Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Illinois - University Library

LODGE OF ILLINOIS, I. O. O. F. 2S
GRAND Tuesday. I
Nov. 18. 1913. ) ~
Our obligations go out further than to the member alone. They
take in the wife, if she becomes a widow, and the children of a member,
if they become orphans.
This Order in the beginning recognized and has ever cherished
the principle that being a real brotherhood we are bound to take the
place of our deceased brother to the extent of our ability in the rearing
.and educating his orphaned children.
OUR ORPHANS' HOME.
To this end we have built and equipped an Orphans' Home at
Lincoln, Illinois, consisting of 158V2 acres of land and seven main
buildings, viz.: Administration, School and Chapel, Domestic Science,
Manual Training and Dormitories. Total value two hundred thousand
dollars ($200,000.00). Here our children are taken in, clothed, fed and
educated. They receive a training which, in most cases, it would be
impossible for the parents to give, if living. They are not only trained
in the usual school branches, but each one is fitted for some useful
occupation so that, when they shall have reached maturity and become
men and women, they will be able to take their places in our citizenship
and become useful members thereof.
We maintain a modern manual training school for our boys and
a domestic science school for our girls, in addition to the eight grades
of the common school.
While many of the children in our home have come from parents
who have suffered and died from tuberculosis and are therefore in a
low state of physical development, our system of life at the Home,
with its wholesome and nourishing food, its fresh air and pleasant
surroundings, has made a wonderful record for turning out physically
and mentally perfect young men and women. Our Orphans' Home at
Lincoln is a home in every respect and not an institution. It is not
a charity, but comes to our orphaned children as a matter of right,
because of the membership, in the Independent Order of Odd Felliws,
of their fathers when living.
OUR OLD FOLKS' HOME.
This Order owns and maintains at Mattoon, Illinois, an Old Folks'
Home, consisting of 136 acres of land, the Home buildings, Chapel,
etc., valued at one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars ($175,-
000.00). Here an Odd Fellow may go, who has reached that age when
he or his wife, or both, shall no longer be able to stand the pace in
this life of rush and struggle, not as a matter of charity, but as a
matter of right, and there in peace and comfort spend the remaining
years of their lives. With physicians and nurses in constant attend-