Masonic Notes And Queries.

contents . To the immense damage of eyes and clothing , the nauseous fluid found its way to its mother earth , hut never more was the lodge annoyed with eavesdroppers . " Mow to test a . Brother . "' Masons never solicit any persons to become Masons . ' " * But I was solicited , ' said a drunken fellow present , ' ancl after I had come among you , you turned me out !'

"' Yours is the exception that proves the rule , ' was the answer , ' and the trouble we had with yon , proves the danger of varying from our principles 1 ' " Try the tools to that unworthy brother . Apply the twentyfour inch gauge ; he gives no part to God . Lay the plumbline ; he does not walk erect before God or num . Put the square upon him ; there is no form that we should desire-him . Put the level ; would you share an equality with such a man 1

Show him the ladder ; he has not mounted it . Faith itself , the lowest round , is too high for his strength . Try the trowel ; does not the cement fait to adhere ! Cast him out among the rubbish . "

2 fo lack of Landmarks , if this be true . "Masonic law has little of the republican or democratic spirit about it . All its greater principles , termed , in Masonic parlance , landmarks , and most of the minor details of its governmental polity , are provided to our hands , as they were provided to our fathers' hands ages since , in tho traditions and publications of the Order . Of all the wretched theories into which even some

learned in the economy of Masonic government have been misled , none have been so pernicious in their results , as that assumption which places the original and sole authority of Masonic government In the consent of the governed . This error strikes a blow at the very base of the structure on which all government and order rests among men , the inviolable sanctity of law . It substitutes popular caprice for the authority of antiquit

y , ancl , perhaps , it is not too much to add , in view of the high and mighty purposes for which the Masonic institution was originally set up , the authority of God . It writes upon the sand of the wave-washed sea shore the laws which ought to be carved in the rock of eternal justice . "

Written in Heaven . " Some years since , an English brother , whose name is yet concealed , donated large sums to various Grand Lodges in the United States , to be by them distributed among the more needy lodges for purposes of charity . " Written in Heaven AVhat he has given !

Placed on the records in letters of gold;—Read by the spirits , Judges of merits—Some day the name to us all will he told . " Meantime let silence , Pree from all violence , Drop its mute vail o'er the face of the man .

Seek not to show it-Strive not to know it—Go and do likewise , ye brothers , who can . "Blest was the offering ; Voices of suffering Hushed under sympathy noble as that ; Tear-drops were

training—Sighs and bewailing And tear-drops ancl sorrow the orphans forget . " England , our Mother , Toward thee each brother Reverently turns at this noble emprise j ' This makes the cable Holy and stable , Binding our lodges for ever , ' he cries . " The Burial of the Dead .

"A Masonic funeral , conducted with the order , solemnity , and decorum proper to the occasion , exemplifies the proverb of the Eoyal Master , ' It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting . ' And there are no occasions in which the peculiarities of the Masonic Institution appear to so much advantage , in the eyes of the world , as the public burial of the dead . " AVhen the brethren prepare for a solemnity of this character ,

Masonic Notes And Queries.

the whole exercises should be placed in charge of some wellskilled and experienced Past Master , who , under the title of Marshal , has the disposing the ranks , the order of march , the admission of new-comers , etc ., in his exclusive charge , for the proper conduct of which he is only responsible to the acting Master . If several lodges are represented , the obsequies are in charge of that to which the deceased belonged , or if a stranger , to the oldest lodge in the procession . The Grand Master , or

Deputy Grand Master , if present , has the command , as in ali Masonic exercises , and the Marshal is responsible to him . "None bat Master Masons enu enter the procession , or take any Masonic part in the exercises . It is lawful also for the Marshal , at his discretion , to forbid non-affiliated Masons from uniting in the obsequies . The most suitable badges are plain white aprons , and sprigs of evergreen inserted in button-holes

in the left bosom of the coat . The files are formed in twos , touching elbows , and march six feet asunder . Music should he secured to regulate the step , and increase tho solemnity of the march . Perfect silence must be maintained , the government while in public being of the same rigid character as that of the lodge . Assistant Marshals may be appointed atthe rate of one for every twenty-five files in line . Marshals inarch upon the left of the procession .

" The grave is approached , if practicable , from the east . The procession is halted at fifteen paces from the grave , when the lines open , and the brethren counter-murch , the Marshal conducting them , followed in clue order by the Master , the Biblehearer , etc ., according to the stereotyped order of processions in the ' Monitor . ' A complete circuit of the grave is then made once and a half , leaving it on the right . This brings tho Master at the west of the grave , and makes a closely-joined

circle , within which none are permitted to enter , save the officers , the mourning friends , clergymen , and those who are specially invited hy the Marshal . " The burial services should be performe . d strictly in accordancewith the' Monitor , ' no deviation being lawful . Upon their completion , all return to the lodge , or other place of meeting , in the same order as their approach ; and the scene closes by an humble petition to the God of ' the quick and the dead , ' that the solemnities of the occasion may be impressed upon surviving friends , and the living lay them to heart . "

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The " Editor is not respo 7 isible for the opinions expressed bg Correspondents * LODGE No . 600 . TO THE EDITOR OP Till ! rjtEKMASOA * S' MAGAZIIfl ! AUD MASOITIC JIIBBOI ! . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —It strikes me this lodge hasgot itself into a pretty considerable fix . How can it be

rescued from it ? It seems to me too much to ask a lodge to acknowledge an imposition ; my own view of it is that the Treasurer has induced tho members to agree to a scheme by which he would preserve the lodge funds , and still appear with such a show of liberality as should disarm suspicion that the funds were being hoarded . Having passed this with the lodge for some years

without opposition , he is emboldened to put it before the public—a most dangerous game to play . The public are accustomed to look at any extraordinary table of figures with a watchful eye ; so this matter is made to appear doubtful by a series of questions , very awkward to answer , and put in such a form that evasion is impossible . The Treasurer tries a dodge , but your readers disapprove

of his shuffle ; so what is to be done ? We must try and make matters pleasant . If the lodge cannot make a clear case of its tables , it acknowledges itself , and the public will not hesitate to pronounce it , an impostor . Now , I wish to avoid such a degradation , and I think the best course will bo for the W . M . to call an emergency meetingand hear the matter thoroughly sifted ; it will

, not do to pass it off with a " don't care , " but decide on answering the questions or recalling the tables—the latter , I imagine , thc more likely course . If it turns out that the whole affair has been a crotchet of the Treasurer , then tho lodge had better acknowledge its remissness ,