Part 1 (1/2)
The Jericho Road.
by W. Bion Adkins.
PREFACE
”I have lived much that I have not written, but I have written nothing that I have not lived, and the story of this book is but a plaintive refrain wrung from the over-burdened song of my life; while the tides of feeling, winding down the lines, had their sources in as many broken upheavals of my own heart.” A book, like an implement, must be judged by its adaptation to its special design, however unfit for any other end. This volume is designed to help Odd-Fellows in their search for the good things in life. There is need of something to break the spell of indifference that oftentimes binds us, and to open glimpses of better, sweeter, grander possibilities. Hence this volume, which is a plea for that great fortune of man--his own nature. Bulwer says: ”Strive while improving your one talent to enrich your whole capital as a man.” The present work is designed to aid in securing the result thus recommended. We send it forth, trusting that it will find its way into the hands of every Odd-Fellow and every Odd-Fellow's friend and neighbor, and that those who read it will gather from its pages lessons which shall enable them to pluck thorns from their pathway and scatter flowers instead.
W. BION ADKINS.
October 1, 1899.
INTRODUCTORY
On April 26, 1819, Thomas Wildey, the English carriage-spring maker, together with John Welch, John Duncan, John Cheatham and Richard Rushworth, inst.i.tuted the first lodge of Odd-Fellows at the Seven Stars Tavern in Baltimore, and it was given the name of Was.h.i.+ngton Lodge No.
1. From this feeble beginning has grown the immense organization of today. The Odd-Fellows claim a venerable antiquity for their order, the most common account of its origin ascribing it to the Jewish legend under t.i.tus, who, it is said, received from that Emperor the first chapter, written on a golden tablet. The earliest mention made of the lodge is in 1745, when one was organized in England. There were at that time several lodges independent of each other, but in a few years they formed a union. Toward the end of the century many of them were broken up by state prosecutions, on suspicion that their purposes were seditious. The name was changed from the Patriotic Order to that of the Union Order of Odd-Fellows. In Manchester, England, in 1813, some of the lodges seceded from the order, and formed the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows.
The order's first appearance in America was in 1819. The purposes of the order were so changed by the founders here, that it is said to be almost purely an American organization. It was based on the Manchester Unity, which was really the parent inst.i.tution. In 1842, this country severed its connection with that of England.
Lodges connected with either those of England or America are established in all parts of the world. The real estate held by the organization exceeds in value $20,000,000, and there is scarcely a town in the country that has not its Odd-Fellows Building. The total revenue of the order is nearly $10,000,000 per annum. Yearly relief amounts to nearly $4,000,000 a year.
THE JERICHO ROAD
”A traveler pa.s.sed down the Jericho road, He carried of cash a pretty fair load (The savings of many a toilsome day), On his Jericho home a mortgage to pay.
”At a turn of the road, in a lonely place, Two villainous men met him face to face.
'Hands up!' they cried, and they beat him sore, Then off to the desert his money they bore.
”Soon a priest came by who had a fold; He sheared his sheep of silver and gold.
He saw the man lie bruised and bare, But he pa.s.sed on by to his place of prayer.
”Then a Levite, temple bound, drew nigh; He saw the man, but let him lie, And clad in silk, and filled with pride, He pa.s.sed him by on the other side.
”Next on the way a Samaritan came (To priest and Levite a hated name); The wounded man he would not pa.s.s, He tenderly placed him on his a.s.s.
”He took him to an inn hard by; He dressed his wounds and bathed his eye; He paid the landlord his full score; If more was needed would pay him more.
”Ah! many travel the Jericho way, And many are robbed and beaten each day; And many there be on the way in need, Whom Priest or Levite never heed; And who to fate would yield, alas!
If some Samaritan did not pa.s.s.”
THE OBJECTS AND PURPOSES OF ODD-FELLOWs.h.i.+P
We are taught that ”G.o.d hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth,” and when we say mutual relief and a.s.sistance is a leading office in our affiliation, and that Odd-Fellows.h.i.+p is systematically endeavoring to improve and elevate the character of man, to imbue him with a proper conception of his capabilities for good, to enlighten his mind, to enlarge the sphere of his affections and to redeem him from the thralldom of ignorance and prejudice, and teach him to recognize the fatherhood of G.o.d and the brotherhood of men, we have epitomized the objects, purposes and basic principles of our order. Odd-Fellows.h.i.+p is broad and comprehensive.
It is founded upon that eternal principle which teaches that all the world is one family and all mankind are brothers. Unheralded and unsung, it was born and went forth, a breath of love, a sweet song that has filled thousands of hearts with joy and gladness. To the rich and the poor, the old and the young, at all times, comes the rich, sweet melody of this song of humanity to comfort and to cheer. For eighty years the light of Odd-Fellows.h.i.+p has burned before the world, a beacon to the lost, a comfort to the wanderer and a protection to the thoughtless. Eighty years of work for humanity's sake; eighty years devoted to teaching men to love mankind; eighty years of earnest labor, consecrated by friends.h.i.+p, cemented with love and beautified by truth.
In ancient times men sought glory and renown in gladiatorial combat, though the victor's laurel was wet with human blood. In modern times men seek the plaudits of the world by achievements for human good, and by striving to elevate and enn.o.ble men. Looking back through nineteen centuries we behold a cross, and on it the crucified Christ, with nail-pierced hands, and wounded, bleeding side, but whose heart was so full of love and pity that even in His dying agonies He had compa.s.sion upon His persecutors, and cried out, ”Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”