It is not even a secret society, except in the sense that every corporation, and every business firm, and even every family, are secret. The members simply do not tell the world all they know. Corporations have their secret transactions, known only to the officers. Every business firm has its secret marks or cipher, known only to its members and their assistants, by which they, and they only, know at what prices they buy, and at what prices they are willing to sell. Their books are not thrown open to the gaze, or curiosity, of any one who may choose to pry into their business. And thus, dear reader, here you have, condensed in a nutshell, what a grange is, and what it is not. It is a social and business organization, for the promotion of the well-being of its individual members. It is not a conclave, seeking to do injury to any man or woman on earth. CHAPTER XI. THE ORIGIN OF THE ORDER. HOW IT CAME ABOUT. In January, 1866, Mr. O. H. Kelley, a native of Boston, but owning a farm in Minnesota, and at the time employed in the Department of Agriculture at Washington, was commissioned by President Johnson to make a tour of the South, to collect data as to its agricultural and mineral resources. He found the country struggling to recuperate from the effects of the war; the planters and farmers, few in number and widely scattered, with but little means for successfully carrying on their avocation. Southern born planters have always been noted for their generous hospitality, and geniality, but it was not expected they would take kindly to a stranger and a government officer, whom they might naturally regard as an enemy. One reason, perhaps, for the generous spirit displayed by this people is that Freemasonry is largely established among them. The "mystic tie of brotherhood" saved many a poor soldier's life during the war, alleviated the sufferings of many wounded, and created countless friendships between. individuals of the contending parties that will never be sundered while life lasts. Mr. Kelley, himself a Masonic brother, and of straightforward and pleasing address, made friends wherever he went, and traveled throughout the entire district south-east of the Mississippi, without an unpleasant incident; and, having satisfactorily executed the mission upon which he was sent, he returned North. THE GERM-IDEA. Feeling deeply the disabilities under which the southern planters labored, from the want of trained labor-themselves, from their antecedents, unfitted as yet to direct their affairs with practical efficiency—he gave much thought to the means to be employed to rouse the lower classes to an appreciation of the dignity of agriculture, and the necessity of steady work, through which they might make comfortable homes for themselves and their children. While at Mobile, Ala., he thought deeply over the subject of practical co-operation by the union of the Agricultural Societies then existing. He knew that these societies were distinct and independent of each other, but he asked himself the question which had so often occurred to other minds, but without result, Why should not the Agricultural Societies co-operate for the general welfare of the farmers of the whole country? At least, why could not some plan be originated, by which these societies in the South could mutually assist each other in ameliorating the condition of the southern farmers? Continuing to think and to talk upon. this matter, he remembered, that, according to tradition, the tie that binds Mason to Mason had existed from time immemorial; he remembered that the hand of brotherhood had extended with civilization, until now in almost every land, and among nearly all people, the tie was found which bound man to man as brethren-religion, honor, and manhood being the only qualifications for the unity of brother with brother. At last, he asked himself the question, Why should not the farmers, both North and South, unite in the same manner as the Masons, who have clung together for hundreds of years, for social and educational purposes, with a view to promote their common interests? Why not? was the answer echoed back. And now the solution was reached. All that remained was to mould the germ-idea into practical, tangible shape. To do this, would require constant energy, untiring labor, and much selfsacrifice. MATURING PLANS. The future founder of the Order was not a man to shrink from the responsibility. During the remaining months of his stay in the South, he mentioned the project to prominent gentlemen whom he met. It was received with favor. The only difficulty was, with the means at his disposal, to unite individual to individual, and mind to mind, in the working out of plans that should harmonize conflicting views, and enable them to make the conception of his brain a beneficent reality, for the elevation of the masses, through the sweat of whose faces the nations eat their bread. Mr. Kelley returned to Washington, and from thence to Minnesota, where he spent the succeeding summer, still revolving the project in his mind. In November, 1866, he returned to Washington, to take a clerkship in the PostOffice Department. He now began to move seriously toward developing the idea, that, within the last eighteen months, has spread over the entire West and South like a prairie fire, and is now making rapid progress, not only in the East, but even in Canada. |