Literature.

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 likety to occur in which the honour ofthe Lodge would be likely to be compromised ?

give 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 tbeir 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 mig ht the

science of architecture be invei ghed against , because sometimes improper material is to he 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 clearly the idea of the real nature and worth of the institution thus discredited .

Happily , the habitual imitation of a worthy character , and continuous subjection to benign influences , not infrequently begets a healthful choice ofthe same , and hence the various motives operating upon the minds of those seeking admission , have oftentimes been merged or lost sight of in the train of newer and hi gher ideas presented . Results are proportionate , in great measure , to thc direction of the effort . If in somewhat we seem to strike too high ,

we shall in that onl y imitate good marksmen , who raise their pieces even higher than the level of tbe target , thereby approaching it more nearly in the shot . He who would become a good artist , ought to study tbe works of the most excellent masters , even though his excessive vanity may not give a hope to equal them . There are 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 the mind that it shall never be satisfied , unless conscious of uninterniitting progress upward . It is unnecessary in this age of the world to further point out

the modes in ivhich 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 the lower , or by dragging the sluggish at the heels of the active . It seeks the elevation of the race by culture of the individual man , inculcating thc grand principle that he who would be an example must first imitate , just as the law

-abiding peaceable citizen makes the best magistrate . Actual equality of tlie human race is a philosophical abstraction and a practical absurdity , but its importance as a mere political statement is very evident . Thc ri ghts of men are the same , their capacities diverse as their numbers ; thus equal in ri ghts they are vastly unequal in the accomplishment of works . Attachment to common objectsemployment in tbe same dutiesand efforts in the

, , same direction , establish a brotherhood of feeling not at all incompatible with esteem for the superior or guidance to the inferior mind . It is knowledge which makes men to differ , as it is the clear apprehension of the same truths whicli brings them upon a common level and creates the sentiment of fraternity . " — -J . Adams Allen , G . M . of Michigan .

TUB Ins or IDLENESS . —A man cannot without industry guard his Versonal welfare from manifold inconveniences , molestations , and mishiet ' s ; idleness itself will be very troublesome and irksome to him . His time will Ho on his hands as a pestering incumbrance . His mind will be infested with various distractions und distempers ; vain and sad thoughts foul lusts and unquiet passions will soring up therein as iveeds m a neglected noil—JiurrovX '

Literature.

Literature .

REVIEWS . Seven Years ' Travel in Central America , Northern Mexico , and thc Far West of the United Stales . By JULIUS FKOEBEL . AVith 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 early 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 ancl 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 involuntarily 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 thc 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 , ancl 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 , ancl green , lying on the river Missouri . And as he had 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 which , 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 of the United States shall have increased sufficiently to play a similar part iu the New World , the trader's waggon must be called the ship of the prairie ; and , indeed , the waggon drawn by mules stands in the same relation to

that drawn by oxen as the steamboat to the sailing vessel . Formerly oxen were here 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 and want of water . Mules , however , cost three times as much as oxen , and in the Indian territory they are a property far more in danger . Oxen arc seldom stolen by the Indians , whereas the stealing of mules is regarded by them as a great and honourable

exploit . The large 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 here are 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 between the Missouri frontier and Northern Mexico generally bring back only part of their

mules . " These caravans consist of a mixture of Americans ancl Mexicans ; the Americans to drive the waggons , the Mexicans to he , as it were , the interpreters between tbe Americans and the mules . Take thc following amusing remarks of Mr . Froebel on the mules themselves : — " From drivers and muleteers to muleswhich are in

we may pass , many respects far more interesting than the former , and whose natural disposition is an attractive subject to the observer of nature . One of the most striking characteristics uf tho mule is his aversion to the ass , and the pride he takes in his relationship to the horse ; which instinct ? , are met with obti-usiveness in the ass and by indifference in the horse . If an ass at any time—urged by the vanitv peculiar to its race as related