Document 17.2

The Ten Commandments of the Grange, 1874

  1. Thou shalt love the Grange with all thy heart and with all thy soul and thou shalt love thy brother granger as thyself.

  2. Thou shalt not suffer the name of the Grange to be evil spoken of, but shall severely chastise the wretch who speaks of it with contempt.

  3. Remember that Saturday is Grange day. On it thou shalt set aside thy hoe and rake, and sewing machine, and wash thyself, and appear before the Master in the Grange with smiles and songs, and hearty cheer. On the fourth week thou shalt not appear empty handed, but shalt thereby bring a pair of ducks, a turkey roasted by fire, a cake baked in the oven, and pies and fruits in abundance for the Harvest Feast. . . .

  4. Honor thy Master, and all who sit in authority over thee, that the days of the Granges may be long in the land which Uncle Sam hath given thee.

  5. Thou shalt not go to law[yers].

  6. Thou shalt do no business on tick [time]. . . .

  7. Thou shalt support the Granger's store for thus it becometh thee to fulfill the laws of business.

  8. Thou shalt by all means have thy life insured in the Grange Life Insurance Company, that thy wife and little ones may have friends when thou art cremated and gathered unto thy fathers.

  9. . . . This is the last and best commandment. . . . Choke monopolies, break up rings, vote for honest men, fear God and make money. So shalt thou prosper and sorrow and hard times shall flee away.

Source: “The Ten Commandments of the Grange,” Oshkosh Weekly Times, December 16, 1874, reprinted in Rich Harvest: A History of the Grange, 1876–1900, by D. Sven Nordin (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1974), 240.