VOL. I.

THE GAVEL.

JOHN TANNER, EDITOR and proprietor.

ALBANY, SEPTEMBER, 1844.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

NUMBER ONE.

GRAND REPRESENTATIVE A. HEYER BROWN.

NO. 1.

THERE are those in every community who, in the sphere in which they act, sustain a character of prominence, and are usually designated as the active or working men of the institution to which they become devoted; and should a stranger inquire for some one as a likely person to give information concerning it, in any connection, the answer is the naming of the individual whom most have seen sustaining that institution inquired for. Such has been the character of Grand Representative Brown, the subject of this sketch.

He was initiated into the Order March 28th, 1837, at the formation of Firemen's Lodge, No. 19, of which he has since continued a member. He was at once appointed to some minor office, and on the 29th of June following was elected V. G., and has never from that time been without some office, either by the partiality of his own Lodge or by the R. W. Grand Lodge of the State.

Such continued confidence could only be gained by close attention to, and a judicious administration of, the various trusts reposed in him. In August of 1839 he was elected D. G. M. by the Grand Lodge of this State, which office he declined. He was thereupon reappointed D. D. G. M. of the district of Albany and Rensselaer counties, which office he had held during the preceding year, and which situation he continued to hold in succession for four years. During his time as D. D. G. M. he organized and presented charters to Franklin Lodge, No. 24, at Troy; Niagara Lodge, No. 25, at Buffalo; Trojan Lodge, No. 27, at Troy; Star Lodge, No. 29, at Lansingburgh; American Lodge, No. 32, and Phoenix Lodge, No. 41, of Albany; and Watervliet Lodge, No. 38, at West Troy-and assisted Grand Master Kennedy to organize and open the Grand Lodge of Connecticut. He was also a petitioner for the charter of En-hakkore Encampment of Patriarchs at Albany, and was elected the first C. P.

The time, attention and expense necessarily required to accomplish so much, has been no obstacle with him, but has been cheerfully bestowed; and this it is that has directed observation so much to him by the members of the Order in this state. Always prompt, efficient and decided, he was known to be reliable in any emergency; and added to

these such other essential qualifications as an intimate acquaintance with the work of the Order, and an intellect well stored with the general knowledge of men and things, agreeable manners, happy in conversation, and it will be conceded at once that his honors were no accidental accumulation. They have all been bestowed as the meed due to ability and integrity.

On the 6th of June, 1843, by Špecial Dispensation, he organized and opened Onondaga Lodge, at Syracuse, and in March of the current year, by Special Dispensation from the Grand Sire, he proceeded to Montreal, Canada East, and instructed the petitioners for Hochelaga Encampment at that place. He also organized and presented the dispensation for Prince of Wales Lodge, No. 3, at St. John's, Canada East.

It is gratifying to contemplate the success of our beloved Order in its rapid advancement throughout the country, and in that contemplation the persevering friends who sustained its cause, through all the obstacles that present themselves before any institution, and particularly such as have risen up to face ours from its very commencement in this state, the friends who have contributed so much to its advancement both in its extent and in its usefulness should not be forgotten, but standing at once pillars and ornaments of the fabric should be beheld and respected with it.

A just appreciation of his services by the Grand Lodge of this State, procured his election as Grand Representative from that body to the R. W. Grand Lodge of the United States, and his performance of the duties pertaining to that trust were creditable to the Representative and to the state. His general knowledge of the Order, in its extent and detail both in this country and in England, peculiarly fitted him to enter upon those duties without waiting for the experience to be forced upon him which only fits most legislators for the places to which they have been elected.

Numerous testimonials of respect from different bodies of the Order have been voted him. Among them perhaps the most honorable, because coming from those with whom he was the most intimate-those who would appreciate his services and private character at their true worth, was the presentation of a beautiful gold medal, by his Lodge, in 1841.

Bro. Brown is still a young man, and with his devotion to the cause, and his abilities to act creditably any part conferred on him, we trust his laurels have not yet been completed, nor the star of his usefulness yet reached its zenith.

LECTURE.

BY BROTHER L. VAN WIE.

BEFORE THE I. 0. 0. F. OF THE CITY OF ALBANY. BROTHERS-I am considerable of a matter of fact man, am pleased to understand that which may be understood, and for all else do not give myself much trouble. I have had my days of high imaginings and enthusiastic notions, but experience and reason, as well as necessity, have taught me to try to think soberly and with cautious regard to things which are.

In appearing before you this evening, I do not flatter myself that I shall much instruct or enlighten you in reference to the features of the system in view of which our fraternity exists, nor shall I be able distinctly or strongly to point out to you its importance in a practical point of view-for I am as it were among you but of yesterday; but as I know, thus I judge. If I judge well, well; and if not, well. I give you the earliest impressions of a learner, and of one who is yet such.

Associations of the kind we suppose ours to be, and similar ones, have existed from time immemorial. What were the moving causes of their formation I cannot say, but I have often indulged the belief, and even now adhere to it as a pleasing possibility, that in ancient times the men thus associated were master minds in their particular profession, and suspect that the symbols yet remaining among associations kindred to our own, might lead us to a solution of the otherwise difficult problem.

They were no common men who planned and executed, and theirs' no common minds that conceived the noble structures, the glorious temdles of antiquity, the remnants of which, though in ruins, even now excite feelings of awe, admiration and wonder, in the minds of all mho behold them, standing in all their vast magnitude and ruined splendor; monuments of an age long past; and to which in conception or execution, modern times furnish no parallels, though possessed of the plan and specimen.

To this association of mind I attribute the wonderful knowledge evident in such structures.

But in our Order, as now, in that no reference is had to the calling of an individual as a mark of fitness to enter the Order, it is rather the representative of principles, the reception of which generally would tend to render earth a paradise, and restore to man the lost image of his Creator and Beneficent Author.

The aim of the institution of Odd Fellowship is not impracticable, nor does it require us to cast aside our hold on earth, to deny our earthly nature, or to reach at things and thoughts above our comprehension, or to fall down and worship an enigma, and give implicit confidence to assertion in proportion as it surpasses our comprehension. It is strictly rational and eminently practical; of use throughout the civi lized world, and by its signs we are enabled at once to recognize a friend and a brother in one to whom we should be unable to commu

nicate by word of mouth. It requires no unattainable perfection, but its requisites are of men and as of brothers.

We are a band of brothers combined, not for the purpose of denying to others the diffusion of light and knowledge, but to preserve inviolate and remote from imposition and fraud those principles which we have avowed our willingness and intention to cherish and sustain. Fraud and deceit are the most fruitful as well as the most commonly resorted to modes for successful imposition, and many are the hearts of charity and kindness, which have been steeled to the cries of humanity, and have denied the needed pittance to suffering men and brothers, because previous imposition had taught a stern discrimination to judge harshly of the unfortunate one. Thus we are taught the necessity as well as the wisdom of some test by which to judge the claim of those who demand our aid as brothers of the mystic tie, and which we cannot consistently deny while ability remains to us and the social virtues of Odd Fellowship receive our regard.

The armour of our brotherhood is easily described, and none are so weak but they may wear it. It needs no long trial of patience, strength and self-denial, but from all these it removes the sting and the consequent weakness of over exertion, and these, my brothers, are too generally, heavily taxed among the self-styled chosen of this world as the condition on which the bestowal of any good thing is based; but we Odd Fellows, are men with small claim to God-like nature, or superiority in those heavenly graces which so usually lead men to show the demon that possesses them, when in the enjoyment of a short lived power. We are not such, we claim and we strenuously insist upon the claim, that we are mere men, and in view of the duties we owe our God, our country, our neighbor, and ourselves, we insist upon the exercise of those feelings which render sacred the bonds of society, and give a zest and a pleasure to all its enjoyments. We ask no dominion over mind; we do not deal in souls, nor do we expect to make a profit from our connection with the good work of alleviating the distress of our brothers, administering to the wants of a widowed wife, or orphans unfriended, unpitied and alone, amidst the much show of doing great things and mighty, merely from a love to Godwhat we do, is because we love man, and reverence and love God for his attributes of love and mercy, the exercise of which we expect some day to need, as imperfect and dependent creatures.

As men, we are brothers bound firm in covenant of friendship, love and truth. Our friendship is not an indiscriminate preference, and without regard to merit. We love those who love us and our principles, who will act up to them, and show the world through all the path of life, the fearless demeanor and the well based fortitude of an honest man and a good Odd Fellow.

It is not the fórtitude which arises from a disregard of public opinion or a defiance of the world's prejudices which should commend itself to us, but we should be anxious to cultivate those principles, and be actuated by those motives which have ever received the praise and the commendation of good men. We never trouble ourselves with discussing the relative merits of creeds or forms of belief as modes of