BIOGRAPHY.

P. G. M. MARK WARDLE.

"Ir is sixty years since" I was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of "poor but honest parents," who gave me the best education their narrow circumstances could afford, and in due season apprenticed me to one of the most amiable men I have ever since known; this tribute is due to his memory and my feelings-let it pass.

"When between nineteen and twenty years of age, I set out to see the world, and "make my fortune;" and though I have not yet succeeded for myself, I have been the means, guess, of others doing so. But this has nothing to do with Odd Fellowship.

I shall, therefore, pass by all the various scenes and changes in this, to me, really chequered life, and come at once, to that period when I, happily, became an Odd Fellow; I use this word, happily, advisedly here, and beg the reader's attention to

the cause.

"Upwards of twenty years ago, politics "ran very high," (such was the cant phraseology of the day) in Manchester, and I ardently, not to say enthusiastically, endeavoured to convince everybody, who did not think as I did, that they were decidedly, and, for the prosperity of the country, fatally in error. Indeed, at that time, I never met with any one, politically speaking, who was always right except MYSELF! In this course I continued some time, and contrived to. conjure up a host of enemies, not one of whom I ever intended to injure; but they were not actuated by that feeling, and having the power, I suffered, as Jonathan has it, pretty considerable I guess.

"Soon after joining the Order, I associated with the older and most respectable members; I forgot my politics, (not my principles, mind, reader) and became the champion and warm advocate and defender of the I. O. of O. F. Circumstances soon afterwards occurred, which called forth all my energy, and what little talent I possessed, and I discovered that I was doing more good to my country by propagating the principles of the Order, than by preaching politics."

Thus far the writer of the present memoir was supplied by P. G. M. Wardle, and it is only to be regretted that he did not conclude what he so ably began. P. G. M. Wardle joined the Wellington Lodge, Manchester, in August, 1822; and the first office he served, was R. H. S. to Mr. Wm. Armitt. He successively filled the various elective offices in the Lodge, the old members of which to this day, remember the services of the veteran." About the period he was serving as V. G., he was appointed printer to the District, and that intimate connexion with its affairs commenced, in which he for so many years, and in its most important changes, took so active a part. In the printing of the Minute Book, and which made its first appearance in 1820, (and which has led to such beneficial results in our regulations) he was mainly instrumental; and in 1823, he suggested the Odd Fellows' Magazine, this he subsequently carried into effect, and published on his own account, and that at a great pecuniary loss.

On the retirement of C. S. Isaac Hardman from office in June, 1824, P. G. M. Wardle was appointed his successor, and entered into the duties of an office, which he found was no sinecure; numerous were the calls on his time and purse, but he was no niggard, and in his calculations of either, self was the last consideration. On the occasion of Grand Sire Wildey, of the United States, visiting England in 1826, and on the evening previous to his return, he was addressed by C. S. Wardle on behalf of the Officers of the Order, to the following effect, and I shall be excused giving it at length, as furnishing a specimen of his style of oratory :

"MOST WORTHY AND RESPECTED SIRE,

"In the name and on behalf of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in England, I rise to address you.

"This task, worthy G. M., should have been in the hands of a more able man than myself, but the lot has fallen upon me, and I will do it all the justice I can.

*Mr. John Hall, printer of he Courant.

VOL. 4--No. 6-2 M.

"Permit me, first, to congratulate you on your safe arrival in your native country-for, however ardently you may be attached to the country of your adoption-however much circumstances may have endeared it to you-yet, there is a feeling in the human breast never to be forgotten-never entirely suppressed, however far we roam-and that feeling is a love of our native land!

-Dear the schoolboy spot

We ne'er forget, tho' there we are forgot!

Hence, Sire, I congratulate you on your safe arrival, and sincerely hope that all those views, and objects, and wishes, which induced you to cross the Atlantic, have been amply and happily realized.

"As an Odd Fellow, worthy G. M., in the name of the Order, I give you their best thanks. To you, and to you only, the United States of America are indebted for the existence of the inestimable blessing of Odd Fellowship! But for you that truly great country, would have been at this hour, without one of the most social, moral and benevolent Institutions ever formed by man. To you belongs, distinctly and unequivocally, the glorious title of "Founder and Father of American Odd Fellowship."

"This title, most worthy Sire, none can dispute with you-it is clearly, plainly yours -and your name will be revered by future ages, when the memory of heroes and conquerors will have been forgotten.

"I ought not here, perhaps, to pass over the names of two or three of your early and worthy coadjutors :-to brothers Wilson, Boyd and Crowder, if they be yet with you, we wish you to convey the best thanks of the Independent Order in England.Should they have left this for "another and a better world," their friends will have the consolation to know, that their names are on record, and that they will be handed down to posterity, as fellow-labourers in this great work of love-as friends and brothers of the Founder and Father of American Odd Fellowship.

"The existence of a press among us, both here and at Baltimore, renders it unnecessary for me to recapitulate the rise and progress of your undertaking. The Magazines now put every brother in possession of all the leading facts connected with the Order, which were formerly necessarily confined to a few. To those Magazines I triumphantly refer them, for an account of the almost miraculous march of Odd Fellowship in America; to those Magazines, too, I refer them for an account of the almost miraculous marches which you have made for the good and welfare of your infant Institutionexertions which none but a mind most determinedly bent on benevolence could have performed-exertions, I firmly believe, unequalled in the history of any other societyexertions never before heard of, if we except, perhaps, those of the great Philanthropist, the immortal Howard!

"Faith, we read, Sire, will remove mountains-but what will not CHARITY achieve! After traversing the various extensive states of the truly great country of your adoption, and rendering all their Lodges as one, you bend your pilgrimage hitherwise-you join them to those of England-removing as it were, the vast Atlantic, extending and perpetuating the principles of Benevolence, and bringing thousands, at an immense distance from each other, under the standard of F. L. & T.

"To you, Sire, we are indebted for all this-you laid the plan-you formed the whole design-you have now the happiness of seeing a new creation rising up around you. I say, a new creation, Sire, because no man can become a genuine Odd Fellow, without becoming at the same time, a better man.

"However good he may have been before, the duties of an Odd Fellow will point out to him many sources for the exercise of his goodness, which before were unknown to him-he will necessarily become more useful-the facilities that our beloved Order affords, I may say makes, for the display of that first of virtues, CHARITY-(without which all pretensions to goodness are mere mummery)—these facilities, I say, will give him an opportunity of putting his goodness in FULL practice.

"I do not mean to confine myself, Sire, to that Charity which giveth only—but to that principle of universal Benevolence which embraces ALL the wants of ALL mankind. I do not mean alone their physical necessities-I mean to include their moral inabilities. A really christian man will feel a greater desire to remove the latter, than to relieve the former; because he knows, if a man be not morally right, he cannot be physically happy.

Worthy G. M. a few more words on this subject-it is the principal pillar of our Order-we have high authority for the fact-the first of these is charity'-I know of no delight equal to the luxury of doing good; but the first delight is, to find out, succour and relieve, the uncomplaining, the half-broken yet proud spirit, that cannot dig and will not beg. Believe me, Sire,

Full many a stoic eye and aspect stern,

Hide hearts where grief has little left to learn.

"I have now, Sire, done with this part of my subject, I will not presume to point out to this assembly the many opportunities that present themselves for the exercise of these virtues-the active and benevolent will readily perceive them, and to such only can they be of any service.

"In your address, Sire, on your arrival among us, you told us, that you had now more than ever cause to bless the happy hour in which you became an Odd Fellow." We shall not soon forget the compliment. Long may you live to enjoy such feeling, and may every hour increase its felicity!

"I shall not here particularize the many valuable communications received from you, they shall be cherished among us, and communicated, in due time, to the re. spective Lodges throughout the Order; and we are satisfied, that what you have received from us, will be laid out to the best advantage among your children, when you return home.

"It now becomes my painful duty to bid you, most worthy G. M., officially at least,-farewell! A young world of your own creation, is now anxiously awaiting your arrival-may the waves and winds of the Atlantic speedily waft you safely home, and may you find all well.' You have the wishes and prayers of thousands for your welfare. This Lecture will bear with me, I am sure, when I exclaim, hail Odd Fellowship-all hail Columbia-long life and happiness to the Founder and Father of American Odd Fellowship!"

P. G. M. Wardle held the office of C. S. until June, 1828, when he was appointed G. M. of the Order, and in which capacity he presided over the A. M. C. at Sheffield. Since that period he has been an active and consistent supporter of the Order, both by his advice and his pen. He has also served as N. G. in the Mechanic and Franklin Lodges,-a proof that he was not idle in the good cause, (whilst his health was good), and for his services to the Order, which have neither been few nor far between, he received a handsome silver medal from the Manchester District.

Throughout his career as an Odd Fellow P. G. M. Wardle has written much to benefit the Order, and to defend its interests; and on two several occasions he has delivered Addresses to the Lodge of which he is a member, and both of which were inserted in the second volume of the New Series of the Magazine. The maxims they inculcate, and the language in which they are clothed, are so deserving of attention that if the reader carries into effect the moral sentiments there embodied, he will rise from the perusal not only a better Odd Fellow, but a better man. This may be called a bold assertion, but nevertheless it is a true one-in fact, they do credit both to the head and the heart of the writer. In making an extract from each, it is hoped the time and patience of the reader will not be wearied. Speaking of the debasing vice of intoxication, Mr. Wardle says

"In the first place, then, my friends, look at the picture there drawn of the drunkard !—the dissolute, the despicable, the suicidal drunkard-behold him in his career of beastliness! behold the misery and wretchedness of all around him!--but the portraiture is so well filled up in our admirable Lecture that it requires not the aid of my feeble pen. I shall therefore only observe, in the language of an able writer, that " a drunkard is the worst of suicides he is a deliberate, determined self-murderer-he hurries himself out of the world, and for the short time he crawls on the earth he makes himself miserable, and all that is reasonable and rational avoid and despise him."

"The power of man, in many instances, may be said to be yet in its infancy.Indolence—(I mean of mind)-renders him as impotent almost as the child in its swaddling clothes! He knows not his own strength-he thinks he has not the means of accomplishing the end-ease and idleness step in, confirm the opinion, and he who

might have been an ornament to his country sinks into insignificance. Such a character is a sordid, selfish being-totally useless in, if not a nuisance to, society! He only fills a place that will be better supplied when he has made it empty.

"Not so the man of benevolence and charity. If doubts of fear assail him, he shakes them off, like dew drops from the lion's mane, and his energetic and manly mind becomes refreshed and invigorated by the effort! He buckles on his armour-he perseveres he feels he can conquer. Every step he advances decreases his difficulties, and increases his confidence. The rough and up-hill road of virtue soon becomes smooth, and, as it were, Macadamized-the prospect brightens--the path is now easy -the goal obtained and he stands upon the proud eminence of Benevolence, at once an example, a pillar, and an ornament to society! He is instantly surrounded and supported by all that is great, good, and useful in this world, and having the will and the power to render others happy, he is himself perfectly so!

"From this, my friends, you may perceive, as I have already said, that it is not 80 very difficult to tread in the paths of virtue. He who sets out with a determination to make the best use of the power that he possesses is sure of conquest-and who, in such a cause, would not determine to be a conqueror !"

In the second Address the following remarks occur on the motto of our Order: "The wisely chosen motto of our Order is, FRIENDSHIP, LOVE and TRUTH, and Truth, though here placed last, ought to be the first object which we should sincerely endeavour to discover and practice; and it is certainly consoling to believe (whatever the fanatics may say to the contrary) that if we do so, we shall not go unrewarded.

"It may not be improper to remark here, that Love and Friendship cannot exist unless based on Truth. Every conceivable virtue must emanate from Truth. Sincerity, fidelity, integrity, honor, honesty, fortitude, prudence, justice, happiness, are but other names for Truth. It is the centre of a circle from which you cannot recede without a violation of some of the social virtues.

"Our Institution has been censured by some, because all our meetings are held in taverns or public houses, and that numbers of poor men are thereby induced to spend their time and their money which they would otherwise not have done. To those who know us, this needs no answer; and I can confidently appeal to the experience of thousands for its refutation; but as it may have some weight with the uninitiated, I wish to inform them (through the medium of this Discourse) that the habitual drunkard is never admitted amongst us, and that any brother daring to approach the door of a Lodge, in a state of intoxication, is not suffered to enter; that the vice of drunkenness is severely reprobated in our regular Lectures; and that our Laws not only forbid it, but punish those who are guilty of it."

One more extract on the duties of the Order:

"What, let me ask, do the duties of the Order call upon us to perform? They call upon us to teach men to respect themselves-to love the brotherhood-to cultivate their social virtues, for self-love and social are the same-to teach them to feel the pleasure of doing good to others-to taste the sweet reward resulting from the performance of acts of kindness and humanity-to raise the drooping head of poverty-to lighten the burthens of the weary and the way-worn-to console and comfort the afflicted-in a word, to relieve and succour ALL whose distresses call for their aid and support. Yes, my brethren, these are some of the delightful duties which we are called upon to perform-and he best fulfils the end of his creation, and secures the approbation of his Creator, in whatever state of life he may be placed, who performs them best.

"Actuated by such motives, who or what can stay the extension of the Order? Already (to use the language of a poet of our own)" already has it won its winding way across the great Atlantic." There is not a good man in existence who would not instantly and cheerfully join it, if he were acquainted with the principles which it inculcates, and the real and substantial blessings which are, both mentally and physically, enjoyed by those who act in conformity with its laws and usages. Circumstanced as this country, at least, at present, is, I hold it impossible to frame another Institution equal to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The old and the young mingle together, and emulous only who shall be the first to spread the benign principles of bene