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GREENSEORO, N. C„ ERIDAY, MAY 12, 1876
[From Hebrew Leader.
Masonic Centennial Song.
{Dedicated to Golden Ride Udge, No. 345,
Free and Accepted Masons, Coviiu/ton, Ky )
MRP. SARAH B. RANKIN.
Air.—“Aidd Lang Sime."
How sweet, Miien brothers’ liearts are bound
By Friendship’s silken chain,
Winch lengthens, iisthej'ears roll round,
eaving them up again;
Leaving no age however remote.
Out of the sacred coil,
Linked by the My^stic Hand that wrote.
The Earth in com and oil.
€horus~JTai\, then, all hail the Master! who
Bears the troioel above,
Ills plastic Masonry to show,
M hich binds all hearts in love.
Linked to us, by the Eye that saw
The old foundations laid*
The First Apprentices^ and far,
Each Grand Exalted Grade;
Each guiding each by some small link,
hich binds the past and present,
Until we all begin to think
Tlie dead are omnipresent,
Ghoms.—
One roared a column toward the sky,
And named it Wisdoni^s pidar;
Next Strength, was needed supply
Some Master Overseer ;
..Vnother raked a graceful shaft,
And gazed on Beauty, ever,
And thus wc found tlie Holy Craft
That binds all men together.
Chorus.—
And by the square, too, w*e should lay
Tlie T.odge -\ve build together;
And by ihe plummet, too should stay
Up every Arch and Chapter ;
Then when our hour-glass has run down,
And times swift scythe is flying.
We'll look for our Grand Master’s crown,
His charity—when dying.
Chorus..—
The first rough Ashlars of our land,
Set by the Mason’s level,
■Her brightest valor did command
To make use of the gavel;
And where the crude uncbis’led edge
Of faction interferes,
IHis workmanship should be the pledge
For her Centennial Years.
'Chorus.—
Peoria, III.
THE BROKEN TESSERA.
"Two are better than one, because they have a good re-
■^ard for.their labor."
When Philadelphia was about to be
evacuated by the British ariny, uuder Sir
Henry Clinton,, June .IB, 1W8, there was
,a merchant, one Hubbard Simpson, large
ly engaged in the sale of English goods,
who had become highly obnoxious te the
American residents, for supplying the
British commander with meroiintile fa
cilities, and with information that had
tyeen used to the detriment of the Amer"
lean army.
Xhis man waspn high repute with Sir
Henry and his immediate predecessor.
Bprd Erom the former he now
received a notification in time to enable
him to sell his goods and depart under
the protection of the British army.
It was not possible, however, to dis
pose of so large a stock at short notice.
To sell upon a credit was imoractioable,
so far as any of the American merchants
were concerned, and as for those in the
Tory interest they were not to be trusted.
To make a cash sale ill the present state
of the funds was impossible. Thus Mr.
Simpson revolved the matter in his mind
till the very day preceding the evacua
tion. A final notice from Sir Henry
found him undecided, sitting in his
crowded warehouse,-soon to be devoted
to spoliation and fire by the incensed
Americans.
Now, this man was a member of the
Masonic Fraternity. Before the break
ing o: t of strife he had held a distin
guished place in the provincial lodges.
Although his understanding of right and
wrong, in the present war, differed from
that of the majority of his countrymen,
yet the most zealous patriot could not ac
cuse him of inconsistency or turpitude.
What he had professed to be from his
youth—a warm loyalist—he still main
tained; and this had led him to adopt
the unpopular side in the revolutionary
struggle, and to follow the British army,
even at the expense of a large portion of
his property.
As things now stood he was likely to
lose more. Already he had begun to
contemplate the idea of throwing open
the doors and departing, when a rap was
heard without, and, in answer to bis in
vitation, an old friend, Mr. Jonas Lee,
entered and asked a conference.
This person, come at so critical a mo
ment. was a person of note in the city-—
one who had suffered more than most
others for his attachment to liberty—and
a zealous Mason.
For three years and upward no inter-
■oourae had been held between the pair,
once fraternally intimate; they had only
acknowledged each other’s acquaintance
by a nod,of recognition when they met on
the streets.
The object of the present call was sta
ted in a few words :
“My old friend and brother, I have
heard of your approaching danger, and i
am come to offer you a service. We have ■
taken opposite sides da politics; but you
have sustained your Choice, like myself,
at great sacrifices ; and while I can but
regret you are arrayed against onr com
mon country, I yet respeot-your honesty
of purpose. Masonry knows no pr inciple
but duty, and this is your hour of oppres
sion ; therefore am i come. My influ
ence is now in the ascendant, a,nd I
hereby ,offer it to you in brotherly troth.
For old time’s .sake I will tase charge of
your property, otherwise the spoil of our
soldiers, and before to-morrow morning,
I will sell it for you at the best time and
advantage, and hold the proceeds subject
to your order.
Tbf grateM merchant was profuse
with his thanks.
“None of that. Brother Simpson. Mv
own heart is a sufficient reward. You
can say all that when we meet again.
Time presses. You are in immediate and
great danger.”
A clear sale was forthwith made of
the whole property, amounnting to more
than fifty thousand dollars. No docu
mentary evidences relative to the debt
were retained by Mr. Simpson, Pru
dence pointed out this as the only course
that promised a successful result.
At parting, while yet the boat was
waiting at tbe pier, and the drums of the
American advanced guard were sound
ing in the suburbs of the city, Mr. Simp
son took a gold piece from his pocket,
broke it in two parts, and handing one to
his noble hearted friend, observed : “you
and I used to debate the purpose of the
ancient tessera; now we will make it a
practical question. Whoever presents
you with this fragment of gold, to him I
authorize you to render up whatever in
your hand belongs to me. Farewel .”
Years rolled by, and Jonas Lee heard
no more from his old friend. W’ith great
difficulty, and by the aid of powexful
friends at headquarters, he had succeed
ed in disposing of the property without
much loss : and by a judicious nee of the
money he had become rich. Old age then
crept upon him. His daily walks about
the city began to be shortened. The al
mond tree flourished. The grasshopper
began to be a burden. From year to
year he drew near his own mansion, and
finally confined himself within his retired
apartment to await the summoner of all
flesh.
One day, as he was reclining in tho
listlessness of old age, with but the Word
of God and the person of his good wife
for companionship, and the voices of his
grand children ringing from the next
room in happy harmony he was accosted
by a beggarly looking young man, who
prayed for a gift of money “for a poor
sbipwjecked foreigner, who had lose his
all and barely escaped with life itself.”
Jonas Lee was not a person to refuse
such a demand. He made him a bounti
ful gift of money, clothes and kind words.
But when the foreigner was about to de
part, he walked up to Mr. Lee’s couch,
and pressing his hand with thankfulness,
he dropped into it a worn and ragged
piece of metal, and asked him if he would
accept that piece of gold as a token of a
poor beggar’s gratitude? There was
something peculiar in the foreigner’s tone
which led Mr. Lee to draw out his .spec
tacles and examine the efl’ering iutentlv.
What was the surprise of his wife to see
him rise from his chair, draw a similar
fragment from his bo.=om, where it had
been suspended by a ribbon for a long
time, and applying the pieces together,
to hear him triumphantly declare : “They
fit! they fit l The broken tessera is com
plete! the union is perfect ! Thank God,
thank God, my brother is yet alive !”
The foreigner turned put to be the ;
NO 35.
youngest son of Mr. Simpson, who had
been shipwrecked, as he stated, to the
great hazard of his life. Preserving the
golden fragment, he had landed at Phil
adelphia ragged and poor, charged by
his father with a message to Mr. Lee.
Why the former had so long delayed his
claim does not appear. The history in
forms us, however, that he followed the
British army through the re.st of the war,
and amassed a large fortune by some suc
cessful government contracts ; gone to-
England; embarked in some extensive
speculations there, and finally, retiring
from business immensely wealthy, was
made a baronet for his loyal services.
His son was received with open arms
and introduced into the best circles of
Philadelphia. The report concerning
the Masonic part of the transaction be
came public and gave a new impetus to
the Order.
But when a full account of his stew
ardship was prepared by Mr. Lee, and
the property, both principal and interest
tendered te the young man, the proffer
was met by letter from Sir Hubbard
Simpson just received, in which he de
clined receiving a shilling of it, and pre
sented it with his warmest regards, to
his old friend and brother, Jonas Lee.—
keystone.
Masonry in Egypt.
By letter from Alexandria, Egypt, dari
ed February Jth, 1876, we are pleased to
learn that the Grand Orient of that ju
risdiction has abandoned its existence
undei the charters of the Memphis Rite
of Marconis de Negre, and reorganized
under charters of the first three degrees
of the Scottish Rite, and will work in per
fect harmony with the three degrees of
the York Rite, and in accordance with
the jurisdictional laws of the English and
American Grand Lodges. W’e congrat
ulate our Egyptian brethren in having at
last discovered the fraud by which they
were deceived by the Grand Orient of
France, who palmed off on them the ille
gitimate and bastard work of the Mem
phis Rite, which had long ago been buried
in her 1 eoeptacle of Rites, with the dis
tinct and positive understanding that
that Rile was never again to be worked.
Ttus has another one of her false prom
ises come to grief; thanks to the inter
ference and explanations of American
correspondents.
Light again breaks forth in the East,
and in Egypt, the ancient cradle of arts
and sciences, will spring up a legitimate
Grand Lodge, wortliy of the recognition
ofher sisters throughout the world.
Day by day the Grand Orient of France
will find that her interference with the
rights, powers, and jurisdictional author
ity of other Grand Lodges will be check
ed, and that her creation of fraudulent
Orients by a system of imposture, both
by recognition and sale of charters, must
and shall be stopped. The Egyptians
were not to be blamed, as they W'ere ig
norant of the impostuie, and have cor
rected the evil as soon as discovered.^—G.
F. Gouley i» Voice of Masonry.
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