A Curious Old Ritual.

( The Mates give the knocks and say "Aye , Aye , Sir , ) . " ( Adjournment for dinner . After dinner they return and resume their places . ) Then follows the Lecture .

CLOSING . SKIPPER . Fill on her . Away aloft there and report . MATE . DO you sight land ? 2 nd MATE . Land right ahead . SKIPPER . Hands reduce sail . Stand by to jump ashore and make fast . In five minutes we shall be snugly moored in Ararat Docks .

MATE . Aye , Aye , Sir . 2 nd MATE . Aye , Aye , Sir . MISSIS . In port once more . BOSUN . And she is berthed accordingly . OMNES . ( Sing )

And as the long-lost shore they view Exulting shout the happy crew Each singing as the sail he furls Hey ! for the fiddles and the girls . S . M . I . B .

TOAST LIST . The pious memory of our Founder . Success to the — Ark and the health of the Skipper . The Mates and Bosun , and reformation to the latter . The Missis and Stewardesses .

The Rescued Animals and may their appetites never be less . All poor animals outside the Ark . May they find some refuge .

THE LECTURE . BRO . MARINERS : The teachings of this degree are intimately blended with all that is nearest and dearest to us in this life , namely , our livers and our stomachs . You are of course acquainted with the history of that disastrous inundation which swept away all that was eatable on the face of the

earth , as well as all who were qualified and inclined to eat it , save one family which was preserved alive and with sufficient fodder , owing to the marvellous engineering and nautical knowledge of our Great Founder . He instinctively foresaw that if society in future was to be peaceable and happy it

must live regularly and preserve its digestive organs in good condition . It was for this reason that he founded this Order , for on one occasion finding the Bosun ( Ham ) dreadfully

drunk and incapable of turning to , he noticed that on the following morning his officer and son was suffering from a bilious headache and was unable to tackle either his breakfast or his work . This at once attracted the attention of the

Patriach to the serious consequences of irregularity in diet and of overstepping the bounds of moderation . He then perceived the necessity of founding an Order which should inculcate the principles of good living combined with moderation , and the momentous incidents which enabled him

to save the lives of valuable animals , as illustrated in our important ceremonies , afforded him the clue to the ., arrangement of the Ritual which has been seen by you this evening and which has been handed down from the remotest periods of antiquity . You have this day heard a History and

a Legend the most ancient of all , and besides which Freemasonry itself must hide its diminished head , a ritual which even the Antediluvians themselves were unacquainted with , for if they had been they would not have suffered the penalty of making food for the fishes . Another circumstance which

absolutely and irrevocably proves the vast antiquity of our Order is the absence at the present period in the animal creation of the Missing Link . The Missing Link , as you are doubtless aware , is the one type of Mammal which is wanted to prove the serial connection between Mankind and the

Lower Orders of Creation . The reason of this absence may be briefly related . It is explained to us in the Official Log of the Ark which vvas faithfully kept by the Patriarch and which is now to be seen , by those who can find it , in the Armenian Monastery on the slopes of Mount Ararat , where

it is jealously guarded by the Original Lodge of the Order , now celebrating its 6 , 999 th anniversary . In this momentous record the Patriarch tells us that on reviewing the animals soon after sailing he found wanting the Missing Link . This

naturally awakened tne apprehensions of the Patriarch and distressed him to such an extent that he immediately ordered the Ark to be hove to and three boats to be lowered , manned by the two Mates and the Bosun to make search for the

A Curious Old Ritual.

Missing Link , at the same time informing these persons that the loss of the specimen in question would for ever hereafter involve the learned ofthe Human Race in perpetual disputes and perplexities , and that he himself would rather suffer from 1 - liver complaint and gout for the rest of his life than that the

Missing Link should be drowned . The Boats set out on their quest , and two returned without any success , but the third boat , which was manned by the Bosun , met with the Missing Link , swimming and supporting his wife , on a cork life belt . Unfortunately it happened that a rivalry had

previously existed between the swimmer and the Bosun respecting some matter connected with the Grand Passion , and , sighting his rival and sculling up to him quietly , the Bosun dropped the blade of his oar on his head , causing him to sink and drown . Unfortunately the wretched swimmer ,

being neither man nor monkey , could neither signal nor hail the ark , and therefore perished silently . The Bosun locked the secret in his breast for many years , but before his death he made a confession , which was duly attested by the Mate and Second Mate , and entered by the Patriarch in his Official Log .

It only remains to explain why the Patriarch ' s wife should occupy so important a position on board the Craft as that of Conductor of Animals , women not being usually regarded as suited for maritime or masonic pursuits . ' It was for three reasons that may here be explained , ist . Being an

old housekeeper she knew more about culinary matters than the whole ship ' s company put together , and possessed a very valuable book of MS . recipes which have been handed down by this ancient Order through the long procession of ages even

to the present time , and you Brother Mariners have already had proof of the excellence of some of them . Indeed , it is believed that most of the Cookery Books of the 19 th century owe their origin to ours . 2 nd . Because she was the resident mother-in-law of the three Stewardesses and could therefore

control then * movements and see that the fodder was properly prepared , but 3 rd , and chiefly , because she insisted upon keeping the key of the Grog Locker , and also had a quaint and esoteric knowledge of pick-me-ups and various other medicines of a valuable kind which all mariners esteem most

highly . It only remains for me to say that I trust you will ever keep in mind the principles of this Order , and indeliby imprint on your heart the idea contained in that very ancient maxim—that it is the duty of all men to preserve a Mens Sana in Corpore Sano . S . M . I . B .

Sonnets Of The Greek Mythology, No. 1.

Sonnets of the Greek Mythology , No . 1 .

TO ZEUS . * GREAT god of wisdom 1 high my voice I raise , And speed to thee a lay deep from my heart , A lay of admiration and of praise . None other ever was thy counterpart , Nor yet shall be though ages flee away ,

New worlds arise , new planets come and gr , Thy fame ' s eternal—knowing no decay ,

No tarnish comes to take away the glow ; Thou art the sire of the immortal fair—The glorious damsels of unfading youth , Whose classic heads and brightly laurell'd hair , Speak of Sincerity—allied with Truth , This , noble Zeus , proclaims to one and all That from thy pedestal , thou ne ' er wilt fall .

CHAS . F . FOBSHAW , M . A . * Zeus and Mnemosyne were the parents of the nine muses of the Greek Mythology—Calliope , Clio , Melpomene , Thalia , Euterpe , Terpsichore , Erato , Polyhymnia , and Urania . t'ieria , in Macedonia , was their first dwelling-place . Only three were originally worshipped in Helicon—Melete , Mneme and Aoide —or Reflection , Memory and Song . The peculiar attributes given to the sister goddesses by the Author are based on the powers ori ginally assigned to them by the poets .

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