Masonic Portraits (No. 19.) A Model Mason.

always as brilliant as they might be . If our brother , for example , had entered upon a commercial career he might have made a fortune . As a secretary of a public company his knowledge of public business would have been simply invaluable . Many of these latter officials are realising

princely incomes , and are not called upon to grind daily in the official mill . Their work is rather of the ornamental kind , but those who know the great body to which we allude are aware that it has wisely determined to keep no more cats than can catch mice . Yet , perhaps , our

brother , highly as he is placed on the official roll , might have risen higher still if he had been conversant with those arts which , while men remain gullible creatures , will always help to push mediocrity to the front . He does not possess either arrogance or effrontery , and does not

care to assert himself . His mind is fully stored with precedents and general official lore , but he has not the knack of " mouthing " his knowledge to make it appear more valuable than it really is , nor is he possessed of that

bad eloquence which can transmute dross into pinchbeck . We havo lived long enough to know that tho highest success in life is rarely if ever achieved by modest unassuminsr worth . It is the man with the brazen front

and leaden conscience who " gets on . It is the man who values himself highly who contrives to compel the world to place a fictitious value upon his own talents . Bluster has actually a high marketable value in these days , and he who is master of the art of " talking big " may be

certain of success , of a kind . Yet , in the end , high personal worth is justly appreciated by the deserving few , whose opinions are of more real value than those of all the rest of the world . The man who possesses genius or talent would rather win the applause of men of high culture than the

gaping adulations of fools . The homago of the latter is usually bestowed upon idols of gilded clay , whose resplendent brilliancy always far surpasses that of the sterling solid metal . We have known fools who could merel y talk

bunkum and strike an attitude , who went down to their graves with the praise of a thoughtless world ringing in their ears . We know honest and painstaking men , such as our brother , whose robust constitutions require no such gingerbread nutrition .

Our brother ' s Masonic career has not been a remarkable one , but of its kind it is , so to speak , typical . We mi ght , indeed , style him a model Master Mason , since his knowledge of the Craft is solid and thorough . Ho was initiated in the Dalhousie Lodge on the 13 th October 1864 , and at

once entered zealously into Masonic work . He attended his Lodge with the greatest regularity , and made it his business to perfect himself in Masonry . In April 1867 he was appointed Junior Warden , and in the following year he was Senior Warden . In 1867 he was elected the W . M

of the Lodge , having attained this high and honourable post in the unusually short period of less than six years . His promotion was owing entirely to his Masonic and personal merit , and we are assured that he filled the chair with honour to himself and credit to the Order . In the

same year he acted as Steward at the Anniversary Festival of the R . M . B . Institution for Aged Freemasons . Some four years since he took an active part in tho promotion of the Kennington Lodge , No . 1381 , and was appointed acting Past Master ; this Lodge is now in a flourishing

condition , and wo may have occasion to speak of it more fully in future sketches . In 1874 our brother was Treasurer of his Lodge , but in 1876 , at the unanimous request of the brethren , he was induced to take the office of Secretary , which he still holds . To this honourabl e

and laborious post he has brought an intellect trained to work of a congenial nature , and Ave are assured that he performs the duties of the post in a st yle which leaves nothing to be desired . His minutes of the proceedings are models of perspicuity . We should be glad ,

indeed , if we could say the same of similar work from the pens of Lodge Secretaries generally , who are not always the most luminous of scribes . Our brother is greatly and deservedl y respected by the members of the Dalhousie Lodge , and , indeed , by all who know aueht of his Masonic or his

secular career . His loyal devotion to dut y , and his unaffected earnestness are appreciated by those who value sterling metal , and who aro not disposed to play homage to mere gilded gingerbread . Pie has toiled

steadily and honourably for the Order , and yields to none in genuine enthusinsm for the grand principles which lie at the you of the fraternity . His kindly face wonld be missed if sickness should eyer compel Mia , to throw down his

Masonic Portraits (No. 19.) A Model Mason.

secretarial pen . But he is blessed with a robust constitution , and gives ample promise of a green and honoured old age . In official work he has long since won his spurs , and we may , perhaps , be permitted here to express a hope that the substantial rewards which fortune sometimes has

in store for those who do not bend the knee to Mammon , or court the rising sun of power , may yet be showered upon him . He has indeed no reason to quarrel with the fickle dame , who yet perchance may cast the best things in her budget at his feet .

Magic Symbols In Masonry.

MAGIC SYMBOLS IN MASONRY .

( Continued from page 117 . ) WE havo altered the title of these essays to the above , as conveying more clearly our design . We acknowledge our indebtedness to the erudite " Parmenio " for his letter in our last issue , and should be equally obliged to any other brother who may honour us by enlarging upon our

text , and by taking up the scattered threads of Masonic symbolism . We have pointed out the value of the five pointed star and the Seal of Solomon in magical formula ) , and believe that both these emblems were prescribed for use by the Catholic Church in acts of exorcism . The

exorcist ( or caster out of dromons ) stood within the double triangle , and traced the pentagon upon the ground between him and the possessed one . We cannot call to mind our authority , but evidence of the same will be found in Vol . 1 of " Glimpses of the Supernatural , " by Be v . Mr . Lee .

And here , we must disclaim the intention of enlisting our readers in favour of the practices of modern spiritualism , its erratic developments , and fraudulent mediums . We only wish to keep our eyes open to the unexplained phenomena which occur under the auspices of that

movement , which seem closely related to animal magnetism , or to the " Psychic force " of Serjeant Cox , but which yet baffle our hypotheses . The existence of unseen forces around us is proved by tho Bible and by every page of history ; apparitions of the departed have been attested in scores b y

evidence which wonld be received in any court of justice ; the case of the apparition to Lord Brougham * should bo enough to make any man suspend judgment , and hesitate before denying their possibility . The ceremony of KAISING in tlie third degree was evidentl y

designed to illustrate and prefigure the inevitable transition of every man from one life into another ; and this particular ceremony seems to us likely to have descended from

remotest times . Psychic investigation in this connection would , we consider , be especially in place ; even were we not already enjoined in the second degree to study the hidden mysteries of nature and science .

We cannot see the force which emanates from the loadstone , nor from the skilful mesmeriser , nor from the ivillpoiver of individuals , of which the effects in their way are no less evident . What is that mysterious mutual attraction or repulsion perceptibly experienced by individuals in each

other ' s presence , the tones of whose characters , constitutions or surroundings are not in harmony ? Whence come the premonitions which some have , of danger to

themselves or others , which m numerous recorded instances have been beneficially acted upon ? All these questions are of great interest , and their attempted theoretical explanation was , in olden times , veiled under a system of symbols .

Wonderful powers were and are ascribed by the Jews to the ineffable name or Tetragrammaton . It is said to have been preserved by the Essenes , never communicated but in a whisper , and then so disguised that the connected whole remained a mystery . It was believed to include all

things , and to shake heaven and earth , and is called in Galmet the KING-NAME . The biography of a cabbalist reputed to have possessed the knowledge of this name ( Rabbi De Falk , of London , 1780 ) , is found in the " Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia , ! and it is of some interest . The Jews

represented it by a triangle which contained the Hebrew letter Jodj symbol of inaccessible Light and primitive existence ; also by three points radiating from a centre , and by their letter Schln . It is noteworthy that all these symbols are truine , implying the Trinitarian idea of Deity . The two columns in the porchway of King Solomon ' s Temple have been held to symbolise the male and female