Lodges Of Instruction.

real Avorth and personal merit , therefore no brother shall be elected Master of a lodge , or appointed to any office therein merely on account of seniority or rank . " Nothing can be more express of positive than this condition , and where it is disregarded we see

the results in a miserable rendering of those ceremonies , serving only to excite a smile and a silent remark in the minds of those Masons who know how the duty should be done and Avho have seen it performed in a proper manner . The appointment to office

should in no sense be considered as a right , but as a reward for industry , and if the system was made general that no officer should be appointed unless he had shown his proficiency , and by his attention had deserved it , we should soon see every lodge worked in

a way that would confer honour upon the Craft . It is too much the practice to gloss over these defects , and occasionally when the working has been spoken of by visitors , and sometimes commended , a feeling would often arise whether those praises were deserved ,

and in place of them whether a total silence ought not , in justice , to have been maintained . These are matters , however , which must be left in the hands of the members , but at present the subject is one that is worthy of attention , and one , we trust , that will receive due consideration .

The Nemesis: A Tale Of The Days Of Trajan.

THE NEMESIS : A TALE OF THE DAYS OF TRAJAN .

By BRO . A . OSEAL HA A ' , K . M ., K . Gal ., Corresponding Member of the German Society , Leipzig ; "Knight Templar , Beet . ; Author of "The History of the Knights Templars " " Vara Queer ; " " Gatherings in Wanderings ; " " Songs and Ballads ; " "Poemata ; " "Legends ofEdviiburgli . " " Sfc , § "e ., < $ * c . ; Poet Laureate of the Ganongate , Kilwinning ; P . M . St . Stephens ; P . P . Z . of St . Andrews , H . A .

Chap . ; Sfc ; Ife . { Continued from page 250 . ) CHAPTER XXVIII . THE MESSENGER OP GOOD AND Evil TIDINGS . " A clown the street with hasty feet

The messenger has come , And fliougli MSIABAVS be bad yet greet II hii with a fair welcome . " " Caius , hoAV came you to fall iu love Avith Phryne , AAdien such a dear child as Myra is , Avas by

her side ?" " Myra , you jest Adrian , Myra indeed . Do you dare compare the two ? Why , there is as much difference betAveen Myra and Phryne as between a star and the sun . '"

" You must excuse me then , if , star gazer that I am , I choose the nig ht twinkler to Phcebus . " The cousins Avere seated in a room in Caius ' s house , the storm raging so furiously , that Adrian resolved to stay there all night .

The Nemesis: A Tale Of The Days Of Trajan.

" Balbus came out in strange colours to-night . It is wonderful how superstition can thrall a man ' s mind . " " Think you . so , Caius ? to my mind superstition rules the world . What are all our dreams ,

our hopes , our desires , but superstitions ? We desire poAver because Ave ha % * e a superstitious belief that it will make us happy , riches , love , learning , even religion , nothing but superstitions all . As the light shines through the horn of the lantern ,

so does the soul shine through the body . Cau Ave blame if the purity of the ray is dimmed by the protecting * horn ? Not so , remove the horn and the flame Avill be blown out , destroy the body ancl Avhere is the soul ?"

" Then the clearer the horn the purer the raj' ?" " Aye , and the purer the body the purer the soul , Could you account for the strange effect the spilling of the salt and wine had upon onr fellow banqueters V

" Not I . I do not believe in superstition . " " Ah poet , poet , is it not rather that you lose yourself in such witching images of superstition that you have no faith in any that comes not from your craft ? " ,

" Likely . I do not think I shall be drowned , because I never g-o afloat . I may be killed on the field , for I am a soldier , therefore I offer a sacrifice to Mars , and leave Neptune to look after the Avelfare of his own devotees . "

" Well ,, in spite of all my doubts , I must confess that the mythology of Rome is comfortable , where every honest man and every rogue can find a patron . What a droll assembly Olympus must be . "

Myra , on quitting Adrian that day in the garden , hastened to her chamber , and wrote a feAV lines on a slip of parchment . Calling to her the slave who had been with her on the night that Adrian rescued her from Marenna , and Avho , like herself

' Avas a Christian , she saicl : " Haste thee , Servia , to tho house of the lady Luciclora . Our good father , Paulas , will be there to-day . Leave this letter ancl ring for him , and say to the lady that it requires his best attention . " Paulus did not reach Lucidora's till late that

night , having been present at a Christian meeting in another part of Rome . He read Myra ' s letter with the liveliest interest . He was much interested in the young Roman , both as a distinguished , philosopher , ancl as a member of his society , and