The First Masonic Meeting In Damascus.

courtesy ; nor suffered me to depart until they had loaded me ivith their grateful burdens of sympathy , loving wishes , and prayers- At Beyrout I found more than sixty Masonic brethren . Then I said : " I come to this city ( Damascus )

a total stranger . Our kind host , Bro . Rogers , took me by the hand . His Excellency Raschid Pasha took me by the hand , welcomed me as a brother , offered me every facility in my mission that his exalted station permits , and has attached

me to his staff as an honorary member during his proposed journey to Tadinor , the renowned city of King Solomon . The distinguished Emir Abd-el-Kader took me by the grip fraternal . In like manner I have now been greeted by you . So

that , only one week a resident of Damascus , I am no longer a stranger here , but acquaintance , neighbour , brother—yea , a brother of the same Father—the Father in Heaven . Nor do I believe

that ever we shall become strangers to each other again . There is a Lodge in whieh all good men hope to meet—a Master at whose feet all good men hope to worship and adore through the circles of eternity . "

I then informed them or the difference ( of rituals merely ) between American Freemasonry and that in ivhich they had been instructed . I did this not to produce confusion , but to prevent it . Being nearly all young and inexpert in the practice

of the Art—only one or two of them ever having visited lodges than their own , I kneiv they would desire some light upon this subject , and indeed they were greatly entertained by tbe sketch of the esotery of this lodge Masonry which

I communicated to them . This I' followed by the poem " Our Vows . " Speaking of the funeral practices of American Masonry , I sang for them the opening stanza of the ode whicli all our brethren expect will , some day , be sung around

our graves" Solemn strikes the funeral chime Notes of our departed time ; As we journey here below , Through a pilgrimage of woe . * I also sung a verse or two of " The Gavel Song , "

quite popular at present in American lodges in which the peculiar concussion of that implement is introduced as the chorus . Following this , I exhibited my " Mark Master's mark , " explaining

my chosen device , " the broken column ; " also my ring connected with the Lodge of Perfection ; A . " . and A . ' . R " . ; and my token , in marble , of the Order of . H m . These things ivere absolute novelties to my hearers , not one of whom

has a degree above the third . But I might spin out the particulars of this pleasant meeting to a half ream . We adjourned " in peace and harmony " at a suitable hour , and as I assumed my couch at " Demetry ' s " I

endeavoured to conjure up the spirits of the departed visitors to Damascus , who could have shared in congenial mood , all the events of the occasion—¦ Abraham , Eliezer , Jacob , Elisha , Paul , the great Saladin ; perhaps Mahommed himself , ivho I

suspect , ivas a very much better man than our Christian historians paint hira . I called this group around me and mentally repeated before them the sentiments I had just expressed . Every one without exception endorsed my views . A few days subsequently to this meeting a

petition Avas drafted to the Grand Lodge of England , soliciting authority to organise and work King Solomon Lodge ( No . ) , at Damascus , Syria . This is signed by the folloiving brethren : —Bros . E . T . Rogers , H . B . M . Consul ; Dr . P .

Nataley , Nasif Meshaka , Secretary to American Vice-Consulate ; A . Joseph Pilastri , LL . D , ; Caisar Messedie , . Abbas Kulli Khan , Persian Consul in Damascus ; Musfcapha Effendi Sabax , Inspector of Entailed Property of the Great Mosks ;

Mohammed Ali Effendi Mohasin , Secretary of the Grand Court of Justice in Damascus ; Mohammed Effendi , son of His Highness the Emir Abd-el-Kader . Several other brethren , native and foreign , ivho ivere temporarily absent , will attach

their signatures to the petition . Several of the Beyrout Masons have already done so . The following American Masons asked leave , upon an additional slip , to be attached , viz ., Bros . Robert Morris , LL . D . ; Samuel Hallock , of Lodge No .

9 , Philadelphia Pa ., U . S . A . ; and David W . Thompson , of Fulton City Lodge ( No . 147 ) , U . S . A .

In the petition ivhich we sent forward from Beyrout in the mail of April 22 nd , the following facts are set forth .-. " There is but one Masonic lodge in this large and populous Pashalie of Syria , viz ., Palestine Lodge ( No . 415 ) , ivorking under

warrant from the Grand Lodge of Scotland . This is at Beyrout , 75 miles north-west from Damascus , a point always difficult of access , often inaccessible .