Old Documents Recently Dis Covered Compared With The Massachusets Records Of 1733.

So Bro . Pelham was the copyist of Price ' s letter of 1755 . and the writer of the list of the members of the ii ' j-st lodge . On looking a little further we found in the proceedings of July 13 , 1750 , " voted rhnb the T . and S . do provide a . book or

book' ; ^ th ey shall think necessary , for this lodge , to be prn'd ont of tho stock . " So here is the vote in 17 ?() Ibr the purchase of the very book we were examining ; then a little further , in 1752 , John lioi-.-o became Grand Secretary , but it was voted flint Bro . Charles Pelham should receive

six dollars for past services , and the six dollars were , no doubt , for the extra service of copying into this book . Next , we referred to the beforenamed list of the first lodge , and found iu Bro . Pelham ' s own handwriting , that Charles Pelham

was initiated September 12 , 1744 . The proof , therefore , that the Massachusetts record of 1733 is only v . transcript is irrefutable . We know that some will exclaim : What difference is there between an ori ginal record and a

transcript ? To the student of history , however , the difference is very material . There may be errors in an ori ginal record , but we venture to assert that , in a copy , the errors are increased and multi plied . As an instance , we have mentioned

above that in the application to Henry Price by those who formed the members of the first lodge , the dale of Pi-ice ' s commission is g iven April 13 th , while iu Moore ' s printed copy thereof , and in the transcript , it is April 30 th . Now , in the oldest ,

or wuat was called the ori g inal copy , it is 13 th , thus agreeing with the old document ia our possession ; but the handiwork , probably of C . W . M ., put 30 th over the 13 th , and transcribed and p rinted it 30 th . We can see that he was misled

by the first copyist , Charles Pelham , who in Price ' s commission wrote , " given under our hand and seal this thirtiest day , " & c . ; hence , Bro . M . jumped to the conclusion that 30 th was ri g ht , and took the liberty of altering the date accordingly ; but ,

unfortunately , he was as much mistaken in altering the date as he was in the name of Montacute . Had he gene farther in the record , he would have found on page 177 , in the copy of tho commission sent to John Eowe b y Lord Beaufort in 17 GS ,

the date of Price ' s commission , as therein g iven , April loth . Hence , the transcriber Pelham first accidentall y made a mistake in writing the " thivtyyc , " and the second transcriber Bro . Moore , purposely 'iltered another date , so that one might correspond with the other .

Old Documents Recently Dis Covered Compared With The Massachusets Records Of 1733.

Let us now , however , hope that " the age of faith" in Grand Secretaries and professional jurisprudence-mongers is past , to be followed by an age of rational inquiry . We are getting tired of monkeyism , parrotisin , masquerading , higher

degrees , false legends , false history , and quackery of every description . " We must exert ourselves , " as Bi'o . W . S . Gardner says , "to lay bare the truth , the whole truth , and nothing but the truth , even if those truths tend to mitigate our vanity

and conceit . " The principles of Masonry are good enough , if practically carried out ; and they not only need no lies to support them , but the very lies form the strongest obstacle to every effort at reform . We have some more revelations to make , but these must be left for a future number . —American Freemason .

History Of Masonic Imitations.

HISTORY OF MASONIC IMITATIONS .

By Bro . GEOEGE S . BLACKJE , M . D . ( From the Masonic JEtecord . ) It may prove of some passing interest for us , now that some of our sister jurisdictions , and

brethren of hi g h standing in the Craft , have gone heart and soul into Adoptive Masonry , and the Order of the "Eastern Star" is making such rapid strides , to look back at the commencement of this practice of admitting our fair sisters b y

side doors into the outer courts of our Temples . "By the term Adoptive Masonry , " says Bro Robt . Macoy , "is implied that system of forms , ceremonies , and explanatory lectures , which is communicated to certain classes of ladies who , from their relationship by blood or marriage to Master

Masons in good standing , are entitled to the respect and admiration of the entire Fraternity /' The term Adoptive Lodges was introduced because every lodge of females was obli ged to be adopted by some regular Masonic lodge , aud the ladies

were adopted because they were made acquainted with a system of forms and ceremonies which enabled them to g ive satisfactory evidence that they had received certain teachings in a manner which could not be imparted outside of a lodge .

That females cannot be made Masons , is a landmark of the Order which cannot be infringed—the stories of Madame . Aidworth or Madame Xantraille notwithstanding ; but the aim of the promoters of the Adoptive Eite is to practicall y unite our female friends with us in the glorious work of doing