Our Flag Was There.

had nearly effaced it , and we were some of us doubtful at first whether it was not one of those accidental rifts which the gales make in the surface snow . But as we traced it on the deep snow

among the hummocks , we were led to footsteps ; and , following them with religious care , we at last came in sight of a small American flag fluttering from a hummock , and lower down , a little Masonic banner , hanging from a tent-pole hardly above the

drift . It was the camp of our disabled comrades . We reached it after an unbroken march of twentyone hours . " The little tent was nearly covered . I was not among the first to come up ; but , when I reached the tent-curtain , the men were standing in silent file on each side of it . With more kindness and

delicacy of feeling than is often supposed to belong to sailors , but which is almost characteristic , they intimated their wish that I should go in alone . As I crawled in , and , coming upon the darkness , heard before me the burst of welcome

gladness that came from the four poor fellows stretched on their backs , and then for the first time the cheer outside , my weakness and my gratitude together almost overcame me . ' They had expected me : they were sure I would come !'"

"Tell us no more about graphic descriptions , of moments of intense excitement , of scenes and incidents which so shako the soul from its centre as completely to unman it . This simple—almost child-like —recital and the surrounding circumstances , excel

any thing we have ever read . Cooper ' s laboured and vivid descriptions of savage life and forest battlesthe ambush , the surprise , the capture or escape , are not to be compared with it for force and beauty , The poor lost perishing wanderers on that icy waste , who had crawled under their tent and laid them down

to die , with their mason-flag at half-rnast , had no hope but in the faithfulness , affection , and fortitude of their noble commander ; and even help from that source was dependent upon the success of the three almost exhausted men who had left them to find the brig . And after all there were a hundred chances to

one , that , amid the waste and wilderness of snow and ice , the rescue party would be unable to find them . How welcome to the brotherly heart of Kane was the first sight of that little flag—that mason-flag—at the tent-pole ! But that little tent may be only the

tomb of the lost ones ; aad the moments between its discovery and its entrance were big with torturing anxiety . The exclamation of the rescued , when their brotherly comrade suddenly made his appearance among them , fully indicates their condition—better , indeed , than a volume of elegant description : — " we

expected you ; we were sure you would come V > They had often wrestled with the oceau-waves ; they had braved the hurricane at tho mast-head ; they had faced death with all his terrors on a thousand times ; they were strong , rugged men of the sea , with iron

nerves ; hut they were children now , melted and subdued by suffering , and their hearts were in the expression— " we were sure you would come ! " No wonder the great soul of the commander was overcome with emotion at the moment : he would not have been the hero and the Brother that he was if he had not been " overcome !"

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

3 II 5 I ) AJTD HATTEE . Brother -, the Great Architect of the Universe has not permitted us to know in what way mind acts upon matter . These words will , I hope , enable you to understand the passage you have met with in a popular book recently published . Look in some

encyclopcediaforMalebranche's " Occasional Causes , " and Leibnitz's " Pre-established Harmony . " The subject is happily altogether foreign to Freemasonry . —OHAKLES PUKTOK COOPEE .

ATHEISM AND CHAEITY . " Where there is atheism there cannot be charity , " writes a pious brother . He is mistaken . In Buddhism , which is the religion of 480 millions of our fellow-creatures , atheism and charity are seen side by sideMbrother look at

communica-. y may my tions to the Freemasons'' Magazine " Freemasonry and Buddhism , " vol . viii ., page 430 , " Buddhism and Freemasonry , " vol . xii ., page 400 , and " The Buddhists , " vol . xv ., page 309 . —CHAELES PUKTO ^ COOPEE .

CHRISTIAN SEEEMASOSEY . The best Christian Freemasonry ia that which admits all Christian sects , those excepted ( should any such now exist ) having doctrines or practices incompatible with the moral law . —From a bundle of Masonic memoranda in Bro Purton Cooper ' s manuscript collections .

DEYELOPJIEXT 03 ? TETJE EEEEIIASONEY , Brother , you will find an answer to your inquiry upon this subject in my communication to the Freemasons' Magazine , vol . xv ., page 72 . My words there are as follow : —¦ " The development of true Freemasonry is certainly and satisfactoril although

y , silently and almost imperceptibly , going on in our English lodges . These lodges exist in every part of the globe ; they are co-extensive with Queen Victoria ' s dominions , upon which it is said , and we know it to be no vain boast , the sun never sets . "—CICAELES PuETOif COOPEE .

THE G-EEAT ARCHITECT OE THE TJSTVEE ' SE . —SPEJOZA . Brother , you are right . The words of Spinoza are— "Dei naturam ejusque proprietates exp licui . "—CuABLliS PUETOjS COOI'EK .