Light Comes From The East.

this great work , but there are many who yet hope to see all Masonic iites , jurisdictions , and grades , —Scottish and York , consistorial , knightly , capitular , and ancientconsolidated , united , -md perfected under a national Masonic head , for the benefit of the fraternity throughout the United States . In union there is strength . The return of Bro . Lafayette to this country , and his

reception by the Masonic fraternity wherever he went , indirectly brought large accessions to the order , including many who had no definite idea of it , and who were subsequently found among the rubbish . Such was the flourishing condition of the fraternity here at that time and it was thought proper to erect a Masonic Temple , and a site was selected at the corner of Louisiana avenue

and Four-and-a-Half street . The corner-stone was laid in 1826 , when Bro . W . W . Seaton delivered a most able address , and when the fraternity occupied the upper stories .. Meanwhile , the disappearance of a man , named W . Morgan , and the assertions of ambitious politicians that he had been abducted , if not murdered by the Masonic fraternity , raised a storm of public indignation , before

which stout men quailed , while others added perjury to to their infamous desertion of the oi'der into which they had sought admittance . But He who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb sustained faithful Freemasons through the fires of persecution , and kept the greater and lesser lights from being totally extinguished . The only notice taken by the Freemasons of this district of the

ante-Masonic crusade , that I can learn of , was in 1830 , when B , ev . Bro . Lorenzo Dow , an eccentric but good old man delivered an address on the subject before Potomac Lodge and a large number of visiting brethren . When Bro . Dow died in Georgetown , in 1834 at the house of Past Master George W . Haller , Potomac Lodge honoured his fidelity by interring his remains with Masonic honors

iu Holmead ' s Burying Ground , North Washington . Nobly did good and true brethren bear the ark of the covenant through the desert ; and they have been rewarded by witnessing the glorious resurrection of the Order , which others had declared dead and buried for ever . Freemasonry now lives and flourishes , but not a single anti-Mason ever had his political aspirations realized , and their mongrel party had

gone" To the vile dust from whence it sprung , Unwept , unhoiioured , aud unsung . " The Freemasons cf this district bowed before the storm of oppression , and they suffered great reverses . Finally they were forced to abandon the proprietorship of their temple , only reserving a large room in the third story , which they were to have the use of for one hundred

years at an annual rental of GO dollars ; hut after some years this small sum was not available , and in 1812 the lease was forfeited , and the original Masonic temple was converted into two dwelling-houses . After the storm came a calm . The " tide in the affairs of man " turned . The anti- Masonic zealots , disappointed in not obtaining the offices for which they had reall

y been fighting while they were ostensibly striking at Freemasonry , enlisted under other political banners . Then , Masonry , which had been crushed to earth , rose again , like truth , purified by the fires through which it had passed . The altars were again erected in a small hall on Pennsylvania avenue , the venerable craftsmen resumed their labours , and brethren who had come from

a distance to sojourn here joined in their labours . Prominent among these was Bro . Benjamin Brown , who has since been so honourably and so usefully connected withFreemasonry in . this District , who has here received its hi ghest honours , and whoHhas filled important national offices of various grades . His moral integrity , uniform courtesy , his noble character , his generous heart , and his prudent counsel must be acknowledged by you all , and will be remembered by the fraternity so long as the

Capitol extension and other public edifices which he hat laid the corner-stones of shall stand . Indeed , it can ever be said of him iu this metropolis , as is inscribed on the tomb of Bro . Wren , in St . Paul ' s Cathedral : — " Header , if you seek his monument , look around . " Having been but a sojourner here , I cannot undertake to enumerate all of the prominent craftsmen who have

laboured in the quarries since the work of re-constructing Freemasonry has been going on . But I know full well that among them have been Presidents Monroe , Jackson , Tyler , Polk , Buchanan , and Johnston , with Houston of Texas , Dunlap of Maine , Dawson of Georgia , Cass of Michigan , Quitman of Mississippi , Shields of Minnesota , Giddings of Ohio , Cobb of Georgia , aud Hall "

of Massachusetts . Neither can I forget your own venerated brethren , of whom you can probably say , as did the Roman Matron when she pointed 'to her children , " These are my jewels . " The corner-stones of the princictal public edifices in this city , and in Georgetown have been laid by the Masonic fraternity . Let me express a hope that , in that

building thus hallowed by the labors of Bro- George Washington , Freemasonry will erect itself a monument . The Library of Congress is now sadly deficient in works on Freemasonry . But if every Masonic organization in the Republic , of all rites and grades , would but forward to the Librarian copies of their transactions , we should have our archives in the Capitol accessible to every craftsman . ¦ ! am authorized by the Librarian of Congress to announce that all donations of Masonic works or publications will be thankfully received by him , bound

and placed by themselves in an alcove . The hall used by the Grand Lodge after the resuscitation of Freemasonry in this District , was in the old medical college building , at the corner of the E and Tenth streets , where the accommodations were anything but desirable . In 1819 the question of erecting a national Masonic temple was first discussed in the Grand Lodge ,

and in 1850 an appeal was made by circular letter to the fraternity throughout the Union to aid in the erection of such an edifice here , to be dedicated to the memory of Washington ; but there was no response . In 1851 we find in the address of the Grand Master that he felt it his duty to publicly express the mortification ho experienced at having to introduce visiting brethren into the Grand

Lodge room , but it was not possible just then to secure better quarters . Iu 1855 the Grand Lodge removed to the hall at the corner of Ninth and D streets , which has just been vacated . Humble as that hall now appears , as contrasted with this , the Grand Master declared in his address that the convenience , comfort , and beauty of the arrangement

must make the heart of every true brother glow with pride as ho crossed its threshold . Alas ! that be who spoke these words—Bro . Frailloy—was soon translated to the more glorious Grand Lodge above , After having been a Master Mason some twenty years , ho was elected Grand Secretary iu 1817 , and served in that office until 1854 , when he was elected Grand Master . The records of his useful life and the remembrance of brethren who knew him well , testify that few men ever lived in our time whose foibles so little needed to have cast over them

the broad van of charity . When the war for the suppression of the rebellion was commenced , the fraternity in this District were called upon to do much for the relief of both friends and foes . Bro . Yelvorton P . Page , then Grand Master , took his death-cold iu ministering to the wants of a newly arrived regiment , which had been loft to bivouac through a wet and stormy September niht in front of his residence .

g Nor was it long before he was followed by Bro . Seatom and ho by Bro . Whiting , and he by Bro . Ellis , and he by Bro . Magruder , all bright lights in this Grand Lodge . Iu April , 186 < t , Congress passed an act incorporating the "Masonic Hall Association for the District of Co-