"The wheel broken at the cistern."-By the wheel is meant the aorta, or great artery which, receiving its blood from the left ventricle of the heart, or cistern, distributes it through the body; and thus "the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it."

MASONIC HISTORY.-In attempting to evolve a history of Freemasonry, we are met at the threshhold by difficulties-arising out of the very nature of things-that no other historian has to encounter. He who chronicles the rise and fall of empires, has a mine of materials at his command, in the written and imperishable records of the times he would portray. Theories, sects, and religions from the aggressive and proselyting spirit which ever animates their disciples, leave an impress upon the times in which they exist, which the lapse of centuries cannot obliterate. All along the highway of the past, there are thickly strown the footprints of the things which have been; stamped in the crimson records of desolating war, or chiselled on the storied monument, or traced on the tell-tale parchment, to which the historian may turn for the waif and woof, out of which to weave the webb of the world's eventful story. It is not so in regard to Freemasonry. Essentially not an intermeddling institution, receiving none into its communion but such as freely, voluntarily, and without solicitation, ask admission to its benefits and privileges; keeping, through a long succession of ages, no records of its achievements but "the attentive years, the silent tongues, and the faithful breasts," of its votaries; transmitting its tenets and its laws from one generation to another, solely through the medium of oral tradition; the archives of nations furnish few or no memorials of its existence, save in the persecutions it has endured from the jealousy of tyrannic power, the intolerance of priestcraft, and the bigotry of bloated superstition. It is not wonderful, therefore, that its early history should be to the uninitiated as a "sealed book," which even the "masters in our Israel" find too feebly illuminated by the dim twilight of our tradition to read with accuracy and precision.-From an Address by Bro. J. H. M'Mahon.

FOR THE ASHLAR.

MORTAL FLOWERS.

By Bro. S. C. Coffinburg.

Oh, there is a time, in our joyous spring of youth,
When we think not that cares and sorrows are to come;
When life is but a round of smiles and songs of truth,-
A peaceful and a pleasant dream,

Replete with childhood's glee, and sounds of home,
O'er which love's day-star sheds her brightest beam.

The bud then bursts its tender shell,

And the young flow'ret opens to the day;
Fond lullabies, like zephyrs, swell

O'er it softly, in life's sweet budding May.

Then there are moments in this onward struggling life

When our hearts do melt with love, pure and manful love;

We lose our grosser elements; we cease from strife,

And are all spirit for a time;

Our thoughts are blent with angel thoughts above,
And upward towards a higher life we climb.

The flower then blooms in beauty bright,

And sparkling dew-drops tremble on its stem,
While odors sweet, on pinions light,

Are softly wafted from the flow'ring gem.

Ah! there are hours of bitter grief befall us here,

Which are more dark and sorrowful when youth has fled; They weigh us down, and fill our hearts with awful fear

Of something dreadful yet to come;

The fitful gleams of light that o'er us then are shed,
Just light our pathway onward to the tomb.

Ah! then, the once bright flower doth fade,
And, leaf by leaf, it scattereth at last;

Lonely it droops in deep'ning shade,

Its odors wasted by life's winter-blast.

Ha! there are flitting moments, when we dare not think
What we may be in our more gliding little hour;

A chill pervades the heart-the pulses throb- we sink-
The last pale gleam of light has fled;-

all power

We sigh- we gasp-we lose all sense-
We cease to sigh-to gasp-we're dead.—

All pale and wither'd, blanch'd and torn,

The flower now lies crush'd upon its bed;

Its sisters, bending o'er it, mourn,

And their warm tears, like pearly dew-drops, shed.

CONSTANTINE, December 20th, 1856.

THE GENERAL GRAND BODIES.

We have, in a previous number of THE ASHLAR, indicated our opinion respecting the General Grand Bodies of the United States. From what we have been able to learn respecting their recent sessions at Hartford, we see no reason to change our views. Our attention has just been attracted to this subject by a report made to the Grand Encampment of Ohio, in which its authors take the ground that the mission of the General Grand Encampment is fulfilled, and that it will soon cease to exist. Their views are thus briefly expressed:

It was unquestionably a judicious policy on the part of the eminent knights who took upon themselves the organization of the General Grand Encampment of the United States. There were at that time but few encampments on this continent, and they situate in various and independent jurisdictions. With these few and isolated exceptions, the entire country was, to Templar Masonry, a vast unoccupied field. There was great reason to apprehend that in a promiscuous exercise of authority in the propagation of the orders in that field, a contrariety of interests might lead to conflicting claims to jurisdiction, with no common umpire to which the parties might resort for an authoritative adjustment of their respective claims; and thus reproach be brought upon our honored banners, and discord and confusion reign in our otherwise peaceful asylums. The prudent forecast of our fathers foresaw these evils, and prevented them, by the organization, by common consent, of a body with jurisdiction co-extensive with the geographical limits of our country. This jurisdiction has been wisely and prudently maintained, until a sufficient number of constituent encampments being duly organized in a State to warrant the formation therein of a Grand Encampment; when Templar jurisdiction within such limits has been devolved upon such State Grand Encampments. Within the few years past this process has been going forward at a greatly accelerated pace, until comparatively little remains to the General Grand Encampment, beyond the new and yet unoccupied territories. We see no reason to apprehend that this celerity in the progress of the Christian Orders will hereafter tarry in the rear of the tide of population.

This view of the subject leads us to contemplate the time as now not far remote, when the General Grand Encampment will have fully and honorably accomplished its mission. It will then be no longer a self-sustaining institution; for, unlike natural bodies, its resources and natural force are abated in proportion that its functions are extended. When State Grand Encampments shall exist in the now unoccupied territories, no independent re

source will remain to sustain the General Grand Encampment; and the same prudential forecast that fifty years ago prompted our fathers to the organization of that body, will warrant us now in anticipating its near, inevitable, and ultimate destiny. It would seem not merely the dictate of common prudence, but the imperious duty of the Grand Encampments, to be shaping their ends, at an early day, with reference to this event. When all (or nearly all) the States shall be possessed of their own Grand Encampments, the jurisdiction proper of the General Grand Encampment will be circumscribed to the narrowest limits, and its pecuniary resources proportionally diminished. It follows, of natural necessity, that the body itself must then either fall into insignificance and neglect, or be maintained, a splendid bauble, at the expense of its constituent bodies. Veneration for the memories of the great and worthy men who, at the time, seeing its necessity, gave form and vitality to that body-respect for the eminent moral worth and talents of those who have successively administered its affairs, during its period of usefulness-and a filial regard for the institution itself-all conspire to invoke at the hands of the fraternity, proper measures to spare that body the humiliation of such catastrophe.

The same remarks will apply with equal force to the General Grand Chapter. That body is now a great expense to Royal Arch Masons in the different States, and confers comparatively few benefits. Like the G. G. E., it cannot conveniently meet more than once in three years; and so seldom are its convocations, and so little unanimity usually prevails respecting mooted topics, that its labors are almost powerless for any considerable degree of good. Under these circumstances, it is well for every Royal Arch Mason to consider whether the General Grand Body should be perpetuated-whether he is willing to be taxed to sustain it. We are as willing as any one to see the organization of the National Masonic Bodies continued, if they are of sufficient service to the Craft; bnt we are in favor of dissolving them as soon as they accomplish the end for which they are designed, or become an incubus upon the Fraternity.

Many Masons suppose that our institution consists of nothing but the work and lectures. Those are merely the tools by which we seek to construct the moral edifice-they are simply the means by which we accomplish a great moral good. This important truth should never be forgotten.

FOR THE ASHLAR.

THE RED CROSS KNIGHTS,*

WISDOM, STRENGTH, AND BEAUTY.

By Bro. Thomas S. Webb.

Which is greatest, the strength of Wine, of the King, of Women, or, of Truth? DARIUS, KING OF PERSIA.

WINE.

How strong is Wine! it causeth all to err,
Who to calm temperance excess prefer;
Under its influence the mind's undone,-
The poor man and the rich become as one,
Their thoughts are turn'd to jollity and mirth,
Sorrow and debt despise, and pride of birth;
The miserable man forgets his woes,

Neglects his kindred, mingles with his foes;
The virtuous heart a vicious course defends,
And draws its sword against its truest friends.—
How strong is Wine, that forceth to these things!
Is it not greater than the power of Kings?

THE KING.

The great Creator, when he form'd our race,
To all his creatures, each assign'd a place,
And man ordain'd the master of the whole,
To rule and govern them without control;
But men themselves by man must be restrain'd,
And Kings and Princes this great power attain'd.
Now, those who rule all sublunary things
No earthly power controls; and such are Kings.

WOMEN.

The strength of Wine is not to be deny'd,
It lightens poverty, and humbles pride;
Neither is that of Kings, whate'er its source,
Which binds so many men by will and force:

But yet the frown of Women far excels

The force of Wine and Kings; with magic spells
She captivates her votary by her charms,

And he's content to die within her arms.

TRUTH.

Though Wine by strength should rule, by wisdom Kings,
Though Woman's beauty partial durance brings,

Yet all their powers shall fail and fade like youth,
And Wisdom, Strength and Beauty dwell with TRUTH;
For neither Beauty, mighty Kings, nor Wine
Hath power and majesty, fair Truth! like thine.

This piece of poetry we recently received from Bro. Joseph Covell, of Maine. He writes us: "Inclosed with this I send you a copy which I have taken from among the rubbish, which I have been overhauling these long winter evenings. As it has lain in darkness for almost half a century, I think it worthy a spare page in THE ASHLAR, if you should have one, and think it worthy of preservation."