The idea of some one to help in time of sickness, and of property left to one’s children, is enough to draw the final dime from a colored person’s pocket, and stimulates parents who are not able to patronize a school to invest in a lodge. A colored woman who does well to send one of her six children to school said to me last week, “I am just as much opposed to the lodge as I can be. A good many women have to work hard to support their families, for it takes all their husbands can make to keep up the lodges. They pay four dollars a month for the rent of a hall to meet in, and they can’t pay the rent for a shelter for their families, so their wives have to attend to that.” The poor woman had the eloquence of truth and earnestness. She had had enough experience to know what she was talking about. They have the lodges, chapters, commanderies, and consistories of the Masonic order for colored men as well as for white. In Oddfellowship there are lodges for the men, and the Household of Ruth lodges for the women. There are the Knights of the Wise Men and the Sons and Daughters of Relief. The following are some of the lodges for men and women: Diamond Square, Beulah Temple, Blazing Star Temple, Daughters of Shiloh, Sisters of Charity, Sons and Daughters of Ham, and Willing Workers. There are Queen Esther’s Courts, and the United Sons and Daughters of Abraham, the Good Samaritans, the United Daughters of Zion, the Star Tabernacles, the Daughters of Union, the Tabernacle of Love and Charity, the Sons and Daughters of Moses, the Sons and Daughters of Honor, the Mothers and Daughters of Israel, the Eastern Star, the United Brothers of Friendship, the Sons of the Mysterious Ten, and the Immaculates. In our little town there are but two surviving secret societies amongst the colored people, but in my opinion there are too many by two. They rob the home, the church and the school, and are obstacles in the way of all who seek to promote the best interests of the people. Yours for the right and the light. J. B. N. * * * * * FOR THE CHILDREN. THE WAY TO DO IT. REV. C. L. HALL, FORT BERTHOLD, DAKOTA.