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VOL. 11.
GllEENSBORO, N. C., TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1876.
NO 2.
My Mother’s Hands.
Such beautiful, beautiful hands!
Tliey’re neither wiiite nor small;
And you, I know, would scarcely think
That they arc fair at all.
I’ve looked on hands wliose form and hue
A sculptor’s dream might be;
Yet those aged wrinkled hands
Most beauliful to ino.
Such beautiful, beautiful hands!
Though heart were weary and sad,
Those patient hands kept toiling on,
Tliat tlie children might be glad,
I always weep, as looking back
To childhood’s distant day,
I think how tiiose liauds rested not,
■When mine were at their play.
Such heautifnl, beautiful hands!
They’re growing feeble now.
For time ami pain have left tlieir mark
On hands, and lieart and brow.
Alas! alas! the nearing time,
And the sad. sad day to me,
■When nealh the daisies out of sight,
Tliese hands will folded be.
But oil, beyond this shadow land.
Where all is briglit and fair,
I know full well tlieso dear old hands
Will palms of victory bear;
IVliero crystal streams tiirough endless years
Flow over golden sands,
sVnd tviiere tlie 'ld gi o ,v young again.
I’ll clasp my motlier’s hands.
The red wood tree is a peculiarity of
€al fornia forests. Oregon, in all of her
splendid groves, has none of it, nor can
Nevada boast of a single one. The som
bre shores of the great inland sea of
Washington Territory are also witliouc
-t, nor does Alaska boast a solitary senti
nel of this family of gigantic evergreens,
it belongs to the Golden State alone, and
13 a distinctive resource of her fast accu
mulating wealth. No other lumber splits
so true to the grain, and none other c*an
supplant it as perfectly in the uses to
which it is now devoted- For fence
posts and railroad ties, it is the most du
rable wood ever foued. resisting the ac
tion of both air and water with uriparal
leled stability. Below San Francisco it
is comparatively scarce, Santa Crua and
San Mateo being the only counties which
have an average growth of it. And the
rapid improvement of elegant farms in
those counties is fast thinning out the
towering forests. But on the north coast
there is wealth enough to last for years,
but the question is how will these forests
bo replaced when they are thinned out
by the in.satiable deminds of a growing
commerce.? In Japan every man who
cuts down a tree must plant another in
its stead ; but no such stringent legisla
tion prevails in this country. Sonoma,
Mendocino and Humboldt counties, em
ploy thousands of men, and are building
up a substantial prosperity from their
red wood. Deserted logging camps are
soon converted into dairy farms, and the
once nomadic tramps, who swung the
axe in the silent woods, settle down to
grow up with the country advancing to
ward opulence.
Do We Want Uniformity.
Almost every man lia.s .some pet d.iy-dream
which serves to beguile his idle moments and
raise him fur a season at least, into some foiry
land, where the terrible hum-drum of daily
life (loe.s not follow him, a nd wliei e for the
time being, he is monarch of all lie survey.s.
And to a person of imaginative turn, the very
impracticability oftlie vision constitutes its
chief attraction, in giving a foretaste of the su
preme satisfaction that would eiioue could the
dream be made a reality. There are not a
few such dreamers in our Masonic household
the burden of wliose vision is ma-onic uniform
ity. They would like to have sc me process by
whicli the brains of all men connected with
the institution might be moulded to a certain
sliape and trained so that every thought word
or act of a Masonic nature should have an ar
bitrary direction, and their trumpet give forth
the same certain sound every tirce. whether
blown in England, France, or the Isles of the
sea. Generally, these visionaries are quite
certain in tlieir own minds tlint tlieir system
of work and government is not only the best
but the only correct one, and lienee there is
mingled witli their sense of superiority a cer
tain tender sympathy for tliose ivho do not
look through their glasses and hliudly iiisis:
in believing that there can be some otlier sys
tem just as good in itself as the one in ques
tion, and quite as applicable to the needs of
the Brethren where it prevails as any other
could be, and so it conies about tliat in eveiy
country, and for the matter of that, in every
jurisdiction there are local peculiarities to
wliicli the resident Brethren cling witli un
yielding tenacity, and wliicti they doulitless
believe to be the true and only grouudivoik
and plan of Masonry. It seems to us best tliat
it should be so, and that the real interests of
Masonry will be promoted liy allowing tlie
idea of complete or even approximate unifor
mity to remain in tlie state of visions for tlie
delectation of those who are made liapiiy hy
imagining the grand things tliat would come
to us all could they make tlieir wishes reality.
We regard that attribute of Masonry wliieh
permits its forms to be varied, so long as its
principles are untouched, to be one of its most
attractive and essential features; for thus its
autocratic government is a corrective for the
tendency of some people to extreme democrat
ideas, wliile on the otlier liaiid its leveling ten
dencies are to some extent at least an antidote
to tlie idea that birth and wealth are superior
to brains and honesty, and we would therefore
leave it to the Brethren of any jurisdiction to
model their governments in minor matters as
to make things as comfortable as possible, ami
as near to their received ideas as may be, so
long as the essential features oftlie institution
are preserved. We think that tlie symbolic
Lodges ouglit to be governed by Grand Lodges
erected and controlled b}' their representatives,
and that tliese Grand Lodges should not only
he sovereign and independent ol any control
beyond that laid down in the landmarks oftlie
Craft, but they should have the same general
form as the original, from wliich we have our
Masonic heginiiing; hut in tiie matter of do
mestic government in any particular jurisdic
tion, we do not tliink tlie general membership
called to interfere, except where tliere is some
patent setting aside of Masonic precedent and
requirement.
On this principle we regard the Grand Ori
ent of France, and Grand Orients generally.
as un-Masonic in organization; the first, be
cause it lias deliberately abolished tlie Grand
Mastersliip. Masonic govornin-nt jiresup-
poses a Grand Master, and the whole theoi y
of Masonic rule turns upon Irs administration
of affairs, lienee where tliere is no Grand Mas
ter thei e is no Masonic organization, and tlie
bo ly is foreign to tlie institution, aiid should
notbe iecogiiize!l. We object to the Gi-and
Orients generally because they are mixed up
with other organizations, to whose delibeia-
tioiis a simple Master Mason cannot be admit
ted and lienee the Graft, under tlieirjui'i-,dic-
tion, are not in the enjoyment of the privi
leges to which they are entitl-d, and tlie prin
ciple of the General Assembly of Masons, in
whicli even an Entered .\pprenlicc was enti
tled to lie eonsulied, is openly and flagrantly
violated. We cannot, however, force these
Iioihes to alter their ways, but we can and do
refuse to recognize them on the simple ground
that they are not in accord with the well de
fined principles of Masonic government
We should never tliiiik, however, of insist
ing upon their adoption of (he ritual we prac
tice, or even the details of our system of juris
prudence, because what may suit our needs
and pnimoiB peace and contentment among
u.s. might not have tlie same p!ea,sant efl’ect
in other countries and among other people.
The tlieory of the first degree is tlie same
everywliere, because to depart from it would
be to get outside of Masonry; but the form
differs from different people and the rites tliey
practice. Tlic Pennsylvania ritual is under
stood to be sui generis in tliis country, and it
is quite certain that a Mason made in New
York, foi i.istance, if trau-porteo to a Lodge
111 Paris or Berlin, would fail to recognize in
the form of confe.rring the first liBgree. any
le.seiiiblaiice to ours except perhaps tlie rites
of discaieeatioii and ciroumabnlation, and yet
tlie result is the same, for llie same ductrine is
tauglit the iiewly-niade Brother as lie would
have learned iierc. In the .second degi'ee the
j dissiniilarity is still more strildng; and he
: who iinagiues that these differences will ever
I be adjnsied to any given system, is but a
! dreamer, who may enjoy the vision, but will
j never live to .see it realized. We are free to
I say tliat our dreams do not nui that ivay. and
I that in .sucli maltor.s we do not deemimiform-
I ity, beyond the bounds ofa single jurisdiction,
I eitlier attainable or desirable, while in tlie
really important matters o) governing Sym
bolic Jlasoni-y we do think, not o-dy that
there should be a general uniformity, but
that if the Masons on this continent are true
to tliemselves. it will be attained. Perhaps,
however, we, too, are dreaming.—N. Y. Dis-
palcJt.
Dr, J D. M- Carr, of Chicago, last week
received from Great Britain a parchment of
great value By virtue of it ho Is made In-
tendaut-Geueral, uniittached, of tlie illustrious
Orders of the Bed Cross of Constantine,
Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, and tlie Hoiy
Order of St. John. In connection with it, lie
received a notification that his name liad
been enrellcd among the Grand Cross
Knights of England, the most august Mason
ic body in the world, including in its iiiember-
sliip tlie most honorable oftlie world’s nobility.
The commission is signed by Sir Frederick
Martin Williams, baronet. Grand Sovereign;
Col Francis Burdett, Grand Viceroy, and
William Robert Woodinaij. Grand Recorder.
This lioiior has been couferred upon only
three other Americans, and is the highest
ever attained in tl'.is country.—PTiila. Chron
icle .
CLIPPINGS.
Rossi will not visit us until 1877.
Everybody can detect an error, but
not a lie.
.... Prarie liens and water fowl are scarce
out west.
.... A sea turtle caught in Vineyard Sound
weighs 900 pounds.
Tite Graphic calls Pennsylvania the
Paradise of “fuels.”
.... Nebraska has more than doubled her
population since 1870.
.... Parniouth college lias had $950,000 in
donations during the hist 13 years.
... The only thing we have really to be
afraid of is f aring auything more than God.
.... Mr.s ITorine of Kentucky has had
seven children at three births. Ail doing
well.
. , A Massachusetts man has had just
returned to him a book he loaned forty years
ago.
.... Some of tlie Ocean steamei-s have cot
ton engagements aliead for the next live
trip.s
.... In Bulgaria now, they say heads of
families can be seen stuck up on poles iu
eyery village.
.... It’s currently reported that a Jersey
farmer has raised twelve tons of currants
this season.
....“Lulu,” the female gymnast, whoso
recent fall from a trapeze in I)ublin, excited
public attention, is a man.
.. IVihl piireons are so numerous in the
timber along the Iowa-river, in Hardin coun
ty, Iowa, as to be a nuisance.
Jir. Haight lias spent 810,OCO on a
mausoleum at G'sheu, N Y. It is the work
of Haight, but lie 70rt.ieless a movement of
love.
The Williamsport Bavner says there
are Isgs enough in the Susquehanna boom,
and above it in the river, to make 20,000,000
feet of lumber.
.... A writer in Blaclcicoods' Magazine
says that tlie moon has no more effect on the
weather than red herring has on the govern
ment of Switzi'rland.
.... J. Bailie, of Charlotte Mich., was-
s(‘verely bitten by a pet bear last week. Tlie
village hotel keeper had bearsteak on his bill
of fare the day following.
.... Every dwelling liouse in St. Peters
burg ha.-^ to be cov*r(‘d with stucco, and as
the climate affrcls it seriou'^!}', it has generally
10 be repaired each spring.
The old mania for Persian cats witii
long taiL has again broken out among the
Japanese Domois. An enterprising captain
recently sold three for $4200.
... lie who contents himself with simple
experience, and acts accordingly, possesses a
sudicient amount of truth. Tlie growing
child may be called wise in this sense.
.... Tlie California papers arc telling how
a womam offered 8100 for the privilege of kis.s-
ing Edwin Booth, and kow lie took the nuin-
ey and the kiss, and then gave what he had
so singularly earned toa starving immigrant.
A happiness that is quite undisturbed
becomes tire.-onie, we must have uj^s and
downs; the difficulties which are mingled
with love awaken passion and increase pleas
ure.
.... A Mine. Lefrebyre advei-tises in a Par
is journal that she “nuraes the sick, rcstiiffs
chaTs, watches corpses, applies h'eciies. does
sewing by machinery, and is an excellent
cook.”
.... Out of four so)is, Mr. Baker of T.o-
gansport, lud., lost three by accidental death,
two of them being kicked to death by fractious
horses, and the otlier killed in a runaway ac
cident. One son is yet living.
A California lion eight feet long was
lately poisoned at Tejon, Cal. A dose of
stryehiniiie was givmi to the sheep, whicli
was left alone in the fold. Next morning the
lion and the lamb lay down together and
didn’t get up.
I I