of a State, to which it is amenable. Its officers consist of a High-Priest, Deputy and Assistant HighPriest, Secretary, Treasurer, Warden, Conductor, Inside Guardian, and Outside Guardian.* It is the

business of the High-Priest and Deputy High-Priest to confer the Degrees. It is usually supported by an extra charge of twenty-five cents for each degree it confers, the Lodge to which the member belongs always receiving the sum fixed upon by the Grand Lodge as the price for degrees. Upon the written petition of five or more Past Grands, and five or more ScarletDegree members of the Order, praying for a warrant to open a Degree Lodge, the Grand Lodge may grant the same; and such Degree Lodge will receive its charter and the necessary lectures and instructions in the same manner as is provided for subordinate Lodges.

No Degree Lodge can admit or retain in membership any person who is not a regular contributing member of a subordinate Lodge, unless it be one whose card is in the possession of the Grand Lodge or its officers as an applicant for a charter for a Lodge.

Persons to whom is confided the duty of conferring degrees should be men of known and unquestionable ability. They should be able to read and speak well, and be capable of impressing the truths they are called upon to teach, in a solemn and dignified manner, upon the mind of the candidate. They should be rigidly accurate in their explanations, and be competent to express them so perfectly and cor rectly as to render the slightest mistake or misappre hension impossible.

* Or, Noble-Grand, Deputy Noble-Grand, Assistant Noble-Grand, or Vice-Grand, a Past Grand, a Conductor, and an Inside and Out side Guardian, Secretary, and Treasurer.

APPLICATIONS FOR DEGREES.

Any brother in good standing, who shall have been a member of the Order for the full period of blank,* may apply personally, or otherwise, in open Lodge, for a certificate to entitle him to receive the degrees of the Order.

On application for the degrees, a ballot must be taken, at which only those members of the Lodge who have received the degrees applied for can vote; and, unless there shall be three black balls, the certificate must be granted.

In all cases, the certificate must be directed to the Degree Lodge, (if one is established in the district;) if not, to the Degree or D. D. Grand-Master, whose duty it shall be to confer or cause them to be conferred in proper form. In districts where there is no Degree Lodge, the degrees may be conferred in the Bubordinate Lodges of the district respectively. The Lodge must be kept open for that purpose, and the degrees conferred in the presence, and with the assistance of the officers and members of the Lodge who may have received the degrees about to be conferred, who alone are entitled to be present.

The fees to be paid on receipt of the certificate must be regulated by the By-Laws of the several Lodges. In case the degrees are not conferred by a Degree Lodge, the fee for conferring the degree belongs to the Lodge granting the certificate.†

The time varies in the several States.

†The following is the regulation of the Grand Lodge of Northern New York relative to degrees:

"A member who has been in membership one month shall be eligible for degrees, but shall not be elected to more than three degrees at the same meeting, unless a dispensation be obtained therefor from the Grand-Master or his Deputy for the district.

Subordinate Encampments.

UBORDINATE Encampments exist by virtue of warrants,_or charters, granted by a Grand Encampment, or by the Grand Lodge of the United States. Seven members of the Royal-Purple Degree, in good standing, may obtain a charter for an Encampment.*

To acquire or retain membership in an Encampment, full membership in a Lodge is indispensably necessary. Neither can any person become a member of an Encampment who has not attained to the Scarlet Degree.

"Applications for election to any of the five subordinate Degrees shall be accompanied with the amount required therefor, and shall be presented to the Lodge when opened in that order of business, if so provided for in its rules of order; if not, then in the order of new business, when the Lodge shall forthwith proceed to hold a ballot, in open Lodge, of its members then present, to determine the result of the application. Each member, before he casts his ballot, shall prove himself in the pass-word of the degree applied fer, and the application for the lowest degree applied for shall be determined first, and so on to the higher degrees in their order. If a majority of the ballots so cast are in favor of any application, a certificate shall be given to the applicant, addressed to a Degree Lodge, or officer authorized to confer degrees, located or residing in the district, showing that he is a member of the Lodge, and has duly applied for such degrees, and has been authorized by a ballo of the members of said degrees of the Lodge to receive them; but the Grand-Master or D. D. Grand-Master may, by dispensation, authorize a Degree Lodge, or officer authorized to confer degrees, located in another district, to confer such degrees."

Petitions and charters for Encampments are similar, in form and manner, to those pertaining to Loges. The petition must be

A brother who wishes to propose another as a member of an Encampment, must do so in writing. The candidate must be received and admitted in a manner similar to that by which a person is admitted to a subordinate Lodge. The fee for admission is seldom or never less than twelve dollars, for which the three Encampment degrees are conferred. The price, however, varies in the several States.

It is optional with an Encampment whether or not o pay benefits to sick members. Most Encampments, however, do pay some benefits. The amount varies from three to five dollars and upward. On the death of a Patriarch, also, a sum is appropriated toward assisting to pay his funeral expenses.

The elective officers of an Encampment are a ChiefPatriarch, High-Priest, Senior Warden, Scribe, Treasurer, and Junior Warden, who are (as are also the officers of subordinate Lodges) elected by ballot semi-annually. There are several appointed officers (besides a Sentinel) whose duties pertain particularly to the assistance required of them at the introduction of members;* they are appointed cerai-annually by the Chief-Patriarch and High-Priest.

The duty required of the Chief-Patriarch is similar to that which is performed by the Noble-Grand of a Lodge.

The duty of the High-Priest is principally to read certain lectures pertaining to his office, and to give necessary instructions to initiates. He should be a man of ability, and of unquestimable morals.

The Senior Warden is the assistant of the Chief

forwarded to the Grand Encamp net, of the State, (or, in the absence of such body, to the Grand L ¿se of the United States,) or they may be submitted to a D. D. G Patriarch, or D. D. G. Sire.

* I do not deem it proper to mention the titles of these officers.

Patriarch, and, in case of that officer's absence, must preside over the Encampment.

The Scribe's and Treasurer's offices are similar to those of the Secretary and Treasurer of a Lodge.

The Junior Warden must assist the Senior Warden in the performance of his duties, officiate for him in his absence, and perform such other duties as may be legally required of him by the Chief-Patriarch.

The patriarchal branch of the Order is, in the estimation of many, far more desirable than the initiatory branch. Every Odd-Fellow should make it his aim to reach the "topmost round of the ladder of Odd-Fellowship," the Royal-Purple Degree. No brother of good character, however poor he may be, or however humble, need be prevented from attaining thus to the full stature of an Odd-Fellow.

We cannot conclude this subject without expressing our earnest hope that the heads and members of the Encampments will read our remarks on the duties of subordinate-Lodge officers and members, and that, so far as they may apply to them, they will endeavor to adopt the advice they contain, with the full assurance that the more careful and correct we become as Odd-Fellows, either in or out of our Lodges or Camps, the more prosperous we shall be ourselves, and the more useful we shall become to the world.

The following is the order of business of an Encampment:

1. Opening the Encampment.

2. Calling the roll of officers.

3. Reading the minutes of last session.

4. Inquiry whether any Patriarch needs aid or sympathy. 5. Consideration of previous proposals for membership.

6. Admission of members.

7. Conferring of degrees.

8. Reception of new proposals.

9. Report of Visiting Committee.