiously believe to 
 be right, and condemn what is wrong. 
 
 Here is one thing, however, which sur- 
 prises us not a little. The objector inti- 
 mates at least, that there are a great many 
 bad, wicked, and infidel men in this society. 
 How this may be, we are unable to say. It 
 has not been our fortune, however, to meet 
 with very many of this class, and we have 
 had a pretty extensive acquaintance with 
 the order. But we have had the fortune to 
 meet with a great many men who stood, 
 wherever they were known, deservedly 
 high for piety, religious zeal, and consist- 
 ency of life, although they sometimes met 
 with irreligious, infidel, wicked men, accord- 
 ing to the objector. And we have often 
 wished, most heartily, that as much could 
 be said of some, not all (for there are some 
 honorable exceptions), of our objectors, 
 though they profess to dwell constantly 
 in the bosom of the church. 
 
166 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 We see, however, how far the fellowship 
 of the order reaches, and that this spectre 
 of fellowship, like all others which visit our 
 world, is either only imaginary, the fruit 
 of -not exactly a disordered, but of a preju- 
 diced mind, a creature only of air. 
 
"dDttr jFdlotns are bounb to sljkltr tacl) ofytx 
 from Jptmtsljttient m\)tn (Bmtltg." 
 
 <^JJ^FTEK thunder, we generally 
 have rain," was the only reply 
 of Socrates when Xantippe, 
 after having exhausted her 
 ingenuity to arouse his pas- 
 sions, and as a last resort pour- 
 ed some dirty water upon him 
 from a window. And so it ap- 
 pears to be with our opposers; 
 after having exhausted all their re- 
 sources to accomplish something else, 
 and perhaps not being fully satisfied 
 wi£h their own effort, they now think to 
 spatter us a little, so that in any event we 
 may not appear quite as clean as we 
 otherwise should. 
 
168 
 
 Hence, we have this objection, " Odd 
 Fellows are bound to shield each other 
 from punishment, when guilty ; and the 
 minister who is a member of this society, 
 will protect its members, who are accused 
 before him, so that the church cannot ob- 
 tain redress when she has been wronged 
 by her members." There are two parts to 
 this objection ; one relates to matters of a 
 civil character, the other to those of an 
 ecclesiastical. As relates to the first part 
 of this objection, which is, that Odd Fel- 
 lows are bound to shield each other from 
 merited punishment, it were answer enough 
 to say the Koran was never more false 
 than such an assertion. Every Odd Fel- 
 low knows that he is taught, and strictly 
 charged, directly the opposite of this. The 
 importance of conforming to the laws of 
 the country where he may be, is directly 
 and forcibly urged upon him, and he is 
 assured that in violating these laws, he not 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 169 
 
 only violates the spirit but the letter of 
 the laws of the order. 
 
 In many instances, a violation of civil 
 law excludes a member from the associa- 
 tion. Hence, when members of this insti- 
 tution are guilty of crime, we feel ourselves 
 doubly bound to bring them to justice, for 
 such are guilty of a double crime ; they 
 have violated two codes by which they have 
 solemnly promised to be governed ; and 
 when a member is found in these unhappy 
 circumstances, other members are strictly 
 charged not to cover up or palliate his 
 guilt. As to the ecclesiastical objection, 
 were it the case that the minister was 
 clothed with absolute power, there might 
 be, could we bring ourselves to believe a 
 man standing in this sacred relation would 
 dare be so base, some apparent weight in 
 the objection ; but since all churches with 
 which we happen to be acquainted, try 
 their accused members by their peers, the 
 minister only sitting as judge in the case, 
 
 15 
 
170 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 having no power to move, only as the jury 
 shall say guilty or not guilty, or we are 
 unable to see the force of the objection at 
 all. We think, however, this circumstance 
 is sufficient to show the impossibility of such 
 an occurrence as the objector supposes. 
 
 But suppose we were to admit the possi- 
 bility of such an occurrence ; what then ? 
 Why, in most, we think in all instances, the 
 parties have the right to an appeal to a 
 higher tribunal, where any irregularity or 
 partialities in the court below, would be 
 detected ; and shame and disgrace, if not 
 punishment, would fall on him who could so 
 far depart from his duty as to favor the 
 guilty, under any circumstances whatever. 
 Were there no other, these views, we think, 
 would sufficiently obviate the objection ; for 
 we can hardly conceive one so stupid, and 
 so steeped in folly, even had he the dispo- 
 sition, as to venture his reputation, on such 
 a procedure, when the means of detection 
 were so certain and so easy. But let all 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 171 
 
 this be as it may, what we said in answer to 
 that part of the objection relating to civil 
 matters, is equally applicable laere. A 
 double obligation rests on the administrator, 
 to see that the offending member is pun- 
 ished. Now look for a moment, at the 
 character which these accusers ascribe to 
 their brethren, no matter whether laymen 
 or clergy ; men who, perhaps, were in the 
 church before their accusers were born ; 
 who have manifested, and do yet, an uncom- 
 promising zeal for the advancement of the 
 holy cause which they profess ; men whose 
 property, time, and talents, are unreservedly 
 devoted to the advancement of all that is 
 good ; men against whom slander dare not 
 breathe; who have ever been considered 
 ornaments to the body with which they 
 were connected, until now they have com- 
 mitted the wonderful offence of becoming 
 Odd Fellows ; no other crime or offence is 
 alleged against them; to all appearance, 
 they are as good, they live as devotional as 
 
172 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 ever ; and yet they are suspicious characters. 
 Let those judge thus who please, who find 
 comfort in it, but before they settle down in 
 thut judgment, let them go and read the 
 fiftieth Psalm and the ninth commandment, 
 for their especial edification ; let them study 
 the import of charity, as taught by the 
 Sacred Scriptures, and of toleration, as 
 taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, when the 
 disciples came and reported one who was 
 casting out devils in his name, but who 
 would not follow them, and they forbade 
 him. "Forbid him not," said he, "for no 
 man that can do a miracle in my name, can 
 lightly speak evil of me." Here is another 
 objection, which, like its predecessors, is 
 without foundation and without weight ; 
 and we would that it were as sinless on the 
 part of those who make it, as it is without 
 foundation so far as it relates to Odd Fellows. 
 Thus we have passed through this long array 
 of objections to the . Independent Order of 
 Odd Fellows. How successfully and con- 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 173 
 
 clusively we have met and answered them, 
 our readers must determine. One grace, 
 however, we think will be awarded us, that 
 is, patience ; and another we have tried to 
 exercise, which is candor and fairness. If 
 we have been lead astray at any point, let it 
 be attributed to inadvertence, not design. 
 
 As to the character of the objections 
 urged against the order, an enlightened 
 public will judge of them. The weight and 
 importance of each, we are aware will strike 
 different minds with different force : though 
 we have endeavored to treat each with can- 
 dor, and with reason. Yet, we must say, 
 .this has been done as a* matter of respect, 
 not because we considered them worthy of 
 the importance the objector would seem to 
 attach to them. 
 
 Several of these objections we consider of 
 the most frivolous character, having, if 
 allowed their full force, without the least 
 palliating circumstance, no moral character 
 whatever. It ought always to be borne in 
 
 15* 
 
174 
 
 mind, that an objection to be of force, when 
 levelled against a moral subject, must 
 involve some moral principle, of greater or 
 less weight ; a mere capricious faultfinding, 
 in any case, is so far from being praise- 
 worthy, that it is in the highest degree 
 contemptible. From this part of our inves- 
 tigation, which has occupied so much of our 
 time, we now turn to one possessing more 
 beauties, and which, we have no doubt, will 
 possess greater attractions to the mind 
 imbued with the true spirit of benevolence 
 and charity. 
 
PART III. 
 
 E come now to speak of 
 the actual advantages aris- 
 ing to individuals from a 
 connection with the Inde- 
 pendent Order of .Odd Fel- 
 lows. 
 
 The motto selected and 
 adopted by the order, is " Friend- 
 ship, Love, and Truth." In its 
 economy, and in the minds of its 
 members, these are not mere empty 
 words ; for on these the whole super- 
 structure rests ; on this basis the whole 
 internal procedure of the order is carried 
 
176 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 on ; here rests its constitution, its by-laws, 
 and its practice ; these form the main-spring 
 of all its action, and the unyielding cement 
 of its union. 
 
 By Love, we do not wish to be under- 
 stood as speaking of the sickly fondness 
 manifested by effeminate lovers under that 
 name, and which plants its root and flour- 
 ishes best in the soil of fancy ; which has 
 an eye only for a pretty cheek, a symmetri- 
 cal form, a lofty carriage, a captivating man* 
 ner, or those artful and merely external 
 blandishments, which so often captivate, 
 though they may have an existence inde- 
 pendent of all true worth or principle. But 
 we mean that respectful affection which is 
 founded in the really valuable and substan-* 
 tial qualities of mind ; the beaming forth of 
 the true excellence of the noble soul 
 which inhabits the external and visible 
 man: in a word, that which is the man 
 himself. With this view of our kind, Odd 
 Fellowship engages in its appropriate work. 
 
a 
 
 tlje Social Jntluma of ©oft JdLottmljtp. 
 
 ^DD FELLOWSHIP proposes 
 to confer on its members 
 peculiar social advantages, 
 and at the same time protect 
 them from those dangers 
 which often lurk in ambush 
 around resorts devoted to these 
 purposes. 
 
 The drawing room is a most 
 unfit place to form an opinion of 
 the character of men ; so is the place 
 where the care and anxiety of a business 
 life rest with their crushing weight upon 
 him. Under such circumstances you do not 
 see the man, you only view the drapery 
 which imperative circumstances have 
 thrown around him. In one instance, his 
 brow is prepared to be garnished with a 
 
178 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 wreath of smiles, and all the beauty of his 
 being will be called up for the occasion. 
 In the other instance, he acts equally under 
 a disguise. Here the sternness of what he 
 terms life's realities are crowding around 
 him, and as in the drawing room you know 
 him only as a man of pleasure, so here you 
 know him only as a man of business. 
 
 To understand his worth, you must 
 place him in circumstances where the 
 diamonds of his nature may flash out with- 
 out any borrowed lustre, from the casket in 
 which they repose ; you must place him in 
 a middle region on a line dividing the two 
 extremes ; here place around him men in 
 every circumstance of life, and of every 
 creed and profession, and before him a 
 worthy object to enlist his feelings, and 
 then you will have evoked the true man, 
 and may study him at your leisure. Does 
 he now enter into the feelings and interests 
 of those around him? Does he act here, 
 where all eyes except a few are shut out 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 179 
 
 from hhn, with interest and energy ? Has 
 he forgotten the caste which the world has 
 arbitrarily assigned to the men aronnd him ? 
 Does he look at them with a fellow feeling, 
 and honor them as men, not as rich or poor, 
 but men who are acting on the same broad 
 bases as himself, and whose hearts beat 
 responsive to the same calls as his own ? 
 Here it is you will find and learn the man : 
 here, where we listen in vain for those 
 sounds of discord which ever jar on our ears 
 without. Here the better feelings of his 
 nature will gain the mastery, the long 
 imprisoned, man will be unlocked, and will 
 come forth uttering his own true language. 
 And here we may study him, stripped of his 
 disguise, and love him, not because he has 
 a form and complexion like ours, but 
 because he possesses a nature which can 
 sympathize with those feelings of our own 
 which our judgments, our religion, and our 
 hearts tell us is right. It is on such devel- 
 opments of character we found our right 
 
180 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 attachments, and such are the develop- 
 ments this institution makes. This is the 
 true social feeling which, when brought 
 into play, heightens our enjoyments and 
 makes our intercourse what it was designed 
 to be. The man who is thus influenced 
 must be a better citizen, a better compan- 
 ion, and a better parent. Those feelings 
 of misanthropy and distrust, which so often 
 embitter the lives of men, and prowls like 
 some beast of prey around the hearth-stone, 
 are chased away by the smile which this 
 confidence inspires. Men under its happy 
 effects meet as men,- not as mere commer- 
 cial machines, nor as sensual fountains, 
 whose happiness is measured by the near- 
 ness to the brim to which they are filled 
 with the gross substances of this life. Their 
 pleasure arises from the out-gushing of 
 the same feelings towards the same objects, 
 which is heightened by a sense of oneness, 
 and equality, and respect, which pervades 
 the whole. There is here a confidence of 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 181 
 
 protection against wrong, which is found 
 first in this natural confidence each holds 
 in the other ; but should this be abused by 
 any one holding these sacred bonds too 
 loosely, the suffering member has redress in 
 a salutary discipline, which seldom or never 
 fails to redress the wrong done a complain- 
 ing member. It is this state of things 
 which makes the lodge-room attractive. 
 He who goes there knows he will meet 
 nothing which can offend the eye, the ear, 
 or the heart. He meets friends. Does he 
 need counsel ? he finds those here who will 
 be happy to give it to him. Does he need 
 comfort and consolation ? here he never tells 
 his grief without sympathy. Has he been 
 wronged? here are those who in all laud- 
 able ways will aid him in obtaining redress. 
 Has he met with cruel rebuffs and jeers in 
 the world without ? here he finds a state of 
 society which will redeem, in a measure, 
 that world from the reproach of heartless- 
 ness and cruelty; for here he will learn 
 
 16 
 
182 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 that those are the exceptions, not the rule, 
 and hence will be enabled to look upon the 
 world with less of the feeling of misan- 
 thropy and reproach, and more with pity 
 and commiseration. Such are the social 
 elements which are fanned into existence 
 by the breath of this institution ; such 
 the atmosphere in which its members are 
 taught to live and breathe. 
 
 We do not say that these chords, which 
 are designed, only to discourse harmony to 
 our ears, never become relaxed, and some- 
 times jar discordantly to the sense. It 
 would be a miracle were it otherwise ; but 
 this again calls into play the happy influence 
 of the society, as it adjusts the discordant 
 member, and so obliterates the traces of his 
 departure from duty, as to erase almost the 
 recollection of the occurrence. It is not 
 possible to mingle in such society without 
 feeling strong resolution, as it comes up from 
 the heart's deep fountain, proposing to us to 
 become better as we are made happier men. 
 
"(Dbb jFell0tt)0()tp prctot0 tlje illorals anb 
 £jabit0 of men." 
 
 NOTHER happy result aris- 
 ing from this institution, is 
 its protecting influence over 
 the morals and habits of its 
 members. Relaxation from 
 business is needed by all men. 
 The ever-strung bow must in time 
 lose its elasticity, and the mind or 
 body constantly worked will as 
 certainly become weary and lose its 
 power to act at all, or will act but 
 feebly. The physical and the intellectual 
 man imperatively demand rest, where it may 
 find change and amusement. This men will 
 have ; and it is unfortunate for our times 
 that so many places of doubtful character 
 
184 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 and tendency spread out their amusements 
 to invite the enjoyment. The bar-room, the 
 sitting-room of the hotel, the restaurant, the 
 billiard-room, and a multitude of places of 
 this character, become the resort of many, 
 and especially of young men, who, after the 
 toils of the day, seek entertainment and 
 rest. The influence such retreats have on 
 the mind, the danger which lurks within 
 their halls, is too well known to need 
 a description here. Many minds have 
 become aroused to these dangers, and much 
 has been done to crush the demon, and in 
 some instances, we may say with partial 
 effect. But to be successful, the sentinels 
 placed to guard men against evil must 
 always be on their post; there must be 
 something stated and uniform, something on 
 which they can depend, something which 
 will obliterate all traces of the past, and 
 hold its treasure a willing captive to its 
 influence. All this we have in the regular 
 and stated meetings of this order. No one 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 185 
 
 does or can come there, who has not an 
 immediate interest in what is occurring. 
 
 Here men are placed beyond the hum 
 of the active pursuits of. life ; they meet 
 and associate with friends ; the moral 
 atmosphere around them is pure and hal- 
 lowing ; those agencies which corrupt and 
 intoxicate without, are here excluded : 
 while a multitude of agencies are acting 
 around him which mould the heart and the 
 affections into a beautiful moral symmetry, 
 and give tone to the better feelings of our 
 nature. He who spends an evening here 
 will feel satisfied with himself. He goes to 
 his home with a heart more cheerful, with 
 a mind more tranquil. He will feel more in 
 friendship with himself and the world around 
 him. His moral feelings will be instructed, 
 his views of moral obligation enlarged ; in 
 a word, he will be a better man. To these 
 influences add the care and watchfulness 
 which is constantly exercised over members, 
 with the discipline to which they are sub- 
 
 16* 
 
186 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 ject, and we can hardly conceive of a class 
 of restraints designed to secure from evil 
 influences better calculated to accomplish 
 so good a purpose. 
 
 Because they do not hear of these 
 corrections being applied, many have been 
 led, erroneously enough, to suppose they do 
 not exist. In respect to an erring brother, 
 the Bible says, " Go and tell him his fault 
 between thee and him alone, and if he 
 repent, forgive him." So says Odd Fellow- 
 ship. As no advantage could be gained by 
 publishing the errors of another to the 
 world, we wisely and humanely keep such 
 things where they ought to be, until every 
 reformatory measure has been exhausted 
 and failed, and then we are permitted to 
 tell the fact of the dereliction of the erring 
 one, and his separation from the institution 
 at the same time. And such is the force 
 of this moral influence, working in the 
 retreat of the lodge-rocfm, as to have 
 effected a most happy change in the life 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 187 
 
 and habits of many young men with whom 
 we have the happiness to be acquainted. 
 Difficulties which have threatened the most 
 serious results to the parties and their fami- 
 lies, we have known settled in the most 
 amicable and permanent manner. Animosi- 
 ties which have festered in the hearts of 
 men for years, men who have passed each 
 other with averted looks and angry feel- 
 ings, we have known brought together and 
 reconciled by the force of this influence. 
 And some, with whom we have the pleasure 
 of an acquaintance, who are now worthy 
 members of the Christian church, received 
 their first religious impressions while these 
 moral forces, and the bearing they were to 
 have on their lives and conduct, were being 
 explained and enforced to them in the 
 lodge-room. Such we believe to be the 
 legitimate influence of this society; there 
 may be exceptions, there doubtless are ; but 
 in what society or institution do not such 
 exceptions sometimes obtain ? To prevent 
 
188 
 
 crime is a much greater virtue than to 
 punish it. This we are confident the insti- 
 tution has done to a far wider extent than 
 is usually acceded to it. Many a young 
 man, by imbuing his mind with a feeling of 
 self respect, and a sense of obligation to 
 society and to God, has been held back 
 from dissipation, and secured against the 
 wily influences of the designing, until his 
 character has assumed a form and consist- 
 ency for usefulness in life. 
 
HO, 
 
 " €)bb JdlotDs^p mlttoaUs t\)t Jtloral feelings." 
 
 MOTHER admirable feature 
 connected with this institu- 
 tion is, that it cultivates the 
 moral feelings. A just sense 
 of another's privileges and 
 rights, is an attainment of 
 invaluable worth among men. It 
 is a virtue which all commend, 
 and yet it is to be lamented that 
 it is one which too few practice. 
 This is a virtue which is insisted 
 upon by Odd Fellowship. All members are 
 forbidden to embroil themselves with any 
 who, through ignorance, or even ill-will, 
 may traduce the order. The doctrine that 
 others have the same right to their opinions 
 as we have to ours, is constantly kept in 
 
190 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 view. Each, in these respects, is required 
 and exhorted to square his life by the 
 golden rule, "As ye would that others 
 should do unto you, do ye even so unto 
 them, -for this is the law and the Prophets." 
 Here the moral feelings are brought 
 directly under the teaching of the best of 
 schoolmasters, Divine Eevelation. Were 
 such instruction only in theory, it might 
 pass like much other teaching which is 
 given to the world ; it might garnish many 
 a page, and comparatively but few lives. 
 But here it is reduced under a regulating 
 system to practice. It not only exacts tol- 
 eration and charity, but it sets the member 
 at once to acting on these principles. The 
 individual acknowledges the beauty and 
 fitness of the theory. The society says to 
 him, go and practice it, and learn the reality 
 of its enjoyment. He accordingly com- 
 mences at once his first work — contribut- 
 ing for the needy, and by the practice ac- 
 quires the habit of an active benevolence. 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 191 
 
 At his first step lie learns the luxury there 
 is in doing good. " That it is more blessed 
 to give than it is to receive." Such is his 
 first step. He now advances a second, and 
 loves to talk of those who are the recipients 
 of his bestowments. He finds it true in this 
 case, as in every other, " where the treasure 
 is, there will the heart be also." He is thus 
 led imperceptibly on to take an interest in 
 the welfare of those around him, which he 
 never felt before. He begins to look on his 
 race with other eyes, and feel for them with 
 another heart ; so that when he is called to 
 the discharge of the personal offices 
 enjoined by the order, he finds his mind 
 fitted for the delicate duty devolving on 
 him. We might name many instances in 
 confirmation of this view of our subject, but 
 one or two must satisfy us. 
 
 In a sweet and retired village in central 
 New York, which nestles modestly in the 
 lap of high surrounding hills, and more than 
 half veils itself with the foliage of its abun- 
 
192 THE ODD FELLOWS* AMULET. 
 
 dant and thrifty growth of beautiful orna- 
 mental shrubbery, the tall bulwarks of 
 which are garnished with delightful cascades 
 and high water-falls, which come sweeping 
 down their bold and rocky channels, like 
 streams of brilliants, to enrich the most 
 friendly people in the world, and by their 
 music tranquilize their minds, amid the ac- 
 tive scenes which enliven the broad, bright 
 Eden vale beneath ; here, in such a place, 
 and in the society of such a people, one of 
 the choicest minds good New England ever 
 gave to the world — and she has given it 
 many of whom she may be justly proud — 
 fixed his residence, and hoped, with the 
 partner of his fond heart, with activity and 
 frugality, to enjoy happiness and a compe- 
 tence. 
 
 A few brief years rolled on, and brought 
 to these choice spirits no change, only from 
 bliss to bliss. Their kindness won all hearts ; 
 none met but to smile on them. Not even 
 slander could find in the dungeon of his 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 193 
 
 iron heart a single shaft he dare lift against 
 one so much beloved; for well he knew 
 there was goodness in that nature which 
 would neutralize an ocean of his venom. 
 Such was the kindness of that heart that it 
 held a perfect sway over the minds he 
 taught, and such his varied information 
 that the oldest and deepest read hung on 
 his lips to gather knowledge. 
 
 His kind heart could not withhold from 
 those more needy than himself, when he 
 possessed the means to relieve their wants. 
 Hence he was always poor ; and yet he felt 
 that in the sight of Heaven at least, his was 
 an honorable poverty, at which he need not 
 blush. But since the Fall, death and his 
 minions have rioted over the earth, and, as 
 they list, strike all, both bad and good. He 
 of whom we speak fell wounded by his 
 shaft. Yet he struggled like a giant against 
 the hard disease which lay upon him, and, 
 leaning on his crutch and staff, he would 
 cheerfully away to the recitation room, to 
 
 17 
 
194 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 point out the path of knowledge to his 
 listening pupils ; or, when too feeble to do 
 more, would call them to his room, and, as 
 he sat bolstered' in his bed, would discharge 
 the duties of his profession. Yet all who 
 looked upon him saw that the vital fire was 
 waning apace. If any asked him, why this 
 incessant toil, they felt they had his answer 
 when his moistened and eloquent eye rested 
 on his wife and babe. He had been the 
 faithful and devoted servant of those who 
 called him; he had led their children to 
 knowledge by his wisdom, and had pointed 
 them to virtue by his example. Something 
 had been kindly done by the trustees of the 
 institution he served, by making the ser- 
 vices required of him more nominal than 
 real, but the time had arrived when they 
 could do no more, while the cruise of oil 
 and the cask of meal were now exhausted. 
 Death, too, was near, and the almost wid- 
 owed wife and mother saw, on one hand, 
 want, lifting his fleshless finger, pointing to 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 195 
 
 the child of her love ; on the other, her 
 dying husband, the bitterness of whose cup 
 of sorrow must be increased even by the 
 softest whisper of her apprehensions ; and 
 she, with all the delicacy and diffidence of 
 woman, was far from home and kindred, to 
 whom alone she felt she could appeal with 
 certainty for sympathy and aid. For her 
 who had not known want in all her life, 
 now to feel it, when the prop Heaven had 
 given her on which to lean in such an 
 hour, was sinking from under her, was an 
 unmingled cup of bitterness indeed. We 
 were in the lodge-room when one of the 
 members of the order, through the prompt- 
 ings of his own generous nature, made 
 known the wants of this family, and their 
 circumstances. None asked the amount in 
 the treasury, none proposed to touch it; 
 but many asked the privilege to give ; all 
 did give, and with hearts which, if their 
 eyes and countenances were an index, 
 rejoiced in the opportunity. 
 
196 
 
 That night, in one house at least in that 
 sweet vale, there were grateful worshippers 
 at the foot of the cross. In that house 
 were such as felt like those who for the 
 first time gathered manna in the desert ; 
 who felt the force of the tranquilizing as- 
 surance of David, "I have been young,' 
 and now am old, yet have I never seen 
 the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging 
 bread." In a few weeks after the occur- 
 rence we have spoken of above, this good 
 man became a tenant of the house of 
 silence. The order followed his remains 
 to the place of rest, as citizens ; and con- 
 tributed from their private funds near fifty 
 dollars, to defray the funeral charges, and 
 to enable the now lone widow to return to 
 her friends and the home of her childhood. 
 
 In this transaction, Odd Fellows did no 
 more than was their duty, and we only 
 name it to show the influence the order 
 has on the moral feelings, and that this 
 influence is not always unproductive of 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 197 
 
 good results. Neither would we wish to 
 intimate that these men were really better 
 than other citizens. Had they possessed 
 an organization as well adapted, and as 
 convenient for such an office, they would 
 doubtless have done the same thing ; the 
 circumstance shows the influence, and the 
 advantages of organization, when we would 
 direct the affections and hearts of men. In 
 other instances, we have seen these societies 
 devising plans, and circulating among them- 
 selves subscriptions, for the relief of the 
 poor generally, in the places where they 
 lived, and expending, in a single winter, 
 hundreds of dollars in this praiseworthy 
 work, and with that cheerfulness and de- 
 light which always animates those who 
 chase want from the suffering. In such 
 efforts, you might see those who, ' under 
 different circumstances, would never have 
 thought of looking out the destitute in 
 their miserable abodes, wending their way 
 through streets and lanes deserted by all 
 
 17* 
 
198 THE ODD FELLOWS* AMULET. 
 
 but those whom poverty compelled to 
 reside there, and the feet of those adven- 
 turous ones who were inquiring after the 
 virtuous needy, and with a delicacy and 
 tenderness which do honor to our species, 
 proffering their aid wherever such subjects 
 of want could be found. 
 
 These are not cases existing in the imag- 
 ination only, but are beautiful realities, on 
 which we love to dwell, but not because 
 such instances are rare in our country ; we 
 know they are not, for many are the asso- 
 ciations arising from the religious influences 
 around us, which partake in this truly good- 
 Samaritan work. But when we see those 
 who are denominated worldly men; when 
 the attorney can be drawn from his office, 
 the physician from his profession, the 
 merchant from his counting-room, and the 
 mechanic from his shop, to go on errands 
 like these, we must realize that a new 
 era has dawned upon us, and we ought to 
 respect and honor the means which has 
 
199 
 
 peopled the field of kindness and charity 
 with these new auxiliaries. 
 
 These instances, of course, are cases 
 where relief has been extended by its 
 members to those out of the order ; but 
 they are instances which show most con- 
 clusively that the institution holds the heart 
 under a moral influence, which exacts from 
 it an acknowledgment of its duty, and to 
 some extent awakes it to its discharge. 
 We think it cannot be possible that men 
 should be thus engaged in these works, so 
 justly considered moral, and their moral 
 nature not be touched and influenced by 
 them. It does appear to us, the Great 
 Teacher teaches this doctrine when he 
 assures us, that to give a cup of cold water 
 in the name of a disciple, is to secure a 
 disciple's reward. We do not wish to be 
 understood as saying that such work is 
 properly religion, as taught by the Bible ; 
 but we do say, it is one of the virtues 
 
200 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 taught by true religion, and he who prac- 
 tises it manifests a state of moral feeling 
 which advances him nearer to what he 
 must be, if he would be truly religious. 
 As a consequence he must be made better. 
 
"3t affbrto Helkf to Jamtlu0 in Skktu00." 
 
 MOTHER advantage which 
 attends a connection with this 
 institution, consists in the re- 
 lief it affords to the minds of 
 those families whose head is 
 laid on a bed of sickness, from 
 much of the care, embarrassment, 
 and fatigue inseparable from such 
 visitations. At such times, the 
 burden of anxiety and care falls on 
 that class of persons who are least 
 able to bear it, the female. On her 
 in this hour of intense anxiety comes the 
 whole weight of external business, the labor 
 of obtaining proper night attendants for the 
 sufferer, domestic oversight, and the care 
 of the sick chamber, all crowned with grief 
 and the most intense solicitude so natural 
 
202 
 
 to her heart, for him she loves the best 
 of all in the world, and who now suffers. 
 Now is the time she reaps the advantages 
 arising from the order. Out of the dark- 
 ness, which hangs around her like a curtain 
 of night, glide forms unasked, the forms of 
 those she knows, the forms of friends ; they 
 come to lift and bear the load under which 
 she was fast sinking. They take the night- 
 taper from her hand, and bid her rest, while 
 they bend in sleepless vigils the livelong 
 night over him, who battles with mortal 
 pains as with his destiny ; and as often and 
 as regular as the recurring sunset, do they 
 return to minister to a pain-worn brother. 
 Under their vigilant watch, all without is 
 protected, and is safe. Waste, though ever 
 lurking in the train of disease, is here de- 
 feated in its design, and the affectionate and 
 bleeding-hearted wife smoothes the pillow 
 of him who is her soul's life, free from the 
 corrosion of keen-toothed care, in all else 
 but the convalescence of the object of her 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 203 
 
 solicitude. Now the bright stream of sub- 
 stantial aid flows out from the fountain, 
 where it has been accumulating, unbidden. 
 The sick man asks not, what is to become 
 of my wife ? where will my children find 
 bread ? he has only to look on those around 
 him, to find an answer, — he is satisfied. 
 Are his circumstances only easy ? Does 
 he win his bread by constant industry ? 
 The little store he has provided by his 
 unwearied toil and ever vigilant economy, 
 wastes not away, even though the hammer 
 has ceased to fall upon the ringing anvil, or 
 his plane no longer cleaves the yielding wood. 
 He now draws on other resources, both of 
 affection and of help. Here, again, in the 
 chamber of affliction are the hearts of men 
 schooled in morality ; here, from whence 
 they can look through the thin gauze of 
 mortality into the spiritrworld, they learn 
 what they need to bear such trials, what 
 they ought to possess in order to answer 
 the great end of their being, and what they 
 
204 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 must have, if they would pass the deep vale 
 of death on seraph's wings, and mount into 
 the full sunlight of an immortality of glad- 
 ness. 
 
 Let such as do not or cannot appreciate 
 these advantages, wait until the trial we 
 have been contemplating shall throw its 
 dark night around them, before they pass 
 judgment on the merits of such advantages. 
 Then, we apprehend, such will be better 
 qualified to appreciate the office, when they 
 shall feel the need of such welcome service. 
 
Qtnst of Sato xo\)tn among Strangers " 
 
 ;NE more advantage arising to 
 the members of this society, 
 we may be permitted to men- 
 tion. It is that which arises 
 from a sense of safety, when 
 removed to a distance from 
 home and kindred. 
 
 We live in an age of change. 
 He who thinks himself settled to- 
 day, knows not on what enterprise, 
 or towards what country he may be 
 bending his steps to-morrow. 
 
 Society is changing. Its elements may 
 be said, almost without a figure, to be con- 
 tinually passing from pole to pole, while the 
 great absorbing thought which possesses 
 every mind, is, how to acquire possessions in 
 
 18 
 
206 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 the world. In this state of things, it is not 
 surprising that there should be a lamentable 
 carelessness respecting the wants of others ; 
 that, as a consequence, many who are 
 deserving of a better fate, are left to pine 
 in want, and die unattended and unwept; 
 that others, reduced to poverty, and galled 
 by what they call the wrongs of the world 
 to them, should turn its enemies, and adopt 
 those summary means of subsistence, which 
 want often encourages, and which they are 
 brought to consider a just retaliation on 
 those who they conceive have wronged 
 them, is not strange. In such a state of 
 uncertainty, there are few who can leave 
 their homes for other lands, without just 
 apprehension for their safety, and any order 
 of things which can contribute to allay 
 these apprehensions, and lessen these uncer- 
 tainties is humane. But the Odd Fellow can 
 throw himself on this troubled wave of hu- 
 man life, and let it bear him where it may, 
 he has few apprehensions of want or suffer- 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 207 
 
 ing; he is conscious of holding in his hand 
 a wand which will bring up out of this 
 great life-commotion, this ocean of active 
 beings, help for his time of need. If sick, 
 if his resources are exhausted, if unholy 
 hands have in a moment stripped him of all 
 that was his, though he is surrounded only 
 by strangers, he has no occasion to beg, or 
 to feel that he subsists on charity ; he has 
 only to prove himself what he professes to 
 be, and his wants are redressed. 
 
 How often are we told of those we knew 
 and loved, who, when far from home and 
 friends, have at an unexpected moment 
 fallen the victim of disease, and while pros- 
 trate, perhaps unconscious, have been made 
 the victims of more cruel men ; and who, 
 when sufficient strength returned to enable 
 them to rise from the couch which bore 
 them, find themselves with shattered consti- 
 tutions and penniless, disease, and more 
 greedy men having eat out all their sub- 
 stance. Take the history of one such case. 
 
208 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 He has crept from his gloomy apartment, to 
 the haunts of business, and of active, 
 healthy life. He thinks of home, of 
 friends, of the comforts which, were he 
 there, would surround him. But his enfee- 
 bled limbs cannot carry him, his means are 
 exhausted, and he cannot live where he is ; 
 there are none to whom he can apply for 
 help, for he knows no one, and the story 
 which he tells to those around him, is the 
 one they have heard for the ten thousandth 
 time, and it has ceased to make an impres- 
 sion on their hearts. Still he is surrounded 
 by the deadly miasma which has already left 
 him only a mere fragment of his former self. 
 He sees those conveyances which might bear 
 him on the wings of the wind to his home, 
 going and returning daily, but they who 
 guide them have iron hearts, which can only 
 be penetrated by gold; pity for the poor, 
 haggard wretch who crawls to their feet, and 
 with all the eloquence which arises from the 
 consciousness that his life depends upon the 
 
THE ODD EELLOWS' AMULET. 209 
 
 plea he makes, finds no quivering chord 
 there to tremble responsive to his woe ; he 
 is again and again repelled, until despair 
 seizes on his heart. He turns his eyes, over- 
 flowing with bitter tears, towards his home ; 
 he thinks of a mother, a wife, a sister, it 
 may be his babes, for whom he has braved 
 all he now endures; he sees their little 
 hands reached out to beckon him home 
 again, and the fond visions of the past 
 crowd around his memory, peopled with the 
 faces of loved ones ; he thinks he hears the 
 music of their sweet voices once more 
 sounding in his ears, and in the intoxica- 
 tion of the delightful delirium, he sees the 
 world swim round and round, and hopes it 
 is bringing him to their embrace. ■%■■*■•%. 
 # * * The next morning, it is simply 
 announced in the public journal, " Found 
 dead in the streets, a stranger." Potters* 
 field closes over him, and they, the thoughts 
 of whom were last in his chilling heart, 
 weep for one whose rudely coffined form 
 
 18* 
 
210 THE ODD FELLOWS* AMULET. 
 
 sleeps alone, unheeded and unknown. How 
 wide the contrast, where the offices of this 
 society reach out their aid. 
 
 I see the stranger in the noisy city. He 
 has this moment arrived. His pallid face 
 and feeble step, as he summons all his re- 
 maining strength to hurry away from the din 
 and noise of the busy streets, which crash 
 down on his fevered brain like bolts of death, 
 tell me of the disease which is enthroned 
 within, and which breathes its deadly virus 
 along the channels of his boiling blood. I 
 tremble for his fate. I see he is intelligent, 
 and his mien assures me that he has been 
 used to the gentler influences of life. I feel 
 an interest for the stranger, and wonder who 
 will care for him here, where all is the 
 intoxication of enterprise, or the bewilder- 
 ment of change and curiosity. I fear for 
 his treatment ; and an instinctive shudder 
 steals over me, as I contemplate how lonely 
 he must be, what unmitigated suffering he 
 must endure, and what neglect put up with ; 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 211 
 
 perhaps he may die alone, unpitied and 
 unwept. I am tempted to form his 
 acquaintance, and do what little I can for 
 his s relief; but what can one do, a stranger 
 and alone ? While I thus muse, with a full 
 heart, balancing as well as I can between 
 prudence and duty, I see one in conversa- 
 tion with the host : they talk of the stran- 
 ger; they pass to the apartment assigned 
 him ; soon other forms pass in, and with 
 noiseless tread glide spectre-like to the door 
 of the room he occupies; they gently lift 
 the latch and enter ; soon another, and then 
 another group pass on, until that one cham- 
 ber appears to be the centre of attraction 
 to all comers. I wonder at this. Soon, one 
 by one, they pass out again, and, as they 
 pass mine host, I hear them say in sup- 
 pressed tones, give him every attention. I 
 gain the ear of the house-master and say, I 
 perceive the invalid gentleman is no stran- 
 ger here ; and am surprised to hear him say, 
 u Yes, perfectly so, he was never here until 
 
212 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 this hour." But he appears to have friends, 
 though a stranger. " Yes, there are those 
 here who will give him all needed atten- 
 tion." I wonder at this. Am I in a city 
 filled with such kindness and charity ? Do 
 the people here only need to be told that 
 a stranger has arrived and is sick, to call 
 them around him with such readiness ? Do 
 they understand instinctively when the 
 needy sets his foot on their pavement, and 
 as instinctively rally around him to proffer 
 their aid ? This must be one of Heaven's 
 favored spots on our thorny earth. The 
 reign of peace, with all its tranquilizing 
 influences, must have begun here, and Eden 
 have thrown back her morning to fan these 
 hearts with her gales of love. 
 
 This must be the focal spot, whence shall 
 radiate the glory of the long preached and 
 long desired millennium to all the earth. 
 It was thus I mused, when again the same 
 light foot-fall caught my ear, and two men 
 passed to the apartment of the stranger, in 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 213 
 
 whose interest my feelings had now become 
 intense ; and with a heart filled with amaze- 
 ment at what had transpired, I sought my 
 pillow for the night. At early dawn I 
 awoke, and with a mind filled with the 
 thoughts of the transactions of the preced- 
 ing evening, went forth determined to solve 
 this beautiful mystery. In passing, I 
 listened at the door of the apartment occu- 
 pied by the invalid — all was still within, 
 and I passed on. Soon, two gentlemen, 
 whom I had seen the evening before, passed 
 in and entered the sick-room ; those who 
 had watched out the night, passed away; 
 and it was thus, day after day and night 
 after night. Men came and went as regu- 
 larly, and almost as noiselessly as the sun 
 and stars ; until one morning at early dawn, 
 it was whispered in all our ears, that the 
 stranger was touching with his feet the brim 
 of the cold Jordan of death, and we all 
 hurried to witness the last sad spectacle. 
 We were struck, when we entered the apart- 
 
214 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 men! There, in a wide circle, stood many 
 gentlemen, who had assembled at this early- 
 hour, with true feeling and intense interest, 
 to witness the last sad step of a fellow mor- 
 tal, from time to the unmeasured existence 
 of eternity. A dim light fell faintly on the 
 noble brow of the dying man, and a silence 
 which was overwhelmingly eloquent reigned 
 through the apartment, save when a deep- 
 drawn sigh, which, as it came up from the 
 heart's deep well of feeling, sounded and 
 reverberated through the room like the low 
 mellow peal of some great organ pipe among 
 the old solemn arches of some gray and 
 time-worn Gothic temple. Soon, the suf- 
 ferer opened his languid eyes, and as he 
 looked around on those assembled — and 
 such a look ! a volume uttered all its pages 
 of gratitude in its single expression — and 
 then, in the merest whisper, which was made 
 startlingly audible by the stillness reigning 
 through the room, he said : u Brothers, I 
 thank you for all your attention and kind- 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 215 
 
 ness; this is all I have to give, except my 
 poor prayers, which I have unceasingly 
 offered for heaven's blessings to # attend and 
 reward yon." "I trust," said he, and he 
 struggled with his deep emotion, "I trust 
 you will inform my wife of all that has tran- 
 spired in my sickness. Send to her what 
 you have written from my lips — and ! 
 my sweet boy, must we par»t ? must I look 
 no more on those laughing eyes and enjoy 
 that merry careless laugh, and hear no more 
 the glad childish shout which welcomes me 
 to my happy home and fire-side ? " And as 
 one present wiped the great tears from his 
 manly cheeks, he repeated, as though he 
 would hush the rising emotion of those 
 around him, for all were in tears : " But the 
 order will care for them. I have full con- 
 fidence in their love and integrity. I die 
 in peace ; farewell ; I die in peace." And 
 without a struggle, his spirit passed to that 
 happy land where there is no more death. 
 On the following day, just as the sun was 
 
216 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 hiding himself in the far-off west, we stood 
 by the side of a new-made grave, the tenant 
 had not yet been laid in its deep chamber ; 
 there stood around it a solemn and weeping 
 concourse, and yet there was no mourner 
 there. Still all seemed to mourn. Tears 
 coursed down many a manly cheek. And 
 when the coffin was let gently down into 
 the earth, and the expressive evergreen fell 
 on it from each passing hand, sobs mingled 
 with the solemn and impressive service 
 which fell from the lips of the weeping 
 minister. All felt that a more potent elo- 
 quence came up from that stranger's grave 
 and coffin, than ever fell from human lips, 
 since He who went about doing good, spake 
 to man. It was the eloquence of a God- 
 directed Providence. 
 
 Now, who would hesitate which portion 
 to choose either for himself or his friend ? 
 and in such choice, do we not assert the 
 excellence of the portion which we select ? 
 Yet such is the bliss Odd Fellowship is 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 217 
 
 scattering all through our land. Thou- 
 sands are the hearts it is causing to rejoice, 
 in these daily and active ministrations. It 
 is not doing this by reducing the needy to 
 a crushing sense of beggary, but when the 
 stranger appears at its door, it reaches out 
 to him a full hand, and at the same time 
 says, " Take this, it is your right." To those 
 resting securely and in the midst of abun- 
 dance at their homes, cases like those which 
 we have detailed may seem incredible. 
 They cannot believe the world so careless 
 and hard-hearted as one case represents it, 
 or as kind and affectionate as it is made to 
 appear in the other. But could they read 
 the history which any one of our large 
 cities could present, for only a single day, 
 of cases quite similar to those we have 
 named, their doubts would vanish. But 
 who would undertake the task of chron- 
 icling these events of poverty and scenes 
 of heart-rending, in all our cities, for one 
 brief year ; and after they should be written 
 
 19 
 
218 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 out who has a heart stern enough to read 
 them ? The truth is, our world is full of 
 misery, and so far as man can see, multi- 
 tudes of these sufferers are innocent. Many, 
 whose prospects were for a time the most 
 nattering, have, without any error on their 
 part, been precipitated from their high ele- 
 vation in a moment, and made subjects of 
 the deepest want and suffering ; and these 
 form a large class who make up the vast 
 array that pine in solitude, without friends 
 or bread. We have learned long before 
 this, that there are no circumstances, and 
 no station, in this life, which can insure us 
 against these sad reverses, either at home 
 or abroad. How pleasant then it is to 
 know that our friends, when separated from 
 us and who are far away, have around them 
 an additional protection ; that they have a 
 passport to stranger's hearts and affections ; 
 that they hold a title to property in all 
 places whither Providence may direct them, 
 and that it is always available, when other 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 219 
 
 resources fail. Under such security, with 
 how much greater confidence man launches* 
 his adventurous bark on the broad enter- 
 prises of life, and against how much of the 
 spirit of sordid avarice does it protect him 
 in his voyage. Being confident, as he well 
 may be, under the shadow of this society, 
 he banishes the ever-haunting thought of 
 a suffering wife and children, in case his 
 health should fail, or death should remove 
 him from them. As a consequence, such 
 a man is not haunted by the gilded ghost, 
 like other men ; he is enabled to give more 
 of his life, and with greater success, to im- 
 provement, and more to domestic enjoy- 
 ment. The corroding cares which eat into 
 the vitals of others, are banished from his 
 circle, while he and his family rest in peace. 
 
€>bb Jjellot»0l)tp 10 a Benefit to ti\t Jamxlxts 
 of its iHembers." 
 
 MOTHER grateful feature in 
 Odd Fellowship is, that it 
 always furnishes aid to the 
 families of its members, even 
 though their natural protector 
 is removed from them. We 
 have already seen what the offices 
 of the order were, in time of sick- 
 ness ; but they do not cease when 
 y have obeyed this command — 
 y are required to bury the dead, 
 and educate the orphan. 
 
 There is no duty which requires more 
 delicacy and tenderness than the burial of 
 the dead, for there is no time in one's life 
 when the feelings are wrought up to such 
 wakefulness, and to so much tenderness. 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 221 
 
 It is then especially the case with woman, 
 that all the cherished love of years, all the 
 recollections of an affectionate intercourse, 
 all the offices of love, all the enjoyments of 
 the past, and all the fond and cherished 
 hopes for the future, live with increased 
 freshness in her memory, while they lie 
 shrouded in the coffin. 
 
 At such a time, when the fond heart 
 is torn and gashed by a keen sense of its 
 irreparable loss ; when it feels that its very 
 core has been wrung from it ; even then the 
 future will intrude itself on her mind, and 
 mingle its own night with the darkness and 
 gloom which already cover the soul with 
 despair. The cloud which hovers over the 
 grave is, to such a mind, the pall of all that 
 is sweet and lovely in the world ; and but 
 for a few choice jewels which have been left 
 by the parent, she would feel blessed, could 
 she take her place in the coffin by the side 
 of one she loved so well, and there mingle 
 her dust with his, in hope of a glorious 
 
 19* 
 
222 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 resurrection. At such a time, who does not 
 feel embarrassed in approaching the sobbing 
 mourner, lest he should in any wise encroach 
 upon those delicate sensibilities which are 
 now so keenly aw r ake. And then, how does 
 gold and all the world sink into insignifi- 
 cance, when compared with such offices, at 
 such a time ; how those who perform them 
 are exalted in our feelings, almost to angels ; 
 how much of the grief w r e should otherwise 
 endure, is lifted from our aching hearts. 
 Reader, did you ever see one who had lived 
 in your inmost soul, stiff, and cold, and 
 breathless ? — did you ever look on lips, 
 rigid and cold as those of the statue, which 
 had been wont to fill your soul with their 
 music ? — did you ever see those eyes closed 
 to open no more, which were wont to thrill 
 you with rapture by their very gaze ? — did 
 you ever see such an one composed in the 
 narrow coffin ? — with such an one did you 
 ever move slowly to the grave, and see that 
 jewel of your soul laid far down in the 
 
dreamless bed, and hear the falling clods, as 
 by their hoarse and solemn voice they 
 seemed to say to you what the one you 
 loved could not : farewell, a last, last fare- 
 well? — did you ever return from thence, 
 to realize the utter loneliness of your 
 heart in the loneliness of your desolate 
 dwelling ? If you have not, then pause 
 in your judgment with reference to the 
 value of services rendered at such a 
 time ; for you cannot understand them, and 
 never will, until death and the grave shall 
 teach them to you by their own impressive 
 lecture. At such a time Odd Fellowship 
 appears in its undisguised beauty. It is 
 here the advantage of an organization 
 appears, in the systematic course which 
 characterizes every step they take under 
 these trying circumstances. They have 
 attended the husband, the father, or the 
 brother, through all the perils of his sick- 
 bed ; they were present, and comforted the 
 mourners by their counsel and their tears, 
 
224 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 when he died ; they have laid him down in 
 his dreamless bed to rest, free from all the 
 pains which wrung his heart while he lived. 
 But their work is not jet done : they go 
 now and find out the cost of suffering, and 
 defray the charges which they find, and in 
 this way hide from the mourner's eyes and 
 sense an aggravating feature of her afflic- 
 tion. They shut the door of her apartment 
 against the sexton and the undertaker ; 
 they hide from her view the necessary 
 commerce of death — and then, with a 
 brother's feeling they say to her, we are 
 your friends. Should want threaten you, 
 should business demand it, should foes 
 oppress you, should any instance arise 
 where we can befriend you, hide it not from 
 us, it is our business, it is our duty, it will 
 be our pleasure, to redress your wants, and 
 light the taper which shall guide you in the 
 darkness of your earthly allotments; our 
 bosoms, bared to the tempest, shall be a 
 bulwark to protect you. To the child they 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 225 
 
 say, ever confide your grief to us; you 
 are the representative of one we loved; 
 through him we are bound to you ; our 
 arms shall protect and guide you ; in our 
 hands you are to be borne up ; go on and 
 enjoy the facilities we open for the im- 
 provement of your mind and the protection 
 of your morals. Aside from the holy 
 offices which illuminate and warm the soul 
 from the altar which burns in Heaven, what 
 office could be higher or more comforting 
 than this ? What work more God-like than 
 to visit the widow in her affliction, and to 
 regard the fatherless in their destitution? 
 What comfort that can be applied at such a 
 time, more appropriate to alleviate sorrow, 
 or lift a heavy burden from the heart ? 
 What more beautiful than to see men, not 
 of his kindred, taking the orphan by the 
 hand, leading him away from vice, and 
 pointing him to the path of knowledge, 
 removing the hinderances which otherwise 
 might greatly impede, if not entirely hinder 
 
226 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 his advance, and encouraging his flight 
 along the way of mental development. 
 
 How many thorns does such an assur- 
 ance pluck from the pillow of the dying 
 parent — with how many relieving circum- 
 stances does it surround the bed of death. 
 Such are the advantages to society, and to 
 individuals, arising out of the existence of 
 the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
 For these blessings, a thousand hearts 
 to-day rise up to call it blessed. 
 
 Thousands are already reaping the 
 golden harvest which it has planted and 
 nurtured. Hundreds of orphans are now 
 living and rejoicing under the wide spread- 
 ing shelter of its protection. Thousands of 
 dwellings through the land, which would 
 otherwise be dark and dreary with despair, 
 are now filled with the light and comfort 
 which it communicates. It rises up like an 
 oasis in our desert world, like a fragrant 
 spot, an island of verdure in some vast 
 Sahara, planted and watered by the hand of 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 227 
 
 kindness, for all the thirsty and weary who 
 travel that way. It is lifted up in striking 
 contrast to the careless indifference of the 
 multitude who compose the world. It 
 shows what may be done by concentrated 
 effort, by organized regularity. There is 
 wealth enough in our world, to banish want, 
 and starvation, and despair, from the centre 
 to the circumference of civilized society, 
 and this, without adopting any of those wild 
 and chimerical agrarian plans on which 
 some have insisted. It only wants the wish 
 to do so in the breast of all, and a little, a 
 very little time, and labor, and money, from 
 each, which would do us good, and the work 
 is accomplished. But this is not so now, 
 and we know not that it ever can or will 
 be so, until that age arrives when the 
 wolf and the lamb shall lie down together, 
 when swords shall be beaten into plough- 
 shares, and spears into pruning-hooks, and 
 when one law shall bind all nations, and that 
 law be love. Until then, we suppose, the 
 
228 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 affairs of the world will roll on -in their 
 usual course ; men will drive through our 
 streets in gilded coaches ; they will be 
 clothed in purple and fine linen ; they will 
 fare sumptuously every day; they will 
 have and hold their titles, they will crowd 
 every mart for profit and for pleasure ; 
 voluptuous music will peal away on the 
 night air, accompanied by the deafening 
 shout and ceaseless laugh of pleasure ; mer- 
 riment will hive her votaries in gorgeously 
 furnished apartments; multitudes will take 
 their ease, and be waited on by obsequious 
 menials ; misers will hoard and count their 
 gold. All this will be going on, while just 
 behind a thin curtain of board or brick, 
 crime will riot ; frost will pinch its victim ; 
 hunger will devour the living flesh from the 
 bones of its victim; human forms with 
 human souls will nestle in cas1>off rags 
 which they have filched from the gutter ; 
 mothers will weep despairingly over their 
 starving children ; starving children will 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 229 
 
 cry for bread ; worth and goodness will toil 
 the livelong night away to obtain a morsel 
 for their thin and shrivelled bodies ; sickness 
 will pine and suffer on its pallet of straw, 
 withont any to comfort or alleviate ; there 
 are prayers, and there are curses — there are 
 wailmgs, and there are lamentations — and 
 there are the maniac's laugh and the fool's 
 gibberish — all, all mingling and welling up 
 from those low, dark, damp haunts of pov- 
 erty, want, misery, distress, and vice — 
 which speak in Heaven in thunder tones, 
 but on earth, who hears them ? who knows 
 of them, who cares for them ? And yet all 
 exists within a short ear-shot of enough, 
 of more than enough to banish the whole 
 which makes this dark pandemonium. 
 
 Let those who object to the existence of 
 this order, go and look in upon scenes like 
 these, and tell us if not only this order, but 
 every other agency which can remove, if no 
 more, only one grain of affliction from men, 
 does not need to exist. Not need to exist ! 
 
230 
 
 Alas, this is the charity of the world ; a 
 charity which, like the dark gathering tem- 
 pest, frowns on every work its own tardy 
 hands ought to have done, but have neg- 
 lected. * This society not needed ! Have 
 the agencies which have existed around it 
 so long, banished all sorrow from the world ? 
 Are there now no poor, none who need aid, 
 none liable to reverses? Has the charity 
 of the world done it all — will it do it all ? 
 0, that we could make the pencil speak the 
 living reality on this subject. Then would 
 we give the reality to the eye, which should 
 personify the benevolence of the world, as it 
 really is, and true charity. Had we the 
 power, and were we called upon to discharge 
 this duty, and give to the eye a portrait 
 showing the wide contrast between the 
 world as it is, and beneficence as required 
 from man to man, first we would portray a 
 heart — and such a heart! — it should be 
 large, and swollen with mighty grief. Adver- 
 sity should stand beside it, and on his brow 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 231 
 
 we would paint his character, stern, dark, 
 and unbending ; and with relentless hand 
 he should drive deep into that heart his iron 
 barb at every blow. It should stand rent 
 and quivering with anguish, under each 
 cruel stroke. Into every yawning gash, 
 black-browed disappointment should pour 
 the bitterest wormwood, and in its agony 
 the dark blood should ooze from every 
 opening pore. Above, we would paint a 
 face of such a visage as agony alone can 
 make; the cheeks we would have gashed 
 with deep channels, the eyes should roll in 
 dark bewilderment, and over all should pour 
 tears of burning gall. Close beside that 
 heart should cluster a group of babes, with 
 tearless eyes and countenances bewildered ; 
 their limbs unclad, with locks dishevelled, 
 their parched and shrivelled lips only half 
 covering their unused teeth; while every 
 muscle is shrunk and loosely hangs on each 
 formless bone, and with their long, bony, 
 fleshless fingers, they mark unmeaningly in 
 
232 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 the dust. Above them all, should hang a 
 starless night ; amidst its darkness should 
 scream careering, headlong winds ; sleet and 
 frost should be the plumage of their pinions ; 
 around should loam the heaviest clouds of 
 inky blackness ; fierce lightnings should hiss 
 and blaze along the thickening gloom, and 
 threaten, with fiery tongues, the trembling 
 group. Above, should roll and crash a the 
 live thunder," as it coursed from battlement 
 to pinnacle, along its inheritance of terror. 
 And there should stand Humanity alone, 
 helpless, friendless, threatened, desolate ! 
 Then could we paint a groan, such as nature 
 heaves when wildest evils come; could we 
 give it color, shape, and life, 'twould tell 
 the world's humanity ! 
 
 Far remote from this gloomy blackness, 
 should appear a rising star; a halo should 
 surround it; and in its broad circle should 
 gather forms of beauty; and on their lips 
 should hang the sweetest song of hope, and 
 at the bidding of their fingers, a thousand 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 233 
 
 lutes should swell in loudest minstrelsy, 
 the sweet response ; each countenance, like 
 the bow of promise, should beam with benev- 
 olence; and from their glittering ranks 
 should flow far away on the darkness, floods 
 of unrivalled light. 
 
 Far on the other hand, should stand a 
 temple ; fair in its proportions, and majestic. 
 On it should smile unclouded, endless sun- 
 shine. Around it should carol the friendly 
 gales of bliss. From under its wide portals, 
 should gush a constant stream of sparkling 
 beneficence. Around it endless spring 
 should live; and in its halls the song of 
 happy contentment and resignation, should 
 ever warble in sweetest strains. Then, on 
 the wings of light, should move the sons 
 and daughters of sublime charity ; darkness, 
 storm, and tempest, should be afrighted from 
 their path; in their glory the fierce light- 
 ning should be eclipsed ; and at the cadence 
 of their strain, the angry thunder should 
 keep silence. Their path should lead them 
 
234 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 to the group of sufferers. On their golden 
 pinions they should bear the heirs of want 
 and anguish, and plant them in the temple 
 of rest and happiness ; and at the door keep 
 vigils day and night, lest want or woe might 
 enter. And over the portals we would 
 write, "The asylum for the needy and 
 the oppressed." Such is the charity of the 
 world, with all its boasts ; and such the 
 charity which aids the world's victim ! with 
 what propriety has it been christened God- 
 like ? 
 
PART IY. 
 
 a wtf> to tfy fltoMk, 
 
 ITH such views of the rec- 
 titude of the principles, 
 and the worthiness of the 
 objects of Odd Fellowship, 
 we confidently submit it to 
 the investigation of candid 
 minds. The enlightened, we 
 are confident, will not judge 
 ?- harshly of it, until they find 
 what they believe to be good reason 
 to do so. They will conduct . their 
 investigations with closeness and can- 
 dor, and we invite them to such scrutiny. 
 We earnestly hope they will furnish them- 
 
236 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 selves with the records of the institution, 
 and that they will study them ; that they 
 will probe the whole to the bottom, and 
 bring up from its mysterious deep any 
 hidden poison they may find lurking there. 
 We court investigation. The want of it, 
 we are confident, has been an injury to us. 
 Many have taken it for granted that we 
 were a secret institution, that they there- 
 fore could know nothing with certainty 
 respecting it. As a consequence, they 
 have never made an attempt to do so, but 
 have taken up their conclusions without the 
 shadow of a premise. That these have 
 often been unjust and slanderous, we have 
 already seen. Of all this we are not dis- 
 posed to complain, so much as to commis- 
 erate the propensity and shortsightedness of 
 the multitude, in involving in indiscriminate 
 condemnation men who differ from them in 
 matters which involve a moral principle of 
 so great magnitude and importance. We 
 only ask that the institution may be judged 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 237 
 
 by that most reasonable and authoritative 
 rule of Scripture ; u By their fruits ye shall 
 know them." 
 
 If the results of a connection with this 
 society are bad, in a majority of instances — 
 if men become worse husbands and fathers 
 and citizens, then condemn it ; but if it 
 produces good, morally and physically, we 
 are bound at least to cease our opposition 
 to it, and allow it to work on. It is no 
 time, in these days of general dissipation 
 and of moral delinquency, to oppose any 
 influence which can add one grain to give 
 the balance of right the preponderance. 
 Wherever such an influence is found, every 
 good man, every lover of his race ought, 
 and will bid it God-speed. 
 
238 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 To the Ladies we may be permitted to 
 say, this institution is for you. Its objects 
 relate to you personally, or to those as dear 
 to you as your own selves, your children, 
 and your husbands. You, so far from being 
 excluded from participation in its opera- 
 tions, are made its most efficient auxiliaries. 
 What is kept from you, could do you no 
 good ; and, consequently, we feel assured 
 you have no desire to come in possession 
 of such a treasure. If you would not insist 
 on keeping for your husband his deeds or 
 insurance policy, you would not desire what 
 this institution has entrusted to his care, for 
 your good. 
 
 It has been said that all the ladies are 
 opposed to this institution. But we think 
 we have data which justifies us in repelling 
 the charge. We have the honor of an 
 acquaintance with many of the most intelli- 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 239 
 
 gent ladies of our State, and can testify in 
 their favor on this subject. We do not 
 remember one, in the wide circle of our 
 acquaintance, who understands the prin- 
 ciples of the order, who is not, so far from 
 being unfriendly to it and arraying them- 
 selves against it, heartily in . favor of it ; 
 and many of them, who, under the popular 
 prejudice, opposed it, have, when informed 
 on the subject, become importunate for 
 their husbands and sons to become mem- 
 bers. And many are the wives and sisters 
 we have the pleasure of knowing, who with 
 their own fair hands, delight in preparing 
 the most tasty and expressive badges of the 
 order. 
 
 "Woman opposed to Odd Fellowship ! 
 No one who knows her character for intel- 
 ligence, and her love for the kind offices of 
 relief, would ever dare to make the asser- 
 tion. She may be misled for a time by 
 those who are prejudiced, while all the 
 means of information the order affords are 
 
240 THE ODD FELLOWS 5 AMULET. 
 
 studiously kept from her eye ; under such 
 circumstances, her feelings may be arrayed 
 against the institution. But no sooner is 
 she informed on the subject, no sooner does 
 she see its happy influence on society, no 
 sooner does she find its heart pulsating with 
 kindness, than her minstrel voice is heard 
 cheering on its long lines of noble-hearted 
 men, in the work they have covenanted to 
 do, while she fervently blesses the day 
 which prompted the noble union. And 
 well she may, for who is more deeply 
 wounded by the reverses of this life than 
 she ? who feels the smart of disgrace more 
 keenly? on whom falls the crushing bolt 
 more certainly ? and who drinks to its dregs 
 the cup of woe more patiently, or more 
 resignedly, and uncomplainingly, than 
 woman ? Find woe where you will, and it 
 falls on woman. By its shaft, the heart of 
 some wife, or mother, or sister, or daughter, 
 is struck. And he who alleviates pain or 
 sorrow, or averts the point of threatening 
 
241 
 
 calamity, does so much to bless woman. He 
 who shields another from immorality, or 
 crime, or reverse, has done so much to pro- 
 tect woman's heart. And he who contrib- 
 utes to increase the social qualities of man, 
 to lead him to elevate the standard of 
 morality, has by so much done something to 
 heighten the joys of woman. Say not, you 
 may never need the offices of this society. 
 We hope you never may. But then, alas, 
 the day may be already marked on the cal- 
 endar, which shall bring with it the wounds 
 this society is designed to heal. But should 
 you not need it, some one else will, and will 
 you derive no enjoyment from blessing 
 others ? Such is woman's nature as to make 
 us confident that this forms one of the chief 
 sources of her highest enjoyment. Go on, 
 then, ye daughters of this favored land, in 
 that blest work of scattering peace and joy 
 around the path you tread. May that path 
 ever be one of flowers and of fragrance ; 
 may you never be called to weep as others 
 
242 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 have wept, alone, and without guardian or 
 protector ; may you never be called to shed 
 your unavailing tears over the fall of hus- 
 band, sire, or son, like many others of our 
 time ; may you never feel the withering 
 touch of want, or the thrill of agony which 
 has wrung so many hearts around you; 
 may it never be your lot to pine in loneli- 
 ness, be shut out from the society of the 
 world, and with tearful melancholy remem- 
 ber, that of all the summer swarm of pro- 
 fessed friends who once glittered around 
 you, in the days of your prosperity, not 
 one is left to take you by the hand to lift 
 you up, not one to speak your name, not 
 one to sigh or weep with you, and all 
 because you chance to be guilty of the high 
 and gloomy crime of poverty. Pass on, 
 ye loved ones ; gather the smile of friends 
 as you go, live in the affections of hearts 
 worthy of you, and may no higher ill betide 
 you than the ever-laughing pleasure of a 
 peaceful home and fireside, and the sweet 
 
THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 243 
 
 music of a thousand voices leaping from the 
 lips of the poor you have comforted, as 
 they gather around, at the sound of your 
 footfall, to call you blessed. 
 
 <&o ti)t Mtmbtxs of % <H)rtor. 
 
 To the members of the order, we may be 
 indulged in a few words : Whatever others 
 may think of our order, you, brothers, know 
 the exposition we have given of its designs 
 and principles is correct. You know that 
 you have solemnly covenanted to be gov- 
 erned by these principles, to make them the 
 rule of your lives. You need not to be told 
 of the manner, nor the authority, by which 
 these principles are enforced. It is enough 
 for us to say, you have recognized their 
 heavenly origin, and that your own good 
 sense not only approves their rectitude, but 
 acknowledges their importance. 
 
244 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 However you may have looked upon 
 this order, and your relations and obliga- 
 tions to it, heretofore, you will learn from 
 these pages that yours is a high office, that 
 your relations are of no ordinary character, 
 and that on you rests a high moral responsi- 
 bility. You are not to be governed by a 
 sordid selfishness in your intercourse with 
 the world ; you cannot be ; the interests of 
 a hundred thousand of your fellow-citizens 
 are linked with yours ; the world, the whole 
 world, is the vast field which invites the 
 culture of your hands. 
 
 If in this work you are unfaithful, if you 
 are untrue to these principles, you are not 
 affected alone, but your want of rectitude 
 reaches the whole order. Many will judge 
 of it by your life and conduct, and you may 
 be assured, if these disagree with your 
 avowed principles, the consequences fall not 
 merely on yourself, but on those who are 
 innocent, on your worthy brethren, on the 
 widow and the fatherless. 
 
245 
 
 By unworthy acts, you not only pierce 
 your own heart, and stab your own reputa- 
 tion, with suicidal madness, but you aim a 
 dangerous blow at the very vitals of your 
 friends. The eyes of the world are upon 
 you. They are contemplating your actions, 
 and their impressions of this order will be 
 shaped according to your character. If 
 that be good, they will be favorably im- 
 pressed with what you know to be a good 
 institution ; but should your actions be un- 
 worthy, an unfavorable impression is made, 
 which the wear of time cannot obliterate. 
 
 Let us beware, therefore, how we indulge 
 our passions, and much more, how we are 
 brought into captivity by them. Groans 
 and misery are in the world. Let us find our 
 pleasure in hushing the one, and in reliev- 
 ing the other. Let us find our pastime in 
 bearing the torch of comfort to the darkest 
 hut, and in lighting there "the blaze of joy 
 and contentment. Let us seek our happi- 
 ness, not in listening to the roll of martial 
 
246 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 music, the roar of cannon, and in the neigh- 
 ing of the war-horse and the shout of fame, 
 but in the blessing of the widow and the 
 orphan, and those who are ready to perish. 
 Clean hands and pure hearts ought to char- 
 acterize those who come to such offices, and 
 these we ought ever to wear. Above all, 
 brothers, let us not be forgetful of our 
 higher calling. The glass of many of us is 
 almost run; the spade is already lifted to 
 hollow out for many of us the narrow 
 house ; we are just ready to witness the 
 sundering of earthly ties; the moment 
 comes when wife, or children, or brethren^ 
 cannot hold us back from our returnless 
 voyage ; the friends who have gone before 
 are beckoning us from earth — all, all 
 beneath the stars is passing away ; we, too, 
 are on the wing ; death hurries to meet us, 
 and we are hurrying to meet death. Have 
 we that charm which, when we grasp his 
 fleshless, frosty fingers, will make our spirits 
 flames of unextinguished glory, or shall that 
 
247 
 
 touch chill our hearts and freeze our hopes 
 forever ? There are few of us who have 
 not friends in heaven, and all of us have 
 the opportunity here to add to the num- 
 ber already there, through the offices we 
 are enabled to perform by the aid of this 
 institution. Those offices are calculated to 
 frame our minds, and fit them for those 
 high virtues which are necessary for us, if 
 we would enter upon blessedness in eternity. 
 Then let us seize that righteousness 
 which is by faith ; let us lay hold on eternal 
 life ; let us walk in the light of those high 
 virtues which arise from loving the author 
 of our blessings with all the heart, which 
 spring up out of the great code that Deity 
 has seen fit to give the world. Then shall 
 we not only hold the sublime form, but the 
 sublimer substance ; we shall not only have 
 the external beauty but the internal glory, 
 deeply engraven on our hearts. Let this be 
 our aim, and then, when earth's highest 
 noon shall fade to our glazing eye into the 
 
248 THE ODD FELLOWS' AMULET. 
 
 faintest evening twilight — when the scenes 
 of the death-couch are enacting around 
 us — when tears are fast falling on our 
 pillow from the eyes of those who loved 
 us — when cherished forms seem to recede, 
 and we can only hear the far-off sob and 
 wailing of those we leave behind us — 
 when the last adieu, like the dying strains 
 of far-off music as it lingers on the quiver- 
 ing harp-strings, sounds on our ear, how 
 sweet to the soul its visions ; what forms of 
 beauty sweep in robes of light along the 
 apartment now — what radiant smiles, what 
 iEolian whispers, w T hat voluptuous music; 
 how in every face is seen one benefited 
 and befriended for the name of Christ ; 
 above all, rises a glittering, burning cross — 
 and he who is passing away cries, as 
 he beholds it, " Death, where is thy 
 sting ! " And he who graced the cross 
 responds, * Inasmuch as ye did it unto one 
 of the least of these my brethren, ye have 
 done it unto me." 
 
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