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Article THE FREEMASON No. III. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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The Freemason No. Iii.
spoke to her—in vain . We enquired if any thing was the matterbut to no purpose—her taciturnity continued to our great astonishment . Her husband , I believe , began to suspect her design , as he pretended uneasiness , and was every now and then crying to her" Molly , you had better speak , don ' t make a fool of yourself . "—No menace , however , could prevail on her to open her mouth till , looking at her watch
, she all of a sudden broke out into a loud whistle , cracking her fingers , and grinning at her husband with no little exultation . This uncouth behaviour created no little astonishment among the guests , who were unacquainted with its ori gin . At last madam exclaimed , " There ' s the secret for you . —A woman may be a Freemason you seeand you shall make me one in ite of teeth "—
, sp your . "A woman may not , " rejoined the husband , " seeing upon every trivial occasion she is inclined to blab . " An explanation followed , attended with a loud laugh , which when madam found was at her own expence , she withdrew from the table under the greatest mortification . Women , it is said , derive their curiosity from the first-begotten of
their sex , —It was Eve ' s curiosity which no doubt was the fall of man . She was desirous to know the taste of the forbidden apple , and though sin and death were the consequence , yet fatal curiosity prevailed . The Scripture gives us another example of female curiosity with a most extraordinary punishment ; so that , in order to avoid the divers evils of curiosity , we are exhorted in holwritto " remember Lot ' s
y , wife ! " Alas . ' if every curious lady were now in danger of being turned into a pillar of salt , instead of selling this commodity we should then be very glad to give it away—nor do I believe that this would have any effect ; the cacoetbes videndi et audiendi is so predominant that it can never be cured .
To female curiosity the trash of modern novels is solely indebted for a short-lived existence . It is remarked that , when a lady takes a volume in her hand , no matter how ill told the tale , how harsh the language , how unnatural the plot , yet she must know the fate of the hero—she must come to the denouement , though five more volumes are to be read for this . Did not curiosity thus urge our female readers to explore those dull insipid volumes of farragothe circulating
, libraries would have no occasion for them . To want curiosity is said to be as bad as to possess too much . Had the Trojans been more curious and less credulous , they would have examined the wooden horse in time , and , having justly destroyed the borvels , sent it back again to their enemy . —Curiosity , as I said in a former number , is on some occasions praise-worthy and absolutely
necessary . It is laudable in all charitable cases , and fitting in the time of war or danger . Let it not be thought that I attribute curiosity entirely to the fair—I am conscious that there are many of our own sex who neglect their own business to pry into that of others . How many busybodies are there whose curiosity renders them both officious and troublesome . But that curiosity which prevails most with mankind
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemason No. Iii.
spoke to her—in vain . We enquired if any thing was the matterbut to no purpose—her taciturnity continued to our great astonishment . Her husband , I believe , began to suspect her design , as he pretended uneasiness , and was every now and then crying to her" Molly , you had better speak , don ' t make a fool of yourself . "—No menace , however , could prevail on her to open her mouth till , looking at her watch
, she all of a sudden broke out into a loud whistle , cracking her fingers , and grinning at her husband with no little exultation . This uncouth behaviour created no little astonishment among the guests , who were unacquainted with its ori gin . At last madam exclaimed , " There ' s the secret for you . —A woman may be a Freemason you seeand you shall make me one in ite of teeth "—
, sp your . "A woman may not , " rejoined the husband , " seeing upon every trivial occasion she is inclined to blab . " An explanation followed , attended with a loud laugh , which when madam found was at her own expence , she withdrew from the table under the greatest mortification . Women , it is said , derive their curiosity from the first-begotten of
their sex , —It was Eve ' s curiosity which no doubt was the fall of man . She was desirous to know the taste of the forbidden apple , and though sin and death were the consequence , yet fatal curiosity prevailed . The Scripture gives us another example of female curiosity with a most extraordinary punishment ; so that , in order to avoid the divers evils of curiosity , we are exhorted in holwritto " remember Lot ' s
y , wife ! " Alas . ' if every curious lady were now in danger of being turned into a pillar of salt , instead of selling this commodity we should then be very glad to give it away—nor do I believe that this would have any effect ; the cacoetbes videndi et audiendi is so predominant that it can never be cured .
To female curiosity the trash of modern novels is solely indebted for a short-lived existence . It is remarked that , when a lady takes a volume in her hand , no matter how ill told the tale , how harsh the language , how unnatural the plot , yet she must know the fate of the hero—she must come to the denouement , though five more volumes are to be read for this . Did not curiosity thus urge our female readers to explore those dull insipid volumes of farragothe circulating
, libraries would have no occasion for them . To want curiosity is said to be as bad as to possess too much . Had the Trojans been more curious and less credulous , they would have examined the wooden horse in time , and , having justly destroyed the borvels , sent it back again to their enemy . —Curiosity , as I said in a former number , is on some occasions praise-worthy and absolutely
necessary . It is laudable in all charitable cases , and fitting in the time of war or danger . Let it not be thought that I attribute curiosity entirely to the fair—I am conscious that there are many of our own sex who neglect their own business to pry into that of others . How many busybodies are there whose curiosity renders them both officious and troublesome . But that curiosity which prevails most with mankind