Masonic Notes And Queries.

what ho stood in need of ? ' answered , ' Of everythingexcept the knowledge of your secret thoughts . ' A Spaniard was desired by an absent friend , faithfully to keep a secret ho had entrusted to him ; he answered , ' I never knew your secret ; if you have imparted any to me , I have certainly returned it to you , by remembering it no longer . ' When your friends are desirous of making

us the confidants of their secret thoughts , we ought to receive them , and be faithful to the last . A man desirous of prying into the secrets of others is generally vain , and a fool . He will often despise men of eminence and learning , because he beholds them in a situation far above his ; therefore , Sophocles has judiciously remarked , do not be curious , and talk too much—for ears always open to tho secrets of others , have also mouths ready to divulge them . —Ex . Ex .

FREEMASONRY IN SMYRNA . ( From the Travels of Alexander Driunmoml , Esq ., Consul at Aleppo ; wi-Uleii at Smyrna in . 1745 , and pvMished at London , in folio , 1751 . ) "At this carnival season they have an assembly here , to which Mr . Consul Crawley did mo the honour to introduce me ; and , as I had formed a lodge of Freemasons

in the place , tho ladies had conceived a strange notion of my character ; for I had been represented to them , by some priest , as a conjurer of the first magnitude , who had the devil at my command , and raised tho dead by my diabolical incantations . These terrible prepossessions , instead of fri ghtening them , had only served to raise their curiosity ; and when I entered the room they

surveyed mo with truly female attention . After they had satisfied their eyes with a most minute examination , they seemed to think I did not differ much from the other children of Adam , and became so familiar to my appearance , that one of the number was hardy enough to desire me to dance with her ; and , as she escaped without danger , I was afterwards challenged by a pretty little

blooming creature , with whom I walked seven minutes during the course of the evening . "As I have mentioned the lodge of Freemasons , I cannot help congratulating myself upon the opportunity I had of making so many worthy brethren in this place , and of forming the only lodge that is in the Levant . " For ages past a savage race O ' ersproad these Asian plains , AH nature wore a gloomy face , And pensive mov'd the swains .

" But now Britannia ' s gen ' rous sons A glorious Lodge have rais'd , Near the fam'd banks whore Meles runs , And Homer ' s cattle graz'd ; " The briery wilds to groves are chang'd , With orange trees around , And fragrant lemons , fairly rang'd

, O ' crshade the blissful ground . " Approving Phoebus shines more bri ght , Tho flow ' rs appear more gay , Kew objects rise to please the sight With each revolving day . " While safe within the sacred walls ,

"Where heav ' nly friendship reigns , The jovial Masons hear tho calls Of all the needy swains . " Their gen ' rous aid , with cheerful soul , They grant to those who sue ; And while tho sparkling glasses roll , Their smiling joys renew . " Ex . Ex .

EXTRACTS 1-11031 BRO . ROB . 3 I 0 KRIS ' s ALMANACKS . Masonic Colleges , Seminaries , etc . Many attempts have been made by Grand Lodges to found colleges and universities , and large expenditures of funds have been made to that end , but thus far with no results but disaster . The Grand Lodges of Kentucky , Missouri , and Tennessee sunk

heavy sums , ancl withdrew discouraged from the attempt . Those of Arkansas and North Carolina are now engaged in similar efforts . But academies ancl seminaries , under the patronage of subordinate lodges , have been more successful . Many excellent institutions are now in existence , thus built up and sustained . They honour the institution that brought them into birth , afford a cheap and effectual method of providing educational advantages for the poor of the Order , and grace the towns ancl villages in which they arc located .

The Morgan affair . "For a matter which produced so much excitement , and accomplished so much evil to Masonry , this whole affair was very trivial . There was a drunken , worthless fellow living at Batavia , New York , in 1826 , named William Morgan , ivho eolleaguect with another man but little better than himself , named David T . Miller , to publish an exposition of Masonry . The Fraternity , at that place , fearing that evil results might follow such a

publication , took steps to prevent it , but Avithout effect . At last they conveyed Morgan , by his own consent , from Canandaigua to Niagara , a distance of eighty miles , and from thence assisted him , it is supposed , to leave the country . A hue and cry was raised , and as ho was never heard of afterwards , the hasty inference was drawn that the Masons bad murdered him , and a . general persecution was at once excited against the entire Order . Thisfor ten yearsthreatened its total downfall . The

exposi-, , tion , when published , however , was found to be but a reprint of others of similar character then extant , as false in the motives of their issue as in the facts of their invention , and the whole Morgan excitement has passed away as one of those spasmodic exhibitions of public morality , so common in history , in which a scapegoat is made of one man or institution to expiate the sins of the many . "

Fli Bruce , ihe Victim of Antimasonry . " This unfortunate man , whose lot it was to head the column of Masonic martyrs , ivas born in Massachusetts about the year 1795 , and emigrated to Western Now York near the age of twenty . At the time of Morgan's disappearance , he was sheriff of Niagara county , aud resided at Lockport . He was accused by Hopkins , his deputy , of having provided a cell for the incarceration of Morgan ; and although it is known that that individual was

not brought to Lockport , yet this fact convicted him , in the minds of antimasonic jury , of conspiracy in the abduction of Morgan , and he was sentenced to imprisonment in the jail at Canandaigua for tho space of two years and four months . He served his whole term uncomplainingly , amid the sympathy of friends , and died of cholera in September , 1831 , a year after his release . The diary of his sufferings , which ho kept while in prison , is in [ the hands of Bro . Rob . Morris , and presents a mournful picture of a noble heart , bowed down by poverty , anguish , and captivity .

Feminine Freemasonry . (?) "The Eastern Star Degree , so popular in this country , is conferred upon the wives , widows , sisters , and daughters of Master Masons . Any Master Mason , in good standing , has the power to confer it , but only to five or more ladies at a time . Its explanations are scriptural ; its hues are blue , orange , white , green , and red ; its symbols , a sword , sheaf , crown and sceptre , broken column and clasped hands . The names of its several

divisions are Jephtliah's Daughter , Ifufch , Esther , Martha , and Electa . It is as pure and innocent in its principles as the blush of the new-horn rose . " The Work of the Apprentice . " The apprentice in moral Masonry has oftentimes much to accomplish . Many years may be required for the task . His

means may be scattered as tho cloud-waters are thunder-shaken upon the hills . Many a pang may selfishness and the remains of a corrupt nature give him , as he casts off , one by one , the superfluities of life . Many a time will lie be tempted to turn back , leaving the plough in the furrow . But the labour once accomplished , he shall be a glorious block , a shining ashlar , a living stone , fit for the Master ' s use , fit for the Master's honours . The reward is ampleeven though the labour were doubly greater

, than it is . " An Incentive to Study . " To get at hidden truths in Masonry , three convenient rules aro offered—diligent study , patient investigation , aud unwearied conference with older brethren . "