The Sprig Of Acacia.

be often desired , and would lead , no doubt , to secret communications being established , altogether constituting the circumstances best calculated to foster and encourage social organisation , the leading features of which would be mutual assistance among the members , and the most careful precautions taken to avoid a treacherous disclosure of the agents employed in the

very delicate business with which they would generally be entrusted . The ori ginal forest laws of England originated in some such need , and in some such manner ; and it is a significant fact that the Court of Exchequer , upon which their administration at one time exclusiveldevolvedAA'as provided with a chequer

y , ¦ covered table , in allusion to the equity , rather than to Avritten laAV , which should determine decisions , as also to the uncertain character of man ' s estate in this , so very properly designated , " the debateable borderland . "

The historical reflections which throng around the Sprig of Acacia , considered from a Masonic standpoint , are too numerous and interesting for full justice to be done to its importance as a symbol in a short paper like this . In the ancient mysteries , it played even a more conspicuous part than in our own sublimer ceremonialas may be deduced from the

, prominent notice given to the golden bough , which was presented to Orpheus by the priestess , before his descent into hell in search of his wife Eurydice . This evidently alludes to the charges and instructions given him at his initiation , to prepare him for his visit to the burning wastes of Africato seekperhaps in solitude

, , , some relief for his grief , and , at the same time , would Beeure him the assistance of the corresponding and affiliated stations of the Grecian temple , located in the oases of the desert . Herodotus ' s account of the

two oracles of Jupiter , one m Greece , at Dodona , and i ; he other in Lybia , to Jupiter Amnon , illustrates this . point ; and he tells us , " The priests of the Theban Jupiter say ' that two Avomen , employed in the temple , were carried away from Thebes by certain Phoenicians , and that one of them was discovered to have been sold into Lybiathe other to the Greeks ; and that these

, two women were the first who established oracles in the nations above named ; ' " and he also adds , " the manner in which oracles are delivered at Thebes , in Egypt , and at Dodona , is very similar , " as no doubt it also was at the shrine of Jupiter Amnion , in the Lybian district—and that friendly correspondence and

mutual support was long maintained between them by casual p ilgrims or regular missionaries . There is no question that Africa was the hell of classic poetry , as it was sufficiently well described by the threeheaded ocean dog Cerberus , that guarded the several sides of that triangular continent , even were it not to

-this day the traditional Umbo of the Titans , destroyed by Jupiter , and that in mythology it is that division of the earth allotted to Pluto , after the dethronement of his father Saturn . The Latin copyist of the Greek poet , it is also worthy of notice here , has taken care to supply his hero , Enams , with a similar symbolic

bough , when about to engage in a like adventure to that attributed to Orpheus . The beautiful golden bloom of the Acacia Nilotica . not to speak of its delightful odour , would fully warrant the poetical license which has described it as literally golden , Avithout any reference to its true mystic signification as indicating enlightened or illumined knowledge . . And in conclu-

The Sprig Of Acacia.

sion , after all that has been stated , it is curious , in the travels of a recent visitor to the desert " Wilds of Southern Africa ( Thompson , 1823 ) , " to meet with the following observation : — " Among the Barolongs and allied tribes , a Sprig of the camel thorn tree ( a species of Acacia ) , delivered to the chiefs , is the invitation of a private council , to discuss -topics not fit to be made public in the presence of women , children , and the lower class . "

Mother Kilwinning, Scotland.

MOTHER KILWINNING , SCOTLAND .

Br D . MTJKRAY LYON , PJ . W . or Mo . KIL ., andP . J . G . W . 03 ? ATBSIIIEE . The history of the Ancient or Mother Lodge of Scotland may naturally be considered under three periods of its existence , namely : —1 . That previous to the formation of the Grand Lodge © f Scotland in 1736 , and its short-lived union with that body ; 2 . The period during

which it maintained its independence and continued to grant charters of erection to daughter lodges ; 3 . 3 ? rom its return to the bosom of the Grand Lodge till the present time . We shall meantime treat of the first epoch , reserving the other points till future numbers ; and in the elucidation of the subject which is one in which every Freemason must feel a * lively interest , we hope to bo

guided by the desire to make ourself useful in collating material bearing upon the history of the mother lodge , rather than dogmatically to attempt to ignore the claims to greater antiquity urged on behalf of the Lodge of Edinburgh , Glasgow , St . John , and the Independent Lodge of Melrose , over those Avhich we believe to be possessed by her who now stands at the head of the roll

of the Grand Lodge of Scotland . Much obscurity hangs over the early history of Mother Kilwinning . Our knowledge of its formation , and of the position it held among the institutions of the country during the first four centuries of its existence , coming as it does through the traditionary lore of the Craft rather than from information derived from reliable documentary evidence , must of necessity be somewhat circumscribed and imperfect . The almost universal

belief in regard to the introduction of Preemasonry into this country is thai the monks who built the Abbey of Kelso brought the science to Ayrshire , and formally set up and established their first lodge at Kilwinning during the building of the abbey , founded in 114-0 and dedicated to the patron saint of that parish , —that all other mason lodges in Scotland emanated from and were under the

jurisdiction of that of Kilwinning , whose head regulated the affairs of the Craft generally throughout Scotland —that the Scottish monarchs were the Grand Masters of the Mother Lodge , whose courts were usually held at Kilwinning , although as the Grand Master ' s convenience or the nature of the business to be disposed of might suggest , grand convocations of craftsmen were

occasionally held at Edinburgh and other places . Laurie , who is commendably cautious in his belief of traditionary statements unsupported by authentic historical proof , thus expresses his conviction in favour of Kilwinning being the cradle of Scottish Masonry : — " That Ereemasonry was introduced into Scotland by those architects who built the Abbey of Kilwinning is evident , not only from those authentic

documents by which the existence of the Kilwinning Lodge has been " traced back as far as the end of the fifteenth century , but by other collateral arguments which amount almost to a demonstration . " Then there is the evidence furnished through the following sentences occurring iu the ancient charter of the Lodge Perth and Scone , as to the great antiquity assigned to Mother Kilwinning by the craftsmen living in the middla of the seventeenth century : — "In the name of God : Amen . To all and sundrie persons whome these presents