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NON-AFFILIATED MASONS.-MASONS OF PORTLAND.

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thunder-struck, and, trembling in every nerve, made the best return in my power. Just as I had finished, some of the Grand Officers said, so loud that I could hear, with a most comforting accent, Very well, indeed!' which set me something to rights again."

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NON-AFFILIATED MASONS.

"In relation to the idea, which, to some extent, has obtained among Masons in these days of modernism, that a Grand Lodge may rightfully, and ought to establish a rule or regulation requiring every non-affiliated Masons to join or become a member of a Lodge, seems an inconsistency and presents to the mind an absurdity. Because, if a rule be established which requires the performance of an act by one party, to be consistent, the same rule will require the performance of a corresponding obligation by the other party. If you take justice as the standard and boundary of right, by which to determine the question, if you say by the rule that a Mason shall join the Lodge or become a member-by the same rule (to be just) you must say to the Lodge, you shall receive the applicant. In the judgment of your Committee, you can do neither, because, by the axiomatic principle which is evident in itself, it was originally designed and understood, that this should be left free to be determined by the choice of the individual himself; the latter you cannot do, because it is forbidden by the ancient law which declares 'that no Mason shall be admitted a member of a Lodge without the unanimons consent of the Brethren,' hence the one you must leave to the choice of the individual himself, in accordance with the axiomatic principle, and the other to the determination of the Lodge in accordance with the ancient law."-G. L. of Iowa.

THE MASONS OF PORTLAND IN 1762.

BY SIR KT. DAVID BARKER.

EACH thought I think, each word that I may utter,

To this vast throng, may seem

Like thoughts and words which madmen think and mutter

In some dread nightmare dream.

But tell me, Brethren, you who make this "rumpus,"

This pageantry-this show

Where are the craft who worked with square and compass

One hundred years ago?

Say not that they are dead and gone forever,

Talk not to me of gloom,

Tell not of Jordan's cold and cheerless river,
And brood not o'er the tomb.

They all are here, and God has not bereft us,
Then every grief assuage;

They have not gone far off, but only left us
Like actors on the stage,

And stepped aside behind a sable curtain,
Which briefly drops between

Themselves and us, and busied now in dressing
Just for another scene.

I hear their footfalls tinkling all around us,
I hear their shadowy forms now flitting by,

I feel the pressure of the tie that bound us,
I breathe their teachings of philosophy.

When Time's old clock shall tick us out another

Full century to come,

I'll meet you here, each true and worthy Brother.
With level, square and plumb.

Portland, June 24, 1862.-P. Press.

Obituary.

CAPT. LEVI P. THOMPSON.

Capt. LEVI P. THOMPSON, late of Company D. in the 17th Massachusetts regiment, died at Newbern, N. C. on the 20th of September, aged 34 years. He was loved and respected by his brother officers, and by the men under his command. As a member of the Masonic Fraternity he was an active and efficient one. He was a member of the Boston Encampment of Knights Templars, at a meeting of which body, Oct. 15, the M. E. Grand Commander announced the death of Sir Kt. Thompson, and followed the announcement by Resolutions. The remarks and resolutions were as follow:

Sir Knights, it becomes my duty to announce to you, officially another "vacancy in the lines of our Encampment;" one to whom we paid the last sad tribute of respect on Sunday the 5th inst., (Oct.) Sir Knight Levi P. Thompson, who, though with us but a short time, was, to those who knew him, a warm and true hearted Brother, and ardently attached to the Encampment.

Soon after his admission to the Encampment, which was in Sept., 1860, his patriotic heart, with true Knightly valor, beating warmly in response to the call of his country, he left his family to go where duty and honor called him. During his absence, a devoted wife was taken from him, and he could not be spared from his post of duty to be with her in her last moments, to receive her dying blessing. His strict and close attentions to his duty brought on a fever, which resulted in his death, at Newbern, N. C., in the 34th year of his age. Taken thus in the prime of life, and in the midst of a noble career of honorable service, which led once to his promotion, and which would have placed his name still higher upon the roll of Fame, he has entered that Asylum where the Pilgrim Warrior finds rest from his labor. In view of the estimation in which he was held by the Sir Knights of the Boston Encampment, I submit the following Resolutions :

Resolved, That in sorrow we receive the sad intelligence of the death of Sir Kt. Levi P. Thompson, whose patriotic feelings, and whose ardent love of country, called him like a true Knigat, to draw his sword in her defence, and to fall under the glorious Beauseant of the Stars and Stripes.

Resolved, That while we mingle our sorrows and sympathies with the family of

our deceased Companion, we feel the assurance which was so earnestly expressed by a young lady while listening to the sermon on the occasion of his funeral, "That Capt. Thompson has certainly gone to heaven, for he died in the service of his country,"

And has gone to that distant happy land,
Where the sorrows of life are unknown,
To enlist in that heavenly Union band
Which surrounds his Father's throne.

With a Knightly zeal, at his country's call,
He buckled his armor on;

With a firm resolve in her cause to fall,

Or return with the wreath he had won.

Then leave him to rest in his narrow bed,
Where friendship has hallowed the sod;
For now in that holy army above,

He obeys the commands of his God.

Resolved, That these Resolutions be placed upon our Records, enclosed in black marginal lines, and that our Banners and Swords bear the usual badge of mourning.

BROTHERS BENJAMIN F. RIDDELL AND HORACE P. COFFIN.

Nantucket, Oct. 15, 1862.

At a meeting of Union Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, held on Monday evening, 13th inst., the following preamble and resolutions, offered by Brothers A. B. Robinson and Geo. W. Macy, were unanimously adopted, and ordered to be entered upon the Records of the Lodge :

To the Worshipful Master, Wardens and Brethren of Union Lodge

Death has been among us. That dread messenger to whose fatal summons we must all, sooner or later, yield submission each in their turn as the period arrives, against which the inexhorable finger of destiny has written," thou shalt surely die !"

From among the little band of Brethren who have been accustomed to assemble around this altar, it has pleased the Grand Master of the Universe to remove two most worthy and esteemed members, Brothers BENJAMIN F. RIDDELL and HORACE P. COFFIN. Be it therefore

Resolved, That bowing in humble obedience to this afflictive dispensation of an All-wise Providence, we none the less deeply feel and appreciate the loss of these our Brethren, whose sterling integrity and probity as men ; whose tried fidelity as friends; whose exemplary lives as citizens, and whose zeal and diligence as Masons, had won for them such universal respect and esteem.

Resolved, That we beg leave to tender to the widow and families of our deceas⚫ ed Brothers our warmest sympathies in this their sad hour of trial and bereavement; and while mourning with them in their irreparable loss, we would earnestly commend them to the watchful care and protection of Him who alone is able to bind up their broken hearts-the orphan's Father, the widow's God.

Resolved, That the Lodge room be draped in mourning for the space of three months, in respect to the memory of our departed Brothers Riddell and Coffin. Resolved, That a copy of these Resolutions be sent to the families of the deceased, and also to the Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, in Boston, for publication.

CHARLES P. SWAIN, Secretary Union Lodge, Nantucket, Mass.

MASONIC CHIT CHAT.

(The Grand Master of this State has just granted a Dispensation for a Lodge to be held in the 43d regiment, Col. Holbrook, to be called the "McClellan Lodge." We understand that there are at least a hundred Masons in this regiment, including most of the officers.

A new German Lodge, under the Grand Lodge of Hamburg, was opened at Constan. tinople, the last month, for the benefit of the German Brethren residing there. It is called the "Golden Horn."

"The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine :The number for the present month of this high-toned conservative, and really valuable Masonic Magazine, reminds us that with it closes the twentyfirst volume. While we congratulate our respected contemporary, upon the uniform regularity with which his excellent journal has during so long a period been issued; as well as upon the valuable additions it has made to the Masonic literature of our age and country, we shall, in wishing him from the bottom of our heart, continual and increasing success, do that for him which too many others, in season and out of season, do for themselves; call on every Craftsman who has $2,00 to spare, to subscribe for the Free-ity, since the great rebellion there, which it masons' Monthly, and enclose the same to Chas. W. Moore, Esq., Editor, Boston, Mass. Our word for it, they will not regret doing

so."

[We are indebted to the kindness of our excellent Brother of the New York Saturday Courier, for the above.]

We regret to learn that our Brother Maj. Ozro Miller, Master of Mountain Lodge, Shelburne Falls, in this State, died at Richmond, Va., in August last.

"The Ancient and Accepted Rite.-We have lately heard of some steps being taken by which this important branch of Masonry in the United States, shall be placed under one head,-made into one consolidation"says the New York Despatch. We know nothing of the movement referred to, but every true friend to the Rite would rejoice at the success of any "steps," having for their object a result so important and desirable.

Brother Krumpholtz, the principal of the Institution for the Education of Daughters of Masons at Dresden, Germany, recently died at that place. His death is a severe loss to the school.

The commencement of a new volume affords a favorable opportunity to subscribe for this Magazine, of which we shall be pleased to have all Brethren so disposed, to avail themselves.

The Order in India seems to have attained to a Degree of popularity and prosper

had never before enjoyed. The Lodges at Calcutta, Howarh, Lucknow, &c., are all at work, and look forward to a successful season the coming winter.

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BEFORE the appearance of our next number the good old Festival of Christmas will have come and gone. Looking forward to that holy and festive season, we have been led to think that a few words on the virtue, which of all others is the most rightly and naturally associated with "merrie Christmas," and which moreover is the leading and pervading principle of Masonry, might not be inappropriate to-day. To how few, even of the well-informed, does this word "CHARITY," convey its full and proper meaning. Most persons, on hearing or seeing the expression, not pausing to reflect, associate it at once with ideas of pecuniary relief given to the mendicant, or subscriptions handed in to the Church offertory, or to some "charitable" fund. These indeed are parts, and very good and necessary parts, of the fruits of Charity, but yet how small and insignificant are they when compared with the full, Christian meaning of the word! When the authorized Version of the Bible appeared, "Charity" was the correct and familiar representative of the Greek word, in translating which it was used, but in this, as in many other instances, time and circumstance have wrought a change in the usage of the term.

These changes in the usage of words, let us say in passing, would form a very interesting, as well as instructive subject of study. Many words, it will be found, have risen from a lower to a higher, from a more gross and material to a purer and more spiritual meaning, while others again have experienced just the opposite fate, having sunk from the elevation of a good and innocent meaning to the degradation of a bad or base one. As a familiar instance of deterioration of language, we may cite the word Knave, which originally was precisely the same as the German Knabè is

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