All In The Olden Time.

Impressed with the wandering spirit that infects his nation , Gillespie Avas making his way from the Sabine to Austin ' s settlements , on the Brazos , when he ivas attacked by fever . He had barely reached Morton ' s house as he succumbed to its

influence . There he lay for a considerable period , sinking under the disease until he died . He had contrived , hoAvever , to make himself known to Morton as a " brother of the mystic tie , " and by this means had aroused a spirit in that true heart

which prompted every effort to save the life of his guest . But all in vain . Although he sent his Mexican riders more than eighty miles eastAvard to bring a physician for his dying friend ; although he sent others clear to Galveston Island , for

oranges , Avine , and spirits for stimulus and refreshments , and watched unwearied by his bedside attentive to his faintest call , all in vain . He greAV weaker and Aveaker , and at last yielded up his spirit upon the breast of his kind host , whose

lamentations at his departure Avereloud and real . That very afternoon—for in that climate decay sets in at once—Morton caused his servants to

dig a grave beneath the old trees . There , when the shades of darkness arrived , he took the body of his Masonic brother , and alone , amidst the solemn silence of the night , he buried it . What ceremonies he used , what prayers he uttered , \ vhat

funeral rites he performed can best be conjectured by those to whom the funeral duties of the brethren are entrusted . If the spirit of the departed lingered at all on earth it must have vieived with complaisance these evidences of Masonic attachment , and communicated a portion of its oivn peace to the soul of that faithful man .

Upon the grave thus hallowed hy the double mystery of death aud the Masonic ceremonial , Morton built a brick monument ivith his OAVU hands . This pile still stands , the earliest relic of Masonic history in Texas . In process of time the

toAvn of Richmond was laid out upon the old hacienda of William Morton , but he did not live to see it . HOAV or Avhen he died there is no record to show . No brother was by to receive his dyingwords or to bestoiv the solemn rites upon him

which he had so cheerfully yielded to another . Yet he ivas not forgotten ; the principal street in the city Avas called after his name . . In 1849 the place contained about 100 people , among them a feiv Masons . These , after much deliberation , concluded , by concert with those of the Craft who resided in the vicinity , and by borrow-

All In The Olden Time.

ing from neighbouring lodges , to establish one of their OAvn . At the Grand Lodge meeting of 1850 it was chartered as Morton Lodge ( No . 72 ) . The hall Avas built upon the very ground consecrated by that burial scene .

Should the reader visit Richmond on the Brazos the first object that Avill attract his gaze is a large three-story brick edifice on Morton-street . It is the Masonic Hall , erected in 1865 , and is one of the finest edifices iu the State of Texas . In

dimensions it is forty by sixty feet—the apartments used by the Masons being in the third story , forty feet square . He will not forget the pathetic incident Ave have HOAV perpetuated ; for there , right by the side of the building , is that unpretending

pile of bricks—each one of which is stamped , invisibly , with a ' signet more noble than the bricks of Babylon or Nineveh—Avhich make up the monument of Robert Gillespie . Does not Propertius say truly :

Quod si deficianfc vires , audacia certe Laus erifc : in magnis et voluisse sat est . " Boldness shall have its praise , though strength may fail . " The effort , puny as it may have appeared to William Morton , to honour the memory

of that unknown Scotchman has resulted in honour to the builder . Just so it Avas in in the erection of the first temple . Wall , ancl pillar , and pilaster are gone . Even the checkered pavement is torn up , and not a block remains . Yet the memory of

the operative Grand Master abides and will abide as the recollections of all good deeds ; they are immortal . —Masonic Eclectic .

Recollections Of The Lodge Of Freemasons At Thornhill.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LODGE OF FREEMASONS AT THORNHILL .

By D . MURRAY LYON , one of the Grand Stewards in the Grand Lodge of Scotland . ( Continued from page 5 . ) Having thus far , Avith little regard to regularit y of arrangement , passed under revieAv the major

part of the outstanding and othenvise interesting events in the history of St . John ' s—without , Ave hope , at all rupturing the lattice-work of symbolism which separates the Order from other human institutions—ive shall noiv take note of the setting

up of a landmark which for half a century to come Avill form a conspicuous object in the lodge ' s retrospection of its Avork . The Jubilee of St . John ' s Avas celebrated on the 22 nd July , 1864 , under circumstances of a