which to build our future moral and Masonic edifice. Certainly in no other part of the room can the speaker give utterance, so truly and eloquently, to the genuine sentiments of the Order; and the unhappy debates which sometimes disturb the harmony of our meetings would be obviated were the speakers required to take their stand at the focus of the Lodge!

THE SQUARE.

In the Holy Land, Oriental Masons teach that while the SUPREME ARCHITECT used the Gauge, Gavel, Plumb, Level, and other working tools in building the earth, yet when HE built the heavens HE used the SQUARE alone.

'Twas in Damascus on an April day;
In the bazars where pilgrims congregate
I met an aged Mason; on his head

The turban of Mohammed, large and green;

In his right hand the mystic almond rod,
Such as wise Jacob bore, and Moses bore
When the Red Sea was cleft beneath his hand.

Mustapha was his name; tall, gaunt and gray,
Yet his black eye, undimmed, flashed into mine;
And his strong hand exchanged the mystic grip
With sinewy force.

He was my senior by some forty years,
And sixty years a Mason. He had thought
More deeply than the most of the intent
Of Solomon's wise imagery so quaint and old,
And how it makes its impress on the soul.
I asked him which of all these emblems wise
That glorify our Trestle Board, is best?
Which gives divinest light? which points to us.
Most surely the Great Master of the Craft?

In quick reply, he laid that sinewy hand
Upon the SQUARE. It is my favorite type,
One that in a thousand Lodges I have loved
To moralize upon the Trying Square.

He took it up, and with great reverence

Raised it toward the Throne. "By this," he said,
"The Heaven of Heavens in perfect order fell,
When God took out the Master's implements
From His own chest, and built the universe!
By THIS the radiant Throne - by THIS the Courts
Of His own glory were constructed sure!

"Earth and the stars were fashioned well by THESE,

The Gavel, Trowel, Level, Line and Rule;
The Lodge Celestial by the SQUARE alone!"

This was the legend that the Arab told.
I partly do believe it, for I see

In this full angle and these perfect lines
What in no other working tool appears.
And noting that you choose this honored type
To give your Lodge a name, I charge you now,
Dear brethren, KEEP WITHIN IT! Do your work,
Your praise, your counsels to the listening Craft,
And oh, your daily walk before the world,
WITHIN THE SQUARE.

PERFECT ASHLARS.

The sunbeams from the eastern sky,
Flash from yon blocks, exalted high,
And on their polished fronts proclaim
The framer and the builder's fame.

Glowing beneath the fervid noon
Yon marble dares the southern sun,
Yet tells that wall of fervid flame,
The framer and the builder's fame.

The chastened sun, adown the west,

Speaks the same voice and sinks to rest,
No sad defect, no flaw to shame

The framer and the builder's fame.

Beneath the dewy night, the sky

Lights up ten thousand lamps on high;
Ten thousand lamps unite to name
The framer and the builder's fame.

Perfect in line, exact in square,

These Ashlars of the Craftsmen are,
They will to coming time proclaim
The framer and the builder's fame.

THE WORKING TOOLS.

Let us be true,-each Working Tool
The Master places in our care
Imparts a stern but wholesome rule

To all who work and journey here;
The Architect divine has used

The Plumb, the Level and the Square.

Let us be wise; the Level see!

How certain is the doom of man!

So humble should Freemasons be

Who work within this narrow span;

No room for pride and vanity

Let wisdom rule our every plan.

Let us be just; behold the Square!
Its pattern deviates no part

From that which, in the Master's care,
Tries all the angles of the heart.

O sacred implement divine,

Blest emblem of Masonic art!

Let us be true; the unerring Plumb,

Dropped from the unseen Master's hand, Rich fraught with truthfulness has come, To bid us rightly walk and stand; That the All-seeing Eye of God

May bless us from the heavenly land.

Dear friend, whose generous heart I know,
Whose virtues shine so far abroad,—
Long may you linger here below,

To share what friendship may afford!

Long may the Level, Plumb and Square,
Speak forth through you the works of God.

THE APRON.

This fair and stainless thing I take

To be my badge for virtue's sake;

Its ample strings that gird me round

My constant cable tow are found;

And as securely they are tied

So may true faith with me abide;

And as I face the sunny South
I pledge to God my Mason's truth,
That while on earth I do remain
My Apron shall not have a stain.

This fair and stainless thing I raise
In memory of Apprentice days,
When on the checkered pavement wide,
With gauge and gavel well supplied,
I keep my garments free from soil
Though laboring in a menial toil;
And as I face the golden West
I call my MAKER to attest

That while on earth I do remain

My Apron shall not have a stain.

This fair and stainless thing I lower,-
Its 'Prentice aid I need no more;
For laws and principles are given

The Fellow Craft direct from Heaven;-
To help the needy,- keep a trust,-
Observe the precepts of the just;
And as I face the darkened North
I send this solemn promise forth,
That while on earth I do remain,
My Apron shall not have a stain.

This fair and stainless thing I fold,—
A Master Mason now behold!
A welcome guest in every land

With princes and with kings to stand;
Close tyled within my heart of hearts
I keep all secret arts and parts,
And try to walk the heavenly road
In daily intercourse with God;
And as I face the mystic East,
I vow by Him I love the best,
That while on earth I do remain,
My Apron shall not have a stain.

This fair and stainless thing I doff;—

But though I take my Apron off

And lay the stainless badge aside,—
Its teaching ever shall abide;

For God has given Light Divine
That we may walk opposed to sin;—
And sympathy and brotherly love

Are emanations from above;—

And life itself is only given

To square and shape our souls for Heaven,

The glorious temple in the sky,

The grand Celestial Lodge on high.

GAVEL SONG.

Through the murky clouds of night,
Bursts the blaze of Orient light-
In the ruddy East appears the breaking Day.
Oh, ye Masons, up! the sky

Speaks the time of labor nigh,

And the MASTER calls the quarrymen away.

CHORUS.

One, Two, Three, the Gavel sounding,

One, Two, Three, the Craft obey;

Led by holy Word of Love

And the fear of One above,

In the strength of God begin the Opening Day.

Oh, the memory of the time
When the temple rose sublime,

And JEHOVAH came in fire and cloud to see!

As we bowed in worship there

First we formed the PERFECT SQUARE,

And the MASTER blessed the symbol of the free.

While the Mason craft shall stand,

And they journey o'er the land,

As the golden sun awakes the earth and main,

They will join in mystic ways

To recall the happy days

When on Zion's mount they built JEHOVAH's fane.

Life is fleeting as a shade,

We must join the quiet dead,

But Freemasonry eternal life shall bear;

And in bright millennial way

They will keep the Opening Day

With the Sign and Step that make the PERFECT SQUARE.