Woman And Masonry.

would be remote enough for his escape , no jungle wild enough for his retreat , no cavern deep enough to hide him from the eye of vengeance . There is something sublime in this that calls forth woman ' s ardent admiration ; but another

view of the subject awakens deeper , holier passions still—her love and gratitude . Christianity is our guide to the vague , shadowy portals of the unknown future world—Masonry our shield and support through the dangerous

realities of this . Let women be united by the slightest tie to the great heart of Masonry , and she nevermore may deem herself friendless and alone . Does want stand at her door ? A hundred hands are outstretched to relieve her . Does sorrow

overshadow her ? A hundred hearts give kindly sympathy—which women only know how much we need . Does temptation surround her ? She has

but to speak and a hundred arms are bared in her defence ; and with only the talisman of her womanly purity , she can walk the earth with the freedom of a goddess and the sanctity of a saint . There is a jealousy in the minds of some women

as to Masonry , which often amounts to bitter prejudice—for they regard it as a rival , and , in a woman ' s eyes , a rival is the one intolerable thing even though it were an angel . Wishing , as it is their nature to reign supreme in one heart , they

are disappointed to find Masonry already enshrined there—and they cannot help but hate her . Be lenient with this fault , I pray you . She errs , not so much through excess of hate to all Masons , as through excess of love for one . And I am not

sure that the loved one may not be to blame , in a measure , for this . He may have made this magic word a cloak to hide some wayward step—for , outside of their invisible barrier , Masons are very much like other men .

Woman is slow to be convicted against the natural impulses of her heart , but let her once accept the truth into her soul , and she will die for it . Bat the prejudiced ones are a small minority that is fast dwindling away . The work is done

so silently that woman hears nothing of it till it is brought home to her ; but then it lodges there for ever—its memory can never die . She sees that power which could overturn an empire , stoop , in its gentleness , to dry her children's tears . She

sees the ear that listens calmly to the voice of kings and the counselings of sages , bend tenderly to hear her meek complaiut . Oh ! who can tell what Masonry has done for

women 1 Where are the records of its work , like snow fall in its silence , like the everlasting hills in permanence ? Not on perishable paper leaves can this be written , not in the printed annals of the day is blazoned forth the story of this charity ,

most beautiful , most God-like . But by a million firesides is the story whispered by the father ' s thin pale lips—it is recorded deep upon the w dow ' s heart—ib is repeated in the orphan ' s prayer . But this has ever been . " The poor ye have

always with you . " Would you read a record yet more forcible ? Go to the battle-field , ancl in the midst of the most frightful carnage , see a man risk his life ancl limb to succour one—not his

bosom friend , nor his companion-in-arms , nor yet his mother ' s son—but his brother , though he never looked . upon his face before . He has recognized , the mystic sign , and life has but this one purpose ,, to relieve this stranger brother . Go to the

hospitals , and see the dim eyes brighten , and the pale lips smile , to meet the beloved signal they alone can read . Here the nurses tell of the strangepeace that steals over the fevered minds , the trusting child-like security under which their wounded

rest , and then ask what is Masonry . " What has this to do with women ? " Everything . Does it not reach the seat of her dearestaffections by ministering to those dearer to her than her own life ? When the lone' -looked-for

letter comes , dated m a hospital—written by stranger hands , but dictated by the lips of their own loved soldier boy , telling the watchful care and attention bestowed upon him by his brothersof the Order , think you the loving women that

cluster round that hearth-stone forget the name of Masonry when they pray ? If so , you littleknown woman's heart . Masons , let me but once give voice to the thousand unuttered blessings that woman breathes for

you , and in me see the symbol of the gratitude they can not speak . I care not for the mysteries of Masonry—in my soul I know is one grand principle . Charity , sweet charity ! of which the Savioursaid : " It is the greatest of all these . " To add

another proof that even a cup of water shall not be forgotten , I will unfold the volume of my heart , and read the record there . I have seen my childhood ' s dearest idol—one only sister—fading slowly away from me , going

back to our mother's bosom—and through all the long years that have intervened , and through all that are to come , I never can forget a few clusters