The Great Pyramid.

and first bathed with its light . Hence this corner in pri mitive times was selected as the most fitting place for the placing of the Corner-stone . In Masonry customs are

stable and perpetual—therefore to the present day , and through all time , the North-East corner is , and will be deemed the appropriate place for the typical foundation styne of the edifice .

The Great Pyramid is , and probably will remain , one of the mysteries of the world . President Barnard says it must get out of the way of the Metric system . We have nothing against tl is system , and even think many advantages would result from tho adoption of a universal standard

of weights and measures , and tho Metric system now appears to promise more in this direction than any one previously advocated . In Russia , England , and the United States it is increasingly meeting with favour , and there is reason to believe it will , after no long time , be generally

adopted . It will not be , however , until after a hard-fought intellectual contest . The advocates of the Pyramid system of weights and measures have a bi-monthly organ , issued at Cleveland , Ohio , styled The International Standard , the July issue of which is before us as we write . It contains

some twenty articles , by various Pyramidists , including Piazzi Smith , Astronomer Royal of Scotland , J . Ralston Skinner , of Cinncinati , the Rev . H . G . Wood and others ; and it also has a paper entitled Pyramidal Freemasonry , being the substance of an address read before St . Ambrose

Lodge , No . 1891 , of West Kensington , London , by the Secretary of the Lodge . The subject is one of scientific and Masonic interest , and it is worthy of the attention devoted to it by so many eminent scientists and Freemasons . —Keystone .

Iowa's Masonic Library.

IOWA'S MASONIC LIBRARY .

Address of Grand Secretary T . S . Parvin , delivered at the laying of the Corner-stone of the " Iowa Masonic Library Building , " at Cedar Rapids , 7 th May 1884 .

FEOM THB VOICE OP MASONBT . THE snn at its meridian height not only beantifi . es and adorns the day , bnfc summons tbe brethren to refreshment from labour . Spring has come again to gladden onr hearts . The chilled winds of winter hare ceased to blow , and the snowflakes , which so lately filled

the air , no more carpet the earth , while the green grass rises to lighten the sonnd of onr footsteps . Our traditionary Grand Master Solomon in his inimitable song says : " The flowers appear upon the earth , the time of the singing of birds is come and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land . "

' Arise , my love , my fair one , and come away . We have come as representatives of the Lodges , of onr homes , and from distant portions of onr great and prosperons state . We come upon a mission , a mission of love , of learning and of pleasing duty . And surely the elements of nature aronnd ns , as well as the goodly citizens of yonr city , yea now ours , welcome us to-day and welcome the occasion of our coming .

" A rare and choice procession , this I ween , Nor once in Home , nor yet in Corinth seen ; No golden eagles gloating o'er their prey In cruel triumph for a bloody day .

Victors you are indeed ! Bnt higher for your meed , And noble panegyrics employ More like to psalm 3 on Zion's holy hill , When the long wandering ark at last stood still . "

I have counted the hours of the revolving sun above ns since he rose this gladsome morning . And , as I watched his course so calm , HO steady and so beautiful , 'mid the clonds my thoughts have happily journeyed backwards . They would go , and I could only in imagination follow the bent of their inclination ; and so I review the years as they came passing along beforo me . For four decades and more

Das it been my lot , my ever pleasing vocation , to engage in ceremonies "ke those of this day . I have laid corner-stones as Grand Master , and for Grand Masters , and been dignified " from my youth np" as Grand Orator , " ( Phoebus , what a name !) on such occasions almost innumerable . I have laid corner-stones of churches and school houses , of temples

° ' justice and public libraries , of academies of science and Masonic temples , all over the prairies of onr young and growing state . To this hour , as each returning Sabbath is ushered in by the god of day from many a hill-top overlooking the gre . " . t father of waters on ° ir eastern borders , there rises the song of praise and the morning and evening nraver from altars erected to the known God insane .

Varies touched with the Mason's hand . The recollection fills my heart Wiew with love to Him who loveth us all . From the capital of our '' ate and from many a green spot along the highway over which now he iron horse hurries in his rapid journey to the Big Muddy on the est , on each school day may be seen loving children marching along 0 the spot , next to " home , sweet home , " the dearest on earth , c ( i ongh they but little heed it at the time . The church and the

Iowa's Masonic Library.

school are the salt of t ' i" earth " that purifies society and protects our dearest interest in III " .-, aud in tho end opens for our a ! uissiou the gates of the ti ;? w Jerusalem . I ranch love to recall tin * instrnmt-Midity we as Masons have had in giving form , and shape , nnd boauty to this great work of human progress in the State of Iowa . On many an occasion , too , have we , the Masons of our beloved

Iowa , been called upon to take part in the erection of those temples at whose doors sits the blind goddess with scales equipoised in her hands dealing out imperial justice to all alike . Justice is ono of tho four cardinal virtues ever placed before the Masonio student , whether yonng or old in the profession , which he is not only to study bnt practise while living , if ho would obtain tho highest good here , and

hereafter enjoy tho fruition of a well-spent life . In the building of Masonic temples we are over expected to take a part , for they aro the homes in which much of our Masonic life is to be spent , and well for all if usefully and happily spent in the practico as well as the inculcations of thoso principles ever calculated to mako us tho wiser and the better in all tho relations of home , of

citizens and Masonio life . Bnt novnr , my brethren and fellow-oitisens , when I have been callod to take a part , however humble or exalted , iu a work of this kind and character , have I engaged in it with sach a hearty goodwill , such a spirit of devotion , and such high hopes of the ultimate good to the Craft , destined to be the out-growth of the work we to-day

have iu hand . Heretofore all along these years , now two score and more , have we laboured for others , helped build honses in which other people should dwell for a season and do good . And the good which has come from their work is onr abundant reward . To-day , yes , to-day , brothers , do we come to lay the corner-stone of onr own house , our home , the " Library Building of the Grand

Lodge of Iowa of A . F . and A . M . " a building whioh , as " the hands of onr brothers have laid the foundation of this honse , onr hands shall also , we pray finish it ; and then shall wo know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent " us to do this work and complete the structure , the corner-stone of which we have just laid with appropriate ceremonies , witnessed by churchmen , Masons , and citizens alike with

interest . This bnilding is to contain the large and valuable , the rare and in . teresting collection of works devoted to the hiBtory , philosophy and jurisprudence of Masonry and its kindred sciences—a collection afc onco the proud monument of its founders and of the Grand Lodge its fortunate possessor—a collection in which the citizen who wishes well

of the State and its progress , alike with the Mason , may and shonld feel a just pride . Masonry has left an indelible record upon the history of the past in our own and other lands , more especially , however , in this " land of the free and home of the brave " this land of progress in all that goes to make the State . " Its record has boon made in books , in

principles , m monuments , and upon sooiety , and it over should be yonr pleasure , my brethren , to enconrage tbe library , now so magnificent in its proportions . A brief history of public libraries in the past ages of the old world may not be without interest or significance in this connection or on this occasion .

The history of the principal libraries of our own country , too , is not without interest , as affording instruction and encouragement to onr own efforts . The libraries of America are classed as public libraries , college , school , theological , law , medical , scientific , national , state and state historical society libraries , ten in all .

The first in the second series , and only recently admitted in the list and so recognised by the commissioner of education at Washington , . is " Masonic Libraries , " and that of the Grand Lodge of Iowa heads the list as the first in its origin and largest in its extent . We will , however , refer more fully to a single one of the Collegiate Libraries whose history is somewhat similar to our own .

When John Harvard in 1638 made his will and left the half of his estate to endow the college which bears his name , he added , we are told by the present librarian of that institution , to bis benefaction his entire library of two hundred and sixty ( 260 ) books , and so the college grew upon a foundation of books . A rich soil from which to grow a most healthy and flourishing institution of learning , which

has borne rich fruit in its offspring all over the land . In 176 'i Harvard hall was burned , destroying the entire library save one massive volume , " Downame ' s Christian Warfare Against the Devil . " That warfare , as embodied in the contest between knowledge and ignorance , has in his or some other ' s name been waged ever since . And that volume still in the library , has become

the chief corner-stone upon which has been built one of the very largest and best libraries in the new world . When that college and library was founded in 1638 , the colonists of New England , from whom our people are largely sprung and whose love of freedom , of learning , of Masonry and of libraries we have largely shared , knew absolutely nothing of this valley , of the great

lakes or of the great river we inhabit . And little could they at that early clay have dreamed of the changes two and a-half centuries would have wrought in their own and the newer States . Nay , in thr'ir wakeful dreams their more intelligent successors do not more than half realise the truth that is patent everywhere to all who will come and see .

Following in their footsteps we are seeking to build a hall for the collection we have made by purchase , and not by the bequest of a noble and generous patron . We seek to build nob a parthenon , a lyceam , a porch or an academy—bnt all in one . " A temple fit for all who sit At Wisdom's feet , And hers alone . "

! It is most fitting then that we here present a brief sketch of the origin of onr own library , and in so doing we prefer , for modesty ' s sake if for no other reason , to let a friend speak for us , and so copy from the report of the Committee on tho library submitted by Bro .