f it be true "that one touch of nature makes the whole world kin," it
is equally true that the ties of brotherhood here would wield their
most potent influence, and of the true Odd-Fellow well may it be said,
"He hath a tear for pity, and a hand open as day for melting charity."

TRUTH! crown jewel of the radiant sisterhood of queenly graces! She
can not be crushed to earth. The eternal years of God being hers, she,
no more than her author, can go down. Error may fling widely open his
arsenal gates of defilement and deceit, and seek so earnestly and
tirelessly the usurpation of her throne; but there she sits, as firmly
and gracefully as when the morning stars sang together and the sons of
God shouted for joy. Such is truth, the rarest of all human virtues.

The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intentions, as to
be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world, is in
possession of the strongest pillars of a decided character. The course
of such a man will be firm and steady, because he has nothing to fear
from the world and is sure of the approbation of heaven. While he who
is conscious of secret and dark designs, which, if known, would blast
him, is perpetually shrinking and dodging from public observation, and
is afraid of all around, and, much more, of all above him. Such a man
may indeed pursue his iniquitous plans steadily; he may waste himself
to a skeleton in the guilty pursuit, but it is impossible that he can
pursue them with the same health-inspiring confidence and exulting
alacrity with him who feels at every step that he is in pursuit of
honest ends by honest means. The clear, unclouded brow, the open
countenance, the brilliant eye, which can look an honest man
steadfastly, yet courteously, in the face, the healthfully beating
heart and the firm, elastic step, belong to him whose bosom is free
from guile, and who knows that all his motives and purposes are pure
and right. Why should such a man falter in his course? He may be
slandered, he may be deserted by the world, but he has that within him
which will keep him erect, and enable him to move onward in his course,
with his eyes fixed on heaven, which he knows will not desert him.

Odd-Fellowship teaches its members to be men of honor. When I say
honest, I use it in its larger sense of discharging all your duties,
both public and private, both open and secret, with the most
scrupulous, heaven-attesting integrity; in that