Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

IGNORANT MEN . Ignorant men are apt to conclude that in other times , and other countries , all men ofthe class to which they belong , had as little intelligence as they themselves happen to possess . —A PAST PEOVINCIAL GEAXD MASTER .

ORIGIN AND INSTITUTION OF OUR 1717 FREEMASONRY . Whence , or from what different sources our Freemasonry derived its ori gin is one question , wJten it ¦ was instituted is another . —W . P . B . SOLOMON , THE RAVEN , AND THE WORM . The in the address of the Grand

following occurs Master of Arkansas , to the Grand Lodge : — " Much of the more interesting features of Masonry are legendary , transmitted to us through successive generations of craftsmen , from the earliest ages of the world—from ages when there was no printing , when book-making was rare , books were few , arid men learned wisdom from the Great Book of Nature .

"Not long since a venerable Hebrew brother told me a story , which I had never heard before ; and which he said he learnt , when a boy , in the fatherland , from his aged uncle , who was a Mason , and who assured him that he had it in a very ancient parchment manuBcript , which had never been printed .

Pleased with the story , I said to him that I would tell it to the Grand Lodge some day , and let it be printed , as it was no secret . So I give it to you now for what it is worth . It is the story of' Solomon , the Raven , and the Worm . ' " Solomonthe most wisewas sitting in a grove

, , near his rural palace , observing a raven feeding her young . Whilst she was off in search of food , telling a servant to bring him a glass bowl he placed it over her nest , so as to cover the young birds . When she returned to the nest , the young ravens opened their

mouths to receive the supplies which the mother was accustomed to bring them ; and she , meeting with the transparent obstruction , fluttered about for some time in vain attempts to reach her imprisoned children . Vexed , she made repeated , but ineffectual , efforts to break the vessel with her beak . Despairing of success in this mode of attackshe lighted upon a limb

, near by , and sat for some time , seeming to meditate . Then leaping into the air , and spreading her black wings , she moved off with rapid flight in the direction of an island in the Mediterranean sea . Our Grand Master , who had watched with interest all her movementssat waiting for her return . Finally she came ,

, bearing in her beak a large white worm ; and placing it on the rim of the nest , near the edge of the bowl , it crawled over the vessel , and along its track the glass instantly cracked , as if cut by a diamond , parted and fell to the ground !

" The Masons were in the quarries preparing stone for the Temple . They used the drill and the wedge , but the process of parting the Btones by these simple implements was tedious . The idea flashed upon the mind of Solomon that , by the instinct of the raven , Proyidence had placed in his hands a wonderful , but more effective instrument . Taking the worm to the

quarries , he placed it upon a great stone which the labourers had heaved out from the mountain ; it crawled across it , and , to the amazement of the wise man , the stone opened along its path , and tumbled apart . Thousands of stones were thus separated into suitable rough ashlarsto be finished by the chisels

, and the mallets of the craftsmen ! " Such is the substance of the story . It may be a mere fable . It may be that the insect excreted from its bod y some mysterious chemical substance that parted the glass and the stone . Or it may be that Providencewho confounds the wisdom of men b

, y using simple means to effect great purposes , supplied to Solomon this wonderful little craftsman , to aid in the great work of erecting a temple for his worship . " Be this as it may , I have repeated this " strange story " to illustrate the fact that Solomon , like Job , was a student of the Book of Naturefrom every page

, of which—whether he looked upon the sea , into the air , upon the earth , all teeming with life , or up into the heavens , sparkling with the lamps of n ght—he learned , as all Masons may , lessons of wisdom .

THE NIGHTINGALE—THE OWL . Bro . E . R . D . —Ihe song of the Nightingale is sometimes interrupted by the screeching of the owl . —A PAST PEOVIH - CIAL GEABD MASTEB . ILLUSTRATIONS OF PURE SYMBOLIC MASONRY . The ensuing passage forms the conclusion of a paper

by our late Bro . Dr . Albert Mackey , entitled " Innovations in Masonry . " " It must be observed that the Chapitral Degrees of the York Rite , the High Grades of the French Rite , and the Philosophic Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch Rite , were not altogether innovationsbut rather illustrations of pure

, Symbolic Masonry , and as such will be found to be the depositories of many interesting traditions and instructive speculations which are eminently useful in shedding light upon the character , history , objects and ceremonies ofthe Institution . "—CIIA-EIIES

PUBTOK" COOPEB . NATIONAL MASONIC HYMN OF SAXONY . The following is a translation of the National Masonic Hymn of Saxony , which is almost invariably sung at the termination of every Lodge Supper , and duly honoured with the usual Masonic ceremonial .

THE LAST LOBG-E . When the last of the stars , dimly flashing , Sees Old Time to its end hasten on , When planets to ruin are dashing , And the sun's lig ht is pallid and and wan : Through the halls where the Masons are fouuding

Their temple majestic and grand , Shall be heard that last cry , loudly sounding : Haste , brothers ! the morn is at hand ! Bast and West , North and South , through all nations The work at that call will have ceased , And the brethrenobserving their stations

, , Shall look in calm faith to tho East : Joining hands over valleys and highlands , Where each stands , in the land of his birth , Shall be seen , o'er all continents and islands , But OSE LOBG-E on the face of the earth .