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instruction of the dying one. Brothers and friends, let me admonish
you to do all the good you can while in health and strength, for at
most life is short and we know not how soon the Angel of Death will
unfold his broad, shadowy wings over our path and call us to give an
account of our stewardship; then all that will remain of us on earth
will be the good or evil we have done.

Odd-Fellowship is full of sacred teachings and sublime warnings. It
teaches us that we are in a world full of temptations, sin and sorrow.
We see the emblems of decay all around us. The strong man of today may
stand forth, nerved for toil, with all the bloom of health mantling
cheek and brow, seemingly as strong and vigorous as the mighty oak, and
yet tomorrow he will fade as the autumn leaf. Then he realizes how
foolish it is to be vain; thinks of the instability of wealth and
power, and the certain decay of all earthly greatness. Odd-Fellowship
teaches us that charity springs from the heart, is not puffed up, seeks
not its own. It makes us strong, and encourages us to push on through
life, even though we are beset on every side with toil, danger and
strife. Brothers, let nothing cause you to turn back or away from the
principles of our noble order. Cling closer and closer each day to
honesty and truth, and bear in mind that be the road ever so rough and
untraveled, narrow and dark, if you follow truth you will find light at
the end of the journey.

THE SECRESY OBJECTION.

More common, perhaps, than any other filed against it has been the
objection that Odd-Fellowship does its work secretly, this objection
being not unfrequently urged by persons of candor and honest impulses.
"If," it is demanded, "the aims and purposes of the order be legitimate
and praiseworthy, why shroud them in mystery rather than give them the
broad sunlight of publicity."

The objection is not new, nor is it urged with any increase of its
original force, whatever may be the fact in the matter of vehemence.
Answer might be made: The order does not choose to ascend to the house
tops for the purpose of heralding its affairs to the world. But that
answer would not be satisfactory, nor is any likely to be that may be
presented, now or hereafter. It is nevertheless true that there are
certain matters pertaining to the order and its works with which the
outside world has no sort of concern, even as with those very peculiar
secret societies, the individual, th