Sunday, December 9, 2018

Update: Man reading book is
Odd Fellow, not necromancer



We have a quick answer to yesterday's Mystery of the Eyeball Pillow on a vintage Christmas postcard, thanks to some super sleuthing by Wendyvee of RoadsideWonders.net. She says the pillow reminded her of some of the old memorabilia she's seen for the Odd Fellows (or Oddfellows), a fraternal order that dates to at least 1730 and, in present day and in its own words, aims "to improve and elevate every person to a higher, nobler plane; to extend sympathy and aid to those in need, making their burdens lighter, relieving the darkness of despair; to war against vice in every form, and to be a great moral power and influence for the good of humanity." Maybe I should look into joining!

One of the Odd Fellows' symbols is the triple links. The English motto of "Friendship, Love and Truth" is often placed in the rings with the letters F, L and T. And you can see this is the case at the bottom of the Eyeball Pillow.


Here are a couple images of old Odd Fellows items, from Internet searches, that help to confirm this solution.



There is an Odd Fellows building in the historic district of Strasburg, Lancaster County, that dates to 1856. LancasterOnline's Jen Kopf wrote about it in 2015, at which point the lodge had about 50 members.

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