Bro. Paul Revere, The Patriot Freemason.

Bro . Paul Revere was the first represnnta'ive of his family who came prominently before the public , and he himself would probably have been astonished if he had been told how prominent a fi . » nre ho would be in poetry and history . A prosperous engraver , quietly , bnt energetically , pushing his business interests , he had none of that military training which many Revolutionary leaders found of such

eminent service ; bnt he bid an organizing brain , great judgment and conrage , a determined will , unfading energy , and remarkable executive ability . He was a born leader of men , and his influence was pervading , especially among the mechanics and working men of Boston , with whom his popularity was unbounded . Several Boston families have articles of hi-t manufacture in silver ware iu their

possession . Previous to the Revolutionary on'break , he was a busy and prosperous artisan in his specialty , gold and silver work , but the aggression of Mother England so wrought upon his impetuous nature , that he quited his workshop , and threw himself with characteristic ardour into the opening struggle . At its conclusion he again entered business pursuits with renewed energy , and aided to

his former occupation , as we have stated , tbat of a copper aud brass founder . P . G . M . Bro . Revere ' s patriotism was inherited by his posterity . His grandson , Paul J . Revere , died ia 1863 , of a wound received at the battle of Gettysburg ; while a second grandson was wounded aud made a prisoner at Ball ' s Bluff , afterwards exchanged , and served in

the At my of the Potomac until his death . A third grandson was a surgeon in the army , and killed at the battle of Antietam . Such were the achievements of Bro . Paul Revere , a Mason of whom the American Craft , and especially our Massachusetts Brethren , have just cause to be proud , for he stood in the front rank of American patriots and Freemasons .

Eminent Masons.

EMINENT MASONS .

BRO . SAMUEL W . WILLIAMS , 32 ° . FROM THE VOICE OF MASONRY .

" rpHERE is no kind of writing , " says a learned and brilliant -L author , concerning Lockhart ' s Life of Sir Walter Scott , " which has truth and instruction for its main object , so interesting and popular , on the whole , as biography ; " and there are many facts , connected with the career of the distinguished Mason whose life is now passing , for brief review , under our hands , which might be

made valuable and instructive to any reflecting mind that may have the literary fortitude to endure the tedium of this article . Samuel Wright Williams was born near Howell ' s Ferry , on Broad River , in the District of York , South Carolina , 23 rd August 1828 . He was named for Dr . Samuel Wright , a prominent physician in those parts , and a kinsman by marriage . Bro . Williams ' s family came

from old Revolutionary stock j his maternal grandfather , tnen only seventeen years old , being nnder General Green in his retreat before Lord Cornwallis , which ended in the battle of Guilford Court House . His grandfather Williams was also in tbe same war , and remained until he received a hip wound , at the taking of Charleston , South Carolina , where General Lincoln was forced to surrender . This last

named ancestor carried an ounce of British lead , in the shape of a musket ball , to bis grave . For this disabling wonnd he received , as long as be lived , a pension from the State of Sontb Carolina . His father , the Rev . Aaron Williams , was a self-educated man , but one who , by dint of perseverance and economy , acquired a thorough classical training , and graduated , in 1813 , from Washing .

ton College , East Tennessee , then under the presidency of the Rev . Samuel Doak , D . D . Bro . Williams's mother also belonged to a talented family , and was herself endowed , not only with an extraordinary intellectual power , but with great force of will and obstinacy of purpose . His father diligently and liberally imported to him the rich gleanings which he had made in the fields of literature

and-learning , but it waa evidently through his mother that he inherited much of the indomitable adherence to his purposes , when once formed , which has ever been so characteristic of him , and has proved so great an element of his success in life . In 1842 , Bro . Williams emigrated with his father to Arkansas , and located at Washington , Hempstead County . One year afterwards

his father , being an Old School Presbyterian clergyman , and ono of the pioneer ministers of that denomination in Arkansas , was called to the charge of the church at Little Rock , and removed there with his family . They remained in Little Rock two years , and in January 1845 , settled in the northern part of what was then Pu ' aski , out now Prairie Countynear what is now known as Hickory Plains .

, This settling , however , did not prove permanent , for in the spring of 1846 the Rev . Aaron a- ^ ain moved to a new place , near what is now the town of Lonoke . In the fall of that year this place was exchanged for still another , hia her up on the prairie , which involved another breaking up and settling . These several changes of domicile , under the condition of things which then existed in Arkansas .

necessitated the hewing of logs , mauling of mils , clearing and fencing land , and erecting houses j in all of which the subject of our sketch took an active part and lent an honest hand , for several years ; besides which he also laboured in tbe cultivation of the crops npon which the family subsisted . In fact , Bro . Williams hewed every log nhich was used in putting np a two . story house on thei new place , and at the same time put in and cultivated twelve acrein

corn , with one month ' s help of a hi > e < l hand . H « was now eighteen years old , but continued to labour on the place , and supported his lather ' s family for several years . In February 1849 he commenced reading law , and pursued histudies by the aid of pine-knots , which he hauled from four miles away For be it remembered th it this was anterior to the advent into Arkansas of kerosene oil , gas , or other modern conveniences for

Eminent Masons.

illuminating , and his good mother carefully hoarded tho few tallow dins , made from the annuil fatted cow , for cisea of sioknes in the family , aud fo > - comp my . Ho coiirinue-l at this until July 1851 , when t « vn of his neighbours got into a liwsuit with each other , and one of them employed a practising attorney to attend to his side of the case . "n the day of trial a friend of the * opposite party advised

him to secure the services of Bro . Williams , which he did . and was successful . An appeal being made to the Circuit Court , Bro . Williams advised his client to employ a lawyer to see after the ease there , aa be then bad no license to practice ; but his client insisted upon his getting out license , and following the ease into the Circuit C mrt . He did so , and was

hcensed by Judge Field . 27 'h July 1851 , being examined by Hon . E . EI . English , the present Chief-Justice of the Suoreme Court of Arkansas . He made his first npnearance at the bar before the Circuit Court of Prairie County , in Brownsville , September 1851 , and succee led in making a favourable impression . He was then the lawyer of one book , to wit , " English ' s Digest , " price 2 . 50 dollars

b inght on credit . Hon . B . 0 . Totten , who had then recently resigned the position of Circuit Judge in Tennessee , and had located in Prairie County , offered him an equal partnership in his practice , which carried with it the use of an excellent library and the prestige of an already established professional reputation . This offer was thankfully accepted by our young friend , and he remained for throe

years in practice there . In 1854 , before consenting to run for Chief Justice , Judge English proposed that Bro . Williams should take charge of his business , which the latter readily consented to do , and removed to Little Rock for that purpose . He has since resided at the State Capital , and married there 18 th January 1855 . His wife ' s maiden name was

Mary J . Marshall , and she has been a most devoted and exemplary consort . While Bro . Williams has never held permanently any position on tbe bench , he has on several occasions been called upon to sit as Special Judge of the Supreme Court of Arkansas . The opinions which be has prepared and delivered for tbe Court , in that capacity , have been models of judicial perspicuity and acumen . The

most celebrated , though not by any means the most important , of these opinions was the one rendered by the Court in the nationally notorious controversy of Baxter v . Brooks , for the office of Governor of the State . This was , however , bnt one out of the thirty . three cases in which be wrote and rendered the opinion of tbe Court ; during which time he also kept up an active and lucrative practice

in the lower courts . He has twice filled the office of Attorney . General , first in 1855 , to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon . John J . Clendenning , and again in 1863 , when he was elected to the position . Bro . Williams is a fluent and forcible speaker , and , as . an antagonist in the arena of his profession , is fully capable of meeting , on even ground , the most gifted and best trained of his learned brethren .

MASONIC EEC 0 BD . Bro . Williams was initiated in Brownsville Lodge No . 61 , at Brownsville , Arkansas , in December 1852 ; passed in February 1853 ; and was raised 23 rd Jnne 1853 . He was made a Royal Arch Mason in Union Chapter No . 2 , at Little Rock , in 1855 . Iu 1856 , at Little Rock , he waa dnbbed and created a Knight Templar , in Hugh de

Payens Commandery No . 1 , and the same year was made a R'jyal and Select Master in Occidental Council No . 1 . His affiliation with Western Star Lodge , in 1855 , thus placed his membership in all the grades at Little Rock . When Bro . Albert Pike established the Scottish Rite in Arkansas , in 1858 , Bro . Williams wns selected as one of the class for that purpose , and , preparatory to organization , he

received the Ineffable Degrees of that Rite , np to and including the 32 . In 1867 he was elected Senior Warden of Western Star Lod ge , and the year following its Worshipful Master . Has been time and again elected High Priest of Union Chapter , and as presiding officer of both bodies has been able , punctual and efficient , in the discharge of bis duties ; and has ever elicited the warmest praise of his brethren

and companions . He was elected Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge in 1867 , and also placed upon the Committee on Foreign correspondence ; and in 1868 was elected Grand Lecturer , and as such , presided over a convention of District Deputy Grand Masters , before whom he clearly and admirably exemplified the work , according to the system in vogue in Arkansas .

Bro . Williams , after years of laborious devotion to the Fraternit y , at last reached tbe pinnacle of its honours in 1870 , when , as a well merited and justly deserved recognition of eminent and faithful services , he was made Most Worshipful Grand Master . And again , in 1871 , the Craft emphasized its former reward by re-electing him to that august and responsible position . He has also served , for

many years , on the Committee on Masonic Jurisprudence , in the Grand Lodge , aud has well established hia reputation as one of the very ablest Masonic jurists in the State . He assisted at the organization of the Grand Commandery of Arkansas , at Fort Smith , in March 1872 , and was then elected its first Grand Captain General .

In 1873 he was elected Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Arkansas ; and re-elected in 1874 At tb « last Annual Assembly nf the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters , of Arkansas in 1877 , he was elected Deputy Grand Master ; and but for the dissolution of that body , as an independent u'gan zi . tion in the S'ate , he would , beyond doubt , have been made

the chief oftVer of that grade also , the following year . In the case •¦( Bro . Wdliams , these high employments in the Craft have beeu no i II » i , empty , or mere honorary sinecures . His report to he Grand L < dge on Foreign Correspondence won for him an nvious celeb ity among his cultured and well informed brethren ,

iiid his addresses before the Grind Lod ^ e , as Grand Master , are ich in literary excellencies , aud display the powers of a sound and well balanced min I . In fact , upon whatever his pen has trenched , be has left a trace und an impress of bis strong individuality and originality .