Masonic Sayings And Doings Abroad.

In witness of these credentials being lawful and correct , we have impressed upon these presents our seal , and signed them Avith our own hand . Given in the Eminent Grand Orient of Tenoxtitlan * , this 10 th clay of February , 1865 .

P . S . —Trusting to your zeal and punctuality , we empower you more particularly to act as legitimate representative of the National Rite of Mexico in the Masonic Assembly to be held in the Free City of Frankfort , and in all other Masonic gatherings

both in Europe and America and to endeavour to determine the Supreme Grand Orients of the said foreign countries to consider and recognise us as their brethren , and forward to us the documents issued by them , to contribute to the further

diffusion of universal Masonry . Registered page 2 of the Book . ( Signed ) WASHINGTON . ( L . S . ) G . I . G ., t S . G . ArquifcectoJ .

Symbolism.

SYMBOLISM .

( Continued from page 83 . ) Resuming the abstract of Dr . Jacob Grimm ' s inquiry into Teutonic legal antiquities , Ave find that , in the introduction to his work , the author identifies legal tautology wifch thafc im'oper ^ i ] ie ep j c

poetry of early times , which employed repetition as indispensable to energy of language . He finds the same character in both , in such epithets as "bright day , " "dark night , " "salt or Avild sea , " " shining gold , " " Avhite silver , " " green grass , "

& c . The poetical mode of . establishing distinctions by whafc is palpable to the senses , appears more manifestly in the marking of times and seasons , by the going out of the COAVS to pasture , or coming home to be milked , by the croAving of the

cock , & c , in the taking of measures from the human person , even the size of a cauldron , Avhich is ascertained by the age of the child thafc could be bathed in it . Some of the modes of assessing damages among these people Avere quite original ;

as we learn , for instance , that he AA'IIO killed another man's dog * Avas to hang the slain animal Tip by the tail , Avifch the nose just touching the ground , and then to cover him up with AA'heat , so

that not a hair could be seen and this heap of wheat Avas a compensarion due to the owner . When possession of land was given by a clod of earth from the ploughed field , a turf from the meadow , a branch of a forest tree from the wood ,

and of a fruifc tree or vine from the orchard or vineyard , to be delivered ; these acts , although considered as partly symbolical even by Grimm , appear to us , at least in earlier times , simply modes of rendering the delivery evident and

sensible , Avithout troubling the court of justice , consisting of , or attended by , half the population of the district , to perambulate the domain about to be transferred : and in those daj's almost every transaction , certainly every transfer of property ,

required the sanction of a court of justice , or at least of numerous Avitnesses . The similar use made by the Bomaus of turf , & c , Ave apprehend to have been purely symbolical , inasmuch as a turf cut from the nearest plot , Ave believe , delivered an

estate in Asia . So amongst the Germans the straw , Avhen a straAV picked up in the road supplied the place of the turf , & c . It was manifestly a

mere abstract idea , not being like the ofcher things necessarily a part of the property delivered , but gathered anyAvhere . Moreover the Avord stipulated seems to indicate its Latin origin and , as its instrumentality in delivering possession is found

only amongst the Franks , or the countries that once OAvned their authority , ifc is not unlikely they mig ht ; adopt ifc from their Roman subjects . Bufc the mode of employing it became more picturesque under the influence of German

imagination . A man AA'I IO Avished to transfer or bequeath an estate to a person not of its blood , flung a straw into the bosom of him to be endowed , or into that of the lord Avho gave it over to him : the

straAV Avas thenceforward carefully preserved as a voucher for the transaction . A straw Avas otherwise often symbolically used . Breaking a straAV Avas a form of engagement as solemn and irrevocable , Ave believe , as the striking hands , Avhich

bears a peculiar name in almost every Teutonic language , and is still j ^ i'actised among * the lower orders in Germany , as it is in England . Equally symbolical is the use of the straw , when a man living alone , if attacked by night , took three

straws from his roof , in addition to his dog and cat , to attest the outrage . Taking possession of a house by opening and shutting the door was surely the mere exercise of an act of possession before Avitnesses , although the door posts certainly