Lodge Accommodation.

roora roughly put in shape for Lodge purposes , and yet how much , even in this respect , depends upon the Master , Officers and other members of a Lodge . We havo been as much impressed in the quiet Lodge room provided at a provincial Hotel as in the most elaborate Masonic Flail it has been our fortune to visit , and no doubt our readers have had similar

experience . Still , we should always give the preference to the provision of a separate home for Masonic Lodges should we be consulted on the point , and we should do so believing ifc to be possible to make stronger impressions in a home specially provided for Freemasonry than in one devoted to general purposes .

After all , the question of Lodge accommodation is a very insignificant one in comparison with that of deciding who shall be admitted to avail themselves of such accommodation . The quarters of a Lodge may bo everything that can be desired , and yet the Lodge may not prosper ; its Temple may bc among the grandest , but at the same time its membership may l ) e of the blackest ; so that in this respect Masonic

Halls are little or nothing to judge by . Indeed , we are inclined to the belief that the elaborate displays we sometimes hear of in connection with special Lodge accommodation arc made rather in the hope of creating envy or admiration than with the idea of promoting the true nrincinles of Freemasonry . Let us

remember that , wherever we aro the All-seeing eye beholds us , and lot us so conduct ourselves before the world as to prove worthy of the name of Freemason , no matter what may bo tho accommodation provided for our particular Lodge .

From Low To High Twelve.

FROM LOW TO HIGH TWELVE .

An Address at a Lodge of Sorrow at Macon , Georgia , by Ilcv . James Ii . Winchester , 3 : 2 ° .

WHENCE came yo ? What came yo hero to do ? Having finished your work , what aro the wages ? Tlw so aro the practical questions which Speculative Masonry asks us at the hour of low twelve to answer for our departed brother- * , and then with all available li ght

apply to onr .-elves . On such an occasion as this memory is personifi-d , and appears ns a beautiful Virgin free from evil , bonding in grief over a broken column , some noble life prematurely cut off , while opportunities for usefulness

were spread before it . With a sprig of Acacia in her right hand she seems lo forget , while lingering with fond devotion , that it must be planted on tho loved one ' s grave and viewed henceforth as an emblem of hope beyond

death s power . With hor bridal hand she clings to the snored urn in which are deposited tho ashes of cherished associations . Turning fully to tho broken column , and bowing with moro lowly grief over the spot in which sleeps

tho mortal part of hor beloved , she catches sight of a book routing on tho upright fragment of stone . There white pages present themselves , and it is here permitted to write tho virtues and forget the human frailties of her dead .

Suddenly tho urn is transformed into a casket of golden records , and tho Acacia becoming rooted above tho life that was folded up and laid away in the keeping of its God ,

¦ points upward to immortality , where tho soul dwells in the full light of its Temple , not mado with hands , eternal in the heavens .

In this world of disappointment , memory must weep until catching reflections of glory beyond the grave , and learning that death does not end all , rejoices with exceeding great joy . While these opposite emotions

spontaneously spring from tho same source and exhaust the life , Time tenderly touches the flowing ringlets and each head whitens for his sickle . Thus , standing face to face with death , Masonry scorns tho appearance of

atheism thafc writes on the gates of her cemeteries , " Gone for ever . " She detests infidelity , which gives no consolation to dry sorrow ' s tears when the desire oi the eye has

been removed , laid low by the setting maul and covered beneath tho clods of the valley . But she hearkens to tbo true word which points to a ladder reaching from earth

From Low To High Twelve.

beyond the clouds into the stars , and waits with patience while a voice comes in tones- of tenderness , " Blessed aro the dead who die in the Lord . " Therefore we can meditate upon our brethren who faithfully carried out tho designs on life ' s trestle-boards as happy , for the Master has

simply called them from labour to refreshment . We aro tanghfc to watch their bright spirits , enveloped in light , entering tho pearly gates of that temple which needs no sun , for the Lord God is the light thereof . Bowing npon

tho tessellated pavement , clothed with the badge of innocence , tho righteousness of Him who was , and is , and is to come , they shall gain admission into the presence of tho everlasting King and behold the beatific vision . Such a thought should turn tho Lodge of sorrow into a banquet of

joy . There tho great multitude of souls will be gathered" All tho innocent little ones that have passed away liko a

breath of vernal air since time began ; all the souls which the great , and tho wise , and the aged , have sighed forth in pain and weariness after long and noble lives ; all tbe souls of the wild races of hunters and fishermen in the boundless prairies or tho icy floes ; all the souls that have passed , worn and heavy laden , from the roaring city streets ; all

tho souls of thoso whose life haa ebbed away in the red tide of unnumbered battles , or whose . bodies have been dropped into the troubled waves unkelled , uncoffiued , and , save to their God , unknown . " We take the liberty of adding to the picture , painted above , that all with implicit trust in

God , who seek His assistance in every duty are blessed when dead . Their hopo has been woll founded , and them is nothing to fear . Reviewing tho lives of our faithful brethren , wo soo

through tho night of sorrow thoir virtues shining as constellations in tho firmament of glory . Pain and disappointment are insignificant compared with eternal bliss . Since tho human heart yearns for a more serene home

than this earth affords , why should we not brush away the rising tear when another soul has gone to join the whiterobed throng ? The attempt to better one ' s condition is the absorbing thought of life ; yet trouble enters each door

immediately behind pleasure ; the hearse follows closely the bridal carriage . The merry bells have scarcely sent their joyous echoes into surrounding space before they begin to givo forth their solemn notes ; and in response the living

como to plant the acacia upon another grave . Generation succeed generation liko waves of the restless sea ; array after army of strong men are swept as forest leaves into the ccmetcrv of fche past to mingle wifch mother earth ,

impressing the comforting thought thafc this world is not the home of the soul . Again , Speculative Masonry has taught her initiates that it is not tho final resting place for tho body . Though laid in the grave , where the dim light of

nature allows the skin to slip from the flesh , and where Pagan Philosophy and the shadowy mists of ancient religions cannot prevent the flesh cleaving from the bones , yet as Masons wo believe tho body shall be raised—made to

stand upright . The only power that can make the dead alive , and meet us at every point of human fellowship , is in tho Lion of the tribe of Judah . Whoever accepts this power shall therefore be raised bodily from the sleep of

death to a subbmo condition . Though our departed brethren have fallen under the hand of some evil disease ancl Ho buried in temporal ruins , let us believe they died

true to their word , and are but sleeping in the love of Ono who can raise the decomposed body to life ; for " the earth is the Lord ' s , and the fullness thereof . " There can be no terror associated with the grave when the everlasting arms

are underneath and around it . With this realisation each faithful man can say , with ono of old , " Though after my skin worms destroy this body , yet in my flesh shall I see God . "

Whereas , the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body are subjects so comforting , let us leave this Lodge of Sorrow full of rejoicing with the consoling

thought thafc He who is for us is greater than all against us . The setting maul , the spado and coffin , only speak of refreshment after labour .

In view of the attainable , and as true Masons , we have constraining motives urging us to the faithful discharge of duty . Here ceaseless activity , exhausting labour , daily unrest , appear in every life , and the work assigned by tho

Worshipful Maater slowly approaches completion ; yet each one must go forward , diffusing light , though men refuse to see it ; heeding the cry of distress , even if the charity is never appreciated during this earthly pilgrimage , and give sympathy to the heavy laden , albeit the motive is miscon-