A Masonic Allegory.

the image of his Maker . He is able to bestow charity on an enemy , aud to render good for evil . " Pausing a moment , he continued , " It is meet that fche good should receive fche beautiful , " and touching the Avorm with his rod , he endowed ifc with the miraculous poAver of building its own sepulchre . The next morning when Mirza

came to look afc ifc , she thought ifc asleep . Then she went to gather flowers and leaves , for Mirza had groAvn to love the creature by doing if ; good ; and all nature was dear to her heart since Abel walked Avith her no more . Returning again , she saAv tho chrysalis bright and fair as a silvery cloud . She stood amazed , saying ,

" Behold what a creature I have bred ! Now ifc is dead , lying in a wonderful tomb . "Who knows whether ifc may not come forth to life again . Adam , her father , said , "Who can expound this ?" And they carried the chrysalis into their habifcatio n—as an emblem of Abel , the first who died on earth . AVhen

they Avere assembled one morning , speaking Avith mournful hearts of death , suddenly a gentle rustling Avas heard , and fche Chrysalis moved . Next its silvery grave burst , and , lo , a living creature emerged out of the narrow shell , trembling in the soft air , and unfolding a double pair of wings . These , oufc-sfcrefcehed , Avere as

blue as sapphire , or the vault of heaven , and upon them the new-born creature fluttered , over the balmy and blooming trees . , HoIy joy and admiration filled the hearts of the first mortals , and they remembered Abel the first of the dead . They then heard the voice of the angel of death , saying , " Behold , life comefch forth from

death , and days are converted into eternity . It is given to the pure mind and unto child-like faith to see truth in an emblem . " From that day Mirza mourned no more for Abel , and the human race thought thenceforth of death Avith joyful hope . Whafc food for reflection there is in this charming

allegory ! How imbued is ifc with the loftiest spirit ; ol Masonry ! How ifc reflects and illustrates tho teaching of our sublime degree ! If ifc be tho mission of Masonry to inculcate and enforce this lofty teaching , Avhich is the foundation doctrine of the Great Light Avhich rests upon the Masonic altar ,

what manner of men ought the brethren to be ? Our lives must reflect and exemplify our doctrines , or else the lives themselves will be bare chrysalises—empty shells—to be cast among the rubbish by fche Chief Overseer above , when Ave come to carry fche work of our lives before Him for inspection . —Keystone .

Herculaneum And Pompeii.

HERCULANEUM AND POMPEII .

Of all the ancient and now uninhabited cities , there is none other that awakens so much interest in the mind of a traveller , that appeals Avith such force to the imagination , that puts such a strain upon his sensibilities , thafc so bewilders his thoughts Avith wondering in Avhat age he is living , and Avhere all the people that once trod these streets and Avhose chariots made deep tuts in the hard pavement before our eyes—as Pompeii . I remember well the excitement which the story of its discovery

Herculaneum And Pompeii.

and continued exhumation made in my youthful imaginings , ancl the long desire I had to walk through the silent thoroughfares and to enter its deserted houses ; and IIOAV fully all the fancies I had indulged Avere realized when I first held converse with tho shades of the old Roman inhabitants by going into their houses ancl calling them up from the A'asty deep of eighteen centuries . Scarcely loss exciting and interesting Avas a visit after the lapse

of fifteen years , for in the mean time , the larger vjsivfc of tho city had been excavated . The Avork has gone on vigorously , until now Pompeii is nearly all opened to the light of clay . I speak particularly of Pompeii , because very little of Herculaneum has yet been explored , ancl very little ever will be , owing to the different manner in Avhich . the tAvo cities Avere buried . Pompeii Avas covered Avitb a shower of ashes and scoriiea or cindersburied deep and beyond all recognition of

, the site , but AA'ith such looso material that it is easily exciwated . Herculaneum , on the other hand , Avas not only buried much deeper , but by lava or mud formed from the ashes and steam , which flowed like a sea over houses and buildings of all kinds , pouring into the doors ancl windows and CA'ery crevice , filling rooms aud cavities of all kinds , and then hardening like rock , making the city one solid mass of stone . It was covered AA'ith this material to the depth of seventy feet or more . The AVOI-IC

of excavation , therefore , is like removing stone from a quarry . Herculaneum , though buried so much deeper then Pompeii , Avith material of such solidity was discovered first . A city had been built directly over it , Avhose inhabitants never dreamed that a buried city AIMS below tbem , until one day , in digging a Avell , a citizen of Resina came down into an old Roman Amphitheatre . This AA'as about the middle of the last century . A small portion of the city Avas then exhumed , and the Avork Avas

so difficult it Avas abandoned . Search AVUS then made for Pompeii ; ifc Avas soon found , and explorations Avere transferred to its streets and carried on Avith varying rapidity until Aletor Emanuel took possession of Naples , since Avhich time the Avork has been more vigorously than ever before prosecuted . One can IIOAV spend the Avhole day in Avalking through street after street , Avithout pausing to look into the houses . Some of the streets have the names upon the corners ; nearly all have

elevated side-Avalks , ancl the pavements of the carriage Avay are sometimes AVOI-U deep Avith marks of Avheels , sliOAving that carts and carriages Avere in as common use iu ancient days as IIOA \' . The buildings of Pompeii could never have been magnificent in their proportions . A \ e find nothing like the palaces ancl baths , as they are inappropriately called , which abound at Rome , the ruins of AA'hich often cover many acres , the arches and towers giving one an idea of the grandeur of the structures . Iu

Pompeii everything was upon a small scale , but probably more exquisite in arrangement and adornment . The Amphitheatre , Avhich is the spot usually visited first , aud Avhich stands at a little distance from the town , has been completely exea \ 'ated , and is iu perfect preservation , the seats and aisles remaining just as they Avere in that night Avhen the multitude ivas driven iorth from the devoted city by the fearful , shower that ovei-Avliehned it . In this Amphitheatreabout twenty years before

, the destruction of the city , according to Tacitus , on the occasion of some grand performance , a sanguinary fight occurred between the Ponipeians ancl the people of Nucona , upon Avhich it was closed by the order of the Emperor for ten years . —Near this is the villa of Julia Felix , one of the Avealthiesfc citizens of Pompeii , iu Avhich AVUS found an advertisement , a poster , to the effect that

" JULIA HAS TO LET EOR EIVE YEAES , A BATH , A VENERIUM , NINETY SHOPS , AA'ITH TEERACES AND OTEE 1 ' CHAMBERS . " They are still Avithout tenants , although they havo been advertised 1 , 800 years . Let us turn into some of tho houses in the heart of the city , and if ive do nofc find the owners in , we can leave our cards ancl

retire , after inspecting the premises . The old Pompeians Avere great patrons of the fine arts , especially ol painting . Almost every house of any pretension Avas richly frescoed , the Avails painted elaborately . In one respect the artists of that day and of that city excelled all others—in graceful draAvings of the human form aucl drapery . Nowhere else—not in the wonderful Avorks of Raphael , not even iu his masterpiece , " The Transfiguration "—do we find such perfect aerial forms and postures . The figures float in air as gracefully , and seem to be as much in their