82 A Bridge To The Past 
     
    
   
   
    
     Wilmot Valley decided to form its own branch and the name chosen 
     
     was Excelsior Division Number 114, Sons of Temperance. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The earliest record of a meeting is dated April 1, 1880 and the slate of 
     
     officers elected at the June meeting, 1880 is as follows: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Worthy Patriarch - Brother Chas. Reade 
     
    

    
     Worthy Associate - Sister Lucy Waugh 
     
    

    
     Recording Scribe - Brother Fenwick Lefurgey 
     
     Associate Recording Scribe - Brother Chas. Waugh 
     
     Treasurer - Sister Annie Schurman 
     
    

    
     Chaplain - Brother Bishop 
     
    

    
     Conductor - Brother Jacob Silliker 
     
    

    
     Associate Conductor - Sister Mary Price 
     
    

    
     Inside Sentinel - Brother H. Lefurgey 
     
    

    
     Outside Sentinel - Brother Baxter 
     
    
   
   
    
     The structure of the organization was interesting, the regalia worn by 
     
     the officers quite attractive, their titles and the secret password all added to 
     
     the exclusiveness of the group. No one was admitted to a meeting without 
     
     repeating the password to the outside sentinel and this password was chang- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ed quarterly. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Persons wishing to join had to have their names presented to the in- 
     
     vestigating committee and this committee would report at the next meeting 
     
     and having found them to be “fit and proper persons", they would be in— 
     
     itiated into the order in the usual manner. If a member broke the rules of 
     
     total abstinence a charge would be preferred against him for violating the 
     
     pledge. This was also handled by the investigating committee and if the 
     
     culprit was expelled from his own group, a notice of action taken would be 
     
     sent to other Divisions. One of the few accounts showing an involvement in 
     
     community work stated that a motion had been passed to pay half the ex— 
     
     pense of white washing the school. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Debates were held on such subjects as: “Which has done the most 
     
     good, the plow or the compass?” “Which has wielded the greater in- 
     
     fluence, the pen or the sword? and “Is man the architect of his own fortune 
     
     or is he the creature of circumstances?" 
     
    
   
   
    
     Their meetings for the most part were taken up with matters pertain- 
     
     ing to temperance, and included a discussion of the Scott Act or a straight— 
     
     from—the-shoulder address by a visiting member. An account states that on 
     
     one occasion a member appeared much m0ved when he told of a wedding 
     
     celebration that he had attended locally and stated, “Blood and rum flowed 
     
     like water” and the account continued “some cross firing took place 
     
     between several members.“ At the next meeting some time was spent 
     
     discussing the Scott Act.