What Happened At A Christmas Gathering.

here he is , positively grudging poor old Jamieson a few short sweet moments of sunshine and quiet and happiness . " At this moment Laura and her Jemmy came up , looking supremely happy . Jemmy came to my chair and whispered in my ear : " All right , old boy—father and mother agreeable—and I am going to write to my friends . "

" Oh ! incautious maiden , " said I to the blushing Laura , whom Mrs . Jorum was warmly congratulating , "You are really determined to land on the dangerous island of matrimony . Be warned and wise in time , ere it be too late . " The impudent young woman only laughed , and said , " Grapes are sour , you old and woe-begone bachelor . "

And in due time wc all separated to adorn the outer man , for the cheery and pleasant dinner . This evening also went off and went on , as they siy , " most swimmingly . " Jamieson was so engrossed by Mrs . de Salis that he took no heed of his left-hanel neighbour ; and Jemmy was so absorbed in Laura ' s sprightly conversation , lhat he even had scarcely an ear for Mrs . Jorum ' s merry sallies . But as she said

confidentially to me afterwards , " a man in love is really all but ' off his nut . ' " It was quite clear to all now that old Jamieson was booked , and I confess , like a pei \ se ) n suffering from a twinge of gout , I began to feel a qualm of compunction . And as we separated for the night , and the ladies had finished nibbling their biscuits and sipping iced seltzer

water , with just a soupcon of cognac—only a soupcon I said to Mis . Jorum ; " I am really sorry for poor old Jamieson . " " I am not , " that strong-minded young woman replied ; " he wants money , and he will get it ; he wants som ; one to manage him , and he will find what he wants . As he has made his bed , so let him lie ; I don ' t pity him in the

least . " And I dont believe she did . I fancied I heard the ladies tillering as they all tramped along , Mrs . De Salis lingering behind to say a soft farewell to Jamieson . " You and the widow are going it , " I said to old Jamieson when he returned to the table . When we all closed round the fire , before separating for the night ,

" Charming woman , Tomlinson , " the old impostor said , " full of warmth of heart , and what a fond and sympathetic creature she is . " " Yes , old fellow , " I thought to myself , you and she will do very well ; you will get her money , and she will bully you . Such are the compensations of life . " Soon after this we all went our way , wishing each other "buona

notte . " At breakfast the next morning poor old Jamieson was more silent than ever , and was evidently ill at ease , and even impervious to the attentions of the ready widow . Soon after breakfast was over , he went up to our kind hostess and told her that most important business called him awav to town , much to the apparent astonishment of that

amiable personage , to the consternation of the widow , and the evielcnt suppressed amusement of Mrs . Jorum , Jemmy Miller , Laura , and Co . He gave no explanation , and avoided us all , and left by the London express . Curiously enough , the widow , in the afternoon , also found that she must return to town ; and the next morning she also left us , resolute and reticent .

I said to Mrs . Jorum when this second denoument took place , " Can you solve the mystery ? " and that heartless woman laughed outright . " You had better , I think , " she replied , knowingly , " ask Jemmy Miller and that young scapegrace his brother officer , Mr . Vesey . " But they would tell me nothing , and it was not until some time afterwards that I learnt the solution of the

enigma . Mr . Vesey was the " woman in white , " and had frightened old Jamieson out of the house and into the loving care of the bold widow . Laura and her Jemmy were married after Lent was over in the following year , and are as happy as two geese of lovefs can be . Mrs . Jorum is my authority for the expression . Jamieson married Mrs . De Salis , and is , they

say kept in thorough good order . He has never seen a ghost since , though he probably sees far too much to his taste of a stout woman in white . Mrs . Jorum and I have often talked over the matter since . She still contends that all is for the best , and that each of the two " spoons" is properly mated , and has got just what . he or she wanted . She will not allow

that Jamieson is to be pitied at all . " A man who makes up his mind , " she says , to get money , must take things as he finds them . If he sets his heart on ' ochre ' he must not be surprised if he finds it to be , after all , dross ; and that , as he has outraged all true sentiment , he can't get his sweets without his bitters . " I agree wilh Mrs . Jorum . Though old and gouty , and

full of soft memories of what happened to me , " Consule Pianco , " I yet feel certain ot this one thing : that marriages of affection afford the best prospect of earthly happiness ; and that if society is disorganised , if its creed is sceptical , and its morals somewhat " gone astray , " it is only because we choose to forget that , though hasty and improvident and

incongrous marriages are very bad things for all concerned , a mercenary marriage is detestable , and a marriage without mutual affection is but a certain prelude to severed sympathies , and a mournful fiasco . " Yes , " says Mrs . Jorum , " my view is , that love and affection combined with a quantum suff , of the good things of life are far better than all the money in the

world ; and that if the heart does not go with the gold , and the dress which perishes with the using , and is not purified and elevated by tender sentiment and true sympathy , there is very little chance of mutual happiness for any two people in this world . " As I think that my readers will agree with the " dictum " of that charming person , who has made the best of wives , and is the most sincere of friends , and the cheeri-

What Happened At A Christmas Gathering.

est of good company—an honest , true-hearted , fascinating woman—I conclude my little tale with her eloquent peroration .

Vaticanism In A New Role.

VATICANISM IN A NEW ROLE .

One of the least amiable characteristics of our times , is the growing intolerance of the advanced thinkers . They profess to be the most liberal men in the world and they arc often the most dogmatic and denunciatory . They seemed called upon to celebrate their own change of opinion and emancipation from bigotry , by

anathematizing those they have left behind , as fools or bigots . In their real zeal against theology , they have stolen the very thunders of the theological schools , and giving a living illustration of what used to be known as the " Odium theologicum . " If we may judge by the deliverances of those who are loudest in their praises of science , the science of our day is rapidly changing places

in this respect , with the polemic theology of former ages . The science of Sir Isaac Newton ' s day , if we may take that great expounder as a true type of it , was both modest and devoutmodest , as having not yet comprehended all knowledge , and devout as being a willing worshipper in God ' s great temple . It had not then learned the vocabulary of the

blasphemer , nor the boastful ipse dixits of wholesale intolerance . But now the tables were turned . The war is carried into Africa . Many of the popular leaders of modern thought , speak as men who have authority—the authority of science to back them . We should be sony to think that true science is responsible for all their utterances . The theologicians of nld ^ n times , especially in

papal countries , felt that they had an infallible divine power behind them—that of the Church . They spoke ex cathedra , and they became intolerant . In like manner the advanced free-thinkers of our day , discarding the old church authority and installing in its place another authority , in their judgment of even higher infallibility —the absolute authority of science—have assumed

the same arrogant tone , and adopted a similar language of intolerance towards those who will not accept their opinions . Standing , as they think on the vantage ground of superior knowledge , and emancipated alike from the traditions of men , and the alleged revelation of God , they speak with an air of magisterial and oracular authority , not surpassed by the

inspired prophets of the Old 1 estaments . In reading some of their deliverances , especially on the favourite topic of ecclesiastical creeds and dogmas , one is forcibly reminded of the anathematizing clauses of the famous Council of Trent , or of the Vatican decrees of Rome , when Roman supretracy was at its height . This new Vaticanism , which may be fittingly called the

Vaticanism of the latest school of scientific philosophy , is gradually creeping into our current literature , finding expression in lecture and magazine , and even making itself felt in our institutions of public education , both collegiate and rudimental . It may be met with in the quarterly review , and the daily newspaper , in the discussions of municipal Boards of Education , and even on

commencement occasions in college and university . It is intolerate of all old systems and ideas . It is at war with all creeds , all churches , and all religious principles . Its aim is radical and destructive as it regards Christianity , and all institutions founded oil Christianity . It holds Christianity , as it holds all other religions , to be simply a superstition and a delusion . Having as it imagines , excluded God

from the universe , it seeks to exclude all traces of God from the minds of the people , and from the schools , were the children of the people are educated . It aspires to nothing less than to control the educational institutions of the country . Having , as it thinks , excluded God from the universe , it aims to exclude the Bible from the schools of education , and then to

expurgate from all school-books every mention of God and the Book of God ; and when that is done , to banish all Christian teachers , and along with them all Christian influences of every sort from the education of the people . It is a spirit which boasts liberalism , and wears the garb of free thought . But under its well-disguised liberalism and free thought

it is the sworn foe of all evangelical and spiritual relig ion . It couples the burning zeal of a propagandist with the intense tolerance of a dogmatist of the middle ages . A single example will be sufficient to illustrate the intolerant dogmatic spirit of this new style of Vaticanism . It shall be taken from Chicago . One of the leaders of scientific materialism , who is a high official , exerting a

controlling influence in our public schools , is reported in the papers as saying : "That man is a fool who does not know that the discoveries of modern science have utterly exploded all the teachings of the Bible . " One is amazed at the immense intelligence , not to say egotism , of a mind which could thus array its own individual judgment against the united judgments of

millions of intelligent men all over the world ( not to speak of the millions on millions through eighteen centuries ) who have believed in this Book . Are they all fools ? On what intellectual meat hath Caesar fed that he should dogmatize ? Who has given him the right , as with the irreversible decree of a Rhadamanthus , to pronounce sentence of death on the most cherished beliefs of mankind ,

and to tell millions of the most cultivated people in the world that they are fools if they do not know that the latest modern science has exploded all such beliefs ? The wonder turns , as Chalmers would have expressed it , on the mighty process by which a single mind grew to know so much , and felt that it had the right to fulminate a sentence so dogmatic and so overwhelming against so many other minds . —Eclectic . _

Grand Lodge Of Pennsylvania.

GRAND LODGE OF PENNSYLVANIA .

The Quarterly | Communication of the R . W . Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , on Wednesday , December 5 th inst ., was one of the largest meetings of this Grand Body ever held . This being the time designated by the Ahiman Rezon for the annual election of officers , the brethren from all parts of the jurisdiction were fully

represented , by District Deputy Grand Masters , and the officers and Past Master of lodges . We were especially pleased to meet so large a number of eminent Masons from the interior and western portions of the State , among whom the Keystone numbers some of its firmest friends . The entire business before the . Grand Lodge was conducted with the usual fraternal harmony . The following brethren were elected Grand Officers of

the Grand Lodge of Pennslyvania for the ensuing Masonic year beginning on St . John ' s Day next : Bro . James Madison Porter , of Easton , R . W . Grand Master . Bro . Michael Nisbet , of Philadelphia , R . W . Deputy-Grand Master . Bro . Samuel B . Dick , of Meadville , R . W . Smior Grand Warden .

Bro . Conrad B . Day , of Philadelphia , R . W . Junior Grand Warden . Bro . Thomas R . Patton , of Philadelphia , R . W . Grand Treasurer . Bro . John Thomson , of Philadelphia , R . W . Grand Secretary . Trustees of the Girard Bequest , Bros . Sim . C , Perkins ,

George Thomson , Charles M . Prevost , Henry C . Howell and Jacob Roberts , M . D . The remarkable unanimity with which all of these brethren were elected , upon the first ballot , to their respective stations and committees , was a matter of special congratu l ation from the Grand Master to the members of the Grand Lodge , and evinces the thorough fraternal

harmony that pervades the Craft in this jurisdiction . ' Reports were rendered by the committees on finance , on bye-laws , on appeals , temple aud library committees , trustees of the Girard Bequest , commissioners of the sinking fund , and special committee on Ahiman Rezon . All of these reports were listened to with the closest attention , especially that of the committee on finance , which

exhibited the healthy and prosperous condition of the monetary affairs of this Grand Lodge . During the past year 15 , 000 dols . have been added to the Sinking Fund of the Grand Lodge . The Grand Lodge Charity Fund now amounts to 68 , 225 dols ., of which 67 , 200 dols . is securely and profitably invested . The income of this fund for the past year was 4023 dols . The

charge for the use of the Banquet Hall in the Masonic Temple , after St . John ' s Day , December 27 th next , will be five dols . a night , instead of eighteen dols .. as heretofore . It is expected and hoped that this reduction will tend to keep the lodges , when at refreshment , within the walls of the Masonic Temple , in our magnificent Banqueting Hall . No member of a subordinate lodge in Pennsylvania

can hereafter be made an honorary member of another Lodge in this jurisdiction . The Grand Lodge Library Committee reported an increased use of the Library , and an addition of one hundred volumes during the past year , in which time its receipts in cash were 850 dols . ; but the Committee deplored the little interest as yet manifested by Pennsylvania Masons in the Reprint of the Proceedings of

this Grand Lodge , the first volume of which has been handsomely issued at i . oodols ., to be followed by four or five others at the same price , completing the work . The present investments of the Girard Bequest amount to 61 , 000 dols ., and during the past year 3500 dols . were applied to the use of the Stephen Girard Charity Fund . The Sinking Fund of the Grand Lodge now amounts

to nearly 40 , 000 dols . The reported draft of the proposed new Ahiman | Rezon wis adopted , with but three amendments , viz .: ( 1 ) making the fiscal year end November 15 th , instead of September 30 th . ( 2 ) on page 52 , striking ont from , line 18 to line 4 which results in making three applications for initiation , and rejections , final in the lodge ; ( t ) and on page 15 , making

the minimum fees for initiation and membership , in Philadelphia , 75 dollars , and outside of Philadelphia 40 dollars , instead of 50 dollars , and 25 dollars , respectively . Our readers may gather from the above , some of the more important results accomplished at this Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge . The session was quite a prolonged one , being from ten o ' clock till two , and from

four till eight , . but all of the business was dispossd of fully and satisfactory . We congratulate the members , and the entire Craft in the great Masonic jurisdiction of Pennsylvania , upon the able brethren who will govern them during the ensuing Masonic year , all of whom have the full confidence and fraternal regard of the entire brotherhood . Grand Masterelect , Bro . James Madison Porter , will preside over a

united and prosperous Craft , and Grand Master Clark will retire from the Grand East , with the assurance that he has performeel his difficult duties in all respects acceptably and well . That prosperity may ever attend and distinguish the Craft in this ancient and honourable Masonic Jurisdiction of Pennsylvania , is our earnest and sincere prayer , to which all of the brethren will respond . " So mote it be . "—Keydonc

ROYAL SOCIETY . —At the meeting of the Royal Society , on the 13 th inst , Sir Joseph Hooker in the chair , the following were elected foreign members : —Marcellin Berthelot , of Paris ; Joseph Decaisne , of Paris ; Emil Dubois Raymond , of Berlin ; Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe , of Leipsic ; Rudolph Lcuckart , of Leipsic ; Simon Newcomb , of Washington ; and Pafnutij Tschebytschew , of St . Petersburg . By this election the foreign list of the scoiety is made up to its full complement of 50 members .