Chips Of Foreign Ashlar.

ago there appeared in the Bulletin du Grand Orient a paper from his pen , giving a variety of useful information respecting Masonic researches in India . We were much indebted to this learned brother for valuable information on Masonic

subjects , and we hope ere long to revive our acquaintance with him . The time we spent Avec le frere Beaumont was exceedingly pleasant as well as instructive to us . A keen observer , well-acquainted Avith English

and French literature , languages , Bro . Beaumont is just the man one would desire for a companion . Full of wit and epigram , smart in retort , while good humoured in argument , brimful of merriment , and withal , earnest in purpose , Bro .

Beaumont won our heart when first we met and further acquaintance has only increased our respect for his life , character , and abilities . Soon may Ave be able to pass the pleasant hours Avec le frere Beaumont .

Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia.

EARS OF WHEAT FROM A CORNUCOPIA .

jB y Bro . D . MUKKAY LYON , A . M ., Masonic University of Kentucky , U . S . ; Son . Corresponding Member of the Union of German Freemasons , and of the Bosiorucian Society of England ; one of the Grand , Stewards in the Grand Lodge of Scotland ; F . G . S . W . of Ayrshire . ; author of the " History of Mother Kilwinning , fyc .

( Continued from page 303 ) . LODGE " CHAIRING . " Previous to the introduction into Scotland of Symbolic Masonry , advancement to the chair , i . e ., chief office , either in incorporations or in lodges of

the Craft Avas unmarked by any ceremonial further than the exaction of an oath of fealty from the newly-elected Deacon , " ... quha being present gaif his aith for dew administratione of his office . The Decone at his electioun to the sd office sail

sweir and protest befoir God that he sail administrat his office during his abiding therein till truelie , lawfullie , and with his honest dutie and diligence thereintill , without feid or favor of ony persoun . "—( 1564—1636 ) .

In Popish times the Deacon in givinohis oath placed his hands upon and kissed the " Haly Evangel" : after the Reformation this form was replaced by the holding up of the right hand . Even after the Operative element had been

eliminated from the lodges , the form of installation or " chairing " that was at first adopted was exceedingly simple . On his election the Master-elect

Avas shewn to the chair by the old Master , who p laced on him the jewel of office ; he was then saluted by the brethren . No other mode of chairing Avas known to Avest-country Craftsmen till about 1778-81 , when the " Chair Degree " began :

to be practised as a pre-requisite to the reception of other steps that in some lodges had been surreptitiously dovetailed into the curriculum of St . John's Masonry . This novelty , which through the credulity of those Avho accepted the dogma that a brother must needs be chaired before he

could legally wield the mallet , soon found its way into lodges unconnected with " high " degrees . It bore some resemblance to the chairing which , under the rose , obtains in many Scotch Lodges of the present day—a ceremony in which order and misrule are made alternately to predominate

in order the more impressively to inspire the novitiate Avith a sense of the dignity and responsibility that pertain to the Master of a Lodge of Freemasons .-

THE MARS DEGREE . The Mark Degree was another of the novelties with which , in the eighth decade of the last century Scotch Freemasonry Avas attempted to be embellished . As the distance between the Operative

and the Symbolic epochs of Masonry increased , the custom of members of Lodges adopting marks fell into desuetude;—and even when the practice was observed in accordance with the Masonic ordinance of 1598 , and for a purely operative

purpose , the only ceremony , if ceremony it could , be called , lay in " booking" the mark when , chosen , and in payment of the stipulated fee .. The choosing of marks was not , in practice confined to Fellows of Craft , but Avas in vogue

also among Entered Prentices—the custom being imitated by gentlemen whose connection with Masonic lodges Avas of a merely honorary kind . It . Avas as a satellite to the Royal Arch Order that , the Mark , like its companion the Chair Degree ,

was introduced to west country Masons , and to be able to " read the marks " Avas held to be a test of one's being a " high Mason . " Instruction in this mystic accomplishment embraced information as to the precise spot of Adam ' s sepulture ,

the depth of his grave , and such like whimsicalities—the points of the several marks being read more in connection with Biblical history and doctrine than with the propositions of Euclid . Thirty years ago , in its deliverance upon an application from a dau ghter lodge for permission to