-
Articles/Ads
Article MASONIC ANECDOTES* ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Anecdotes*
of Masonry , whose price is above rubies . How lovely , how exalted , is the Charity which has such objects ! it elevates its exercisers to a participation of labour with Him who is the Father of the fatherless , ancl the widow ' s God and guide .
THE SHIPWRECKED MARINER . —It was in a tempestuous portion of the year 1790 that a large ship , which was making a slow progress up the Baltic Sea , found itself suddenl y wrapt in one of those wild gales that came down from the mountain gaps , sacrificing nearly all that stood in'its course , and Reared up the Baltic to a foaming fury . " In this situation , after gallant resistance to the tempest , the overladen vessel succumbedand man after man was swept from the deckand
, , carried onward " down the wind , " to be dashed upon rocks of a leeshore , or to be buried fathoms below the stormy surface . When at length the vessel struck upon the shelving shore , towards which she had drifted , the remaining portion of the crew lashed themselves to the spars , and awaited the surge that should wash them from the deck ; it came booming onward : ofthe few that had been spared thus far , only the master of the vessel reached the land . He reached it
exhausted , inanimate ; his first recognition was the kindly care of a friend , in the chamber of a sordid hovel—a chamber whose darkness was dispelled by the light of friendship , ancl where pains were assuaged by the attention of one pledged to help , aid , and assist . The first word of the sufferer was responded to by the kindly voice of a Mason ; unintelligible , indeed , excepting in the language of Masonry . Distance of birth and variety of profession constituted no
bar to their humanity . The utter ignorance of each of the other ' s vernacular language , hindered not the delightful communion . A little jewel that rested on the bosom of the shipwrecked mariner denoted his Masonic character ; kindness , fraternal goodness , and love , were the glorious response ; and when the watchful and untiring benevolence of the Swedish Mason had raised up the sufferer from the bed of pain and sufferingtrue Masonic charity supplied his purse with the means of
pro-, curing passage to London , whence a return to the United States was easy . The jewel of the shipwrecked Brother is now iri my possession , as his blood , also , flows through my veins . I hold the former as a rich heir-loom for my family , to be transmitted to my son as a Mason , as it was transmitted by my father to me .
. THE RECLAIMED . —Many years since , but within my own recollection , and generally under my own observation , the respectable firm of Howard and Thompson ( I use fictitious names ) , in the city of , fell into some commercial difficulties , which the limited capital of the junior partner was unable to surmount . The senior partner , with the aid : of friends , compromised the debts , continued the business in his own name , and became , in time , a wealthy man .
Thompson lacking energy of character , but possessing some pride , declined a subordinate station in a counting-room , until his habits became so bad that he was deemed unfit for any place of trust , and he sunk , from respectability to utter destitution and misery with a rapidity I never saw before , nor since , equalled in any man to whom crime was not tobe imputed . .,, He became . brut-fled : whole days . would he lie . on the public wharfs'
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Anecdotes*
of Masonry , whose price is above rubies . How lovely , how exalted , is the Charity which has such objects ! it elevates its exercisers to a participation of labour with Him who is the Father of the fatherless , ancl the widow ' s God and guide .
THE SHIPWRECKED MARINER . —It was in a tempestuous portion of the year 1790 that a large ship , which was making a slow progress up the Baltic Sea , found itself suddenl y wrapt in one of those wild gales that came down from the mountain gaps , sacrificing nearly all that stood in'its course , and Reared up the Baltic to a foaming fury . " In this situation , after gallant resistance to the tempest , the overladen vessel succumbedand man after man was swept from the deckand
, , carried onward " down the wind , " to be dashed upon rocks of a leeshore , or to be buried fathoms below the stormy surface . When at length the vessel struck upon the shelving shore , towards which she had drifted , the remaining portion of the crew lashed themselves to the spars , and awaited the surge that should wash them from the deck ; it came booming onward : ofthe few that had been spared thus far , only the master of the vessel reached the land . He reached it
exhausted , inanimate ; his first recognition was the kindly care of a friend , in the chamber of a sordid hovel—a chamber whose darkness was dispelled by the light of friendship , ancl where pains were assuaged by the attention of one pledged to help , aid , and assist . The first word of the sufferer was responded to by the kindly voice of a Mason ; unintelligible , indeed , excepting in the language of Masonry . Distance of birth and variety of profession constituted no
bar to their humanity . The utter ignorance of each of the other ' s vernacular language , hindered not the delightful communion . A little jewel that rested on the bosom of the shipwrecked mariner denoted his Masonic character ; kindness , fraternal goodness , and love , were the glorious response ; and when the watchful and untiring benevolence of the Swedish Mason had raised up the sufferer from the bed of pain and sufferingtrue Masonic charity supplied his purse with the means of
pro-, curing passage to London , whence a return to the United States was easy . The jewel of the shipwrecked Brother is now iri my possession , as his blood , also , flows through my veins . I hold the former as a rich heir-loom for my family , to be transmitted to my son as a Mason , as it was transmitted by my father to me .
. THE RECLAIMED . —Many years since , but within my own recollection , and generally under my own observation , the respectable firm of Howard and Thompson ( I use fictitious names ) , in the city of , fell into some commercial difficulties , which the limited capital of the junior partner was unable to surmount . The senior partner , with the aid : of friends , compromised the debts , continued the business in his own name , and became , in time , a wealthy man .
Thompson lacking energy of character , but possessing some pride , declined a subordinate station in a counting-room , until his habits became so bad that he was deemed unfit for any place of trust , and he sunk , from respectability to utter destitution and misery with a rapidity I never saw before , nor since , equalled in any man to whom crime was not tobe imputed . .,, He became . brut-fled : whole days . would he lie . on the public wharfs'