A Monologue.

A MONOLOGUE .

How strange is Life , we must confess ! It wears for us a fancy dress , And ' mid its glittering masquerade , The gifts which fail , the hopes which fade , We iind full oft how in this scene , AH is—as if it ne ' er had been .

The dreams of Youth , the fears of Age ; The fleeting tales of Life ' s quaint page ; Soft visions and our fancies dear ; "Warm friends , who droop and disappear ; The colder face , the changing hour , The faded leaves , the withered bower ; Those memories which linger still Amid our passing good and ill ;—All these like shadows on our way , Greet ns in altered mien each day .

Old Time has come in measur'd pace , With faltering limbs and wrinkled face , To bring its tale of joy and woe , The smiles and tears <__ '' long ago ; ' ' To drown our laughter in its si ghs , To fill fond faith with sad surprise ; For by its spell how changed appeal's The picture of these passing years .

The brighter tints arc gone—no more They charm us , as they did of yore ; Nor can our fancy e ' en retouch Those faded hues we loved so much . The picture we once thought so fair , Whose warmth and grate we deem'd so rare , Seems clouded with a darker hue And all confused to the view .

And yet for us who mourn to-day , As wending slowly on our way , The present seems to disappear With the calm flow of each new year , For all Hint Time has rent or riven , For all that Life has lent or given , "Wh y should we ever here complain For all that now seems pass'd or vain ? Such is our life—and this to be ! We know is its Epitome .

In vain are then our long regrets , The grief which daily , hourly frets ; In vain are tears , in vain are sighs , In vain is doubt , in vain surprise , Tor all we deem so sad and sore Has so befallen evermore . And as the world in ages long Goes on its way , the same sad song Of mingled doubt and startled fear Is chanted by each waning year ,

How idle then for ns to trust In aught of human hope or dust . ' On all the Destroyer ' s hand is seen , On what is now , on what has been , And naught here we can hope to save From the dim secret of the grave .

Yet let us not in idle strain Or mourning words , in doubt arrain-n That wondrous rule of Love below Man ' s life can ever truly shoiv :

For tho' to us 'tis sad to part With much we prize , and in our heart We mourn with many silent tears Thro' lengthen'd hours , weary years , Some old dear hope , some fond , fond dream , Which like a star upon Life ' s stream , Could lead uswith its pleasant ray

, , In hope and trust along our way ; And tho' on our sad pathway now , With weakened Crane and colder hrow , We knov no more the happy reign Of those bri ght and fairy days again , F \> r the sovereign of our heart and will Is no longer here to rule us still , Nor underneath that gentle sway

We leant all loving to obey ; Yet still we feel that such must be The sight we all must hourly sec , And we leave our doubt and calm our fears , Impassioned cries and falling tears , To share in faith ' s untroubled trust " Such is ( he way of all our dust , "

And in that loving hope to rest" Whatever is , is for the best . " "W .

Freemasonry In Germany.

FREEMASONRY IN GERMANY .

BY BfiO . J . a . FKDEL , Author of the "Jlistory of Freemasonry , " and Honorary Grand Master of Prince Hall Grand Lodye of Boston , & c . The fraternity in general , and that of

Germany in particular , has sustained a deplorable loss in the demise of Bro . Dr . Th . Schletter , Professor in Leipsic , editor of the Freemasons' Gazette and of Lalomia ; for in him the craft loses one of the most lished and best

accomp informed brethren . Bro . Dr . 0 . Iienne-Am-Ehyn , author of a History of Civilization , has succeeded him 'in the editorship of the Freemasons' Gazelle .

The number of German lodges has within the kst few mouths increased in a gratifying manner by the foundation and opening of new lodges at Strasburg , " Kehl , Gollnow , Naples , Augsburg and Municli , of which the last three are

especialty deserving of notice . On the lodges "zux Kett-e" at Munich , and "Augusta" at Augsburg devolves the difficult , but honourable task , in the very camp of Jesuitism and intellectual blindness , to lift the torch of Masonic

light , and by faithful work gradually to repulse the implacable enemy of progress , enlightenment and toleration ;