sciousness of a secret shared draws men together as common interests do, or common tastes. Again, they have regalia and paraphernalia-aprons, collars, robes, jewels, sashes, sandals, plumes-to be used particularly in conferring the work; and, also, lodge property, if we may so style it. The Masons, for instance, cannot hold a communication of any lodge without a Bible, square and compass.

The Odd Fellows have an all-seeing eye, the three links and other emblems, and they, also, as the Pythians and Elks and, possibly, others, must have the open Bible in the lodge room.

They also all have a ritual-some kind of "work," in which there is reference to some Biblical or historical person or event, as the Masons have Solomon and his Temple, the Odd Fellows the story of David and Jonathan and of the good Samaritan, the Pythians the story of Damon and Pythias. In the Maccabees, the Red Men, the Elks, the Order of Eagles, the Druids, etc., the reference is presumably explained by the name of the order.

In conferring initiatory and other degrees-and most orders confer one or more before full membership is allowed-the lessons are in nearly every instance drawn from the Scriptures.

They all engage in good works. They visit their sick and bury their dead and care for the afflicted. Many of them have homes for their orphans and for their aged and dependent members.

They all stand for morality, good citizenship and temperance. It is required by most, if not all, of them that candidates for membership shall believe in a Supreme Being and shall be of good moral character. In view of the great prohibition movement in the Southern states at the time of this writing it is interesting to know that these orders throw the weight of their influence on the side of temperance.

In recent years many of them have amended their organic laws so as to prohibit the admission into their ranks of persons engaged in the sale of intoxicating liquor. In this movement the Odd Fellows were pioneers, though originally this order was a convivial one. In 1895, after years of discussion, this action was taken by its Sovereign Grand Lodge. Charges can also be preferred against any member of this order guilty of excessive use of liquor, and a trial ordered.

Another valuable characteristic of them all is the emphasis they lay on the brotherhood of man. Most of them have three-word mottoes, as "Friendship, Love and Truth," "Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth," "Friendship, Charity and Benevolence," but always the idea of brotherhood is there; and there not only in the motto, but in the actual workings of the lodge, so that the individual member absorbs it.

All these and other characteristics are common to the fraternal orders-and something better still, for more than any material aid it extends; more than its influence for morality, civic righteousness, and sobriety, is the influence of the lodge itself on the individual member. Meeting as they do at least once a month, sharing a common secret, working for a common cause, bearing each other's burdens, the work has an ennobling influence that no participant in it can escape; and so, after all, the reflex action of the lodge constitutes its greatest worth to society.

Perhaps this article would not be complete without some mention of certain organizations not at all belonging to the class of societies with which we have been dealing. They have no beneficial feature, no ritual, no secrets to guard, and yet so far-spread is their influence, so large their membership, so dear

to the Southern hearts the interests they serve that it seems as if some mention however brief should be made of them.

They are the patriotic societies which have sprung up since the War of Secession, and exist solely to preserve memories of it and to honor the officers and soldiers who engaged in it.

The surviving soldiers themselves are organized into "The United Confederate Veterans," an everthinning line of old men, who once a year gather as the honored guests of one of the larger cities and fight over again their battles and wear their old grey uniforms and march and give the "rebel yell."

The younger men belong to the "Sons of Confederate Veterans" and the women are the "Daughters of the Confederacy."

These organizations have camp halls, in which they hold meetings at stated times, and whose walls they adorn with battle flags and portraits of men distinguished in the service of the Confederacy. They build monuments in memory of the more distinguished officers and monuments to commemorate the dead of a special county or town or battlefield. The living veterans they give crosses of honor, the graves of the dead are a sacred trust to them.

In short they exist but to keep green memories dear to Southern hearts.

HILL MONTAGUE,
Richmond, Va

CHAPTER IX.

SOCIAL TENDENCIES IN THE SOUTH.

The Industrial Revolution in the South.

'HE last half century has brought a decided change in the social tendencies of the South. This change is due not so much to the abolition of slavery, perhaps, as to the industrial revolution which has each year more and more moved the centers of life and influence from the country to the city. The industrial revolution was in progress in the South long before the War of Secession, and while it was more or less retarded by the institution of slavery, it would have, doubtless, gone on very much as it has gone on had not slavery been abolished by compulsion.

The first railroad track laid in the United States was laid on Southern soil in 1828. The first street car system established in the United States was established in the South. The first electric street car line in this country was built in a Southern city. The progress in railroad building in the South before the war is shown by the following table:

RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES BEFORE 1861.

In 1850 there was but one New England state that had as many miles of railroad as Virginia; and there were but four states in the Union, outside of the South, that had more miles of railroad than Virginia. The little state of South Carolina, which was

among the very first to build railroads, had more miles of railroad in 1850 than either Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois or Wisconsin. In 1860 Virginia had passed Massachusetts in railroad mileage, and had about one-half as many miles of railroad as all the New England states combined; and the increase from 1850 to 1860 in the number of miles of railroad constructed was greater in the Old Dominion by ninety-two miles than in all the New England states combined.

The increase in railroad construction was much greater in the South from 1850 to 1860 than in the rest of the country, and the South had by far more railroad milage in proportion to the free population than the rest of the country. The percentage of increase in railroad construction from 1850 to 1860 is given as follows: Southern states, 350; New England states, 46.3; the remaining states of the Union, 332.

Rapid as was the increase in railroad construction in the Southern states from 1850 to 1860, it was no more remarkable than the increase in manufacturing in these states for this period. In 1850, Virginia had $18,109,143 invested in manufacturing, and employed in this industry 25,790 male and 3,320 female workers. In the same year all the Southern states combined had $90,615,214 invested in manufacturing. In 1860 Virginia had increased the amount of capital invested in manufacturing from $18,109,143 to $26,935,560. This was an increase of nearly $1,000,000 a year for ten years. In all of the Southern states combined the increase of capital invested in manufacturing from 1850 to 1860 was from $90,615,214 to $159,496,592.

The banking business was highly developed in the South in 1860. In a section of country chiefly agricultural we do not expect to find the banking busi