ce in the rural community. Not
infrequently the regular meetings and special parties and banquets held
by these orders form a large part of the social life of the village. In
other cases the meetings are but poorly attended and the lodge is
maintained chiefly for its insurance benefits. In some of the larger
villages and towns the larger and more prosperous lodges have game rooms
and reading rooms attached to their halls, so that they serve as club
rooms for their membership. Usually the membership is more largely
composed of village people, but a considerable number of farmers
maintain their membership, even though they do not attend regularly, and
in exceptional cases the membership is largely composed of farm people.
It is obvious that the lodge as a secret order is devoted to the
interests of its own membership and usually it has no definite program
of work for the benefit of the whole community. Yet it must be
recognized that the assistance rendered by the lodge to its members in
sickness and to their families when in distress of any kind, is a
considerable asset to the welfare of the community and is a powerful
influence in promoting that spirit of brotherhood upon which all
community life depends. Usually the lodges actively support and
participate in any community activities in which they may appropriately
take part, such as Memorial Day or Fourth of July celebrations,
community Christmas trees and other festival occasions. The churches, or
at least the ministers, sometimes feel that the social life of the
lodges absorbs so much of the time and interest of their members as to
prevent their activity in church work, which attitude has often obtained
between the church and Grange, but it is a question whether this is not
often due to the failure of the church to provide such activities as
will command the loyalty of the people, and, on the other hand, not
infrequently the leaders in lodge work are also most active in the
churches. To the extent that the lodges seem self-centered and make no
direct contribution to community improvement, this is doubtless due to
the lack of any means whereby their support may be enlisted in a program
of community betterment. The place of the lodge in the community is much
like that of a fraternity in a college or university; its primary
obligation is to its own membership, but when enlisted in any activity
for the common welfare it furnishes one of the best means for developing
the co