Dented Him Masonic Burial.

fore assistance could be called . Sunday , Dec , 26 , 1875 , the First church of Galesburg refused the use of its tabernacle for the performance of Masonic sendees over his remains . ] We all remember the actor who

-died—A man who had lived au upright life—How his corpse was turned out of a gilded church In the face of a stricken , heart-broken ivife ; His trade was a sham , so the preacher said ,

And his profession should bury its dead . Only last Aveek a physician fell AVhile trying to answer a sick man ' s call—Died in bis path , ivith no lips to tell

HOAV the cares of others weighted his fall ; His years bad been spent for the sick hero and there , But the church refused the poor sick man a prayer .

He sat , it is urged , in a Mason ' s Lodge—An order as old as the church itself ; A brotherhood bound in fraternal love , With no room for sectarian creed or self : A Mason whose ritual grew from the

Word Of God as it came through the blessed Lord ; An order that teaches good will to man , Regardless of colour , opinion or

race—Inculcating Charity , Faith and Hope , And help never measured by time nor p ] ace ; That conies between widows and orphans ancl want , And maketh no show of religion or cant .

Its lessons are taught within sacred walls , Good for the street , tho home and the store ; Lessons of faith to be wrought every dny—God asks nothing and wants nothing mors ;

AVhere obscurity bows ivith men of renoAvn , And the wealth of the pew is unknown .

Within these walls our buried brother sat ; We fancy ive see whore his feet have trod ; Here , where Ave know of the life he lived , He made his bargain with man and with God .

He helped the sick ancl gave to the poor , But a Christian church turned his corpse from its door . Ho died at the merry Christmas time , AVhen the church had set up its typical

tree , Bringing good cheer on Christ ' s natal day , Who said , '' Suffer all to come unto me . " On a broken branch hung a badge all grim , With the words , " A Mason—no Christ for him . "

In the dead man ' s home St . Nicholas came , AVith these Avords on a wreath of immortelles , " A brother who lived for his felloiv men Has gone to bis reward . Ring out the bells !

There is no church nor creed , " the legend said , " Nor sect , where God awakes the blessed dead . "

The grave is but the entrance , and the paths Adown the dark ancl shadoivy way i May lead through church or Mason ' s I Lodge , or both , If we sow seeds for heaven day by day ; And , if the harvest yields the promised crown , It must bo formed from actions all our

own . He sleeps on the edge of the town he served , And there , in May , the floAvers will come—And Nature ' s incense and the tuneful bird

Will ask no church ivhat prayers to hum ¦ And the stars that look from the silent sky AVill bless the prayers that nevei die .