concern of all"; and they took their preamble from Burke, the
most philosophical of statesmen: "When bad men combine, the good
must associate, else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied
sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

The order was a secret society and for years kept its name from
the public. It was generally known as the "Five Stars," because
of the five asterisks that represented its name in all public
notices. While mysterious initials and secret ceremonies
gratified the members, they aroused a corresponding antagonism,
even fear, among the public, especially as the order grew to
giant size. What were the potencies of a secret organization that
had only to post a few mysterious words and symbols to gather
hundreds of workingmen in their halls? And what plottings went on
behind those locked and guarded doors? To allay public hostility
secrecy was gradually removed and in 1881 was entirely abolished
--not, however, without serious opposition from the older
members.

The atmosphere of high idealism in which the order had been
conceived continued to be fostered by Stephens, its founder and
its first Grand Master Workman. He extolled justice,
discountenanced violence, and pleaded for "the mutual development
and moral elevation of mankind." His exhortations were free from
that narrow class antagonism which frequently characterizes the
utterances of labor. One of his associates, too, invoked the
spirit of chivalry, of true knighthood, when he said that the old
trade union had failed because "it had failed to recognize the
rights of man and looked only to the rights of tradesmen," that
the labor movement needed "something that will develop more of