How To Do Good.

6 . Seize every opportunity to benefit the Lodge in its ordinary concernments as it may offer . Is a brother in arrears beyond his covenant and by-laws , remind him of the duty and urge a prompt settlement . Is anything belonging to the Lodge liable to be lost or damaged for want of attendance ? give notice to the Master , that it may not happen . Is anything occurring or likely to occur in which the honour ofthe Lodge would be likely to be compromised ?

g ive due and timely notice to the proper officers , and yourself promptly step into the breach , and let not the scandal reach an unhallowed ear . But where ' s the end of these suggestions ? The catalogue might readily be made to cover this page nor then the subject be exhausted ! There is something given that will suit every reader .

Excelsior, A Better Motto.

EXCELSIOR , A BETTER MOTTO .

THERE are those who , aware of the power of frequent association to awaken and cement friendships , avail themselves of all opportunities to render whatever society they are connected with subservient to their own ambitious purposes . None of these can be true Masons , and their connection with the fraternity only serves to mark it as of human origin , and as composed of natural , not supernatural beings . As well mi g ht the

science of architecture be inveighed against , because sometimes improper material is to be found in the walls of the building . " The incurvations of practice ; " says Blackstone , "are then the most notorious when compared with the rectitude of the rule ; to elucidate the clearness of the spring conveys the strongest satire upon those who have polluted or disturbed it . " Thus the very fact that the position of such characters in the Order is noticeably

inconsistent , demonstrates most clearl y the idea of the real nature and worth of the institution thus discredited . _ Happily , the habitual imitation of a worth y character , and continuous subjection to benign influences , not infrequently begets a healthful choice ofthe same , and hence tbe various motives operating upon thc minds of those seeking admission , have oftentimes been merged or lost siht of in the train of newer and hiher ideas

g g presented . Results are proportionate , in great measure , to the direction of thc effort . If in somewhat we seem to strike too hi gh , we shall in that only imitate good marksmen , who raise their pieces even higher than tbe level of the target , thereby approaching it more nearly hi the shot . He who would become a good artist , ought to study the works of the most excellent masters , even though his excessive vanity may not give a iiopc to equal them .

There arc some to whom the threadbare maxim , " Let well enough alone , " is fraught with wisdom , and it is a wisdom , the wisdom of a serpent , which in its sluggish folds will crush the aspirations and palsy the efforts . Excelsior is a better motto . Let us go up higher ! It is well to cultivate the cheerful feelings of satisfaction , but it is better to so attune thc mind that it shall never be satisfied , unless conscious of iiuintcrniitting progress upward .

It is unnecessary in this age of the world to further point out the modes in which this moral and intellectual elevation is favoured by Masonry ; for its ends , objects , and purposes arc veiled in no mystery . Aiming- at universal fraternity , it seeks no fancied equality by degrading the higher to thc lower , or by dragging the sluggish at the heels of tbe active . It seeks the elevation of the race by culture ofthe individual man , inculcating the grand princile that he who

p would be an example must first imitate , just as the law-abiding peaceable citizen makes the best magistrate . Actual equality of the human race is a philosophical abstraction and a practical absurdity , but its importance as a mere political statement is very evident . Tiic rights of men are tlie same , their capacities diverse as their numbers ; thus equal in rights they are vastly unequal in the accomplishment of worksAttachment to

. common objects , employment in the same duties , and efforts in the same direction , establish a brotherhood of feeling not at all incompatible with esteem for the superior or guidance to thc inferior mind . It is knowled ge which makes men to differ , as it is the clear apprehension of the same truths which brings them upon a common level and creates the sentiment of fratcrnitv , "— , /" . [ dams Allen , G . M . of Michigan .

^ TUB ILLS 01- IDI . EXKSS . —A man cannot without industry guard his Vcrsonnl welfare from manifold inconveniences , molestations , and mis'wets ; idleness itself will bo very troublesome and irksome to liinr . ill ! ™ , " 11 He on his i' ^ ids as a pestering incumbrance . His mind J i \ f tod Wlth ™ -i ° us distractions and distempers ; vain and sad tnougnts lout lusts , ! md unquiet passions will snrjng up therein as weeds m a neglected soil . —Jim-row . '

Literature.

Literature .

REVIEWS . Seven Years' Travel in Central America , Northern Mexico , and the Far West of the United States . B y JULIUS FI . OEBEI ,. With numerous Illustrations . London : Bentley . THE Germans have long had a predilection for weird and fantastic literatureand it would seem as ifof late yearsthey had

culti-, , , vated the same taste with respect to their travels . The half settled countries of America appear to exert a strong power of attraction for the Teutonic race , who go thither to study , with equal curiosity , the phenomena of physical nature and the earl y processes by which states are being formed out of the most heterogeneous elements which ever came together in the formation of a people—consisting of Europeans from all the races of the old

world , Anglo-Americans from the Northern and Southern States , Mexicans and other descendants of the Spanish colonists , Indians of every tribe and colour , red and brown , Christian and heathen , with a vast multitude of half castes , barbarized whites , and half civilized savages ; and lastly , the huge and formidable mass of negro blood with all its mixtures and results . Of the ultimate predominance of one race there seems to be little or no doubt . Mr Froebel notices how the Spanish race iiii-oliintaril y acknowledge the supremacy of the people of the United States and their

tacit claim to the dominion of America , by designating them always under the title of Americanos . But the Anglo-Saxon race appears to be destined to absorb into it , and either assimilate with itself , or at least eliminate , a far greater variety of elements , and much more discordant and uncongenial ones , than went to form it in the first instance in the land of mingled Celts and Teutons , Danes and Normans , out of which it arose .

Mr . Froebel is an observant , fair , tolerant , and well informed traveller , who has produced a definite and forcible picture of the countries through which he has travelled . His account of a prolonged journey over the western prairies and through the passes into Mexico is excellent . He started with a friend , a German Jew , on a great mercantile speculation , with a vast caravan of mule waggons laden with merchandize ( his friend choosing the

occasion for being married , and taking his wife with him on the bridal trip ) for Independence , a town of wheelwrights' shops , full of waggons painted blue , red , and green , lying on the river Missouri . And as he bad gone over the same ground in 1852 , when it was a wild , and as it since has become the well known territories of Kansas and Nebraska , he shall describe in his own language what Independence was at bis first visit : —

" Then we were here in one of those towns ivhich , situated on tho limits of a desert , may be compared to a harbour ; and perhaps , in spite of the new settlements of Kansas , Independence may have maintained this character . The camel has been called the ship of the desert ; but , until the camels introduced of late into Texas by the government ofthe United States shall have increased sufficiently to play a similar part in the r > ew World , the trader ' s waggon must be called the ship of the prairie ; andindeedthe waggon drawn bmules stauds in the same relation to

, , y that drawn by oxen as the steamboat to the sailing vessel . Formerly oxen were hero used in preference as draught cattle for the journeys across the prairies ; but mules have gradually superseded them . Teams of mules are quicker than yokes of oxen , and the mule is also better able to endure heat ancl want of water . Mules , however , cost three times as much as oxen , and in the Indian territory they are a property far more in dangerOxen are seldom stolen bthe Indians whereas

. y , the stealing of mules is regarded by them as a great and honourable exploit . The largo demand for draught cattle of both kinds for the numerous caravans travelling west , has naturally given a considerable stimulus to cattle breeding in the State of Missouri . The mules reared hero arc noted for their beauty , size , and strength , aud , although inferior to the small Mexican mules in briskness and endurance , they readily find purchasers even in Mexico , where they are sought for chiefly for carriage

teams ; the trading caravans , therefore , passing betw-een the Missouri frontier and _ S . or . hern Mexico generally bring back only part of their mules . " These caravans consist of a mixture of Americans and Mexicans ; the Americans to drive the waggons , the Mexicans to be , as it were , the interpreters between the Americans and the mules . Take thc following amusing remarks of Mr . Froebel on the nudes

themselves : — " From drivers and muleteers we may pass to mules , which are in many respects far moro interesting than the former , and whose natural disposition is an attractive subject to the observer of nature . One ot the most striking characteristics of t' -. e mule is his aversion to the ass , and the pride he takes in his relationship to the horse ; which instincts are met with obtrusivoness in the ass and by indifference in the horse . If an ass at any time—urged by the vanity peculiar to its race as related