out of the common fund for the benefit of any who are not members, or of their families; and that all diseased and infirm persons, and very poor people, such as “have no visible means of support,” and are likely to need pecuniary aid, shall be excluded from the company and from its benefits.  Perhaps men have a right to form themselves into an association with such regulations; perhaps they have a right to leave “an unworthy brother” (a member who fails to pay his “quarterly dues”) and his family to the charities of “ignorant and prejudiced” people who will not join secret societies; and in case of the death of such a member, to leave his poor heart-broken widow to beg of the same “ignorant and prejudiced” outsiders enough of money to bury his dead body decently; but they have no right to call themselves a charitable association.  It is probable that many Masons, Odd-fellows, Good-fellows, etc., are kind to “unworthy brethren,” and to the poor in general; but if so, they are better than the associations of which they are members.  Bankers and money-brokers, no doubt, sometimes show kindness to the poor, but it does not hence follow that banks and money-shaving establishments are charitable institutions.  Neither does it follow that secret societies are charitable because their members, in case of sickness or death, are entitled to a certain portion of the funds which they themselves have contributed as initiation fees and quarterly dues, while those who are in real want can not even become members.  What charity is there in persons pledging themselves to aid each other in sickness or other misfortune, and to let widows and orphans, the lame and the diseased, and the wretchedly poor, perish with hunger and cold?  It may not be improper for A, B, and C to promise that they will take care of each other in sickness, and that in case of the death of one of them his dead body shall be buried by the survivors.  It may, also, not be improper for a man to get his life or his property insured.  Insurance companies have done much good.  Many a man has been saved from pecuniary ruin by getting his property insured, and many a man has secured a competence for his wife and children by getting his life insured.  Individuals and families have probably been oftener saved from worldly ruin by insurance companies than by secret societies.  The association of A, B, and C may do some good.  They have a right to agree to aid one another.  They may, perhaps, have a right to say that D, E, and F, who are very poor, or are enfeebled by disease, shall not join them, and shall not be aided by them; but they have no right to represent their exclusive, selfish association as a charitable one.  Such a representation would be false, and the wickedness of making it wholly inexcusable.  We do not blame Odd-fellows, Good-fellows, Druids, or any other association for acting as mutual insurance companies.  We do not blame them for agreeing that they will take care of each other or of each other’s