Birth Of The Steam Engine.

person Avas attracting notice in the north of England . He AVUS a young collier , a labourer , a heAvor of Avood , a draAver of Avater , bufc destined one day to be a king among men . It IIOAV became a question Avhefcher steam poiver could not he applied to land traffic to pull heavy loads along the ground , so that horse flesh and man flesh mi ght be spared . Sober ,

industrious , assiduous , persevering , the young- labourer hacl achieved the great sum of eighteen shillings per Aveek , with a compliment from his master , Avho had begun to estimate his value . But the first practical application of the steam engine as a locomotive power took place in 180-1 on a railroad at Merthyr Tydvil , in South Wales . This clumsy progenitor

< if the high metalled racers on our principal lines , thafc aa * e IIOAV christened ^ after the planets , was simply a boiler and chimney , Avith a cylindrical tube , or , properly speaking , gut , AAdiich did all the business of atmospheric elimination . Its Avheels Avere cogged with a view to give ifc greater impetus , and for years after it Avas thought that increasing the resistance to each

revolution increased the force given to the steam engine . In ISM this idea was exploded . Meanwhile the hewer of wood , the drawer of water , the labourer and miner , had become famous as an engineer . Statesmen were j > roud of him , princes honoured him , the busy crowd made Avay for him , for the humble workman had become a in the state

power . People began to dream of some new mode of travelling , some Avild project to which onl y a journey to some planet were comparable , but speculation Avas morbid , its eye wan jaundiced , its aspirations were exorbitant .

The next stimulus which the progress of this invention received arose from a project of constructing a raihvay from Liverpool to Manchester , for the purpose of general traffic . ^ When this project was under consideration , it ivas not decided what moving power was mosfc eli gible . It was seriously proposed b y some to have the engines stationary ,

pulling each successive load b y means of ropes laid betAveen short stations—so far had our fathers progressed in their knowledge of the poiver and uses of the marvellous agent which was developing itself before their eyes . Another method was recommended , the same which has been adopted down to our own day , namely , that of the engine pulling its load does

as the horse . For a hug time the dispute Avas held to admit of no resolution , the timid prognosticating no end of broken necks , and the more courageous ridiculing the timid ivith ri ght good Avill . The wisdom which could suggest that each station should be connected b y ropes , and that iu each station should be a stationary engine which should pull tlie immense loads with ropes from station to station , was however fated to succumb . To enable the Chamber of Commerce to decide Avhich of these methods was the most

advisable to adopt , the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester line employed George Stephenson , the hewer of wood aforesaid , IIOAV the prince of engineers , to travel to every railway in the kingdom ; and associated wifch him Mr . Locke . Mr . Walker , and Mr . Eastrick , the three engineers next hi eminence , all of whom should institute minute inquiries , and report the

; on preferable mode of managing the future railroad . The experience gathered in this tour left them little choice between the relative methods . An elaborate report was drawn up and submitted to the magnates of Manchester and Liverpool . The discussion was reopened . The timid shook their heads and Avcrc silent . The report of the ineers

eng had left tbem no ground for argument . The decision was at length givell that the transport of merchandize should be effected h y locomotive engines . Until this period railways had almost entirel y been confined to the transport of mineral products ' . They scarcely deserve the name , and certainly not the importance which is UOAV attached to the word raihvay

. They were onl y found in mining districts , and convenient to obscure harbours resorted to hy ships employed in that particular traiiic . The ends fco he obtained by a railway thirty miles inland , connecting (] , »» . hir-mst mamti ' actiirin . e towns in

Birth Of The Steam Engine.

the greatest manufacturing country in the world , Avith tho greatest , most opulent , and most active commercial port , were of a nature so much more extensive and important thafc it AA'as considered that more than ordinary means should be resorted to to obtain a moving power commensurate with the traffic AA'hich might be expected under such

circumstances . Prizes were therefore proposed to be given under certain stipulations to those who could construct the mosfc effective locomotive for the purposes of the new line . This proposal produced the greatest competition , a spirit of emulation AA'as aroused , and machinists from every parfc of tho kingdom contended for the honour of constructing the first

locomotive that should lie employed for the transit of goods and passengers . The day of trial came—statesmen , scholars , the representatives of science and art were present , a goodly and distinguished company . Among them Avas one a statesman of great promise , tho pride of his felloAv citizens , beloved for his private as he ivas honoured for his imblic virtues ,

and whose place Avas to knoAV him . no more . Engines of various forms , many of them of surpassing elegance of design were exhibited and admired . The prize was awarded to an engine by Eobert Stephenson , the son of the great George . The first of locomotives Avas called the "Eockefc . " In its first trip it attained the then astonishing speed of tAventy-five

miles per hour , but it was to be put to a severer test . Mr . Huskisson was knocked down , and his wounded body Avas conveyed by tlie same engine fifteen miles in tiventy-five minutes , being a rate of thirty-six miles per hour . But in vain . The wounded man was dead , and many who shouted with triumph at the going forth of the first locomotive ,

received it on its . return with lamentation and mourning . Such was the birth of the steam engine—such the incidents that accompanied its earl y days . Our fathers recollect the time Avhen they looked upon the uncouth machine with astonishment and awe ; and our children may possibly regard the express of these days as a SIOAV coach when compared Avith Avhat they shall havo achieved fov the steam locomotive .

Operative Masonry And Freemasonry.

OPERATIVE MASONRY AND FREEMASONRY .

[ Tlie folloAving observations on tlie organization of a Loclge , its government , mid the ceremonies of : opening and closing , are by Bro . STEI'HEN BAETON WILSON , P . G . D ., and ivere delivered by him in tlie form of an Oration at the Consecration of the Wellington Loclge ( No . 1 , 087 ) , Deal , on the IStli clay of June , 1859 ] . MASOA ' , according to the general acceptation of the term ,

is the art of helving , squaring , and moulding stones into the forms required for fche purposes of building ; and of raising , setting , and uniting them by means of joints , level , perpendicular or othei-Avise , and by the aid of cement , slate , iron , lead or copper ; which various operations are founded on the principles of geometry and mechanicsrequiring much

-, prac tical dexterity , and directed to the service and convenience of mankind . But Ereemasonry , embracing a wider range , and having a far nobler object in view—tlie cultivation and improvement of the human mind—may with more propriety be denominated a science ; for although employing the terms of the former ( and its lessons for the most part aro

veiled iu allegory and illustrated b y symbols ) there is not a character or emblem in use amongst the Craffc but serves to inculcate the principles of morality and virtue amongst all its genuine professors . "Ereemasonry , " says a learned author , "is a moral order , instituted by virtuous men , with the praiseworthy design of

recalling to our remembrance the most sublime truths , in fche midst of the most innocent ; and social pleasures . " It is a system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by ¦ symbols ; founded on brotherly love , relief , and truth . By the exercise of brotherly love , we are taught to regard the whole human species as one famil y , the high and IOAV , the rich and poor , created by one Almi ghty Being , and sent