Part 5

They severally assent, and the Installing Officer will then seat the Grand Chapter, the officers elect being seated together, and the ceremonies will proceed, as follows:

_G. M._ Grand ----, I have the honor to present, for installation, Sister ----, duly elected Grand Matron for the ensuing year. Our sister is fully aware of the great responsibility she is assuming, in the acceptance of this important position, yet she is willing to undertake it, in the belief that, with the aid and assistance of the sisters and brothers, and by the help of God, she will not fail in the performance of her duty, and thus prove that the confidence reposed in her has not been misapplied.

_Grand ----._ Sister ----, you have been elected by the free ballot of the members of this Grand Chapter, to occupy the most exalted position in their power to bestow upon a sister; a just and deserving tribute to your zeal and worth, and I congratulate you upon your preferment.

The high honors attached to the office of Grand Matron are accompanied by weighty and delicate responsibilities. It is expected that you will have a watchful care over the interests of this Grand Chapter, see that its Constitutions, By-Laws and Regulations, orders and edicts are promptly enforced throughout this jurisdiction, that subordinate officers discharge their duties, and that, by your own respect for law and good government, you will cause all others to find the strongest incentive of obedience to all lawful commands.

Your duties are more specifically set forth in the Constitution, to which I refer you, with the admonition: Be cautious in your words, courteous in your actions, sincere in your rulings, governing with moderation and decorum, trusting that your well-known zeal in the cause of the Order will lead you to discharge these important trusts with lasting benefit to this Grand Chapter and great credit to yourself.

You will now be invested with the proper badge of office, and be conducted to your station in the East.

After she is in her station, the Installing officer will call up the Grand Chapter, and say:

_Grand ----._ Grand Matron, behold your sisters and brothers! Sisters and brothers, behold your Grand Matron, and salute her with the Grand Honors.

Seats the Grand Chapter.

_G. M._ Grand ----, it is with pleasure I introduce to you Brother ----, who has been duly elected Grand Patron for the ensuing year. I doubt not but you will find him as willing to discharge the duties as to enjoy the high honors conferred upon him.

_Grand ----._ Brother ----, you have been elected by the free choice of the members of this Grand Chapter to occupy the most exalted position in their power to bestow upon a brother; a just compliment to your zeal and worth, and for which I offer you my sincere congratulations. Your intimate acquaintance with the rules and affairs of our Order justify me in saying that the members have exercised a sound discretion in this selection. You are elevated to a position from which the power and prerogative may depart with the expiration of your term of service, but the honor and dignity, except by your own act, _never_!

Your duties are to issue dispensations, organize and supervise new Chapters, and assist the Grand Matron in the discharge of her duties. Other duties appropriate to your high office might be named, which will readily suggest themselves to a sensitive mind, imbued with a proper zeal to promote the interests of our Order. The field is broad, and whitening for the harvest; may you be the instrument of gathering many sheaves to our garner, that it may be said of you, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things."

You will now be invested with the insignia of office, and be conducted to your station on the left of the Grand Matron in the East.

After he is in his station, the Installing Officer will call up the Grand Chapter, and say:

_Grand ----._ Grand Patron, behold your sisters and brothers! Sisters and brothers, behold your Grand Patron, and salute him with the Grand Honors.

Seats the Grand Chapter.

_G. M._ Grand ----, with pleasure I present Sister ----, elected Associate Grand Matron, for installation. I am persuaded she fully appreciates the honor conferred, and will discharge the duties imposed with credit to herself and satisfaction to the Order.

_Grand ----._ Sister ----, the duties of your honorable station are embodied in the name of your office. You are to assist the Grand Matron, and in case of her death, absence, or disability, you shall act for her and discharge her duties. To you is especially intrusted the supervision of your sister officers, that the paraphernalia of the Grand Chapter be properly preserved, and its Ritual ceremonies performed intelligently. Be ever ready to discharge these duties.

You will now be invested with your badge of office, and conducted to your station in the West.

_G. M._ Grand ----, I now have the pleasure of presenting to you, for installation, Brother ----, who has been duly elected Associate Grand Patron.

_Grand ----._ Brother ----, I congratulate you on being chosen to fill so high a station. Your duties are to assist the Grand Patron, and in case of his death, absence or disability, to assume his powers and duties. Those who have reposed so much confidence in you have reason to expect you to faithfully look after their interests, and zealously work for the welfare of the Order. Let the laws, tenets and professions of the Eastern Star be your constant study, that you may be ready to enforce them by precept and example, and the better enabled to exercise the higher and more exalted position to which you may be called at any moment.

You will now be invested with the proper emblem of office, and conducted to your station on the left of the Associate Grand Matron, in the West.

_G. M._ Grand ----, it is my pleasant duty to introduce ---- ----, duly elected to serve us as Grand Secretary for the ensuing year.

_Grand ----._ ---- ----, the office to which you have been elected is by far the most important, if not the most honorable, within the gift of this Grand Chapter. Yours is an onerous and most responsible charge. But few are competent to perform it in the thorough manner it demands. Failure or neglect upon your part will complicate and embarrass all our proceedings, and give us a disgraceful record before the world. To you, also, is intrusted the collection of all funds due the Grand Chapter, the custody of the seal, records, books, and papers. You are the correspondent and financial agent of the Grand Chapter, the medium of intercourse between the officers and members thereof, as well as between them and Subordinate Chapters. The faithful discharge of all your various duties requires constant and systematic work, a careful keeping of records and accounts, prompt and discreet action, and the highest integrity of character.

You will now receive your emblem of office, and be conducted to your station in the South-East.

_G. M._ Grand ----, it is with confidence and pleasure I present to you, for installation, Sister ----, duly elected to serve as Grand Treasurer for the ensuing year.

_Grand ----._ Sister ----, to you is intrusted the proper care, preservation and disbursement of the funds of this Grand Chapter. This is a trust of the utmost importance, for without money little good can be accomplished. You will, therefore, attend carefully to the financial interests of the Order, receiving the funds, through the Grand Secretary, from the different sources of revenue, keep them safely invested, render a just account thereof, and pay the same out only on proper vouchers, with the consent of this Grand Chapter. Let it be your constant care to be faithful to your trust, and not forfeit the confidence reposed in you by this Grand Chapter.

You will now receive your badge of office, and be conducted to your station, in the North-East.

_G. M._ Grand ----, I have the honor to present ---- ----, chosen to officiate as Grand Chaplain for the ensuing year.

_Grand ----._ My ----, our beautiful Order founded upon the moral teachings of the Holy Scripture, everywhere, and on all occasions, acknowledges the existence and providence of God. Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain. You have been chosen Grand Chaplain, and as such it will be your duty to conduct the devotional exercises of this Grand Chapter, and superintend and promote its charitable and benevolent objects. These will afford a wide field of usefulness, and may you be so successful in pointing to the "Star in the East" that all will be induced to follow it, until they meet in the Grand Chapter above.

You will now be invested with your badge of office, and take your station on the right of the Grand Matron.

_G. M._ Grand ----, it is with pleasure I present ---- ----, appointed Grand Lecturer.

_Grand ----._ ---- ----, to you is intrusted the work of the Order, its rites, traditions, and ceremonies, and it will be your duty to exemplify the same, whenever called upon by this Grand Chapter, and see that they are intelligently performed by the subordinate Chapters of this jurisdiction. To discharge these duties well, will require much time, study and observation upon your part; but we trust that your attachment to the principles of our Order, and zeal in promoting its interests, will lead you to the faithful discharge of your duties.

Receive the jewel and emblem of your office, and take your station in the South.

_G. M._ Grand ----, I now have the pleasure of presenting ---- ----, for installation, as Grand Marshal.

_Grand ----._ ---- ----, the post assigned to you is one of honor and responsibility. It is your duty to superintend and marshal all processions of the Grand Chapter, assist in all its public and private ceremonies, conduct and proclaim the officers at the time of installation, and perform such other duties as pertain to your office.

You will now be invested with the badge of your office, and be conducted to your station in the South-East.

_G. M._ Grand ----, I have the pleasure to introduce, for installation, Sister ----, appointed Grand Conductress, and Sister ----, appointed Associate Grand Conductress for the ensuing year.

_Grand ----._ My sisters, your duties are to attend upon your superior officers, assist in the active duties of this Grand Chapter, introduce and welcome visitors, and aid in exemplifying the rites and ceremonies of our Order upon all proper occasions.

If you attend to these duties aright, throwing sisterly courtesy and dignity around your official conduct, you will acquire the confidence and respect of all and merit promotion to still higher honors and more weighty responsibilities.

You will now receive your respective badges of office, and be conducted to your proper stations in the South and North.

_G. M._ Grand ----, it is with pleasure that I present to you, for installation, these sisters who have been appointed to represent the five distinguished heroines of our Order, Sister ----, as Grand Adah; Sister ----, as Grand Ruth; Sister ----, as Grand Esther; Sister ----, as Grand Martha; Sister ----, as Grand Electa.

_Grand ----._ My sisters, the most important lessons of our Order are given from the five points of our emblematic Star. It should be your study to most impressively render these lessons during the opening ceremonies of this Grand Chapter, and whenever your services may be needed.

You will now each be invested with the badge of your office, and conducted to your stations.

_G. M._ It is with pleasure that I present, for installation, Sister ----, appointed to be Grand Warder, and Brother ----, appointed to be Grand Sentinel.

_Grand ----._ My sister and brother, you are, respectively, the inner and outer guards of the Grand Chapter. Upon you, therefore, we rely to preserve that secrecy which is essential to our proceedings, and to see that our ceremonies are not interrupted by untimely alarms, and to discharge such other duties as appertain to your office. A prompt and faithful discharge of these responsibilities will afford the best evidence of your attachment for the tenets and professions of our Order.

You will be invested with your respective badges of office, and conducted to your stations within and without the door of the Grand Chapter.

_G. M._ It is my pleasant duty to present for installation, Sister ----, appointed to serve as Grand Organist for the ensuing year.

_Grand ----._ My sister, your duties are embodied in the name of your office, admonishing you that by uniting music and harmony with our mystic lessons the ceremonials of our Order will prove more lasting.

You will be invested with your badge of office, and conducted to your station.

_G. M._ Grand ----, my duties are ended. The several officers of this Grand Chapter have been duly elected, installed, invested with their badges of office, and conducted to their respective stations.

_Grand ----._ It is well. Officers and members of the Grand Chapter, all things are now ready for you to enter upon the proceedings of a new year. Harmony and good-will prevail, and we start under the most auspicious circumstances. But no one can affirm that another year, or even a single day, will be committed to our trust. Therefore, if we have been faithful heretofore, let us redouble our exertions for the future. Let us continue kindly affectionate, one toward another. Let us walk circumspectly, sacredly preserving our lips from slander and evil speaking, ever remembering our sacred obligations. And may we, each of us, through the good providence of God, be brought, through a useful and happy life, to a blissful close and a triumphant entrance upon the joys of the Heavenly life.

Let us now look to God for his benediction.

Installing Officer calls up the Grand Chapter.

Prayer.

_Grand ----._ Grand Marshal, you will proclaim the Grand Officers, regularly installed.

_G. M._ In the name of the Grand Chapter and by order of the Worthy Grand ----, I proclaim the officers of the Grand Chapter of ----, Order of the Eastern Star, duly installed.

Seats the Grand Chapter.

Funeral Ceremonies of the Order of the Eastern Star

At the burial of a sister, the badges of the members and officers should be draped with crape. A floral five-pointed Star should be provided, having flowers of the appropriate colors for the several points. The Star officers should each have a small bouquet, or a few loose flowers of the appropriate color. A few flowers should also be provided for the Worthy Matron and Worthy Patron.

The floral Star may be deposited with the casket, or be retained by the family of the deceased.

This service, although primarily designed for use at the Grave, can, if it is thought best to do so, be performed within the Chapter room, the Church, or other appropriate place. The members may meet at the Chapter room, or at the place of service.

A member will be appointed to act as Marshal, who will see that the badges are properly draped, and that the officers and members are in their proper positions.

If a procession is formed, it will march in the following order: Marshal and Sentinel, Members, Warder and Electa, Martha and Esther, Ruth and Adah, Conductress and Associate Conductress, Secretary and Treasurer, Matron and Associate Matron, Patron and Chaplain.

During the services, the officers and members will occupy the following positions around the grave or casket:

When all is ready, the services should commence with a short strain of solemn music, "The Lord is my Shepherd," etc. After which the Worthy Patron will say:

_W. P._ Sisters and Brothers, we have gathered at this solemn hour to perform those final rites which affection has prescribed for our departed sister. She, who was with us but yesterday, has been summoned hence by a messenger who cometh sooner or later for us all.

How appropriately may we gather around her remains, and together pay love's tribute to her memory.

She has indeed passed beyond the reach of praise, or the touch of censure. It is not, therefore, to her that we tender this our heart's saddest offering.

We are here in acknowledgment of sacred ties now severed, of memories tenderly cherished, and hearts touched with sympathy for loved ones bereaved.

Our sister has finished her allotted task in the conflict of life. The chapter of her earthly sojourn is closed, but her many virtues shall not go unrecorded.

For a time we have walked with her in the pilgrimage of life, and around the same altar we have learned the lessons of our Order.

As she was faithful to her convictions of right, as she was obedient to the demands of honor and justice in her station; as she loved kindred and friends, and in affliction evinced a trustful faith; and as she lived in the spirit of charity and the love of truth, so shall be her reward.

Remembering her many virtues, we are indeed mourners at her grave, and in the house of sorrow we would drop the tear of affectionate sympathy.

Sisters, brothers, and friends, as we stand in this solemn presence we may hear the voice of this Providence speaking to us.

Not long shall we wait ere we obey the inexorable decree of Death, and follow our sister.

How brief and full of mystery is human life! Who can fathom its purpose, or disclose its issues. We entered life as it were but yesterday; to-day we perform our allotted task, and to-morrow we go--who knows whither? We strain our eyes in vain endeavor to scan with mortal vision the infinite shore. But, thanks to our Heavenly Father, who gives fruition to His children's hopes, He bids us look yet again.

Standing beside the Broken Column, we may, with Martha's trustful faith, look beyond the shore of time, and know that our sister, though lost to mortal vision, is only waiting beyond the river to welcome us to our eternal home.

"In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye may be also." O, let the comforting assurance come to us, "That if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens."

Instructed by this Providence, may we go from this place of mourning, and this hour of reflection, with the inspiration of a new hope, and earnest purpose.

"So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan that moves To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."

SINGING.

The following or some other appropriate hymn may be used:

Friend after friend departs; Who hath not lost a friend? There is no union here of hearts, That finds not here an end. Were this frail world our only rest, Living or dying, none were blest.

There is a world above, Where parting is unknown-- A whole eternity of love And blessedness alone; And faith beholds the dying here, Translated to that happier sphere.

_W. P._ The examples and symbols of our Order are full of useful and impressive lessons. They speak to us in this solemn hour with unwonted significance.

These floral tributes, the offering of sisterly affection, echo voices often heard from the several points of our Star; they symbolize, in the ritual of our Order, virtues which should adorn our lives. How appropriately, then, may they bear an important part in this solemn ceremonial.

Sisters of our Star, you who represent the five distinguished heroines of our Order, have you anything to offer ere we leave the grave of our departed sister?

Sister Adah, what is the voice and tribute from the Blue point of our emblematic Star?

_Adah._ Blue symbolizes fidelity, and is appropriate to Jephthah's Daughter, who, in the morning of life, surrendered to the grave the brightest of earthly hopes, that she might be faithful to her convictions of right, and preserve her father's honor. As a token of faithfulness to the memory of our sister, I deposit in her grave this tribute of faithful love.

At the proper time each officer will drop into the grave, or place upon the casket, the flowers provided for that purpose.

Adah deposits her tribute, and then, addressing Ruth, says:

Sister Ruth, what is the voice and tribute from the Yellow point of our Star?

_Ruth._ Yellow symbolizes constancy, teaching faithful obedience to the demands of honor and justice. Ruth exemplified these virtues in humble station, and sought the society of the good and true. In token of appreciation of these virtues, I deposit in the grave of our sister this floral tribute.

Deposits her tribute, and then, addressing Esther, says:

Sister Esther, what is the voice and tribute from the White point of our Star?

_Esther._ White symbolizes light and purity. The heroic Queen Esther evinced the purity of her motive and love of kindred and friends, by her willingness to risk the loss of crown and life, to save her people from death. In token of sincere affection for our sister, I deposit in her grave this emblem of light and purity.

Deposits her tribute, and then, addressing Martha, says:

Sister Martha, what is the voice and tribute from the Green point of our Star?

_Martha._ Green is an emblem of Nature's life and beauty. The evergreen is a symbol of immortal life, and teaches us, that in the economy of God there is no death; forms change, but the spirit survives. Martha, beside the grave of her beloved brother, avowed her trustful faith and hope of immortal life. In the full assurance of our sister's entrance upon a glorious immortality, I deposit in her grave this evergreen.

Deposits her tribute, and then, addressing Electa, says:

Sister Electa, what is the voice and tribute from the Red point of our Star?

_Electa._ Red symbolizes fervency and zeal. Electa represents those who have been pre-eminent in charity, and heroic in endurance of the wrongs of persecution. In token of the fervency of our affection for our sister, I deposit in her grave this tribute of love.

Deposits her tribute, and then, addressing the Worthy Matron, says:

Worthy Matron, we have spoken from the five points of our emblematic Star, but our departed sister hears us not. Is it in vain that we speak to the living?

_W. M._ You have spoken well, my sisters. It is not in vain that we hear the oft repeated lessons of our Star. It is true that our sister hears not with mortal ear the lessons she was wont to learn from you; but is it true that she listens not to our words of love, and sees not the beautiful tributes strewn within her grave? May not her quickened spirit, freed from its earthly tenement, yet hover around the loved ones here assembled, listen to our words, and perceive with clearer vision our every movement?

She needs not to be ministered unto; but may she not now minister to us? "Are they not all ministering spirits?" saith the apostle.