Kansas Odd-Fellow from Belle Plaine, Kansas • 1

THE KANSAS ODD-FELLOW. -A SEMI-MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO ODD-FELLOWSHIP, AND FAMILY LI NO. 1. DELLE PLAINE, KANSAS, MAY 1.SS2. VOL.

1. between man aud man. And in this, though we begin in the Lodge, and with Odd-Fellows and their families, we fix no bounds or limits but Jour abilities and our means: our charity begins at home, but ends only with the removal of all suffering and distress. Grosh. KANSAS ODD-FELLOW Semi-monthly 50 Cents a Year.

J. J. BURNS, Editor and Publisher. BELLE PLAINE, KANSAS. "Friendship, Love and Truth." Three golden arrows in a quiver, Filled else with darts of strife; Three sunny islands in the river The rapid stream of life: Three 'stars in heaven's gem-decked attire, That never fade or dim; Three harp-notes in the spirit-lyre, Notes angels love to hymn.

Three charms to guard the heart from sorrow, To keep aloof life's woes Three whispers of a brighter morrow, The morrow of repose-Three liuks amid the golden tetters, That heait to heart entwine Upon life's scroll three mystic Placed there by hand Three watch-lights on the stormy highlands, Of earth's wave-beaten strand Three harbors 'mong the rocky islands, Begirt with trea iherous sands Thtee life-preserveis on Time's ocean, With dangerous reefs below Three voices 'mid the heart's commotion, To hush its strains of woe. Three blossoms from the land of flowers, To cheer the fainting soul Three rays of beauty from the bowers Beyond life's utmost goal-Three strains of rapturous music swelling, Aruond the burial sod; Three pillars in the holy dwelling The temple of our God. Our Regalia, Emblems. Thev are denounced as childish.tool-ish, unbecoming good men and serious purposes and philanthropic deeds. An unthinking young man ridiculed a grave gentleman, whom he saw engaged, with soap-suds and a pipe, blowing bubbles in the air.

Yet that ridiculed man was Sir Isaac Newton, who, by that seemingly childish employment, was ascertaing the laws of the Almighty in relation to light and colors One of our uses of regalia, is to teach us to beware how we judge men by mere appearances. Possibly the objector himself wears some simple article, given him as a memento by a dear friend; or keeps near him some seemingly unmeaning thing to remind him of important du-tier to God and man. Perhaps he statedly observes some ceremony, full of solemn teaching to his soul. However childish that memento or token, however senseless that ceremonial may seem to others, to him they are above all value, because full of'precious memories and solemn teachings. Such, our decorations, emblems and forms are to us.

The light shed on their meaning, as we advance in Odd-Fellowship, and their novel applications to impress on our minds important principles and piecepts, render them peculiarly pleasing and highly useful. The thoughtful Odd-Fellow it continually reminded by them of important duties to God and man. Besides this, our regalia, jewels, and some of our emblems are used to mark grades and stations among us. As such, they are not more puerile, certainly, than the laced coats and caps, the plumes and epaulettes of the military, or any other badges used among men to distinguish statiou and office. But they are not only our uniform, the very colors are made to teach us important duties and lessons.

a In 1841 there were but few Odd-Fellows in the world now, in Massachusetts alone, there are over twenty-five Lodges received from them last year two hundred thousand dollai and disbursed for relief seventy-five thousand dollars. In the United States there are over half a million members of the Order, from whom, during the last annual term, four million dollars were received, of which one million six hundred thousand dollars were expended in strictly charitable work. These figures show the growth and strength of the Order, which stands prominent among associations of its kind, nor will its labors be satisfied until it has spread Friendship, Love and Truth throughout the entire world. then, from one or a few individuals, but from all, himself included. rosli.

a Our Objects. It is unfortunate for our Order, and for not a few of its members, that too much prominence has been generally given to its feature of pecuniary benefits in seasons of sickness and death, and pecuniary aid in circumstances of want and distress. This, though i laudable trait in our operations, is hardly a tithe of our aims and objects. By this undue prominence of the pecuniary relief afforded, even our own members have had thei attention and efforts greatly withdrawn from the moral and social influences which the Order is so eminently calculated to create. But so it is: the sudden, the palpable, the material, more readily; gains attention than the gradual, the insensible, and the moral.

All can see the visitation of the sick, he relief of the distressed, the bounty bestowed on the widow and orphan whose necessities called for aid; but few stop to estimate the suffering prevented in thousands of families, by relief given before poverty called attention to their situation. So men look with interested eye, and a ready appreciation of utility; on gurgling spring, and rolling river, and heaving ocean. But how few consider the gentle mist that rises In the morning sun to fall in the evening shower on broad prairie aud fertile after working fruitfulness there, to percolate in crystal drops through every vein of rock and it shall burst forth again in cooling spring and mountaiu-rill, to feed the mighty river and replenish the briny deep. Men look at our system of weekly benefits, mutual relief, watehiugs at the sick-bek, burial of the dead, and support of widow and orphan; but their thoughts seldom1 stray beyond theses to the humanizing influences which the performance of these deeds exerts on their doers; nor yet to the social and moral tendencies of the other means employed by Odd-Fellowship for the improvement and elevation of human character. When the dark war-horses of the storm send across the sky, shaking the rain-drops from their shaggy manes as they snort aloud in thunder, the electric flash is noticed, and all its brightness commented on.

As it descends on lofty mansion towering oak: shattering thein as in wanton sport, its effects are readily seen and estimated in the destruction' it has caused. Fven when human skill produces it from the battery, and sends it along the imprisoning wire, bearing messages across continent and ocean with a speed greater by far than that of our earth as it revolves around the sun, men still note its wonders, and speculate on its vast utility to the world. But few consider the daily, momently effects of the same fluids in our own organism as it passes from point to point, feeding the vital fires within, giving circulation to the fluids, movement to trie muscles and the power of thought to the brain. Few think of its constantly wonderful operations when, transferred through the atmosphere and permeating all matter, it imparts vitality to all nature, covering the earth with verdure and filling it with fruitage. It is not to be wondered at, then, that so many, even among Odd-Fellows, have over-looked, or at times forgotten, the most important uses and aims of Odd-Fellowship to be, the imbuing of the minds of our brethren with the proper conceptions of their powers and capacities, giving them just and practical views of their duties and responsibilities, exhibiting their dependence upon God, and bringing them to a knowledge and practice of the true fraternal relations Exclusion of the Feeble.

It is sometimes objected to us that we pass by the indigent poor and the constitutionally enfeebled, who most need our benefits; whereas, if our pretentions of ameliorating human poverty and suffering were genuine, we would admit, the crippled, deformed, diseased, and indigent, instead of excluding even the healthy 'poor by requiring of them pecuniary fees and contributions beyond their ability to pay. As our means are necessarily limited, so must be our plans and efforts. What king, going to maice war against another king, sitteth not down first an I consulted), whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is a great way oft, he sendeth an embassage, and desireth conditions of (Luke xiv, 31, 32.) Our means of relief are but as one thousand compared to the vast army of sufleriug'and want which are urged to meet, and which numbers its Jmndreds of thousands; how, then, could, we hope to prevail against it Iioav save ourselves i from overwhelming defeat and utter loss? We have apportioned our labor to our means: we have selected an enemy of our own strength, whom we can keep at bay, and hope ultimately to conquer. Should we succeed, and still have means left, we will then enlarge, our tield, and use our means for additional eflorts. But how soon would our means be exhausted, if we admitted the impoverished and diseased indiscriminately, to share in them.

Or. means would never be accumulated, but drained as rapidly as they flowed into outretuyvfor there would be many to demand," and but few to contribute. And when those who raised the fund, came to need it, they, also, would be added to the unsupplied many whom even public charity cannot relieve. Better, then, the constantly Increasing good, however limited at present, than the great but decreasing offort which can confer but a temporary benefit, and must end in only another addition to the general misery. For, let'the individual of a large fortune attempt to relieve all by a lavish expenditure of his wealth, and he himself wfll soon need alms.

That we require the poorest applicant to contribute as much as the wealthiest, is true, as it is a matter of necessity. Equality is essential not only to equality of benefits, but also in feelings. We aim to abolish all considerations of wealth or poverty in our fraternity; to make all feel that as Odd-Fellows, at least, they are not only brethren, but equals. He who did not pay an equivalent, would feel degraded at receiving benefits would feel that they were not his just due, but alms. Under this feeling of dependence on his wealthier brethren.he would not feel free to act and speak in opposition to their wishes would not feel that he had an evual right to direct the expenditure of our funds, or the affairs of the Order.

Hence we pay the rich member, when sick, the same amount per week that we pay to our poorer brethren We would conserve the independence of the latter, and exclude all feeling of moneyed superiority from the former. They must not only be told that all are equal, but they must be made fo know, to realize it in every possible way, that they may freely act on it under all circumstances. Even when extraordinary events render it necessary to give extra aid to an unfortunate still comes from a fund he aided to create for such to which even his wealthier brother may be reduced to apply. His relief comes not, therefore; eveni FRIENDSHIP. A generous Friendship no cold medium knows, Burns with one with one resentment glows One must our union, our resentment-be, My friend must hate the man who injures me.

Oh, Friendship! thou balm and sweetener of life Kind parent of composer of strfe Without thee, alas what are riches and power, But empty delusions, the joy of an heur. LOVE. Love is a passion by no rules confined, The great firstmover of the human mind Spring of our fate it lifts the climbing Or sinks the soften'd soul in seas of ill. Science, Truth, virtue, sweetness, glory, 4 grace, All own love's infiuunce, and adorn hi race I.ove, too, gives fear, despair, grief an-ger, strife. And all the unnumbered woes which tempest life.

TRUTH. First, I would have thee cherish Truth, As leading-star in virtue's tram Folly may pass, nor tarnish youth, But falsehood leaves a poison-stain. Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again--. The eternal years of God are hers But error, wounded, writhes with yain, And dies among his Recent statistice show that there are twenty thousand members of our Order in Iowa; or, an increase of liv ing membership of about 500 annually, in the forty years of substantial state and territorial progress. At the same ratio we may expect, at the end of the present century, only nineteen years hence, that the membership will he over 30,000, but, with the continual progress of the past twenty years the number will then be about 60,000.

Much will depend on the good work to be done and the faithful discharge of Fraternal duties, and the proper support of Odd-Fellows journals to disseminate our literature among the Iowa Odd-Fellow..