Mother Kemp On Reading Masons.

poAver , as my revered husband used to say , to study it . WeB , Jonas , I ' m sorry , ' said I , ' that you ' ve read so little and Avhittled so much . The habit , as you caU it , has never made you anything , and besides aU that it has fooled you out of enough time to have made a little fortune for yourself , if you had had the brain poAver to have read a little . '"

"Didn't he get mad at you , Mother Kemp ? " we asked . "Why , no , Jeems , " said the old lady , good naturedly , " he didn't dare to , and if he had I'd soon make him ashamed of himself , but he just Avhittled aAvay as if that had been his only profession . Don't you

think , Jeems , " she asked Avith a smile , " that your Brethren who haven't time to read sixteen pages of Masontry in a month are aAvfully industrious ?" " Certainly , certainly , Mother Kemp , " said Ave .

" Yes , Jeems , interrupted the good old lady . " Such men most ahvays remind me of an old goose of my father ' s . The old thing Avould go to settin' on a stone or a brick bat or anything , and she'd set , and set , and set , until she'd set nearly all the feathers off of herand until she'd get as

, poor and lean as a starved goslin ' . f Avas amazingly pleased though , Jeems , " continued the good mother , " the other day , Avith your brother Simons . You see I Avent over to see his wife , and I found him a readin' of the Masonic Advocateand so

, much taken up Avith it that his Avife and me had to do most all the talking . " " Why , Simons don't take the Advocate , Mother Kemp , " said Ave . "He don't ? " said she .

"Why no ; there is no such name on the books , " Ave affirmed . "Well , then , Jeems , " said she , " Irecken he had borrowed them of his brother Jones . "

" That may be , " said we . " But , Jeems , " she asked , " is that fair 1 I knoAV , " she added , " that neighbours have to borroAV sometimes of one another , but I didn't think that Masons Avould

sponge in that way . ' " Oh , Masons are but men , Mother Kemp , " said Ave , " and you musn't expect too much of them . " "Well , IIOAV , Jeems , " said she , " my revered husband used to say that Methodists Avho got to heaven on a quarter of a

dollar a quarter Avere pretty economical kind of Christians , and so they Avere , perhaps , but for my part I have most ahvays thought that people of any sort that sponged their Avay'through the Avorld Avere only paupers ; don't you ? But then , Jeems" said she" I always like to see

, , people read good books and papers , Avhether they borroAV or OAVII them , for it makes them more intelligent and fits them better for society . Don ' t you ?" " Yes , Mother Kemp , " said Ave , " there ' s nothing makes a good man or a good

Mason more certainly than the reading of good books and good papers . " " That's so , that ' s so , Jeems , " affirmed the precious old Avoman , and lifting her specs from her head she remarked Avith a serious leer : " Why , Jeems , I have never

knoAv'd a readin' man in my life in any profession of society but become a leadin ' man among the people . It Avas readin ' that made my revered husband AAdiat he Avas , and if I ' m any judge you'll find that your Masontry brethren that don't read ,

Avith some feAV exceptions , are ahvays led by others , or else they don't lead at aU . Ain't it so , Jeems ? " she asked . " Well , Mother Kemp , " said we , " that's Avhat ' s the matter . " Here our time Avas up , and Ave had to leave . —American Masonic Advocate . JEEMS .

" I Avould not , " says Mr . Beecher , " for all the comfort Avhich I might get from the books of the Alexandrian Library , or from the Lennox Library , give up the comfort Avhich I get out of Natme . . . . There is nothing that grows—no Aveedno grassno floAverno fruit—that

, , , is not in some Avay related to God in my thoughts ; and I am never so near Him as Avhen , night or day , I am in that solemn cathedral , the Avorld of Nature , and behold its ever changing beauty . There are no such frescoes in art as God's hand paints

in the heavens . There are no such relations of God as come to us through Nature . In the budding , blossoming days of spring , in the balmy clays of summer , in the fruitful days of autumn , in the days of Avinter , in every day of the year , there is something that is a separate leaf to me in God's outside Bible , UOAV that I have learned to read it . "