The Workshop Of Earthquakes.

THE WORKSHOP OF EARTHQUAKES .

A FRAGMENT PROM THE ISLE OF MINDORO . AFTER the chant was ended , as we steered By star and jelly-fish whioh floating glanced , The bamboo hut with uipa-thatch appeared Amidst a clump of coco-trees ensconced .

Before its modest shade a yellow sand , Spangled with mica , sloped into the tide ; Fantastic rooks around that fringed the strand Invited the unwilling surf inside To lave the beche-le-mer and cuttle-fish which there did glide .

Then—ere we made for land—I begged Ismail Some other rythmio legend to narrate , Or some tradition sacred to the Isle , Bearing some record of his nation ' s fate .

Under our light canoe the smooth dear deep Moved gently , like a bosom breathing slow ; He chanted and I listened , half asleep , Lulled by the cadence of the tidal flow Which there upon the sunny shore did fall in murmurs low .

Mandilh tho seer , in the undersphere , o ' er tho golden Jinns doth reign , With their ceaseless toil the rivers boil and the mountains rock with pain : They must obey till ho display , in fulness of time , his face ,

With a vengeance grand for his native land and tho wrongs of our wasted race . With iteration of dull vibration tho blows of their labours sound , Whose echoes roll down each vaulted hall in the galleries underground ; There the Jinns flit along ways dim-lit by the glitter of mineral star ,

And a silver wake as their flight they take , winds back through tho cave ? afar ; There glist ' ning points in the roof's rongh joints emit a diamond sheen , Or ruby light glows in flashes bright upon patches of emerald green .

There tho crystals wet of the cornice-fret in prisms refracting , shine And , darting rays , light the devious maze of earth's endleBs central mine Which will prove the tomb of a fiery doom for our false and cruel

foes—The Spaniards vile , who every isle havo plunged in ondless woes j Whose chiefs unjust in pride and lust the Indians' land have won , From Zamboanga to Cagay ? tn , from Sulu to Luz 6 n .

The spoilers groan in their homes of stone when a roar is heard at night , When tho ground below sways to and fro in supernatural might ; Pallid they leap from the midnight sleep and shriek o'er the rising din ,

Down crash the walls of their lofty halls and roofs fall thundering in ; Naked they rush in their terrors' flush to their Woman-God to kneel j Nor , by warning taught , do they give one thought to the wrongs the Indians feel ; Little they dream , as the death-lights gleam and ruins their temples

mar , How the Jinns have wrought the avenging thought of the Eajah Matandab . WAITER SPENCEB .

Masonry Twenty-Five Years Ago.

MASONRY TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO .

THEEE was a party of gentlemen travelling to the far West , not withont gold in their pockets , at any time in sufficient supply in an inhabited country , but worthless where they then were to buy food . One morning eighteen pilgrims , all told , might have been seen to arise from their blankets on the ground , on the banks of Humboldt Eiver , where its water was so impregnated with alkali that it had the colonr of lye . The night previous they had eaten the last morsel of food

in their possession . Four or five days' journey was ahead of them before they could reach the supplies sent out by the liberal-hearted Californians to meet the incoming immigration , which was very large . This party had been living on short rations of "jerked beef" for thirty days , without tasting bread in that time . Each one of them that morning , with a stick in hand , went frog-hunting , to obtain a

breakfast before starting out . They succeeded in getting a pair of legs for each ( one poor fellow could not eat them ) . They were cooked without grease or salt , and eaten with delight ; the only fault found with them was , that there were not enough . Ours was a " pack train "—no wagons . With this extra short allowance we started , hopeful that as there wero hundreds of wagons

on the route , certainly wo could buy enongh to keep soul and body together four or five days . Each person was appointed a committee of one , with gold in his pocket , and instructed to pay any exorbitant price they chose to ask . Some one hundred wagons , more or less , were overhauled by noon , without obtaining a mouthful . One party , Bitting around a large tray of biscuits , were offered a dollar each for

eighteen of them , but humanity nor gold could not move them We stopped as usnal at noon to graze our wearied animals . Although feeling hunger sharply , we were undaunted , and laid ourselves down to rest in the sun , which we wero accustomed to , there being no shade . The writer was sick , and had been so for several days . The doctor had just made a shade over me with a blanket , when up came tho bright

smiling tace of one of tho party , and he said he had gotten three pounds of flour , without money and without price , to feed eighteen hungry men ! The doctor quickly , with his own hands , made up some "flap-jacks , " and brought a portion to me , which I ate with more delight than any morsel ever eaten by me before or since . Bemember , it was the first bread in thirty days . They acted like a charm .

From that moment I speedily recovered . The sequel to the three pounds of flour was Freemasonry , and that unasked in that name ; and therein lies the greatest beauty of it . The brother accosted the owner of a wagon to buy food , and waa refused . The owner was from Illinois , and was a minister . The brother who belonged to my party , finding he could not get anything of him

( he saying he was nearly out ) , passed on . A thought occured to the man from Illinois , and he hailed our companion to stop and return . On his going back , the owner of the wagon asked him if he was a Freemason , and an affirmative reply being given , he stopped his team , stepped behind the wagon , and cautiously proved him to be such . He then said : " You can have half of what I have left , and when yon

have used that , I will divide as long as I have any , " refusing the profferred gold—five dollars per pound . The narrationof this to me filled my heart with the deepest gratitude to the silent power of the mystic tie , over-riding human nature and Christian sympathy . This is one of the many instances of true Masonic principle I havo

witnessed . The favour was not asked as Masonic , and refused . This true Mason , fearing that he might , perchance , be turning away a bro « ther , called him back and asked the question : " Are you a Mason . " May all Masons thus act , and only such be admitted ; for ten true Masons in a Lodge are more desirable than a thousand that are indifferent . —Correspondent of Masonic Jewel .

Ad01402

W. W. MORGAN , LETTER-PRESS , COPPER-PLATE AND LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTER , GENERAL BOOKBINDER AND STATIONER , 67 BAEBICAN , LONDON , E. C. ( ONE D 00 E FEOif ALDEBSGATE STREET . ) MASONIC LODGE SUMMONSES , MENU CARDS , & C , ARTISTICALLY EXECUTED . SKETCHES OF DESIGNS FOE SPECIAL PUEPOSES FUENISHED ON APPLICATION . BOOKS , PERIODICALS , PAMPHLETS , PROSPECTUSES , CATALOGUES , POSTERS , BILLHEADS , SHOWCARDS , - & C . Every description of Printing ( Plain or Ornamental ) , executed in First Class Style . CHANCERY BILLS AND ANSWERS AT A FEW HOURS NOTICE . Chwarjj | Uttttoits HMta mo f itljocjrapjxeb ftom graft € o $ m . PLANS AND PARTICULARS OP ESTATES POR SALE BY AUCTION ; COUNTRY SOLICITORS AND AIJCTIONEEES MAY HAVE COPIES OE PEOOFS RETURNED THK SAME DAY , % tto \ mt facta oi % § est Qualify Kept m Sfath , ot Haire io jjatforo at a S & orf gotta . BOOKBINDING IN ALL BRANCHES . ESTIMATES ZFTXKiNTSIEailEID , OUT JLFFJJTCJL . TT 02 ST TO W. W. MORGAN , 67 BARBICAN , LONDON , E. O. OFFICE OF " THE FREEMASON'S CHRONICLE . "