The Use Of Grand Representatives.

Bnt think of it , Brethren , how proud is the position of one , who being present in the Grand Lodge to which he is accredited , can rise in his place and say , " Here . " Recollect that in that response you answer not only for the Grand

Lodgo you represent , but for the Brethren who owe it allegiance ; tbat you are their spokesman and answer for them ; that you in your person are empowered to say tho

Grand Lodgo of is here , and by and through me presents you its most cordial good wishes , not only for health and stability , but that to and yours may be given length of clays and all prosperity .

It should be , if it is not , a proud source of ambition to represent the Craftsmen of another jurisdiction , and to feel that in your person they are present at the particular body near which you are their representative .

So let it ever be , and so understand the position of Grand Representative that in bis person are represented not only the Grand body he is called to represent , but its kindest and most loving remembrance , and so let it be that

when a Brother is called to represent a Grand body near another , he may feel the value of being able to say : " I have the honour to represent . " Seek no powers beyond those of fraternal courtesy ; ask no attention but that given

to another and equal power , but take pride that in you ancl through you a corresponding organisation is present , and through your hand-grip you communicate the fraternal sentiments of thousands who neither have nor probably ever

will sec the presence in which you stand . This is our idea of a Grand Representative , and somehow it seems to us to meet the occasion . We have enjoyed the honours of the Craft ; have talked to the Brethren freely in these columns and elsewhere , but among them all we

now , in our decling years and with our whitening hairs , recall nothing that gives us more pleasure ' . than the several representations we hold as the alter ego of the Brethren , Companions and Sir Knights who have honoured us as their Grand Representative . —N . Y . Dispatch .

Almost A Masonic Sensation.

ALMOST A MASONIC SENSATION .

BY BRO . JACOB N ORTON . ALL have heard that Adam , Noah , Moses , Pythagoras , & c , were Masons , but to the best of my knowledge no Masonic writer had ever discovered that Homer was

claimed to have been a member of our Craft before I found it so stated in Lucian ' s Works , printed in London by Samuel Briscoe iu 1711 .

Lucian flourished in the second half of the second century of the Christian era , he knew a great deal about the old gods and goddesses of the upper as well as the

lower regions , and his writings consist mainly of dialogues , between gods as well as men . Now in the lower regions there is a place called " Hades , " the said place is mentioned in the revised edition of the New Testament . Hades is

encompassed by a stream of water ; in short , it is an island , the used-up souls of all dead men and women are carried to the said island , and Captain Charon , who owns a ferry boat , takes all the ghosts across the stream to

Hades . It is rather singular that while Charon must have seen untold millions of souls , that up to the days of King Cyrus he had never seen a living human being , or any kind of light ; at last , curiosity prompted him to

obtain from Pluto , the governor of Hades , permission for a month's holiday , to visit the surface of the earth . Charon evidently got up here in some outlandish place , and not knowing geography the poor fellow was in a pickle , for

he did not know where he could find a man ; but as luck would have it , Mercury , who was a son . of Jupiter , as well as his errand boy , was carrying a message from Jupiter to some one on the earth ; he recognised Charon , while he was still on the wing , and so he came down to him .

After the usual salutations of " How do you do , old boy , I ' m glad to see you ? " & c , Mercury asked Charon what brought him there , & c . Charon answered that he wanted to see live men and live women , and would like to

know how they amused themselves , & c . ; and , said he , "My old friend Mercury , who knows all the inns ancl outs of this strange place , I want you to take me to a

habitation of men , and show me other strange sights that you may be acquainted with upon this globe . " " Oh ! " said Mercury , " you must really excuse me , I cannot do it to-day . You know that Jupiter is very particular as to

Almost A Masonic Sensation.

time with messengers , and if I should fail to appear before him at the required time , he will kick me down to the lowest regions , so I must be off . " "But , " said Charon , * ' Mercury , you are very ungrateful . Have you forgotten

how kind I behaved to you when you took a pleasure trip on my ferry boat , and how I saved you from danger , <& c . Thereupon , Mercury made np his mind to go on a tramp with his old friend even at the risk of being kicked for it .

The above narrative is the gist of the introduction fco the dialogue , for the rest I refer the reader to the book itself ; I must however add , that several hundred years before this dialogue took place , the soul of Homer was

ferried by Charon across tbe stream to Hades , and during the passage Homer entertained his fellow passengers with reciting his poetry . Charon , somehow , sucked in every word that Homer said , and he retained every word nntil

his meeting with Mercury ; hence the conversation between these immortals , was frequently spiced with Homeric verses . Now , on page 363 , of the second volume of Lucian ' s works , I was startled with the following statement , viz . :

" Mercury . —They are true as oracles . Why should those wise men lie so ? Let us then pluck up Ossa , as that Mason Homer directs in his verses . "

" What ! " exclaimed I , "is it possible that Masonry existed in the days of Homer , and that Homer himself was a Mason ? " My head began to whirl ; I thought I alread y heard the loud crowing that was going up from

fche luminous conductors of the Keystone , the Voice of Masonry , the Masonic Advocate , and other Masonic orthodoxies , about their faith , logic , & c , aud in my excited imagination I thought that our mosfc wonderful Mason ,

Bro . Rob Morris , hacl already manipulated a Homer Masonic lecture , and repeated it on ninety successive nights in ninety different places . I was tortured with a conviction that my old opponents would not fail to discharge their

batteries of gibes , sneers , and ridicule at poor me . Had I been as void of conscience as some writers , who when they jump at a wrong conclusion imagine that they are bound in honour to stick to it , through thick and

thin , I should have been " mum ** about my discovery ; bufc I was averse to hiding truth behind a bushel , and con - science whispered into mine ear , " Courage , Bro . N . ; do

your duty , and shame the evil one . " Well , I did my duty , and I set my opponents a good example . But , alas I will any of them follow a good example ?

The result of my inquiry will surely astonish the whole Craffc , for had Oliver made known my discovery thirty years ago , Homer would have Masonized in the twinkling of an eye , without an " if " or a " but " ; no one would

have questioned , ancl no one would have doubted . But now , even the very highest degreers laugh at it . One of my friends , humorously imitating the Yankee twang as represented on the English stage , said , " Oh , yes , I guess

Bro . Homer wore a cocked hat , and marched in Knights Templars' procession . " A " thirty-thirder " proposed to have Bro . Homer dubbed S . G . C . of the A . and A . Rite ; another , of a John Bullish nature , exclaimed contemptuously ,

" Bah ! Mr . Cashen , the translator of that dialogue , was probably a Mason , and he lied the same as others did , and some still do , for the sake of enhancing the antiquity of

the Craft ; and , " he added , " I won't trouble myself to investigate it . " ' ¦ But , " said I , "If you believe so , it is ' your duty to prove it . Remember that our Boston Masons are humbugged not only with a multiplicity of the older moonshine rites , bat they have now here a Constantine Cross rite , a

Mystic Shrine rite , a Rosicrucian rite , and last , not least , we have here already a 9 th Rosicrucian degreer . And if we do not investigate the Homer question , we will ere long be humbugged with a Homer rite too . You will soon learn

that all the Past Grands and all the present Grands of every Masonic stripe , as well as all the orthodox Masonic editors , have all been Homerised gratis for the purpose of serving as decoy ducks to allure

the noodles , and when they have become sufficiently numerous , if you have any ambition to shine in the Grand Lodge , you will be drawn into the Homer vortex , as you have been drawn into a dozen other humbugging concerns . "

The result was , my learned friends were induced to investigate . One of them bought a French edition of Lucian , and therein it is " Excellent Architect Homer , " another Brother read from a Latin edition , " Architectus Homerus , " and in the Greek edition ifc is , " Kai o Architecton Homeros . "